Great article!

Never talk down to them and encourage them to ask you (or look up) what a word means when they don't know it.

I don't know how much is 'native talent' and how much is my wife and my 'great parenting' (LOL) but our girl has been reading at a college level (grade 12.9+, in their report parlance) since…

When I've seen people get sick after getting cold, it's more than cold. It's that cold where you just can't get warm, where your thighs are burning, you can't stop snotting, usually coupled with wet something or other (pants, socks, etc). I always assumed that the fatigue induced by the experience lowered immune…

I'm on the phone most of the day (conference calls, working bridges, etc). How in the WORLD does it make sense to say "Can you call X today?" When there's a repairman coming, sure, I can step away from the phone and let 'em in, but it's significantly harder for me to make the call to arrange it.

I tell people "The good thing about working from home is that you're always home. The bad thing about working from home is that you're always at work."

I can't find a Google Now (not on my iPhone, not on my LG, and not my browser) that can answer that question... Also, if you look at wolframalpha, you'll see why Google (nor Siri, natively) can't come close to the information quality provided. I mean, sure, you can find all that stuff with a web search, but I can tell…

This test was far, far to narrow.

As an example - I can say to Siri: "Ask wolfram alpha the volume in gallons of a cylinder 24 feet wide by 4 feet tall" and get an answer. Try that with Google Now :D Compare the results of asking Siri "Ask wolfram alpha how tall the empire state building is" and compare the results to…

My wife and I used to fight *about money * all the time. She's a very security-focused person and I'm the sort that doesn't think of money much that way. I resolved that issue by making a *lot* more money than I used to. She quit the job she hated, we had a kid, and now the wife is going back to school and we're…

Then I tell her it's Saturday morning and it's cheat day and she shuts up. :D

Yeah, only one running timer. But this works, too: "Siri, remind me in forty minutes to check the laundry." Then, "Siri, remind me in thirty minutes to check the roast."

You still get an alert, and she sets the relative time. It's just not a timer that you can reference.

Not to take anything from Vidget, but I find Siri very useful for timers. Throw the biscuits in the oven: "Siri, set a timer for thirteen minutes." Siri: "Thirteen minutes and counting, Steve."

Nice!

When I was younger, I worked in construction, and for a couple of years we were busy taking out those sliding glass doors everyone put in to get to their deck, but replaced with double 'french' doors later on. Those big panes of double-hung sealed glass ended up in the dump. I wish I'd kept 'em. A few of those…

Well, since we're arguing about facts, I must be right. [something about Hitler or Nazis].

The CANONICAL xkcd. Love that comic.

First you've got to define "disagree". We can't argue if we can't agree on terms. ;D

1) Is this battle with strangers on the internet? It's not worth fighting. Except for fun, or as a way to keep your debate chops up.

My in office jobs were in cubicles with my teammates. Assuming that all members of the business are working towards the same goals is ... inaccurate. I mean, you can say "We're all working for the success of Company X!" but we frequently disagreed with other teams about how to do that. Happens in every company I've…

Hey, I'm an old people and *I* don't think that! :D

No, no, no. I actively discourage people from calling me or texting me (at least for work). Email is asynchronous and I like that. Encourage people to call you and you'll never get anything done because they'll start calling you for EVERY SINGLE THING THEY THINK OF.

At my in-office jobs some time ago, my desk phone…

Even that doesn't resolve self-selection bias. Even if the WRX gets more tickets than the base rate for cars in its class in tickets per car sold, it might mean that people who are likely to get tickets choose that car in greater numbers... :D

Comes from placing FAR too many online orders and takeout. LOL