View allAll Photos Tagged unplug
"take a break under the flyover" (i)
I was given to understand that most things will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes... Just take a break.
(Do click the image to view large)
Canal Road Flyover, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Goal:
To create a Series Graphic piece conveying unplugging from the world/tech/electronics to remove distractions of pressing into God.
Audience:
The churched and unchurched
Series Summary:
Sometimes in order to plug into all that God is and has for us, we need to unplug from the things of this world.
Direction:
Simple, Apple-designish, plug in creates negative space to spell out "Unplugged". I chose the font because it looked techy and the D resembled an iPhone charger with the radius of the corners.
Any feedback and comments are welcome!
Check out my new website:
One of the arms / canals seems to be covered with the concrete. The stone seems to have been cut with this face upwards and may have originally been an opening 'dalle de couverture' for one of the massive dolmen corridors that are to be found in the area. There are other cups and 'rigoles' on the same stone with edge basins to let water build up and unplug onto a subject. The stone is currently integrated into the apex of a medieval bridge in a region that has yet to have had significant pressures. The cement does not mark the endpoint of the monolith and is a 'patch'.
AJM 02;08.17
In the space of an hour, I went from never having had a Spotmatic to having two. I guess this is the last of the Spotmatic line, with an electronic shutter, full aperture metering and aperture priority auto exposure.
I probably shouldn’t have bought this one, but it’s so pretty. It has the same limp shutter spring as the other one, but that’s fixable and everything else looks good.
The meter turned out to not work when I put batteries in, but that proved to be an easily fixed switch that wasn't making contact:
www.flickr.com/photos/rick_oleson/53615333993/in/dateposted/
The whole bottom end is covered by an intimidating circuit board, but that unplugs and comes out easily, and underneath it's all standard Spotmatic for fixing things like the hesitant mirror return that this also had. All good now!
Carl Jung
I am a firm believer in "disconnecting" from the Internet and technology every now and again. I find that I am enjoying that time away more and more.
Facebook? I'd would rather talk face-to-face. Twitter? This evening I sat on the patio and listened to the distinct songs of at least half a dozen different birds, and enjoyed every moment. Cell phone? I'm only sold on them for emergencies.
Maybe after six years, I am feeling a bit of a flickr burn-out. That said, I'm finding it impossible to keep up with my contacts the way I would like. I want to take the time to gaze at a photo and absorb everything that catches my eye while reading and thinking about the description or story. Oftentimes, I am so struck by a photograph that I could write a paragraph or three. Other times, I am just blown away and "Wow" is the first thing that flies from my fingertips.
My flickr-friends are a constant source of inspiration, and somebody always seems to make my day with a photo, story or comment. So many kind and talented people can be overwhelming.
Anyhoo... My name is Todd, and I am a recovering flickr addict. I am also a slow flickr-er and don't mean to offend anyone if I don't visit every day.
Happy flickr-ing, my friends!
Neko Case ~ ♫ Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth ♪
Wednesday Evening Regatta
Lake Ontario | Charlotte Beach
August 10th, 2011
Feb/2009, Leeuwarden
...me
Can't live without my Ipod :p
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[Explore #246]
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© Copyright Visual Flows / All rights reserved
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Netherlands License.
I never heard about cleaning your blades, I would just replace them. But it's a great best practice to clean your blades regularly to extend the life and keep the cuts razor sharp (just remember to unplug the saw!)
Theme: Crafty Creations
Year Fifteen Of My 365 Project
guys THIS IS WHERE WE'RE GETTING MARRIED #lakewilloughby #vermont @patrickwfloyd !!! 🌸🌳🍄
34 Likes on Instagram
9 Comments on Instagram:
lilylandes: ps @djmadre there's a nude beach right next to the prop on lake willoughby #unplug #getnude
djmadre: #bodyparty
djmadre: I ll bring the Ciara
baileymcavenia: Gorge!
PASSEGGIANDO LUNGO L'ALZAIA
Appena fuori le mura di Treviso ti aspetta una bellissima passeggiata nella natura che ti consentirà di staccare la spina per un paio d’ore e allontanarti dalla frenesia quotidiana. Lungo questo itinerario incontrerai gli splendidi paesaggi disegnati dal Sile, il fiume di risorgiva più lungo d’Europa. Si tratta della cosiddetta Strada Alzaia che da Treviso arriva fino a Casier: un percorso che puoi fare a piedi o in bicicletta, perfetto anche per famiglie con bambini perché si sviluppa su strade bianche o su strade asfaltate poco trafficate. Un tempo l'antica Strada Alzaia, o Restera, era utilizzata per trainare da riva con buoi o cavalli le grosse barche che da Venezia risalivano la corrente e attraccavano al porto fluviale di Treviso.
Note tratte dal sito:
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WALKING ALONG THE RIVER BANK
Just outside the walls of Treviso, a beautiful nature walk awaits you that will allow you to unplug for a couple of hours and get away from the daily frenzy. Along this itinerary you will encounter the splendid landscapes designed by the Sile, the longest resurgence river in Europe. This is the so-called Strada Alzaia which runs from Treviso to Casier: a route that you can do on foot or by bicycle, also perfect for families with children because it runs on dirt roads or asphalted roads with little traffic. Once upon a time the ancient Strada Alzaia, or Restera, was used to tow from the shore with oxen or horses the large boats that sailed upstream from Venice and docked at the river port of Treviso.
CANON EOS 6D Mark II con ob. CANON EF 24-70 f./2,8 L USM
Explore #494
We had an INSANE lightning storm last night! I think I have a reasonable excuse for not posting last night--we had to unplug the computer.
I took so many more so I'll try my best to make a video out of the pictures I took...that might not work too great though haha. If anyone has suggestions on a website I should use for Windows, that'd be great (:
P.S. sorry for the awkward window angle, I didn't really want to get right up next to my window...
And yes, I'm the wimp who sits inside shooting out the windows but I didn't think this was a great time to get on my roof with my lovely metal tripod haha (:
Hit L to see awesomeness (:
[The Big Move is scheduled for tomorrow. As I explained over the last few days, no more uploads from me until the 25th or 26th of November at the earliest, assuming all goes well, which one should never assume...]
In the little downstairs room I have been using as an office for so many years in this house, and where I sit today like every morning in front of my desk, the bookshelves are now entirely empty, except for the two large JBL speakers (too heavy for me to dare move by myself), the Revox reel-to-reel tape deck and the small Teac components of my hi-fi installation. They have been unplugged and the cables are all coiled. They look like the folded wings of a dark bird, ready to die... or to fly.
On my desk, almost nothing remains: the PC I will shut down and unplug soon after I finish uploading these daily photos to Flickr, the Bose speakers attached to it, the banker’s lamp that will soon go dark and wait to be packed by the movers when they come tomorrow. All the rest I have already packed away.
