I have some new favorite words to go along with my current fave ‘social entrepreneurship’ [which I learned upon meeting social entrepreneurship students at Tulane during my first visit to New Orleans]: ‘soundscape ecology’ ‘acoustic ecology‘ & ‘acoustic geology’

From BLDGBLOG:

“So, add the sounds of plants, molds, and root networks, of soil itself and groundwater, of shifts in air pressure and humidity and even the underlying deep geologic structures that support all that living terrain in the first place, and an intensely interesting sonic portrait of terrestrial ecosystems takes shape, mutating through complex blurs and inflection points over time, its parts weaving in and out symphonically.”

Thinking about all of the sounds of plants and trees and dirt underneath all of the manmade swirl is so very comforting. To core sample these sounds which are completely specific per location.. pardon me while I go daydream, I have a new idea crush.

photo from wired science, CQ-11, we can’t see it in the U.S. but if in Italy you can!!

Now that I should basically have a brand new computer, I have had at least five ‘while working’ crashes where my screen slowly drops black like an old movie curtain, and I am ordered to turn off my computer.  Once I restart my little beauty, which I do love, I then receive a request to send a ‘panic report’ to apple.  What happens to these mysterious reports? Are they actually read?  Is there a panic report checkpoint command post within the glossy white halls of apple? Is q-bert in there in a white suit hoovering all of these tasty, coded panic reports? I read them sometimes and they say oddly entertaining things like 887901 seconds since last panic report [like a desperate date], kernals trapped [into thin air in there?], or 01 hijacked 9999999087 [terrorism inside my lil laptop?].. Ack!

I think continuously of how people in the future will look back at our battle with technology and laugh at how hard we work[ed] to have these things in our lives.  We are the testing grounds and really put up with an awful lot.  I am certainly not a luddite, but more and more technology makes me crave my older instruments for value and pleasure for working and entertainment.  When i play my turntable, i set the needle down and it plays..  When i turn on my ipod, sometimes it plays and sometimes it doesn’t – sometimes it whirrs and clicks and sticks and I space out while I’m standing there waiting, forgetting what i was actually doing in the first place [not sexy].

I find that this happens a lot with technology and I think it actually creates ADD. Whether it be my dvd player, computer loading [if a slow connection online], or finicky software program – how often do I say forgivingly “it’s thinking” and wait for the spinny wheel to stop and to do thing I am waiting for!  My mind wanders to what I could be doing in the meantime and suddenly I have 3 things going where I wanted to focus on one!  Or, how many times have you cursed at your ‘itrip’ for the annoyance of finding a station that works properly?  Thankfully I have a cassette deck in my car so I can use the clackety tape adapter.  I realize this dates both myself & my car, everyone now simply has the line in jack, presto!  I think all levels of technology advancement can exist on the same plane, but I do think we far too accepting of electronics’ quirks and jerks. Question: if you bought a cooking pot or a car that required constant updates in order for it to function properly would you keep it, or even buy it in the first place?

Delightfully on the other hand, when you open a book – the page is there, reliably waiting for you to read it, sigh, how dreamy.  When you flick the gas on your stove it click, click, clicks and lights the burner ready to sauté your market treats.  Riding your bike, the pedals pleasingly turn and push you forward, instantly!  The immediacy and real time rewards of older innovations are more and more enticing as the herky jerkiness of cellphones, computers, and high tech electronics annoy/distract/sidetrack the enjoyment of process in work and entertainment life.

Anyone else with me here?  Sincerely yours- pencilgirl

ps – I think this is an industry wide issue and this is not solely directed at apple