brett's logjam

Oh, this takes me back. Unboxing an Apple //c.

(Via.)

If You Can’t Let Go, Twitter:

In theory, the five members of my immediate family could use our cellphones to broadcast our locations, kind of like a G.P.S. with words.

To get things rolling, I sent my daughters and husband standard Twitter e-mail invitations (“slatalla wants to keep up with you on twitter”) that contained a link to the service’s home page. Then, while I sat in my car in front of my youngest daughter’s school, I sent an update on my whereabouts: “car pool dilemma will French horn and trombone both fit in a mini” Then?

Nothing.

“hello” I typed. Three minutes passed. Four. Still nothing. For the first time in the nearly 19 years since I first gave birth, no one wanted to keep tabs on me.

Then suddenly my cellphone buzzed. It was my first Twitter — a text message from Zoe, my 18-year-old daughter, how exciting — and so I eagerly opened it onscreen.

It said, “twitter?? what the hell is this?”

My family finally text messages (blame the rampant iPhoneism), but they don’t get Twitter, either.

Oh well.

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts today and runs for the next four days. It operates the same as last year — no surprises there.

I have met more birders in the last two weeks, in the most unexpected circumstances, than I have in the last two years of watching birds. It’s really kinda odd, but in a good way.

Paul Graham has another great (short) piece out, “Six Principles for Making New Things”. It talks about informal presentation and rapid iteration, two phrases that sing close to my heart. (The Trilogy Fast Cycle Time methodology really left its mark on me.)

(Of course, I’d be remiss in not referencing the Worse is Better post, which is saying about the same things, but with more computerese.)

Perhaps this is why we’re seeing so many blogs lead to books these days?

Steven Brust’s written a Firefly novel, and released it online with a CC license.

(Via.)

From Shawn Blanc’s excellent interview with John Gruber, the following gem:

bq JOHN: … Who doesn’t like to hug their wife? Is there an anti-hugging contingent out there I’m not aware of?

SHAWN: No. My wife just likes to know how other wives are treated by their work-from-the-home-office husbands.

(The rest of it is quite good, too.)

(Via.)

I’m enjoying reading OS X Help: Insanely simple tutorials for the first time Macintosh user, a new weblog on making the switch over to Macs. Much of my joy is seeing someone present things well to their intended audience.

Well done, Scott & co.!

My son asked me why they put giant crayons on the hill.

There’s no real good answer for that.

(Taken at Redoubt 9, Yorktown Battlefield.)

Shall we play a game? (kottke.org):

But kids are amazing little adaptive sponges…Ollie understood the rules of the game at least as well as I did, even though we hadn’t actually agreed on any rules (or that we were even playing a game!) before starting. He just crawled off and followed his instincts.

This is going to be fun.

I ordered the new series on the textual history of The Hobbit as a present for Merrystar, but my motives are not exactly selfless.

Huh. OS X Help manages to even make managing Safari bookmarks interesting.

(I mean, it’s not quite as interesting as a visit to Diggerland, but it’s a well-done article on a dry subject. Right now nothing is cooler than Diggerland.)

Seth Godin has a short, but good post on social networking sites, and the difference between ‘friends’ and ‘that guy who saved my life’:

I don’t think a large volume at the easy end of the spectrum is a replacement for a few at the hard-earned end. Not at all.

Forget Dark Matter: This Astrophysicist Found the Fastest Way to Board a Plane:

Steffen is ready to show the industry what he’s found, and eager to do some real-world testing. But no one in the industry has called.

He isn’t surprised. “When they come across a problem,” he said, “I don’t think their first thought is, Let’s go talk to an astrophysicist. Oh look — here’s one that’s studied extra-solar planets. He’s our guy!”

New York Magazine, Learning to Lie:

Kids lie early, often, and for all sorts of reasons--to avoid punishment, to bond with friends, to gain a sense of control. But now there’s a singular theory for one way this habit develops: They are just copying their parents.

Tonight, Merrystar pointed me to the Dewey Donation System’s 2008 Book Drive, where you can purchase books for kids who need them and surprise the crap out of some very nice librarians.

Which, all things considered, is both a good thing to do, and pretty damn fun, too.

(Via.)