There is great sadness at leaving one’s world behind, but as it must be done, then I know that I am also very fortunate because there is a whole new world that awaits me, full of joy and promises, and since for me “a world” implies first and foremost a home base, I am happy, in those moments of separations and departures, to share not pictures of melancholy, sorrow and old dust on empty shelves, but the first photos of the place I will call home from now on. Fate (I would not presume to say the Hand of God as I am quite sure I’m not important or worthy enough for Him to personally care!) has granted me a wonderful new chance at living a life of happiness and love and trust, and even though I am not convinced I deserve such a bliss, I fully intend to make the most of it, and to bring into it all I have to offer, however meager that may be.
The grounds cover more than four hectares of sweeping lawn which include an island and go all the way to the Seine River.
Admire Nature...
Celebrate Nature...
Happy Environment day!
Tips to GO GREEN...
* Insulating your water heater will help save valuable energy, and you can go the extra mile by installing showerheads with a low flow in your bathrooms for bathing purposes to help save water. You can also put a timer on your heaters to save power.
* Using an electric razor or hand razor with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors goes a long way to cutting back on waste. And plant a tree.
* Use towels for drying your face and hands instead of tissues that are used and thrown away. Also, hang your towels to dry so that they can be reused several times. You are after all clean when you use them!
* Juice or yoghurt lovers can do their bit by buying juice in concentrates and yoghurt in reusable containers instead of single serving packages.
* Many of us like to leaf through the paper as we munch on breakfast, but consider reading the dailies in communal spaces like the office or coffee shops. However, if you prefer to have your own copy, make sure you recycle!
* When packing your lunch, opt for reusable containers for food storage instead of wrapping the food with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
* As you leave the house, don’t forget to switch off all the lights and appliances at the wall unit (if you have this feature) and unplug chargers as they continue to consume even if they are not charging; saving energy helps reduce air pollution.
Wear Green dress and support this cause and spread awareness today. I am already in green ;-)
Taken 2 years back near the place Theni in Tamilnadu.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!
© Murali Alagar Photography
muraliwind@yahoo.com
Coming from the street
You reached out,
And it didn't startle me
I wanna care for you when you are all alone
Sit inside our house and unplug all our phones
Watchin raindrops stream down on our windowsill
Let's be in love
- I Saw Lightning, Telekinesis
Everyone just wants to be loved.
Everyone just wants a chance.
But in all god-given reality, there just simply aren't enough chances to go around.
This day was so much fun,
The rain was pouring and the wind was raging,
And I was trembling right out of my skin,
And then there was this huge blast of lighting and I ran into the garage as fast as I could
It was a very entertaining sight, I'm sure.
Lauren Johnson sure seemed to think so, at least.
xD
This photo was taken by Lauren Johnson, and cropped and edited by yours truly.
Last night quite suddenly our kitchen sink got blocked. No big deal I thought. Poured down some drain cleaner and waited. Nada. Repeat performance. Nothing. Once more, avec sentiment - still no result.
This morning I solicited help from our head porter. After some discussion he brought up some sulphuric acid and waited to take its effect. All in wain.
One more try I thought before bringing in the pros. Trip to the nearest builder's merchant and purchased a waist cleaning 'worm', a new pipe seal and my own sulphuric acid.
Returned home and thought it best to fit the seal before doing anything else. Done that and proceeded to test it gently. Let a little water into the sink and checked for drips. Not a drop. OK so a bit more water. What's this? The water is actually clearing from the sink. Fill the sink half full and unplug. Whoa! All of it gashes down the holes - go figure.
Now I am left with a redundant worm.
Yeah .. you know Friday afternoon .. fresh air and a chance to unplug .. there was some small moments to boot.
Olympus OM-1 w M.Zuiko 12-40/2.8 Pro
ISO200 f/11 29mm -1.3 and 0ev
Two exposures raw developed in DxO PhotoLab 8, stacked and blended in Affinity Photo Raw 2.5, colour graded in Nik 7 Color Efex and finished off back in PhotoLab.
Boonerah Point, Lake Illawarra, NSW
A dark pattern is "a user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills." The neologism dark pattern was coined by Harry Brignull on July 28, 2010 with the registration of darkpatterns.org, a "pattern library with the specific goal of naming and shaming deceptive user interfaces.Bait-and-switch patterns advertise a free (or greatly reduced) product or service which is wholly unavailable or stocked in small quantities. After it is apparent the product is no longer available, they are exposed to other priced products similar to the one advertised. This is common in software installers, where a button will be presented in the fashion of a typical continuation button. It is common that one has to accept the program's terms of service, so a dark pattern would show a prominent "I accept these terms" button on a page where the user is asked to accept the terms of a program unrelated to the program they are trying to install. Since the user will typically accept the terms by force of habit, the unrelated program can subsequently be installed. The installer's authors do this because they are paid by the authors of the unrelated program for each install that they procure. The alternative route in the installer, allowing the user to skip installing the unrelated program, is much less prominently displayed or seems counter-intuitive (such as declining the terms of service).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern
This pattern is also used by some websites, where the user is shown a page where information is asked that is not required. For example, one would fill out a username and password on one page, and after clicking the "next" button the user is asked for their email address with another "next" button as the only option. It is not apparent that the step can be skipped. When simply pressing "next" without entering their personal information, however, the website will just continue. In some cases, a method to skip the step is visible but not shown as a button (instead, usually, as a small and greyed-out link) so that it does not stand out to the user. Other examples that often use this pattern are inviting friends by entering someone else's email address, uploading a profile picture, or selecting interests.
”This is a civilizational moment in a way I’m not sure we’re all reckoning with,” Harris said on stage. “It’s a historical moment when a species that is intelligent builds technology that ... can simulate a puppet version of its creator, and the puppet can control the master. That’s an unprecedented situation to be in. That could be the end of human agency, when you can perfectly simulate not just the strengths of people but their weaknesses.”
Where does technology exploit our minds weaknesses?
I learned to think this way when I was a magician. Magicians start by looking for blind spots, edges, vulnerabilities and limits of people’s perception, so they can influence what people do without them even realizing it. Once you know how to push people’s buttons, you can play them like a piano.
That’s me performing sleight of hand magic at my mother’s birthday party
And this is exactly what product designers do to your mind. They play your psychological vulnerabilities (consciously and unconsciously) against you in the race to grab your attention.
I want to show you how they do it.
Hijack #1: If You Control the Menu, You Control the Choices
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Western Culture is built around ideals of individual choice and freedom. Millions of us fiercely defend our right to make “free” choices, while we ignore how we’re manipulated upstream by limited menus we didn’t choose.
This is exactly what magicians do. They give people the illusion of free choice while architecting the menu so that they win, no matter what you choose. I can’t emphasize how deep this insight is.
When people are given a menu of choices, they rarely ask:
“what’s not on the menu?”
“why am I being given these options and not others?”
“do I know the menu provider’s goals?”
“is this menu empowering for my original need, or are the choices actually a distraction?” (e.g. an overwhelmingly array of toothpastes)
Photo by Kevin McShane
How empowering is this menu of choices for the need, “I ran out of toothpaste”?
