Back in 1999, when I was interviewing with Abuzz, Jay told me to read a book called Interface Culture by Steven Johnson. That book was heavily influencing his thinking at that time.

It turns that Steven Johnson has his own weblog, now firmly entrenched on my daily reading list.

Po Bronson has written an excellent article at Fast Company on this eternal question. It’s a long read, but it’s worth it.

There’s a ton of great stuff in here (and maybe I relate a little too well to the “Phi Beta Slacker” thing).

Those who have found their place don’t talk about how exciting and challenging and stimulating their work is. Their language invokes a different troika: meaningful, significant, fulfilling. And they rarely ever talk about work without weaving in their personal history.

I’m going to think about this article a little while longer and maybe write some more later this week. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve; maybe it’s time to break out the 2003 version of Operation Better Jason.
(via EvHead)

Sproke!

One of the Christmas presents I made for my sisters was a framed 8×10 of my parents’ wedding picture. From left to right: Grandpa and Grandma Rich; My parents; Grandpa and Grandma Butler.

One project I’m glad I did when I was unemployed was digitizing many of my parents’ old pictures. Only a few hundred more…

The day after the regular season ends is always entertaining, with coaches getting fired, underachievers getting flamed and all the journalists planning their final report cards.

The Dolphins are getting crucified in the Miami Herald for their utter December collapse. You know you’re in trouble when your game story starts:

The Dolphins have defined late-season collapse and devastation for more than a decade, covering the gamut of ugliness with everything from allowing 341 rushing yards in a game to getting hammered 62-7 in another.

Somehow, they bottomed out Sunday.

Funnier still are the commentaries by Greg Cote:

Choke, collapse, calamity. Embarrassment, disgust, humiliation. Ridiculousness, absurdity and a partridge in a pear tree. I mentioned ”choke,” right?

and Dan Le Betard:

They can offer no arguments now. Soft? Chokers? Mentally frail? Losers? You can stick all the labels on the Dolphins now. They have nothing in the way of rebuttal. They must answer to the scoreboard and the standings, both of which today say this team was a monumental fraud.

Meanwhile, the Dallas News is reporting that Bill Parcells is signed, sealed and delivered. (I refuse to link to the Dallas News story because they force you to register for their site, and, quite frankly, they aren’t worth it.) We’ll see how the Tuna likes working with Jerry Jones. What’s most intriguing is that, next year, the AFC East will be playing the NFC East; Bill Parcells will be coming to Foxboro. Here’s the complete Patriots 2003 schedule.

Most importantly though, for reasons I cannot discuss here, I’m really really rooting for San Francisco to win by at least 9 points tonight.

The Times advocates boozing it up to prevent heart attacks.

Thirty years of research has convinced many experts of the health benefits of moderate drinking for some people. A drink or two a day of wine, beer or liquor is, experts say, often the single best nonprescription way to prevent heart attacks.

Woo Hoo. Gimme a 26oz steak and a whiskey — they’ll cancel each other out.

TeeVee gives us an overview of the most appalling Holiday commercials of the year.

A couple of local companies are coming up with interesting technologies for automating phone-based customer service.

SpeechWorks created a virtual character, Julie, who engages phone callers with colloquial, conversational interactions. A potential customer who calls Julie (1-800-USA-RAIL) to check a schedule or make a reservation is drawn into a conversation peppered with casual comments like ”OK, let’s go” and ”got it.” Today, 70 percent of Amtrak’s train status calls are handled by the speech service, and an increasing number of functions are being turned over to ”Julie.”

Well, the Packers weren’t able to help us out. Such is life. I guess I’ll just have to pop in the DVD of last season’s Super Bowl championship and start getting ready for Red Sox opening day.

The Patriots just completed a fantastic comeback to beat the Dolphins in an overtime thriller. Now we just need the Packers to take down the Jets…

Is there any better kicker in the clutch than Adam Vinatieri?

The symbolism of leather pants on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Even if you’ve been laid off, it’s still not smart to lie on your resume. Of course, It’s not pleasant being on the other side of the layoffs, either.

I miss the New Economy.

The Globe has an article this morning describing a Chinese bestseller about a girl from Chengdu who made it to Harvard University. What interests me most is that she made it because her parents supplemented and subverted the current Chinese teaching methods.

Almost all learning in Chinese schools (at least in Yantai) came via rote memorization. I had an incredibly hard time getting the kids to take any chances, to make any leaps of logic. It appears that her parents encouraged/forced their daughter to do more of these types of “western” thinking. It will be interesting to see if widespread publicity of stories like this will engender any education reform.

By the way, if you don’t already, you should make sure to check out the Globe’s Ideas section each week. This was something new they started a couple of months ago, and it has rapidly become one of my favorite sections, trailing only Sports and BostonWorks …

Ron Borges has an interesting column this morning, blaming Scott Pioli for the Patriots slide this year.

If the Patsies lose to Miami this afternoon, it’s going to be an ugly week here as all the pundits divvy up the blame pie.

The Post has an article about the entertainment industry’s plans to introduce a “broadcast flag” into their telecasts. Many feel this will stomp on consumer rights. I agree with them.

Support the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I’ve been reading Boston Sports Media Watch regularly for a couple weeks now. Each day, he goes through the major newspapers (not just the Globe and Herald, but up to the Eagle-Tribune, out to the Telegram & Gazette, and down to the ProJo as well) pulling out and summarizing their stories. On the electronic side, he covers all the TV guys along with updates about WEEI and WWZN. It’s very entertaining reading for the Boston sports fan.

This is interesting: NPR has an article on Admiral Zheng He whose fleet not only discovered America 72 years before Columbus, but also circumnavigated the globe long before Magellen.

I’m shocked — shocked — to hear that there has been a large rise this year in companies adding random little fees and hoping we won’t notice. How clever!

Aggressive panhandling is becoming more of an issue around Cambridge, not so much here in Central Square, but in Harvard and Davis. Being 6’2″, I’m hard to physically intimidate, but I can see how this situation can be extremely uncomfortable. One thing to keep in mind, regardless of how the story frames the issue, is that panhandler != homeless.

What bugs me most are the homeless advocates in the article who say things like: “What we propose is that cities address the problem rather than criminalizing the people.” I’ll have to check my lawbooks, but I’m pretty sure committing aggressive acts toward strangers is “criminal.”

By expending capital — money, time, compassion and clout — on supporting anti-social behaviors, they make themselves look ridiculous and squander the opportunity to focus on those they can actually help.

Top stories in the neighborhood this year. The saddest story involved the bicyclist knocked under a city bus by a careless driver opening his SUV’s door without looking.