Sep
6th
Sat
6th
(via 9 0 0 0)
Linear A.
Ancient language, lost to the modern day. Largely undecipherable.
So this got me to thinking . . . what if machines do have a subconscious of their own? What if machines right now are like human babies, which have brains but no way of expressing themselves except screaming (crashing)? What would a machine's subconscious look like? How does it feed off what we give it? If machines could talk to us, what would they say?
- Douglas Coupland, Microserfs
Facebook and Twitter may have pushed things into overdrive, but the idea of using communication tools as a form of “co-presence” has been around for a while. The Japanese sociologist Mizuko Ito first noticed it with mobile phones: lovers who were working in different cities would send text messages back and forth all night — tiny updates like “enjoying a glass of wine now” or “watching TV while lying on the couch.” They were doing it partly because talking for hours on mobile phones isn’t very comfortable (or affordable). But they also discovered that the little Ping-Ponging messages felt even more intimate than a phone call.
WASHINGTON - People calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are instead greeted by a phone-sex line, due to a printing error the government says would be too expensive to correct.
The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers, so instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24.
I really like you,” Sumire said in a small voice.
“I like you, too,” Miu said. She didn’t know what else to say. And it was the truth.
“I like you, too,” Miu said. She didn’t know what else to say. And it was the truth.
— Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart
Sep
4th
Thu
4th
Jun. 6, 1941: Three bums from South Ferry flophouses. At Battery Park N.Y.C. (via Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection)
i love how fashionably 1940s bums dressed! doesn’t it look like a photo the sartorialist would run? different times.
Anata to wa chigau n desu (”I am different from you”). In the few short days since Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda uttered these words to a pesky reporter after his shock resignation, Japan has witnessed the birth of a new buzz phrase online.
At the end of the press conference following Fukuda’s resignation, a Chugoku Shimbun reporter told the Prime Minister that many people thought he often seemed detached when he spoke, almost as if the problems facing Japan were none of his business. The reporter suggested that Fukuda also sounded distant in his resignation announcement and asked what impact he thought his sudden resignation (which comes just one year after previous Prime Minister Abe suddenly resigned) would have on the country. Seemingly perturbed, Fukuda fired back at the reporter: “You said I sounded detached, but I am able to see myself objectively. I’m different from you.”
Fukuda’s jarringly out-of-character words came as an awkward exclamation point to his resignation and threw some people for an extra loop. The phrase has been percolating for days on 2-channel, where dozens of popular threads with the words “anata to wa chigau n desu” (あなたとは違うんです) in the title have been posted, many containing Fukuda-inspired ASCII art. (via ‘Anata to wa chigau n desu’ ::: Pink Tentacle)
- Q: It is often said that during your own press conferences you seem to be talking about the affairs of another person, and we got the same impression from your press conference today. What influence will the way you resigned have on the LDP-led administration?
- A: Are you talking about the LDP-Komeito coalition? It would be best if all runs smoothly, but I see in the foreseeable future the possibility that it may not go favorably. And under such circumstances, we should not get involved in unknown situations. I considered things like that. You just said I appeared to be talking about someone else's affairs, however I am able to look at myself in an objective manner. I am different from you in that respect. Please take these things into consideration.
