For recent and recurring reasons I started to think about a “VPN bashing module” for our Master-Room in the fhp.
The vpn-client that became our only and obligatory access to the internet seems to have its own intelligence that acts according to plans beyond human understanding (maybe extraterrestrial). Every now and then he chooses a deliberate candidate to kick out of the network, sometimes followed by periods of denials to all attempts of reconnecting.
This is not only undermining the belief in the predictabilty and determination of technology but is also really making us mad and breaking up the holy work-flow. As the resulting aggression has to find a way out and is better deflected from the other inhabitants, a punching ball might serve that purpose. With some sensors built in and a computer with AutoHotkey running, a procedure to initate a reconnect should be easily available.
Plus: If vpn doesn’t reconnect at once one can keep punching the ball (really hard). Some other applications for that interaction principle might come to your mind as well.
A subway accident described as “naturally funny” (“Von Natur aus witzig”)? In a usual newspaper one would think of a macabre mistake by the editor, but Google News usually aggregates its contents from other sources without editing them.
This sentence of offence was not to be found on Rheinische Post in the original post but somewhere completely different:
Assuming Google and Google News are operating on algorithms, how could that happen?
Das Problem vieler Blogs besteht in meinen Augen darin, dass sie – einmal geschaffen – nach Inhalt verlangen. Nach mehr und mehr Inhalt, denn ein Blog auf dem nichts passiert, den mag auch niemand lesen. …
Dank des Neuzugangs Prof. Wöhlbier gibt es jetzt einen Kurs Navigationsdesign, der sich gleich ziemlich spannend anhört. Vielleicht wird aus dem Institut für Interaktive Medien jetzt ein Experimentierlabor? Spannend wär’s.
Unser erstes Thema soll – ganz basal – der Cursor in allen möglichen Facetten sein. Oft wird er ganz intuitiv mit der Maus in einen Topf geworfen, weil diese beiden Dinge im Alltag als Einheit wahrgenommen werden. Jetzt soll die Maus also aus dem Spiel gelassen werden.