For example, imagine you’re out with friends on a Tuesday night and want to keep the conversation going. You open Yelp to find nearby recommendations and see a list of bars. The group turns into a huddle of faces staring down at their phones comparing bars. They scrutinize the photos of each, comparing cocktail drinks. Is this menu still relevant to the original desire of the group?
It’s not that bars aren’t a good choice, it’s that Yelp substituted the group’s original question (“where can we go to keep talking?”) with a different question (“what’s a bar with good photos of cocktails?”) all by shaping the menu.
Moreover, the group falls for the illusion that Yelp’s menu represents acomplete set of choices for where to go. While looking down at their phones, they don’t see the park across the street with a band playing live music. They miss the pop-up gallery on the other side of the street serving crepes and coffee. Neither of those show up on Yelp’s menu.
Yelp subtly reframes the group’s need “where can we go to keep talking?” in terms of photos of cocktails served.
The more choices technology gives us in nearly every domain of our lives (information, events, places to go, friends, dating, jobs) — the more we assume that our phone is always the most empowering and useful menu to pick from. Is it?
The “most empowering” menu is different than the menu that has the most choices. But when we blindly surrender to the menus we’re given, it’s easy to lose track of the difference:
“Who’s free tonight to hang out?” becomes a menu of most recent people who texted us (who we could ping).
“What’s happening in the world?” becomes a menu of news feed stories.
“Who’s single to go on a date?” becomes a menu of faces to swipe on Tinder (instead of local events with friends, or urban adventures nearby).
“I have to respond to this email.” becomes a menu of keys to type a response (instead of empowering ways to communicate with a person).
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All user interfaces are menus. What if your email client gave you empowering choices of ways to respond, instead of “what message do you want to type back?” (Design by Tristan Harris)
When we wake up in the morning and turn our phone over to see a list of notifications — it frames the experience of “waking up in the morning” around a menu of “all the things I’ve missed since yesterday.”
A list of notifications when we wake up in the morning — how empowering is this menu of choices when we wake up? Does it reflect what we care about? (credit to Joe Edelman)
By shaping the menus we pick from, technology hijacks the way we perceive our choices and replaces them new ones. But the closer we pay attention to the options we’re given, the more we’ll notice when they don’t actually align with our true needs.
Hijack #2: Put a Slot Machine In a Billion Pockets
If you’re an app, how do you keep people hooked? Turn yourself into a slot machine.
The average person checks their phone 150 times a day. Why do we do this? Are we making 150 conscious choices?
How often do you check your email per day?
One major reason why is the #1 psychological ingredient in slot machines:intermittent variable rewards.
If you want to maximize addictiveness, all tech designers need to do is link a user’s action (like pulling a lever) with a variable reward. You pull a lever and immediately receive either an enticing reward (a match, a prize!) or nothing. Addictiveness is maximized when the rate of reward is most variable.
Does this effect really work on people? Yes. Slot machines make more money in the United States than baseball, movies, and theme parkscombined. Relative to other kinds of gambling, people get ‘problematically involved’ with slot machines 3–4x faster according to NYU professor Natasha Dow Shull, author of Addiction by Design.
But here’s the unfortunate truth — several billion people have a slot machine their pocket:
When we pull our phone out of our pocket, we’re playing a slot machineto see what notifications we got.
When we pull to refresh our email, we’re playing a slot machine to see what new email we got.
When we swipe down our finger to scroll the Instagram feed, we’replaying a slot machine to see what photo comes next.
When we swipe faces left/right on dating apps like Tinder, we’re playing a slot machine to see if we got a match.
When we tap the # of red notifications, we’re playing a slot machine to what’s underneath.
Apps and websites sprinkle intermittent variable rewards all over their products because it’s good for business.
But in other cases, slot machines emerge by accident. For example, there is no malicious corporation behind all of email who consciously chose to make it a slot machine. No one profits when millions check their email and nothing’s there. Neither did Apple and Google’s designers want phones to work like slot machines. It emerged by accident.
But now companies like Apple and Google have a responsibility to reduce these effects by converting intermittent variable rewards into less addictive, more predictable ones with better design. For example, they could empower people to set predictable times during the day or week for when they want to check “slot machine” apps, and correspondingly adjust when new messages are delivered to align with those times.
Hijack #3: Fear of Missing Something Important (FOMSI)
Another way apps and websites hijack people’s minds is by inducing a “1% chance you could be missing something important.”
If I convince you that I’m a channel for important information, messages, friendships, or potential sexual opportunities — it will be hard for you to turn me off, unsubscribe, or remove your account — because (aha, I win) you might miss something important:
This keeps us subscribed to newsletters even after they haven’t delivered recent benefits (“what if I miss a future announcement?”)
This keeps us “friended” to people with whom we haven’t spoke in ages (“what if I miss something important from them?”)
This keeps us swiping faces on dating apps, even when we haven’t even met up with anyone in a while (“what if I miss that one hot match who likes me?”)
This keeps us using social media (“what if I miss that important news story or fall behind what my friends are talking about?”)
But if we zoom into that fear, we’ll discover that it’s unbounded: we’ll always miss something important at any point when we stop using something.
There are magic moments on Facebook we’ll miss by not using it for the 6th hour (e.g. an old friend who’s visiting town right now).
There are magic moments we’ll miss on Tinder (e.g. our dream romantic partner) by not swiping our 700th match.
There are emergency phone calls we’ll miss if we’re not connected 24/7.
But living moment to moment with the fear of missing something isn’t how we’re built to live.
And it’s amazing how quickly, once we let go of that fear, we wake up from the illusion. When we unplug for more than a day, unsubscribe from those notifications, or go to Camp Grounded — the concerns we thought we’d have don’t actually happen.
We don’t miss what we don’t see.
The thought, “what if I miss something important?” is generated in advance of unplugging, unsubscribing, or turning off — not after. Imagine if tech companies recognized that, and helped us proactively tune our relationships with friends and businesses in terms of what we define as “time well spent” for our lives, instead of in terms of what we might miss.
Hijack #4: Social Approval
Easily one of the most persuasive things a human being can receive.
We’re all vulnerable to social approval. The need to belong, to be approved or appreciated by our peers is among the highest human motivations. But now our social approval is in the hands of tech companies (like when we’re tagged in a photo).
When I get tagged by my friend Marc (above), I imagine him making aconscious choice to tag me. But I don’t see how a company like Facebook orchestrated him doing that in the first place.
Facebook, Instagram or SnapChat can manipulate how often people get tagged in photos by automatically suggesting all the faces people should tag (e.g. by showing a box with a 1-click confirmation, “Tag Tristan in this photo?”).
So when Marc tags me, he’s actually responding to Facebook’s suggestion, not making an independent choice. But through design choices like this,Facebook controls the multiplier for how often millions of people experience their social approval on the line.
Facebook uses automatic suggestions like this to get people to tag more people, creating more social externalities and interruptions.
The same happens when we change our main profile photo — Facebook knows that’s a moment when we’re vulnerable to social approval: “what do my friends think of my new pic?” Facebook can rank this higher in the news feed, so it sticks around for longer and more friends will like or comment on it. Each time they like or comment on it, I’ll get pulled right back.
