Canine Partners

Canine Partners assist people with disabilities to help enjoy a more independent lifestyle and improve their quality of life.

After a long day of pats and cuddles, we managed to raise £891.31 at the Chelmsford event - a fantastic result!

There are many events coming up this Spring to raise money for the charity including the Bluebell Walks which take place around the country. Bring yourself, your dog and your wonga to help raise funds whilst taking part in something fun, healthy and really worthwhile. All the money goes towards training new puppies and helping Canine Partners to cope with the demand of people on the waiting list.

See the list of current walks here: http://www.caninepartners.org.uk/bluebell_walks

For more info or to get involved with volunteering, visit the website and fill out an application form: http://www.caninepartners.org.uk/

(All photos Kathryn Beadle © 2011)

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3-D Multi-touch: Apple become even more obsessed with the touchy-feely

Apple have hurriedly patented their portable stretchy napkin-esque device: the multi-touch skin. Apparently, this technology could pave the way for...

‘a plethora of future product concepts.’

Plethora, schmethora. In this post, I’m going to point out the disadvantages and downsides to this type of invention, just because I’m in that kind of mood.

(NB. I’m hoping you’ll also find some sensible critique that’s not influenced solely by hormonal fluctuation.)

Here is a technical drawing of the multi-touch skin (yes, really) :

Good.

Application in sporting equipment and training (i.e. Tennis)

‘The multi-touch skin is wrapped around the entire circumference of the handle and extends along the length of the handle and in this manner spans three dimensions of the object enabling multi-touch input as a player grasps the handle during play.’

Kit Eaton (tech writer at FastCompany) says the skin could be ‘darn useful’. Darn useful for CHEATING more like. As this kind of technology excels, athletes will rely more heavily on machines and computers to determine what’s right and what’s wrong. Human error will be unacceptable and technology will be ready and waiting to point out a 0.0001% deviation from perfection.

What happened to natural talent?

Touchy-feely-sweepy-slide-swish

It seems we are unable to make any finger movement other than swish and slide these days. It freaks me out when young kids already have this movement ingrained in their motor memory. I was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room and looked over to a little girl furiously playing Angry Birds on cool Dad’s iPhone. She must’ve been only three or four years old and was wearing Velcro shoes; I wonder if she could tie her laces. Tenuous analogy? Oh well. Even though cool Dad was getting five minutes peace, there was clear disconnection between the two of them. Little girl’s blinkers were on and up – nobody was going to interrupt her!

So anyway, Kit goes on to say...

‘Imagine a remote that merely relies upon the brush of your thumb to change channels.’

No problem! That’s pretty much what we have already, you doorstop! I’m not sure about you, but I don’t notice a greater difficulty in pressing a button cl-ick than a sweepy sa-woosh. But I guess we’ll eventually say bye-bye to the faithful button.

Boo hiss. I’m never going to be able to relieve any frustration by swoooooshing away from the One Show.

Replacing buttons with thumb sweeps make some things more ergonomic for some users. Those who are born into this touchy-feely techno-world have no problem picking up this way to interact with such gadgets, but to try and explain this kind of function to an older demographic just wouldn’t work.

Multi-touch skin guitar lessons for the super-unsociable

Using the napkin with a guitar could mean that...

‘The user could perform chords on the guitar fret in conjunction with instructional software shown on a display. The player’s chords on the multi-touch skin could be tracked and then analyzed by the instructional software to determine if the player is properly performing the chords. That would work nicely with Apple’s Garage Band ’11 iLife app for Guitar Lessons.’

Learning to play music through a screen and analytical software? My survey says NO. In my experience, music teachers are one of two breeds: scary and brilliant or lovely and useless. Without a combination of nagging, pestering, scolding and... crying, I don’t think I would’ve learnt as well as I did. I know that I wouldn’t have had the same relationship with a display screen anyway – computers are either off or on.

