If you can’t “stand” back pain, stand

[Arnie Schlissel]

So, more like a giant Cintiq, and no hot tub, gottcha! How’s about an integrated espresso maker?

Arnie
Post production is not an afterthought!
https://www.arniepix.com/

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Arnie Schlissel] “So, more like a giant Cintiq,”

Now you’re catching on. Along with that, a touch screen keyboard, a 42″ color critical broadcast monitor (or 24″, or full screen or whatever, basically, the whole thing can be a broadcast monitor if you want), could be scalable according to your needs. Of course, all pertinent video connection in and out to extend to your facility as needed.

[Bob Cole]

[Mark Raudonis] “How much is your back worth? “

More than dollars can measure. Unfortunately, I still have to be able to pay for whatever I come up with. If the editor of “Lost” stacks his desk on boxes, there’s no shame in my doing the same.

But that motor-driven adjustable table with motor-driven monitor height adjustment… awwwwwesome. Just for curiosity, did you get a price?

On the Fantasy Front, with all this talk of ultimate desks, why does the image of Jabba the Hutt lounging in his den of decadence come to mind? They call it WORK, people. It shouldn’t be too luxurious! What’s next? hit a button and ambrosia fills the air? Built-in espresso machines? Hit another button and a little hand comes out and rubs your back?

Bob C

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Bob Cole] “They call it WORK, people.”

THe amount of time I have spent sitting at an edit desk, ti deserves to be full of fantasy. Don’t you think?

I’d also like a ‘Gin and Tonic’ button and the ‘Limo Full of Dancing Girls’ button.

And of course, the ‘New Clients with Lots of Money’ button when things slow down.

Did I just say that out loud?

[Tim Kolb]

I had my editing console designed to stand or sit in a drafting chair… I like it. Between that and lighting the room completely D65, I have a lot more energy…(and more rack room under the countertop).

…plus a surface that is bar-height just feels more natural for someone from Wisconsin.

🙂

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Mark Suszko]

Touch screen or gestural interface like Minority Report seems like it would be cool… but do I really want to be doing tai chi eight hours a day, just to edit? I picture poor Frederson moving the clock arms around and around in “Metropolis“… no thanks! For me it has become about reducing movements to the barely perceptible.

As far as the back thing, you’d be surprised how much of that is moderated by proper eyeline and ergonomic monitor placement, as well as good shoes and flooring.

I keep looking for a quality adjustable-height version of the “balans” “knee chair”. This is the chair that makes you look like the lazy people in church that kind of shlump halfway between kneeling and sitting. The balans chair looks awkward but is supposedly very good for your back because it keeps you straight without a back support cushion, helps build your back muscles up, keeps better blood circulation thruout the legs as well. However, I can only locally find the cheap plywood and particle-board models that don’t last and are not height-adjustable. So right now I still sit in Aeron chair knockoffs, not bad though if the lumbar support is set right. I also take lots of little breaks to walk around for this and that.

For Christmas the wife gave me one of those Homemedics brand chair cushion full-length back massagers that straps to your office chair. It is very nice to digitize and log tape while getting unlimited shiatsu rolling massages in the upper and lower back….. mmmmmmm. Comes with a 2-part cord so you can use it in the car, but I’d be afraid of driving too relaxed and getting into an accident:-)

(Coroner): “Looks like this was recent, no rigor yet.”
(paramedic): “When we pulled him out of the car, he just sort of poured out”.
(Coroner): “And look, he’s still smiling…”

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Mark Suszko] “For me it has become about reducing movements to the barely perceptible. “

I see, you want to control the interface through your eyes!

[Mark Suszko]

Been done. Back in the early eighties. One of my early freelance forensic video jobs was documenting a cool project done by the rehab Institute of Chicago. The patient was a little boy with severe problems and paralysis from a traumatic birth accident, basically he was like a 6-year old version of Steven Hawking, in terms of his mobility, and he could not speak.

The Rehab tech guys emulated the head-tracking gun controls of an Apache attack helicopter, using a primitive apple iic strapped to the wheelchair, and eyeglasses with a harmless low-power Infra-red laser diode bouncing a beam off the kid’s eyeballs. The eyeglasses had changeable icon decals along the edges of the clear glass lenses. The computer read the eyeball position and timed how long the kid would fix on a a particular decal icon, then the kid would trigger with a blink to make the mac speak with a voice synthesizer. So when it was all put together, with just a little training this kid who couldn’t communicate at all before, was now able to put together sentences like “I am cold, mom.” “I am hungry”. “Love you”. Can I watch TV now”. etc. They even had simple games he could play using the glasses. This was important because with the new communications tool, they were able to finally assess the kid’s true level of mental ability and it turned out he was in much better shape than anybody could guess, he’d just been locked inside his own head and unable to express himself. With new proof of his true abilities, the defendants settled and the court changed the award from the lawsuit to add special ed tutoring and such to improve the kid’s life. Money was also awarded to further develop the translator system and improve it and make it easier to work with, with expanded vocabulary and functions.

I was deeply affected by this assignment, in that it showed me how creative people could take a sword, a technology developed for war and killing, and turn it into a true ploughshare, a tool for better communication, for healing. And it showed me that you really don’t know a person just by what you perceive from surface impressions. Everybody, particularly the insurance company and defense lawyers, had written the kid off as a vegetable, thus undeserving of additional therapy, when he really wasn’t. His quality of life was immensely improved by the work of the guys at RIC.

I often wonder whatever became of the device; by now, thanks to modern advancements it should be about the size of an ipod, and spin-off versions should be available for us to use as a GUI input instead of or to complement a mouse.

[Jeremy Garchow]

That is a truly awesome story. I caught something similar about 6 months ago on Discovery Channel (maybe it was Discovery Health). The kid was immobile, but he was hooked up through his eyes to a Macbook and could then communicate. He had a girlfriend and everything.

I like your sword analogy, it’s so true.

Jeremy

[Mark Suszko]

It was a challenging shoot. Our camera gear was very distracting to the kid, if he saw the camera or operator, he’d just concentrat on that instead of the therapist/evaluator. The director mused that he wished we had a 1-way window in the house to hide behind. I came up with the next best thing: we used two sets of auto-poles stacked verically to create a place to hold up a mirror we grabbe dfrom somewhere and gaffed/clamped on. We shot into the mirror from behind the kid so we got his face using a telephoto shot but he couldn’t see anything but a blank lens, and this worked awesome. I earned my money that day

“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”