It’s an oft recited strawman statement that good manners have, or are, going the way of the dodo. Particularly a statement made by the older members of our society, I’m noticing more and more that it seems to be true. Manners are becoming increasingly unlearned at best, or ignored at worst.
I witness the vast majority of these crimes against good manners on an almost daily basis, and by people who seemingly were raised at a time when manners were still valued and taught. I am constantly surprised at the types people who I see commit these transgressions.
Open Mouthed/Audible Chewing – One of the most annoying, and disturbing habits. It literally takes no extra effort to close one’s mouth whilst chewing food, yet increasingly, this seems to an outdated expectation. It really makes my stomach turn to hear the sounds of you chewing. Yes, there are foods that make this unavoidable, but 99% of the time, its just ignorance.
Uncovered Coughing/Sneezing – Thanks for sharing your illness, dimwit. There are times when a cough or sneeze will occur so suddenly that its impossible to cover your mouth, but when you are coughing repeatedly, or for a prolonged period of time, its inexcusable to share your germs with those around you.
Talking With Your Mouth Full – Not only are you uninteligible, but you spray pieces of half chewed food around. Its not too much effort to finish chewing your food, then swallowing before opening your mouth to talk, is it?
Of course, I am guilty of doing all of these myself, but I try to avoid them wherever I can. In the end, it comes down to thinking of others, rather than just yourself. Manners and common decency are not antiquated practices that need to be stamped out, but rather a means of ensuring that we are allowing everybody to enjoy our environment in the same way we are.
That’s what it comes down to, in the end. We are all so caught up in thinking that the world revolves around us that we fail to see the impact that these effortless considerations can have on those around us.
So, it appears that Project52 has all but died already. I’m keeping up, just, but judging from the “now-slowed-to-a-trickle” feed that was hastily set up by one of the participants at DesignMoo, it seems that most people aren’t.
It’s a crying shame really. All I wanted from Project52 was the chance to both create, and to consume some new, and hopefully substantial, content. Of course, the content that I have been creating hasn’t been terribly substantial. I have ideas, but then I start to write, and they lose their lustre, or I think twice about finishing them because they could be seen as confrontational, or patronising1.
At a time when the entire internet seems to consist of pro or anti-iPad opinion pieces2, I am really hanging for some serious content to enrich my life, or at the very least my day. Some of my favouriteblogs—those that really make me think, or react, or just enthralled—have quietened to a trickle, or ceased entirely. I am yearning for a well thought out diatribe, or something that will encourage repeat readings.
Of course, there are exceptions to this. Sam Brown3 wrote a very timely, and interesting article called Allowing visitors to leave comments has many benefits. The post came at a time when I had just reintroduced comments here, and struck enough of a chord with me that I weighed in with the longest comment I have ever written.
Aside from that singular post though, I feel like that Ancient Mariner“water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink”. I am surrounded by content, but I can’t consume it. Not because it will make me ill, physically anyway, but rather because it won’t slake my thirst for something more substantial.
I’m sure the content is there, but I can’t seem to find it—feel free to point me in the right direction in the comments.
So, compadres in this challenge of ours, this Project52, even if you think you have failed so far, please don’t give in. Stand up and create content that is enjoyable to create, and substantial to consume. After all, wasn’t that the point?
Footnotes
For a perfect example, please see yesterday’s post on life philosophy, where I cut myself short about halfway through. ↩
And, of course, I am most definitely not without blame here. ↩
For some reason, I spent some time the other night reading a forum I never thought I would be interested in reading—the “Christianity Community” on Amazon. I was honestly disturbed by the amount of vitriol and hatred that was spread within the various threads that I browsed. These people who claim to follow a loving God were spreading messages of hate and bigotry.
Don’t ask me why I was reading thesethreads, because I simply don’t know. I happened across one and it escalated from there. The time wasn’t a complete waste, however, as it ended with me contemplating my own theological point of view. My views haven’t changed any, and in actual fact, have probably been strengthened by what I read.
Over the years, I have formed a moral standard and philosophy based upon my life experience, and the environment in which I was raised. That philosophy really boils down to a single, simple statement—live your own life, your own way, and don’t hinder others ability to do the same.
