Marcus Aurelius on distraction

Do externals tend to distract you? Then give yourself the space to learn some further good lesson, and stop your wandering.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, translated by Martin Hammond (New York: Penguin, 2006).

Also from Marcus Aurelius
On change : On Maximus : On music, dance, and wrestling : On revenge

“Southern Half”

“Did JFK own a globe?” (xkcd)

Bathroom remodeling

My son Ben passes on a suggestion for bathroom remodeling. Thanks, Ben!

Tazo Wild Sweet Orange

Orange tea art: “lemongrass, blackberry leaves, citric acid, rose hips, spearmint, natural flavors, orange peel, safflower, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, natural orange essence, ginger, and licorice root.”

Wild Sweet Orange tastes like two teas in one, mellow orange and zingy lemongrass. (Mmm … lemongrass.)

This tea would go well with this mug, no?

A related post
Decaf-tea taste-tests

Mozy :)

The Mozy story comes to a happy ending (I think). From Mozy’s discussion pages: “The ConnectionError issue is fixed and your backups should be running smooth again.” Work is still underway on an unrelated problem I’m not familiar with.

I’m impressed that Mozy has recognized the need for better communication with its customers. As I wrote in an e-mail to the company earlier this week, the frustrating thing with the ConnectionError issue for me was not so much the lack of backup as it was the lack of response from Mozy. The company’s increased presence in discussion threads about the issue shows a genuine interest in doing a better job of responding to customers’ concerns. And backup now works.

And yes, I can again recommend Mozy.

Related posts
Mozy :(
Mozy, continued

David Foster Wallace commencement audio

A recording of David Foster Wallace delivering his 2005 Kenyon College commencement address is now available from Audible.com. The recording may also be had from Amazon and iTunes.

Every young adult in the country should read this speech. (Or, okay, listen to.)

(via kottke.org)

Domestic comedy

“Every year, I get closer to being Aunt Bee’s age.”

Related reading
All “domestic comedy” posts

Mozy, continued, continued

I’ve updated a post detailing problems with the online backup service Mozy. This story may — may — be moving toward a happy ending.

The ’sation

The word halfalogue — meaning “an overheard one-sided cellphone conversation” — is now in the air. I want to suggest an alternative, which I invented while taking a walk with my wife Elaine this morning:

’sation \ 'sā-shən \ noun
: an overheard one-sided cellphone conversation

Sample sentence: That ’sation almost drove me crazy.

’Sation is derived from the (now nearly archaic) word conversation. A ’sation is half a conversation.

’Sations can offer bits of lurid entertainment and truth-telling. But more often, ’sations are merely annoying (just like the apostrophe that introduces the word). If it’s true that ’sations are more difficult than conversations to ignore, I would guess that at least two factors are involved: an alertness to unfamilar patterns of speech and silence and the mind’s disposition to make meaningful what we hear.

(Thanks for the walk, Elaine!)

More made-up words
Humormeter : oveness : power-sit : skeptiphobia

Infinite Jest, “almost grotesquely lovely”

The young woman known as the P.G.O.A.T. (“the Prettiest Girl of All Time”) is “almost grotesquely lovely”:

She made the Moms look like the sort of piece of fruit you think you want to take out of the bin and but then once you’re right there over the bin you put back because from close up you can see a much fresher and less preserved-seeming piece of fruit elsewhere in the bin.

David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (Boston: Little, Brown, 1996).

It’s that repeated bin that makes this sentence (to me at least) so funny.

Other Infinite Jest posts
Attention : Description : Romance : Telephony