Decorative China
43Folders is a website dedicated to the finer points of organization, task tracking, and goal-completion. As such, an essay about the huge value of underachievement would seem orthogonal to the site’s goals. However, the ideas mesh quite well with the larger fabric of 43Folders; plus, this is easily the best blog post I have read in a long while (the vocabulary alone is perfection)… the mythology and philosophy references don’t hurt, either. A snippet:
And indeed this is why there is no despair when we truly confront the empty promises of achievement—and view our work and accomplishments in the light of that insight. We don’t give up and shake our fists at the unfeeling universe and embrace total idleness. Nor do we ignore the awesome preciousness of the life and time that chance has bestowed upon us. We try to be nice, have a little fun, and expand our awareness of the world we live in. We do the best work we can, but we don’t fret when we fail, nor do we jeopardize the quality of our work—or the happiness of our days—by bowing to the pressure to take on more than we can handle.
If you’ve got time, which you probably think you don’t (but which you actually have), go read the post that above quote originates from: Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work, by Ryan Norbauer.
Katy checked out the Star Trek seasons from our local library — they look really great remastered. This is the title card for an episode from season 2.
Ahhh, the advantages of metrication:
Actually, the metric equivalent to a ‘shitload’ is the metric ‘assload.’ As in, ‘That’s an assload of storage!’
It’s much easier to talk in terms of milliassloads, centiassloads, assloads, kiloassloads and mega-assloads than in shitloads; who can ever remember that one shitload=4 ‘whole piles of’ = 7.46 ‘whole lotta’s = 14.5 (14 even in certain states) ‘whole buncha’s = 31 ‘fair chunk of’ which, finally, contains 252 ‘bitta’s.
After all, isn’t it easier to say ‘there’s 40 centiassloads of storage on that mem card’ than ‘there’s a whole lotta and a bitta space on that mem card’?
For the uninitiated, metrication information is at Wikipedia.
This wreath hung on our apartment door in 1990 while my family’s house was being built.
Forecast for tomorrow: “Bitterly cold. Sunny, along with a few afternoon clouds. High near 0F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.” That’s a high of -18°C.
A great talk by Richard Dawkins in July 2005, The universe is queerer than we can suppose. A quick summary:
Biologist Richard Dawkins makes a case for “thinking the improbable” by looking at how our human frame of reference — the things we can perceive with our five senses, and understand with our eight-pound brain — limits our understanding of the universe. Think of it: We can’t see atoms, we can’t see infrared light, we can’t hear ultrasonic frequencies, but we know without a doubt that they exist. What else is out there that we can’t yet perceive — what dimensions of space, what aspects of time, what forms of life?
I appreciate that Dawkins doesn’t break out his intense atheistic views in this talk, as I don’t think they fall within the scope of what he’s saying here. Besides, I’ve “always taken issue” with the title of Dawkin’s book “The God Delusion”. All that said, this is the best talk I’ve heard in quite some time.
Now this is how to shoot a portrait: diffuse light and some good cropping when the photo was taken… instead of cropping after!
Michael Cera went on Letterman to promote Superbad this past summer, and he’s unbelievably poised for a 19 year old. Also: he’s 19?! Anyhow, some (63% on Polls Boutique) are saying he’s the next Ben Stiller. We shall see.
Now this, this is a softbox.
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