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  8. Prepping an old machine for demoing crypto tech at the cryptoparty tonight, windows being a complete pain. I have a feeling I’m going to be spending most of the evening apologising for other people’s bad UI decisions.

  9. Beautiful soundscape walking back through Reykjavík this evening — seamless gradient between vetrarhatid.is large-scale audio+visual installation and bird sounds on the pond, punctuated with ice underfoot and the constant murmur of traffic.

  12. Sighted a majestic sky whale hovering low over the mountains to the south-east of Reykjavik this morning.

    Any assertion that it was in fact some ski slopes lit up in the dark will be met with insistent mutterings about celestial cetaceans.

  15. Understandable and Confusing Design

    This treble recorder is an example of understandable design. For various reasons it’s separated into three parts and has to be assembled before usage, but a consistent decrease in diameter and significantly differently sized joints for both ends leave no ambiguity about how it should be assembled.

    On their own the parts are unbalanced with exposed unpolished joints. Assembling the instrument creates a balanced, visually consistent object, and a sturdy interference fit gives the user extra confidence that the device is ready for use.

    This Icelandic bus timetable is an example of confusing design, due to the inconsistent usage of colour and direction. The grids of times must be read top to bottom then left to right, contrary to most western languages. The yellow blocks (expressing at what intervals between the given times each bus leaves) are not strongly associated with the durations above them, and from a distance, the pairs look much like times themselves.

  17. Looking to join/start a casual recorder consort in Reykjavík — anyone know of one, or people who might be interested in joining? Preferably with a focus on early music, not vital though.

  19. How to watch a film, Háskolábíó style:

    • Pay 1550IKR for a ticket
    • Watch 20 minutes of adverts
    • Watch the first 45 minutes of the film
    • Wonder what happened to the projector when the screen goes blank mid-sentence. Realise it’s an intermission. In a film. In a cinema. With adverts.
    • Watch another 15 minutes of adverts, or optionally escape into the popcorn-vending zone
    • Settle back in and watch the rest of the film
    • Exit out of the opposite corner you came in from, optionally expressing surprise when it turns out you just walked out of the back door, into the rain and cold. Hastily put your coat on and reorient yourself. Watch out for the puddle.

    Tjarnabíó is like this too. Not that it isn’t well-priced or enjoyable, but… there are some optimisations which could be made here.