plucky tree
It's the plucky ones that will surprise you most
wannabe housewife, foodie, pacifist, amateur chef & tennis player, libertarian, food rights & backyard chicken supporter, former software entomologist @ Apple, angel investor
the day the google died
In 1998, I relied on two search engines, Alta Vista and Yahoo, each of which was radically different in how they worked. Alta Vista required understanding boolean logic and was very geeky, but if you knew what you were doing, it could produce amazing results. Yahoo categorized content very effectively, so in cases where Alta Vista failed because of search terms having multiple meanings, Yahoo would come through.
Then Google came onto the scene and when it opened up at google.stanford.edu, I was an instant convert and never looked back. I remember when I would see my co-workers at Apple struggle to search for something on the Internet and I’d evangelize Google to them. Many people were very resistant! I got into the habit of just politely taking over people’s keyboards at their desk and re-doing the search they were trying to do in Google. I probably converted at least one person a day that way as they were amazed at the results as I was.
shop small
You know a store is too big when you need Google Maps to navigate it:
Some of the big-box stores such as IKEA, Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Home Depot have already been mapped, but not Target. Not Wal-Mart. And not nearly as many malls as you’d like to see, especially in this holiday season.
Support your normal-sized, local, family-owned retailer!
I’m in my living room and our house was in Mountain View, CA when we bought it, but apparently my Mac feels that we’re really in Gahanna, OH.
According to Wikipedia, Gahanna was listed as #96 of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in 2007 by Money magazine. We’ll see how it goes once we settle in.
"Young Blood" by the Naked and Famous
2011 Single of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards. Pretty addictive. I might listen to the radio if they played stuff like that.
ATM, please don’t start beeping at me until the money/receipt/card is ready. It’s like shouting STOP to a driver a block before a stoplight.
what is libertarianism?
Excellent and badly needed new website that defines and explores the history and current state of libertarianism.
It includes some pretty nicely done videos that explore the nuances and complexity of a political, moral, and social philosophy that many people consider antiquated, simplistic, utopian, or impractical.
how homeopathy “works”
For a long time, I put homeopathy in the same category as organized religion. I felt both were based primarily on faith with little science to back them up. I believed that both were the refuge of the weak or less intelligent among us.
The problem is that even among smart people, homeopathy is very popular and many people swear by it. Heck, in much of Europe and Asia, homeopathy is practically mainstream. Is this a pervasive mass delusion?
Before too many people think I’m crazy, I should mention that I strongly believe that homepathic remedies simply cannot work based on their physical content. They are basically salt or sugar pills or plain water and the notion that they contain some “essence” or “memory” that has a physical effect on the body makes little sense.
So, how is it that so many people feel that homeopathy works?
go green on your next renovation
Up-front disclamer: I have a minority stake in Greenspace, the company I’m about to plug here.
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are planning to do anything from repainting a bedroom to a full-on renovation, I wanted to plug an amazing store in Santa Cruz that I used when I renovated my townhouse in 2005. Here’s my original posting. I also put up some stunning before and after photos.
the last time I saw Steve Jobs
I worked at Apple from April of 1999 through July of 2011. I’ve never written publicly about that experience, but I wanted to share a little moment that will always be with me, even though it’s not of any great significance.
After leaving my job at Apple, I dropped in for lunch one day. I was exiting the main building, Infinite Loop One, and just ahead of me was Steve Jobs, walking with the usual spring in his step that never seemed to go away even as he started looking more frail. Bumping into Steve was a surprisingly common occurrence for such a large company as Apple.
Steve was heading towards a car parked next to the curb with its door open, waiting for him. The car was idling. A family was standing near the Apple sign outside the building, a common site for people to take photos on their pilgrimages to Apple.
