Nothing really much to go into here, other than it’s now the first day of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Two things I’d like to do in my life: Spend one Summer Solsitce at the Equator, and one in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, I’ve always wanted to get to the SoHem, but have so far only managed to get within 9 degrees of it.

What celebrations, if any, happen on this Solstice?

It’s no stretch to say that maps are a sublime language, able to speak across time and distance with an elegant blend of data and art. Yes, having a legend is crucial to total understanding of a map, but one can certainly figure out the basics of a good map with just a short period of observation.


(Map from Strangemaps)

It’s the site Strangemaps that has helped to keep firing my interest in maps. For a long time I’ve used the map as a quick way to express information to the ‘uneducated.’ Often, it’s a good way to use an analogy to explain the unknown. Thus ever the nature of maps, I understand. But in looking at the different maps that have been made over centuries, I see that there are myriad ways to express information that I haven’t yet considered - a reminder that I need to keep my eyes and mind open, to keep looking for ways to modify the charts that make up my methodologies.

I freely admit that Twitter is pretty cool. I can follow other people’s inanities all day long, if I so choose. I throw out my own character-limited banalities and move along to the next thing.

You see where I’m going with this. After using Twitter for a year, I have yet to use it for anything further than time-killing. Really. I have yet to see any of the people I follow use it for anything more than time-killing. I realize that the plural of “anecdote” is not “data,” but I’m not seeing the upside to Twitter beyond idle chatting.

Nothing wrong with that, if that’s all you want... but then I could just IM friends, or even write an email. There even exists a wealth of phone options.

What is the best method to capture a moment of information? Need we confine it to a social context?

At Sears, I was treated like an irritant. At the Apple Store, I was treated like a welcome customer. Why the difference? The first experience made me feel like I was intruding on the salesman’s day; the Apple Store made me feel like I was entering some room of my house that I hadn’t known about.

Sears used to to be the standard of the shopping experience. What cultural changes have occured to cause it to change? And why would the Apple Store be so completely different? Is it a question of clientele? Of need?

Making the person who’s about to part with their money feel good about it makes them want to repeat the process. I don’t know that I want to go back to Sears if my mower should break again. I do know that I’ll go back to the Apple Store if my Mac breaks again.

Tags: Thinking