Tales of Hoffman

Time to Let Go

Is it me or is it finally time for Apple.com to let go of those "lickable" tabs?
(click thumbnail for larger image)

Everytime they launch some new stuff, this albatross around their neck is reminding people of three interfaces ago. It just doesn't seem like the kind of detail that Jobs would let go for so long, right?

Coaching AYSO is....

I've been meaning to write a funny, wry, cogent, and touching entry about what it means to coach my kids in AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization). Now, I don't have to because author Hampton Sides has done it for me. Oh well.

Review: Once in a Lifetime

I just finished watching "Once in a Lifetime" -- a history of the New York Cosmos soccer team. Wow. What a blast from the past. This documentary follows the formation, triumph and eventual demise of the Cosmos and the NASL, and it took me right back to my days as at Howitt Junior High and Farmingdale High, wearing my Cosmos T-shirt proudly as, even then, people looked at me like I had two heads because I liked soccer (interestingly enough, they still do!).

Great interviews with all the major players (except Pele. What's up with that?), and a great job of mixing game action, file footage and interviews to really explain how it all happened.

I have the strange urge to tell my daughter and son that they have Steve Ross to thank for our familial devotion to the sport....but I'm sure they wouldn't understand.

If you have a Netflix account and you have any interest in the history of American Soccer, go get it. Now.

Poetry as the Cure

Here's an amazing post from Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert. Apparently he has a condition called Spasmodic Dysphonia that causes you to lose the ability to speak in certain situations. And it's supposed to be uncurable, but he found a cure (at least for him)....Nursery Rhymes. Great story, well written.