Not good: laptop blue screens while restoring iPhone.  There is a stunned silence in my blogotorium.  The potential for serious disaster is high. 

And I was having such a nice day, too :P

Meanwhile, back on the Internets...

Good point: It is 100% easier not to do things.  "In terms of instant relief, canceling plans is like heroin."  Yeah, but how do you feel afterward?  The hangover can be painful. 

Still buzzing from that amazing finish to the 2014 Iditarod.  Awesome... I must visit Alaska and see it in person.  Most definitely on the list. 

Click through for a whole series of beautiful photos at the Baltimore Sun...

This is perfect: Why I retired from the NFL at 26.  From Rashard Mendenhall.  Should be required reading for all college football players who are trying to live the dream... 

So, Google Glass still needs a killer app.  Yeah, and it might be Visual Search... :)  Actually, after a few days of playing with Glass here's what I think: there will be job-function-specific applications which are incredibly useful for people within those specific jobs, e.g., surgeons, mechanics, chefs, anyone who doesn't have their hands free.  And there will be sports-specific apps like for cycling.  Gradually usage will increase and a network effect will form; as there are more reasons to have one, more people will get them, etc.  And then at the end of the day, the killer app will be ... reaches for the envelope ... 

Excellent: Yahoo Maps adds indoor navigation.  A much needed feature, but I must confess my first reaction to this article was ... Yahoo Maps?  (Who knew?) 

Tim Bray watches Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and identifies all the reasons we should be Punishing Peter Jackson (as well as the exact punishments for each offense).  Excellent. 

I have to agree that it is rather unforgivable that having brought the immense complex stories of Lord of the Rings to the screen so well - and so accurately! - Jackson has messed up The Hobbit so badly.  Stretching one book into three films was the first sign that this was a crassly commercial endeavor.

In which Lego is compared to Apple: Back to the Brick.  "Losing focus is the quickest and surest path to death for any company."  True, but then where does the growth come from?  In Apple's case, new products, in Lego's case, new revenue streams.  And trying new things can result in a loss of focus.  It's a tough balance. 

Mind-blowing photographs of Earth taken from space.  I think "mind blowing" might be a little strong for these pictures taken by the European Space Agency, but they are way cool... 

Okayyy... back to disaster recovery, fXf!