Week 02-24 - Curiosities

Greetings from the Mesa

It's been a cold and snowy week on the mesa. In between storms we've been having some pretty spectacular sunsets. Our well was out from T-F so it felt like we were camping in the house. Thankfully it ended up being a minor problem, and we were grateful to take hot showers again on Friday eve. Now we are watching family and friends all over the country dealing with all kinds of weather outages and inconveniences. Because of the weather it's been a slow start to the year, just when we think things are going to get started everything closes down and we are delayed yet again. How's the beginning of your new year going?

Curiosities of the Week

Clicks has developed a click-in physical keyboard case for iPhones. If this were available (Verge) for Android I would buy it NOW. I loved my Palm Treo because of the keyboard. Since the good ole days, every non-physical keyboard has been my nemesis.

Steve Jobs thought devices would become ‘a bicycle for the mind’ (Fortune)–but their effect on our brains is similar to that of smoking and junk food. "Behavioral misalignment–where our actions diverge from our best interests–is a recurring challenge across various domains." The article argues that using tech to address behavioral misalignment is the answer. I'm not sure I agree.

A Lighthouse Keeper Hangs Up Her Bonnet (Hakai) A fantastic photo essay about Sally Snowman who is retiring as the only female lighthouse keeper in the Boston Light's 307 year history. She wears the bonnet in part so that the coast guard can recognize her working on the island.

The “Dolomite Problem” – Scientists Resolve 200-Year-Old Geology Mystery (SciTechDaily) Scientists have figured out how to grow Dolomite in the lab. They hope the technique will allow for new strategies to promote crystal growth of modern materials. The most impressive dolomite outcrop in the world is at The Dolomites in Italy (Unesco).

I used some of the slow down time this week to move away from using DAKBoard, and replaced the house display using MagicMirror. It took a while to set up, but it's open source (free) and has a robust development community with tons of mostly plug and play modules. If you're not into puttering with Raspberry Pi I would choose DAKBoard, but if you are into tinkering and want to save some $, MagicMirror is the way to go.

Followup from last week, more outlets picking up on The Big Problem With the Giant Stanley Cup (Wired).

Consuming

Books: The Annals of a Former World by John McPhee. I have a couple sections still to read, but loving it so far. John McPhee travels with geologists all across America to reveal its awesome geological diversity. It's a bit dense, but the stories from the scientist he travels with are pure gold.

Music: C'mon Tigre's new album Habitat. The animation for the Botanist single is A+.

Thinking About: 'Exercise snacks' as a way to get in more movement for the day.

Thanks for reading, see you next week!