T w e n t y S i d e d

Radioactive Goo





Have a nice refreshing glass of radioactive sludge!

This is a glowstick in a glass of flour mixed with hot water. I needed an exposure time of about 4 seconds to the the right glow effect, and to get enough light to pick up the wet tabletop. Despite what Doom has taught us, I’m pretty sure this won’t explode in a destructive fireball if shot.

Anyway, I just wanted to see what it would look like.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

You’re So Special

Originally uploaded by ShamusYoung.

Because I don’t have anything clever to say right now, I’ll just post this picture. I can’t even think of a good caption, so you’ll have to come up with something witty on your own.

Do your best, I’m counting on you.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

This December I got my first cell phone as a gift from my wife. I’ve used them before, but actually owning one has given me some time to really think about this technology and how I use it. Now I have a question: Why are these things so damn small?!?

I’m only 5’11, so I’m not an unusually large man. My hands are normal sized, and yet cell phones always feel so tiny in my hands. Using the pad to enter numbers is difficult without a tool, because the buttons are smller than my fingertips. When I hold it up to my face it feels like I’m talking into a toy. Its too short, so that when unfolded it audio input is aimed at my cheek. It’s too narrow, and doesn’t really fit into the palm of my hand the way a mouse or electric shaver would. I can’t imagine how big guys even make use of these things. The audio output is so small that it does a poor job of covering my ear, thus letting in a lot of external noise. This isn’t just my phone, this is every cell phone I’ve held in the past couple of years. What’s going on here?

I understand why there was such a push to make phones smaller in the past. The first cell phones were clunky and heavy. Nobody wanted to talk into a brick. But the trend of smaller phones has progressed to the point where it no longer makes a lot of sense. I assume this push is in response to consumer demand, but I can’t imagine why people want phones this small.

What I’d like to see in a phone:

Make the phone about 25% larger. Use some of that extra space for more battery. Use the rest of some sort of internal cushioning or shock absorbtion. Drop support for watching movies, downloading songs, playing music videos, video games, and all of that other non-phone junk. I’m sure that won’t make the phone lighter, but it will get rid of a lot of needless clutter in the interface. You won’t need to waste so much surface area with web interface style buttons, which will free up space on the keypad so that the buttons are useful to adults. All of this would make a phone that is sturdier, more practical, more stable, and (most importantly) easier to use. I’d rather have a great phone than a mediocre phone that is also a mediocre video player / gameboy.

But that’s just me.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.