The other side of rhinopharyngitis (day 222)

I was slammed by this virus which is so symmetrically beautiful that my pharynx may be excused for welcoming it in. 

Eleven days later and I'm on my way back to normal.  My dear readers, I could not even read.  I couldn't answer emails or think deep thoughts.  The only thing I could think about was how much money I would pay to feel normal for just a few hours.  This was entertaining.  Then I thought about Tony Judt who is suffering from ALS and I was grateful that at least I knew I was getting better even as my sinus headache threatened my sanity.

A few things did occur to me that I had forgotten to mention in previous blog entries.  While I was at Kerner the Camera Engineer there showed me a very nice little gadget - the Casio Exilim EX-FC100 camera.  I'm now jaded enough that gadgets don't automatically impress me but this one had me scheming about how I could justify the expense.  Until I found out it's only $250.  They make a higher end version that is more expensive (the EX-F1) but I love the smaller form factor of the FC100.   So what's so special about these cameras?  They can capture video (and sequential images) at a very high frame rate so you can get the small details in fast motion when played more slowly.  Perhaps many people knew about this but it never came to my attention before last week.  The price especially surprised me.  It seems that the Exilim wins my gadget dollar before the iPad (which I saw and briefly interacted with today).

The other thing I didn't mention is that I met a woman who happened to be visiting one of the partners at Kerner.  She was visiting from Nepal where she teaches high school, works for an NGO that helps girls recover from being kidnapped into sex slavery, and does genetic research on elephants.  Yes, three hard jobs in a country that is not easy to live in.  And she is a fascinating woman to speak to - calm, smart, interested, engaging.   So I asked her where I could find out more about her work "do you have a blog?".   "No," she says, "my kids always tell me I should have one but I just don't have the time."  Ya, no kidding.  Suddenly I felt like a tool.  Oh and yes she has kids too.  And she's only 44.  Ok, my point.  She is so busy being fascinating that she does not have an online presence.  It goes back to my fear of not knowing what we don't know.  Because it seems everyone is online around us we forget that there are people busy being rather than promoting.  I had the privilege of meeting her.  I hope I see her again but I realize this is unlikely.  Someone should follow her around and blog about her.

My first impression of the iPad?  a very big iPod Touch.   It's hard to look beyond that at first glance and interaction.  It does have a nice screen and a big virtual keyboard but as Alex pointed out it's impossible to touch type on a virtual keyboard.  Which is true.  I tried it and sure enough I had to look at the keys or I'd get lost.  I didn't realize how much I relied on the feel of the keys.  Still I think it might be possible with practice to learn to type on the virtual keyboard.  It may even be possible to implement a sort of sound-based feedback instead of touch that would help.

Still going through the Jaron Lanier book.  I'll put down some more thoughts on it tomorrow.  I made it through the parts where he slams web 2.0.  How he's onto some possible better scenarios.

A song for this post.