zen bones...

Steve Mathew's Blog

OK, so why the zen bones thing?

About 20 years ago I stumbled upon a book called "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones". Being vegetarian - the "flesh" bit didn't grab me, but the short pithy Zen stories inside it, did.

Ever since then my web nick has been zenbones, my Hotmail, my Gmail address, you name it. It's kinda stuck.

Is the blog about Zen? Nope.

Sir Clive Sinclair interview (inventor of one of the home computers, doesn't use one!)

Sir Clive: "I don't use a computer at all. The company does."
Interviewer: "So you don't do email?"
Sir Clive: "No. I've got people to do it for me."
Interviewer: "If friends and family want to communicate?"
Sir Clive: "They can do that. We've got a computer in the front office, but I get someone to do it for me."
Interviewer: "That seems odd to me. Why is that?"
Sir Clive: "Sheer laziness I think. I can't be bothered."
Interviewer: "Do you not know how to operate it?"
Sir Clive: "I do know how to, but I don't."
Interviewer: "Sorry to press, but it seems the simplest thing in the world to do your own emails."
Sir Clive: "Well I find them annoying. I'd much prefer someone would telephone me if they want to communicate. No, it's not sheer laziness -- I just don't want to be distracted by the whole process. Nightmare."

Tags: tech fun computers interview

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“ Fifa, the monopoly organiser, is the major beneficiary while South Africa, the host nation “carries a disproportionate share of the cost burden”. Citibank’s research arm - Business Report - Home - World Cup’s main beneficiary is Fifa, and SA’s slice slims

Tags: Fifa South Africa soccer worldcup 2010 quotes

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March 10

Piano Lessons

Nice!

Tags: fun design

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1 billion pageviews for Tumblr - way to go!

Tags: Tumblr tech

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March 9

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee - The Oatmeal

Tags: coffee

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March 5

The art & science of client cost-estimates

Airline Client: “You quoted us for 8 days of 2D graphics. I think that’s way too much.”

Me: “It includes revisions.”

Airline Client: “Well, if you do everything perfectly and we don’t want to change anything, can you charge us less?”

Colleague: “If your airline flew us to London and got us there 10 minutes ahead of schedule, would everyone on the plane get a refund?”

via “clientsfromhell”

Tags: clients fun design web design

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“ Rhetoric is the art of persuasive communication. According to Aristotle, three elements are required for effective rhetoric: ethos (your reputation), logos (the logic in your argument) and pathos (the emotion you elicit). All three are a vital triad when presenting for new business. Pitching for new business: Aristotle’s Rhetoric

Tags: quotes

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March 4

“ The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. C. S. Lewis

Tags: quotes

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“ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has moved 11,200 of their crew members to Gmail as part of their Google Apps Premier Edition deployment Official Google Enterprise Blog: Flying into the cloud

Tags: Google GMail Google Apps tech news

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March 3

Meaning of life…

Somewhat simplistic, but, you do a lot worse!

Tags: fun philosophy

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The Apple logo, reverse engineered.

Tags: Apple design logos

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March 2

Adoption of the metric system of measurement.

Countries which have officially adopted the metric system

Countries which have not officially adopted the metric system (US, Myanmar, Liberia)

via upload.wikimedia.org

Tags: metric USA Myanmar Liberia

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March 1

Kiwi jetpack invention gets ready for domestic takeoff

OK, I’ll have one of these for my birthday, please.

Tags: jetpack YouTube

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February 28

Spotted this outside Mellisa’s today.

Tags: fun quotes

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The Bloom Box

I must say, this could get me rather enthusiastic about alternative energy options. The hype around this launch, and the celebs, will drive the fuel cell technology mainstream.

Admittedly, it’s been around since the 1800’s but hasn’t been fully exploited. Also, the “no emmisions” and “green label” the Bloom Box seems to be attracting is a little exaggerated - as there are CO2 outputs. Anyhow, it’s a step away from the ridiculous coal-fired belching power-plants we rely on now, towards something lighter and cleaner. It’s not as green as solar or wind, but provides a more reliable and consistent power source.

The tech fact sheet is here

More over here, and here.

What do you think?

Tags: energy tech

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