Just do it!

from W. H. Murray:

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

I can definitely see an application of this in my life. For the last 6-9 months I've been talking about setting up a Linux server at home with the computer I got from a friend who moved out-of-state.

About a month ago I finally just did it. Installation and setup made me an hour late for work that day (though nobody really gets in to my office by 8am; the administration only really cares if you get at least 40 hours in per week), but finally just jumping in was a great experience. Since I'm currently enrolled in classes to get a UNIX sysadmin certification, playing with the server is great preparation work.

So I'm looking into other ways in which I can just jump right into things I've been talking about but "haven't really gotten around to." It's my experience that my perception of activities as difficult gets shattered after I make myself start. I'm resolving to quit hemming and hawing and get to work on those things that have been on my "Someday" list for a while.

W. H. Murray on the power of starting (via 43 Folders)

Watch This!

"Tony vs. Paul" is an awesome stop-motion film that you should really take a look at. Come on, it's only 5 minutes out of your day... :)

YouTube - Tony vs. Paul (via Pogue's Posts)

John Gruber on Universal Music Group

As many technology-minded people are no doubt already aware, Microsoft's new Zune music player is bad for the industry for more reasons than merely its lack of style and just-a-bit-too-late-to-the-party device immaturity.

That's right: Microsoft has agreed to give Universal one dollar for every Zune sold. This is akin to the "piracy tax" that Canadians pay on blank CDs: since the device can be used to play illegally-obtained audio, the music distributor is asking for recompense on those acts of piracy that will "inevitably" occur with the new device. Granted, in the U.S we used to pay a similar "piracy tax" on blank audio cassettes, but the public as a whole was neither interested nor informed.

But since Microsoft has allowed one peddler of recorded music to get in on profits from the Zune, this may open the floodgates to distributors asking for a cut of profits from sales of other devices as well. The link below goes to John Gruber's fictionalized discussion of how such a meeting between Universal and Apple might go, if the media giant wanted to get a piece of the iPod at their next iTunes contract renegotiation.

(Warning: satire ahead)

Daring Fireball: Conjectural Transcript of the Upcoming Negotiations Between Apple and Universal Music