Archive for January, 2008
Life in space!
Now they claim there’s life in space! The answer to that has got to be the classic: “No shit, Sherlock!?” Because, really, if you want proof of life in space, all over the place, all you have to do – really! – is to open your eyes and look around. Life’s abundant; everywhere on this mostly harmless pale blue dot we call home there is life, from the darkest and deepest pits to the highest mountains, from the most acid lakes to the coldest Antarctic deserts. Life! All around us! And you know what? We are in space! Really! We are!
The only thing we actually need proof of is that there’s intelligent life in space – looking around doesn’t really help there – and, as someone said: “the best proof of intelligent life in space is that noone has tried to contact us“
And us folks are so deprived of imagination!
The thing is this: Whenever there’s talk of life (as in the aforementioned “life in space” (spoken with an ominous voice) piece) people, or scientists, always raise the issue of water and oxygen. Water and Oxygen – the very foundations of life itself! (Sometimes light is claimed aswell)
Although there actually excist creatures, on this very earth, which survive on sulfur, acids and such (I might be wrong here, bare with me).
Let’s phrase the question about life. What is life? (it’s a big question, so it comes in big letters!)
I have a simple answer – but then again I’m no scholar, merely a designer – to this and it goes a bit like so: Life is what proliferates itself (i.e what “gives birth” to other life), what feeds itself, survives, procreates (yes, I’ve said that) and – eventually (perhaps) even dies.
So, does this mean that life should be an organic conundrum of organs, matters, fluids and such, or could life be something like a self-sustaining computer/robot-system which has the abilities to learn from it’s own mistakes (i.e some sort of neural network or similar), procreate (since it may or may not be in control of manufacture which creates other machines like it, feeds itself (by means of, say, electricity) and at roads end perhaps even dies (by accident, wear, letting go of its magic blue smoke)?
Or to make it a simple statement. Imagine for a second that there’s Transformers in space, you know: Autobots and Decepticons – the likes of Optimus Prime and Megatron. They wouldn’t they atleast consider themselves as alive, life even? Would we?
I think we’d have some really pissed of bots on our hands – or in our back yard – if we claimed them less than life, less than alive.
Use your imagination, folks! Space in endless (well, sort of) – and so are the possibilities!
(And so there was another question: Is life life if there is no death?)
Hulk kär (:
comparison top by bottom.
Now, as every designer knows – and the rest of us for that matter, much of the design available and/or common today has it’s roots somewhere in the past. Closer or further, wider or more pinpointed to a certain origin. Sometimes its oh so subtle, other times it gets very obvious; like when Apple designs product lines and they all bear (a somewhat uncanny) resemblance to objects from the past. Namely Braun and Dieter Ram’s objects from the past.
Wait! Don’t take my word for it… Gizmodo wrote a rather enlightening short piece about this.
Me personally? I would go for the streamlining-retro look. Dymaxion style, a personal favourite.
Hey! Where’ve I seen that one before? Actually the Braun is superiourly designed, imho.
Can anyone say “hey! that one has a slot in the side!”?
If you wan’t to read my ramblings on technology just klick on through to www.mobilkoll.se, www.gpskoll.se and www.prylkoll.se.
Cheers, mates!
Got this one in the mail, origins unknown. Thanx to Faidros!
Caption: “Christianity – The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree… yeah, makes perfect sense.”
En blomma! Som lixom pallar allt! Snygg är den oxo!
These damned hands!
I am a person who likes to touch things. I like the textures, the rough bits and the subtle things. Wherever I go, I tend to touch atleast something on the way. It’s not a compulsion, and I don’t feel bad when and if I don’t, but why deprive oneself of such simple pleasures?
Also, I have rather bad memory for faces; I have mild problems remembering peoples faces, especially if they’re new to me. Stupid things – like my friend who claimed to be “the proud result of a thousand years of nordic inbreeding” and liked to sing Bellman tunes. We don’t really hang anymore, but he’s there, in the back of my head constantly.
Or the friend who had a band called “Alkis in shades” – alcoholic in sunshades, a play on Alice in chains. Or the genious who coined the phrase “best thing about peing in a group is that you don’t know who smells like kaviar“, which I consecuently turned to the title of this blog.
As usual I digress.
The touch
I have a hard time remembering faces. A good memory of silly things or basic fuckups – and a very good memory for touch. You should try touching things. The roughness of old concrete or a brick wall. The smooth stickyness of clean glass, the subtle – almost electric – feeling of fingertip against fingertip. Try it; it’s both interesting and sensual. Even the feeling of the keys on the laptop, or the soft abrasiveness of it’s many cables: highly interesting and very pleasant (in a totally non-sexual way).
As a consequence of all this, I – like many others – like to be touched. Pair this with the memory of touch, the feelings in my fingertips, palms, forehead, lips, nose, even feet. The memory of surfaces, soft, hard, rough, silky, the bow of a brow, the soft skin on the inside of the forearm
…
Damn these hands!
…finns de som måste bygga pyramider.
This is just so fucking beautiful!
There’s been something which might resemble winter, even tho’ it’s been more like autumn/early spring. Since I don’t celebrate christmas, hanukkah, kwanza or even festivus I decided to eat a bad falafel – after an urgent phonecall in which a close and tall friend demanded I show up immediately or crisis would be afoot, and yes there was a lot of drunken stupour, even though not on my behalf.
Already I digress! Well, bad falafel and a somewhat improvised decision to get very, very ill all through the festivities. I’m not even gonna start trying what had gone wrong in my body, but there was an abundance of coughing and very little eating, which – it turns out – is rather complimenting for my figure, or lack thereof.
I planned to sleep a lot this vacation. Guess my plans are to remain pushed towards the future, for I haven’t slept any more than I usually do, which is to say 4-5 hours a night, with the occasional all-nighter once every couple of days…
These are the things I did do, though:
- Completely remodel the Prickr insulin dispenser and blood analyzer – a design study for Sony Ericsson due this semester, a year ago. Yes, it’s the one in the picture. It’s not as edgy now, and also has a charger unit, with a desk-stand.
- Talk a lot about roundabouts, sewing machines and the gayness of things (namely…)
- Make good friends close friends – it’s strange what a night on the town can do and how action filled (really!) it can become in just a matter of seconds.
- See a bird being flicked at Annika – skiiiitbra! (;
- Spend almost a week in bed – due to illness. Weird, but… weird (and sweaty).
- Listen to lots of music
- Have some chicken kebab
- Upgrade my iPhone – it was a bit nervous in the middle of the night and the middle of things.
- Make plans
- Not get my banana pealed – which actually is a good thing, I think.
- Receive the study-response I wanted
- Make further plans
- Design a couple of transportation concepts, a bottle, a self-watering flower pot, a take-away mug, a kick-spark (the other picture).
- Take lots of really hot baths… to get the fever down, and because it’s oh so cozy!
- Start design on my future house/boat/house/ark/getaway/barge/haven
- Buy a lot of toys for the kiddies and consecuently build some Lego – which I never tire of…
- Read FoF
- Yawn a whole lot
- Eat a whole lot of cottage cheese!
- Spend the holidays either in bed or at school
- Ride an ambulance – why did I skip this one?
All I have to do now is finish my booklets, and I’m off! Yay! All in all, a good break without the pain… and oh, yeah… I study Industrial design at LTH/Lund.
amoxa
morpheo
Min luktar oxo fisk 