Wow, Saveology is definitely playing hardline.
Not only is ‘I would like to receive emails’ set to the same checkbox as ‘I agree to ToS’, they also block the use of the Gmail + trick. Oh well, can’t deny half-price iTunes gift cards.
Me on KONY: One day later
Notice that I didn’t post or repost anything about KONY 2012 yesterday, either on here, on Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else. (Other than to comment that they struck an impressively contagious social media campaign.)
Yesterday, I saw KONY blow up on every single network I’m on (even on, gasp, Instagram). Naturally, I skimmed the video. I did a quick Google search about this man, Joseph Kony. What I concluded was that Invisible Children is running a flashy campaign about a small issue that most people previously never paid attention to.
That’s phenomenal. From my quick research, Kony has been committing his atrocities for decades, and I’ve never heard of him on the news. I bet there are many other hidden issues in the world that mainstream media simply doesn’t pick up for whatever reason.
I still refrain from taking sides or spreading one message, and that’s something I do for every controversial issue I see until I can do more research myself. That earlier link that I reblogged criticizing Invisible Children? Take that with a grain of salt just as you would with any other piece of argumentative literature (including the KONY campaign). From my basic impression of IC, that article is as anti-IC as KONY is anti-Kony. Meaning, facts are liberally thrown in as long as they support the argument.
I suppose that KONY 2012 overmarketed themselves also made me tread extra carefully. Anything that comes charged with pathos and gets a crowd (in this case, the internet) riled up sets off my BS meter. It’s an effective marketing strategy, but it also encourages people to jump on the bandwagon without really thinking, which is what happens in a mob. In addition, I was disappointed that the KONY 2012 website’s primary drive is for you to pledge with your email. Second thing was asking you to call celebrities to raise awareness. Really? If I’m going to support a cause, I’m going to want something far more actionable than that or buying fancy t-shirts and bumper stickers.
Update: The Atlantic has written a good piece on this very last point.
Afternoon Refresh
I thought up another way to intervene my bad habit of slaving away at my computer every afternoon. The root of the problem is that once I get on the computer, I find a billion tasks to do and, because of the nature of the internet, I find a billion more tasks to do as soon as I finish my original tasks.
Without completely segmenting my life into a schedule (which doesn’t seem to work too well for me), I’ve designated a mandatory 15 minute refresh period for myself every afternoon. How is it mandatory? I have my Tomato router set up to kill the internet for 15 minutes every day at 4:30pm, and I have an iPhone alarm set to warn me 5 minutes prior.
Hopefully, that 15 minutes of offline peace will allow me to break away from what I was working on and take a look at what I should be accomplishing that day. Maybe I’ll even turn off my computer to work on the offline work that so often gets passed over. So, don’t be surprised if you see my suddenly go offline in the afternoons!
I finally got Lasers
I’m actually a huge Lupe Fiasco fan. Just been way too busy all these months, and the mixed reception and lackluster singles didn’t make me hurry. But, I’ve been holding out and purposely avoiding listening to the individual songs until now.
It’s actually a really decent album! Despite what controversy Lupe had against his own album, it’s not a bad effort in switching up content and style.
Content-wise, I think this might be the most serious attempt I’ve seen at putting social commentary in a rap album. Though I’m not in accord with most of Lupe’s political views, it’s a commendable decision to expand into these broader topics. Lasers actually touches on a lot of issues, sometimes a bit incongruously. Compared to previous albums, there’s definitely a step up in the intensity of his message, though I miss some of the more abstract songs he’d done in the past.
That leads us into style. Again, there is a big shift with Lasers, which you’ll notice right away with the album art. Sonically, I think what is amazing is thatLasers is not only different from Lupe’s previous albums, but completely distinct to other mainstream sounds. This is accomplished with a very industrial and lo-fi backing sound. I’m not saying I love it, and I do think the lo-fi sound is a bit too jumbled on here, but it’s certainly something fresh to listen at. Producer credit is listed as “Free Chilly” and Lupe himself. I don’t know who this “Free Chilly” is, but props to him nonetheless.
The other thing is that Lasers has a lot of featured artists. Not guest rappers, but singers who add to the chorus (he even got John Legend). I almost think it’s too much. It stands as a rather conspicuous contrast to the lo-fi production. Whereas the production itself would’ve put the album on the same progressive level as Odd Future or Watch The Throne, the vocal choruses brings the album back to mainstream. Maybe that’s what Lupe was griping about, but I don’t know.
The final comment I want to make echoes what I said about the shift in content: I really miss the dark, abstract feel of earlier Lupe tracks! The heavy, industrial sound could’ve made for some beautiful NIN-style tracks. Instead, Lupe is intense but flat on all of the tracks.
And that’s all I have to say about Lasers! It’s bold, it’s not a disappointment, but it could’ve been amazing.
The next big step for spaceflight
The big event of the day was obviously the final launch of space shuttle Atlantis, the last launch ever for NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program.
It’s been 135 missions, 355 astronauts, and half a billion miles since the first launch of the Columbia back in 1981. In 12 day’s time, Atlantis will be back from the International Space Station and be put on permanent display at locations around the country along with the two other remaining shuttles.
I was trying to learn a bit about the situation surrounding the program’s retirement, but as Wikipedia would have it, I ended up spending the afternoon reading all about American history, aerospace engineering, and military conspiracies.
Changing the game: Light field cameras
Pretty much the most badass technology to come out of Silicon Valley in a long time. It’s a completely new camera technology that lets you “shoot first, focus later.”
As described by one of Lytro’s investors:
People often refer to taking a picture as capturing the moment, but conventional photography does not really capture the moment. It captures one angle, one set of light, and one focus of the moment. If you are a professional photographer, you might capture the best parts of the moment. If you are someone like me, you most certainly will not. With Ren’s light field camera, you actually capture the moment or at least all of the light that visually represents the moment. Once you have captured the moment, you can go back at any time and get the picture that you want.
The idea for this company actually came from a Stanford CS student’s PhD dissertation. He went on to build his research into a viable consumer company, Lytro, which has attracted $50m in funding so far. You can see many more demo photos here.
An actual camera is scheduled to come out to market later this year. Personally, I’m more excited about the potential that such an innovative technology brings.
I was pondering signing up for Getaround.
Decided not to.
If I was living in a city and car-free, I could see myself using carsharing as a renter quite a bit. But right now, and from a car owner’s point of view, it’s just not at all a good idea.
I love the concept of communal property for the sake of efficiency, and even as a car-lover, I do see car ownership as a giant societal issue needing some disruption. I’m a hugely practical person, and if a tool (the car) costs me a giant chunk of my monthly income but is sitting around 90% of the time… well, then that’s a crappy tool and I’m an idiot for using it.
Ideally, from an efficien-holic point of view, Henry Ford wouldn’t have made the automobile affordable to all, the car wouldn’t have become a status symbol, the auto giants wouldn’t have lobbied Congress to kill public transportation infrastructure, and the Interstates wouldn’t have been built. Yes, that’s a invidious thing for me to say as a car guy, but if none of that occurred in the past century, I wouldn’t be a car guy today.
