I can’t say enough good things about f.lux. It’s a small and free little app that automatically changes the intensity of your laptop’s screen based on the time of day. If you frequently find yourself using the computer long after you should be asleep, you need this app.
Posts in the category “asides”
Quick blurbs
Caine’s Arcade
Oh, man. I love this kid.
Just One More Game …
There’s a really good article in this week’s New York Times Magazine on the hyperaddictive, time-sucking, relationship-busting, mind-crushing power and allure of silly digital games. (hat tip to @sprokolopolis)
Why don’t they make traffic cones from some sort of easily-pulverizable corn resin type material? I see a half dozen of those things on my drive to work every day, usually squeezed into a median barrier or precariously close to the shoulder. If they burst into little pieces — like the special effects shatter glass they use on movie sets — wouldn’t they be much less dangerous to drivers? Boom. There’s your million dollar idea for the day. Someone get working on that.
Ever since my son was born I have been saying that I don’t think he’ll ever need to “drive” a car. I really think that by the time he’s old enough to drive, the idea of sitting behind the wheel and steering and using the gas pedal will be silly to him. I’m not saying nobody will be driving, but that I think it will be about the same as me riding a horse right now. Yes, if I wanted to ride a horse in 2012 I could do it; but people would look at me like I was a madman if I said that using a horse to get to work made sense.
Have you noticed your MacBook Air fan has suddenly started running continuously, and loudly? You may need an SMC reset.
See also: Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
@BabyCenter has a great list of thirteen myths about colds and the flu. Remember: Only a cold virus can give you a cold. Being cold can’t make you sick!
Ernest Hemingway’s Favorite Books
“In a 1935 piece for Esquire magazine … Ernest Hemingway listed seventeen books that were among his favorites.” — via kottke.org
Hey, hey, Hollywood. I’ve got an idea. Instead of re-releasing the craptacular and uninspiring Clash of the Titans in 3D, why not re-release Star Wars: Episode IV in its original format? (i.e. no walking Jabba, no Greedo shooting first) In fact you really should simply do this every five years or so. Get on that, okay?