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December 31, 2006

Fussy is as fussy does

Via the Ethicurean:
On the Demanding Guest Diet - New York Times

In fact, it could well be more problematic. The hosts in question may be weekend chefs who are very involved with their specialties of the house and expect everyone to eat up. Further, in the country, there isn’t likely to be a supermarket nearby to accommodate the fussy diner.

“I served people caffeinated coffee and told them it was decaffeinated because I was all out and it was too long a drive to the grocery store,” said Nancy Cohen, a Bergen County, N.J., events planner who has a weekend house in Cornwall, Conn.

People who drink decaf are fussy? In my case, I drank decaf for a long time because drinking caffeinated coffee could (and had - this wasn't just over-caution on my part) trigger my afib. Remind me not to stay at her house. On the other hand, if I go to someone's house and they don't have decaf, I just don't drink coffee. No big deal.

Interestingly enough, the article said nothing about guests who make a big deal about only eating local "artisanal" meats and cheeses, often expensive and difficult to attain.

December 30, 2006

Some redesign

In my continual effort to pass off cosmetic changes and widget flashiness for substantial, thoughtful writing, I've tinkered with the templates here to make it easier to add gadgets to the sidebar. You (4) reading this in RSS, please ignore.

December 11, 2006

Kool Kidz Kriteria

The “must own” book of 2007: LifeHacker « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger

From now on I’ll be able to tell if you care about being productive by asking whether you’ve read this book. If you don’t care about getting things done you won’t get it.

The sheer childish obnoxiousness of this is breathtaking. Let's leave the petty highschool attitude of whether you "get it," apparently a major source of concern for Scoble and his ilk, aside for the moment. Who dies and left you in charge? Maybe I don't give a flying fuck if you think I'm productive. Maybe I haven't pegged my whole life on getting things done, or maybe the things I want to get done don't have anything to do with you or your selfish, narrow point of view. Jesus, has the tech industry always suffered from this kind of conformist xenophobia?

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December 8, 2006

vroom vroom vroom

The Doc Searls Weblog : Thursday, December 7, 2006


VRM changes the economy. For the better. For everybody.
VRM is what 21st century business is about.
VRM is inevitable.
VRM finally delivers the Cluetrain promise:

(overheated "revolutionary" quote in the form of a graphic deleted. )
The pig gets new lipstick. In the end, what I am finally sick of is the reduction of everything online to a commodity - what is most interesting? Things that can be bought and sold. I cannot believe that what this guy finds most interesting about the Web is that we can all become little capitalist machines. The most important thing we are going to get from this medium is that we can have personalized relationships with companies we buy shit from? That's the best we can do? I don't want relationships with companies. I want relationships with people. The least interesting stuff on the web is the white boys club working themselves into a tizzy over bidness bidness bidness. It's like they can only bring themselves to gossip if it's about companies. Look at Scoble - all he is at this point is inside baseball. Yet these guys continue to see themselves as the little guy somehow, when it's just not true. The fetishization of the short attention span through the use of the term "cool," the emphasis on companies and startups rather than people, the myopia that makes you think that the endless complaints about your rental car and cell reception and available wi-fi actually have some meaning to anyone but you and the other inside baseball types, the illusion of a meritocracy which consists of you, your friends, and anyone who sucks up to you sufficiently to make it into your daily ego-googling - Jesus, this is not what's interesting about the web.

In any case look for lots and lots of "vrm is the real revolution" bullshit from the Dimmer Twins, followed by the cries of agony when everyone doesn't just drop their pants and goatse up.


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December 7, 2006

Protein

Protein | typewriting
Pretty funny:

Well worth a look.

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Another day on the unsub

Today's wictims: MeFi and Ask MeFi. (As if you need links.)
Why? Feeds pile up too much and too quickly. It's also just not all that interesting anymore, now that it's the MeFi Family of Fine Websites. Not even MeTa has any value beyond very occasional car-crash pruriency.

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December 6, 2006

Show them the yellow card

Peter Miller - Magnetic Yellow Card

This magnet was tossed onto your car by a cyclist who felt that you might have been driving in a way that could have endangered their life.
They chose to toss this magnetic note because it can neither damage your automobile, nor affix itself to rubber or glass and will therefore not affect your driving. It serves to warn you.

Very nice idea, and the inventor provides a link to a business where you can have some magnets printed up. I'm not sure if most people here'd get the Yellow Card reference, but a good idea nonetheless. Although almost anything'll set off road rage in some people...

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