Manuel Martensen

Carboarding

Manuel Martensen — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:16:29 +0000

Rope: Manuel Martensen, Lens: Jochen Neumann, Wheel: Holm Löffler.

Taken on the Listlandstrasse on the Isle of Sylt with an Apple iPhone 3G on January 29, 2010.

Switzerland

Manuel Martensen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:17:20 +0000

What a wonderful week. Switzerland is almost as good as Canada. Almost. German ski resorts though — and austrian resorts packed with Germans — suck horse. But anyhow, here are some of the photos I took down there…

More about this set at its Flickr page.

Dune Snow Boogie

Flickr — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:48:33 +0000

Fully equipped with “Headcam” video camera… Vid coming up later at manuelmartensen.com — stay tuned.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Snowy Wanderdünen Ridge

Flickr — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:48:02 +0000

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Snowy Wanderdünen Valley

Flickr — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:47:31 +0000

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Walking the Wadden Sea trying to reinvent my wheel…

Flickr — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:08:51 +0000

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

She did…

Flickr — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:42:06 +0000

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Open Letter to Apple

Manuel Martensen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:57:13 +0000

Dear Apple,

5 years ago I’ve bought an iMac for 1700 Euros. A few month out of warranty its logic board broke for the first time and Apple agreed to replace it for free.

Unfortunately this was not the only time it broke, it happend 3 more times. And eventhough the iMac was out of warranty, Apple always aknowledged the problem as a general design or manufacturing problem and fixed it for me for free — untill it happend for the 4th time.

This 4th time Apple refused to take responsibility of a problem which they have already quietly agreed to be a problem with that very single machine of mine (by fixing it 3 times for free).

Apples quiet agreement

If one special part of your computer brakes four times in a row, and if that part is not a part a user could abuse by using it the wrong way — like one could with hatch or a button or a cable port — then it should be obvious that this very single machine has a PROBLEM.

So this is clearly not a warranty issue, it is either bad design or faulty manufacturing, I can’t tell.

Four failed logic boards resulted for me in several weeks without a computer, several hours of backing up data before the iMac could be shipped, countless hours on the phone talking to support people explaining this special case, several design jobs I have missed, and most importantly—for you and me—a fading faith in what Apple stands for.

I always felt like we were some sort of friends, I always felt like Apple is a brand I am proud to associate myself with. But today I am very disappointed—and suprised about it.

I am no cheapskate, I don’t want stuff for free, but I want a working Mac, one I could trust, one where I don’t count the months till I have to start to fear that it will fail me again.

I’ve paid 1700 Euros, please give me a something you (and I) are proud of.

Still with high regards and hope,
Manuel Martensen
Support case 141598408

Marine traffic around Sylt

Manuel Martensen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:50:20 +0000

Here’s a map with live coverage of marine traffic (tankers, cargo ships, coast guard etc.) around the Island of Sylt, my home.

You can actually click on a ship and view its track and see where it came from or what it was up to, pretty cool feature. Only AIS equipped ships will be displayed though.

Typographical “5th of November”

Manuel Martensen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:00:49 +0000

This video is not related to Guy Fawkes and his collegues, there’s not even a mask in it, but it’s lovely and the date to post it is just perfect.

Made by Chris Silich, found on YouTube.

piqshare.com

Flickr — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:40:17 +0000

Wonder what Anatole of Piqshare will think about this logo critique.

A) Polaroid says “picture”.
B) Paperclip says “attachment”, which says “sharing”.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

My favourite mirror

Flickr — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:36:07 +0000

Every time I pass that mirror I have to take a picture. Dunno what it is with it, maybe because it’s a bit tilted or because of the old school background, or maybe I look fitter in it than in others, dunno.

Not much of a story, but photos always look better in here with a little text beneath them, even if it’s bogus stuff.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

4M Cattle

Flickr — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:24:30 +0000

I was actually trying to “seduce” those cattle with extra delicious grass from behind the fence to make them comfortable with me so I could take some closeups of them, but they didn’t buy it.

So all that was left is this shot and my “fence of persona”, visualized with my 4M logo.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Seadog Walk

Manuel Martensen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:52:52 +0000

Have I posted this video before somewhere? I can’t find it. But it’s kinda cool — nothing fancy, just me walking — whatever, here it is again.

Taken at “Seadog Beach”, a few month ago.

Ferrybelly

Flickr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:21:54 +0000

Inside the empty “MF SyltExpress” on our way to Denmark to hail the shores of Queen Margarethe II. and to crawl into left over parts of Hitler’s coastal fortifications.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Toehole

Flickr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:01:16 +0000

If you’re in a hurry: Don’t climb onto a caravan, get your shoes off and jump barefoot down to hit the tarmac while tiptoeing like a ballerina. It slows things down.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Fuck the social comments

Manuel Martensen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:46:07 +0000

This is a personal site without a goal, without a motto, and without content worthy to people who don’t know me, and even most of the stuff I post is not even of any interest to the few who do know me.

I’ve tried Intense Debate, Disqus and had a look at Echo to superpower my comment section, yeah — but they are either buggy, take ages to load, have counterintuitive interfaces or can’t be styled to my liking.

So fuck it, here is the old ordinary comment form back for the 2 or 3 people who comment here. Just keep my cookies in the jar and all shall be swell.

How to markup a conversation?

Manuel Martensen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:57:20 +0000

I was searching the web today to find out how to markup a conversation/dialog, but there seems to be no definitive solution — only “HTML5 dialog” references. This is what I came up with so far (by following Jon Tan’s suggestion).

Manuel: I am wondering how to properly markup a conversation.
Lazyweb: Well I can’t help but suggest you post about it. Maybe someone has an idea or were more successful at taking it with Google.
Manuel: Yeah, hope you’re right and someone will comment on this. And I don’t want to wait for the HTML5 dialog tag!
Lazyweb: You’re thinking about the Superfriends? Be confident.

Is this the way to go? Here’s the markup and the CSS:

<dl class="dialog">
<dt class="dialog">Manuel</dt>
<dd class="dialog">Bla bla bla?</dd>
<dt class="dialog">Lazyweb</dt>
<dd class="dialog">Nom nom nom!</dd>
<dt class="dialog">Manuel</dt>
<dd class="dialog">Tweet tweet tweet?</dd>
<dt class="dialog">Lazyweb</dt>
<dd class="dialog">Me me me!</dd>
</dl>

dl.dialog {
color:#666;
margin-left:3em;
}
dt.dialog {
color:#666;
margin-left:0;
font-weight:bold;
}
dd.dialog {
color:#666;
margin-left:1em;
font-style:italic;
margin-bottom:.4em;
}

The 5th of november

Flickr — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:58:04 +0000

Evey: Who are you?
Guy called “V”: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey: Well I can see that.
Guy called “V”: Of course you can. I’m not questioning your powers of observation I’m merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
Evey: Oh. Right.

A quote from V for Vendetta, the movie.

More about this photo at its Flickr page.

Try the reason why videos

Manuel Martensen — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:40:32 +0000

The title is fishing for interest, but those two girls are totally worth it to point you into their direction by a misleading headline.

You’re welcome.