Staring at Strangers

Reality’s Bandwidth

So I was celebrating Thanksgiving Day with some family tonight and the discussion got around to technology, which I always enjoy.  We were chatting about simulations of reality, from Second Life to the Star Trek Holodeck. 

At some point I threw out a question/concept that I have been thinking about for some time: What is reality’s bandwidth? 

In other words, how much bandwidth would be needed to simulate a particular reality, say the living room in which I was sitting this evening, with the furniture, walls, floor, lighting, and sounds?  Let’s forget for the moment simulating the feelings of the surrounding surfaces and objects – that technology is presented in the Holodeck on Star Trek, but it simply too far from development today to even attempt to quantify. 

I think that it would be hard enough to quantify the bandwidth required to simulate sights and sounds that appeared to be indistinguishable from reality in three dimensional environment with a shifting point of view.  This level of visual reality can’t be achieved even on a flat television screen yet; how much data would it take to render that in three dimensions if the technology existed? 

I don’t know if we’re talking the transmission of terabytes per second or possibly the next couple of orders of magnitude up. 

Just some Thanksgiving Day dinner conversation that I had tonight.  Will someone please pass the gravy?

Technorati Tags: bandwidth,reality,terabyte,transmission,simulation,Holodeck,Star Trek

The Wondrous World of Wieners

Sure, you’ve seen Un Chien Andalou. But what about a Perro Caliente Sonorense? Feed your frankfurter fantasies right here. It’s the stuff Mexican people like. Except for me. Let’s just call it Hermosillo’s Revenge.

 

Mandatory FTC-mandated disclosure: Oscar Meyer did not give Staring at Strangers a free hot dog or anything of value. No dogs were injured in the publication of this blog.

Technorati Tags: hot dog, frankfurter, Sonora, wiener

Watch Out Mexico – Here Comes the Ketchup Tsunami

Straight from today's Wall Street Journal:

Mexicans eat more ketchup by sales value than consumers in all but eight other countries. Many of them slather the thick red sauce on chicken, pasta and eggs—even pizza.

At the start of 2007, U.S. ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. held less than 1% of the Mexican ketchup market. In fact, Mexico was such a low priority that Heinz had fewer than 10 salespeople in the country, which is nearly three times as large as Texas.

Heinz plans to boost their market share up to 12% – twelve times what it is today – after having “overlooked Mexico while chasing sales in China, Russia, Indonesia and other emerging markets,” according to the Heinz Chief Executive William Johnson.

Overlooked Mexico?  Well the hell with them! Have they seen the Mexico video?  Does China or Russia have a video like that?  Not likely, no sir!

So I recommend that the good people of Mexico tell Heinz to go home and chase after some other country that it’s overlooked!

[Jen, I know that you complained in your recent Blogging Leads to Bucks post that we’re getting nothing here at Staring at Strangers, so I thought I’d be clever by putting up this Heinz protest post, getting the Heinz execs all upset and having them throw all kinds of money at us to post a friendlier message about Heinz so that we can make some money – good scheme, no?  Whatever you do, remember to delete this paragraph before you upload this post.]

Technorati Tags: Heinz, ketchup, Mexico

A Dog’s Dinner in Utopia

54 eggs

2 jars of minced garlic

15 pounds of ground turkey

5 huge bags of stuffing cubes

4 giant bags of mixed vegetables

3 bags of shredded cheddar cheese

6 cans of Alpo prime cuts

3 large bottles of olive oil

a large sack of dog food

That’s what Clark Kent and his pack at the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch over in the Hill Country of Texas will be eating on Thanksgiving day.

And poor little Goodman, the Nearly Perfect Doberman, will just have to make do with the same old dog risotto he has to eat day in, day out. But since he’s Mexican, Thanksgiving is just another day to him.

Technorati Tags: Cousin Nancy, dog rescue, Utopia Animal Rescue

Blogging Leads to Bucks

The Anonymous Lawyer Jeremy Blachman gets this book deal from his blog detailing the nefarious dealings at a nefarious BigLaw firm in some big city.

Christian Lander takes note of Stuff White People Like, and that lands him a book deal. And I’ve heard from good authority that there was a time when the guy didn’t even like being white.

Julie Powell starts cooking and writes about her relationship with Julia Childs, who hated her when she found out. But that’s not important, since Julie got a book deal and a movie out of the concept. And another book dealing about butchering and having an affair.

Then, shades of Walter Miller’s Home Page, Justin Halpern starts Twittering about ShitMyFatherSays, and he lands a book deal within a month.

And all the while, Staring at Strangers gets nothing. But then, who would really be interested in lawyers, Astoria, Queens, Mexico, and WhateverTheFuckWeWriteAbout?

Mandatory FTC-mandated disclosure: Even though I wrote somewhere about Jeremy Blachman, he didn’t send me anything. Christian Lander sent me a review copy of Stuff White People Like, and I’ve met his Gangs of San Miguel father. I paid to see Julie & Julia, but I would not turn down a review copy of her book about butchering. Walter Miller responded to an e-mail I sent him around 1996, saying that I had a Laura “”out on the veranda” Ashley name.

Technorati Tags: Jeremy Blachman, Julie Powell, Christian Lander, Rich Lander, Walter Miller, Justin Halpern

Secret Lives under the Volcano

Many ask me what life is like in Mexico. We move in slow motion amid Technicolored landscapes wearing bright-colored clothing while symphonies supply the background noise. Nature’s bounty hold us in constant rapture. We are a passionate people, you see. The rest of the time we simply engage in our national pastime of smiling. That is, when we’re not breaking into dance at the drop of a hat.

And we do a sweeping curtsy before Jason Dormady’s Secret History: Reflections of Latin America for sharing the secret lives of Mexicans with the rest of the world.

 

Technorati Tags: Mexico, Jason Dormady, Mexican tourism

Everyone Needs a Velvet Apron

As we sat over breakfast on the day before the Day of the Dead at La Surtidora, overlooking Patzcuaro’s Plaza Grande, I thought aloud “I get to wake up in Michoacán 365 days a year, and I’m thankful for that. Look at these tourists, the poor souls, who only get to do so a few days here and there.” Telling myself that I wasn’t going to buy any artesania this year, partly because I’ve collected enough and mostly because money is in short supply, in less than thirty minutes, I broke my pledge in the Ocumicho aisle where an embroidered velvet apron just had my name on it. Deploying my new routine of offering 60% of the asked price and just once, I let the fates decide whether it would go home with me or not. Within minutes, the vendor found me and accepted my price.

No, I’m not going to wear the apron. It will find itself displayed on a mannequin someplace in the rose museum of arts and treasures. Definitely next to the Santiago Apostol on the green-eyed horse. And, of course, my two-hundred year-old cannonball.

Unlike last year, shoppers in Patzcuaro were out in full force. I saw no non-local Estadounidenses, but maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. The atmosphere in Patzcuaro has changed palpably over years past, merchants actually acting as if they appreciated visitors instead of treating potential shoppers as if they were little more than annoying intruders. Morelia-based candy purveyor La Estrella set up shop over near where the Oasis once was, and the woman running the store greeted us warmly, refusing to let us leave the store until we’d tasted nearly everything for sale.

Maybe that year of hitting rock bottom was a much-needed wake-up call that Patzcuaro needed.

Technorati Tags: Patzcuaro, Ocumucho, mandil, apron, artesania