January | 2005 | jumpnut

Monthly Archives: January 2005

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Photo Walk

I went for a walk with Reb on Sunday along the river which runs outside our house. I went evening-time and so managed to catch the sunset. I got some photos along the way.

This is the sugar beet factory down the road:

A managed to catch a very red sunset sky, although the vivid colours didn’t really come out in this photo:

And a view through a bridge of the sky a bit earlier than the previous two:

I’ve been writing some documents recently using Microsoft Word on my powerbook as well as on the Windows version of Word. I’ve noticed that the “save” icon that you click on to save your document is a picture of floppy disk. I don’t think I’ve used a floppy disk in the last year, and I’ll be honestly surprised if I do in the next year. Most file transfers I now done using USB Flash pen drives, over the networks, or using bluetooth. The floppy disk has had it’s day – the BBC have even done an R.I.P page for it.

But I guess there’s a usability dilemma here. Firstly, the floppy disk icon has now become synonymous with the Save function. It’s not used just in Word, but in many other applications as well (including all the Microsoft Office suite). So people have now associated the two, and changing the icon may cause confusion for users used to this. However, as time goes on, and a generation who have never used the 3.5 inch floppy disk emerge, the disk icon will lose meaning. I can picture a time in the not-too-distant future when there are “Did You Know” articles, explaining what the funny picture is on the Save icon of all their appllications. So should there be a move to change the icon, and make it more meaningful for the future population, all keep it? I guess it’ll probably be kept and just become a sign, in the same way that a triangle denotes “Warning” on road traffic signs – just an seemingly arbitrary image, that once was not arbitrary.

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Karting

I was invited to go Karting last night with a group of 22 other people. I was looking forward to this for two reasons. Firstly I thought it would be great fun. Secondly I thought it would be my chance for others to discover my innate driving abilities and for me to achieve my rightful place as all-time number one racing driving in the known universe. It turns out that you win some and you lose some. The end result of the evening? It was great fun. I am not the new Michael Schumacher.

I feel that this is now a turning point in my life where I realise that my dreams of being a racing driver supreme will remain dreams, and now maybe I can concentrate on following a more realistic career.

In short, if you want to move on in life, try Karting.