Q: So what’s with the animated GIF, Hoarseman? Don’t you know how to Flash™?
A: Of course, I know HOW to flash, it’s just not something I’m likely to do in public. In fact, the first animation I created for these tiny dancers was a Flash™ file, but I wanted to see this whole series on my iPad™. I also created a video file, but was too lazy to configure the page to support it.
Flash is a trademark of Adobe Systems. iPad is a trademark of Apple.
Good friend Mark Stevens (Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan) had a great post on Colorado Authors League about the benefits of writing by hand [translation: with paper or a similar material and a pen, #2 Ticonderoga pencil, Sharpie, etc. — GEEK ALERT: NO, repeat NO, electronics are involved.]
I’ve tried it. I really enjoyed Anne Randolph‘s Naked Writing workshop (not for the reason’s you might think) because it was all done by hand [translation: MY version of “by hand” is with an iPad notes app and the tip of my finger.] It’s an amazing way to … wait for it … get in touch with the words flowing from your brain.
Before we go further I need to interject that as a boy I wanted to become a doctor… Was it for the love of my fellow man? No. Was it for the prestige of being a physician? No. Was if for … the money. Heaven’s NO.
It was because every doctor I had ever known had HANDWRITING JUST LIKE MINE!
One of the most amazing organizations on the planet is TED. Where else can you gather the brightest people on the planet? — With a time limit.
Sometimes, looking at these I believe that 18 minutes (NOT the amount of stuff missing from the Nixon tapes*) will someday save the world.
Me, I can’t think without doodling on paper or iPad. (Of course, there are those who would say I don’t think anyway.)
*[ed note: of course this talk is only six minutes, as are most of the talks on TED.com, but the time limit for the TED conference speakers is 18 minutes. I wonder if they were thinking of the “missing minutes” when they came up with that time limit…]
HM
Photoillustration: ChaliceMedia
My good (and respected) friend F.P. Dorchak put up a well-written and interesting post about the gadgets we buy. In one of my responses, I compared gadgets (like the iPad®, eReaders, etc) to the ejection seat, and in intravenous infusion pump. Frank’s natural, and immediate response was “But really, comparing iPad to an ejection seat?”
Just this morning, I found over two million hits relating the iPad to emergency services. This one from Emergency Physicians Monthly was at the top of the list. [But I digress.]
Maybe another important viewpoint on the topic is not “do we need gadgets” but “where should we get the gadgets we need.”
Most of them are coming from countries whose people have been indoctrinated to hate the U.S. and Americans for the past sixty years or more. Now that we owe them trillions of dollars in debts, have spent more billions (perhaps trillions) of dollars in infrastructure and plant investments, do you think that that indoctrination has just gone away?
How can anyone with a conscience make toys containing lead paint? The recalls are STILL coming from Chinese products, three so far in 2011.
Yes, I have an iPad. I avoided getting it for nearly a year because of the FOXCONN suicides (and the ridiculous solution of putting massive nets around the buildings – maybe THEY should have used ejection seats), and that every device, part, accessory and component are manufactured in China. I held off knowing that it was likely the groundbreaking device I needed for my work. I hoped against hope that a new tablet (perhaps the Samsung, made in Korea) would have the capabilities that I needed. Yet last December, I bit the bullet. Aside from the China thing, Apple is all-in-all a pretty impressive company, and the iPad is truly a revolutionary product. — If I have an allergic reaction, anyone near me can tap a button to get instructions on the EpiPen® I carry with me. (I’ve been in an ER where they didn’t bother to look at the bracelet on my wrist.)
I can write, compose music, design graphics, maintain websites, anywhere, at any time. [but again, I digress]
Maybe the question we do need to ask ourselves is not whether we need that piece of technology, or fabric, or toy, or cheeseburger; but do we need it badly enough to buy it from ANYBODY.
The China thing, OK, it’s being done to death. But what about other considerations, especially for purchases in the hundreds, thousands of dollars.
No, we can’t do this all the time, it really is impossible.
But we can at least think about it. And where each of our hard-earned dollars actually ends up.
sicut conscientia mille testes
HM
HoarseMan of... 