December 2011
1 post
November 2011
2 posts
The Southern 'Iron Man' →
(via Instapaper)
October 2011
7 posts
iCloud Photo Stream
During the developer betas this bugged the crap out of me — I hate(d) not being able to delete photos that don’t “belong” in the Photo Stream. Because of that I completely get where Dave is coming from, but I must admit that having used it for so long I decided to not worry about it — that’s done wonders for me.
I have to admit, I am heading there myself. It has been driving me crazy having...
Reset The Furthest Page Read On The Kindle →
When using Whispersync, staying on the correct page across multiple devices works great–until you decide to re-read your content.
You read thru a book on either your Kindle and your iPhone (or another Kindle). First time thru, you stay in sync on any device. Later you decide to either re-read or restart the book. Unfortunately, the ‘Sync to Furthest Page Read’ will always be the furthest...
2 tags
September 2011
14 posts
What the...
Christian concerns over Pokémon have primarily addressed perceived occult and violent themes and the concept of “Pokémon evolution” (although evolution in Pokémon is more akin to metamorphosis, the ChildCare Action Project related it to the theory of evolution), which they claim goes against the Biblical creation account in Genesis.
“It’s one reason I try not to argue with people on the Internet. Because I...”
– Merlin Mann, Back To Work. http://5by5.tv/b2w/35
1 tag
4 tags
1 tag
A Fresh Take on Contexts →
Based on this reasoning and the day-to-day experience we have, it seems no longer the best setup to have contexts such as email, computer, web and so forth. It is time to find a new way to organise tasks, a way that reflects our most precious resources: time & attention.
Really great take on GTD contexts in the knowledge work world. I need to do some evaluating of my own contexts.
10 tags
July 2011
6 posts
Secret Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia →
The series was conceived by Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter:
Kenner had licensed the DC Heroes. Mattel had He-Man, but wanted to hedge in case superheroes became the next big fad. They were interested in Marvel’s characters, but only if we staged a publishing event that would get a lot of attention, and they could build a theme around. Fans, especially young fans often...
June 2011
1 post
November 2010
1 post
September 2010
6 posts
1 tag
Speed Really Does Change Everything In Customer...
Most people involved in software in some capacity are familiar with 37 Signals, the software company that is as famous for its’ outspoken founders as it is for the products that it releases.
The founders, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, have released two books: Getting Real and Rework, both of which I’ve enjoyed immensely.
Rework has a chapter called Speed Changes...
1 tag
Making Time For Your Passion
It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that I used to be a pretty hardcore Star Wars (and Star Trek, if you can be both) fan.
Of course I watched the movies over and over, but I also read many of the Star Wars books that you see when you walk past the sci-fi rack of your local bookstore.
Many of the novels are written by the author Kevin J. Anderson, and this post is not about my hatred...
1 tag
Clever Targeted Marketing By VRBO
Pretty clever of VRBO here. They (obviously) knew I was inquiring for vacation rentals in London, so they’re targeting the subject line of the email and trying to pimp their insurance. Good way to get the email opened.
1 tag
Reeder And Instapaper Is A Killer Content...
For years and years my RSS reader has probably been my most-used application, or top three at least.
I started with Bloglines, then Rojo, then NetNewsWire, and finally (like most people) ended up using Google Reader to consume my RSS feeds.
However, over the past year or two I have found myself spending less and less time in Google Reader.
Why? I have found keeping up with my feeds more and...
1 tag
The Software Yell Cycle
Anyone who has ever worked for a software company has probably experienced this: sales and marketing don’t understand why the developers make the product a certain way, and the developers are building things based on a spec (or even worse, a hallway conversation) that is open to interpretation.
Half the time, the developers don’t even know what it is they are building or why.
In the...
August 2010
4 posts
1 tag
The Best Boss Ever?
Back when I was a manager, I tried (and hopefully succeeded more often than not) to communicate positively with my team, be encouraging, and generally be helpful. I took the “remove obstacles so they could get the job done” approach.
I also did a lot of reading and tried to model my behaviour on good management examples that I came across.
Boy do I wish I had come across Edward...
1 tag
From NFL To Wordpress: The Tale Of Drew Strojny
You know how the usual story goes. Overpaid, spoiled professional athletes play for a while, then retire and either go sit on a beach, start a Chevy dealership, or end up broke and sleeping in their car under the overpass.
Or there’s the other version that we hear all the time: NFL player retires and then becomes a Wordpress theme designer.
Wait, what?
I’m always interested in...
1 tag
Using Hazel and Markdown To Make Writing For The...
Even though I have been blogging at DocumentSnap for quite a while, I’ve never taken much time to make my writing more productive. That’s all changed in the past few weeks, and I’ve started looking for ways to make my workflow more efficient.
Various DocumentSnap readers had been recommending Hazel to me for quite some time, but I had never gotten around to checking it out...
1 tag
The Pressure Is On
One particularly scary moment in a parent’s life is when you realize that your kids have reached an age that you yourself remember.
No pressure though, right?
Photo: Me doing some pre-or-post snowmobile toothbrushing. 1978 in Prince George.
July 2010
7 posts
1 tag
Jealousy Will Get You Nowhere
For whatever reason, I’ve never been a fan of U2.
I know they’re the biggest band in the world, and I like a few songs, and sure they have a good album here and there (War springs to mind), but I just have never gotten into them.
Back in the early 90’s in my band-tshirt phase, I saw a hilarious (not really, but it seemed funny at the time) anti-U2 shirt at Lyle’s Place...
1 tag
What Happened To All The Country Profiles?
I’ve decided to separate out my “normal” blog posts here on Dropping Keys from the country profiles, so I’ve created a new blog just for the profiles.
Head on over to http://memorizetheworld.brooksduncan.com if you’re dying to see a new Wikipedia ripoff every day.
2 tags
The Nines and The Little Things That Make A Big...
My wife and I have a thing for Portland. I don’t know what it is exactly, but we love it there and usually go a few times a year without the kids for some R&R (the tax free shopping doesn’t hurt either).
Usually we do the Priceline game, but this last time we decided to splurge a bit and stayed at The Nines hotel. (Since we are cheap, by splurge I mean drop $110/night on Hotwire...
1 tag
Why Am I Memorizing All The Countries Of The...
I’ve decided to set a goal for myself that has nothing (directly) to do with business, money, or anything related to the normal sort of things that people set goals for.
I’ve decided that I want to memorize all the countries in the world.
Why On Earth Would You Want To Do That?
It’s not a bad question. There are a bunch of reasons why. A small subset of them are:
As Chris...
They Weren't Impressed
The other day I was having drinks with some friends/former co-workers, and after the obligatory round of workplace gossip, the subject of what I am up to now inevitably came up.
A friend (who I am sure will read this) said “People have been asking me what you are up to so I told them about DocumentSnap. They weren’t impressed.”
My initial...
3 tags
On Giving Notice And Giving Reasons For Leaving...
Some of you might know that at the end of March, I left my Director position at a division of a very large company.
It brought to mind Mark Suster’s excellent post How to Quit Your Job.
Mark’s post is about startups (and is from the perspective of the startup hiring someone away), but it made me think about the way that I left and how it relates/differs to Mark’s post.
Some...
Welcome to Dropping Keys
Hi there,
Welcome to Dropping Keys, the personal blog of Brooks Duncan (that’s me). I’m quite possibly the last person on Earth to have a personal blog, but that’s cool with me if it is cool with you.
You can find out more about me on my About page, but very briefly, I am a former accountant/computer programmer/software support manager who recently left the corporate world...