In the end, I think that’s better than looking down on, or in some cases hating, people because of their lifestyle choices, who they are, who they sleep with, and what they do. How about you?
A list of people who, for one reason or another, I really respect and admire right now. Whether it be for the quality of the design work they have done, or just for being a really cool person. No reason is shared, because thats for me to know. You need to follow these people wherever/however you can to find out your own reason’s to respect and admire them.
I was in the lift when it hit me. I’ve been looking at it all wrong. I have been looking at it as a computer, but that’s just plain wrong. It, of course, is the iPad.
You see, I was looking at it as a computing device. A device that is intended to be the future of how everybody uses a computer, and intended to, one day and in some form, replace the desktop computing paradigm. But it’s not, and it never will.
People like me, who value their computer for real computing are all probably looking at it wrong. The iPad is not a computer. It’s a media and content consumption device. Email is no longer a computing task, but a communication and content creation task for the bulk of people. Nothing that can be done in the iPad as it stands is truly a computing task, with the vague exception of the new iWork apps.
I was, and in fact still am, concerned about what this device could mean for the future of computing, but I’m also realising that because this isn’t a computer, it really probably won’t have as much of an impact on the future of computing as I originally thought it would. Most people, possibly up to 95-99% of people in fact, have no need for a computer. The only things that they do on a computer is consume media, and communicate. A computer is largely wasted on these people.
Instead, true computer use will, eventually, fade back into being an enthusiast hobby for those who have a desire to learn. Sure, people may still feel like they need or want a full blown computer, but they will come to the realisation that its unnecessary and switch back to using a content consumption device.
In that respect, the iPad probably is a revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, device. And in that respect, I guess I hope it does succeed. Just not at the complete expense of real computing.
So, today is, in San Francisco and the US at least, Wednesday January 27. The day of the big Apple announcement that everyone has been waiting for for two years. The Tablet. Now, I am in Australia, so I didn’t get to follow the coverage of the keynote, as I was tucked warmly up in bed while it was all happening, but I have since read quite a bit of the coverage of it, and have begun to form some thoughts on the product. These thoughts are unfinished, but I have a fairly solid idea that they will form the basis of a more solid position on the iPad once I have more information, and maybe the chance to try one out in 6-12 months time.
I won’t reproduce information that others have put out there, a simple Google search will return all the results you could ever need, plus the iPad is on the front page of the US Apple site. Have a read of some of that, then if you care to read my thoughts, come back and see what I have to say.
Size
Its too big for me to consider it a truly mobile device. Sure its portable, but mobile is distinct from portable in that mobile, to me at least, means being able to use it on the move, not having to stop and sit down to use it effectively. At 9.7 inches in screen size, plus the added area around the screen, I simply cannot imagine using it whilst walking down the street as I can with my iPhone.
Software
Considering the fact that Apple had a real opportunity to reimagine the mobile computing paradigm, and introduce a third operating system built specifically for this device that did not rely on the App Store and iTunes, I feel that this is nothing short of a cop out. Sure, it looks pretty, and the home screen doesn’t look as cluttered and cramped as my iPhone does, but it is quite simply iPhone OS with added UI candy to add the “wow” factor for those easily attracted by those things
Apps
Apple has introduced only one new application with this device “iBooks”1 which looks like nothing more than “Classics” from the iPhone with built in iTunes shopping, and slightly less appealing visuals. Sure, the rest of the apps have been redesigned and/or rebuilt from the ground up, but honestly, there is nothing new here.
App Store
Ahh yes, the App Store. The App Store is a situation that I honestly despise. I want to be able to choose what I install on any device that I own. Sure, I’m happy enough to use an iPhone, and to be constrained by the App Store while choosing what I want on that device, but a Tablet is something that I would want to use for more serious things other than checking Twitter and reading (and only reading) email. So to control what I can install with the approval process (a process that is fundamentally broken) and a single purchasing point is a deal breaker for me.
