Incredible learning tool

Check out this amazing video. It's for real. This is really, really clever, and gives us a glimpse of how software is going to be used in future.

Photography Exhibition Numero Uno

On Friday and Saturday nights, the Arty Farty One hosted her very first photography exhibition, which was held in conjunction with, and as part of, a fundraiser party for a foreign guy, Mark Selikoff, who is currently in a coma after a serious motorcycle accident Sept 27th.

The venue was the River Bar, Jhongli, which has a small gallery area upstairs. It went pretty well considering the short notice, and everyone that came really enjoyed the shots.

Here is an online version of the exhibition I put together for the Arty Farty One:
http://www.truant.net/Vietnam_Cambodia_2006/index.html

Here is what the venue looked like a few hours before everyone came (taken during the day):

Simplistic Theory #2: Units of Time

Being the simplistic fella that I am, I link to come up with theories that measure certain sides of life, and in doing so, try to work out the best way to learn from the past to get the most out of the future.

One simplistic theory I came up with maybe 20 years ago was the theory of People Categories. It's highly un-PC, but it's the science of categorising a complete stranger based on how they look and act and comparing that data to what you already know. Basically, it helps determine how to deal with that person, what they are likely to enjoy or dislike, whether they are more likely to be a dick or an asshole.....that sort of thing. But that is Simplistic Theory #1, which I will go into detail another day.

Simplistic Theory #2 is the Theory of Units of time. Having been fortunate enough to live and work in different countries, I have picked up on a very little observed phenomin, fenomin, phanomin thing. The unit of time you need to work to is determined by your lifestyle. Lemme explain....
In NZ for example, you can drive anywhere in most citys in about 20mins, you can generally park right out the front FOR FREE, Stores are generally deserted. What this means is you can do ANYTHING in a unit of time that is 30mins long. Sometimes you might need 2 units, say meeting a friend for coffee. 3 units for a nice meal, 4 units to go have a BBQ at the beach. You get the idea. In Singapore, the unit was closer to 1 hr. London it was 2 hrs, Here in Taiwan, it's closer to about 3hrs.
I think I have worked out the pattern here, and here is the formula:

The quality of a lifestyle is inversely proportional to the unit of time used to maintain it.

WTF? Well, I think it should be an aim in life to get your unit of time down to as small as possible. Why? Well, think about when you try to hook up with friends, how it sometimes seems impossible to get a slot that matches. If I need 1 unit of time to go and buy a magazine here in Taiwan, then fitting in a coffee is going to be another 1 unit of time, so 6 hrs total. That's a big chunk of a day man....no can do. Let's do coffee July 23, 2009 at 2pm.
In NZ, a buddy want's to meet for Fish and Chips at the Marina?..no problem, be there in half an hour. With the food. And Beers.

What is the main cause of this? Well different places have different factors, such as population, congestion, weather, language barriers, scooters everywhere, notoriously bad punctuality...blah, blah. It all contributes to the required unit of time of a given place, which can be improved on with personal innovation.

So, why should we try to get our units of time down? Well, you get more out of life, that's why.

categories: [living_][strange_][thoughts_]

The Best Photographer You've Never Heard Of

Stephen Kennedy

Check out this guy's portrait photography. These are not famous people, just ordinary folks in ordinary situations. What is so amazing about these shots? The lighting is fantastic, the focus is pin sharp, the composition is incredible, the depth of field is perfect. Even though technically the shots are brilliant, the magic is in the interaction the photographer has with the subject, it's outstanding.

Have a look at some of the portraits on his website, they're pretty cool.






StephenKennedy.com

Paper Cuts

I got these pics by email today. No idea who did this, or if it is even one person...I figured this might have sort of cult following, so I did a wiki search on paper cuts. All I found of interest was Lingchi, a form of chinese torture known as 'a death by 1000 cuts'. Ouch.

I won't ramble on about this art, it speaks for itself. Click on a pic to enlarge (just slightly sorry)...

The Happy New House

Architecture is interesting. People that are into Architecture are interesting....well I think so anyway.

Check out this. thehappynewhouse.com

My wife and I are remodeling the house we’ve lived in for the last sixteen years. We moved in before pets. Before kids. Before the internet.

We couldn’t afford the house when we bought it. Now, we can sort of afford it. We just can’t all fit inside of it. (We have three children -- two of whom are teenagers.)

So we’ve decided to build. Up. And out. More rooms. More showers. And most importantly, more places for us to accidentally bump into one another. Places to gather, to play, to sleep, to work on our laptops, to push back the furniture + dance, to hide from each other, to eat, to laugh, to live. In short, more opportunities -- under a single roof -- to connect with one another as a family.

It's an interesting website, and got a cool feel about it too.

thehappynewhouse.com
Check out the 'work in progress' section for all the shots of tools n concrete n steel n wood n stuff.

Lean on me

I like design ideas, and hanging out in design type stores. I even like going to IKEA.Anyway, Room Safari is a German design company with some pretty groovy ideas. This shot shows their Leanon coatrack , which is made to lean anywhere against a wall. Also shown in this pic are their Musical Triangle coathangers.

roomsafari.com