kuniform

Scott Likens, congratulations on making it to Partner. If they only knew…

When I was a kid, I used to hope to live to 2050. It would mean I might make 80 years old, and I thought it was very precise. Show up in 1970, take off in 2050. Hemingway or Eliot might hvae lived in a cooler time (at least, in retrospect), but this timeframe could be pretty cool, too. I’ve seen double quite a few times, mostly in college, sometimes when playing hockey.

In 2050 this report claims we will need to have two earths to support the needs of humans. When does the earth catch a cold and shake us all off? We need to try to live in harmony with our planet. Or get it drunk enough that it can see double! Gallows humor from me. If everyone lived the way we do in the US, the report says we would need five earths. Ouch!

Caught and colored is an exhibit of zoological illustrations from Colonial Victoria (in Australia). Oh, if only I could draw like that. Instead, I draw doodles on the bottom of papers about tagging and multimodal interactive systems, like the one in the header. Congratulations to the museum’s web development team for winning the inaugural McFarlane Prize.

Meet the Life Hackers is a great article by Clive Thompson about multi-tasking, interruptions and human-computer interaction at the NY Times magazine section.
In summary, schedule your day to do some work to avoid interruptions, avoid having multiple forms of communication available all the time (e-mail, instant messaging, phone, cell phone, etc.), and use as big of a monitor as you possibly can. It’s a worthwhile read.

A week and a half ago, my car was towed from what I considered a legal spot. Someone else considered it legal, too, given that someone else was parked there when I left. In any event, it is Chicago at the end of the month, when towers are really looking for victims. I paid my $300 in tickets and fees, and went on my way.

This morning I was walking into work, and I saw a city towtruck hauling away a car, license plate T58 6810, I believe. It was parked in a metered spot, and the meter had 11 minutes remaining on it. It made me curious, and I tried to fight the cynicism that told me he was just making a quota. Maybe this car had some outstanding tickets or something? There were none under the wipers, but maybe he has some kind of a record. In any event, it causes me to hate driving all the more, though I need to do so in order to drop off my daughter at daycare each morning. It is definitely causing me to consider a hybrid.

Last night I was invited to see a great play, called “In Times of War.” Here’s the Chicago Reader listing. It wasn’t the heavy handed treatment of current events that the title suggests. It was an intriguing and rich examination of society: our roles in power, ethnic, gender, nationalistic and economic relations. Well worth seeing. Congratulations to David Alan Moore, the writer, and Ann Filmer, the director.