Pandora and the Music Genome Project

This is the busy season at work now, so you’re not going to hear much from me.  My morning time is spent with Moishe, bringing you that photo on the top right that you see daily and practicing my velociraptor impression.  (Apparently that’s the baby’s favorite noise now, and he does it sometimes in response…

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And just why do you need all that space?

Sunday’s Washington Post has a great story about how people who buy the new McMansions have neither the time or money to furnish them, nor the inclination to use all their space.  Says one McMansion builder:

They figured that their house, which is still under construction, would
represent the high end of what people wanted — until a client recently
requested a 23,000-square-foot rambler, a size approaching that of the
Taj Mahal, which is about 35,000 square feet.

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China confirms first human bird flu cases

First human case of bird flu.  We’re all so screwed.  Do we really think this is truly the first case?  This is just the first one they’ve caught. CNN.com – China confirms first human bird flu cases

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It’s the net, stupid.

On a lark, I posted a humorous account of my friend Eric’s and my attempt at refilling an aesthetic but highly unusable pepper mill.  It’s now one of the most trafficked pages on my site.  People come to the site constantly to see the photo instructions for refilling the grinder.

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Go buy Po Bronson’s book

Po Bronson is a busy man.  He’s also extremely good with people, such that saying Po is a friend of yours is probably something ten thousand people could do today.  Po’s new book is about to come out and I want you to buy it.  I’m not saying you should buy it because I like Po, you should buy it because Po is a great storyteller.

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Saying Goodbye California Sun, Hello Midwest – New York Times

In a recent article in the New York Times, "Saying Goodbye California Sun, Hello Midwest", the current diaspora of of people from cities with expensive housing to cities with cheaper housing. This is something we’ve seen with people moving out of NYC and Washington DC to Philly, or to more rural parts of Virginia, and…

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Turn off the e-mail

Everyone with a new Windows PC and a freshly updated copy of Outlook has noticed that neat little feature at the bottom right.  When you receive a new e-mail, it slowly fades into view, shows you the subject line, the sender, and gives you some options to open it up or delete it on the spot.

I’ve been experimenting with my productivity for a few months now with it both on and off, seeing which setting makes me more productive.  My advice: turn the fucker off.

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