Classic response from a curmudgeon at the top of his form to a burgeoning novelist. Letters of Note: For Aspiring Editors: Load it and fire every one into your head. Go read the rest. It’s worth the 15-second investment of your time.
Category Archives: general
Expectations and the Pentatonic Scale
Watch Bobby McFerrin lead an audience through musical crowdthink with the pentatonic scale. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk&w=560&h=315] It’s really pretty fascinating how much we all think similarly, especially with something as primal as simple musical notes. He really is legendary. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktotbE4rN2g&w=560&h=315]
Nailing the Venn
Geekier than you are
I’m pretty comfortable saying that I’m the geekiest of everyone of everyone I know personally, and that makes me a little uncomfortable. For a big chunk of my life I felt like I was born in the wrong generation. My brother and sister are 11 and 13 years older than me, respectively, and their influences …
Life's Streaming Soundtrack
If my life has a soundtrack these days, it’s streaming through Rdio. Nothing beats Pandora for creating ambient background music of a particular genre. Nothing beats Pandora in this area, but it lacks definition. The listener can’t pick individual songs or create specific playlists. Lots of people I trust online were talking about Rdio, but …
Return to Plain Text
In the beginning there was plain text, and it was good. Computer jockeys worked with words in plain text before WordStar led a procession of so-called word processors including WordPerfect to ClarisWorks on the Mac and the behemoth Microsoft Word. While the geeks argued over vi and eMacs and OpenOffice.org fired a few warning shots …
2011 is dead, long live 2012
One year. 2011. You can pack a lot into 365 days. Here are a few of the highlights around our house. Home improvement 2011 began with new clothes for our house to cover the battleship gray Masonite with pale yellow vinyl siding. The upgrade followed a new green roof (which looked awful with gray) and …
Data and Scripture
Eddie from Practically Efficient tweeted about a great post today by John Spencer at his site Education Rethink. Why Data Is Like the Bible: I’m a fan of the Bible. I’m also a fan of data. But if you’re using either of these to cram ideology down my throat, chances are I quit listening a …
Return of the Nimitz
After years of lusting after the Matias Tactile Pro computer keyboard, I finally dropped the dough to get one of my very own (on sale from a big box electronics store). UPS dropped it on my front porch this morning in a box large enough to ship a toddler. The shipping container held the product …
#FTW01: A pretentious accounting of a gift from San Francisco gentleman Mike Monteiro
Several weeks ago I placed an order at Quarterly Co. for a package designed by Mike Monteiro (aka @Mike_FTW on Twitter and design director at Mule Design in San Francisco). If you follow him on Twitter, you know that you can’t know what to expect. Of course, the package was beautifully prepared. The brown cardboard …