The coldest winter I ever spent
I’m on my way back from Oregon. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I must have taken 160,000 pictures or so with my new 12 megapixel camera rig! Yes, really!
Or… Hey, check out my new portable panopticon! Every 10 meters it automatically snaps a 360 degree panorama image that gets stitched into a 36 megapixel 3d image!
I just got off the phone with Apple support who said, “You installed the 4.0.1 upgrade for your iPhone 3G? Ha! Sucker! You are so screwed and there is no unscrewing that pooch!”
After the upgrade, my iPhone does everything much slower. The rep told me, “yes, it’s much slower… It was an optional update so we’re not responsible… If you try to downgrade, you’ll brick your phone.” I embellished that first quote but the second one is pretty much word for word.
If you have an iPhone 3G like me, DO NOT get the 4.0 update. It offers no improvements, only a huge performance hit. For example, it now take 8-14 seconds to start my calendar app, making it MUCH less useful than the previous 4 second startup time.
I will call Apple a few more times and if it keeps looking like Apple really has pulled the trigger on a planned obsolescence program for this 1.5 year old device, I will dump Apple for another platform. Eff you right back Steve Jobs.
I’m on my first business trip. Brent and I are driving to Oregon right now to take 20,000 pictures of some roads. Back in SF on Friday.
Then off to Paris Aug 9-13!
Then off to Malaysia Aug 16-20!!
I got an email Saturday 9am on Dorkbot saying that SRL is going to have a few machines at some River Town Revival thing in Petaluma. I grabbed my things and went right up there.
Coolness abounded.
* I missed the art-boat race but saw some nice vehicles: a sea monster thing, a hand-made row boat, a giant floating wicker basket.
* Saw an artist’s terrific rusted mini submarine
* “Experience the Black Hole” had this spiraling water flowing into a hole. I threw in a donation for it
Here is the view from the top of the Experience the Black Hole. :-)
Yes, that’s the Big Arm and Running Machine by SRL attacking a big glass sign with face shots of elderly people doing errr…. umm… things; suffice to say that the photos appear benign. Later the machines attacked a giant chicken; when the running machine choked the chicken mercilessly, everyone laughed and didn’t tell their children why.
I met up with Noah, a great student of mine from Crucible Youth Kinetics. And Jessie, Erik, and Trebor (who got me the happiest beer of the day!) We all went off to a great dinner in Petaluma.
A great day :-)
I have just been offered a job with Earthmine as a Field Technician. Among other things, I’ll be travelling the world maintaining super fancy cameras!
Helping to make things like this happen:
Woot! I start July 26th.
I just left voicemail on the BART comment and complaint line 510 464-7134:
Just north of the west Oakland Bart station there is some sidewalk construction going on. Pedestrians are blocked by a fence from crossing Center street. To avoid the fence pedestrians must walk east or west a very long block. Understandably, pedestrians instead choose to break down the fence and walk across the construction zone. It would be easy for Bart to make a safe crossing zone in a nearby area instead of allowing this unsafe crossing.
Please create a safe way to cross this construction zone.
We’ll see if the problem is fixed anytime soon.
This looks like it’ll be pretty nice. I’ve been watching them practice. Singers and dancers and flame throwers and contortionists and smithing oh my!
It’s going to be this Friday and Saturday at the Crucible in Oakland.
Bring a date!
http://www.thecrucible.org/events/heat-a-fire-cabaret
Short form: If you have an iphone 3g, do NOT get the new ios4 upgrade for your iphone. It’s MUCH slower and doesn’t add any features.
I’m building a list of iPhone ios4 stupidity. I wrote this all in a deadpan tone though I could have used a lot more exclamation marks and words like “stoopidly!” Here’s a start:
Most every app is much slower. For example, it now take 8 seconds to start the calendar, it used to take 4. Starting editing a note takes much longer. Etc…
It sometimes doesn’t detect my button pushes and sometimes mistakenly believes I have pushed a button. (yes, it’s insane)
I initially did an “upgrade” install. After it the Notes app would sometimes (twice out of 5 or so attempts) lose the changes I made to a note. I then did a “new” install and haven’t has that problem again.
Scrolling email is now much more jerky.
It appears that now voicemails aren’t downloaded to the phone until I try to listen to them. Which causes delays in listening to voicemails
In the first 5 seconds or so of running Notes, Calendar and many other apps, a snapshot of what was on the screen last time it was run is displayed. Of course, it looks editable, but it’s not. You can click all you want but you’re just looking at a picture of the Calendar app, Notes, etc. Key presses are not recorded or registered because… well, you’re looking at a picture of an app, not an app!
Update: 7-15-10: At the suggestion of the Apple rep, I installed iTunes on a new computer. I then Restored my phone to it, making sure to rename the phone when asked. This has fixed the problem. My phone is now as fast as it ever was. :-)
Update 7-25-10: My phone has gotten slow again after the full restore. I just installed 4.0.1. Starting Calendar still takes 8 seconds, up from 3. Eff you Steve Jobs :-)
Ok, I know I haven’t posted anything of my own creation on the blog in a while… but this makes me so happy!
