Closing down

Shutting up shop. Finito. Termine. Geschlossen. Sayonara. This blog will stay here for a while, till I can raise the energy to delete it. Thanks for dropping by and sharing your comments. It was fun.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aeioux/127841793/

The Japanese Renaissance?

The (London) Times Online has a special section today on The Japanese Renaissance, with an interesting collection of articles.

A landmark?

European consumers spend more time online than they do reading newspapers and magazines
according to the Financial Times today (Sunday).

Is Google safe?

Millions use Google every day. We assume our search info is private, but it may not be. Read the scary story of AOL's leaked research data.

Lool, Mum! No buttons! A new kind of cell-phone

A no-button cell-phone? Cool!

Business Week reports that, instead of buttons,

...the Onyx device understands signs and gestures, thanks to the sensitive touch pad covering most of its surface. It opens and closes applications when swiped by one or two fingers. The phone recognizes shapes and body parts. Lift Onyx to your cheek and it will pick up a call.

Does relying on technology stop us using our brains?

That got my attention. I clicked and got this (London) Times article that quotes Leeds University Professor Martin Conway:

“You're asking the wrong question,” says Professor Martin Conway, of the University of Leeds, a psychologist and expert on memory. “The reverse is entirely the case: technology reduces the burden on memory and increases our ability to make use of our minds. It is enabling rather than disabling.”

Sherlock Holmes once astonished Dr Watson by admitting that he didn’t know the name of the President of the United States. When Watson told him, Holmes said he would now do his best to forget it again; he believed that the brain had limited capacity and wanted to reserve his memory for more relevant things, such as knowing the difference between 50 different kinds of cigarette ash — vital stuff for the great detective.

Holmes was wrong; we use only a fraction of our capacity to remember. And because the act of memorising induces additional production of the neurotransmitters that lay down routes in the brain in which memories consist, it is likely that the more you memorise, the more you can memorise.

Haruchika Noguchi became a nationally famous healer, but when he was young he suffered an illness that weakened his vocal chords. He firmly believed that the more you use a part of your body, the stronger it gets, so he deliberately eschewed mechanical aids and sought out opportunities for speaking to large groups of people. By the time he reached adulthood, he had fully recovered the use of his voice.

Digitalising those old records

Yesterday, I made a couple of CDs from some old records I have. 33s. One was very poor quality (the sound, not the music), which I was very disappointed about as it contains one of my favourite pianists, Stefan Askenase, playing one of my favourite pieces, Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C# minor.

The CD tracks are now in my iTunes, but the pops and crackles almost drown out the piano in some parts. I wonder if there's a way to clean this up that doesn't cost a fortune? (I was unable to find a CD of the Askenase recording).

I probably couldn't afford this kind of technology. Check out the two versions of the amazing Cortot. Stunning.

Have a small drink

A British man is applying to the Guinness Book of Records for the world's smallest pub.