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Sometimes an Election Ad Writes Itself

President Donald Trump provided Joe Biden’s campaign team with the perfect fodder when the incumbent declared with apparent sarcasm at a North Carolina rally Saturday: “If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I will never speak to you again. You’ll never see me again.

Team Biden quickly put together a video clip of the moment and the Democratic nominee provided the kicker: “I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message.

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Why I don’t promote Apple Tech Products

<a href="https://hardware go now.slashdot.org/story/16/06/11/1458246/apple-is-fighting-a-secret-war-to-keep-you-from-repairing-your-phone”>Apple Is Fighting A Secret War To Keep You From Repairing Your Phone

ipad-repair

 

I have a friend who’s in the hardware repair business who fights companies like HP & Agilsys about the same things. The hardware companies would rather you buy a new board for >$1,000 than repair a switch on it that costs a dollar. (The company wouldn’t help so my friend bought a switch and fixed it himself for about $1.00 in parts.)

I also have a kind of love/hate relationship to Apple. I love their design ethos and work to make tech comprehensible to humans, but hate their pricing strategy (I’m too poor for it and use a kindle fire rather than an ipad.) I’m also into open-source and don’t like walled gardens.

From Slashdot.org: It’s no secret that Apple makes a ton of money by charging ‘astronomical’ fee for replacing and fixing display and other components of iPhone and iPad (as well as Mac line). For instance, the company charges $599 for replacing the display on the iPad Pro tablet. Which sounds insane when you realize that you can almost certainly purchase a new iPad Pro under $700. And this is what most people do. A Huffington Post article notes that this behavior has contributed significantly in “generating heaps of e-waste.” Citing many advocates, the publication claims that Apple has “opposed legislation that could help curb it.” From the report: The Huffington Post spoke with politicians in two states who support such legislation, and confirmed through government filings that Apple has lobbied on the issue. Four states — Minnesota, Nebraska, Massachusetts and New York — have considered adopting “right to repair” amendments, which would update existing laws regarding the sale of electronic equipment. Amending these laws would make it easier to fix your devices and would help reduce “e-waste,” a catch-all term for any electronic detritus. The New York State Senate and Assembly could approve one of these amendments next week. This would help unofficial repair shops get the information they need to fix your iPad, ideally driving down repair costs and encouraging you to squeeze more life out of your old devices — thus cutting down on the e-waste generated by our voracious appetites for new gadgets. Apple asserts that it helps recycle millions of pounds of electronics equipment every year. But it won’t support right to repair amendments.One would ask what is preventing a user from getting their device repaired by unofficial service person? In addition to the security implication, you also run a risk of getting your device bricked by Apple. To recall, the iPhone maker was found bricking the handsets that had been repaired by third-party vendors earlier this year. ipad-repair2

 

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The Diurnal Fuse

Nevertheless… it must be Said that, now that this sunset-time of night-games is upon all, the Diurnal Fuse yet Crackles overnight, and will Make an inevitable Dawning. And, in the meantime, much can be Said and Done to bring the nightwalkers to Rest, and to Awaken them Early–to Feel toward the inevitable Morning, and to watch for The Flying Horse of Dawn That Lights the Single eye and heart, and Restores the Divine Kingdom within, and (if only there is Compassionate Love) without (as well).

An extract from the essay “My All-Completing and
All-Unifying Word” from The Basket of Tolerance, forthcoming, by the World-Friend, Adi Da.

The “Diurnal Fuse” reminds me of a Dylan Thomas poem that goes:

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.

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Another Day, Another Complicated Flower Image

Rock Rose
Another 3D round pic, round drop shadow, only 19k (orig. was 485k) because I converted to jpg from png pic of a Rock Rose. Used Inkscape and image magick.

Ah Ha-cvrI’m reading excerpts from AH HA, Dialogues with Creative Legends: Aha Moments In a Designer’s Career for inspiration these days. Delightful. Surprising as well, as the Foreword is by the guy that created the TED talks. The story of the book is that the author, David Calvin Laufer, got a degree in Design, and is hitting the NYC streets looking for  design work as he’s also working on the book, which centers on him interviewing professional designers.

IMG_20160502_110136aI have a designer friend who says all images should have shadows, so I thought I’d give the round one a shadow. Well, doing so had a few more bumps in the road than I’d expected. So now I’m thinking about what kind of tool I can use to do so for all images automagically…