Sitting and Standing at Work

September 14, 2011
by Riccardo Mori
Handpicked

Source: Sitting and Standing — Cornell University Ergonomics Web

This article is brief and to the point, and probably deserves to be printed out and used as a constant reminder of how we can ruin our health thanks to long sessions sitting at our computers. As someone who sits at his desk for up to 14–15 hours a day, and manages to do very little exercise, I’m of course worried about health-related complications caused by this sedentary lifestyle and I’m trying to do something about it before it’s too late.

I’ve decided to link to this not only as a reminder to fellow ‘long-sitters’, but also because it warns against another practice which seems increasingly popular: the standing desk. I never thought that a workstation where you basically stand all day was in any way better than sitting at a desk all the time. I’m not a doctor or expert in ergonomics, but to me ‘standing workstation’ always suggested ‘leg fatigue and blood circulation issues’. Well, it’s true:

But, standing to work has long known to be problematic, it is more tiring, it dramatically increases the risks of carotid atherosclerosis (ninefold) because of the additional load on the circulatory system, and it also increases the risks of varicose veins, so standing all day is unhealthy. The performance of many fine motor skills also is less good when people stand rather than sit. 

The bottom line is: Sit to do computer work … then every 20 minutes stand for 2 minutes AND MOVE.

(via this tweet by Josh Sharp)

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2011
by Riccardo Mori
Et Cetera

This is a slightly abridged version of what I wrote in my online journal on September 13, 2001. Names have been altered for obvious privacy reasons.

§

it’s been a day where death flooded silently, intrusive and wrapping everything and everyone in an ill coldsweat feverish silence — mouths sealed for fear of being contaminated by its humid, foul breath / / / / /

I woke up this morning thanks to a telephonic messenger, an old schoolmate I haven’t heard from in ages, announcing that Walt had died — (two dear friends already killed by drugs and now this new, fresh death? death, death again?) — what gave death to my friend Walt was his genetic configuration, though: he was born with anomalies and dysfunctions of the liver and pancreas / / / / /

anyway. he was 28. the funeral and the whole atmosphere I was driven into, suddenly, this morning, was like a fist squeezing and keeping my heart hostage. there was silence. there was a sort of steel blue blade mincing the air in the church’s surroundings. I saw Silvia again, the girl I used to refer to as my old flame, whose eyes were even a darker blue than I remembered; her eyes were a Loch Ness. there was a general, dignified, bewilderment / / / I saw again many people who’d been for years enfolded in Oblivion’s archives; some I was pleased to see and recognise; some others were the ones who had hurt me so much — but resentment, this morning, was like an empty perfume bottle left open, its contents evaporated / /

but I didn’t see Peter. I asked Robert, casually.

he looked at me [as if I had been a hermit finally returning to society after inhabiting the lands of Nowhere and Nonews] and told me -

— Peter is in New York since last October, didn’t you know?

(my mind started running frantically, by now I was hearing only a few words)

— … absolutely no news about him or his girlfriend… yes, he started working there about three months ago…

/ / / everyone in Milan today was reading newspapers. in an unreal silence. colour photographs with frozen expressions of terror. and those scenes, again, in the muted tv screens in bars and pubs / / / and now was acknowledged the presence of the Mute Death. he had come like a thief in full daylight

§

(Some time later I learnt that my friend Peter had died in the World Trade Center that fatal day, and his girlfriend too. She had finally arrived in New York a few days before to spend some time with him, and on September 11, 2001 she apparently decided to go with him at his office at the World Trade Center building.)

Ben Hammersley’s speech to the IAAC

September 11, 2011
by Riccardo Mori
Handpicked

Source: My speech to the IAAC | Ben Hammersley’s Dangerous Precedent

IAAC stands for Information Assurance Advisory Council and is, to quote Hammersley, the UK’s talking shop for government, law enforcement, security services, and private companies around the issues of cybersecurity and the like.

Hammersley’s speech touches many topics, and is so good overall that it’s difficult to quote from, but I think one of the central points lies in this bit:

Fundamental Truth Number two is that the internet is the dominant platform for life in the 21st century.

