1981

Today marks the anniversary of my accident.

30 years ago my life changed.

I mark the anniversary of it because I’m thankful. Thankful for every day I get, every day I wake up.

It’s life people and it’s precious. Whatever form it comes to you.

Celebrate!

That’s one big stack of tiles!

While in rehab at the Spinal Unit I got to hang out with some fellow inmates (as I lovingly referred to ourselves) from all different backgrounds and so here they are:

1. Jim, 2. Anita, 3. Des, 4. Marilyn

Dave

“… it’s in the act of making things that we figure out who we are.”

Had a bit of fun and a play with Photo Booth while my boy was over, then created this slideshow with a couple more clicks.

The Mac just makes it too easy.

Then again, memories shouldn’t be hard.

Dave

sam lessin via www.buzzmachine.com/2010/08/05/the-price-of-privacy/my

Interesting to compare Linda Stone’s 20yr cycle date of 2005.

via paul.kedrosky.com

[via http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2010/08/world_populatio.html?utm_source=fee...:+InfectiousGreed+(Paul+Kedrosky's+Infectious+Greed)]

[via email & posterous]

[via email & posterous]

“What matters is context. I’m tired of having companies guess at what my context is. I know what my contexts are. I know how they change. I want my own ways of changing contexts, and of informing services of what those contexts are. In some cases I don’t mind their guessing. In a few I even appreciate it. But in too many cases their guesses only get in the way. The Google search case is just one of them.”

What underlines Doc’s experience is this issue of control.

Anyway, seeing Doc write about this got me thinking about what I was hung up on when I wrote back in 2005:

“These different modes we operate in. This is our context and this is what is getting me hung up about attention. Attention only measures what we look at not why we are.”

http://dnwallace.com/blog/2005/11/11/im-hung-up-on-the-concept-of-context/

Assumptions sap our ability to control what is ours.

Dave

Got into work this morning to find the books written by our friend Beth Kanter that @fang and I ordered had arrived.

Here’s me with them on my desk along with a Adelaide view out the window.

Was thinking I could take a pic each train ride to/from work. However I suspect it’d get very boring very fast.

Another appointment another waiting room another attempt to take a semi-decent photo with my old wm5 PDA camera.

#waiting scenes

Dave

It seems a couple versions ago someone decided at Apple that we never actually listen to audio podcasts anymore. No folks, that’s just not allowed. How uncouth. Don’t you know that since youtube we all watch videos. And podcasts are only ever video. I mean, come on, get with it.

So now when you’re in iTunes and go to mark a podcast feed to indicate you’ve listened to them all you’re greeted with the menu selection “Mark as Watched“.

Excuse me? Since when do you watch an audio podcast? Why doesn’t it say “Mark all as Listened”?

What happened to Apple finesse?

For years Apple prided itself on the little finishing touches that made us feel that things were just okay with the world. Often unseen things were simply just right, like dates changing format with column widths and context etc. But now it seems things just get changed on a whim.

Come on Cupertino. Don’t just settle for flashy wow innovation on new devices. Wow us with the finesse and continuity of thought and attention to detail we are used to.

Some interesting thoughts in an article titled “Social Media’s Effect on Learning” over on a WSJ Blog.

Some snippets:

“Bilingual people aren’t cognitively smarter, but they are more cognitively flexible,”

“Practice at constant switching improves an aspect of their cognitive abilities.”

“This is much like what people do when they’re updating their Twitter status, instant-messaging friends, or answering text messages and emails while they’re doing something else. Dr. Kuhl said this multitasking, where people are stimulating new patterns of sequential processing, could then reap the same benefits as bilingualism.”

“If not .. then networking online is at least acting as a brain innovator.., promoting new paths of discovery and interactivity in the brain.”

Read full story.

Going through some old papers turned up this ‘pseudo-award’ the APANA (SA) people gave me back in 1994 when I was hosting their server at work feeding APANA with newsgroups from Adelaide uni via SLIP. Was probably Leigh Hart, Mark Newton, Adrian Corston or John Lindsay inspired. Heady days.

Picking up the boy. Can’t see much I know, but sometimes waiting is like that.

Dave in waiting

Scenes while waiting – homemade style lemonade

Originally uploaded by dnwallace

I sometimes do a lot of waiting – so pass time playing with my phone. Think I’ll start  a scenes while waiting meme on my blog.

This time I’m waiting for a script to be filled by the chemist. Ok I know this picture isn’t of the chemist, but it’s where I’m sitting, opposite The General Trader in TTP.

Dave in waiting.

Very effective display at Adelaide Railway Station entrance by Red Cross [from recollection] against land mines and exploitation of children as weapons and casualties of war.

Outside the door was a hop-skotch game drawn on the ground in chalk, with a pattern that would’ve gone 1,2,3/4,5,BANG and landmine stickers.

Excellent way of highlighting an important cause.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

What Mark refers to as depth is what Linda Stone calls “the next aphrodisiac” in her talk at Supernova 2005 – Full Focused Attention.
 
