When fast and slow time meet, fast time wins. This is why one never gets the important things done because there is always something else one has to do first. Naturally, we will always tend to do the most urgent task first. In this way, the slow and long-term activities lose out. In an age when the distinctions between work and leisure are being erased, and efficiency seems to be the only value in economics, politics and research, this is really bad news for things like thorough, far-sighted work, play and long-term love relationships

Eriksen, The Tyranny of the Moment, 2001

Taken from No Time to Think

In an effort to keep older computer file formats viable, the EU is putting up over $5 Million to build a series of emulators to keep old software running and old file formats accessible.

Called Keeping Emulation Environments Portable (Keep), the project aims to create software that can recognise, play and open all types of computer file from the 1970s onwards.

. . .

“every digital file risks being either lost by degrading or by the technology used to ‘read’ it disappearing altogether”

Great idea. The BBC has more.

I stumbled across this article from the economist, which briefly outlines some of the mechanisms which collective animals like bees and cockroaches make decisions. An excerpt:

Another form of groupthink occurs when people are either isolated from crucial sources of information or dominated by other members of the group, some of whom may have malevolent intent. This too has now been demonstrated in animals. José Halloy of the Free University of Brussels used robotic cockroaches to subvert the behaviour of living cockroaches and control their decision-making process. In his experiment, reported in an earlier issue of Science, the artificial bugs were introduced to the real ones and soon became sufficiently socially integrated that they were perceived as equals. By manipulating the robots, which were in the minority, he was able to persuade the cockroaches to choose an inappropriate shelter—even one which they had rejected before being infiltrated by machines.

I think we can easily find parallels to this in our own society. Deliberate disinformation campaigns by the cigarette industry and the fossil fuel industry regarding the safety of smoking and global warming, respectively, delayed the progression of the debate on these issues by years, maybe decades.

Via Policy Economist.

This is perhaps hyperbolic at this point — Google probably won’t be closing anytime soon, and some of the best cloud services do allow you to get your data off — but the point does have some merit. I want to have my digital documents, emails, videos, and photos for the rest of my life. Gmail will be around in 5 years, but will it be there in 50?

I have almost always favoured services that let me control my own data in some way. I have used an email client during a time where it seems most people are moving to gmail. I’m using a NAS instead of Amazon S3’s online storage. I use a privately-hosted WordPress because I can walk away with my data at any time.

The sweet-spot for me seem to be pieces of software that bridge the two. They let me keep a hold of my data locally while letting backing-it-up and letting me access it from elsewhere. Apple’s Mobile Me is going in the right direction, but is unfortunately marred by spotty implementation. Along with giving me more control of my data, I also get the advantage of generally having quicker interfaces, more things like drag and drop, and a standard mac-like interface consistency that makes it easier to move from application to application.

This American Life has a good rundown on the financial crisis. For those of you like myself who are outside of the U.S. of A, the TAL podcast is a must-listen, but this episode in particular helped explain a lot of things which were otherwise a little opaque and complicated.

Giant Cow Heads Found in Abandoned Building

Maybe it’s a sign that my “real life” commitments getting the best of me since I keep linking to Walking Turcott Yards instead of writing my own stuff, but I really liked this post about some old advertising icons that were discovered somewhere unexpected.

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Redefining Waiting

A neat little story about how a landlord stopped complaints about elevator wait times by installing mirrors, which proved distracting enough to keep people occupied.

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A Year of Heavy Losses

The New York times has a little interactive chart showing which American financial companies have lost what over the last few days.

I was floored. It’s a small thing, yes, but it was the sort of human gesture which made all the difference and made me all the more loyal to their store. It cost them nothing in the end, since I went back the next day to pay them back (and do some printing I needed to do anyhow).

I contrast that with experiences I’ve had at national chains, where the clerk has zero autonomy and can’t make any decisions. It can range anywhere from “I can’t make change for you unless you make a purchase” to the blatant apathy shown by too many retail clerks these days.

I don’t mean to pick on large chains – some of them have good service. Conversely, many family-owned businesses have awful service. If you take the time to find the good ones though, it really pays off.

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On the theme of being nice – I was downtown this morning, and happened to be looking at some ugly cigarette butts someone had thrown on the sidewalk. Just then a city maintenance worker just happened to come by to sweep them up. I know this sounds cheesy, but I said “thank you.”

His smile made me realize it’s probably not the sort of thing he hears often enough, even though it is important work.

You’ve likely heard of what some are heralding as the coming Hydrogen Economy, which some think may replace the fossil-fuel economy we have now. Problem is, hydrogen isn’t a fuel source, it has to be created by electricity. That makes it more akin to a storage medium than a source.

Apparently some are also looking forward to a Zinc Economy, using Zinc Air batteries. They apparently hold a great deal of power, but they need to be recharged in a central location. Just like with hydrogen, there are a number of companies announcing miraculous breakthroughs which they say will revolutionize everything, but I’m a little more skeptical. I’ll believe it when I see it.

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Mini Moleskines

I really like my Moleskine notebooks, but I sometimes find them too large to carry in my pocket all the time. Luckily, I stumbled across someone who decided to simply cut theirs in half. Looks like it worked pretty well too. Here are instructions on how to do it.

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TED Talk: Robert Full: How Engineers Learn from Evolution

How he and his fellow researchers are making robots that walk, climb, jump and run by copying animals in nature. His solutions are often elegant and simple, but not always intuitive.

Analog Letter

A neat little idea of sending a letter rolled-up inside an analog cassette. Cute.

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10 Things You Shouldn’t Buy New

A very quick guide of things that make more sense financially to buy used. I would also expand “office furniture” to include home furnishings as well. There is a lot of low-quality furniture out there, but the old stuff is often the best.

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Church Windows Help Purify the Air

Gold used in old church windows helps purify the air when exposed to sunlight.

“For centuries people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colors, but little did they realise that these works of art are also, in modern language, photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst,” Professor Zhu said.

My friend at Lake Jane has posted a profile of Les Touilleurs, the best cooking store in my town of Montréal. Aside from having an attractive space, they do a few things very right. In a certain sense it might be seen as the opposite of a big-box commodity store.

A few of the things they do which I wish more stores would copy:

- No packaging. You can pick everything up and see how it actually feels in your hand. It also lets you more adequately tell the quality of what you are going to buy, which can be difficult behind the thick packaging on many products.

- Small, but good, selection. They have been known to discontinue items that are selling well if they decide the quality isn’t up to snuff. This sort of editorializing makes sure you get something really good, and builds a great customer loyalty. Yes, you could buy something cheaper elsewhere, but you know the one from here will be great, and will probably last at least 10 years if maintained well.

- An Excellent Staff. They really know enough to help you find what you want. These aren’t apathetic Best Buy workers who don’t care about what they’re doing, they take pride in their work and it shows.

- Educational Courses. Cooking workshops are held often in the in-store kitchen. Many top chefs from the city take part.