Everyone innately responds to social approval, but some demographics (teenagers) are more vulnerable to it than others. That’s why it’s so important to recognize how powerful designers are when they exploit this vulnerability.
Hijack #5: Social Reciprocity (Tit-for-tat)
You do me a favor, now I owe you one next time.
You say, “thank you”— I have to say “you’re welcome.”
You send me an email— it’s rude not to get back to you.
You follow me — it’s rude not to follow you back. (especially for teenagers)
We are vulnerable to needing to reciprocate others’ gestures. But as with Social Approval, tech companies now manipulate how often we experience it.
In some cases, it’s by accident. Email, texting and messaging apps are social reciprocity factories. But in other cases, companies exploit this vulnerability on purpose.
LinkedIn is the most obvious offender. LinkedIn wants as many people creating social obligations for each other as possible, because each time they reciprocate (by accepting a connection, responding to a message, or endorsing someone back for a skill) they have to come back through linkedin.com where they can get people to spend more time.
Like Facebook, LinkedIn exploits an asymmetry in perception. When you receive an invitation from someone to connect, you imagine that person making a conscious choice to invite you, when in reality, they likely unconsciously responded to LinkedIn’s list of suggested contacts. In other words, LinkedIn turns your unconscious impulses (to “add” a person) into new social obligations that millions of people feel obligated to repay. All while they profit from the time people spend doing it.
Imagine millions of people getting interrupted like this throughout their day, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, reciprocating each other — all designed by companies who profit from it.
Welcome to social media.
After accepting an endorsement, LinkedIn takes advantage of your bias to reciprocate by offering *four* additional people for you to endorse in return.
Imagine if technology companies had a responsibility to minimize social reciprocity. Or if there was an “FDA for Tech” that monitored when technology companies abused these biases?
Hijack #6: Bottomless bowls, Infinite Feeds, and Autoplay
YouTube autoplays the next video after a countdown
Another way to hijack people is to keep them consuming things, even when they aren’t hungry anymore.
How? Easy. Take an experience that was bounded and finite, and turn it into a bottomless flow that keeps going.
Cornell professor Brian Wansink demonstrated this in his study showing you can trick people into keep eating soup by giving them a bottomless bowl that automatically refills as they eat. With bottomless bowls, people eat 73% more calories than those with normal bowls and underestimate how many calories they ate by 140 calories.
Tech companies exploit the same principle. News feeds are purposely designed to auto-refill with reasons to keep you scrolling, and purposely eliminate any reason for you to pause, reconsider or leave.
It’s also why video and social media sites like Netflix, YouTube or Facebookautoplay the next video after a countdown instead of waiting for you to make a conscious choice (in case you won’t). A huge portion of traffic on these websites is driven by autoplaying the next thing.
Facebook autoplays the next video after a countdown
Tech companies often claim that “we’re just making it easier for users to see the video they want to watch” when they are actually serving their business interests. And you can’t blame them, because increasing “time spent” is the currency they compete for.
Instead, imagine if technology companies empowered you to consciously bound your experience to align with what would be “time well spent” for you. Not just bounding the quantity of time you spend, but the qualities of what would be “time well spent.”
Hijack #7: Instant Interruption vs. “Respectful” Delivery
Companies know that messages that interrupt people immediately are more persuasive at getting people to respond than messages delivered asynchronously (like email or any deferred inbox).
Given the choice, Facebook Messenger (or WhatsApp, WeChat or SnapChat for that matter) would prefer to design their messaging system to interrupt recipients immediately (and show a chat box) instead of helping users respect each other’s attention.
In other words, interruption is good for business.
It’s also in their interest to heighten the feeling of urgency and social reciprocity. For example, Facebook automatically tells the sender when you “saw” their message, instead of letting you avoid disclosing whether you read it(“now that you know I’ve seen the message, I feel even more obligated to respond.”) By contrast, Apple more respectfully lets users toggle “Read Receipts” on or off.
The problem is, while messaging apps maximize interruptions in the name of business, it creates a tragedy of the commons that ruins global attention spans and causes billions of interruptions every day. This is a huge problem we need to fix with shared design standards (potentially, as part of Time Well Spent).
Hijack #8: Bundling Your Reasons with Their Reasons
Another way apps hijack you is by taking your reasons for visiting the app (to perform a task) and make them inseparable from the app’s business reasons(maximizing how much we consume once we’re there).
For example, in the physical world of grocery stories, the #1 and #2 most popular reasons to visit are pharmacy refills and buying milk. But grocery stores want to maximize how much people buy, so they put the pharmacy and the milk at the back of the store.
In other words, they make the thing customers want (milk, pharmacy) inseparable from what the business wants. If stores were truly organized to support people, they would put the most popular items in the front.
Tech companies design their websites the same way. For example, when you you want to look up a Facebook event happening tonight (your reason) the Facebook app doesn’t allow you to access it without first landing on the news feed (their reasons), and that’s on purpose. Facebook wants to convert every reason you have for using Facebook, into their reason which is to maximize the time you spend consuming things.
In an ideal world, apps would always give you a direct way to get what you want separately from what they want.
Imagine a digital “bill of rights” outlining design standards that forced the products that billions of people used to support empowering ways to navigate towards their goals.
Hijack #9: Inconvenient Choices
We’re told that it’s enough for businesses to “make choices available.”
“If you don’t like it you can always use a different product.”
“If you don’t like it, you can always unsubscribe.”
“If you’re addicted to our app, you can always uninstall it from your phone.”
Businesses naturally want to make the choices they want you to make easier, and the choices they don’t want you to make harder. Magicians do the same thing. You make it easier for a spectator to pick the thing you want them to pick, and harder to pick the thing you don’t.
For example, NYTimes.com let’s you “make a free choice” to cancel your digital subscription. But instead of just doing it when you hit “Cancel Subscription,” they force you to call a phone number that’s only open at certain times.
NYTimes claims it’s giving a free choice to cancel your account
Instead of viewing the world in terms of choice availability of choices, we should view the world in terms of friction required to enact choices.
Imagine a world where choices were labeled with how difficult they were to fulfill (like coefficients of friction) and there was an FDA for Tech that labeled these difficulties and set standards for how easy navigation should be.
Hijack #10: Forecasting Errors, “Foot in the Door” strategies
Facebook promises an easy choice to “See Photo.” Would we still click if it gave the true price tag?
People don’t intuitively forecast the true cost of a click when it’s presented to them. Sales people use “foot in the door” techniques by asking for a small innocuous request to begin with (“just one click”), and escalating from there (“why don’t you stay awhile?”). Virtually all engagement websites use this trick.
Imagine if web browsers and smartphones, the gateways through which people make these choices, were truly watching out for people and helped them forecast the consequences of clicks (based on real data about what it actually costs most people?).
That’s why I add “Estimated reading time” to the top of my posts. When you put the “true cost” of a choice in front of people, you’re treating your users or audience with dignity and respect.
