It’s hard to believe, but it’s been over two months since the last link dump, so here goes:
- A radical pessimist’s guide to the next 10 years: Author Douglas Coupland makes a series of 45 predictions about how technology and society will change each other. Some are interesting, some are way off, but most are interesting nonetheless. A few samples:
3) The future is going to happen no matter what we do. The future will feel even faster than it does now
The next sets of triumphing technologies are going to happen, no matter who invents them or where or how. Not that technology alone dictates the future, but in the end it always leaves its mark. The only unknown factor is the pace at which new technologies will appear. This technological determinism, with its sense of constantly awaiting a new era-changing technology every day, is one of the hallmarks of the next decade.
10) In the same way you can never go backward to a slower computer, you can never go backward to a lessened state of connectedness
34) You’re going to miss the 1990s more than you ever thought
The 90s have a bad reputation, but I liked them.
- The Museum of Soviet Arcade Games: No wonder they lost!
- Experiments in Blind Tasting: I’ve been getting into beer in a big way this year, and one of the things I find a little amusing is the way a lot of people seem to review their beers. They always seem to have these amazingly well attuned taste buds, picking up the most subtle of flavors easily. Sometimes I think I’m missing something, and sometimes I think they’re just making it up. This article covers a course intended for beer judges, and it’s a apparently quite a challenge. The key graph:
We were then given a batch of three unidentified black beers, and told to write notes on them, then attempt to guess the beer styles. After tasting the three we were asked one by one to read our notes on the first one, all of which went along the lines of “roasty, caramel, maybe a bit neutral”. The shock was considerable when we were told that it was, again, Ringnes Pils, this time with some black colouring added to it. Every single one of the 10 participants claimed to taste roastiness in the beer, and not one of the 10 so much as came near the idea that this might be a pilsener. An interesting example of the sense of taste being affected by visual signals.
I knew it!
- Kaedrin Beer Blog: Hey, did I just mention that I was getting into beer in a big way? Well yeah, I started a beer blog. I have no idea if it will last or how often I’ll update, but so far, I’ve been updating a pretty good clip. And it being me, of course there’s a little movie talk going on as well. I’m open to any comments or suggestions about the blog, and if you’re a designer, I need to come up with a nicer looking headline than the default template orange text thing I’ve got up there now.
That’s all for now…