Robert W. Rose

When I woke up this morning I was humming the “Cupid Shuffle.” Actually I didn’t know that was the song’s name, and I didn’t know any of the lyrics, but the bassline and that keyboard hit were going through my head. As the day progressed I realized I was humming one of those songs that had a dance to go with it, and it got me thinking about other songs that have their own dance. Gangnam Style (Psy), Macarena (Los del Rio, 1994), C’Mon ‘N Ride It (Quad City Dj’s, 1995), were some of the first that came to mind.

C’Mon ‘N Ride It (The Train) (1995)… I only remember this song because of how awful it is, and accidentally catching them on Oprah flipping channels when I was a teenager. That horrible image of Oprah doing the choo-choo maneuver is burned into my retina forever; oddly hilarious but at the same time horrifying to witness. I’m sure the song was inspired by the commercial success of the Macarena, which was released the year before. It’s one of those songs that’s mildly nauseating for me when I get it stuck in my head, like Hangin’ Tough (New Kids on the Block).

Hangin’ Tough, by the way, doesn’t come with it’s own “dance” per se, but it does introduce some easy to follow dance moves that involve swaying your arms back and forth and sliding across the floor with slick shoes. I’m confident it was the most popular song used in middle school lip sync contests in 1988.

Does The Twist (Chubby Checker), Thriller (Michael Jackson) also count as songs with their own dance? What is the origin of the Chicken Dance, and does that count as a song with it’s own dance? So many questions troubled me this morning! I began to wonder if others though the same and found this compilation of songs that have their own dance. It’s quite a list, and many of the songs that sprang into my inner ear when reading it induced immediate nausea. Cotton Eyed Joe was one I especially would rather have not recalled. Proceed with caution!

Summary: Stay away.

Major frustrations:

• The email client doesn’t support my corporate Exchange server’s configuration.  Once you get past the certificate issue you’re presented with a terse error message about the Surface RT not being good enough for my Exchange server’s security policy.  iPhone works fine. Android devices work fine.
• There are too many different ways to do the same thing.  There should only be one.  For example, I counted at least three different ways to change your wifi settings, and they all have slightly overlapping (but different) hooks into the underlying wifi function.
• Most everything is designed for horizontal scrolling.  Never mind that’s not the most ergonomic gesture for my thumbs (when holding the device with two hands).  Never mind you can’t build up substantial scroll inertia horizontally.  (pshaw, why would you want to do that)?  The core problem here is swiping from the left and right edges has a meaning separate from scrolling.  I frequently have switched apps or pulled open the settings menu when I meant to horizontally scroll.

I could go on and write a long review explaining everything wrong with the Surface
RT, but I did some Googling and discovered many other people have the
same issues with the device that I do.  The hardware is great, but the
software is bad. Unbelievably bad. It’s almost like there’s a willful
intent to make the most frustrating user experience possible, to confound all of your preconceived notions and intuition for how a touchscreen device should work.  Yes–I just went there.

I don’t typically rant on my blog, but this device deserves it.  It’s frustratingly bad.  Stay away.

Sometimes there are “advancements” in computing that make me feel old.

Link

The SpaceX Falcon-Dragon transportation system arguably represents the best investment NASA has ever made… The stunningly low-cost Falcon-Dragon system
represents much more than a rare bargain for taxpayers, in an era when
most such stories have a very different ending. It offers indisputable
proof that a new approach to space transportation can work far more
effectively than the old ways. It’s absolutely vital to keep the company
and the space transport system which has pioneered this path in the
vanguard.

I’ve been getting back into cycling lately, and a few days ago when I was out on a particularly windy ride I was reminded of one thing I don’t look forward to when riding: dealing with my contacts.  I wear Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP or just “GP”) contact lenses, which are better optically than soft contacts or glasses, but they can make a little wind or dust feel like you’ve got a rock scratching the inside of your eyeball.  On this ride I was barreling down a busy road and right as I was getting passed by a truck some dust flew into my eye, my eyes teared up and I had to slam on the brakes for fear I was going to hit something.  Not fun.

So I did searching around the internets and learned about motorcycle sunglasses.  I went to a local motorcycle gear store and picked up a cheap pair of sunglasses that have a foam gasket around the inside.  They’re awesome!  I push them into my face and they form a complete seal around my eyes.  I don’t feel the wind on my eyes at all.  I just completed a ride with them and had no issues at all with wind or dust.

It seems obvious in retrospect, but I’m much happier on my bike now!  They’re a little warm when you’re not moving but it was no worse than working up a sweat with ski goggles on.  The trade-off is definitely worth it.