I am working on last details, the volume differences, if any, between tracks, the pauses between tracks and so on. People used to like to have several seconds between tracks, that means when one track ends you can see the CD player counting down the seconds before the next track starts, but I prefer to create a more continuous story and often have no pause between tracks at all. I expect to send the master off tomorrow.
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A Furoshiki by any other name:

SkoobaWrap – Protective Wrap – Medium
Talk about a product with “a jillion-and-one uses!” Versatile, inexpensive SkoobaWraps are an ideal way to add an extra measure of carrying protection, particularly inside luggage, carry-ons, or other unpadded cases. Just wrap up anything you want to protect, pack it, and go!

Maybe these should be called junior Furoshikis, because they are made with “hook/loop closures” (((which really means they are velcro, but they don’t want to use the trademarked name because they found a cheaper source))), just like kid’s shoes that have velcro closures instead of laces.
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George Zimbel | Multimedia > A Freelance Photographer vs The New York Times
Many media companies are often at odds with freelance writers and photographers over who owns the words and images once they have appeared in print.

What follows is an exchange of letters about a single picture. It was triggered by an e-mail from the photographer, George S. Zimbel, to Barbara Cox of Photokunst, a consulting firm for both individual photographers and archives, including The New York Times archives.

Impressive, how he remained polite and professional throughout, although we can tell his blood was boiling.
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Some photos I took in March. Seems like decades ago – you should see the beard I grew in the studio since then!




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More William Gibson, because he nails it:

…AND QUESTIONS
For the past few months, writing daily, I found myself wondering what that would look like on a brain scan. I suspect there’s some specific neurological activity, one that I can’t necessarily produce at will. It’s possible to get into a groove, though, and just do it, though at definite cost to everything else in one’s life.
(Via Gibson Blog)

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Denial of expertise ¶ Personal Weblog of Joe Clark, Toronto
At a certain point, you have to admit you aren’t good enough to do something better than an expert could do it even if the technical option exists for you to give it a shot anyway.

While people will tolerate a lot of things, what we want are beautiful things that work well. There aren’t many nonexperts who can accomplish that. Expertise needs schooling, maturation, taste, and quite a lot of attitude.

The foregoing explains why open source has nothing to teach literature or indeed any artistic creation, since talent doesn’t scale as you give more and more developers check-in access to the version-control system set up for your novel. It further explains why one’s inability to hack an iPad means precisely nothing. Nobody needs to program an iPad to enjoy using it, except those who have no capacity for enjoyment other than programming and complaining about same.

This was the weekend those of us with high standards lost their remaining residue of patience for ideologues who hyperbolize about open systems without actually creating something people want to use.
(Via Daring Fireball)