I’m still a little too in shock to really voice my thoughts on the earthquake/tsunami. You can donate here: Amazon Honor System.
Amazon, Apple, many sites have changed their home page to reflect/provide links to resources and donation areas…
Some crazy pictures: waveofdestruction.org
A lkot of info: Wikipedia entry
Presents are wrapped and under the tree, Erin and Cooper are sleeping, Santa seems to have come and taken a bite out of some cookies - boy it’s nice to spend the holiday at our own house.
Everyone have a happy holiday and here’s hoping 2005 brings joy to your life.
“Textbook Macon Chardonnay, simple but well-built, lets the pure fruit shine through.”
Yummy. A nice clean Chardonnay.
The System of the World (p. 159) strikes again:
“That is the problem, Dappa: each [letter] refers to a different [story]. It seems that if you put enough stories out before the public, many a reader will find one that speaks to him. But there is no telling which.”
“What we’ve been doing, then, is a bit like firing grapeshot,” Dappa mused. “Chances are that a ball will strike home—but there’s no telling which—so, best fire a lot of ‘em.”
“And grapeshot is a useful tactic sometimes,” Eliza said, “but it never sank a ship, did it?”
“No, my lady, grapeshot can never do that.”
“I say we have now fired enough grapeshot. It has had all the effect it is ever going to have. What we need now, Dappa, is a cannonball.”
(emphasis mine)
Ruminate spies a common thread among the “Person(s) of the Year” - Time does have a nice track record.
A quote a day (something about the doctor staying away…) This one also from The System of the World (pp. 153-154).
“You are saying,” Dappa said, “that we make connections with other souls, despite the sameness—”
“There is no sameness. If you looked down upon the world from above, like an albatross, you might phant’sy there was some sameness among the people crowding the land below you. But we are not albatrosses, we see the world from ground level, from within our own bodies, through our own eyes, each with our own frame of reference, which changes as we move about, and as others move about with us. This sameness is a conceit of yours, an author’s hobgoblin, something you fret about in your hammock late at night.”
<ding> — got your telegram, Mr. Stephenson.
The Cubes™ - a must have for Christmas, don’t you think?
Neal Stephenson speaks my language. This one is from The System of the World (hardcover, p.16).
He guessed that people who had lived right and arranged things properly must have it all rigged so that all their quests ran in parallel, and reinforced and supported one another just so. They gained reputations as conjurors. Others found their errands running at cross purposes and were never able to do anything; they ended up seeming mad, or else perceived the futility of what they were doing and gave up, or turned to drink.
I bet the guys at 43folders would like that.
For only $1.3 Mil, you too can own one of the houses of Woodlawn Manor. They tore down a house that sold for a million to put two of these on the lot. Richly appointed indeed.
It’s taking place around the block on 16th Street - we can see some of the construction from our bedroom window. I’ll try and post some shots when things get interesting.
A bunch of interesting stuff about del.icio.us, with a great quote about UI design: Rands In Repose: A Del.icio.us Interview
How do you approach user interface design?
Lots and lots of iterations until something feels right. Avoiding features until the interface for them is apparent. Seeing how users use the existing features to do things I didn’t expect, and then making those things easier.