Triggers

I've started a project: digitize all the cassette tapes I can find.
After I do that successfully, I'll digitize all of my dad's LPs.

Needless to say - I've found a lot of old memories listening to some of these tapes. Some of these memories I didn't even realize I'd forgotten.

One of the songs I found on a mix-tape was "Substitute" by The Who. The recording on the mix tape wasn't very good, but it was enough.

I haven't added any of the newly-digitized music to my library yet, so when "Substitute" was stuck in my head I had to go to the internet to hear it. I found a version on YouTube and listened all the way through. Then a funny thing happened: I thought I smelled markers and paint.

Usually smells trigger memories in me - but in this case, music triggered a remembered smell. A lot of "The Who" listening went on while I was in high school where I was taking a lot of "Commercial Art" from good old Tom Wood. The commercial art room (was it 702?) always had chemical smells coming from it. Whether it was markers, paint, various solvents to clean the same.

Inference from Apple Event Invitation

ArsTechnica
posts confirmation of an Apple event on Wednesday, 27 January, 2010.

Most speculate that this event will be the long-awaited announcement of the longer-awaited Apple tablet device. If that's the case, I draw the following inferences from the invitation's spray-paint motif – along with rumors about a radical new user-interface:

1. The device will have a color display. Reading that back to myself, it seems obvious – however, many expect the device to compete with e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle.
   
2. If the spray-paint motif is more than just a cool design element, the device's new UI will be able to emulate a spray can. Specifically, I imagine moving a spray can in and out to change the line-width. That would mean that the input mechanism will incorporate some 3-D elements. I envision a fancy stylus… but who knows.
   

P.S. I bought a few shares of Apple stock.

Where do We Put the Screen?

I don't know how old I was – but I was no more than six – probably closer to four. My parents came home and told me that they had rented a movie. They had a big, blue, padded case with them. I imagine that I said something like, "Coool!"

"Let's set it up and watch it!" was my dad's reply.

"Okay! Where should we put the screen?" I inquired.

"It doesn't go on the screen."

I returned a quizzical look.

"It hooks up to the TV."