[UPDATE] Matthew points out that I’ve been duped. The article I’m spouting off about below is a spoof (a pretty good one.) I totally fell for it.

Like any new approach to an old problem, Ajax is overused and sometimes abused. Our old friend Jakob Nielsen thinks Ajax sucks. He’s more wrong than right here. Most of his argument is based on the fact that Ajax breaks the existing model of the web, stating “The fundamental design of the Web is based on having the page as the atomic unit of information.” Sure, when you’re reading a news article or browsing other static content, that makes sense. But when you’re doing something that the web wasn’t originally designed to do, like use web applications and such, it’s a whole different animal.

“If users create a bookmark in their browser they may not get the same view back when they follow the bookmark at a later date since the bookmark doesn’t include a representation of the state of the content on the page.”

I know, it’s wierd isn’t it? I just don’t think it matters in the case of “pages” that do things other than present a few paragraphs of text. Post a comment on this site and tell me that the ajax effect isn’t an improved way to handle that. Use Google Maps or any other well-done Ajax-riddled application and tell me you’d prefer a “atomic unit of information” instead.

The voice of reason is always refreshing. Case in point, David Heinemeier Hansson…

“The business smarts is when you don’t blow the farm before the crap shot[sic] has turned sure bet. Fail cheap. Because odds are you’re going to. And you need to have your shirt for the second round.

So. Don’t scale. Don’t worry about five 9’s or even two. Worry about getting something to a point where there’s reason to worry about it.”

Link

From Lifehack

“Don’t let pressure and overwork encourage you to hurry past parts of your life. Whether it’s your children’s early life, whole segments of your marriage, or maybe the last active years of loved parents, they are swiftly past and gone beyond recall. Regret comes too late to save them.

The truth is simple. People confuse what is urgent with what is important; what is pressing today with what is pressing in terms of their whole life. A task stands before you and shouts for your attention because it’s here, now, and must be done by tomorrow. So you set aside far more important activities and choices because they’re not urgent. You can do them tomorrow, no matter. Only that tomorrow never comes.”

Seems there’s an entire porn company for sale on eBay. Oh well, I’d probably just get sniped anyway.

“Exactly two things have made airline travel safer since 9/11: reinforcement of cockpit doors, and passengers who now know that they may have to fight back. Everything else–Secure Flight and Trusted Traveler included–is security theater.”

Bruce Schneier, CTO of Counterpane Internet Security

Rick Bradley has put together a very nice list reviewing the pros and cons of converting a large-scale Java app to Ruby on Rails. I’m convinced.

I dislike filing stuff, but I like being organized. Are these things mutually exclusive? Yes and no. GTD has given me a good reason and a consistent method for always having things filed. What I struggle with is the taxonomy of filing. Does this homeowner’s insurance document go in “Household” or “Insurance?” A small classification speed bump like this can mean the difference between having something filed or just thrown away out of frustration and laziness. Enter The Noguchi Filing System. I missed the buzz about this a month or so ago, but it just might help.

Basically the system consists of nothing more than taking the pile of crap on and around your desk, turning it sideways and putting it on a shelf - individually wrapped in manila envelopes. New stuff goes on the left. Anything you pull off the shelf goes back on the left. The idea is that you’re more likely to know about when you filed something than where you filed it. It also causes infrequently used items to gravitate to the right, meaning it’s easy to find the “holy” files and box em up or throw away stuff you just don’t use. I may try it at home.

George Dyson

Books are not mere physical objects. They have a life of their own. Wholesale scanning, we fear, will strip our books of their souls. Works that were sewn together by hand, one chapter at a time, should not be unbound page by page and distributed click by click.

“You’re single in your 20s. In your 40s you’re just alone.”

-Some guy on the radio