I want to roam free from my desk. | Ask MetaFilter :: There’s a great discussion on here on going all laptop all the time. I’ve been all laptop for almost two years now. I still want a desktop. I’ll probably throw down for something nice in February, when I get my tax refund.
Any analysis of racism calls for certain distinctions. First, racism differs from ethnocentrism. Any group can be ethnocentric, in that it sees the world through the lenses provided by its own culture. But to see the world through the lenses provided by ones own culture is not necessarily racist, nor is it racist simply to notice physical or cultural differences, or to detest specific members of a group, or even to dislike the cultural traits of specific groups. What is racist is the stigmatizing of difference in order to justify unfair advantage or the abuse of power, whether that advantage or abuse be economic, political, cultural, or psychological. Although people of all groups can entertain racist opinions—there is no genetic immunity to racism—not every group enjoys the power to practice racism; that is, to translate a racial attitude into social oppression.
Jott :: I think Jott is a ubiquitous capture tool. Call Jott, leave a message and receive a transcription via email (and you can send emails this way, too). Great idea, but it’s got a creepy execution: humans do the transcription and not particularly well.
My Mile Marker :: This clever service makes it really easy to track your gas mileage. Perfect for satisfying the need for statistical information on my every day life.
I love this video from Royksopp. I was going through some notes today which reminded me to share this video. I first saw it during a presentation — “Creating and Evaluating Usable Graphics” by Patrick Hofmann — at the Society of Technical Communication conference in Minneapolis this past May. Hofmann gave a great presentation with some incisive hints, like creating visual stylesheets, improving screen shots by cropping and annotating, and testing out designs on family, friends, and enemies. I wish I could find a video of Patrick presenting because, in addition to being helpful and informative, he’s quite the comedian.
As for Royksopp, their video (and how I came across it) helped me distill my attraction to technical writing: proximity to cool. Effectively, my job description in the general case (and specifically at Google this summer) is to get to know some new area of knowledge and then tell people about it. Who else gets to do that?
Here are some interesting links I came across for you to enjoy until I write something substantial.
Grand Theft Auto IV Official Trailer — Because I am a sucker for sandbox games. Admittedly, I’m more interested in seeing Spore, GTA IV might hold me over. The only problem is that this game will run on the PS3 and XBOX 360 only. The game better be good enough to justify the purchase or else it will be a few years before I get a chance to play it thoroughly.
Redwood and Sequoia Tree Comparison — This is something that I’ve been wondering about lately: what’s the difference between the gigantic Sequoia and great California Redwood? I thought either they were synonymous or else not at all different. Predictably, I was wrong.
Cliffhanger Trailer — Really, trailers just aren’t made the way they were in the past.
Microsoft Surface Parody — I happen to think that Surface is a really neat technology with a bunch of really neat potential applications, but as the creators of the video put it: “since we can’t afford one, we thought it might be fun to make fun of it.”
What Corporate America Can’t Build: A Sentence — If how some of my fellow interns write is any indication, this problem is going to get worse as time goes on. On the upside, it’s good for my job prospects.
