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  • A Printable Certificate for Breaking Chain Letters

    August 3, 2007

    Chain Breaker The other day I was checking my email, and was surprised to receive a mass email—you know, the kind where all the recipients are listed in the “to” field—from an acquaintance I barely knew. The photos attached were that of a recently-born child in their family, which seemed nice enough. However, soon afterwards I received a mass email reply from someone I didn’t know at all, with a CHAIN LETTER attached to it. The enterprising recipient, seeing an opportunity to foist the chain letter onto people she didn’t even know, bundled the chain letter as a forwarded email envelope, and artfully neglected to indicate its non-baby related payload.

    Some people may say I’m getting upset over nothing, but what really burns me is that this MISCREANT took advantage of a bunch of strangers for her own salvation. She applied SPAMMY TECHNIQUES to hoodwink a bunch of baby picture recipients into taking the fall for her own crappy email superstition. I was livid at this treatment.

    I hate chain letters because they’re thinly-disguised attempts to create something large on the backs of hundreds of strangers. There is, however, something magical about them; it’s interesting to think that a single person can send a letter to 10 people threatening them with misfortune…and be practically guaranteed that the chain will continue. This is particularly easy with email, a fine-but-trivial example of the psycho-mathematical forces behind pyramid schemes. Usually I just break the chain and forget about them, but this particular instance was particularly onerous in its callous disregard of my right to pursue happiness free of other people’s baggage. GRR.

    INVOKING THE MAGIC

    I got to thinking: If a chain letter can promise misfortune, what would be the most credible countermeasure? If people were making up their own chainletters, I figured that this gave me license to create my own magic certificate to draw on the power of like-minded people. And thus, the Chain Breaker was born. I call it the Certificate of Chain Letter Nullification. Here’s what it looks like:

    The Certificate of Chain Letter Nullification It’s basically some stock Illustrator CS2 borders and some clip art from the Historical Ornaments and Designs clip art book I have. The anti-chain letter mojo comes from the following declaration:
    There are times when the forces of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt conspire to coerce Good People to aid the propogation of Certain Letters of Ambiguous Benefit or Misfortune. Such Letters are conceived to Frighten people into serving the Ego of a Master Jerk. We can not, as free men and women, allow such Threats to bound our Happiness. By signing and dating this certificate, you declare that you are a Creator of Positive Energies. Together, we break the Tyranny of the Chain. We declare that we are defined by our Actions, not our Fears.

    Then you sign the document, and have a witness sign it too, and the unbinding magic should take effect if you, in your heart of hearts, agree with the statement. Since there are many of us who believe this, I’m figuring that this is some pretty strong magic. Failing that, I suppose we could always sic the Libertarian Party on the next chain-letter sendin’ yutz to cross our paths.

    In any case, I feel a little better. Perhaps some of you out there will find this certificate equally calming. Next time you get a chain letter, print out this certificate, sign it, and help drive back the FUD.

    » Download Certificate of Chain Letter Nullification (PDF, 360K)

    Enjoy! :-)

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    DSri Seah

  • Final Emergent Task Planner Design

    August 2, 2007

    I’ve decided to get rid of the year, though I like it, and have replaced it with a fill-in area for the date. The reason that finally pushed me over was that I’m not actually sure how long it’s going to take to print and ship out all these forms. There are a lot of dependencies that I’m just starting to learn about, so I figured it would be safer to supply forms that would be useful for the next year. The profits from this run will go into figuring out how to handle customization of the year in future products; right now, it makes sense to just make this one a fill-in-the-blank. Not quite as pretty, but still pretty useful :-)

    Here’s the final design:

    The Final Design I’ll be closing pre-orders on Monday. We have well-over 100 pad orders, so now I have to worry about how to accept money and fulfillment. I’m imagining this might take me a while to work out, though thanks to other readers I am looking at Shopify and Shipwire as possibilities for ecommerce and fulfillment. I have a paypal account, of course, but I’m not too keen on using them because of all the bad press I hear about them. I still have to get over to the post office and rent a post office box, and also ask them about bulk shipping at media rates (which I should qualify for). And then there’s the whole packaging challenge too…how can I make the package cool without adding a lot of expense?