Five years into Linda’s 20 year cycle framework of culture, cycle where swinging back to the individual as a centre of gravity. Full focus attention. It’s why I’ve focused, from time to time, on things such openness, sharing, and context.

Culture creates the technology it needs to fulfil its desires.

Mark Pesce, author, technologist, futurist.
We have become broad grazers of culture. Over the last decade, our ability to ‘go wide’ has reached unprecedented levels.

Whether an uprising in Iran, a celebrity marriage gone sour, or the trivial factoids which obsess us, we now have the tools to take it all in, all the time, wherever we are.

The mainstream media have tried to follow us on or flight path into breadth, only succeeding in becoming more insubstantial.

But the time for breadth is over. We’ve passed the test – with high marks. We need to move along.

The other and mostly unexplored axis of an information-saturated culture is depth. Each of us has the capacity to dive in and learn more about almost anything than ever before.

It nearly always starts with Wikipedia, which then points you to another resource, which points to another, and another, until, at the end, something like real mastery has been achieved.

With depth comes judgment; walk a mile in another’s shoes and you can know their thoughts. It’s not fast food, but it is a nutritious meal.

It’s interesting to note that the big movie this year (and probably the decade) is James Cameron’s Avatar. Uttered at its climax, the film’s catch phrase is, ‘I see you.’

Three words framing an experience of depth, one soul knowing the soul of another. That might be too much to ask on a planet of nearly seven billion souls, but we know we are lacking, and long to restore balance. Depth must take its place alongside breadth as a core human capability in the era of hyperinformation.

Without it, we will simply evaporate into ephemera and trivia. But with it – and this is my dream – we can reach the rock-solid core of being.

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@WoollyMittens yep, and mostly hot in reply to WoollyMittens #

@SilkCharm They're in the last one you'll open in reply to SilkCharm #

Ooo..something went 'snap'. Wheelchair forward motion suspended. Circles ensuing. #

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Boy dropped Dinner eaten Now lookin for somethin to watch :/ #

@scenariogirl So, I'll take it your mum wouldn't fit in on Twitter then in reply to scenariogirl #

@Tarale Wonder if "there's an app for that"? in reply to Tarale #

RT @scenariogirl: Would love to hear from people who *don't* incorporate accessible design practices, and why http://bit.ly/b8drRo #

At Home #nogowalla #nofoursquare #

@Tarale Rekon my theory sounded more exciting! #fartingcows in reply to Tarale #

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tuneglue

Originally uploaded by dnwallace

So, I thought I’d checkout Son Volt [http://www.sonvolt.net/] after I started with Drive by Truckers and found out that via Two Cow Garage and The Bottle Rockets, that Son Volt was a common link between The BottleRockets and Drive by Truckers.

I figured as I like DBT that, even though I’d never, ever heard of any of these groups, a cross-link back to them oughtta be worth something.

I quite like thesound of Son Volt. I see why there was a link there.

I guess that’s how tuneglue works.

Tuneglue
via Lifehacker

Dave

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Mystery Tool #1

Originally uploaded by dnwallace

Anyone know what this tool is used for?
A friend has had it in his drawer over 20years and we can’t figure it out.
The long shaft rotates and turns the inner dial. The outer dial turns also, slower than the inner.
Whole thing is about length of your hand.
Made by Starrett in USA – www.starrett.com

UPDATE: Answer Found

I received response from email I left with the Starrett people. They sent me a pdf of instructions, some of which I reproduce here:

#104 & #107 SERIES SPEED INDICATORS

The #104 (black body) and the 4107 (nickel body) speed indicators are inexpensive units for checking the RPM’s of a machine spindle, shaft, wheels and similar applications. This is accomplished by placing the point on the end of a shaft and counting the number of revolutions of the dial.

The #104 can be used for up to 200ORPM. When the point is applied to a revolving shaft, the inner disc is held from turning by firmly pressing on the raised knob with the thumb or forefinger. Then by releasing, the pressure at the time the knob on the outer dial coincides with the knob being held, the disc will revolve. Every 100 revolutions of the spindle is counted by feeling the inner knob pass under the thumb or forefinger. Timing the number of revolutions for a minute will give the RPM.

The #107 is similar to the #104, except it can be used for higher speeds because the revolutions are automatically counted up to 5000. The large outer dial has one hundred graduations, each representing one revolution of the spindle. The smaller inner dial has 50 grooved lines on its face, each representing 100 revolutions of the spindle (or one complete turn of the large dial). A spring, finger attached to the case engages with one of the grooved lines of the small dial, preventing the dial from revolving until the large dial makes one complete turn. With each complete turn of the large dial, the knob trips the spring finger and the small dial moves along to the next grooved line, thus showing that 100 revolutions of the spindle have been made. One complete revolution of the small dial indicates 5,000 revolutions of the spindle. These speed indicators were made from before 1900 until approximately 2006.

It would not be possible to date these as there was very little change throughout this time.

Installing Win7 on Virtualbox on Mac … because I can #

Someone got me to be watching China Beach again .. bringing up all kinds of thoughts, feelings .. haunting. You bugga Jen #

Photohunt. yesah.. #

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