Cameras Cameras Everywhere

I grabbed a Gyro and a Lamb Kabob from Holy Land Deli this evening and notice this advertisement for a local surveillance company.

The first blob of red text says that the City of Minneapolis requires any grocery, tobacco, or liquor store to have a functioning surveillance system up and running as of January 2006.

I’m not sure where their cameras were (I suspect back by the meats and cheeses). I just knew there was one in my pocket and probably in the pockets of 75% of the other customers.

What’s the point of capturing the images if no one else sees them?

RSS Feeds Replacing CDs – It’s Starting

A while back I pondered RSS feeds replacing Compact Discs as the primary way to receive music from your favorite artists.

As I mentioned in that post:

“With a podcast, musicians can release whatever they’d like, whenever they’d like; demo tracks, rough tracks, experiments, final edits, interviews, conversations about the song writing process, anything their fans would enjoy. All of it delivered automatically to their biggest fans.”

So, yes, I’m excited to see Jonathan Coulton – one of my favorite artists – experiment with a Thing-a-Week Subscription. Every week I get a new song from Jonathan Coulton and he gets a $1 from me (minus Paypal transaction fees, plus lots of word-of-mouth publicity).

I hope to see more more experiments with this model.

My Heritage Finds Alan Turing in a Tree

This morning, Jen and I were playing with MyHeritage.com‘s facial recognition system.

Here you can see the MyHeritage system found Jen’s face and someone lurking in the bushes.

Who could it be hiding in the Belgian forest?

Perhaps British mathematician, logician, and cryptographer Alan Turing?
Alan Turing

Maybe, star of television’s Baywatch and Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff (I’ve heard he’s big in Germany)?
David Hasselhoff

Or prehaps German-born author Anne Frank?
Ann Frank

First Crack 76. Paying Attention with J Wynia

Back from SXSW 2006, J Wynia and I grabbed a morning tea and talked about:

Listen to Paying Attention with J Wynia [33 min]

Amazing Race Season 9 – Episode 4

Deutsche Bahn…I have such fond memories of the DB. Like the time I caught a trip from Hamburg to Hannover on St. Niklaus Day – and the conductor’s passed out apples w/the DB logo grown into them. Ahhh, German hospitality.

Wall of Death
Jen, “Can I do it?”
No argument here.
“Awe, you don’t get to drive?”

Roadblock – Find Roaming Gnome
Ha! Jen says I have better luck than she does, so I’m doing it. Gnomes are funny. Especially the beer making ones (those are Belgian, not Travelocitizen).

Actually, Eric & Jeremy could have rented their German.

Detour – Break it or Slap it
We have to break it. As Jen says, “You have less than no rhythm.” Breaking bottles over each other’s head sound like a damn good time. And looks hilarious. Especially with Lederhosen-clad dancers circling you.

Garrick’s Favorites

  • BJ & Tyler – #2, I love these guys – they know how to race.
  • Dave & Lori – #5
  • Ray & Yolanda – #7

9 More SXSW 2006 Selections