We love to feel it coming
This one is for Christophe. Because he shares the same love for this special moment when the drums kick in…
Oenothera
The sequence shown takes only about a minute (image borrowed from Wikipedia).
I’m currently residing at my parents house and we’re sitting in the garden a lot. A highlight every evening is the opening of Evening Primrose blossoms, a gorgeous progress you can observe with the naked eye.
I’m not only impressed by the speed of this procedure, but also by the apparently highly sophisticated sensory perception* of this plant. Several blossoms open up every evening (and only in the evening) and are already withered the next morning.
* As far as I read on german Wikipedia, the moment of opening blossoms depends on altitude of the sun, daytime temperature and air humidity.
We need more ornaments!
Stop – or why automation cannot replace human beings
Some days ago I had to take the bus. I told the driver which destination I would like to go and he gave me an appropriate ticket. The bus did not stop at my desired (and paid!) destination. I did not feel the necessity to press the Stop-button because I talked to the driver only some minutes earlier and we were not more than 4-5 people in the bus.
The stop-per-button system is very simple, totally oldschool, everybody knows it and uses it instinctively. But still I think it shouldn’t replace an even more basic and ubiquitous interaction model. It’s a bit like instant messaging with person B next desk in the same room (which can be quite essential when slandering about person C, though).
I will test this bus thing once more, maybe there will be a positive surprise on another line with another driver. Another interesting testing scenario could be: pressing the Stop-button right before each stop without leaving the bus (assumed the bus is quite empty and there are no people waiting at bus stops). I would be curious to see the driver’s reaction.
So … what are you up to these days? :-)
Typo 2007: Photos
Some photos of the lecture we gave at the Typo 2007 conference some weeks ago. Photos by Philipp, click to enlarge.
The weather sucks, I wanna leave
Hint?
For years I’m having a crush on Winona Ryder. So maybe you can imagine that I was quite puzzled when I saw this:
What does this In-Text-Advertising want to tell me? It’s so out of context, it must have a deeper meaning! Is Winona waiting for me?
The Tallest Man On Earth
What sounds like a contest of oversized people is in fact a mysterious swedish blues singer I’ve just discovered on MySpace. This handmade, straight music of a genre I’ve almost forgotten about, reminds me of many heros from the early sixties to the late seventies. It so just happened that he released his first EP at swedish label gravitation today!
Savour.
There aren’t many things better than a glass of good red wine combined with bitter chocolate and an excellent record on the stereo. Just to let you know.
Franklin Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, USA
When I was in New York in 2004 I stayed with a friend in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for several days. I totally loved this neighbourhood. There was this great caf just around the corner on Franklin street, unfortunately I don’t remember the name (if it really has one!). Above you can see one of the windows. If you pass by it, go in there, they have the best tea and muffins all over NYC (hehe).
I found this shot in a collection of some photos taken on Franklin street. I was googling forever for the name and exact location of this tea place and all I could find was the photo of this window (at least you can see the opening hours). Sometimes the internet can be so romantic.
Fake news/real news
E-mail snob, I’m a
You might think I’m just a poor e-mail snob, but I really pay attention to these details and I seriously dislike stuff like this:
I ordered my tickets on the Lufthansa website so what the fuck is pcsoffice02.de? Lufthansa.Rueckantwort.nicht.moeglich means Lufthansa.Reply.not.possible that one’s pretty cool actually …
My cross-media shopping experience
I went to the evil shopping area™ of Hamburg City today: what a bad idea. However, I was hanging around with my friend Jan Klaas M. and we were having fun. Until we recognized that for saving money we’d have to buy something in the store whose parking garage we were using. This very well working trick gave me the very good idea of buying another telephone for the office.
We’ve had good experiences with our current apparatus, so I wanted to get exactly the same again. I had the manufacturer, the type and the pricing from back then in mind and asked the shop assistant: “Do you still have Telephone X from Brand Y? I paid Amount Z for it the other day.”. The indignant answer was: “There never was Telephone X from Brand Y!”. Me, astonished: “But I got it here? For amount Z!” “You did not get it here. That’s not possible.”.
Alright. Sorry for being such a stupid customer. But wait, I can help you a bit: “Do you maybe have something similar to Telephone X? Or anything else for around Amount Z?” “Of course, we have Type XYZ987-XL!” “Oh, well, and uhm where do you have it?”. (My man walking away without a word, me following like a puppy). “Here it is Type XYZ987-XL from Brand Y!”.
“Hm, that one looks pretty ugly. Mainly compared to Telephone X.” “You should maybe do a search for Telephone X on ebay!” “Ok. Thank you. Good Bye!” “You’re welcome!”.