I’m always looking for a new perspective on GTD. I thought David Seah’s review of Getting Things Done was quite good.
Category: life
New York Times article on the trend of embracing entropy:
Mess is complete, in that it embraces all sorts of random elements. Mess tells a story: you can learn a lot about people from their detritus, whereas neat Äî well, neat is a closed book. Neat has no narrative and no personality (as any cover of Real Simple magazine will demonstrate).
Yes, I have to agree about Real Simple having no personality, along with most home-dec magazine in general. Anyway, I think the thing to keep in mind here is that being neat is just a means to an end; order is a preference. Let’s not be too dogmatic about either choice. And the neatness they’re talking about is really just appearance. Having things straightened up doesn’t necessarily mean I know where anything is. I think part of the trouble that people have in being organized is that it can be hard to be systematic about it. That is, it’s hard to develop a reliable, trusted system for all your crap and then stay diligent in sticking with it. If you don’t have a good infrastructure, then you will tend not to use it.
In a brief Economist essay on conversation: “One striking thing about the advice is how consistent it remains over time, suggesting that there are real rights and wrongs in conversation, not just local conventions.”
In praise of Dilbert’s 9-point financial plan, which reads:
1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio
Makes sense to me.
A list of the Top Politically Incorrect Words for 2006.
What’s the one sentence you would tell the future? Rebecca Blood picks up on Paul Kedrosky‘s prompt, and tags a couple of luminaries like Neil Gaiman, Alex Steffen, and Malcolm Gladwell to find out what they’d share from their own realm of expertise. Keep an eye out for their responses.
Richard Dawkins has a video documentary that ties in with his new book, The God Delusion.
You absolutely must have tissues at hand before watching this video. It’s from that classic episode of Fresh Prince where Will’s father walks out on him for the second time. Seriously, get some tissues.
Note to self: borrow the phrase “Short Term Personal Savior” and integrate into daily conversation.
Ah, validation. Night owls are more creative.
Blogger Leslie Harpold has passed on. Collected reflections here. What really gets me is the image of her annual Advent calendar. All those expectations and hopes, stopped too soon.
WordCountѢ is an interactive presentation of the 86,800 most frequently used English words.
There’s a Wikipedia article on the meaning of life. But that’s not all–there’s also a discussion about whether the article is worthwhile. Meta-metaphysics taking place within the ether of the internet. I love it.
Leah Peterson has a great set of interviews with bloggers.Rebecca Blood has a great set of interviews with bloggers.
Leah Peterson recently interviewed Rebecca Blood.
OMG: chicken fried bacon. Must have now.
In praise of chain stores. “They increase local variety, even as they reduce the differences from place to place. People who mostly stay put get to have experiences once available only to frequent travelers, and this loss of exclusivity is one reason why frequent travelers are the ones who complain.”
Mark Larson 