Gryffyd Eamonn Dempsey » Technology

Old habits

Gryffyd — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:09:36 +0000

I was reading this article and was immediately bugged by the assertion of “the following grammatical rule: there is only ONE space after a period.” First, it’s nothing to do with grammar; it’s a typographical rule. Second, I’ve been double-spacing after periods since I learned to type, way back in the wooly mammoth days when we learned on actual typewriters (electric, at least; it wasn’t like they were steam-powered). Apparently these new-fangled word processors obviate the need for a double space after a period, but there’s very little chance I’m going to change. My thumbs automatically twitch twice after I type a period, and I’m afraid the neural pathways are not to be rerouted. At least I don’t feel the urge to reach for the carriage return as I approach the end of each line. Ding!

Pfui

Gryffyd — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:59:31 +0000

So for my recent birthday, Mrs The Fyd got me a great present: an iPhone. This very cleverly turned out to be good for her, since naturally she got one too. Anyway this thing is absorbing, given the number of apps available. While browsing through them the other day I saw that there was a free I Ching app. Now I don’t credit such superstition, but I had to have it. Why? Because Marîd Audran, in the late, great, George Alec Effinger’s Budayeen novels, had an electronic I Ching. Yes, I rate accessories depending on whether they have belonged to favorite fictional characters.

Audran also had a brain modification plug-in that allowed him to assume the persona of Nero Wolfe. Perhaps when they develop the technology I’ll get the moddy that plugs in Audran plugging in Wolfe.

Who Knew?

Gryffyd — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:15:18 +0000

I was looking for a phone number on the Safeway Pharmacy website, and noticed that they have a blog. I hesitate to investigate this phenomenon further.

Something I leap at with alacrity, however, is the amazing satellite photo o’ the day from NASA.

Mic-Nificent

Gryffyd — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:05:56 +0000

I am a middling-t0-late adopter of technology, but I recognize a fucking waste of time when I see one. So I’ve opened up a Twitter account as ‘thefyd’. Though I’m sure the feeds are full of absolute inanities and glories of the mundane, I hope to surpass (or more accurately, to underachieve with regard to the goal) that standard with occasional posts about the irritations experienced by the quotidian bus passenger. Among other things.

Montant comme la mer sur le roc noir et nu

Gryffyd — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:34:03 +0000

IMG_1285

Originally uploaded by thefyd

Last year I deleted a bunch of files on my laptop because I was running out of hard drive memory. Among the apps deleted was whatever allowed the computer to recognize my camera, and hence download photos. So for months I’ve not been able to transfer pictures from my camera to my computer, but last week I got the hard drive upgraded and they also restored all the initial applications, including iPhoto. This is one of the pictures I retrieved.

This was taken the morning last August when we went to see the Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond exhibition at the Legion of Honor. We were early so we drove around the area for a bit and walked down to this area, China Beach. I post the picture for two reasons; this is San Francisco in high summer and it was as chilly that morning as it looks, and also to wonder just what the value of that house is and what must it be like to live there with that view?

Dr. Geek

Gryffyd — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:07:42 +0000

Society will have crossed another Rubicon if, at the next Apple shareholders’ conference, some investors with an errant notion of disclosure rights demand to know if Steve Jobs has suffered massive diarrhea recently.

That entire ridiculous article should have been edited down to the last paragraph (excluding the last sentence, because it’s none of our business):

Asked whether armchair diagnoses are reasonable or productive, Skarulis replied, “Unfortunately, no. There are so many processes that lead to the final common pathway of weight loss, and the metabolic processes (hormonal and otherwise) that lead to [nutrient breakdown] are complicated. Need more data!”

Quality Control

Gryffyd — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:55:30 +0000

Today as I got off the bus, I noticed that the time & temperature sign of the KeyBank branch was claiming it to be 40 degrees. Maybe in Cleveland, but not here.

As I walked along the frigid streets, I said to myself I very much doubted that sign. The temperature sign on the building where I work told me that it considered us to be enjoying a brisk 15 degrees. That sounded more like it but once again technology is letting me down.

I Get My Thang in Action

Gryffyd — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:50:10 +0000

Earlier this evening I was shoveling snow off the sidewalk, when I heard something I thought at first was a car’s open-door alarm. I wondered who would be sitting in their car with the door open in this weather, when I realized the sound as that of an old-fashioned telephone. Who would have their window open in this weather that I could hear their phone so clearly. Then I recognized that it was my cell phone ringing, and that recently I had changed the ring tone for my father’s number to the old-fashioned bell sound, and that furthermore my father was calling back because I had let him a message earlier, wishing him happy birthday.

Technology almost caused me to miss a call from my father on his birthday. What future innovation will prove to be the one to which I will not be able to fully adapt?