Inspired by others taking credit for vague inventions, I would like to go on record with a vague invention of my own that I suspect will someday be very valuable. First, in case it’s not already obvious, let me be clear that I have no idea what I’m talking about.

The idea is much like noise-cancelling headphones, but rather than sound waves cancelling sound waves, you use various types of radiation to cancel out other radiation. For example, you could create a reverse-microware that would measure the vibration of the molecules in the food, and create an inverse microwave pattern that would cancel the vibration, therefore freezing the product. Perhaps there could be other applications in protecting ourselves from the gigawatts of energy we pump into ourselves every day.

Again – absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. If you know why this might be a stupid idea, I’d rather not hear from you. I’m only soliciting positive feedback.

After a heated debate, one which I was positive I was correct and felt silly defending myself, on the topic of “are lobsters insects” (they have like eight legs without counting the claws, that should have been enough!) I found myself researching big bugs on the internet. I learned about the biggest bug (aptly named the Titanus Giganteus) and somehow I found Bug in a Box.

You can buy all kinds of dead bugs in boxes here. Cool leaf monsters to beetles that look like works of art. I was amazed as I went through this at how neat the idea was. They even have couple of very ugly ones.

I want a Death Bug.

Is this like wearing fur? You can get a butterfly to match your couch!

In a very wired move Wired magazine continues to publish the entire editorial contents of the print magazine online each month. It’s all there – no delay, no catch. Smart move – particularly for situations like this, where I want to discuss a story from the print magazine on a site like this.

There’s an interesting article about the role of ubiquitous broadband on the social structures in the worlds most wired city, Seoul. The Bandwidth Capital of the World, explores how being online is a social activity in Korea rather than an isolated activity, as it often is elsewhere.

The article is particularly interesting if prefaced with Derek Powazek’s book, Design for Community – the art of connecting people in virtual places and Ben Brown’s excellent article (based on a panel at the 2002 SxSW Conference), Taking Online Interactivity Offline.

Also, listening to keyboard-night on CBC Radio Two’s Radiosonic with Grant Laurence. It’s all good. I hope they play Joy Electric.

I don’t own any Apple products, but I find Apple’s marketing strangely entertaining. This is partly due to the fact that the advertising is often very well done and partly because it is just strange.

Apple’s most recent ‘Switch’ ad campaign is no exception (see the ads). While it certainly wouldn’t prompt me to buy anything, I would venture that it will be quite successful. Despite some absolutely hilarious criticism (Flash/Audio), the ads capitalize on a common thread among many computer users – we hate and fear our computers. The cause for this hate and fear cannot be pinned on any one product or platform, but Apple will likely succeed in planting a seed in many minds: “This computer sucks. Apple is better.”

I’m really just trying to justify why I watched a webcast of Steve Jobs’ keynote at MacWorld this week. As always, Steve gave a well-delivered, if not a little creepy, run down of how great Apple is. I don’t blame him – it’s his job.

What caught my attention was a short excerpt from the presentation that Jobs would love for none of us to have noticed. These few short seconds said more than the entire MacWorld conference. While doing a demo of the Mail utility in OS X, something went wrong with Jobs’ demo machine. It’s not clear exactly what went wrong, but Jobs casually leaned over, flicked a switch, and said something about a “backup” machine.

What he did was switch the monitor, keyboard, and mouse he was using to a completely new machine that was waiting in the wings – obviously in anticipation of just such a scenario.

Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you had a problem with your computer you could seamlessly switch to a standby?

I’m pleased (and proud) to be posting from my new house (new to me, at least). A few weeks of rewiring, painting, pulling up old carpet – to reveal some beautiful hardwood floors – and I’m enjoying my new place very much. It’s a small, simple home – exactly what I was looking for.

What did I learn about real estate? I learned some new jargon. I learned that you will be rewarded if you wait for the right place (or I was, at least). Oh, and you might get a bottle of wine from your real estate agent.

Working on the new house, moving, and getting settled have forced me to push back some planned improvements to aov. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it since been a particularly busy summer at work. However, the updates are mostly for my own benefit – so you’re not missing much.

Many thanks to all those who have helped me out with the move and with the new place (especially my family).

There was some talk on this site about what can be called ‘news’ since I was interviewed on local CBC radio about the Northern Exposure petition. Well, I’ve been completely outdone.

