phyllostachys 64: Minute Tech 49 Show Transcript

49 - Mourning - What is the Obituary?

Good morning, this is Alex Landefeld with episode 49 of the Minute Tech podcast -

coming to you for Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

On this tech podcast about the broader meanings of technology, we'll mention:

- Laser Etch that Holiday Gift;
- Mourning: What is the Obituary?
- Bre Pettis provides interstitial music.

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Minute Tech podcast is brought to you in part by:

Larry Tolbert's Sunday Morning Taiji - learning tai chi and qi gong 9:30 am every Sunday morning at the Dunamis Baptist Church, in Wilkinsburg, PA. "Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji" - e-mail leonardtolbert-[at]-hotmail-[dot]-com for more info.

And:

Ravelings, by Carol. Pittsburgh-region classes in needle-craft - encompassing crochet, embroidery, knitting, & tatting, as well as an associated lace collection. For more information, contact Carol at carolb207-[at]-alltel-[dot]-net.


Tech News:

The holiday gift-giving season is very fast approaching. Assuming you've already shopped, have you thought about how to adorn that gift? Are you going to just wrap it and present it to the giftee .... or will you get it laser-etched? That's right, laser etched. One of the new technologies to come out simultaneous with products that have firm metal casing is laser etching, which can be used to put something as simple as a persons' name or something as complex as a realistic photo of the Starship Enterprise on the casing of a laptop computer, MP3 player or some other device which can fit within the confines of the laser-etching machine. Check out adafruit.com or etchamac.com for more information on this wacky, but fun, service. There's also a youtube video titled "Leah Culver Laser Etches Her Macbook Pro".

Agam Shah of the IDG New Service reports through InfoWorld that The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, recently recognized the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64 personal computer with a meeting of the minds between notables Steve Wozniak and Jack Tramiel, former chairman of Commodore International. Three newsworthy items is that Apple tried selling Commodore on the idea of selling the Apple II computer, which Commodore declined in favor of it's Commodore 64 computer, that the 64 initially sold for $599, which price was subsequently reduced to $199, and that Microsoft's Bill Gates tried suggesting $3 per machine for Microsoft Basic...but eventually accepted Tramiel's offer of a $25,000 flat fee.

Tech Question:

Mourning - What is the Obituary?

An obituary is a written description of a deceased person's life activities, generally designed to be published in a newspaper posthumously. This biographical description differs from the standard "death notice" in that it describes the primary and secondary activities that the decedent was known for during life. The death notice, similar to what I posted in the two previous episodes about Anne Macmillan Landefeld and Barbara Ann Huey Schilling, will just be an announcement of the death, survivors and very pertinent details about the procedures surrounding the funeral and family arrangements.

Wikipedia relates that obituaries are often written ahead of the decedent's death, specifically if the person is well known. The New York Times acknowledged in 2006 that it has some 1200 pre-written obituaries on hand. One item it ensures is to identify the submitter of an obituary - accidental or prank-related premature submissions of obituaries can evoke claims that "news of my demise are greatly exaggerated".

How would you write your obituary, or that of a famous person? Would they differ enormously? My spouse suggested "She died" would suffice...but will her loved ones want much more? Did your mother or father do nothing throughout their lives, or did they do great things for people, help with many ventures, raise great kids, walk a million miles for their respective causes? Everyone did something great - don't be afraid to sing praises of the deceased - this is, perhaps, the last chance to let people know what they did, unless biographies and other tomes are already extant about the person's life. Don't let "she was just a housewife" or "he just shined people's shoes" stop you from writing a glowing obituary - that person who died mattered to somebody - exclaim to the reading public why that person mattered.


Podcasting - Blogging News:

Bre Pettis, creator of the I Make Things series of video casts, to be found at IMakeThings.com and BrePettis.com, has released to the artist public a series of audio snippets from his films, so that others can use them in their own films or podcasts. I've made use, interstitially, of three snippets for transition music in the Minute Tech podcast. One of the things I gleaned from listening to The M Show, Marketing Over Coffee and Financial Aid Podcast is the use of specific themes music snippets for the artificial spaces between show elements.

How do you feel about interstitial music? Do you like what I've used?

One note about this podcast: as I publish a transcript every show to the phyllostachys.blogspot.com blog, if I say something that you don't understanding, please link on over to the transcript to see if I was just slurring the word, or if the pronunciation is different than you've heard before. BTW, the word "phyllostachys" relates to a family of bamboo - the phyllostachys group has a groove in the culm on alternating sides as you run up a culm, feeling between the internodes.

Thats all for today on Minute Tech podcast.
you can reach me at minutetech@gmail.com -
and my blog is at minutetech.blogspot.com

"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"

- Laser Etch that Holiday Gift;
- Mourning: What is the Obituary?
- Bre Pettis provides interstitial music.

Go to the Minute Tech iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.

Interstitial music by Apple & Bre Pettis