Random

  • “You’ve actually given up on trust if you need for things to be transparent.”

    You’ve actually given up on trust if you need for things to be transparent. From At Davos, Big Tech Is Waiting for Its Grace Period to Run Out.More

  • An unreal March snow forecast

    Although last year’s snow was obviously incredible, I’m blown away by the snow we’re getting recently. Check out the forecast!More

  • Weekly roundup

    First off, early this week I finished the Three Body Problem. I….I don’t know what to say beyond, it was fantastic. Just fantastic. Here are my favorite links from this week: A NYMag article about Marcus Hutchins, the UK hacker who stopped WannaCry An excellent story about a guy who figured out how to beat…More

  • Have you learned a new programming language within the last 6 months? I want to hear from you.

    Have you tried out a new programming language within the last 6 months? I want to hear from you! After a week I will aggregate and publish the data. Fill out the survey below or click here to fill it out.More

  • Weekly Roundup

    This week’s roundup is a little more full than other weeks! Here are my favorite links from the week: Welcome to the Age of Climate Migration The Birth and Death of Javascript (oldie but goodie) Lessons from Spotify by Ben Thompson (TL;DR: Music streaming companies have high COGS compared to SaaS companies because of their…More

  • Chris Dixon on Why Decentralization Matters

    The lesson is that when you compare centralized and decentralized systems you need to consider them dynamically, as processes, instead of statically, as rigid products. Centralized systems often start out fully baked, but only get better at the rate at which employees at the sponsoring company improve them. Decentralized systems start out half-baked but, under…More

  • $50 for a load of snow

    Props to this guy on NextDoor for trying to make a quick $50 in South Lake Tahoe (after we’ve gotten several feet of snow over the last several days):More

  • Weekly Roundup

    My favorite links from this week: An expansive photo record of Native American life in the early 1900s (my favorite is the photo of a Klamath chief standing above crater lake) Armed conflict has happened between the U.S. and Russia, and no news outlets are writing about it Ben Thompson on the Dropbox S-1 and…More

  • Weekly Roundup

    My favorite links from this week: Jason Kottke on the state of blogging How do you talk to yourself? Compassion helps prevent corruption Slack is the opposite of organizational memory – I have strong opinions of (mostly) agreement on this one. In my experience managers usually see this much more clearly than non-managers. Students prevent…More

  • The internet on Mars

    Eventually the first settlements on Mars will need to have not only a Mars computer network (and eventually and Mars-based internet) but a way for that internet to connect / synchronize with the Earth-based internet. I did some thinking and some research about what it might take to establish such a system. It turns out…More

  • A desert

    While discussing an upcoming vacation with someone I know, we talked over the various possible camping destinations in California and nearby. I went off-roading on the Mojave Road last year and discussed the desert with them. Then, I happened across this photo on the web: Q: Where do you think this photo is from? A:…More

  • Interviews with Jeff Bezos, Dara Khosrowshahi, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet

    On my recent drive from SF to Tahoe, I listened to the following interviews, and really enjoyed them. Maybe you will too: Jeff Bezos: Lessons in management from 2017 (36m) Uber’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi (45m) Bill Gates: How the world will change by 2030 (15m) Conversations between Warren Buffet and Bill Gates (1h:15m) I particularly…More

  • Weekly Roundup

    A bit of a shorter week, I’ve been a little too busy to do a whole lot of reading. But, here are my favorite links from this week: In 2003, Jeff Bezos talks about the electricity revolution vs. the gold rush The Co-founder relationship A career guide for the recovering software generalist How Haiti became…More

  • Weekly Round-up

    Here are my favorite links from the week: A fantastic Jack Ma interview (Executive Chairman at Alibaba) about his success, his philosophy and management style, among other things Here’s a dry, long one: The Single Greatest Predictor of Future Stock Market Returns. An hour-long, in-depth overview of Apple’s Secure Enclave Processor (SEP) from DEFCON last year.…More

  • Climate change’s PR problem

    This is a rant. Reading about climate change and Lake Tahoe, I notice a pattern that makes me see clearly why climate change has a PR problem. Climate change isn’t new — and neither is the manner in which it’s reported upon. This is not an atypical article. Here are the kinds of phrases most…More

  • Weekly Roundup

    Here’s my collection of favorite links from this week: A small NY town with 5 used bookstores Discovered the ChangeMyView subreddit from this Wired article A decent write-up of the sheer number of details that confront us when we build things Benedict Evans predicts the future of TV, retail, and advertising A cool photo collection…More

  • Perfectionism is increasing

    From HBR I used to have a laminated card at my desk that had a translation of the greek word arëte: Striving to realize maximum fulfillment of one’s potential. So, you know, if you need a goal different from perfect..it works.More

  • My Amazon orders over the last several years

    Check it out: 2011 is when I got my first real job with a steady paycheck. I’m actually a little surprised it didn’t grow year over year steadily.More

  • Weekly Roundup

    Didn’t get much of a chance to write this week. However, here are my favorite links: It certainly seems as if the “social media is toxic” movement is catching on a bit more. I am delighted that Facebook is cutting back on its News Feed Two-day shipping has helped boost the price of industrial land Mark…More

  • Weekly roundup

    Here are my favorite links from the week: A long but fascinating read into our 16th President’s mental state and how it influenced his administration: Lincoln’s Great Depression Why don’t trees touch each other more? Twitter thread about One woman’s grad school #metoo moment I think about this a lot: Everyone Has An Opinion About…More

  • Legends of the Ancient Web

    Highly recommended reading: http://idlewords.com/talks/ancient_web.htm History and technology come and go in cycles. It’s notoriously difficult to figure out where in the cycle of history you are, or when the next technology trends will begin or end. Much of what we read lately has to do with technology’s power to impact our political lives, our health, what…More

  • Evidence-based journalism

    I’ve been reading Wikitribune every day since they launched this summer, and I love it. From their About Page: WikiTribune is a news platform that brings journalists and a community of volunteers together. We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events. And that stories…More

  • Weekly roundup

    My favorite links from this week: This Is The Hollowed-Out World That Outrage Culture Has Created Dunkirk re-edited as a silent film Seriously, You — OK, We — need to stop watching the news this year The unreasonable efficiency of black holes The first humans in America may not have been homo sapiens Long Rise…More

  • My principles for shipping a data pipeline

    Inspired by this HBR article In mid-2015 I began working on an ETL and Data Warehouse for Bloc after identifying several internal symptoms. I learned a ton about not just the technological challenges of such a project but also the organizational hurdles to a successful data pipeline. This was an immensely satisfying project for me…More

  • Self-awareness

    Our research revealed many surprising roadblocks, myths, and truths about what self-awareness is and what it takes to improve it. We’ve found that even though most people believe they are self-aware, self-awareness is a truly rare quality: We estimate that only 10%–15% of the people we studied actually fit the criteria. Three findings in particular stood…More