Tag: internet

The Perfect Setup

If the Internet is good at anything, it’s connecting people with similar, obscure interests.1 If there’s something that interests you even in the slightest, chances are you can find a community of people who are crazy about the subject. Blogs, Flickr groups, newsgroups, podcasts. Thirty minutes of searching on Google can produce enough research material to keep you busy for weeks.

Example: people love to show off their desks. Either they’re sharing the computer hardware they own, 2 showing off their interior design chops, or perhaps are writers and just want to share how their carefully crafted writing space looks.

I’ll admit, I look at a lot of these pictures. It’s interesting to see how an author who has written books, serves as an editor for a major magazine, or writes a blog that has hundreds of thousands of readers works. Is their desk messy or spotless? What kind of computer do they use? Where do they put it? What is their lighting like? Are they in a corner of a busy room or do they have a dedicated writing studio somewhere?

Somewhere along the line I came across the picture posted below. I forgot to save the source, but I liked it enough that I tucked it away to use at some later date. I had forgotten about it completely and ran across it while doing some hard disk cleanup over the weekend.

You can talk about what your favorite computer is, what kind of keyboard you use, a preferred office chair, etc. that would make up your ideal writing space. But I think this dude had it just about right.


  1. And porn. It’s really good at porn. 
  2. We Mac geeks are probably the worst offenders. 

People…They’re The Worst

It seems like once a week I’m linking to Joe Posnanski’s blog. Believe me, I’m tempted to do so more often. In fact, I’m surprised that someone hasn’t already set up a blog where all they do is use Joe’s posts as a jumping-off point for their own writing.

His latest effort, at its surface a commentary on what happened to reporter Tara Sullivan at the Master’s but evolves into a discussion on Internet commentary, is typically brilliant. Go read it. It’s great.

This line stuck out for me:

I almost never read the comments below stories anywhere else because they can depress me to the point where I don’t want to leave the house.

This is true for me as well. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good debate or want to get a sense of how readers feel about a story/post. It’s that it is rare when a comment thread doesn’t devolve into a pointless shouting match. It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is – politics, celebrity, sports, comparing smart phones, how to brew coffee, the best breed of dog to buy – sooner or later someone will take offense to another’s opinion, and from there it’s on.

It shouldn’t bug me. I feel like I’m smart enough to understand that many comments are bullshit, people just looking to get a rise out of others. Others are not based in reality and not worth getting upset over. But I can’t help it. I tend to react to things I feel strongly about emotionally and before I know it, I’m shaking my head, can feel my blood pressure rising, and the argument gets stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Because of this I’ve almost completely removed political websites from my regular reading. It doesn’t matter whether a site/post fits my point-of-view or opposes it. I have a hard time dealing with the pure hate that seems to be a required part of political discourse these days. When it comes to sports, music, etc., I just follow Joe’s lead and skip the comments.

I don’t have a problem with people arguing their perspective vociferously. That’s the cornerstone of our society. I do have a problem with all the hatred and intolerance of others that we feel obligated to infuse our arguments with. It is possible to argue opposing viewpoints robustly without questioning your opponent’s intelligence, patriotism, morality, parenting, etc.

For me, it’s easier to ignore comments completely than attempt to wade through them in hopes of finding some nuggets of honest, open debate.

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