Somebody shit in Dvorak’s Cornflakes

Video and Photo Apps Are Ruining Photography | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com.

Wow. Dvorak is just a complete fucking asshole. What’s wrong with people liking photos that look like old Polaroids? People like photos taken with leaky Holgas, too. Just like people like chicken-fried steak.

There are good Instagram pictures and bad Instagram pictures. Great photographers can work magic with any tool. Most photographs made by average people will be shite whether taken with a Polaroid camera, an iPhone, or the most expensive SLR. But most of those folks won’t care because all they really want is a photo of this neat thing, or them having fun with their friends. They’re freezing a moment for safekeeping. There’s no need to shit on everyone’s fun.

Sakura-con

Madoka Magica cosplay shoot at Sakura-con 2012

Over Easter weekend I went to Seattle, Washington for Sakura-con. It’s probably my favorite anime convention. It’s one of the best-run cons I’ve ever been to, it’s got great AMV programming, and I love the city. Most of my photos were crap. I don’t know what I was doing but I seemed to be off on my focusing. Anyway, I posted the 16 least terrible shots to my flickr.

Betrayal of Trust? Allegations of rape at West Point, Annapolis – CNN.com

Betrayal of Trust? Allegations of rape at West Point, Annapolis – CNN.com.

Shameful.

Worth

There’s a friend of mine that makes me want to delete everything I’ve ever put on the Internet. Everything he writes is so carefully crafted. Every post says something beautiful and meaningful. My entire web presence feels like a waste of bandwidth after reading her stuff.

Teacher: Dear students, I’m sorry about that test I made you take

Teacher: Dear students, I’m sorry about that test I made you take – The Answer Sheet – The Washington Post.

Sickening.

TIME Magazine Cover: Lil’ Kim – Feb. 27, 2012

TIME Magazine Cover: Lil’ Kim – Feb. 27, 2012 – North Korea – Dictators – Kim Jong Un.

I know it’s a popular nickname. I’ve used it. But, really, Time?

About that switch on the iPhone

Mute Means Mute.

I can’t remember whether I’ve written on this anyplace before, but I know I thought it as soon as the whole kerfuffle started, and I was just reminded again while reading some Dan Benhamin stuff.

If you look at the iPhone specs page, the slider switch on the upper left side of the phone isn’t called a “mute switch.” It’s annotated as “ring/silent.” All the switch promises to do is stop the ringer. If the phone “rings” because of an incoming call or text, it will still vibrate. I haven’t tested to see if other audible notifications still make a sound, but it doesn’t matter. Given what the switch is called, one shouldn’t expect the alarm for an alarm clock to be silenced.

The switch works the way it does because that’s the way it’s designed to work. That people expect it to work in a way that it wasn’t designed to isn’t a problem with the design.