We can bitch about it, but Facebook, Twitter, Google and all the rest are, in many ways the very definition of modern life in the democratic west. For many, a functioning internet with freedom of speech, and a good connection to the social networks of our choice is a sign not just of modernity, but of civilisation itself.

This is not because people are “addicted to the video screen”, or have some other patronising psychological diagnosis. But because the internet is where we live. It’s where we do business, where we meet, where we fall in love. It is the central platform for business, culture, and personal relationships. There’s not much else left.

To misunderstand the centrality of these services to today’s society is to make a fundamental error. The internet isn’t a luxury addition to life; for most people, knowingly or not, it is life.

I generally agree with Hammersley, I am more or less of his same generation, and I sometimes do what he does: being (quote) the translation layer, the guy who tells the older guys what’s going on with the younger guys, and explains to the younger guys why the weird decisions the older guys are coming up with are being made — although what I try to explain at times to the younger guys is that not all the values of older guys deserve to be uncritically thrown out of the window, and not all this technological progress we’re living has to be accepted unconditionally. There are important issues and tradeoffs to be understood and sometimes younger people just don’t seem to care, or care enough.

Hammersley’s speech has been quite inspiring and I’ll soon post a longer piece with my own observations.

My Secret Hideout

September 9, 2011
by Riccardo Mori
Handpicked

For a moment you thought maybe that I was about to post some photos picturing my secret hideout, eh? Well, then it wouldn’t be secret. No, My Secret Hideout is the latest project from Interactive Fiction guru Andrew Plotkin.

I’m biased, because a) I deeply enjoy Interactive Fiction, and b) Andrew Plotkin is the author of my favourite IF games, but you don’t necessarily have to be a fan of Interactive Fiction to enjoy My Secret Hideout. If you have imagination, if you love disconnecting a bit every now and then to lose yourself in daydreaming and places that calm you and inspire you, I think you don’t want to miss this interactive experience.

Plotkin writes:

My Secret Hideout is not a game. It is an interactive toy… or rather poem… or artwork… It’s an interactive textual art generator set in a treehouse. Play around with it!

Drag leaves down and attach them to the tree. Every time you add a leaf, the description of the treehouse grows and changes. The changes are random… aren’t they?

My Secret Hideout has no goal, no score, no trophies. Explore it, or play with it, until you find a result you like. Will your treehouse be simple or complex? Can you guide it? What will you discover inside?

$2.99 on the App Store.

(I still don’t own an iPad, but just as I did with iA Writer, I’ve purchased My Secret Hideout anyway, to show my appreciation and support towards the developer).

Update: Now My Secret Hideout is also available for iPhone. Lovely.

Initial thoughts on the upcoming Amazon Tablet

September 7, 2011
by Riccardo Mori
Tech Life

I usually don’t engage in speculation about something that hasn’t been introduced yet, and of course I suspend any judgment until this ‘Amazon Tablet’ is available. Nevertheless, the information we have on it at the moment made me wonder about a couple of things, so I thought I could share some initial observations. My only source reference for this piece is MG Siegler’s article at TechCrunch, Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is Very Real. I’ve Seen It, Played With It., just to be clear as to where the information I’m citing comes from.

Let’s start from the end. After reading Siegler’s article, the question that kept coming to my mind was Why should I buy the Amazon Tablet instead of an iPad? — But also: To which audience the Amazon Tablet is targeted?, and What’s the Amazon Tablet’s appeal?

