Words I dislike

Words & concepts I strongly dislike - at this moment in time [2012/2013].

BAU (Business as Usual).
Normal.
Global South/North (Affluent countries).
Developed-Developping.
Socially optimal level of pollution [, (non)achieved by] the free market.
Civilized.
Planned obsolescence.

Brain just wanna have phun.

Once you understand that the brain is constantly trying to derail you from what you are (not fully-engagingly) doing at the moment,
it becomes easier to embrace and neglect it. Brain just wanna have phun.

Caring about others is caring for oneself

Caring about others will ultimately also be about caring for yourself.
If you want the people that love you and are close to you to flourish and thrive, to be happy,
it logically follows, that they need to be sure you are OK, actually good and genuinely doing great.

So, the argument goes, if you need external motivation for things you need to do - like work, study, thesis, laundry, whatever,
then know that
'when you do better, we do better'. (SW)

Onomatopoeity - onomatopoeia

Also something old I found on the PC. I wrote some of my onomatopoetic mistakes down in the last couple of years. This is their story.

Into the sizzling heat of savannas and bearly bearable humidity of the Brasilian rainforest.
... barely bearable humidity ...
A thought that has stricken me while reading the essay is
While on the topic, it stroke me that
While on the topic, it struck me while reading the essay that

Maybe I should've delete it the rest.
Maybe I should've deleted the rest.

jeaolus -> jealous  It's nice to know it just isn't in my dictionary.

and how much incouraged? -> encouraged

Yeah, it's a really cool weed...:)
Yeah, it's a really cool video:)

Sustainable: labelling of the food wood be
Sustainable: labelling of the food would be

with the same characterystic
with the same characteristic

I just saw you're message and I'm in Technotron... Jammer.
I just saw your message...

and the work did not at all progress as fast as I would hev liked to
and the work did not at all progress as fast as I would have liked to

Levels of English plummeting: No, these is to say that ...
Jesus. Onomatopoety, I kill you.

quire > choir

Lied on the bed
I lay on the bed...

##Dutch
Sometimes, my brain says something between Dutch & English, and instead of saying bye or dag, today, I went: "Bah!"
(Which is definitely better than the other way around, between dag and bye: "Die!" :)

Mono-dialogues

This is something old I found on my PC.


Internal dialogues

- I like her.
- You like everybody.
- True.
Still, she's kinda cute.
- Hopeless.

The Age of (Un)natural Inventions

Ho, luckily I'm not there yet. So, still exciting. Referring to the 'supposebly' Douglas Adams' three human reactions to new technologies (image below, got it from a tweet, here).

In the spirit of the post, here's my selection of the best inventions I recall from only the last 5 years.
Have you seen:

1. The awesome self-inflatible biking helmet, Hovding? A collection of links, info, here.
2. An all-year-round beer/drinks cooler, that also looks cool. Oh, it doesn't need any electricity, once installed. See link here.
3. A keyring that calls out for your keys, Chipolo (Slovenia) crowdfunded here.
4. A toy that talks and teaches your kid, and responds to him or her, Ubooly, here.
5. Copenhagen wheel - attachable wheel that powers up while you cycle, and helps you (up hill) faster, here. And same same but different (yet, Slovenian) version, FlyKly here.
6. Because I've tried it and it works (to reasonable physical limits of bending), Sugru with magnets!
7. Solar powered flash light: BoGo light: Buy one, Give one, a nice concept* with a useful product.
   (*Can't find it, but the idea of a pink flashlight in Africa (so that men wouldn't steal it from women) is touched upon here.)
8. One laptop (that can be winded-up) per child [empower the world's poorest children through education], here OLPC project, here: XO laptop (and tablet?). TED talk here.
9.  ? (tell me of more you know of)

 

So, I'm glad to be looking at another 7 years or so of wonder and amazement in tech world. (Though I'll strive for like, 77 years, just to be on the safe side of Wonder.)

Invisible bike helmet in a scarf

Bike helmets discourage cycling. Do they make you safer or unsafer? See extensive blog post with links, written by Howie Chong, below (4).

How about an invisible biking helmet? Or one that you can wear as a scarf, a neckie?
Enter Hövding from Sweden.

(1): Hövding: cycling helmet in a scarf | Hunter Skipworth, 14 Oct 2013
The latest innovation in bike gear? A nifty collar that inflates to become an airbag at the first sign of trauma. And you're safe from helmet hair, too.

(2): video: Invisible Bike Helmet Saves Your Hair and Your Life: link (yT).

(3): NY Times: Who needs a cycling helmet, when you’ve got an airbag? | Murad Ahmed Technology Reporter, November 13 2013. Link here.

And how to drive in tricky situations? See (5), Cycling Savvy.

"Bike helmets discourage cycling. An Australian study on mandatory helmet laws concluded that laws that required cyclists to wear head protection actually decreased the number of cyclists on the road. The implication of this study? The fewer cyclists on the road, the less likely drivers will be accustomed to sharing road space with cyclists, ultimately increasing the hazards faced by cyclists and further dissuading people from hopping on their bikes." (From: (4))

(4): "Children and toddlers on foot are far more likely to receive traumatic brain injuries than cyclists, yet parents who place protective headwear on their walking toddlers are openly ridiculed."
:: link here.

(4.2): Got it (4) via Florian Friedrich, on FB.

(5): Cool animations and explanations. Could work well for kids, learning to share the road. Here.

(6): The startup company, Hövding: http://www.hovding.com/

Got the image from: here.

The passing of time, marked by the changes in (written) language

See, for example older novels, like the ones of John Carter from Mars - excerpt below.

John Carter:
Adventures on Mars book cover

Ascending to the roof of the building I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

Edgar Rice Burroughs: John Carter of Mars, Chapter VIII, p. 38

Nice, huh? I think it's more diverse words than your reg'lar newspaper article. Or even a paragraph from your average book, nowadays. This is a guess.

Some time ago, I wanted to research, how words and language in Disney songs changed through the years. (Or search the web first, in case someone dunnit before.)

My proposition is that the level has dumbified and dropped dramatically. What's your take?

BMX - a kid in the eighties and nineties

It's nice to know I was definitely a kid in the 90s.

"BMX Bike: The amount of cool that you were is in direct correlation with the number of speeds on your bike.

"Nintendo: This was the greatest Christmas gift I’ve ever received and as soon as my parent’s got it for me I knew I would let them live with me when they got older and couldn’t take care of themselves."

From: The 40 Christmas Presents That Every Kid In The 90s Absolutely Had To Have. Nov. 21, 2013, By Rob Fee.