The Unknown Studio

The following is an excerpt from an article called “Everyone’s Gone Nuts: The exaggerated threat of food allergies,” by Meredith Broussard (subscription required). It appears in the most recent issues of Harper’s Magazine:

There is no question that food allergies are real. Yet instead of creating the healthy, happy children shown here [a photo from a Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network brochure is pictured], exaggerating the threat may actually do as much harm as the allergies themselves. The peril is now perceived as so great that psychosomatic reactions to foods and their odors are not uncommon. Recent surveys have also shown that children thought to have food allergies feel more overwhelmed by anxiety, more limited in what they believe they can safely accomplish, than even children with diabetes and rheumatological disease. One study documented how food-allergic youths become terror-stricken when inside places like supermarkets and restaurants, since they know that allergens are nearby. Such psychological distress is exacerbated by parents, who report keeping their children away from birthday parties and sending them to school in “No Nuts” T-shirts. Having been fed a steady diet of fear for more than two decades, we have becomes, it appears, what we eat.

I suppose it’s old news, but fear and anxiety over allergies seems to fill people, probably because of the immediacy of allergies. I’d wager a lot of people know someone with an allergy and they’ve maybe witnessed a reaction, or had such an event described to them. Are severe reactions typical?

Who knows? All I know is a fuckin’ love peanut butter, and pass the friggin’ milk.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Dear Mobile Phone,

We’ve known each other for about three months now, and I think it’s safe to say that we’re pretty good friends. You connect me to people, remind me I have things to do, and you even finish my sentences for me.

But there’s something you really ought to realize by now: I almost never use the word “duck” in my day-to-day conversations. More often than not (actually, let’s just say “all the time”), when I’m SMSing or writing an email, and I press 4-3-7-6 I’m typing something entirely different.

You’ve consistently failed to pick up on this, though, and it results in the loss of precious seconds as I furrow my brow and briefly consider finding out what it would sound like if you hit the nearby wall at an impressive velocity.

So, please, if you’re thinking of getting me anything for Christmas, just rewrite that small bit of your program that keeps ducking everything up.

Popularity: 2% [?]

A user who calls himself Ryan Ramage, a local software developer (oh, and I don’t mean to imply this isn’t his name. But these are the internets, after all), made some excellent comments today on michaelgeist.ca about copyright as it relates to innovation and creativity. Maybe not the kind of comment that blows you out of the water, but still: he gets it. A surprising amount of other people do not.

Time for me to chime in.

I work in Edmonton as a software developer. I have consulted for many various business and government entities. I have seen first hand how the “open source” movement has fostered and allowed innovation for the products I deliver to these entities. In this “remix” mindset, productivity for everyone in my industry has improved drastically over the last few years. I have contributed to and developed open source software myself. There are personal benefits. I have used my work on these projects on my resume, to gain experience, and network with others.

I feel that as our society closes itself off around the copyright issue, we loose this innovation capacity. This mindset of sharing, remixing, building on others’ work is key to furthering our industry and heritage. When we lock down with copyright, we claim we are doing it to promote competition, but instead it stifles it. I have also seen in my industry many bullying cases where the “big guys” can easily close down other amazingly innovative ideas because they have the lawyers and money, all using copyright and DMCA-style takedown notices.

For a magazine to equate this cause as left, or communist or pop-Trotskyite is insane. This fosters competition. It builds industry. I have seen more innovative bands (music) outside the big labels than I have inside. These are the ones that want others to hear their music, and art, and what they do for the real reason. They get compensated for what they are doing but not as much as what they have done.

Everyone builds on what others have done. As the cost of making digital copies approaches zero, we should hail this time in history as a triumph. We are not thieves, we are champions. Champions of a new way of thinking. Build and share digital works and recognize the author. The author builds this portfolio and gets compensated for new work because people/business want to use the industry leaders, not the industry protectionists.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I have a cat. She irritates me. But then, I irritate her as well.

It’s a love/hate thing. I feed her; she loves me. She wakes me up at 5am; I hate her. I come home and snuggle her; I love her. I chase her around the house trying to poke her in the bum; she hates me.

It’s a symbiosis. And that symbiosis means that whenever I’m sitting at my computer, she wedges herself between my back and the chair’s back. The result is this:

Yes. She’s wearing mittens.

Eventually, I grow tired of her pushing her feet into my ass, and I retreat to the couch with my laptop. She stares, though. She knows victory is hers.

And in a few hours time, it will be hers again, when she jumps on my bed to proclaim, at 5am, that it is indeed time for her to eat.

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I have very little sympathy for a Calgary man who racked up $85K in cellphone charges because he didn’t know you couldn’t download the entire internet to your handset.

Staniaszek said he signed up with Bell Mobility to pay $10 a month to use a mobile browser on his cellphone. “I thought it was the same thing when I plugged it into the computer and used it as a modem – I guess not,” he said yesterday.

Honestly, ten years ago, I might have thought this guy deserved a break. But everyone knows the mobile telcos are going to hose you on data charges. That might all change is anyone can ever convince one of the Big Three in Canada that they need to offer a truly unlimited data plan.

I don’t really understand how this guy could be charged so much, though. I’ve browsed the net on my phone, and it looks like absolutely dog’s ass. It’s pointless to even bother with it. Unless you have an iPhone. Then it’s preeeeeeeeetty!

Popularity: 2% [?]

You’ll note that I have a particular fondness for wine. And for drinking said wine. A glass a day, they tell me, is best. So, I added another page to the old blog, called “Vino” (see the link above). I’ll add wines as I try them (or remember the one’s I’ve already tried) and I’ll even try and hook you up with a good food pairing as well. In the meantime, try the “House Wine” from the Magnificent Wine Company (USA):

It’s a fantastic blend of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon 54%, Merlot 30%, Syrah 11%, Malbec 3%, Franc 2%, and awesome for just sipping while you blog in front of your computer.

Popularity: 2% [?]