The information MG Siegler has kindly gathered about this upcoming device can be summarised as follows:

  • 7‑inch tablet
  • Capacitive touch screen
  • Multi-touch, but very likely to rely on a 2‑finger multi-touch interaction (instead of 10-finger, like the iPad)
  • Colour screen, backlit
  • Does not feature e‑Ink technology
  • Runs a forked, heavily customised version of Android
  • “Google’s Android Market is nowhere to be found. In fact, no Google app is anywhere to be found.”
  • Amazon — as Siegler deduces — is not working with Google on this project
  • “The book reader is a Kindle app (which looks similar to how it does on Android and iOS now). The music player is Amazon’s Cloud Player. The movie player is Amazon’s Instant Video player. The app store is Amazon’s Android Appstore.”
  • Internal storage appears to be 6 GB (again, quoting Siegler: The idea is that this will be more of a “cloud device” for things like music and movies. The storage is meant for storing books and apps. There were a few references to an SD card expansion, but I couldn’t find a slot on the hardware itself.)
  • There is no camera
  • The price will be $250
  • It won’t replace the existing Kindles (Siegler: though the DX may or may not stick around.)
    • -§-



    Now, let’s consider such a device from different perspectives.

    1. The iPad owner — Obviously not interested. The iPad has many more apps to choose from, has a bigger screen, a better multi-touch interface. An iPad 2 is probably faster and has two cameras; no matter how crappy they are, you can at least do videoconferencing with it. If such iPad owner is an avid reader, he or she will probably have a regular Kindle as second device, just for reading, thanks to its e‑Ink technology that makes long reading sessions easier on the eyes. If such iPad owner already uses the iPad for all his/her reading, I don’t see any reason why the Amazon Tablet should appeal to him/her.
    2. The Kindle owner — For Kindle owners, this new tablet may have enticing features: multi-touch (yay, no more having to put up with that crappy keyboard), bigger screen (than the 6‑inch Kindle), colour, an overall better user experience, hopefully faster and more responsive. But the lack of e‑Ink technology may be a serious drawback for them, especially for those with sight problems. When you’re accustomed to reading on a good e‑Ink device such as the Kindle, it’s hard moving to regular backlit screens.
    3. The prospective tablet buyer — I am in this category myself. Disclaimer: as a Mac user and iPhone owner, I am of course biased towards Apple and I know I will eventually purchase an iPad (probably the next iteration, although I’m tired of waiting and could just get an iPad 2), but for the sake of the analysis, I’ll try to be as objective as possible. When you’re in the market for a tablet, you can’t obviously leave the iPad out of the picture — unless of course you’re an Apple-hater, so that you’ll purchase anything but Apple products — so let’s just make a quick comparison between the upcoming Amazon Tablet and an iPad. The possible advantages of the Amazon Tablet over the iPad: a smaller screen (for some the iPad is too big), it’s likely to be lighter and easier to hold, and it costs half the price of the entry-level iPad model; then, of course, it perfectly integrates all Amazon’s services and applications. On the other hand, as already mentioned, the iPad is faster, has a bigger (probably better) screen, has many more apps to choose from (which ensures great versatility), has a better multi-touch interface, more storage, two cameras, better build quality. Again, I won’t say anything regarding iOS vs. Android: depending on the user, the software platform may be the paramount concern or the least important factor.

    The Amazon Tablet might be the first non-iOS tablet to succeed, especially if Amazon — as it seems — is working hard to provide a great user experience. It may appeal to those people who are considering a tablet but find the iPad to be too bulky and expensive for their tastes (or budget), and who want something more colourful and easier to interact with than the classic Kindle. For the rest, considering all the information MG Siegler was able to share, this Amazon Tablet doesn’t strike me as this huge deal. 

    What perplexes me most is the lack of e‑Ink technology. An Amazon Tablet with all those features and e‑Ink technology could have interested me enough to postpone my iPad purchase. But a tablet with which you’re supposed to do lots of eBook reading (it’s going to be the Kindle’s big brother, after all) that’s not equipped with such a distinctive and useful feature as e‑Ink, well, it’s just another tablet. In other words, those who read a lot of books and love e‑Ink will buy a regular Kindle. Those who read a lot and don’t mind reading on a traditional backlit LCD/LED screen, will probably be more tempted to purchase an iPad, unless they find it too heavy to hold for long periods of time and/or can’t afford to spend at least $499 for such a device. Or hate everything Apple.

    These are just first thoughts and observations, and I’m probably missing something or not seeing the whole picture. I will gladly discuss the Amazon Tablet when it ships, since I prefer an informed debate. Meanwhile I’d be thrilled to know your opinion on the matter.