John Lai   [RSS Feed]

I do not have an RSS aggregator. I do not use Google Reader. Why? It’s because I do not “follow” any particular topic. I like to “discover” topics.

I like to Google “how to enrich uranium” and discover a delicious a recipe for “Swedish meatballs“. Why would I manage a Google Reader of exponentially growing feeds on topics I read only once?

As for the couple of topics I do follow, I frequent one or two credible and high quality sites. Why waste time logging into Google Reader to browse a couple of headlines when I can go to the website directly and read everything?

When a friend asks, “But John, don’t you follow my blog? You’re missing out on important [subjects] people  care about.” My response is, “If a [subject] were really important, or if it’s directly related to my work, then the [subject] will surface in our normal conversation. I will subsequently follow up with research. Otherwise, I’m content with reading the good old newspaper (online).”