More Perspective

21:34 Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Words: 2689

This is likely to be a long, rambling post, which is a sure way to lose readers. But it's also kind of the way I sort through some of my own thinking. I'll do my best to be entertaining along the way. If you accompany me, you have my gratitude and appreciation. I think I'll get you back home.

Friday morning I dropped by the Apple Store to have my iPhone 5s looked at. The screen was kind of separated from the body near the top. Not a lot, but if you pushed on the screen a bit, you could see it move and if you looked at it from the side, you could see the top of the screen was higher in profile than the bottom. My first thought would be that they would just swap it out, like they did last year when I brought in my iPhone 5 with a cracked screen. Back then I thought I'd have to pay an "incident fee" as part of AppleCare, but they just swapped it out under warranty.

This time, though, they said they'd replace the screen at no charge. I was surprised at first, but then I recalled reading that Apple had installed the capability to do screen replacements at Apple Stores. I figured that would be fine, and the guy said it'd be an hour, so I spent some time browsing around Barnes and Noble.

Came back after an hour and a rep came out to see me and said that after they'd swapped the screen, the phone failed some diagnostic tests so they were swapping out the whole phone. It's refurb, but for all intents and purposes, it's a new phone. Pristine body and screen. My son will be pleased. I bought a case right there because I figured if I didn't I'd drop it as soon as I went outside. Normally I don't use a case.

For me, this was both delightful and also unremarkable. Apple has always exceeded my expectations when it came to fixing something with one of their products, including replacing a 24" LCD in an iMac that was 2 years out of warranty. Maybe everyone doesn't have that experience, but it's always been mine. So apart from my general satisfaction with their products, OS and apps, they have a pretty large bank of goodwill with me.

That doesn't mean I think Apple is perfect, or can do nothing wrong. It just means that when they screw up, it occurs in the context of an experience where they've always done more than just "the right thing" for me.

Anyway, it was a good morning.

That evening, I drove up to Charleston with a lovely woman named Mitzi to attend a wedding. (Parenthetically, we relied on Apple Maps to get us there, and it was unremarkable. It just worked.) The bride is the daughter of Mitzi's college sorority sister and one of her best friends. Her friend suffered a serious brain injury a few years ago and was fortunate to survive, though the consequences will be lifelong. I enjoyed meeting her and her husband who has been a stalwart partner through it all. Wonderful people.

On Saturday afternoon, we hurried to the wedding, which was outdoors in a park along the bank of the Cooper River. It was 87 degrees, and the humidity was high so the heat index was pretty high, and everyone was dressed pretty formally. Apparently there was a delay in the arrival of one of the groom's family members, so the wedding didn't start on time. There was no tent or awning, we were all just seated out in the sun. At some point, most of us left our seats and gathered beneath the shade of one of the two large trees near the ceremony.

Mitzi kept telling me she thought I was "taking it so well." Truthfully, I was unimpressed with the organization of the wedding, nobody seemed to be in charge and there was no indication anyone was thinking about the comfort of the guests, many of whom were elderly. But I wasn't angry or complaining, we were there, we weren't leaving, what good would being angry or complaining do? So it was just "grin and bear it," and while it was very uncomfortable, I enjoyed meeting Mitzi's friends.

The missing family member finally arrived and then the person I assume was the wedding planner was urging everyone to hurry back to their seats. It was an interesting ceremony. There was no clergy I could identify, I assume someone was a notary public or something, because there were two men kind of officiating, both fairly young. Their remarks didn't seem to follow any familiar text that I'd heard before, so I assumed they'd each written their own.

As I was listening to these two men, I was thinking about the utility of a marriage ceremony. Truthfully, I'm not sure how I feel about the notion of marriage anymore, but it was interesting listening to these two young men kind of articulate their ideas about it. Each spoke of the future, and happiness. Each acknowledged there would be challenges. One spoke of the "infinite possibilities" symbolized by the two rings.

That remark really struck me, as it seemed utterly wrong. I recall thinking, "Really?! Infinite? Starting right now, the possibilities begin to shrink!" I've kind of held onto that thought for the last few days, but more about that in a moment.

It was also at that moment when I had the thought that if a marriage ceremony required an "official" it probably ought to be someone much older, someone with a different perspective. Because what those two young men were telling the bride and groom were not things that would bear much resemblance to reality in the years ahead.

