Making Geographies

August 19, 2007 – 12:33 am

Liz Henry:
Organizing an unconference made me think of setting up a role playing game. You make geographies and frameworks and organizations and relationship networks, and provide a variety of types of unstructured spaces, and then stories can happen without the players being railroaded. In this event, the maps and schedules and physical locations, and especially [...]

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SF about SF

August 17, 2007 – 2:38 pm

A list of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels that take place in San Francisco. Michaela Roessner’s Vanishing Point and Greg Bear’s Blood Music take place in Silicon Valley, deal with The Singularity™, and are worth your while too.

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Box of Book Seven

July 21, 2007 – 12:13 am

A Books Inc. employee rushes past with one of the first boxes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for customers who preordered the book.

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Potterdammerung

July 21, 2007 – 12:13 am

The line for Book Seven @ Books Inc, Mountain View.

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Quik-E-Mart

July 2, 2007 – 8:54 pm

7-11 converted one of its stores in Mountain View into Abu’s bodega from The Simpson’s.

There was a line to get in, as well as this intimidating sign in front of the parking spaces.

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If he hires Grace Jones as a bodyguard, look out.

May 22, 2007 – 11:40 pm

Oh man, I heard Michael Arrington wrote that what our fair Valley needs is a downturn to wash away the bozos and hangers-on. That sounds like a Bond villain taking from the safety of his blimp or space station, while the clock on the doomsday weapon ticks down. We’re all imperfectable, except for that cadre [...]

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Duck Season

April 6, 2007 – 9:06 pm

I feel dirty for saying this, but thank you Dallas. Cynthia says she can go back to hating the Stars now. Update: It’s moot: the Sharks lost to Vancouver, and the Ducks are pounding Columbus.

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Hiring Borat

April 3, 2007 – 5:55 pm

A couple of friends pulled a great April Fool’s prank on their managers. They got together with their company’s HR director to create the resume of a dream candidate. Then they brought a ringer in for the interview who played the candidate from hell.

Costume

Thrift store ladies’ watch, giant clock face, numbers all grouped down on [...]

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Congratulations Cynthia

March 26, 2007 – 9:10 pm

Cynthia was promoted to Senior Scientist by her company today. Huzzah!

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Dear Hockey Gods

February 18, 2007 – 8:11 pm

Please return the Sharks’ mojo. Losing three games in a row and five of the last ten is a buzzkill.

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What if there will be no Rapture of the Nerds?

February 16, 2007 – 12:52 am

A few observations from Vernor Vinge’s talk at the Long Now Foundation:

I was hoping he’d speak to Sterling’s critique of The Singularity™, and he proposed three singularity-free future histories.

We go off the rails, most everyone dies in an afternoon, and the survivors slouch towards extinction.
We ease into 50,000 years or so of pleasantness before we [...]

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Sometimes I miss Wisconsin, but not this much.

January 13, 2007 – 1:40 pm

Up, briefly, at 5:30 to feed the cats, who were being fidgety instead of keeping Cyn’s and my feet warm. There was frost on the windows.

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The Defenestration of 2006

December 30, 2006 – 1:37 pm

My friend Lucy relates a San Francisco financial district end of year tradition unknown to me.

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Remembering Carol Chapman

December 20, 2006 – 6:15 pm

Carol Chapman died earlier this week in a fire at her home, most likely while trying to save some of the cats she fostered.
Cynthia and I met Carol back in 2004 when, after my aging cat Elby died from complications of type I diabetes, I decided to adopt a pair of kittens.
On Saturdays, Carol and [...]

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Dear Northeast United States

December 17, 2006 – 2:19 pm

We have your weather. Please come by, and pick it up. Thank you, The West Coast.
ETA: At a little past 7, we’re already colder than the expected low for Pittsburgh, PA.

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