2007.11.07
When I was younger, I used to hate having to wear a "Hello, my name is..." style tag. Typical adolescent "rebel against conformity!" type stuff, I guess. Now I've mellowed and I just see them as a friendly gesture, a polite hint in a world full of casual acquaintances with good intentions but poor memories.
The Nokia badge has my headshot on it, and while it's not bad as far as those photographs go, I do feel a little extra dorky wearing it. Kind of like those commercial Halloween costumes that put the name and face of the character right smack dab in the center of the chest. They print the first name a little bigger than the last on the IDs. In my case, that makes my first name exactly as wide as my last, which is a nice aesthetic touch.
I'm a little wary of accidentally keeping this thing on on the subway, letting people who don't know me achieve a faux-familiarity by calling me by name.
Exchange of the Moment
"You ever spend time among the witches?"
Yes. And among academicians, and among spirits. I found folly everywhere, but there were grains of wisdom in every stream of it. No doubt there was much more wisdom that I failed to recognize. Life is hard, Mr. Scoresby, but we cling to it all the same.
Design of the Moment
The current issue of Time magazine has a best inventions of 2007 feature. Its almost worth picking up the print version for the better presentation, as well as the rendering of what someone getting all the functionality of an iPhone with circa-1988 technology would be toting around (pushing a unicycle contraption with PC, thermometer, rolodex, telephone, TV, boombox, a holster with a bunch of maps, a backpack structure with a mailbox, small satellite dish, framed photo, and a car battery and power strip to power it all...)