But then I also thought that by the time you get to that point, you're pretty much beyond the reach of any sage advice. The ceremony, I suppose, is really just to mark the occasion, and not to impart any meaningful guidance.

I recall thinking, "Those poor kids, they haven't a clue."

Of course, neither did I, when I got married. Nor do I believe anyone could have given me a clue if I'd wanted one. It's something you have to experience, and the clues and the lessons come in their own time at their own cost; and each and every one will have a cost.

I recall thinking about the "infinite possibilities" the younger of the two officials seemed to be extolling as one of the virtues of marriage. In an abstract way, yes, the "possibilities" remain "infinite," only in the context of the infinite of infinities. One of those infinite possibilities will be excluded the first time the groom meets a pretty girl on business trip. Or it should.

And there will be some nights when one or both will lie awake in bed, praying, if they pray, or hoping desperately that one or more of those "infinite possibilities" isn't in their immediate future. We've all been there. If you haven't yet, you will be.

The domain of infinite possibilities isn't exclusively of happy ones. I must say that the bride is already acutely aware of that, through her mother. I suppose that's why the tone of naive optimism in the "infinite possibilities" utterance was so dissonant.

"There're things that'll knock you down you don't even see comin'." - Springsteen

Ironically (The Fifth Fundamental Force of the Universe™), it is through shrinking possibilities that we experience "growth." Every moment, every choice, excludes an infinity of possibilities, as if carving away a piece of wood or chiseling a block of stone, until character is revealed.

So it's not a "bad" thing, but it is a sober one. And I guess that's what I think was missing, some sense of sobriety, of gravity.

But they were in love, and everyone was happy, so who am I to rain on their parade? I was just a stranger who offered them his best wishes for success and happiness in their marriage.

The reception was a lot of fun, a great cover band, The Velvet Runway. Dancing, great food, super time.

Made it home on Sunday just in time to watch the great Apple/U2 controversy convulse the internet.

It's funny. I don't follow a lot of people on Twitter. I learned this many years ago when blogging was new. There were a lot of high attention-earners that I read, some of whom I engaged with from time to time. Some of them may be familiar to you, Scoble, Hugh McLeod, Jeff Jarvis, the Instapundit™, some others. At some point I realized that what these guys were doing was competing for attention. They didn't offer a unique perspective from the standpoint of their experience, they would just write things for the sake of getting ranked on Technorati.

That's not to say that from time to time they didn't write something worthwhile, maybe they did. Mostly though, they were just being provocative, or sycophantic suck-ups to higher attention-earners, for the sake of garnering attention. It's kind of like Fox News or Limbaugh, just with the tech bent. And it worked, because I was often provoked. I was also going through therapy at the time (best education I ever had), and I was finally learning something an old friend once told me but I didn't quite get his meaning, "Pissed off is no way to go through life."

So, since I wasn't getting a unique bit of insight or some other added value from giving those guys my attention, especially Scoble, I just started deleting them from my RSS feeds. Life was better.

I don't have to argue with every dumb idea on the internet because nobody has that much time!

So I kind of carefully curate who I follow on Twitter. I follow some media outlets, some government accounts, a commercial entity or two, but a lot of individuals. For the most part, they offer me a meaningful perspective different from my own that adds to my view of an issue or subject I'm interested in. I don't always agree with them, but almost none of them write things simply for the sake of being provocative, to attract attention.

Then right on the heels of the other great internet outrage, stolen nude celebrity selfies! comes the Apple/U2 outrage.

It's as if a whole bunch of Walter Sobchaks suddenly appeared in my tweet-stream. "They stuck U2 in your iTunes library!?"

I mean, it's all like, "This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!"

Twitter is great for pointing to interesting things, maybe the occasional observation. It's also great for humorous quips, expressions of joy or grief or even anger. It's less great for channeling meaningful thought. In fact, it pretty much sucks at it. But, people try to do it anyway, which is why you see these occasional "tweet-storms" with multi-part tweets. Must say, not a fan.

Anyway, free U2 was a bad idea. I agree that they bungled the whole sorry idea. First, they shouldn't have done it. I know U2 and Apple have some history, but I suspect that was mostly a Steve thing and Steve is gone. And, lets face it, U2 isn't exactly the new hotness, now is it? So I totally didn't get why they did it, but I didn't really care either. It's a free album. Big deal.