    You can add your pre-order to the original post, or revise your existing one if the idea of a pad without the pre-printed year isn’t what you want. I still don’t have final cost numbers yet, but I’ll post them as soon as they’re ready. All pre-orders will get an email confirming their order amount and requesting address information. Thanks for your patience!

    UPDATE: Here’s how the Pre Orders work:

    You mail email me via the contact form, or leave a comment with your email address stating:

    1. How Many Pads you would Like
    2. The City / State you are ordering from

    I was not thinking of taking international orders right now, but please do indicate your interest anyway. If I can handle it, I’ll do it. If I have to fill out a customs form every time I ship something overseas, then that makes it less likely.

    Your pre-order is NOT a real order, but an indication of your interest. After I close pre-orders, I will have an accurate count of how many pads I can print, and can get final pricing. Then I will send an email to everyone stating what the final costs will be, plus whatever shipping ends up being, and start accepting real orders. It will likely be a few weeks before people start getting pads, but I want to get ’em out as soon as possible!

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    DSri Seah

  • Lessons from the Gym, Part IV

    July 31, 2007

    I’m coming to the end of my first full month of going to the gym every morning, and I’m pleased to say that I haven’t yet exploded, died of boredom, or gotten slapped by female club members for looking at their backsides. And I even enjoy going to the gym in the morning now. The experience is actually reminding me a little bit of the online role-playing game World of Warcraft in that there are an astonishing number of things to do to improve your character. At the gym, the character you’re improving is you.

    NUANCES OF THE BODY

    When I first started going to the gym (you can read about this in part 1, part 2, and part 3), my initial impression was that there were only a few things you could do there:

    1. Cardio
    2. Weight Training
    3. Classes
    4. Basketball or Boxing

    That is not a particularly impressive feature list, and I was hoping that the sheer novelty of exercise would be enough for me to get hooked somehow. In hindsight, I can see that this was my mind, not my body, making the assessment. My mind is thinking, “Hey, what interesting things can be done for my intellectual amusement? Oh, just those 4 things.”

    As it turns out, the rest of my body has found plenty of stimulation in just the cardio room. Every one of the machines there provides a different physical experience. The Stepper machine, which I used to hate, is actually a lot of fun because it reminds me of when I was a kid standing on the pedals of my my single-speed bike, flying up a hill as fast as I could. The various vintages of Elliptical machines all have slightly different motions. The feeling of expending energy, sweating, and pacing myself at a sustainable level is surprisingly enjoyable. My mind shuts off, and I feel more grounded with the world. It’s really weird!

    Also, I’m becoming aware of the number of muscles in my body. Each muscle has its own feel and use, and I’m enjoying the process of figuring out how my body works through the use of these various machines. It’s like a giant puzzle!

    WEIGHT TRAINING

    I also started the resistance training, starting off with four machines that worked groups of major muscles:

    • the chest press – pushing straight out from the chest
    • the shoulder press – pushing straight up from the shoulders
    • the lat pulldown – pulling straight down to the chest
    • the leg press – pushing out from the legs

    These apparently are exercises I should do every day after warming up, though I find them a bit boring except for the lat pulldown, which just feels good. After working with the basic four, the trainer introduced me to more specific machines the isolate specific muscles:

    • pectoral fly – closing your arms kind of like a book
    • bicep and tricep – I forget the exact name, but it works the back and front muscles of your arms. Two machines.
    • leg extensions – Same thing, except for the front and back of your legs
    • Hip abductors – for the inside and outside of your legs.

    I mentioned to the trainer that I wasn’t really enjoying any of these machines, so today he showed me some machines that worked slightly differently. It was in a different part of the club, and the machines seemed targeted toward people who were more advanced in their body strength training. For one thing, the machines tended to be clustered in groups that worked the same muscles in slightly different ways. Also, these machines had independent arm motions and required a bit more concentration to do things right. The trainer showed me equivalents for the various machines I had been using before, so now I have some variations to experience.