In a Time Well Spent internet, choices would be framed in terms of projected cost and benefit, so people were empowered to make informed choices.
TripAdvisor uses a “foot in the door” technique by asking for a single click review (“How many stars?”) while hiding the three page form behind the click.
Summary And How We Can Fix This
Are you upset that technology is hijacking your agency? I am too. I’ve listed a few techniques but there are literally thousands. Imagine whole bookshelves, seminars, workshops and trainings that teach aspiring tech entrepreneurs techniques like this. They exist.
The ultimate freedom is a free mind, and we need technology to be on our team to help us live, feel, think and act freely.
We need our smartphones, notifications screens and web browsers to be exoskeletons for our minds and interpersonal relationships that put our values, not our impulses, first. People’s time is valuable. And we should protect it with the same rigor as privacy and other digital rights.
Tristan Harris was Product Philosopher at Google until 2016 where he studied how technology affects a billion people’s attention, wellbeing and behavior.
For more information and get involved, check out timewellspent.io. This piece is cross-posted on Medium.
MARCH 7, 2016 by TRISTAN HARRIS
Tech Companies Design Your Life, Here’s Why You Should Care
UNCATEGORIZED
5 COMMENTS
Four years ago, I sold my company to Google and joined the ranks there. I spent my last three years there as Product Philosopher, looking at the profound ways the design of screens shape billions of human lives – and asking what it means for them to do so ethically and responsibly.
What I came away with is that something’s not right with how our screens are designed, and I’m writing this to help you understand why you should care, and what you can do about it.
I shouldn’t have to cite statistics about the central role screens play in our lives. Billions of us turn to smartphones every day. We wake up with them. We fall asleep with them. You’re looking at one right now.
Of course, new technologies always reshape society, and it’s always tempting to worry about them solely for this reason. Socrates worried that the technology of writing would “create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they [would] not use their memories.” We worried that newspapers would make people stop talking to each other on the subway. We worried that we would use television to “amuse ourselves to death.”
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“And see!” people say. “Nothing bad happened!” Isn’t humanity more prosperous, more technically sophisticated, and better connected than ever? Is it really that big of a problem that people spend so much time staring at their smartphones? Isn’t it just another cultural shift, like all the others? Won’t we just adapt?
Invisibility of the New Normal
I don’t think so. What’s missing from this perspective is that all these technologies (books, television, radio, newspapers) did change everything about society, we just don’t see it. They replaced our old menus of choices with new ones. Each new menu eventually became the new normal – “the way things are” – and, after our memories of old menus had faded into the past, the new menus became “the way things have always been.”
gold-fish-in-waterASK A FISH ABOUT WATER AND THEY’LL RESPOND, “WHAT’S WATER?”
Consider that the average American now watches more than 5.5 hours of television per day. Regardless of whether you think TV is good or bad, hundreds of millions of people spend 30% of their waking hours watching it. It’s hard to overstate the vast consequences of this shift– for the blood flows of millions of people, for our understanding of reality, for the relational habits of families, for the strategies and outcomes of political campaigns. Yet for those who live with them day-to-day, they are invisible.
So what best describes the nature of what smart phones are “doing” to us?
A New “Perfect” Choice on Life’s Menu
If I had to summarize it, it’s this: Our phone puts a new choice on life’s menu, in any moment, that’s “sweeter” than reality.
If, at any moment, reality gets dull or boring, our phone offers something more pleasurable, more productive and even more educational than whatever reality gives us.
And this new choice fits into any moment. Our phone offers 5-second choices like “checking email” that feel better than waiting in line. And it offers 30-minute choices like a podcast that will teach you that thing you’ve been dying to learn, which feels better than a 30-minute walk in silence.
Once you see your phone this way, wouldn’t you turn to it more often? It always happens this way: when new things fill our needs better than the old, we switch:
When cheaper, faster to prepare food appears, we switch: Packaged foods.
When more accurate search engines appear, we switch: Google.
When cheaper, faster forms of transportation appear, we switch: Uber.
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So it goes with phones.
But it also changes us on the inside. We grow less and less patient for reality as it is, especially when it’s boring or uncomfortable. We come to expect more from the world, more rapidly. And because reality can’t live up to our expectations, it reinforces how often we want to turn to our screens. A self-reinforcing feedback loop.
And because of the attention economy, every product will only get more persuasive over time. Facebook must become more persuasive if it wants to compete with YouTube and survive. YouTube must become more persuasive if it wants to compete with Facebook. And we’re not just talking about ‘cheap’ amusement (aka cat videos). These products will only get better at giving us choices that make every bone in our body say, “yeah I want that!”
So what’s wrong about this? If the entire attention economy is working to fill us up with more perfect-feeling things to spend time on, which outcompete being with the discomfort of ourselves or our surroundings, shouldn’t that be fantastic?
wall-e
Clearly something is missing from this picture. But what is it?
Maybe it’s that “filling people up,” even with incredible choices on screens somehow doesn’t add up to a life well lived. Or that those choices weren’t what we wished we’d been persuaded to do in the bigger sense of our lives.
With design as it is today, screens threaten our fundamental agency. Maybe we are “choosing,” but we are choosing from persuasive menus driven by companies who have different goals than ours.
And that begs us to ask, “what are our goals?” or how do we want to spend our time? There are as many “good lives” as there are people, but our technology (and the attention economy) don’t really seem on our team to give us the agency to live according to them.
A Whole New Persuasive World
And it’s about to get a lot worse. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will offer whole new immersive realities that are even more persuasive than physical reality.
zuck-virtual-reality
When you could have sex with the person of your dreams, or fly through jungles in the Amazon rainforest while looking over at your best friend flying next to you, who would want to stick with reality?
By the way, this isn’t your usual “look, VR is coming!” prediction. This is the real deal. Facebook recently spent $2 billion to buy Oculus Rift, and hopes to put them in every home for this holiday season. Just like the late 1980’s when suddenly everyone you knew had a Nintendo.
Acknowledging the Problem
So we have a fundamental misalignment– between what the attention economy is competing to produce (more perfect, persuasive choices that fit into any moment), the design of our phones, and the aspirations people have for their lives (their definition of “the good life”).
AttentionEconomyMisalignment
So what’s missing from the design of our phones? I like to use the metaphor of ergonomics. When you think of ergonomics, you might think of boring things like how a cup fits into someone’s hand, but it’s way more than that.
If regular design is about how we want things to work, ergonomics is concerned with failure modes and extremes: how things break under repetition, stress or other limits. And the goal of ergonomics is to create an alignment between those limits, and the goals people have for how they want to use it.
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For example, an ergonomically designed coffee mug aligns the natural fatigue of forearm muscles during use (as a person “lifts” it to sip) with how frequently people want to use it, so they still can lift it successfully with repetition.
What does this have to do with phones?
Our minds urgently need a new “ergonomics,” based on the mind’s limited capacities, biases, fatigue curves and the ways it forms habits. The attention economy tears our minds apart. With its onslaught of never-ending choices, never-ending supply of relationships and obligations, the attention economy bulldozes the natural shape of our physical and psychological limits and turns impulses into bad habits.
