No Section

Of planes and pogs

Plus, Lomo.

November 23, 2012 at 6:55PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

If you're reading this on a smartphone in line at a mall, good luck. I don't care if everything is 65% off the regular price of 70% off, with an additional 10% off if I open up a charge account. It's busy out there. Busy and cold. All yours, if you want it.

FACTS Gizmodo put up an infographic about the number of planes flying last Wednesday. It was off the chain!!! And here's today!!!

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

So just as many people are flying? A commenter steps in to play Captain Killjoy and explain the obvious:

Agreed. Except for the part about planes being More Full. I haven't been on a plane in years that wasn't packed and oversold twice over.

All of which is an excuse to point you to this site, which shows where the planes are. Lots of fun.

TECH Did the Lomo camera save photography? this article asks. Author's answer: strong perhaps, shading into yes! My answer: no.

Yes.They were crap.A the article describes the results:

There are some interesting effects you can get from a Lomo - many are here - but it's not because the camera itself is some marvelous piece of technology. It's because it's a crappy Soviet camera. That doesn't mean one can't get some interesting results, but it's not as if the thing was designed to make great art. And most of the Instagram pictures run through LOMO or cross-process filters are just banalities made worse by a modern cliche.

As for the cameras themselves - well, the H-word word is overused, applied to anyone with retro facial hair who makes a point of fetishing outmoded technology, but <foxworthy> if you are walking around with one of these slung around your neck . . .

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

. . . You might be a hipster. </foxworthy> On the other hand, I like this . .

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Too bad it uses film. That's like leaving home with a phone attached to a cord that goes into a wall.

YEAH, RIGHT This article is called "Death of a Dishwasher: Families around the world spurn America's favorite appliance." Sales are slumping Why? Because some people can't afford one; because they have some inexplicable cultural indifference; because they eat out more; because they already have a dishwasher. None of which adds up to the Death of the Dishwasher.

So nevermind. But the page linked to an article about animated GIFs - they're the new emoticon! - and tossed off a quote that makes a startling assertion:

Does anyone remember digital pogs? Did anyone trade digital pogs? Did anyone ever know there was such a thing as digital pogs?

No? Perhaps THIS IS WHY.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

We just erased the entire seizure-inducing affair from our minds. Need more? Here you go.