Comments for Desert of My Real Life

Comment on Making Sense of All Things Digital by Ian

Ian — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:41:54 +0000

Poor Seniors. The sad fact is that while computers interfaces have made strides in presenting information and functions to a user, they’re still exceptionally difficult for those without a lot of specialized knowledge. It’s like asking someone to play a game with you, giving them a few of a hundreds of rules, then pestering them when they ‘make a mistake’. The only consistent method a user has to deal with the situation is to abandon task goals for exploration and simply ‘poke & look’.

This breakdown in communication isn’t so much a literacy issue as it is a design problem (at least until a user has to deal with something that doesn’t make sense). Your heart of hearts is exceptionally correct. While computers are entirely logical, this doesn’t mean their interfaces make any sense. You might be interested in “The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman and/or “The Humane Interface” by Jef Raskin.

Comment on Human Pain by » Differences in Media Desert of My Real Life

» Differences in Media Desert of My Real Life — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:18:37 +0000

[...] I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica on DVD. The original series aired on television [...]

Comment on Corpus Libris by Robin

Robin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:13:02 +0000

Awesome site– addicting to check out all the pics.

Comment on Human Pain by Liz

Liz — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:50:39 +0000

Did NOT know that you were ALSO watching B.G. I just finished it up. And, yes, the original was super cheesy, but I was so totally addicted to it. I might have to check some episodes out on Hulu or something.

Comment on Patrick Swayze by Robin

Robin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:53:58 +0000

I was on FB when it started coming out. FB was first, and no other internet sites had it yet…except Wikipedia. Love that.

Comment on Mob Wars by » Summer Play Desert of My Real Life

» Summer Play Desert of My Real Life — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:57:58 +0000

[...] less engaging, probably because the social aspect of the game, which I’ve also written about before, is [...]

Comment on NeMLA 2010 by » Summer Play Desert of My Real Life

» Summer Play Desert of My Real Life — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:44:04 +0000

[...] I’ve mentioned before, I’m chairing a panel at NeMLA in April about using Web 2.0 technologies to play. Because [...]

Comment on Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Radical Medical Technology by Sit10

Sit10 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:33:21 +0000

I have read My Lobotomy and it was fascinating. Not great literature, but you can’t set very high expectations for someone labotomized at 12. When you consider that Rosemary grew up in the age of medical terms like “imbicle” and “moron,” used to classify and track people, you do wonder whether she would be considered disabled at all today (pre-surgery, of course). Also see State Boy’s rebellion about a class at the Fernald School that had had enough. Another fascinating read.

Why do I go on and on? because our physicians have told us a lot of things were good for us. And they have been wrong as often as they are right.

Comment on Changing Medical Technology by » Eunice Kennedy Shriver Desert of My Real Life

» Eunice Kennedy Shriver Desert of My Real Life — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:07:32 +0000

[...] man who performed the procedure. The man they met was Walter Freeman, whom I have written about before. He popularized the lobotomy in the United States and performed thousands of them, including one [...]

Comment on New Kindle Developments by Cathie LeBlanc

Cathie LeBlanc — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:43:39 +0000

It’s a good question. My guess is that the Kindle’s storage is available via the cell technology as long as it is turned on. It makes sense that cell technology is two-way, right? I bet each Kindle contacts the mothership when it is turned on (creepy). So the convenience in downloading anywhere, anytime (so heavily hyped by Amazon as a plus for Kindle users) probably worked to Amazon’s advantage in this situation. Since Amazon keeps a record of all purchases their Kindle users make (in case the books need to be re-downloaded), it was probably just a matter of waiting until a particular Kindle was powered up (at which time it made contact with Amazon’s servers). In order to allow downloading of newly purchased novels, Amazon has to have permission to modify the contents of the storage area of each Kindle–deleting is not so different than downloading. Seems like it would be an easily automated task.

Comment on New Kindle Developments by Sit10

Sit10 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:34:36 +0000

Are you able to explain HOW they did it? was it during the sync-up process, or just what? I haven’t been able to understand how they removed it from people’s devices once the file was downloaded. That is the part that sort of creeps me out.

Comment on Reading 2.0 by » New Kindle Developments Desert of My Real Life

» New Kindle Developments Desert of My Real Life — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:26:17 +0000

[...] though he doesn’t read enough to justify the expense. I’ve written about the Kindle before and have said that I have a problem with Amazon’s high pricing of electronic books. Now [...]

Comment on Travesty of Justice by Ann

Ann — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:59:30 +0000

I heard this on NHPR, too, and totally did not understand why they decided on this ruling. What do you mean a person does not have a ‘constitutional’ right to evidence used in his or her case? That just seems totally wacked to me.

Comment on Changing Medical Technology by Cathie LeBlanc

Cathie LeBlanc — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:40:53 +0000

Hey Howard–Thank YOU for such a great book! I really hope my friends all read it. There are so many lessons for our society to learn from your story.

Comment on Changing Medical Technology by Howard Dully

Howard Dully — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:31:24 +0000

Thanks for the great review…

Howard

Comment on Recycling by Sit10

Sit10 — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:33:47 +0000

Congrats. It was haz-waste day today here at the retirement village also.

Comment on Mob Wars by cksisson

cksisson — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:08:26 +0000

I’m so sorry to bother you, but I have two questions I can’t find answers to in the help section, the forums, or by Googling.

How does being female affect gameplay? I’m guessing it just encourages others to attack you? Or does it automatically make you weaker in the game? (Which would be TOTALLY unfair and WRONG.)

Also, will my actions affect others in my mob? Like say I do something stupid and attack a much bigger mob and lose, will the other guy in my mob have my loss added to his total? If I buy things, does it affect him too, or just the strength of the overall mob? Because I might not buy something he wants. I don’t want to offend him by making poor decisions that affect the mob as a whole. But I can’t tell the total amount of things our mob has anyway, just my totals. And once you get past a handful of people, it would be difficult to stay in contact with them all to plan strategy.

I hope this made sense. He hasn’t answered my email, and I really don’t want to mess things up. I want to go buy some stuff.

Comment on Parking Wars by Robin DeRosa

Robin DeRosa — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:36:01 +0000

Check out http://bbrathwaite.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/parking-wars-the-crack-that-is-the-possible-prize/

Comment on Failed Predictions by Robin DeRosa

Robin DeRosa — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:17:14 +0000

I would rather have the US government secretly monitor all of my phone calls than have a dozen computers attached to my body to monitor my bodily functions. I’m just saying.