Ursula K Le Guin, to aspiring writers:
“Socrates said, ‘The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.’ He wasn’t talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.”
Bridges are interesting not just from a structural engineering point of view (like maximing the span while using as little material as possible), but because they are an intrinsic part of human civilisation. They allow us to conquer landscapes, waters, and mountains, and enable new ways of moving people, products, and ideas. There are bridges that are edifices in themselves, like Ponte Vecchio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio in Florence, and there are thousand year old marvels of civil engineering, like the Pont du Gard aqueduct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard
Yesterday Apple announced the company will no longer produce new iPod Touch units, effectively putting an end to the 20 year old iPod product range.
I remember my first iPod, a bondi blue iPod Mini, with visceral excitement. I remember the weight of its polished steel enclosure, the magical instant-response interface;the genius simplicity of the scroll wheel; the array of sometimes strange but always creative accessories like the iPod socks, the universal dock, iPod shuffle, and the iPod HiFi.
What will be the next iPod?