    I also was introduced to a couple other benches that worked my back and front “core” areas. One of them allowed me to do some kind of crunch while suspending myself in the air with my arms. This one was kind of fun, but my upper body strength is a little weak, so I kept sagging lower and lower. The other bench locked my lower legs while facing forward and down, and straightening my back caused my entire upper body to rise. I think this works the lower back. This one I liked because it reminded me of dolphins bursting out of the water.

    OVERALL PROGRESS

    I’ve lost about 10 pounds since starting, and my cardiovascular endurance is improved considerably. I’m still pretty flabby, but overall I am feeling a little stronger and looking a tad thinner. I think what I am enjoying the most is just getting sweaty in the morning and getting the heart rate up. I get sleepy afterwards.

    One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m sleeping more. I may have been overdoing it slightly, so I’m pushing myself less. I’ve also been going to sleep too late every night, so when I go to the gym I’m slightly under-rested, which probably is why I tend to nap afterwards.

    I’m still figuring out the pacing of things, and trying to get used to the weight training part. At the very least, I do know I like the 30 minutes of cardio in the morning, listening to music. I’ve tried listening to some podcasts, but they don’t really help keep me moving the way regular music does. There is one exception: Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. It has the energy and the good humor that keeps me engaged.

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    DSri Seah

  • A Chindogu Social Yardstick

    July 29, 2007

    The Social Yardstick [folded] MakeZine prizes on display at Barcamp ManchesterLast weekend was Barcamp Manchester in Manchester, New Hampshire, which had a pretty good turnout of around 50 people. This year there was a new event, The Make Room, made possible by the donation of several awesome Make Magazine Boxed Set collections by O’Reilly Books. The various books were handed out throughout the day to the people who obviously needed them, and the Box Sets were reserved as prizes for the Make Room contests.

    Makezine Box Sets used to Failure TestingI first entered the Popsicle Stick Bridge Building Competition, but alas: my clever design relied on craftsmanship to implement correctly. I ended up pulling out of the contest, but this left me with leftover parts for the Chindogu Competition.

    Chindogu is the Japanese art of inventing items that solve a problem which are burdened with unfortunate and/or embarrassing side effects that, for all practical purposes, render the invention useless. I seem to enjoy making things in this vein: the Procrastinator’s Clock and the Gauntlet of Productivity are two such items that I’ve posted about in the past. Apparently the muse is still with me; I’m very pleased to present the prize-winning chindogu of Barcamp Manchester 2007, an invention I call The Social Yardstick.

    INTRODUCING THE SOCIAL YARDSTICK

    The Social Yardstick allows you to always maintain an appropriate distance from the people you care about.

    Physically, The Yardstick is a measuring device that collapses to fit in your pocket. The prototype here is constructed out of popsicle sticks and packing tape. Each popsicle stick is labeled a listed below:

    • Acquaintance — This is someone you know only slightly.
    • Co-Worker — Someone you work with regularly, but probably not daily. Casual friends too.
    • Co-Conspirator — Someone you are working with, perhaps sharing a hidden agenda or personal goal. You’re close, but not too close.
    • Best Friend — Someone you’re pretty close with. They’re inside your personal space.
    • Close Family — That is, family members that you actually like.
    • Sweetie — You’ve slept together. Or really want to.
    • You — This is the end of The Yardstick you hold.

    The idea for The Social Yardstick was trigged by something that Lokesh Dhakar said at the table I was working at. I was stretching my popsicle sticks (leftover from my failed bridge) in an accordion-like fashion, and he said something about measuring space. I then thought of a time when some friends of mine were having a secret office romance; I’d observed them talking one day standing way too close together to be casual co-workers. I mentioned this to my friend later in case they didn’t want to blow their cover. If they had some way of measuring that space between themselves, they could have maintained discretion with ease! And thus, the Social Yardstick idea was born.

    The basic principle: your physical distance from someone often telegraphs how “close” you are. Here’s a diagram to help illustrate the point:

    Social Distances In case you’re wondering: the distances in the diagram are roughly based on what “felt right”, though I can see now that it seems roughly based on the width of a person’s body.

