Month: November 2013

Aside from a small quibble with the “reservoir” looking like a toilet tank, I love this little video. A memorable frame can be seen below, for ready reference at the next election.

According to UPS, everything’s on schedule. My iPad has been shipped to Ontario, CA, United States.

Ontario,
CA, United States
19/11/2013 21:16 Arrival Scan

Is it a coincidence that I happen to live in Ontario, CA (Canada)? Do iPads usually travel first to Ontario, California, then on to Toronto?

Shirley Temple’s majorette costume, Bette Davis/Queen Elizabeth I dress, bowlers worn by Laurel and Hardy, loads of old movie posters, original scripts and screenplays from famous movies… all up for auction. Check out Bonhams, it’s full of wonders and curiosities.
Actually, John Robert Colombo knew, because he’s the one who sent the link. Thanks, JR!

Looks like it started out in China, worked its way down to Kentucky via Alaska, then headed back to China. Probably homesick. But the Chinese were having none of that… back to Anchorage!
Amazing, UPS.
Shipment Progress
Location Date Local Time Activity
Anchorage,
AK, United States
19/11/2013 15:57 Departure Scan
19/11/2013 13:44 Arrival Scan
Chek Lap Kok,
Hong Kong
19/11/2013 21:51 Departure Scan
Louisville,
KY, United States
17/11/2013 8:48 Arrival Scan
Anchorage,
AK, United States
16/11/2013 23:10 Departure Scan
16/11/2013 20:11 Arrival Scan
Chek Lap Kok,
Hong Kong
17/11/2013 3:46 Departure Scan
Chek Lap Kok,
Hong Kong
16/11/2013 4:30 Arrival Scan
Shenzhen,
China
16/11/2013 2:30 Departure Scan
16/11/2013 1:00 Export Scan
16/11/2013 1:00 Origin Scan
China
15/11/2013 10:15 Order Processed: Ready for UPS

Brian sent a link to a nifty site offering free, high resolution photos you can use any way you like. http://www.gratisography.com/
Other favourite sources I use include:
morgueFile
and
StockXchng

First, I tripped on an irregular piece of sidewalk and landed on my cheekbone. My face wasn’t the only thing to hit the cement. I had my Playbook in my pocket. Over to the Apple Store for a new pocket-size tablet.
Moral(s):
Blackberry doesn’t crash only on the stock market.
Choosing to buy a new toy shouldn’t be so painful.
Torontonians don’t need Rob Ford to give them a black eye.
The Mini should arrive from China tomorrow. Amazing.

Mount Baker with foreground figure, by Helen Andersen. 1986
I am working through slides of Helen Andersen works whose whereabouts we no longer know. Among the dust speckled images was this little gem, probably a small work on paper.
That’s Mount Baker at the top, an extinct volcano that Helen often included in her landscapes. Surely that is Helen herself at the bottom, witnessing the scene that stands before her. She did a great many pieces with air brush, which she wielded in her own unique way. Here, she has made abstracted patterns out of the waves and planted farm fields that surrounded her home in Saanichton, on Vancouver Island.

Old Woman Wearing A Labret, by Helen Andersen. Medium: Gouache on paper. Image size: approx. 18″ x 17″
Helen’s pictures of aboriginal female elders are always strong and striking. This one actually shocks a bit, until you’ve lived with her a while. Then she becomes quite likeable and alive.
Just framed today, she looks her best in a generous mat and a simple, bold frame. She’s BIG. The face is much larger than life size and the frame is over 2 feet square.
BTW, the labret is a wooden plug that women wore, inserted into the lower lip. You may have taken that white shape for lower teeth, but no. That’s the labret. Helen’s title makes no mention of the nose ring.

After a flubbed introduction that caused downfall of an Apple exec and a rare apology from the CEO, Apple pressed on and got their Map app right. At least, I have found it accurate and useful in my first few tests. The most obvious change is the way satellite views of my city are rendered in 3D. It’s quite engaging to fly over and around buildings as if you are in a helicopter.

The detailed view (above) shows a friend’s street in pretty good detail. When Google recorded his house for StreetView, a diaper truck happened to be going by, obscuring his front door. Apple has had better luck.
One critic said he thought Apple’s 3D view was fun once, but not as useful as StreetView, because he was usually at street level, not up in the sky. True enough and I agree that StreetView is very useful if you are looking for store fronts, access to parking lots, etc. But I don’t agree that Apple’s approach is pointless. It’s great for getting the “lay of the land” and a sense of how things fit together. It also has potential if you want to know which lane to use when you approach a highway onramp.
I wondered if I could have answered my question about a staircase to a footbridge that crosses the Don River. Answer: Yes. I could see exactly how the stairs went up from the bike path. Better than Google Maps on that one.
Now I have to figure out how to embed Apple Maps into web pages and emails, the way you can with Google’s offering.

A few early bugs have been fixed and the latest OS X is said to be very trouble-free, so I took the plunge. It’s free, BTW.
Before I installed Mavericks, I updated all my existing software and let Disk Utility repair permissions. Time Machine had everything backed up. The installation went smoothly. No problems at all.
Now it’s time to see how well Maps work (as good as Google maps?), to try out the built-in dictation software and to see if I like the new Finder Tabs. The very first thing I noticed was that nothing looked particularly new. I like that. I didn’t want to face a steep learning curve. Some nice new features (that I can take or leave) and optimized, smoother performance are all I really want.