Well, guess I was wrong about that!

If you think that’s a bad analogy you’re effectively arguing that your iTunes account is not your property. And yes, that has implications.

Hunh! I guess maybe I'm out of my element, but how did I know we were talking about unchecked aggression here?

@blach @lucvandal @dwiskus If this was Google, the people falling over themselves to apologize would be falling over themselves to attack.

Now Google, there's a worthy fuckin' adversary.

Of course, every nano-second that goes by, Google's gathering more data on everything it can and doing God only knows what with it in its data centers with exactly zero transparency. But, you know, that is not the issue here, Dude!

I don't get it.

I guess I don't inhabit the multiple alternative realities Chuq Von Rospach inhabits. On the one hand, "in reality, there are some bigger issues where they have a point, and that shouldn’t be ignored."

But on the other hand (Reality? Two paragraphs later, in any event.) "That said, this isn’t a big issue."

Big? Bigger? Biggest?

Obviously, I'm out of my element.

On a bored night, I engage on Twitter, noting the previous nude celebrity selfie outrage, and our incapacity for focusing on anything really important. Chuq, at least, deigns to reply.

@daverpvb @drance if you study history (and I mean history, not what they teach you in two semesters of school), this has always been so

Wherein I'm not sure if he's suggesting I know nothing of history or just saying "Shut the fuck up Donny! You're out of your element!"

(The subsequent reply tweet from me references the practice of inserting other products in the products you're buying. Not a perfect analogy by any means, but about as worthy of outrage.)

Marco Arment weighs in, with a rather nuanced, measured post that, based on at least what I've been able to observe personally is wrong in one factual element:

Instead, Apple set everyone’s account to have “purchased” this album, which auto-downloaded it to all of their devices, possibly filling up the stingy base-level storage that Apple still hasn’t raised and exacerbates by iOS’ poor and confusing storage-management facilities.

I have iTunes set to auto-download purchases from other devices, which is the only way iTunes auto-downloads on your Mac as far as I know. The U2 album didn't download on any of my devices. Not my MacBook Pro, not my iMac, not my iPhone, not my iPod and not my iPad. So the album exists as an album in the cloud that might play if I chose it, or if it came up in shuffle, but it's not physically present on any of my hardware, taking up any of my precious storage space.

So, anyway, at least we're manning the barricades against unchecked aggression by Apple and bad musical taste.

Glad we got that covered.

Marco and Chuq imply it's a matter of trust. As I mentioned in the beginning, at least with me, Apple has earned a large bank of goodwill by consistently doing more than just the right thing in the case of hardware repairs. I've never really had any other issues with them, other than the discontinuation of homepage.mac.com and the ham fisted way they announced the termination of development of Aperture. In every other respect, especially those most significantly affecting my pocketbook, they've been more than reasonable.

Twitter and the internet in general have a way of distorting "reality" (see Chuq above). They alter our perspective in not always good ways. Yes, the laser-like focused outrage regarding the death of Michael Brown seems to have yielded some good outcomes in the near term. But it's too early to tell if that kind of focused attention can be sustained. Any reasonable reading of recent "history" (if I'm not out of my element), suggests it cannot.

The competition for attention by commercial entities has compromised our ability to maintain focus, as very smart, very savvy learning organizations have learned how to manipulate it. Sometimes those smart, savvy organizations can be utterly wrong too, as in the Apple/U2 case. This isn't the attention they wanted. Not that it was merited in any case, just that they can miscalculate. But they will learn, and the calculations will continue.

When we "take the bait" we exclude those infinite possibilities of other, more urgent, more meaningful matters that might benefit from a little attention.

So hopefully I've closed the loop here, and you've found the journey at least mildly entertaining.

I wish you well.

Swytch Disappointment

11:20 Monday, 16 September 2024

Current Wx: Temp: 76.42°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 939

So here's how my day has been going.

I've been trying to assemble my Swytch ebike conversion kit. It has not gone well, despite all the glowing YouTube videos about how easy it is.

It is not.

The first disappointment was that the wheel in the box wasn't black, it was silver. I was pretty sure I'd ordered the black rim. The first confirmation email didn't mention what color the rim was, and I didn't think anything of it.

The second confirmation email mentioned that the order included a silver rim, but I missed it.