Just like the food industry manipulates our innate biases for salt, sugar and fat with perfectly engineered combinations, the tech industry bulldozes our innate biases for Social Reciprocity (we’re built to get back to others), Social Approval (we’re built to care what others think of us), Social Comparison (how we’re doing with respect to our peers) and Novelty-seeking (we’re built to seek surprises over the predictable).
Millions of years of evolution did a great job giving us genes to care about how others perceive us. But Facebook bulldozes those biases, by forcing us to deal with how thousands of people perceive us.
This isn’t to say that phones today aren’t designed ergonomically, they are just ergonomic to a narrow scope of goals:
for a single user (holding the phone)
for single tasks (opening an app)
for individual choices
And a narrow scope of human physical limits:
how far our thumb has to reach to tap an app
how loud the phone must vibrate for our ear to hear it
So what if we expanded the scope of ergonomics for a more holistic set of human goals:
a holistic sense of a person
a holistic sense of how they want to spend their time (and goals)
a holistic sense of their relationships (interpersonal & social choices)
an ability to make holistic choices (including opportunity costs & externalities)
an ability to reflect, before and after
…and what if we aligned these goals with a more holistic set of our mental, social and emotional limits?
A New Kind of Ergonomics
Let’s call this new kind of ergonomics “Holistic Ergonomics”. Holistic Ergonomics recognizes our holistic mental and emotional limits [vulnerabilities, fatigue and ways our minds form habits] and aligns them with the holistic goals we have for our lives (not just the single tasks). Holistic Ergonomics is built to give us back agency in an increasingly persuasive attention economy.
Joe Edelman and I have taught design workshops on this, calling it EmpoweringDesign.org, or designing to empower people’s agency.
It includes an interpersonal ergonomics, to “align” our social psychological instincts with how and when we want to make ourselves available to others (like in my TED talk), so that we can reclaim agency over how we want to relate to others.
Just like an ergonomic coffee mug is safe to live by, even under repetition, over and over again, without causing harm to ourselves or others, in a Time Well Spent world our phones would be designed with Holistic Ergonomics, so that even under repetition, over and over again, our phones do not cause harm to ourselves or others — our phones become safe to live by. They support our Agency.
How to Change the Game
Android.Apple_.001
Right now, two companies are responsible for the primary screens that a billion people live by. Apple and Google make the two dominant smartphone platforms. Facebook and Microsoft make leading Virtual and Augmented Reality platforms, Oculus and Hololens.
You might think that it’s against the business models of Apple and Google to facilitate people’s agency, which might include making it easier to spend time off the screen, and use apps less. But it’s not.
Apple and Google, like all companies, respond to what consumers demand.
When Privacy became important to you, they responded. They developed new privacy and security features, and it sparked a whole new public conversation and debate. It’s now the most popular concern about technology discussed in media.
When Organic food became important to you, they responded too. Walmart added it to their stores.
We need to do the same thing with this issue. Until now, with this experience of distraction, social media, and this vague sense that we don’t feel good when we use our phones for too long, there’s been nothing to rally behind. It’s too diffuse. We receive so many incredible benefits from tech, but we’ve also been feeling like we’ve been losing ourselves, and our humanity?
But we’re naming it now.
What’s at stake is our Agency. Our ability to live the lives we want to live, choose the way we want to choose, and relate to others the way we want to relate to them – through technology. This is a design problem, not just a personal responsibility problem.
If you want your Agency, you need to tell these companies that that’s what you want from them– not just another shiny new phone that overloads our psychological vulnerabilities. Tell them you want your Agency back, and to help you spend your time the way you want to, and they will respond.
I hope this helps spark that bigger conversation.
Finding peace and quiet is becoming more and more difficult in our fast paced, plugged- in world. Sometimes I just have to take a hike away from my computer, iPad, Kindle, telephone and e-mail.
And it is always worth it....
Here in Rocky Mountain National Park at Bierstadt Lake, if you are quiet you can hear bird song, lapping water, wind music and your own thoughts.
I sat on a rock to eat my peanut butter sandwich and enjoy the warm sun on my legs and the cool breeze off the lake.
Today we spent the day in the mountains. It turned out to be too cold for your baby brother and not everyone wanted to actually get out of the car so daddy and I traded off taking whomever wanted to get out at different turn offs. I have to say to just having the opportunity to unplug and really truly enjoy you guys was a gift. The day was nearly as beautiful as you are my girl.
Missing those Chalk Hill Blues!!!
I'll have to unplug the computer tomorrow. Just a few more days and I can get out with the camera again, with any luck the wind will have calmed by then.
Go Large
I have been at our cabin picking blueberries and wondering through the woods. Nice place to unwind and unplug - no electricity, plumbing, cell phone service. Also close to Chena Hot Springs:)
sometimes it's good to just unplug, take a break, disconnect from your currently reality
as for me it's another painting day. one more room to go..thankfully can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Branch train arrived at Loughrea c 1975. Usual passenger accommodation on the train was one coach warmed by electric storage heaters which were plugged into the station overnight! On one famous occasion they forgot to unplug them before the train moved off -the result was set of heaters on the platform and a giant hole in the side of the coach. There after a non screw plug was utilised!
[The Big Move is scheduled for tomorrow. As I explained over the last few days, no more uploads from me until the 25th or 26th of November at the earliest, assuming all goes well, which one should never assume...]
In the little downstairs room I have been using as an office for so many years in this house, and where I sit today like every morning in front of my desk, the bookshelves are now entirely empty, except for the two large JBL speakers (too heavy for me to dare move by myself), the Revox reel-to-reel tape deck and the small Teac components of my hi-fi installation. They have been unplugged and the cables are all coiled. They look like the folded wings of a dark bird, ready to die... or to fly.
On my desk, almost nothing remains: the PC I will shut down and unplug soon after I finish uploading these daily photos to Flickr, the Bose speakers attached to it, the banker’s lamp that will soon go dark and wait to be packed by the movers when they come tomorrow. All the rest I have already packed away.
There is great sadness at leaving one’s world behind, but as it must be done, then I know that I am also very fortunate because there is a whole new world that awaits me, full of joy and promises, and since for me “a world” implies first and foremost a home base, I am happy, in those moments of separations and departures, to share not pictures of melancholy, sorrow and old dust on empty shelves, but the first photos of the place I will call home from now on. Fate (I would not presume to say the Hand of God as I am quite sure I’m not important or worthy enough for Him to personally care!) has granted me a wonderful new chance at living a life of happiness and love and trust, and even though I am not convinced I deserve such a bliss, I fully intend to make the most of it, and to bring into it all I have to offer, however meager that may be.
This is the very first photograph I ever took in my new home, just over one month ago. It feels so good to have a fireplace again, and one that goes so well! It bodes well for those long Winter nights...
