Logging the Switch

Posts

  • Apr 12, 2007

    Punt ennel en snel!

    Kom op mensen
    radio-reclame-makers, een beetje originaliteit mag wel weer hè. We
    luisteren nu al zeker vijf jaar naar het compleet afgezaagde “voordelig en
    snel op … ennel”.

    En niet een keer, nee, de makers van elke reclame in het het hele
    reclameblok lijken over de jaren collectief inspiratieloos te zijn
    geworden, want overal moeten we snel naar een of andere punt ennel.

    Het is ook niet dat ik nu zo kan opnoemen over welke reclames het gaat,
    want ze zijn allemaal hetzelfde, dus ook dat doel zijn ze voorbijgestreefd.

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  • Apr 3, 2007

    Lichtvervuiling

    Vergelijk deze foto:


    Nachtelijke hemel boven Snæfellsness, IJsland

    met deze:


    Nachtelijke hemel boven Eindhoven, Nederland

    Beiden hebben exact dezelfde instellingen; 20 seconden belichting, f/3.5
    diafragma, ISO 800. Dit is gewoon vreselijk en nu zie je gewoon objectief hoe
    donker het is in IJsland en hoe licht hier in Nederland. Geen wonder dat we
    het noorderlicht hier nooit zien, als het zich eens in de zuidelijkere
    regionen laat zien.

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  • Apr 3, 2007

    Jökulsárlón panorama

    Played a bit with some photos I had still laying around waiting to be processed and found the seven images that make up the following panoramic image of Jökulsárlón in Iceland. That’s the same lake as you see in the header, except the photographer thereof was a bit more lucky with the weather :-).

    Anyway, the full size picture is over 28 megapixel large, I also have a smaller version, still around 2 megapixel.

    If you’d want to print the full size: at 150 dpi it would be 2m50 by 30cm.

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  • Mar 31, 2007

    So, how did the command key get this ⌘ next to the ?

    When I came to Iceland, I saw the same symbol the command key on Apple keyboard carries (⌘) everywhere there was something interesting to see. It is called the Saint Hannes cross and is an old viking symbol and now used in the Nordic countries and Estonia to denote sites of touristic interest.

    I wondered about this and apparantly there is a funny anecdote about how the “clover” sign as some refer to it came on the command key.

    When Steve Jobs first saw the large application menus of the MacDraw application, he saw a list full of  logos. He didn’t like this, thought it would take the logo in vain and ordered them to find another symbol to take its place.

    Update: Hmm, I forgot to mention that I keep running into the clover. Those were actually the reason for this post!

    German band Silbermond uses it on the cover of their newest album ‘Laut gedacht’. No idea why, but they have one track called ‘Das Ende vom Kreis’. The End of the Circle as universal symbol of infinity and is ⌘ the new one?

    In Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt’n Blaubär by Walter Moers, the protagonist lands inside the Eternal Tornado which is describing a course in the form of the Saint Hannes cross of about two thousand kilometers long.

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  • Mar 28, 2007

    Das Palast der Republik

    The Palast is on the right

    In Berlin there is… or rather was a building which apparantly was too
    ugly to survive the reckless Westernization of former GDR culture. It is called Palast der Republik and was the seat of the
    Volkskammer – GDR’s parliament – as well as an entertainment centre for the
    people with art galleries, restaurants, auditoriums etc.

    Sure, it is ugly and completely out of time and place on the monumental
    Museumsinsel between late 19th century cathedrals and other buildings along
    the historical street Unter den Linden. But it was also part of the history
    of 14 million people who see it being demolished in record time.

    The destruction of their past gives a feeling of being second-class
    citizens, of their past not being worth saving, that everything was bad in
    the east. Some things should be kept to serve as a warning, as a memory to
    what can happen if the wrong decisions are made.

    The Palast der Republik is being torn down now, only to make place for a
    nice piece of parkland until they know what to do with it (and find proper
    funding to do it). Where once stood a Prussian
    palace    , destructed by
    the war, torn down in the 1950s and rebuilt in the incarnation of the new
    palace    , will have nothing
    new in its place.

    Ole Tangen jr. created a
    short documentary film, Brokedown
    Palast
    about the socialistic building which I found by coincidence today.

    Other interesting videos somewhat connected to the subject:

    So, when I’ll be back in Berlin… The palace will probably not be there
    anymore.

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