SWCAMBORNE

“I always give my future self way to much credit when it comes to remembering passwords”

Every month in The Funny Times there is a column of one liners called Ruminations by Aaron Karos.  I finally took the time to look at his web site which is great.  http://ruminations.com/site/

To entice you to take a look here are few of my favorites with some art photos I took in Carpinteria last week.

“It’s extremely frustrating when you spell a word so incorrectly that even spell check isn’t able to help you out.”

“How is it possible that there is still no way to un-push a button in an elevator?”

Things change.  This little change will have big repercussions.

In a remarkable coincidence my old iPhone was dying and going out of contract at the same time.  So I took the easiest path and stopped by the AT&T store nearby and bought the new iPhone 4S.  I was able to transfer my information and upgrade my apps with no difficulty and for a few weeks I really didn’t use the new phone any differently.

“Oh what a tangled web”

But I had SERI in my pocket and I saw the little microphone at the bottom of the memo and email pages so last week I gave it a try.  Conclusion: The new transcription program built into the 4S is incredibly good.

I have been trying to be able to dictate into a machine and have it type a transcript for more than a decade and all of the programs I ever tried were crap.  Now here on my phone is one that works. It means less typing and faster communications.  It also means more messages sent in haste without reflection.  Isn’t technology grand.

Walter Mossberg wrote about it today in his Wall Street Journal article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577335792574509780.html?KEYWORDS=mossberg

The WSJ is difficult to read if your not a subscriber.  So try both links or do a Google search  if you’re interested.

More importantly see if your phone has speech transcription technology and give it a try.  This btw is another argument for Starbucks to get together with Apple and/or Android and bring the Genius Bar to the Coffee Bar.  To make this kind of change people are going to need a little hands on instruction.

I went on a tour of the County Arboretum in Arcadia with Lilli B.  She is working as a volunteer there helping with the Garden Festival.  The specific purpose of the visit was to see “Grommet” the very unattractive Guinea Fowl that Lilli has unofficially adopted.

Grommet

At the Arboretum peacocks get all of the attention.  With good reason they are very photogenic.

Wowing the hens.

But Grommet the Guinea Fowl has an underdogs charm and a face that only his mother could love.

Oh My!

Watch for: Grommet Stories,  The TV mini-series, the book and of course the stuffed animal.

In the meantime look at this album of other photos from the Arboretum on Flickr

Texture

When someone comes to your website you have four seconds to make then feel:

• like they are in the right place.
• like they want to know more.
• good
• entertained
• angry

Feel Something

But you only have four seconds to make a person feel something that will cause then to stay.  A web site is more than a billboard but less than a TV commercial.

This important data came from Tom Reynolds the principal of Reynolds Group who spoke to my Federation Networking Breakfast Group last month.  Tom specializes in “Internet Business Strategy” which is an evolving and very interesting field.

Last month I went to the meeting of the California Map Society at the LA Public Library.  It was my first visit inside the building since the fire about 15 years ago.  They have done a super job blending the old and the new and the public and the private.

The blending atrium

Go on the weekend when traffic is low and parking is cheap

Some of the murals from the old building still exist and are beautifully restored.

The ceiling decoration around one of the giant chandeliers

The opening of the map exhibit at CECUT in Tijuana last Friday was wonderful.

Carlos Garcia, Armando Orso, Simon Burrow

Carlos and Armando were the prime movers in getting the exhibit approved and installed.

The exhibit is the best yet.  They did blowups of three of the maps that are spectacular and the space is just wonderful.  I didn’t get many pictures because I was distracted by the delicious Baja Pinot Noir from Cetto Vineyards that they were pouring.  We concluded the evening with dinner at Los Arcos.  An excellent opening.

I have been to Cancun three times. The first was about thirty years ago with Nurit. The second was about fifteen years ago with Lillian and this year with Howard and Aty.

The changes have been remarkable. Both physically and in the nature of the experience. The first time we came there were just a few hotels on the beautiful beach. Now all ten miles of beach are lined with hotels, condos and private homes and it is still beautiful.

But the biggest and most encouraging change has been in the nature of the service. The workers here have changed from acting like wage slaves resentful of the rich outsiders to really helpful, caring, friendly people. All of them seem to be focused on quaking sure that the tourist economy keeps working. For example they have hundreds of busses that allow you to go anywhere from town to the end of the tourist zone for about a dollar. The drivers happily take any kind of money and make change. In LA or London if the driver had cash like that around he would be robbed hourly. In the flea market the hustlers tell lies and hawk crap just like before but they no longer physically confront you. And in the “all inclusive” hotel where we are staying everybody from the pool waiter to the room cleaner is trying really hard to speak English and make you happy.

It appear that an entire people have had a change of attitude. They are working communally to keep the tourism business going and it happened in a little more than a generation. This is really good news for the world. Angry, distrustful people don’t have to stay angry and distrustful.

It is roughly 660 miles from Ashland, Oregon to Pasadena, California and I am proof that you can easily drive it in a day. Even on an overcast day driving pretty hard there is plenty to see.

Mt Shasta

Sunset over the San Joaquin Valley

and plenty of Starbucks

See more photos on Flickr

A special shout out to Miles one of the brilliant staff at Valley View Auto Repair in Ashland, Oregon who against all odds replaced the clutch in Rebecca’s car and made my drive both possible and necessary.  Well done.

On the drive the mini went over 90,000 miles and this was its first new clutch.  I took a picture.

This song and the video of it were created by two young people who I had the privilege of tutoring in math many years ago.   Wow!

“It is easier to wax elegiac for the life of a peasant when you do not have to use a long-drop toilet.”

Matt Ridley, Author

The Rational Optimist (p. 12).