Puddles Sep 28, 2005
The best part of my day occurs as I'm driving out of my place of work.  I drive past some buildings right next to mine and I drive through a little parking lot that almost always has a big puddle in it.  So I speed up to about twice the speed limit and splash the puddle all over the place.  Then I swerve back and forth so that I leave a funny water trail.  This is the best part of my day.  How did I get a driver's license? #travel
Blogger Sep 28, 2005
I used to use Blogger.  It's a really cool idea, and it's really simple.  The problem is that it uses a clumsy system to publish individual files, meaning that each time you make a change to a template, the entire site must be republished.  Google bought Blogger in 2002 from Pyra Labs (Meg Hourihan).  The reason I mention this is because Google is the best company in the history of the universe.  I drink the Google Kool-Aid.  And I think Google will eventually change Blogger to put themselves in a position to take over yet another sector of the internet market.  They either need to do something with a database and stuff like that, or they need to reinvent the whole personal publishing machine.  I'm sure it'll be cool. #technology
Advertising Sep 28, 2005
What's the deal with advertising?  Although I absolutely hate how it clutters up websites and slows down internet connections, I have to admit that it's an unbelievably successful business.  As long as there are big fat companies who like to dish out money in the hopes of gaining new clients and users, advertising will be a successful industry. 

But what I don't get is how advertising is successful.  I understand the big ones like car companies, cell phone companies, internet service providers, etc.  But the overwhelming majority of the ads I see are for unfathomably stupid things like "What's your Credit Score?" ... "Deep Discounts for Military" ... "Refinance Now.  4 Free Quotes!" ... "Get Cash or Fly - 0% Intro APR".  Ok, so maybe I'm interested in checking out my credit score.  But I can do that for free!  So how is there any money being made?  Or maybe I'm interesting in a 0% APR credit card offer.  But when I click on the link, I'm sent to some no-name credit card or financial company, at which point I go to someone a little more reputable. 

So obviously we have a problem here.  I know I don't click on these links or pay for any viable service from these advertisers.  So who does?  IDIOTS.  ABSOLUTE IDIOTS.  And they're everywhere.  It's your neighbor who just got a computer.  It's your dad who just retired.  It's your friend's grandma who just learned what a computer is.  These are the people that are fueling the advertising industry. 

So the next time you're not exactly happy with all the ads on the internet, thank your local idiot. #entertainment
Tags, labels, categories (1) Sep 28, 2005
Flickr, del.icio.us, and Technorati tags.  GMail labels.  WordPress categories.  I think the future of operating systems and file storage is with this method, hereby known as TLC (tags/labels/categories).  The major advantage of this method of organization is that a user doesn't need to store a file is just one folder.  Many different labels can apply to a single file.  For example, let's say I have some financial information stored in some Excel files.  Instead of organizing my files like this:  c:DocumentsPersonalFinance and c:DocumentsWorkFinance, I can just assign tags to the files such as personal, work, finance, excel, etc.  Now when I'm looking for my financial files, I can opt to show all files with the "finance" tag.  This would show all my financial files, both personal and work-related.  Or maybe I want to keep personal and work separate, so I only show files with the tags "finance" and "personal". 

My prediction is that the next major advance in operating systems and/or file storage will be with this.  And I have a feeling Google will come up with it. #technology