144 moving beyond legacy formats
The reason we think of most videos as being sideways the long way, the other way, is because TV and film are sideways the long way. Why are they shaped like that?
Because the stage was shaped like that. Actually that's not true. Film started out basically square. Marketing made the picture wider and wider. But anyway it was echoing the stage, a wide display in front of an audience.
The phone on the other hand, is echoing our old telephone. The handset was designed to reach from your mouth to your ear. That's how people used to talk on phones before speaker phone and Bluetooth.
So now we have the device that most everybody watches their videos on changing directions. It wants to go vertical, because that's how we're holding our phones.
Why does this matter?
Because the infrastructure all around us is the same way. Everywhere we look, we're seeing something that was built to accommodate something back in the day.
Our streets are wide enough to accommodate a car. Cars are as wide as they are because they echoed wagons. Wagons were the width of two horses. So, your driveway, and every road in America, is sized according to a horse's ass.
My mom also wanted to make sure you knew this. Yesterday, when I used her picture at the top of this journal, was day 143.
Yesterday, we drove north to see the acupuncturist. I was a little nervous about going to an indoor space, especially in hard hit Marin.
But upon arrival, I saw this sign. Why the picture?
1. It's funny, because it shows an evolution in our approach to virus mitigation.
2. It's funny because it's such a temporary sign, and yet, rather than make a new one...
We wanted to get something to eat while we were out, and saw San Rafael has closed several blocks of their downtown to allow restaurants to have outdoor dining.
And you know what?
Despite the somber occasion, it was lovely as hell. The street, minus cars, plus people, equals a fucking excellent destination.
And the horses didn't seem to mind.
Except for one thing. When I asked for water, we got a bottle, and I was told they weren't allowed to serve water in a glass. So, the germs on a glass of water are scary, but the germs on a glass of wine are a-ok? Wtf, people.
Ok, also the restroom was closed, more BS.
Bagels, take two. A bit denser, but also a bit better cooked. It was progress.
Dude, I said bagel, not dingle.
Paging Paul Hollywood. Comments?
And now, headline roulette.
Which lead to this question.
When we were last visiting Seattle, my brother-in-law and I took some ebikes out for a test ride. He's in the middle of building a new house, and as we were riding, we went by a new building, and he pointed out the mini-split they were going to install. He's a pretty hip guy, and I got the sense that this was the new big deal in energy efficiency. But I didn't look them up until now.
It's kinda cool. And kinda hard to explain. I think the basic deal is, computers. Instead of one dumb furnace that turns on and off and heats the whole house, this has an element in each room, that operates along with an element outside. When one room needs more heat, the thing inside sucks cold air out, while the thing outside sends warm air in. And the reverse for cooling.
Or something like that.
Meanwhile, the author of that study, personally, anecdotally, rides a bike.
Because 2035 isn't that long from now, and yet, this shit is already happening.
Back to mission drift.
Freedumb doesn't come cheap.
(Remember those sand smugglers from yesterday?)
Tik tok
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Sure, BurningMan was cancelled, but any real burner knows there's going to be one hell of a party on the playa over labor day.
They're already laying out the city.
Danny Kennedy, who plays Mark Twain in the show we were going to be putting up but had to postpone due to a novel coronavirus, Mark Twain's Barbary Coast Revue, has been streaming live every Friday at 2pm PDT. Check him out, you'll enjoy yourself.
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