The influential presence of a human cannot be matched or replaced by a technology (at the moment), and it’d neverrr be able to be exactly the same. In addition, the words ‘tracked’, ‘analyzed’, ‘properly performing’ would rarely be heard within a musical teaching environment. Because music is so expressive and personal, it requires a human touch and human ear to guide a pupil through the learning process, and sometimes that doesn’t always mean playing all the correct notes all of the time.

So?

Yes, napkin technology is clever and perhaps useful in some contexts (you can research these for yourself) but it’s important to look at technology in a negative light sometimes. Because so much hype surrounds every new development; it’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement. So, to conclude this post, the multi-touch skin and its potential application would discourage social interaction, it would cut out important life-experiences, and continue to endorse laziness with even greater dependence on computers and technology.

End.

Diagram and all excerpts in purple taken from http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2011/01/apple-delves-into-three-dimensional-multi-touch-skins.html and http://www.fastcompany.com/1722569/apple-imagines-3-d-multitouch-everywhere (02.02.11)

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Brownies

After two days, our batch of twelve is down to four and a half.

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Massey-attack!

So Andy Gray has been sacked by Sky, Richard Keys remains just about in-tact though mounting pressure has left Sky in a difficult position following the revelations of the past week. Where does this leave Sian Massey?

‘Apparently, a female lino today, bit of a looker’

‘A female linesman? [...] No, I wouldn’t. I definitely wouldn’t... I can see her from here.’

‘What do women know about the offside rule?’

The conversation between Andy Burton and Gray ahead of Saturday’s match between Wolves and Liverpool.

‘The game’s gone mad. See charming Karren Brady this morning complaining about sexism? Yeah. Do me a favour, love.’

Keys, on the newspaper column written by the West-Ham vice chair.

These comments and quips have not been blown out of proportion, they have been presented for what they are, and that is sexist. The term itself is flung about and used blandly to cover a number of sins, but the issue that’s most upsetting is the result of the media circus that has erupted around a qualified professional official who has done nothing but get on and do her job. Sian Massey has not uttered a word during the whole palaver, and unfortunately decided to step down from her match on Tuesday officiating for Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City. A completely unfair consequence which meant a highly-competent and experienced individual was not able to do carry out her employment duty as an assistant referee.

Even through the statements were captured when the men thought their mics were off, it’s a shame now that journalists are rummaging through old reels of footage, scavenging for quotes from any male presenter that has ever been in the limelight. There’s no need for the media to rub it in our faces that these kinds of remarks are made – we know already! But the fact that such an old-fashioned and shallow point of view is still prevalent within the sports world just shows how slow people adapt to change. On-air or off-air, it’s still an ideology that hinders a fair portrayal of women in today’s ‘modern’ society.

The fact that women have had to struggle for years to make it just about acceptable to have a female presence within a male dominated sport is bad enough, but why is it the norm to still be judged and talked about with all remarks based purely on gender?

Boring!

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January. A New Year.

‘New’.

It seems that the definition of the word is lost during the month of January. New Year’s resolutions are far from revolutionary.

January allows brands and businesses to convince us that we have overindulged so much that we really should feel awful. If we’re not feeling awful about those mince pies, we should probably re-think the meaning of indulgence. Tut. Condescending voiceovers remind us of brands’ ethereal presence, and January is the perfect time for their products and services to re-emerge, just in-time to save humankind from fat, flab and feeling awful. New Year; new resolutions; new solutions... recycled from last year. If you weren’t thinking about losing weight, you should. Everyone else is! You must try this diet which allows you to snack, and this food which makes you never want to snack. Oh, and this diet which makes you look like Cheryl Baker! Hooray!

Sitting on the sofa becomes a sin as bouncy youthful enthusiastic enthusiasts show off their toned bods for a fitness DVD that was filmed 6 months ago. Oh, and not only is TV-watching frowned upon, but that sofa you’re lounging on certainly isn’t suitable for 2011. If you weren’t shopping on Boxing Day and taking advantage of the pre-VAT increase, you must be bonkers. I don’t own a sofa, but I’m still saturated with adverts from furniture stores whose pre-requisite for success is to use acronyms and acronyms alone. Who knows what they could stand for...

