Tommy Collison

Recently, a lot of my posts have been linking to other articles, quoting bits and commenting on them. The TSA Insanity article is an example of such a recent post.

How posts like those work:

Whenever I sign onto AOL messenger and see Patrick online, I usually ping him for a chat or to ask him a question. Today was a little different because he’s actually home for Christmas, along with John. :)

Now, I can ask him that question as he sits opposite me doing e-mails!

Since 9/11, Islamic terrorists have killed just 17 people on American soil […] During that same period, 200 times as many Americans drowned in their bathtubs. Still more were killed by driving their cars into deer.

A pretty good article on the insanity and uselessness of the TSA, but the quoted piece above, from the conclusion of the article, is what stuck with me.

But, really: 3,400 Americans have drowned in their bathtub since 2001?

Overall, the piece is quite good, mentioning a lot of good questions about airport security theatre itself:

Taking off your shoes is next to useless. “It’s like saying, Last time the terrorists wore red shirts, so now we’re going to ban red shirts,” Schneier says. If the T.S.A. focuses on shoes, terrorists will put their explosives elsewhere.

One thing I’ve always thought about airport security (and it’s mentioned in the article too) is the fact that if airports are made impregnable, won’t terrorists just turn their attention to other crowded areas like shopping centers, theaters, stadiums or crowded areas like Oxford Street, Grafton St. and so on?

I really like this:

He’s a wonderfully talented performer and great guy in real life :)

Okay, I’ll stop gushing — if I don’t see you guys this side of the 25th, Happy Holidays, folks!

The original is a piece of orchestral genius, but the rock version is sublime:

I’m a bit late to read ABC News’ Study: ‘Weight-ism’ More Widespread Than Racism” but when I came across it, I had to document it here.

As a result, the researchers contend, weight discrimination is spiraling upward, and that’s a dangerous trend that could add fuel to the obesity epidemic.

The study argues that discrimination against fat people should be illegal, in the same way discrimination against people based on their age, sexuality, race or gender is illegal.

I disagree.

For the most part, being overweight often as much a choice as being obnoxious or smoking or eating with your mouth full or believing in creationism. Obviously it’s not the same kind of choice, and sometimes it’s not even a choice, but in a lot of cases, it’s more of a choice than race or gender.

Having said that, it depends on what discrimination you’re talking about. If you’re looking to hire someone to answer your telephone support system, obviously weight shouldn’t come into it. However, if I make a living renting bikes to tourists in Clare, I should be able to refuse to rent a bike to someone who’s morbidly obese and who’s going to break my bike.

There seems to be some stigma around criticizing obesity (it’s also prevalent in smoking), so here I am, doing my bit to try and curb it.

Incredible:

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

“A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena”

Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive unexpectedly caught a rather large murmuration on video while canoeing on the River Shannon in Ireland. A collection of starlings is called a murmuration.

Joshua Kopstein:

But the chilling takeaway of this whole debacle was the irrefutable air of anti-intellectualism; that inescapable absurdity that we have members of Congress voting on a technical bill who do not posses any technical knowledge on the subject and do not find it imperative to recognize those who do.

So hipster, but I love nonamerah’s A Girl You Should Date:

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

James Kendrick:

What makes the iPad 2 and keyboard combo so effective for my writing is the “one app at a time” nature of the tablet. The running app takes up the entire screen, and thus my focus. There are no distractions presented while writing, just inputting words on the screen.

See also: Harry McCracken’s piece, where he answers the question can the iPad replace a PC?

These people have come to a conclusion that I approached a few weekends ago: that the iPad would be a phenomenal work device if it had a proper keyboard. Add one into the equation to take away the qualifier “if”, and you have a workhorse of legendary proportions.

A couple of things to bear in mind:

• Weight of iPad 2: 601 grams. Weight of Apple’s wireless keyboard: 91 grams. Combined weight in a backpack: 692 grams, or 0.7 KG. Weight of Apple’s current lightest laptop (the 11″ Macbook Air): 1.08 KG. Weight of Acer Aspire One 533: 1.25 KG.
• I don’t think the two-vs.-one device argument (that my Dad’s brought up in the past) holds much weight once you see that it’s a lot lighter. Most backpacks have two compartments in any case.*
• If you’re using an external keyboard, you’ll want something to prop up the iPad — I recommend the Smart Cover or a milk jug.

Apart from the weight reduction, you also have the battery boost. 7 hours would be a fair estimate to get out of your iPad if you were just writing. That’s better than most laptops and certainly better than most netbooks.

Apart from the weight reduction and the battery boost, you have the minimization of distractions. Since the iPad only has one app on the screen at a time, you don’t find yourself tabbing to check Reddit or e-mail half as much. God knows how many writers (myself totally included here) harp on about how important it is to get in the zone — here’s something that massively helps.

Apart from the weight reduction, the battery boots and the minimization of distractions, you also have the cost. €548 is a fairly competitively priced machine, in my view.

Of course, for any sort of power-user, the iPad probably wouldn’t suffice — but writers aren’t power-users, for the most part. I’m an exception here, but let’s talk about writers in general. They don’t want anything fancy, they just want something to bang out a 100,000 word novel to, and I think I might’ve found them an excellent device to do it on.

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* Some day soon, I might do a post on the sheer awesomeness of a good backpack.