Blogging

Tell me what you read...

Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.

Old saying tells so. In modern world you often say who the person is by looking at what she reads or what she thinks of some books. Same this is applicable to blogs as well.

Recently the Time posted 25 Best Blogs 2009. It appears that I read 3 our of those 25 blogs which is not bad at all given that I'm not a US resident.

So today on my reading list are (among many others):

  • Freakonomics. I just love all those subtle connections between things in a human society.
  • Seth Godin's blog. Insightful and inspiring.
  • Zen Habits. Life as experience at some point gets tough for everyone, but you can always help yourself if you put in a little effort.

Surprisingly right after 25th best blog when you click "Next" you get to Most Overrated Blogs of which TechCrunch is the first. I used to be subscribed to it but not any more.

I've got a few interesting links from that list, so looks like list of 3 might be extended at some point... What about yours?

Right way to use Google Reader

You read blogs. I also read many (but for sure not as many as some of you). I'm sure you appreciate the effort author put into thinking out and writing the post. But do you also recognize and benefit from the effort he put into creating a visual appeal for his messages? You should. It is also part of what author has to say.

Now, if you use Google Reader as I do be sure to click tiny button on the right of the title which will get you to the post on author's site.

Read it the way author intended it to be. And then go back to star or share. I wish there is an option in Google Reader that would make post title link directly to author's site.

Check your blog reading habits.

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Erosion of ideas

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I recently subscribed to TechCrunch and so far I noticed 2 things:

  • This blog literally chocks up my RSS aggregator (which happens to be Google Reader) so that I have to modify my reading habits not to miss posts from others feeds. Near dozen posts a day may be not that big number, but it definitely outperforms my other subscriptions.
  • Every once in a while TechCrunch posts really touch my soul and make me stop to think.

One of such posts was What To Do With Failed Startup IP? It was always sad for me to see humans' ideas, aspirations, accomplishments becoming thrash. Be it physical objects or results of intellectual effort.

I do not remember where but once I've read or heard that less than 10% of Earth population contribute to development of mankind civilization and this percentage is decreasing all the time. I think this "total productivity" can be greatly improved if we figure out a way not to let priceless man-hours of mental and other efforts be thrown to trash cans of oblivion and natural erosion.