F11 Syndrome on Whirlpool and Kenmore
TO MY FELLOW "F11 Syndrome" Sufferers (edited again to be more readable)
It start like this:
In fall 2005 or two months after the warranty crapped out was when it started its problems for us. We called the Whirlpool support (hah) number and the person said $70 later “it’s fine”. I said you had to put a load in and see it throw the code. Later, motor error and DL "you will need a new motor and wires $400"...you know the rest. Lucky thing I was too cheap to play the pay game. My wife still likes the machines… so… I had to get it fixed. Surfing for answers and based on other folk's accounts and details (see below) up and down the web. They described the same symptoms.
NEW UPDATES: FRETTING/oxidized connections Read further below.
DISCLAIMER NOTE: THE EXTRA SOLDER NOTED ABOVE WAS DUE TO MY ORIGINAL TRIAL AND ERROR OF CLEANING AND PRODDING. EXTRA SOLDER MAY DISTORT OR DAMAGE THE CONNECTOR, PLEASE READ OTHER INFORMATION POSTED BY OTHERS...thank you.
Having nothing to loose:
You will see the yellow circles where found signs of problems for the solder work suggestions as described on the net.
Semi Legal Mumbo-Jumbo...(skip to next section otherwise read):
The following information is only an individuals (my) experience with a particular product and in no manner should it be construed as a statement of universal fault of the product nor does the information within this article guarantee that you will achieve the same results. Following the advise or examples found here will be at you own risk and damage is possible if you are not familiar with basic procedures. The author does not cover any damages if you fry your control board... Individuals are reminded that you should not mistake any overtones as a condemnation of the particular product or in any way does it make any accusation towards a company's lack of responsibility towards the quality of the product and is in fact a condition that is normally outside the warranty of the machine and is therefore the responsibility of the owner for any and all expenses toward repairs (we are on our own) and such that statements are personal observations and are not substantiated by formal data published...blah...blah...blah... Ok, the ugly part is done for now...
...Look, if you have the F11 problem, the following information may void your warranty... not that any of us had this happen while under warranty... exercise caution and care... OH! AND UNPLUG YOUR MACHINE BEFORE YOU MONKEY AROUND INSIDE IT!!!
Also, IN RESPONSE TO SOME REMARKS (a DIY forum and about me)...
IT IS TRUE... I AM NOT AN APPLIANCE REPAIR EXPERT...(nor do I play one on television), I AM A DUET OWNER AND HAVE HAD THIS HAPPEN TO ME. I AM SHARING SOME OF THE INFORMATION I FOUND AND OR RECEIVED... NOTHING MORE… NOR, DO I WANT ANYTHING IN RETURN. (though I am curious about how old was your machine when it happened, so do share that in the comments if you don't mind... thank you)
Getting a Manual:
Look for Whirlpool publication L-68 in pdf form and download before its gone
( secured.whirlpool.com/Service/SrvTechAdm.nsf/2cd44500d572... ).
follow info on getting in machine. Also, note when you are prying out the ccu board, be careful as the plastic is brittle (cheap). I've snapped off a few bits here and there thanks to my rush so be a little prepared.
DIY-desoldering & SAFETY note:
You should have safety glasses on to perform the following… It is easy to do soldering yourself. A can of compressed air is necessary (safety glasses) and the trick to blast the solder off while its molten Try a solder sucker instead (caution: lead based solder, so don't breath in smoke and this is not recommended if you are pregnant or guys must be careful or you may start firing blanks). Heat the contact point of whichever component and as it shine up in the molten state, give it a quick blast (not at yourself, away from others and things and pets).
Dealing with the RELAY switches:
Consider one of your missions is towards the relays. It's hard to see in my picture above, but my example is with 2 - OMRAN G5LE-1-VD in the white and 1 OMRAN G2RL-1A-E relay in black since we don't have a heater so two spot are left empty. (if viewing in member flickr mode, additional notes are listed). When you desolder them off the board it is easier to pull the covers off and it takes just a slight pinch their tiny latches. Getting inside will allow you to clean the contact points if not replacing. I also swapped the two relays for each others position. Allowing the less carbonized one to sit in the hot seat for a while, this is mainly why I desoldered them off. Again, solder them back in with a good silver solder and don’t overheat. If you are able, do replace them both with new ones. Update: See below from "CJRECHE" about different relays and higher amp rating.
DIY soldering:
When re-soldering, use a good silver/tin solder instead of the cheap lead/tin crap they used. It's a soldering temp of 370+ degrees so careful! I purchased a Radio Shack 15-30 watt iron and it worked fine for me. Butter the tip a little and use a damp sponge to clean off any sludge from the rosin/flux burning. The tip would be then ready to touch the area for soldering. Not a dainty touch, but enough to allow heating up the connection to melt the fresh solder from the spool as you touch it to the heated area and don’t over do it. Just enough to cover.
Additional Error notes:
My Door Errors and Motor Errors can be traced back to the same point in the CCU. Mostly nothing moves without the ccu involved in the process. So it would not be a surprise if the repair guy misdiagnoses and repairs the problem Door or Motor and you still have the same issues. Useful is to beef up the solder coated contacts as circled above. This cuts down on the chance of vibrations wiggling off those flimsy plugs.
Other things that cause trouble over time:
RF connection gets loose or slightly corroded and that sends shivers up the CCU too.
Door wire harness at the door end gets a little wiggly
Scraping from the drum (serious problem see Spider Bracket)
Passing along more info:
If you know more about the different components on this board beyond this little soldering subject, please keep me up to date if it is part of the problem. Such things like poor quality parts and suggestion for better... that sort of stuff. Also if you have other sites that have more info on the subject, pass them on so I can include them here. Otherwise, I hope some of this helps. I've heard talk in the past that Sears will replace the boards on Kenmore washers...good... take them up on it if its free or near free! Whirlpool...I've not heard a thing yet.
Special Thanks:
Thanks to the others whom have done the trail blazing of diagnosing the cause and posting the solutions "crabboy","kevintrisha" and "Sonnysideup" Also read "Littleman23" on the epinion message board he seems to have more info for disassembly. Hey, check out "tanksalotcs" "SPIDER BRACKET"...'youtube' under kenmore, front loader washer, subject is spider bracket failure! Also, Special-Special Thanks to CJRECHE for his efforts and cool microscope images. Special-Special-Special thanks to MONETTSYS for his facts and links (see below).
History to date:
Number of Loads since repaired in April of 2007:198 loads as of January 2, 2008 with no problems. Now 400ish loads and a year has passed since completion of repair. I hope all you other f11 sufferers are having luck with some of the info above. If it has not happened to your machine yet, hope it never will.
Update:
03/16/2009 - still no problems since my solder job (440+ loads).
10/12/2009 - still no problems and about 500ish loads.
04/20/2010 - still no problems ... lost count 550?
02/14/2016 - No problems with F11, but Spider died.
...oh, at 700+ load by this time with no F11
mysteryonionsfixit.blogspot.com/2016/02/ghw9150-whirlpool...
02/15/2016 - Ordered new Basket w/ Spider.
