Horseshit?

Particularly with their “overall” score, DXO is pretending to assign an objective scientific-looking measurement to something that is inherently subjective. It’s horseshit, but everyone in the media falls for it. I said it was horseshit last year when they named a Pixel their “highest rated ever”, and I say it’s bullshit now when they said that about an iPhone. John Gruber

I know very little about the quality of DXO’s reviews. John Gruber hasn’t shown he knows much either. It's his opinion against the process that DXO follows. So if DXO's reviews are indeed useless, the Gruber's statements are just as much horse shit. But his statements have a wider reach then mine. He’s the Daring Fireball.

Read What Seems Awesome and Interesting

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The truth is that when you're super bored, your interest and understanding come to a screeching halt. There are many, many topics that I find interesting now which I found dull at some point in my life. Five years ago, there was no possible way I would have made it through The Power Broker, even if I tried to force myself. And it would have been a mistake to try.

Here’s another unspoken truth: Any central lesson you can take away from War and Peace can also be learned in other ways if that book doesn't really interest you. The same goes for 99% of the wisdom out there — it's available in many places. Unfortunately, too many English lit professors have promoted the idea that “the classics” contain some sort of unique unobtanium of wisdom. Sorry, but that’s bullshit.

The better idea is to read what seems awesome and interesting to you now and to let your curiosities grow organically. A lifelong interest in truth, reality, and knowledge will lead you down so many paths, you should never need to force yourself to read anything unless there is a very, very specific reason. (Perhaps to learn a specific skill for a job.)

This has been a truth for me for a long time. I don't like Shakespeare. Being told I need to read the "classics" to be cultured and smart always felt like bullshit to me. I prefer the works of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, and Arthur C. Clarke. I found more connection with the characters and places of those tales than any character in any so-called "literary classic".

Forest & Main Brewing

We were in Pennsylvania to attend a wedding. My cousin's daughter, Christal, was marrying a man, Greg, whom she had known since elementary school, but they had only become close a few years after she completed graduate school. The wedding venue was almost two hours from home. I convinced Bhavana to get a hotel room to spend the night.

Name: Forest & Main Brewing
Location: Ambler, Pennsylvania
Beer to try: No Name, No Name At All
Notes: Taproom open for pints, flights, growler fills, merchandise and bottles & cans to go; indoor and outdoor dining on the patio and lawn. Outside food is not allowed. Only service animals are allowed. Metered street parking.

A few months earlier, we took a road trip to Hollow Earth Brewing and Tired Hands Brewing. We had fun being "craft ale tourists". It was not easy convincing Bhavna that we could have lunch at a brewery before returning to New Jersey. She loves trying new ales as much as I do. I shared my plans with a co-worker who suggested we try Forest & Main in Ambler. From the online menu, it seemed that this would be an excellent weekend to visit the brewery. The weather was expected to be cooler -- but not cold -- and they had some new ales on tap.

My sister-in-law, Christelle, called the night before and asked a favour. My brother was not attending the wedding as he's working on a project in Charlotte, NC and she didn't want to drive the distance from New York City alone. Bhavna and I agreed to meet her at the Princeton Junction train station after work on Friday, and we would drive together. Based on my schedule, we had a 90-minute drive, time to checked-in to the hotel suite, shower, change, and grab a snack with an arrival just fifteen minutes before the start of the wedding.

Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO3200), © Khürt L. Williams

The wedding was an outdoor evening affair in the garden at the William Penn Inn in Blue Belle, Pennsylvania. Christal and her husband Greg exchanged vows as the sunset behind them. It was simple, classic and beautiful.

Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO1600), © Khürt L. Williams

Apple's iPhone mapping app is fantastic. I love it. A few years ago, many people made fun of Apple when they ditched Google as the provider of their mapping data. However, Apple and its mapping partners have worked to improve Maps to the point where I no longer have doubts. It just works. I pulled up the address for Forest & Main and realised that it was only a few miles south of the hotel, in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Checkout was at 11 AM, so we arrived at Forest & Main around 11:30 AM. Just in time for lunch.

I ordered house-cured and a salad with local greens in a beer vinaigrette. Bhavna had the house-cured pickled veggies. But we were here for the beer.

I love al fresco dining. —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO320), © Khürt L. Williams

Climbing up the stone walkway of this renovated Victorian home in Ambler's downtown, I noticed the hop vines that seemed to be consuming the brewery. Maybe it was intentional, or perhaps it merely meant to provide ambience, but the vines provided shade for the squeaky yellow clapboard porch at the front of the house. Several people, some families, were sipping pints and nibbling bacon-glazed popcorn over chessboards. Yes, this was what I wanted. I imagined Bhavna and myself living in a town in an apartment above some retro style apothecary. We would work from home and spend our evenings sitting on the lawn sipping ales and chatting with others like. We could be 50-year-old millennials.

The hop vines grows up and around a trellis that covers the entire front patio. —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO220), © Khürt L. Williams
Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO220), © Khürt L. Williams
Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.006 sec at f/4.0, ISO1100), © Khürt L. Williams
Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.010 sec at f/4.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams
Forest Main Brewing, Ambler, Pennsylvania —Nikon D5100 + 35 mm f/1.8 @ (35 mm, 0.025 sec at f/4.0, ISO6400), © Khürt L. Williams