it's just about you

well, this is at least what advertising tells to all of us, be it guys or gals, old or young. we are so important, our needs absolutely need to be fulfilled immediately, otherwise - well, probably nothing, but possibly the world would end.

so what is just about us? the whole world around us? - i don't think so, even though sometimes it would be nice to believe that everyone else existed just to make our own life as pleasant and interesting as possible. but who seriously believes this?

all this stuff they are trying to make us buy? because afterwards we will be happier? more beautiful? more intelligent? more loveable? - if it would work, one wouldn't need advertising in the first place, nor would one need all the subsequent products as their predecessors already made us happy, beautiful, fulfilled etc.

now i wonder: which interest do advertisers and producers have in selling us things that really make our lives better? i daresay NONE.

everything that could possibly lead to a more sustainable happiness would be deadly for their business. so instead of making people discover their uniqueness, their individual strengths and their place in the world (which admittedly can be a cumbersome and exhausting process) the strategy is to keep them in their self centered bubble and to keep their emotional emptyness EMPTY. and - in the absence of former enforced role models - why not use the chance to draft one which the good customer will willingly follow and buy whatever one places in front of them?

of course people are not stupid - they still have their intuition left and feel they are lacking something. but following the loud consumeristic advices they are told wherever they go is so much easier than listening to that little voice of doubt. apart from that, distracting people from thinking about anything serious by flooding their perceptional capabilities seems an effective way to go.

look around - it works.

original works from japan...

enjoy ;)

christmas preparation mood

i don't know if you remember the legendary cookies from elvis' christmas & knödel party.. it's been a while (today exactly 2 years ;) but watching it puts me in a christmas mood and reminds me of amazing 6 hours of baking with olga :)

anti - consumerism

My new happy phrase: "I really don't need this." It's totally efficient when browsing through stores (either virtual or physical). Ok, sometimes it can get frustrating when my mind tries to make me be a good customer - I nearly feel guilty for not buying anything. But most of the time it feels so liberating laughing at all the ads :D

dreaming

a comprehensive guide to internet insecurity

there seem to be some people that are more able to be unlucky than the rest of the world. always at the wrong time at the wrong spot, they run into all kinds of troubles.
the good news are that to compete with their infallible sense of timing you don't need to leave your house anymore. a simple computer with internet connection are already enough (if set up properly) to get yourself attacked, robbed, cheated, etc. Simply follow these instructions.

3D models with simple webcam

Some Cambridge guys really did a good job with this.

:)

usability horror

Usually the infamous ticket machines of the german railways serve as prime example for the necessity of increasing usability of software. Today I found another task, which should be even easier than booking a ticket using some piece of software. I wanted to create a photo calendar.

First I went to Rossmann, my usual photo portal. I ordered prints there quite often already, but apparently these guys didn't get their portal right for calendars. After clicking my way through all possible paths, I ended up facing a blank screen instead of a calendar.
So I downloaded their offline client, which did not have an option for choosing one particular system folder for importing the pictures, but drew them automatically from a so called 'standard' app... well, so I imported the pics in that app first and everything seemed to work fine - until I noticed that GREAT feature of determining the starting month of the calendar, with a range from dec 08 to dec 09... so WHAT now if I want my calendar to start with 2010?? no way....
Afterwards I tried Vista Print, uploaded the pictures, cringed at the shipping rates, and wanted to drag some pictures on the appropriate places ... but - hang on - why is the browser window moving as I'm trying to do that???? Maybe some of you know that silly game where you chase a little window over your monitor trying to click one button to close it? Well, their dragging operation worked exactly like that, except that you can't simply corner your browser window to get the picture on the right spot..

So, once again, one notices that just the ability to deploy some fancy piece of software is not enough - it should also enable the user to do what they have to accomplish with it.

the lament

alright, some elder people have to be allowed to lament for hours about how the state ruined their lives, their dreams, how they were abused giving everything and getting nothing in return. of course the whole society, politicians of all colours and of course their clients and collegues as well did everything to get them to exactly this point.
they must be very disappointed and as they are being victimis of a nation-wide conspiration "nothing can be done about it, as everything is already ruined and will crash in the next moment". maybe they are even right about the last statement. but what really upsets me (apart from the fact that materially they seems to have everything and more than they need - in contrast to millions of other people) is the last sentence bound to be pronounced as the final line of the whole song:
"But actually it's not me, whom I feel so sorry for; it's you!"

It feels like an insult to me, cause I am alive now at this point in time and society and I'm totally not feeling sorry for this fact myself. Actually in a lot of ways I think it's quite the opposite. Of course there are massive problems everywhere, but then people that did never encounter any problems in their lives are very lucky few. So I really see no point in that statement.

no answer

I am intrigued by the fact that some questions keep coming back to me, even though there is no chance they will ever be answered. Maybe there exists no answer.

My current favorite is: "Why did you do that?"