They sent a third notification, on September 7, while we were in NY and I wasn't paying close attention to email, also disclosed they were sending me a silver wheel. I wasn't expecting the kit until October, so it wasn't high on my agenda in terms of paying attention as we were trying to get the new place set up.

As mentioned, I'm pretty sure I ordered a black rim. But my last long-term bike was a bit of a franken-bike with a fork from another bike of a different color. I'm not that bent out of shape about it, but it was a disappointment.

No printed manual is included. So I was using my iPad in the garage. I tried to download the pdf manual, but for whatever reason, all I ever received was the cover page. There's an "interactive" web thing that purports to step you through everything. It sucks. Out loud. Once again, a company has opted for glitzy web effects, transitions, etc, rather than clear illustrations and straightforward text.

Everything is black, and things have to fit into slots and holes and it's hard to see. If you buy one of these things, you should probably wear a headlamp to see what you're doing. I took both of my headlamps to New York. I don't know why.

I muddled my way through nearly everything, over about three hours. I was at the last step of connecting the wiring harness, and I was stuck.

These connections are supposedly "color coded." That's just a cruel joke.

I couldn't figure out what cable was supposed to connect to the handlebar controller. Do they tell you what each of those connections is for? No. Because why would they do that? It'd just confuse the user! It's color coded!

I went to the support web site, thinking maybe there'd be some document or something that elaborated on the harness, or, failing that, some "chat" support. Well, no elaboration, and chat is with an extremely lame bot.

More disappointment.

So I filled out a support request. Unclear when I'll get a response. This wasn't encouraging:

Our team is committed to addressing your request as quickly as possible. While we typically respond within 48 hours, it may take a bit longer during this busy period. Please know that your request is important to us, and we are carefully reviewing each one.

Well, I wanted to ride my ebike. See that cable that's capped? Why is it capped? I don't know and Swytch ain't sayin'. Bastards.

I figured it was covered on purpose, like "do not mess with this cable." Then I figured, "Screw that, I'm pulling this thing off."

There was my connection!

What a bunch of bullshit.

So I got everything wired up. The two mystery connectors remain... mysterious. I picked the bike up, turned the pedals and the front wheel spun!

Then I did my best to cable tie the miles of excess wiring and took it for a spin.

It works!

I'll do another post about the riding experience later. I just want to conclude this one about the assembly experience.

The documentation and web support is horrible. Swytch has invested far more effort in making the web site "pretty" than they have in good documentation. The YouTube videos are all misleading. I'm a bike "rider." I take it to the shop to have a spoke replaced. About all I can do is put air in the tires. I replaced the inner tubes on Mitzi's bike and managed to put one of the tires on "backward." Since when could you do that???

If you see a bike stand in a YouTube video, then treat all claims of "simple" and "easy" with a significant amount of skepticism. It's doable, but it's not easy.

Work in a well-lighted area. Our garage has a two-bulb fluorescent overhead light and it's just plain dark in there. I have to keep the garage door closed because Florida. So have a couple of flashlights handy. A couple, because you will constantly lose track of where you put one of them.

The nuts on the wheel are 19mm 17mm. My largest wrench was 16mm. I don't work on bikes, obviously. 11/16s works almost as well and better than an adjustable wrench, IMHO. The instructions for mounting the sensor to the peddle arm are confusing if they're not outright wrong, and I'm pretty certain they just plain outright wrong.

There's a tiny nut and bolt thing that holds the arm to the sensor disk, and you are almost certain to drop that little nut and lose it, so be extremely careful.

All in all, assembly is a horrible experience, because the instructions are incomplete, misleading and sometimes wrong.

But if you persevere and don't just give up and demand to return it, you do get an ebike. Looks kind of goofy. The battery is big and basically makes the water bottle holder useless. There are miles of cables everywhere.

But it'll make your ride a lot easier.

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Ryde Lyke the Wynd

14:40 Monday, 16 September 2024

Current Wx: Temp: 79.14°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 817

Well, ynto yt anyway.

I enjoy riding my bike, but not always. There are two times when I will forego riding. One is when it's hot and muggy, the other when it is windy. (Or wyndy?)

Wind is perhaps worse than heat. The heat thing is mostly that I'm soaking wet whenever I get where I'm going. Wind is just discouraging. You're pedaling hard and going nowhere. Well, almost nowhere. I don't know what the thermodynamic efficiency comparison is between riding into the wind and walking, but, subjectively, walking is less unpleasant.