    USING THE YARDSTICK

    To use The Social Yardstick, merely unfold its length and stretch between yourself and the person you are standing near. Read the label on the segment that is closest to the other person, and adjust your distance appropriately. Here are some other example uses:

    • If you are talking to someone you consider an acquaintance and he/she is standing too close, deploy The Yardstick and make sure that your allocation of personal space is not violated.
    • Conversely, if you’re hanging out with your sweetie, use The Yardstick to close the gap: nothing quite says “I Love You” than ensuring you’re both inside each other’s personal space, short of…well, you get the idea.

    You can also use The Social Yardstick as a relationship discovery tool. Say you are in a situation where you are trying to figure out the relationships between two people so you’ll have something to talk about at the water cooler. While both parties are standing in place, have the first person hold the stick close to their body and stretch it toward the second person. The label on the stick segment closest to the second person will reveal their actual relationship! You may be surprised by what you find! Just remember: as with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics, the act of directly observing your subjects will alter the measurement (e.g. people cough, avert eye contact, and move apart). You may need to apply indirect means of observation over several sessions to arrive at a conclusive reading.

    Deployment Guide The pre-calibrated distances on The Social Yardstick are based on Urban New England Standards of Personal Space, which is what I’m most familiar with. You may find that you need to adjust for the differing expectations of your locale and culture. For example, people who live in sparsely-populated rural areas probably need a longer yardstick. Likewise, people who work in loud office environments may have to stand closer to just hear each other. And all bets are off when you’re in an elevator or picking a urinal in the Men’s Restroom.

    If you have built your own Social Yardstick or have made something similar in the past, let us know in the comments below! Support Social Unity through Appropriate Personal Spacing!

    :-)

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    DSri Seah

  • Pushing Interactive Exhibit Technology

    July 27, 2007

    It’s not that often that I get to re-relive a childhood fantasy. In this case, it’s creating video games, or rather, using the technology to tell some kind of story.

    Let me back up first: I worked as a video game developer about ten years ago, in a variety of artist, designer, and developer roles. Working in games was a natural progression, so it seemed, from my childhood fascination with computers. When I was deciding what to study in college, it was a toss-up between English or Computer Engineering; I figured I could always write stories, but I didn’t know anything about how computers really worked at the hardware level. That ate at me. Computer circuitry fascinated me, because I couldn’t understand how it worked. So I got sidetracked for 10 years, gradually switching from computers to computer graphics then to interactive media, until I realized that I liked people and rediscovered writing.

    Despite my recent focus on design, I’ve still maintained an healthy interest in the hardware and software, because I love the power that technology brings to storytelling. In particular, I like how video games can make you forget you’re just looking at bunch of glowing dots moving around on a flat screen. When a game is done right, you are fully drawn into its world as an active participant. The very best games use tons of presentational tricks to augment the experience so every pixel and every frame pulses with life.

    I have a chance to revisit this world now, being in the process of picking up a new project for a large scale interactive for a museum in Illinois. The goal of this particular exhibit, which is targeted at younger children, is to convey the concept of how our choices and actions—and lack thereof—effect changes in the world. We think this can be done by creating a participatory interactive environment where groups of children spontaneously cooperate to create the world together. We’ll know we’ve done our job if children leave with a memory of their actions having made a difference that really mattered to them. This is a project that I can totally get behind, and the company developing the concept, understands the educational and philosophical issues that are important for an exhibit of this nature.

    So what’s the problem? We want to push the envelope, just like we used to do in the game industry. However, the perception out there is that this is “too hard” or “too expensive”. People are comfortable with their existing tools. What we want to do, however, is turn that thinking on its ear, and bring some ass-kicking tools into the educational / museum interactive space to raise the bar. Of course, that’s easier said than done; I’m trying to figure out the best way of finding the right people and technologies that are intrigued by the possibilities. I’ll be picking up my rusty game development toolbelt again, using what I know to to redefine new workflows so we can wow the crowd, on time and on budget.

    A tall order. I’m wrapping my head around it still, and I figured I might as well write a blog post about it and state my case. Read onward!

    (more…)

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    DSri Seah