Published on Wednesday, 29th December 2004 .
Winamp has come along way, but since it was bought out by AOL it hasn’t really been innovating much. I got the latest version and they have this feature that lets it become transparent (which it has done for awhile) but what they have added to this is that it becomes fully opaque when you mouse over it and fades to transparent again when you move your mouse away.
This simple interaction makes the transparent feature useful (which it was really before so didn’t use it much) but is also an interesting idea for an interface design. You could have more than one thing/window transparent and layered on top of each other. As the document was further towards the back of the pile (i.e. say a group of journal entries stacked by date) they could be more/less transparent (need to experiment with opacity). Possibly flip/zoom though the layers with the mouse wheel and on the mouse over increase the opacity to full (or readable level?).
Published on Wednesday, 22nd December 2004 .
I went to the beach with my cosine Sarah last week. We got a lift to the Jung-O (Bondi Junction, Sydney) and were standing at the bus terminal trying to decide between Bronte and Bondi beaches as both are just as easy to get to by bus from there.
We were both feeling apprehensive about Bondi but we decided to go there because the 389 came first. Sarah said to me something like:
“You never know, this Bondi experience might change our minds about Bondi beach.”
And that was all. I thought about it on the ride down and it was an uplifting attitude, one of infinite forgiveness and hope. One I wish to take up more.
I have been accused of being overly negative and critical. Attitudes that, though they help steer you clear of the worst things that could happen, also steer you clear of the best things that can befall you thought dumb luck. They are attitudes that weight heavily on the personality and rob one of the simple joys available to the open mind.
Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shinning palace built upon the sand!
I think Sarah will grow to become a wonderful person to know. I am luck to have such a brilliant cousin.
Published on Monday, 20th December 2004 .
My mind is such a fragile glass
With trembling hands I sip;
Would it were a bucket full
So every bird could dip.
Published on Thursday, 16th December 2004 .
If protesting and lobbing the government won’t work, then perhaps its time to buy change.
I was just listen to 2SER and the presenter mentioned that the Tasmania ‘old-growth regnans forests’ are being logged at something like 40 football fields a day. Mainly for wood chip it would seem. Richard Flanagan seems to indicate that “the logging industry’s astonishing exemption from the Freedom of Information Act…”. Seems that all political avenues have been taken. Protesting doesn’t seem to slow the loggers down much ether.
The current conservative government isn’t going to do much to change the situation as they don’t care about the environment. Perhaps a change of tact is required. An organization could be set-up to acquire logging companies and enforce more environmentally sound practices. Logging can be done in a manor that is profitable and minimises environmental impact.
Funds could be acquired via the usual means of venture capital encouraging people not to donate money but invest. Perhaps capital could be borrowed and returned with a minimum return before the loan is considered repaid. The companies could then be donated to Green Peace or profits used to buy other environmental management investments.
Published on Sunday, 05th December 2004 .
Wouldn’t it be good to have a website that lists zines as they come out and give you some way of getting a copy if your not in their city? Maybe just a postal address to write to get a copy or the site could charge postage and organise and send it. You’d have to be a real zine nut to do that however. If it become popular you could charge a $1 per post. Maybe get the ‘work-for-the-dole’ people to do it for you? You could offer subscriptions to certain zines and post em automatically.
Like the equivalent of a small record company but for zines. Just a random thought…