Metaphors and Analogies

From a list of metaphors and analogies used in high school writing:

  • She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
  • Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
  • He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
  • The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
  • Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
  • The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

View the complete list here


Montastic Is Fantastic

Probably the worst title I’ve ever chosen for a post.

Regardless, I’ve been using Montastic for a month or so now, and it’s great. It’s a free website monitoring service that lets you know by email when it can’t reach one of your sites. It’s got a limit of 100 sites (I’ve got a ways to go before reaching that). I’ve only received one false positive since I’ve started using it.



Why I Want to Have Seth Godin's Babies

From his post No to average:

This is scary. It’s really scary to turn down most (the average) of what comes your way and hold out for the remarkable opportunities. Scary to quit your job at an average company doing average work just because you know that if you stay, you’ll end up just like them. Scary to go way out on an edge and intentionally make what you do unattractive to some.

Which is why it’s such a great opportunity.

Seth’s probably one of my favorite business writers right now.

via WorkHappy


American's Commutes Keep Getting Longer

According to Reuters, our commutes just keep getting longer and longer:

Dave Givens drives 370 miles to work and back every day and considers his seven-hour commute the best answer to balancing his work with his personal life.

Umm, yeah. This is obviously extreme, but it sounds like ridiculously long commutes are becoming more common:

In the most recent U.S. Census Bureau study, 2.8 million people have so-called extreme commutes, topping 90 minutes. … The average one-way commute grew by 13 percent to 25.5 minutes between 1990 and 2000.

My commute is less than 15 minutes, one way. Most days, I get to come home for lunch and see my wife and kids. I used to have a 7 minute commute. I kind of miss that.



Ruby Is a Titanium Mountain Bike

From Tour de Babel

If languages are bicycles, then Awk is a pink kiddie bike with a white basket and streamers coming off the handlebars, Perl is a beach cruiser (remember how cool they were? Gosh.) and Ruby is a \$7,500 titanium mountain bike.
Worth the read.

Why Is It So Hard to Be Like Apple?

By now, everyone has seen this video, which shows what would happen if Microsoft redesigned the iPod packaging. It’s spot on, but it got me to wondering: Why is it so hard to be like Apple? On the surface, it seems simple. Create well-designed, simple, user-centric devices, and promote the heck out of them. It seems simple, but clearly it’s not or everyone would be doing it. There have been countless “iPod killers” brought to market over the last few years, but none of them have made a dent in Apple’s market share.

What’s the missing ingredient?



Chuck Norris Facts

A list of facts about Chuck Norris

Contains gems like:

Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice. The Great Wall of China was originally created to keep Chuck Norris out. It failed miserably. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

Someone has way too much free time.