Ribbon Farm is a blog about business & innovation.  Written by Venkatesh Rao, he often illustrates his ideas with whimsical and thoughtful drawings. He works at the Xerox Research Center, where his research is in the areas of the “Future of Documents” and “Future of Work.”
Here’s his illustration of the evolution of work-life balance patterns as shaped by changing cultural attitudes over the last century. 
The long weekend of the 4th of July is almost upon us–and I’m beginning to think about my backyard picnic. Lobster rolls will be on the menu this year.
GoodMorningGloucester offers ”The World’s Greatest Lobster Roll.”  It looks great! If you don’t have the lobster roll on a toasted hot dog bun it’s not a real lobster roll. I also want tail meat–not just stuff from the claws. 
The Jedediah Hawkins Inn in Jamesport, NY also offers the “World’s Greatest Lobster Roll.” I have had one there, and it was indescribably delicious.Â
If it rains, I’ll go to Jedediah Hawkins; if the weather is good, the backyard with the Gloucester, Mass. recipe!
Have a good 4th!
My garden is small, and young, so everything seems precious. The bowlful or two of strawberries we harvested last month felt like the best I’d ever tasted; now, my first daylily blossom—pictured above just after a light summer rain—strikes me as beyond gorgeous. I even love its small asymmetries, because they make it seem more natural and less expertly cultivated.
The daylily offers a great lesson in appreciating the beauty of a moment. Most daylilies blossom only for a single day, opening in the morning and closing up at nightfall. (Each plant has several blossoms, though, so the pleasure’s not quite so ephemeral.)
What’s the best book for left-handers? Does anyone want to offer an opinion?
Left-handed writers, myself included, grew up having to contend with ink smears and stains on our hand as we wrote. I have smeared on pocket and desk size planners, but finally settled on a Space 24, but that’s only because I write more notes than appointments.
Once at a pen show I asked one of the traders what was the best pen to use for writing, since my ink often smeared. He told me instead of a medium nib left-handers should use a fine or even extra fine nib, since the ink would dry faster. I made the switch, and rarely have that problem.
Many inks are marketed as “fast-drying.” While I certainly use J. Herbin inks (we distribute them), I also have to admit to a fondness for Noodlers Ink. I also like Swisher Pen’s own inks, which were made to be fast-drying. I have found them impossible to smear.
Has the Internet made us less attentive readers?
In this month’s Atlantic, Nicholas Carr admits he now has trouble reading books and longer magazine articles—thanks, he speculates, to the Internet’s way of turning us into superficial information grazers.
In Slate, Michael Agger describes some studies that show how lazy our brains are online: they prefer short sentences, explanatory headlines, and bulleted lists, and they skip large chunks of text.
Personally, I still have plenty of patience for reading books and magazine articles, but only when I’m offline, and only when I’m not anxious about some other time commitment. Online, however, I’m exactly like the rest of us, erratic, impatient, unable to concentrate on (too) much at one time…
I don’t know. When I need to do any sort of sustained writing or thinking, I try to close my Internet browser, though it isn’t always easy. Other times surfing the web is like keeping my eyes occupied while my mind searches for the right word or concept—sometimes I find that it helps, and other times I’m probably just kidding myself.
What do you think?
In honor of the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, Danish artist Olafur Eliasson has designed four man-made waterfalls to run down underneath the bridge’s two main towers.
The waterfalls will be turned on tomorrow and will remain on till Oct. 13 between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can learn more about the project at its official website; for my own part, I can’t wait to see it!
Looks like I’m not the only one who’s grown irrationally fond of Rhodia pencils. Blogger Michelle Krell Kydd recently posted her own ode to the quirky orange writing utensils: “a pencil for the senses,” as she put it.
As a side note, Michelle mentioned that she thinks “deleted words and phrases from my computer documents are sent to a hidden folder and rearranged to tell a tale I will be held accountable for in the future.” Oddly enough, a friend of mine, an artist, created a computer program that did just that for a piece he made last year—appropriately titled “Lost Words.”
Happy scribbling!
“Packed Calendars Rule Over Executives” was the subject of Carol Hymowitz’s “In the Lead” column in the Wall Street Journal this week. Several executives, including Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis, share how they get free from a crammed agenda.
Vasella “keeps himself in check” by occasionally stepping back to evaluate his plans, questioning whether he could do his job differently.
Mark Hurd, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, makes sure he has some breathing space on his calendar. He leaves time every day for things that just come up.
Kathleen Murphy, CEO of ING US Wealth Management, believes that the single most crucial element for surviving a packed schedule is to have a competent team to which you can delegate important jobs.
“At my level you can’t get caught in the weeds,” she says, “you have to move back to a more strategic position.”
The sky can be its own calendar, but we often don’t read it as well as the ancients. More than any print calendar, seeing Orion in the sky heralds for me the coming of winter.
Growing up, my family used to spend summers in Vermont. There were no lights along our dirt road, so we got a clear view of all the stars and planets. My sister and I would lie on the lawn and look up at the night sky. We would take out our father’s binoculars for a closer look at the Milky Way, the craters on the moon, and pick out different constellations.
Dad taught us how to find Polaris - the North Star. He said mariners used to find their way using the star as a guide.
If I find a telescope at a yard sale this summer, I plan to set it up in my backyard out on Long Island. I’m far away enough from New York City and all the lights to really see the stars.
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Dumb Little Man is a site dedicated to providing “a handful of tips that will save you money, increase your productivity, or just keep you sane.”
Tired of dealing with endless emails every day? Does emailing back and forth seem to be most of your job now? This article will help you cut it back.
Here are a few other tips:
- Call instead of email.Â
- Check your email early in the morning, at noon, just before you leave the office. Try not to check during the rest of the day - leave it for work, meetings, socializing in person.
- Be brief in your email.
- If you use a Quo Vadis Agenda Planning Diary, you can note your priority emails for the week in the dashboard box or in Daily Notes. Take care of them first.
