If you’re reading this from the website (rather than in a news aggregator), you’ll likely have noticed that the title has changed. Yes, after very nearly two years, I’ve finally worked out what to call this thing. And like all the best ideas, it seems downright obvious in retrospect. But first, a little history:
A quern or quernstone was a mill used for making flour. Specifically, it was a small mill used by an individual to grind flour for their daily bread.
When I first bought a laptop, ten years ago, like all good Macs it needed a name. It struck me then that a PowerBook was about the same size as a quern, and that I used it for metaphorically the same purpose: grinding my daily bread. It was even made of the same material, silicon. So, my PowerBook was named ‘Quern’ as a reminder of how far technology has progressed, and of how little life has changed.
Subsequently, I bought quern.demon.co.uk, and eventually quernstone.com. And now I post thoughts and comments and links here, while going about my daily grinding on Quern IV, my latest PowerBook.
The Daily Grind, see?
Plus, I like the irony. Look – today I couldn’t resist stopping by the office to make a radio-controlled rubber duck. That’s my ‘daily grind.’