On this theme, January is also a time for shops to clear out stock. Those winter coats that were new-in two weeks ago are pushed aside to make way for swimwear and flip-flops. We know that the fashion stores operate on their own seasonal axis, though this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy up the ‘SLASHED’ price goods which are still very much appropriate in this cold weather. However, sale items loiter in the corner well into February looking crumpled, dusty, and so last year as we stock up on florals and linen. Spring/Summer ‘11, innit!

Resolutions shouldn’t be restricted to be made in January alone. There’s far too much else going on anyway... playing with Christmas presents, for example. And before you ask, no I don’t have any resolutions as such. I’ll change what I want in my own time, when I have time!

Roll on February.

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A marriage proposal.. In Cafe Rouge.

My boyfriend and I went to Cafe Rouge, simply because we had converted Tesco clubcard points to make prizes; in this case, restaurant vouchers. Our meal was fine, I had rice and vegetables in sauce and boy had meat and potatoes in sauce.

Whilst eating, I notice the lady beside me (she really is beside me. Waitresses made sure to cram in as many couples as close together as possible) is crying. Cringe and awkwardness. Then, I see a glimmer in the corner of my eye with my crow-like peripheral vision and realise that golly gosh, he's gone and proposed to her with a sparkly sparkly ring...

In Cafe Rouge. Right beside me. Right beside me and boy and our elbows and outdoor coats.

Trying to digest this, as well as the rice, vegetables and sauce I couldn't help but gawk a little bit. At this point I reflect that that's what the proposer would've wanted anyway, even if the proposee didn't. Although she had agreed to marry him, so I presume that she would share his opinion on the matter and so I continued to gawk and do not feel bad for doing so.

After they nabbed a couple of glasses of free champagne, proposee spends approximately 25 minutes calling and texting and status updating and social networkinging and tweet and pinpinging everyone in her phonebook. She doesn't know how to send multiple messages and so this is a lengthy process. Meanwhile, proposer just sits there... maybe he's looking smug, but I'm not looking at him, I'm (secretly) watching female fiancee; appauled by the (kinda lack of) drama unfolding.

Now, really. For one, am I that old-fashioned and romantic to think that a proposal on a busy Saturday evening at Cafe Rouge is not ideal? Nor is it very personal. I don't know. I don't judge the pair as a couple, but it certainly was interesting to see how this extraordinary tale unravelled. Secondly, the importance of being socially aware and 'being connected' to one another has a horrible affect on people's personal lives it seems. Those (precious?) moments after the proposal, she ain't gonna get them back is she! Ever!

Her thumbs hold onto distant memory of the proposer's words as they were translated into noughts and ones quicker than any nimble soul could ever get down on one knee.

Cafe Rouge proposal + super social networking. It's a thumbs down from me, I'm afraid.

Ugh.

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Autumn.

Whilst walking along a busy main road you can combine the inhalation of fumes, the splash of murky polluted puddles, beepbeeps from the early morning perves etc with a beautiful backdrop of magenta and vermilion. The deepest purple and the freshest green amongst sunshine yellow and burnt orange frame the edges of the street so colourfully. If you happened to have a 24 pack of Crayolas handy, I'm pretty sure you could identify every snazzy name they ever gave those little pencils - 'burnt sienna', 'tan'...

In the afternoons at 5.30pm before the clocks went back, a clear blue sky was the prettiest colour of 'sky blue' that'd ever been called pretty. I actually once smiled up at it because it was just the most perfect shade.

Now the clocks have gone forward the daylight fades too quickly and I squeeze my desk up against the window to absorb as much as I can while it's still around. Now I walk home and it's dark and car lights are on and it scares me when they roar past in the blackness and I can't see the tree leaves that are so beautiful in the light. Now they're only shadows, and all I smell is carbon, and all I feel is 'grey'.

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