I'd initially planned to delay publishing anything new until I'd imported all my old blog posts, updated the code behind my books page, got some work done for skule.ca, and so on. I'm starting to realize those are all long term processes that shouldn't stand in the way of another attempt to blog regularly.

Another feature I've always had in mind was a page for all the links with which Dave and others keep spamming me, or which I dig up myself. Yesterday I realized that it would make more sense to use a service like del.icio.us, but I remain wary of tagging sites. They seem a bit masturbatory and are too "Web 2.0" for my taste. So, it looks like I'll be making dozens of short posts full of links.

That's probably a good thing - any content is better than no content.

Spannungsbogen

Frank Herbert's Dune novels continue to be a goldmine of interesting concepts and ideas. Today I was reminded of spannungsbogen. This is a quality I need to develop. I'm not compulsive, but I notice the following behaviour:

1. I discover an interesting technology / author / other item.
2. I research until I've found the best-reviewed, -rated or most popular example of #1.
3. I convince myself #2 would improve me or my life.
4. I am unable to prevent myself from buying / obtaining #2, usually on short notice.

4 is especially strong. Last week I bought a Bible. I happened to see it in the bookstore, and picked it up merely because it was on display, it's a Penguin Classics edition, and I'd just finished the Koran (perspective is important!). Now I'm looking at an iPod nano. Hence, spannungsbogen.