02/20/2016 - new basket w/spider came and installed and working like before... also purchased new springs. Springs bigger and a little beefy than originals. Works good.
adam anters.
sooo unplug the jukebox and do us all a favor, pop music's lost its way so try another flavor, ant music! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh!
As the sun crests the curvature of the Earth and the first warm fingers of light pull away the curtain of darkness, a small satellite spins through the void of space high above the little blue planet. Lost, looking for a home, it scans the surface of the world below it. It sees war, feels hate, fears desolation and cries for the poverty. The little satellite spins in the nothing and decides to continue on. As it begins to leave the gravitational pull of the world it found, it glances back one last time. A moment, a brief second of time stops it. It hesitates and looks again. Another moment comes, could it be? It probes deeper into what it sees and feels. Yes, it's there if you look. Happiness, Joy, Peace, Love. But most of all, it feels the Hope. The tiny satellite floats down through the atmosphere, down towards the surface of the blue planet, down to a place, it will call home.
View with Hope that we will see a world with no war, hate, desolation, or poverty in our lifetime.
for
Our Daily Challenge: Sphere
Image from a recent glorious day on the waters of Florida Bay, Key Largo.
But also tips for those of you who are homewoners, or may be homeowners in the future. I did have water, water, everywhere, and have been and shall be a bit scarce on Flickr because of this. Last night, while I was doing laundry, the hose connection, on the hose that drains the water from the washing machine, broke, and my whole house was flooded. I walked in the door, after a short time of doing the laundry, to find that everything was flooded in an inch or more of water. This kind of thing happens in a moment. I had this happen once before in the middle of the night, when a hose connecting my sink to the pipes broke. By the time I caught it, my house was also covered in an inch or more of water. Water damage is the worst-- almost like a fire in terms of potential damage. It wicks up the baseboards and walls, it wicks up the furniture, soaks any carpet. Everything is wet -- and potentially destroyed and full of mold. Luckily, this time, and the prior time, I caught the damage within an hour of it's happening. Still it's quite a mess. In Florida, most of us keep "wet vacs". With the help of friends, we wet vac'd up the water. Then we had to try to move and clean all the furniture and carpets, and to turn on fans and up the AC to try to dry out the walls, doors, baseboards, etc. This time I saved the furniture-- waiting to see if the carpets and walls will be okay. Machinery is in place trying to dry out my drywall and baseboards-- hoping that mold and mildew will not take over. Hopefully my tile floor will be okay. If the water stood there longer, it would be ruined.
So here are the tips. I pass them on. They may save you troubles in life, and are not that hard to do. Whether you rent or are a homeowner:
1. If you leave for the day, or week-end, or longer, turn off the water to your house or apt. It's usually a 2 second job, once you learn how to do it. If a water heater goes bad, or a hose bursts, the damage is minimized and survivable mostly.
2. If you turn the water off to the house/apt., be sure to turn off your water heater at the circuit breaker. Again, an easy task once you know how to do it.
3. Have the hoses to your washing machine checked regularly and replaced as they age.
4. Not sure there is much you can do about the connectors to all the sinks and toilets and showers in your house, but be sure to turn the water off if you leave for a day. Everything can be ruined in over an hour. When we had a connector fail, the company that helped us told us this happens all the time.
5. If you have a surge protector, or an extension cord or electrical multiplex plugged in for a series of electrial things, be sure that it is off the floor. Mine was not, and my friends almost got electrocuted when they stepped into the flooded area. I had on rubber soled shoes, but they did not, and they got shocked. Wherever you are, even in an upstairs apt., be sure that any surge protectors/multi-plugs/extension cords, are off the floor. Any living unit, on any floor, can flood, and once you step in the water, you can be shocked/electrcuted by electrical things lying in the water. Simply raise them up off the floor. Either anchor them to the wall, set them on furniture off the floor, or even get yoga blocks to set them on. Just get them a few inches off the floor. You may save a life.
6. Should you have a flood, immediately, try to turn off all electrical. If you have access to the circuit breaker box, turn off everything. Don't risk wading across flooded water to unplug items, call for help.
Taken 01/28/12, Uploaded 1/31/12, 2012 01 28_zTD5OverlaySL KeyLargoN friend dogs_0394
If you wish, view "my own favorites" of my photostream
Or view all of my Photostream, sorted by Interestingness: fiveprime.org/flickr_hvmnd.cgi?search_domain=User&tex...
Walked into work today with no internet. Working in a leasing office where 90% of the duties require being online makes for an unproductive day. I was trying to unplug this modem to reset it but this room is a cluster EFF.
...Dreaming of a sunrise composition somewhere...sometime...some how.
It's time to unplug myself from this dream and do it. ....But since it's been raining; having a cup of coffee in my dream helps when waiting. Until then; messing around in a somewhat creative way with photo editing. ;)
* Canon EOS REBEL T5i camera
* Auto Chinon 28mm f/2.8 (Komine) lens
* Fotodiox M42-EF lens adapter
59/365
eek! my computer had a complete hissy last night, so i finally had to get round to setting up the new one, at least enough so that i could use it and unplug the old one. it took ages... and i was still going this morning. it porberbly didn't help that i wasn't happy with the amount of usb ports i had so had to install some new ones.... let alone the amount of programmes that still need installing.
Anyway, the main things are up and running so i can finally start editing the shot i wanted to post yesterday... hopefully it will work out ok!
anyway this is my 365 submission for yesterday. it's feels like to long since i posted a pixel shot, so here she is. isn't she getting big now!
[The Big Move is scheduled for tomorrow. As I explained over the last few days, no more uploads from me until the 25th or 26th of November at the earliest, assuming all goes well, which one should never assume...]
In the little downstairs room I have been using as an office for so many years in this house, and where I sit today like every morning in front of my desk, the bookshelves are now entirely empty, except for the two large JBL speakers (too heavy for me to dare move by myself), the Revox reel-to-reel tape deck and the small Teac components of my hi-fi installation. They have been unplugged and the cables are all coiled. They look like the folded wings of a dark bird, ready to die... or to fly.
On my desk, almost nothing remains: the PC I will shut down and unplug soon after I finish uploading these daily photos to Flickr, the Bose speakers attached to it, the banker’s lamp that will soon go dark and wait to be packed by the movers when they come tomorrow. All the rest I have already packed away.
There is great sadness at leaving one’s world behind, but as it must be done, then I know that I am also very fortunate because there is a whole new world that awaits me, full of joy and promises, and since for me “a world” implies first and foremost a home base, I am happy, in those moments of separations and departures, to share not pictures of melancholy, sorrow and old dust on empty shelves, but the first photos of the place I will call home from now on. Fate (I would not presume to say the Hand of God as I am quite sure I’m not important or worthy enough for Him to personally care!) has granted me a wonderful new chance at living a life of happiness and love and trust, and even though I am not convinced I deserve such a bliss, I fully intend to make the most of it, and to bring into it all I have to offer, however meager that may be.
An “à la French” raspberry trifle dessert at the end of a lovely, warm and sunny outdoor lunch in early October. Things are looking up!