The Name
Oh, what a travesty of a name for a supposedly desirable product. iPad instantly makes me think of feminine hygiene products. The last thing I want to think of when I use a products name is feminine hygiene products. Never mind the fact that it is so similar to “iPod”, or the fact that maybe, just maybe, its time to drop the whole “i” prefix
Conclusion
The iPad, or, as @elliotjaystocks nicknamed it, the mehPad, has too many shortcomings, and not enough steps forward to be a compelling device to me. It quite literally seems to me to be a overgrown iPod Touch with some added UI candy and to see it as anything else is mystifying to me. When John Gruber stated that “The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing”, I was excited. I though that maybe this could be the leap forward in computing that I have been eagerly awaiting, but in all honesty, if Apple sees incredibly closed devices, and a single purchase point for applications as the future of computing, when that day comes, I will simply disconnect my Internet connection, give away my laptop, and walk away from the world of computing.
If I’m honest with myself, I feel a little empty right now. I’ve just pushed my latest redesign live to my blog, and now all thats left is to write.
I become so involved in working on a design that I think of little else, and I am constantly living and breathing that design. With this design, although the actual work only took a matter of a week, I’ve been working on a redesign for about the last 2 or 3 months. Almost immediately since I sent the last design live, knowing that it was never going to last, I have been sketching, and thinking, and gathering inspiration for what I was hoping would be my best work.
In the end, there are probably little details that need adjustment — in fact, I’m already aware of one, on the archive, the comment count is inaccurate — but by and large, I am done with blog design for a while.
There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the design. It’s a blog, there aren’t a whole bunch of images, and its a pretty subdued colour palette. The only interesting decision that I made to to use a fixed header, at the bottom of the screen. There is no real reasoning behind this, other than I though it looked kind of cool at Line Break.
In a way, I’m glad that I have finally gotten a design that I am happy with. It will hopefully give me time to step away from the computer for a while, and focus on actually living.
I’m in the process of completely redesigning this blog. This current design doesn’t really present the content that I post here in the most effective manner.
Plus, I just don’t like it.
With the redesign in mind, and likely a move to a new blogging platform (more to come on this at a later date), I am weighing up whether or not to wipe the slate clean, and kill the content that I have at the moment.
The content isn’t really the strongest, and I’m looking to change the focus of the blog back towards more personal posts, rather than design or technology.
I’m in the process of completely redesigning this blog. This current design doesn’t really present the content that I post here in the most effective manner.
Plus, I just don’t like it.
With the redesign in mind, and likely a move to a new blogging platform (more to come on this at a later date), I am weighing up whether or not to wipe the slate clean, and kill the content that I have at the moment.
The content isn’t really the strongest, and I’m looking to change the focus of the blog back towards more personal posts, rather than design or technology.
This post was almost entirely inspired by “Learning to Smoke” by Tom Chiarella.
Smokers are a curious bunch — insular, thick skinned, social, and generally sharing. We congregate under leaky awnings, on park benches, and on pub balconies to inhale the foul nicotine carrying fumes that non-smokers think controls our lives.
Smoking is generally seen, amongst smokers at least, to be a social habit. We prefer to go on break with other smokers, we enjoy the chatter over a cigarette, and we enjoy the solidarity of knowing that we are looked down upon by most non-smokers.
But, for me at least, there is another side to smoking — one of solitude, of thinking, of reflection. I enjoy having a smoke with another smoker — whether that be at a bar with a random stranger, or on a smoke break with a colleague who smokes — but I also enjoy those that I have by myself.
When I can’t think, can’t write, can’t solve a given problem, my first port of call is a cigarette. A cigarette smoked in solitude. It affords me the time to think. It chases away distraction. It is something that I can do absentmindedly, or something I can do mindfully, but it is something that helps me think, write, solve. Above all else, it calms my mind.
From the heart-starter first thing in the morning, to the sleep inducer before bed, a cigarette smoked in solitude can transform my mental state from one of near panic, to one of calm collectedness.
Sure, there are probably other ways that I could achieve that, and sure, I will wake up in the morning and have a bit of a cough before my feet hit the floor. Certainly I should definitely quit. But I am, at least for now, happy in the knowledge that clarity is just a cigarette away.
Hi, I'm Dean, and this is my blog. A collection of random rantings, and half written musings with the occasional completed, and even somewhat researched article. More.
