March 31, 2008
Paul Graham has an extremely minimalist site that I kind of dig. Lots of content in a really short amount of space on the left.
He also has a neat essay titled “You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss,” describing the dangers of programmers working at a large company.
March 25, 2008
I bought a portable GPS the other day – the Garmin 260W. It ranks up there with LASIK surgery as one of the best decisions I ever made.
Prior to owning a GPS, I would think through a trip, print out dozens of Google Maps with directions, and read the printouts in the car while driving to my destination. Now, instead of relying on potentially inaccurate or hard-to-interpret Google Maps, I can just type the address in Garmin and let it call out directions.
Best of all, if I go slightly off-track, Garmin starts directing me back towards my destination. One wrong turn results in a slight detour, rather than a disastrous series of U-turns and three-points. It also calculates the arrival time, giving me a clear (and pretty accurate) sense of when I’m going to arrive.
The 260W seems to be the best model. The more recent models have MP3 players and FM traffic updates, but why would I want a MP3 player in my GPS when I have an iPod?
The best thing about the Garmin is that anywhere I am (well, in North America) I know where I am and where I’m going. There’s a certain peace of mind to never feeling lost while driving again.
March 23, 2008
The Boston Globe recently published an interesting article on the benefits of boredom as a prelude to creativity and introspection.
Boredom’s doldrums were unavoidable, yet also a primordial soup for some of life’s most quintessentially human moments. Jostled by a stranger’s cart in the express checkout line, thoughts of a loved one might come to mind. A long drive home after a frustrating day could force ruminations. A pang of homesickness at the start of a plane ride might put a journey in perspective…
Paradoxically, as cures for boredom have proliferated, people do not seem to feel less bored; they simply flee it with more energy, flitting from one activity to the next. Ralley has noticed a kind of placid look among his students over the past few years, a “laptop culture” that he finds perplexing. They have more channels to be social; there are always things to do. And yet people seem oddly numb. They are not quite bored, but not really interested either.
More at the article: The Joy of Boredom.
And on that note, I plan to finish a few more e-mails and then go finish reading War and Peace.
Jean Strauss has written an interesting article on Juno as fiction:
Ever since I watched it, the film Juno has kept me up nights. I know millions of people love this film about a pregnant teen and would skewer me for my concern about it. Yes, it’s witty and Juno is a unique character. But the film doesn’t portray important realities about adoption. Juno is a modern-day Pied Piper that could lure many young women to a far different reality than the one implied on screen.
More at the article: In Juno, adoption pain is left on cutting room floor
March 20, 2008
Blessed Miguel Pro – his photos, originally uploaded by Jobriga.
This image is quickly becoming my most popular Flickr photo – 114 views as of this writing. It is wonderful to think that Flickr can, in some small way, help show more people the story of this saint’s martyrdom.
