About a year ago, Marco Arment mentioned in a blog post that he’d completely blocked the website TechCrunch from ever showing up in his browser.
I loved the idea, but didn’t know how to pull it off… until OpenDNS came into my life.
Matt Koidin mentioned OpenDNS on Twitter last week, and I put it to work immediately. Koidins are never wrong.
So now I’ve blocked TechCrunch too. I’d wish I could more specific types of content, like Boston Globe articles written by Dan Shaughnessy, or the extremely liberally biased “objective” reporting in the New York Times and CNN, but the technology doesn’t work that way… yet. I also dream of a day where I can block certain TV shows from my cable box, to protect myself from the gluttony :-)
I sort of like the idea that TechCrunch isn’t getting my page views, although I’m sure they don’t miss me, but I really like the idea that I’m not losing any time to their drivel.
iTunes event in SF today. If this had been a week from now, it’d have been a pain to commute to from Palo Alto. Apple’s a fun place to work, BTW.
The approach taken by lexicographers when documenting a word’s uses and limitations can be prescriptive or descriptive. The method used with irregardless is overwhelmingly prescriptive.
I try not to be a huge grammar weeny at work, but I broke down yesterday when someone used “Irregardless.”
It turns out to be a hotly contested issue in linguistics, and if you believe it’s a lexicographer’s job to describe a language, you allow the silly word, and if you believe it’s a lexicographer’s job to detail how a language should be spoken, then I was right.
According to Wikipedia, though, “ain’t” is a different problem altogether.
This Diablo Cody interview series is fantastic, and really well produced for something on the Internet.
I’d love to see her get a talk show. I think of writing comedy and improvising as separate skills, but she’s got them both down pat.
This essay perfectly reflects what I’ve experienced lately at work: folks comfortable with social media at home DO tend to treat sharing differently at the office. I look forward to a future where this is common, but it causes problems today.
To put yourself forward as someone good enough to do interesting things is, by definition, to expose yourself to all kinds of negative judgments, and as far as I can tell, the fact that other people get to decide what they think of your behavior leaves only two strategies for not suffering from those judgments: not doing anything, or not caring about the reaction.
My buddy, James, from b-school, pointed out this awesome bar in Scotland called “The Alexander Bain.”
There’s some debate around whether it’s named after me, my awesome Canadian doppelgänger, or the inventor of the fax machine (who happened to have grown up in the same small town where the bar is located). We may never know.
From what I can tell online, it’s a little like a sports bar, they have wifi, and they’re friendly to children. If I find out they serve wheat beer, I’m booking my next vacation.
Mac users that use iChat: I’m hooked on this tip I discovered through Neven Mrgan.
A game that is circled is one that has lower betting limits than a typical game. Games are most often circled because of uncertainties, such as weather conditions, injuries, or suspensions.
I can follow simple directions, but this is dinner we’re talking about. There’s no margin for error. How does she expect me to make a whole meatloaf by myself?
What are the odds I get this right?
[Her iPhone autocorrected Tabasco to tobacco, BTW]
“People think it’s a law of nature,” said Mr. Shiller, who teaches at Yale.
For the first half of the 20th century, he said, expectations followed the opposite path. Houses were seen the way cars are now: as a consumer durable that the buyer eventually used up.
From the NYT’s Real Estate’s Gold Rush Seems Gone for
Good.
It always seemed funny to me that everything else you buy goes down in value, but homes don’t. It’s really hard to argue that homes fall into the antique or colectible category of items that appreciate, so what else would make them rise?
This isn’t unlike the market for diamond engagement rings. They didn’t use to be the default, but a combination of social pressure and great marketing have completely changed our culture. With homes, the government enables our addiction with the tax breaks.
I can’t even imagine how different things would be if people didn’t treat homeownership with such reverence. It’d sure free up a lot of capital for other investment instruments.
We were told that drinking a Guinness a night has a positive impact on the baby’s “food”, so we’ve been trying it for the last week.
Lisa doesn’t have a strong opinion on the matter. Personally, I can’t say I’m producing more or less milk, but I’m enjoying the experiment :-)
We’re moving to the ‘burbs!
The Bain fam is bringing the party to the people of Palo Alto starting Labor Day weekend.
Some things we’re psyched about:
jstn:
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