Listen to this absolutely hilarious CBC PEI interview with a disgruntled hot dog vendor (RealAudio).

A few key quotes:

Interviewer: “What did you expect when you came here?”
Hotdog Man: “We expected, like, well, what we read in the paper.”
Interviewer: “Did you do any kind of market research before you came out here?”
Hotdog Man: “Not one iota.”
Interviewer: “So just basically going on rumour alone?”
Hotdog Man: “Crapshoot.”

Hotdog Man: “Can you imagine a hot dog cart with no umbrella? Like, how ridiculous.”

The local CBC radio interviewed me about the Northern Exposure petition yesterday. I didn’t hear the interview (it aired very early this morning), but they’ve got a piece about the interview on their website.

I have to admit – I’m a little embarrassed by the coverage. Don’t get me wrong, I love the limelight, and I love the show. It’s just that of all the things going on in my life, this is not something that I’m putting too much thought or energy into. I mean, a petition for third-world debt relief maybe – but for a TV show?

I don’t even own a TV.

And for the record, during the interview I said “literary allusions” not “illusions” as is unfortunately quoted with my comment about how “smart” the show was.

UPDATE: The CBC has corrected the illusions/allusions mixup on their site. Thanks.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The CBC has posted the full interview (4:17) in Real Audio format.

An anonymized conversation from the company intranet:

Subject: A&W

Dude #1:
I noticed, while gassing up this morning, that the new A&W on Univ Ave. is open for business! I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had A&W…

Dude #2:
Maybe we should eat there for lunch today…. there was a line up yesterday.

(time passes…)

Dude #3:
Let’s never do that again.

Dude #1:
I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’ll be a long time before I eat A&W again…

Dude #2:
I feel gross.

This year, apparently due to the fear of terrorism (which is apparently the new communism), the CBC’s Canada Day celebrations were moved from their traditional venue on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to our humble Charlottetown waterfront. I took in some of the festivities and have a few observations to make:

• The entire night felt less like being at a live event, and more like participating in the production of a television show – which I guess it was. There were even commercial breaks via jumbo-tron. Who are we trying to entertain? Ourselves? The idea of connecting the whole country via satellite seems like a good one. However, rather than making me feel connected to the rest of the country, it left me feeling disconnected from the people and events around me.
• I gathered further evidence of my soon-to-be-famous law, Garrity’s Inverse Law of Congregational Intelligence. The law states that the intellect of individuals in a crowd decreases exponentially as the number of individuals in the crowd increases.
• Jimmy Rankin put on a great show.
• Smoking in public places should be banned.
• I love watching fireworks. There’s something simple and good about bright lights and loud noises. Having a live soundtrack from Rufus Wainwright was a nice touch (though I’d love to see him in a better setting).

I’m a little uncomfortable with the entire idea of Canada Day. Celebrating the country is fine – it’s a pretty good one. It’s the whole concept of pride that strikes me as odd. I don’t feel proud to live in Canada. I feel fortunate, glad, and appreciative, but I haven’t really done anything to deserve living in such a wealthy country.

The obligatory gold-medal Olympian in the ceremony made a comment about the rest of the world being jealous of Canada. I’m sure his intentions were honourable, but given how wealthy Canada is compared to so much of the world, I think this is insensitive. Yes, it’s great that we have doctors, clean water, freedom, and wealth, but I’m certainly not glad that these attributes make us unique.

Happy Canada Day.

There’s an interesting article, Push Here to Save Energy, in MIT’s Technology Review about the work of Bruce Nordman of the L. Berkeley National Laboratory.

Nordman is on something of a crusade to standardize the mess of office equipment power statuses – on, off, hibernate, sleep, power-saving mode, stand-by – the list goes on. Nordman’s research suggests that an enormous amount of money and energy is being wasted simply because people don’t understand (or bother understanding) the many variations of power-saving options in office equipment.

Nordman’s group is proposing a standard of three options: On, Off, and Asleep. They are also pushing for wider adoption of the semi-standard power symbol and the crescent moon shape for Sleep mode.

This is a great idea, however, anyone interested in the practical application of a standard like this should first read of Donald Norman’s attempt to simplify and standardize the Macintosh power button. Sounds simple. Isn’t.

I would suggest (if they haven’t already done so) that Nordman approach the American Institute of Graphic Arts for a truly public and standard symbol. The AIGA has many standard icons publicly available – include the balanced and beautiful Information symbols seen here.