Today is "windy." I don't know what the threshold for me is, but it's definitely below the 12mph we're seeing right now. I would normally not ride my bike today, so it was a good day to test out this conversion.

I have a Priority Classic, 3-speed, very upright riding posture. It's not "built for speed," and neither am I. Looking over the Fitness app, I didn't ride at all in July. Unsurprising, we were gone for much of the month and it's one of the hottest in Florida. My average figures for June were 5.8 miles at 11.7 mph, for 29m 43s expending 213 calories.

My best "workout" rides were between 28m 30s and 29m 31s, 6.03 miles and my best speed was 12.7 mph. Average HR was in the 140s, and calories expended were >290 calories.

The test ride this afternoon was not a workout ride. So I was faster, and expended fewer calories. Despite not being intended to be a workout ride, I nevertheless still had a workout. 136 bpm average HR is right up there with my "Nordic walking" workouts with the polls (though they expend far more calories). And I'm feeling it in my legs. So I was making an effort of some kind, mostly to see how fast I could go.

I don't recall what level of assistance I was in, I think it was 3 (out of 5). I'm still unfamiliar with the control and the display. The speed tops out at 25kph, or 15.5 mph. That's the limit in Britain, faster than that and it's no longer a "bike" and you need a license and registration. We don't have that limit here, and I think there's a setting in the controller where I can bump that up a bit. I'd be happy with 20mph, because that'd let me keep up with the golf carts, mostly. Except for the ones that have been modified for "street use." (I think they go up to 35mph, and good luck to you if you have an accident.)

But I could definitely feel the assistance, particularly in starting out. Normally I have to start out in first gear, but the motor kicks in really quickly and I'm able to start out in 3rd gear as easily as I could in first. The sensation of speed was less pronounced. My maximum recorded in the Fitness app was 16.9mph with the wind. And when I started getting up there around 25kph, you could feel the motor cut out. Much of the trip was into the wind, so the feeling of speed wasn't really present, but I could hear the wind roaring in my helmet (probably 25mph relative wind). My helmet is more of a skateboard helmet than a bike helmet. I look stupid in either kind, and don't normally wear one at all. I think there'd be less wind noise with a bike helmet because it doesn't cover your ears.

The big takeaway for me was that today was not a day I'd normally choose to ride, but now I know I can.

Overall, I'm largely satisfied with the device. It leaves a lot to be desired from an appearance standpoint, and the company's support in terms of assembly is unacceptable. But if you can overcome that, you do have a bike that will expand your capabilities in terms of biking significantly.

It's a tough call in terms of the value proposition. To receive the wrong wheel, have to struggle through inadequate and misleading documentation, and be left with something that looks kind of jury-rigged, I certainly wouldn't spend more than $509. If the documentation had been first-rate, I'd say it was a reasonable price, and I'd have had a less frustrating experience.

I'd like to say everyone should go out and get one, but I can't. If you really want to convert an existing bike, this does have everything you need to do so. Be prepared to "figure it out" on your own, though. I don't know if there are better kits on the market, with clearer instructions. Swytch came with good reviews, but I'm disappointed with the company, and the experience up to the point of getting it on the road has been unpleasant.

Riding has been another story. Time will tell if this has been a good purchase.

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The Byke

15:46 Monday, 16 September 2024

Current Wx: Temp: 78.03°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 82% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 150

So here it is. I just noticed the battery has a huge sticker on it that says "20mph." So I guess I can get this thing to go faster.

The battery is actually pressing down on the water bottle holder, so I suppose I'll have to remove that. Don't think the other location will be any less useless. Fortunately, I seldom ride far enough to have to worry about hydration.

I haven't completely zip-tied everything, because it's hard to know exactly what the neatest configuration might be. I just put enough on there for now to take it for a ride.

I need to get my light mounted and the little tool bag back on there, but it's basically done. I also need to get everything put away, and try and find my little flashlight.

Did you notice the front wheel was silver? Neither did I.

Still bugs me.

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Progress

08:05 Wednesday, 16 September 2026

Current Wx: Temp: 59.56°F Pressure: 1026hPa Humidity: 93% Wind: 8.99mph
Words: 16

Beautiful day yesterday. Most of the vaulted ceiling parallel chord trusses have been landed.

Pretty exciting.

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