Archives: August 17, 2014

Challenge Accepted – The Exciting Tale Of The Potato Peeler

i dare you to read on

The Potato Peeler. Invented in 1874 by Jonathan Diggory, the potato peeler has seen leaps and bounds since its initial inception. With the introduction of the industrial peeler and the Y shaped peeler seen below, chefs and other companies around the globe have frantically attempted to improve their knives and other devices but to no avail as the peeler ascends its way to the top of the utensil food chain.

dat innovation

dat innovation

On ebay you can buy a potato peeler for as little as 1 pound 65 (plus postage and handling) but don’t let the cheap price of these deceptive ninjas fool you. The potato peeler is one of the deadliest utensils in a chefs arsenal. Jamie Oliver was quoted in Lifestyle Food Magazine saying the following statement; “You know like, I really like them potato peelers but they can just really get you, you know? Like I’ll be slicing away and that, before you know it you have sliced half your bloody finger off mate. Gotta watch out for skin sneaking its way into my pasta bake mate.”

"half your bloody finger mate"

“half your bloody finger off mate”

Each year the potato peeler claims the lives of 67000 index fingers and has been fatal in over 2500 cases. Emily Seagate attempted to take one of the major peeler companies, who shall remain nameless, to court over serious allegations of having lost her entire index finger and stating that she was entitled to 2.3million dollars to cover the costs of everyday use of her hand. The case was dropped due to poor attendance and inadequate jury duty volunteers.

All in all the potato peeler is used by almost every cook on the planet. We take for granted the easement of removing skin from vegetables and fail to see the violent nature of the situation. Personally I think we should use peelers but within reason. They can be useful but very dangerous, but then where would we be without the peeler? Don’t egan want to think about that. To conclude the Australian government has shown real independence in a Peeler Protection act in which they will provide peelers to Australian tax payers who earn less than$100,000 p.a. The peelers provided will have a five star safety rating and peeler insurance is included to cover all peeler related injuries. A real step forward for the Abbott government, bought the only useful thing they have done lately. Until next week when we discuss poached egg baskets, authentic or not? Read, share, like!

Flash.

See Luke Egans blog post on peelers at the link below! Do you egan blog?

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/luke-egan/2014/08/17/the-potato-peeler/

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Slaves Of Technology…But You Still Need To Use It To Pass This Test

are you a slave to the matrix?

Aside from being slightly late to this class to grab some $9 asian food (CJ Lunchbar, Hardware Lane, ER MA GURD SO GOOD) when Luke Egan, #doyoueganblog and myself entered the room we were discusses, has technology made our lives easier, and the pros and cons of this. Unfortunately Elliot, our technological, articulate and cupcake master seen below only allocates us so much time for discussions each week and it is inevitable that we always go over time. I would have LOVED to have taken this discussion further because I have talked about it many times in the past and the varieties in opinion make it very interesting, especially in how many instances people can become quite aggressive on the topic.

to html or not to html?

to html or not to html?

What does Flash think? Are we slaves to technology? Of course we are, of course I think that. I am the biggest criminal of them all. I run a blog with my instagram, flickr, Facebook, smugmug, youtube, vimeo, wordpress and probably like 20 other things all connected. I have an iMac, iPad, iPhone, and Macbook all synced nicely in the iCould. Ew, feel sick even writing it, but its all true. I don’t know anyone my age of 20 who isn’t a slave to technology. Granted I know many who have there best attempts to make people ‘think’ they are immortal to these advances in technology but to be blunt they are just liars, its too convenient, its too easy. So what do we do because it isn’t going to go away, not is it? No. Its not, that is why these people are so wrong. You can’t fight it so don’t bother. I personally love technology and what it does for us but I know that there needs to be restrictions. I don’t like the fact that if I go out to dinner I can be contacted by anyone and everyone on at least 6 different applications all coming through one device…but I don’t know where the restaurant is, so I need google maps. Awkward yes, avoidable, yes again. Have a look at home before you go and then remember the directions, write them down on some good old fashioned paper.

Technology will always be there, right in your face, it is about how you deal with it, how you discipline yourself. Don’t blame society and the creators of this technology. No one is saying you have to use it. You run the technology, not the other way around. Anyway, I might do a separate blog post on this topic because I find it very interesting and this could go on forever. Back to the class!

#helpsophie

#helpsophie

The preparation has begun for our deadly HTML test which is only a mere 6 DAYS AWAY and it would seem that many of us are not ready for it. I would do a massive blog on it but Elliot was kind enough to email us the basic instructions on how to prepare. Woo! Essentially it was an extension of the previous week, now incorporating a program called Cyberduck, which may or may not be for the test itself, I can’t actually remember but we need to download it and create folders etc. However be warned, this is really all Elliot’s emails discusses. The actually content is not included so, please refer back to my last workshop blog which can be found in the workshop categories (linked below 🙂 ). Everything is basically there but again we have to write up some code that has a heading, link to another page/site, incorporates an image, line break, paragraphs and something has to be in bold. I certainly hope that is all. Happy studying, see some of you in class next week!

Flash

p.s. I have linked a really cool/moving video below about being a slave to technology. Everyone should watch this and I will also post as a separate video link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvXKLFDb7U – Slaves Of Technology

https://www.mediafactory.org.au/luke-vanderzeil/2014/08/12/the-grey-space/ HTML Help Blog

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Perhaps Cyborgs Are Just Around The Corner – Readings 04

soon...very soon

Science. The future. Evolution. I liked this article because it causes you to think, to take existing technologies further in your own minds eye into the distant horizon that is the future and take them to a logical outcome, which is pretty awesome if you ask me. The article written by one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project (big ass bombs, yea that one) explores the power of science and technology in everyday life, or more to the point at the article states, after the fighting has ceased. These advances in science allow us to mass produce creations and ideas, things that in the past would have been impossible. Scientists and inventors are in a constant struggle as they may have an idea in there head but due to the technologies of the present they cannot pursue such creations. The articles example of the Pharaoh best demonstrates this. Even when given the plans and ideas on how to create an automobile, the Pharaoh would still have to exhaust the majority of his kingdom and resources to make such a machine and even when it is completed it would break 100m into its first journey to Giza.

But what does this mean for technology? The article takes the idea of a camera through to a logical outcome of what appears in my mind to be a very advanced GoPro which is funny. This article was written in 1945, or so it says on the page. By taking the idea of the camera forward the scientist has practically described the latest GoPro to us. Isn’t that awesome?! What does that mean for us as human beings? What if you take the idea of a human forward? Are we destined for a genetic upgrade? Is all this talk of available brain space and cellular structure mean we will soon be part machine? Many people seem to think so. Below I have linked another Shots Of Awe video, which I may have linked before, I sure hope not that discusses, are we already cyborgs, and Jason Silva seems to think so, that we are destined to unlock our genetic code. Pretty awesome. After this post I will also post GoPros video of the week which is truly sick, very well shot, and is the best example of what this scientist had envisioned.

Perhaps one day we won’t need to carry around cameras and be aided by external pieces of technology, that we in fact could BE the technology. Purchase of genetic upgrades and cyborgs walking all over the place. I can see it happening, can you?

Flash

http://vogmae.dropmark.com/182742/3432611 – As We May Think, Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzFtWNOOOU – We Are Already Cyborgs, Shots Of Awe Video

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