I'm still coding - still trying to deliver something due a week ago.  The key issue is adapting to an industry "standard" which turns out to be, well, wiggly.  Maybe more when I'm done, but in the meantime I can briefly poke my head out and see that it's all happening...

One thing that's happening - we're in a recession.  So be it, it happens.  Why is everyone trying so hard not to call it like it is?  The sooner we absorb it, the sooner we'll recover.  And yes, we will recover. 

From the New Yorker's Annals of Science: The Numbers Guy.  "According to Stanislas Dehaene, humans have an inbuilt "number sense" capable of some basic calculations and estimates. The problems start when we learn mathematics and have to perform procedures that are anything but instinctive."  This is one reason why charts (like the one at right) at so helpful; they work around our prejudices. 

Katherine Mangu-Ward observes The Obama Campaign is full of economists, and yet "according to a new L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll, people think McCain will do a better job handling the economy than Obama".  I agree with Glenn Reynolds that maybe there's no contradiction here...  

I predict that this fall the economy will be a bigger topic of discussion than Iraq, as oil hits $103 a barrel.

The annual TED conference is taking place, and one of the presenters was Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine, which happens to be one of my favorite books, ever.  "First replicators were genes. Then memes. We now have temes (tech memes) are a third replicator on our planet."  How excellent - I would have loved to see her.  She is a fantastic source of new memes - about memes :) 

I love this: Mark Pilgrim on Jumping out of the System.  In which Gödel, Escher, Bach is used to explain why strict XHTML parsing doesn't make sense :) 

Russell Beattie doesn't think much of Chris Anderson's latest insight (Free).  At least he knows why he keeps getting wired.  "While reading it, however, I was reminded of the fact that I didn't renew my Wired subscription last year, and yet, I still receive the magazine every month. It's nice to see Chris is practicing what he preaches. :-)"  Personally, although I think Free is important, it isn't as insightful as The Long Tail... 

Jeff Atwood thinks we shouldn't listen to our users.  His three rules of usability: 

1. Watch what people actually do.

2. Do not believe what people say they do.

3. Definitely don't believe what people predict they may do in the future.

Scott Loftesness thinks the iPhone is entering from below.  "Reading this WSJ blog post about Apple's scheduled iPhone briefing next week with a focus on the enterprise, I was struck by how the iPhone just might be a very useful entry strategy for pursuing enterprise opportunities."  Huh.  Could be... 

Did you watch the Academy Awards last Sunday?  Me neither.  Nobody does anymore.  Weirdly, I know quite a few people (mostly women) who watched the Oscar pre-game, to see what everyone was wearing, but the show itself has totally jumped the shark. 

Here we have the quadruple layer bike.  Wow.  That's just about all I can say. 

The original Photoshop icon.  How excellent!  Much better, in my humble opinion, than the current one...  [ via Daring Fireball ]