thegreatsunra

This product has not been designed for use in applications that...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:39:21 -0700

This product has not been designed for use in applications that involve, for example, the control of nuclear reactions at nuclear facilities, automatic flight control of aircraft, air traffic control, medical equipment for sustaining life, or missile firing control in weapons systems.

I’ll keep that in mind as I’m using my document scanner.

Sometimes, you get the choose the image that sticks with you for the day. And sometimes, it’s...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:45:48 -0700

Sometimes, you get the choose the image that sticks with you for the day.

And sometimes, it’s the old man in the gang shower at the YMCA, trying to make it look like he was touching his penis by accident.

Funny, I don’t feel any better at the banjo.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:45:29 -0700

Funny, I don’t feel any better at the banjo.

merlin: (via Photo | Mike Industries)

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:33:08 -0800

merlin:

(via Photo | Mike Industries)

Poignant. “Photo of people walking” pretty much...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:58:44 -0800

Poignant.

“Photo of people walking” pretty much captures the state of medical care in this country today.

WHY AREN’T YOU HEALTHY LIKE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE WALKING?

Also, pictures of peppers.

Photo

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:27:59 -0800

I probably have more endurance for this sort of thing than you...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:27:09 -0800

I probably have more endurance for this sort of thing than you do.

If that’s not the case, however, here’s another hit.

Previously: Episode 1, Episode 2

Please, please. Hold your applause. Because this isn’t...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:27:44 -0800

Please, please. Hold your applause. Because this isn’t about me. This isn’t about my accomplishments. This is about the people in my life, my friends, my family, the people who stood steadfastly by my side as I pursued my dream.

My dream of running four times in 1,906 years.

Thank you, dear friends. At last, I am an athlete.

Riker was a total perv, all through Season One. Just FYI.

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:04:47 -0800

Riker was a total perv, all through Season One.

Just FYI.

Related: A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design I...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:01:04 -0800

I feel there’s a point to be made, somewhere in here.

Or something.

Our series of dramatic readings of @horse_ebooks...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:41:00 -0800

Our series of dramatic readings of @horse_ebooks continues.

Previously: Episode 1

A few weeks ago Burr Walker introduced me to the splendor that...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:55:00 -0800

A few weeks ago Burr Walker introduced me to the splendor that is the @horse_ebooks Twitter account. I don’t really know what to make of it. I can’t tell if it’s search engine spam, a spambot, an auto-Tweeting service, a link farm…

Whatever it is, it is brilliant. No matter its origin or intent, @horse_ebooks just so happens to be a fine collection of comedy gold. It captures, so well, the hopes and dreams of people who shop at Ross Dress For Less. You can be happy, darn it, if only you stick to that fad diet, run on that treadmill, get that helicopter license, and start that saltwater aquarium of your dreams. One day, you will find the perfect motivational tape that inspires you to quit your job and work from home selling your macaroni paintings on Ebay. Horse ebooks will set you free.

The only thing it won’t do is tell you much of anything about horses. Or books about horses.

Inspiration. Non-sequitors. Unfinished phrases. The essence of Wisdom. Instructions on How To Live Your Life. Horse ebooks is many things to many people, but it has so affected my life that I feel compelled, no driven to share it with others. The “tweet” format, though, does not afford the gravitas that the teachings of Horse ebooks so clearly deserve. And so, I have taken it upon myself to perform readings of their Twitter account. Which I present here for you, now, for free.

This is but the first in a series, so rest assured that this is only the beginning of a long and beautiful era. I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoy making them.

And I hope I inspire you to finally go for that multi-engine rating.

Nicholson accepted Kubrick’s mandate to discover what could be found in the script by...

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:29:34 -0700

Nicholson accepted Kubrick’s mandate to discover what could be found in the script by demanding take after take, looking for different ways of doing almost everything required. “Anything you do as many times as a successful actor, you can’t have one set of theories,” Nicholson said to the documentary crew. “You can go for years saying, ‘I’m going to get this thing real, because they really haven’t seen it real.’ They just keep seeing one fashion of unreal after the other that passes as real and you go mad with realism. And then you come up against someone like Stanley who says, ‘Yeah, it’s real, but it’s not interesting.’”

- Stanley Kubrick: A Biography

Real, but not interesting.

Kate Rutter mentioned this to me once, regarding ideas. Theories. Et cetera. She said it terrified her, when first she heard of it.

It terrifies me, too.

"Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and..."

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:19:34 -0700

“

Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.

Grow wild according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will never become English bay. Let the thunder rumble; what if it threaten ruin to farmers’ crops? That is not its errand to thee. Take shelter under the cloud, while they flee to carts and sheds.

Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport. Enjoy the land, but own it not. Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs.

”

- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

What the heck is going on in this photo? It was taken on...

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:50:00 -0700

What the heck is going on in this photo?

It was taken on Shattuck in Berkeley, in front of Philz Coffee. The camera is pointed southwest towards the Guerilla Café.

But the angles are all wrong. Those dogs are wooden dogs. There are two matching street signs, poorly Photoshopped, one which has apparently been mounted to Philz’ sandwich board.

The dude on the right? His head is stuck in the awning. The tree out front grows into the awning and disappears. The dude on the left is sitting in a chair at a table in the street. There’s a wicker chair from next door. That coffee mug does not exist. No one would dare park their black Honda Civic on Shattuck.

What the heck is going on here, and why doesn’t my Instagram do this?

Next page. More ads. Same diff. (SF Weekly)

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:41:26 -0700

Next page.

More ads.

Same diff.

(SF Weekly)

Cinematic geography and the problem of genius

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:24:00 -0700

Cinematic geography and the problem of genius:

“Academia teaches us to ask questions like Shay’s — and generally, to answer them ourselves. So we find parallels and influences that make sense on paper without worrying too much about whether they’re actually true.”

John August, on what has definitely, most definitely, been for me the hardest part of my transition from graduate school to professional life.

It’s when I stopped making up truths out of thin air, or really, when I stopped fundamentally valuing those truths, that I kind of ran out of things to say.

If you ever need proof that the boundary between the 80s and 90s...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:21:39 -0700

If you ever need proof that the boundary between the 80s and 90s was long, blurry, confused and ultimately regrettable, look no further than Faith No More’s Epic.

Rock, metal, hair, hip-hop, neon, jean shorts, grunge, psychedelia, and Pauly Shore dance moves. Together in harmony.

Or not.

"Design is the activity we humans engage in when we are not satisfied with our reality and we decide..."

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:27:32 -0700

“Design is the activity we humans engage in when we are not satisfied with our reality and we decide to intentionally change it. It is an approach that deals with overwhelmingly complexity, that rely on judgment as its logic, and that is focused on the creation of the ultimate particular.”

- Erik Stolterman in The Death of Design Thinking…

"The intellectual development around design as a special human approach to inquiry and action has..."

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:23:57 -0700

“The intellectual development around design as a special human approach to inquiry and action has been around much longer than the “last decade” and is a deep and profound attempt to understand a particular kind of human activity that for a long time was not appropriately understood.”

- Erik Stolterman in The Death of Design Thinking…