International icebreaker
I am not even twelve hours into the Italy trip and it is clear that the iPhone may be the surprise social lubricant of the journey. People are unabashed about asking about it, wanting to hold it, play with it. And I am of course obliging.
The great thing is that being wowed by the iPhone has nothing to do with language. It is visual and tactile and immediate. An Italian at O’Hare and an Indian in Milan (where I am now) were flicking through my kids’ photos in no time flat. A great conversation-starter.
For what it’s worth, the phone works great over here and EDGE isn’t too bad either.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
Here's a little bit about me and how to get in touch.
Views From The Tank
Clowns at the circus
Marginalia
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Only 22 years after the Hermitage.
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I know they just miss the free food, but the idea of dolphins delivering me coral is immensely appealing.
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"Now that everything remains accessible we interact with our cultural past differently. More accurately, we don’t necessarily even realise that it’s from the past at all."
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Interesting deep dive from Google Arts & Culture.
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The technology here kicks off James P. Hogan's 1977 Inherit the Stars. Sci-fi only has a 44 year lead, looks like.
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"TINY heating problem. STUNNING VINTAGE TREES on fire. The humans also redid all the floors in asphalt, which is a choice."
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Ray Cathode! I love everything about this.
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There's always power in collective action.
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"It feels like a betrayal of the promise of finally getting out to wonder if I want to. Of course I want to, but also I don’t want to simply go back"
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Building beats.