Monday, May 05, 2003
Sundays really highlight why I miss home so much. The UK is still fairly backwards when it comes to a 24-hour way of life. Yeah, sure, you'll have some stores right in the centre of town that are open 24/7, but other than those or gas station Kwik-E-Marts, everything shuts early. Especially on Sundays. Of course, the same is true in Hong Kong... except shutting "early" there means 9pm. Here, it means 5pm. This is all the more frustrating when daylight lasts until about 8 or so, and TV consists of slow family-time shows. And Songs of Praise, a show where various choirs belt out Biblical hymns. I wish I were kidding when I say that it's a prime-time show, but I'm not.
And so it's been a very quiet day here. Not much happening and not much about to happen, especially since Monday is a public holiday... and thus, all the Sunday rules apply. Frustratingly, this also means two packages I was hoping to receive are now also delayed by another day. Such is life...
So to while away the time, I've been chilling out and playing a few games. Aside from the perpetually entertaining Winning Eleven 6 FE, there's also NBA Street 2 to play with. Given that basketball is one of my favourite sports, and that I've been deprived of watching any NBA action since moving to the UK, that's taking up a lot of my PS2 time right now. The fact that my all-time favourite player, Magic Johnson, is unlocked from the start helps too.
Interesting link of the day from the BBC. It's a new type of scanner that can scan a 3D object... and then use it as a "key" to unlock certain bits of information on a computer. The interesting thing here is applying it to stuff like pictures. I'm a selective snapper -- I don't take pictures of everything -- but in the last year or so I've accumulated thousands of photos with my digital camera. If everything goes digital, as people are suggesting, it'll be impossible to search through all your pictures accurately. So here's where this idea comes in: Put a baby shoe on the scanner and be presented with baby photos. A medal brings up photos from the day you won a sports tournament with your team. A diploma finds graduation photos. Linking treasured items in the "real world" with the photographs (and movies?) that accompany it is a great and intuitive idea for bringing technology to people. Now what's the bet that this DOESN'T take off and is forgotten within a month? :-)
Posted at 3:36 PM