Here is the second part of the Burning Man 2010 Resource Guide. Go back and find the first part here.
Continue reading ‘Burning Man 2010 Resource Guide – Part 2’ »
Every year Burning Man puts out a guide for buying supplies and such. This year’s list is pretty darn huge. So I’ve split it into 2 parts. Here you go!
Part 1
RESOURCES 2010
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Table of Contents
Playa Preparation Events
Lights and Electronics
Miscellaneous BRC Gear
Playa Wear
Services
**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**
Playa Preparation Events
**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**\<>/**
Prepare for the Playa
Continue reading ‘Burning Man 2010 Resource Guide – Part 1’ »
This is an awesome story! It’s art, activism, smart, a great use of the psychology of embarrassment, and most importantly, success!
Congratulations to Jason Eppink and Posterchild!
For more than twenty years, a leaky pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach submerged more than a hundred square feet of heavily-trafficked sidewalk under a festering cesspool of standing water. Astoria Scum River, as it was called, stretched the entire width of the sidewalk, and as winter approached, the river iced over and became particularly hazardous to cross.
Astoria Scum River Bridge was constructed to offer Astorians an opportunity to safely cross this hazard. The unauthorized bridge was a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria in the absence of successful municipal efforts to ameliorate the problem.
The bridge was made at zero cost entirely from recycled materials: an old work bench found on the curb, rescued screws from a disassembled desk, and a metal plate from an expired electrical component. It was installed and dedicated on December 30th, 2009.
On January 25th, 2010, Astoria Scum River Bridge was the subject of a commendation from the office of NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., accompanied by a pledge to work with Amtrak to re-route Astoria Scum River off the sidewalk.
Two days later, Amtrak workers began construction work. Astoria Scum River was quickly routed off the sidewalk, and within a couple months, custom-made grates were installed to complete the project. The bridge, no longer needed, was de-installed on March 20th, 2010 and returned to the curb whence it came.
Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.
Centered just a mile or so west of Ocean Beach at 7:47am.
I was in bed and barely awake. The building shook a bit more than a building should generally shake when maybe a strong wind blows on it. I was groggy but it felt like just about 3 seconds of shaking.
Wee! I haven’t felt an earthquake in a few years. It’s good to know the earth is still alive… I hope it doesn’t rain down an 8.5 tomorrow.
I went to New York a week ago and saw this poster in Baggage Claim at JFK.
Umm, if the bag made it this far, what do you think the odds are of it being a bomb?
Wow.
This happened at Lakehurst Naval Station, in the hangar that was the home of the Hindenberg et all.
An acquaintance of mine, Tito Jankowski has been working on an Open Source PCR machine with a friend. This is totally awesome stuff. It’s open source biotech! DIY Biology! When they’re done, you’ll be able to get an essential machine for examining and replicating DNA for $400 instead of the going price of such a machine, $4-10k.
Check out the video and description on their Kickstarter page.
At Maker Faire I caught the last bits of the OK Go show. The show wasn’t about the musical experience, it was about the awesome.
If you’re all about the awesome, watch the whole video.
If you have no patience, start watching at about 17:30
the byline:
h2oboy1 — May 23, 2010 — Behind the scenes at a live “underwater” OK GO concert from Maker Faire 2010, as seen through the eyes of the WaterBoy Performance Director, Marque Cornblatt. This is the first time the band has played music underwater, and they did it live at Maker Faire featuring “I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe” and “This Too Shall Pass.” Enjoy this frantic behind-the-scenes look at the making of a one-of-a-kind concert experience.
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And catch the Cracked.com Craption about Waterboy!
July 15-17 The Crucible is having a “Fire Cabaret”. I’ve been watching some of the dancing practice on my way to and from class. It looks like it’ll be pretty hot. And the other dance and such that’s lined up looks cool.
Check it out.
http://www.thecrucible.org/events/heat-a-fire-cabaret
I’m taking a trip to New Jersey shortly, landing at JFK and spending the evening in NYC first. I was very frustrated that Google Maps didn’t point me the right way on public transit. I figured out what the issue is…
If you type “JFK” into Google Maps, it doesn’t show the right starting point. You need to type “JFK Airport” in.
If you just type in “JFK”, it thinks you are starting in the middle of the airfield and it figures you don’t want to take the Airtrain but walk 1.4 miles amid the planes to the nearest MTA bus stop. This trip understandably takes a little longer, especially when you’re hauling your bags down the runway.
I wrote a note to Google Maps asking if they couldn’t fix this.
I like machine art, fire art, machine art with fire on it, discussions and actions that try to improve the world, and burritos. I really like burritos! More about me...
