Complexity

I've been listening to Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. This book should be required reading in every business school, by every student of humanities, and every person studying computer sciences. I'm near the end of the story and I've been struggling to reconcile the dycotomy of how Steve Jobs was able to drive the development of very complex things, while at the same time embodying and insisting on simplicity.

After a great deal of consideration, here's my take...

It's not about removing the complexity. It's about putting the complexity in the right place.

Those of us who work to create great things find ourselves in a constant struggle between simplicity and complexity. However, this struggle is an illusion. True simplicity is a manifestation of complexity.

Life and Soccer

At the moment you are showing an honest love for the game. You get a considerable amount of playing time and seem to be enjoying every minute. However, personal experience has taught me that everything is fleeting. It is our responsibility, to ourselves and to our children, to teach that winning is not everything; everyone cannot be a goal scorer; not everyone always gets to play the position they want. Growing as a team is the real objective. Begin part of the team is most important.

As a family, we need to look forward and hope that everyone will be able to find ways to enjoy the moments as we do. Life, like soccer, is to be played beautifully; perfection is unachievable.

Rest in peace Mr. Jobs

I, like most others, never knew Steve Jobs, but I, like many others, was influenced by Steve Jobs.

My heartfelt sympathy goes to his family, friends, and colleagues.

May his memory serve as a lighthouse for us all.

Time

Dear friend:

Try to rest easy in the knowledge that you are handling this whole thing with a grace that few others could match. That does not make this suck any less, but it does make it easier for you, your children, and your spouse. As you mentioned last night, I've got a story for everything. What I've learned as I've been beaten down by the boxer that is life is that time is the most precious "thing" we have. It seems so obvious (and cliché), but time will relentlessly march on, whether we like it or not. The most important thing you can do for yourself, and your children, is to find a way to genuinely live a happy life.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited for saying "No man ever steps in the same river twice." To oversimplify, what he is saying is that change is a constant component of what it means to be human. As you and your family pass through this time remember that today is the beginning, not the end. Live for today. Be conscious of tomorrow. Don't worry about yesterday. Allow yourself to be happy and happiness will return.

Peace my friend. We are here for you when/if you need us.

I cannot stand content farms...

I don't know about the rest of you out there in cyberspace, but I, for one, have come to the conclusion that Google's search results are nowhere near as useful as they used to be. My perspective is very straight forward when it comes to the "quality" of search... Do I find what I'm looking for in the top 5 results on the first try of a search. I'm not a search expert. I don't know, nor do I have any interest in really "knowing" if Google's search results are really slipping. What I do know is that for me, it feels like search has become noticably less relevant/useful over the course of the last 18 months.

Today Google released what they call the "Personal Blocklist" as a Chorme Extension (download it from here). This tool allows individuals to block specific sites from showing up in Google search results. It's unfortunate that Google did not provide a way to input a list of sites to be blocked in bulk, but I'm sure someone will augment the Extension in short order.

In the meantime, here is a handy list of sites that I will be search for and blocking ASAP.

• ehow.com
• experts-exchange.com
• naymz.com
• activehotels.com
• robtex.com
• encyclopedia.com
• fixya.com
• chacha.com
• 123people.com
• download3k.com
• petitionspot.com
• thefreedictionary.com
• networkedblogs.com
• buzzillions.com
• shopwiki.com
• wowxos.com
• answerbag.com
• allexperts.com
• freewebs.com
• copygator.com

Let me know if you find this list useful, and please help me add to the list.

Thanks.