elevator action

frequent earthquakes -> lack of tall buildings -> few elevators -> bay area natives that stand directly in front of the elevator doors when waiting to board.

for those of you out there that fall into this subset of cluetards, this behavior is both rude and counter-productive.

epistemic identity

two events during the last two days have reinforced my sense of belonging while reminding me that there's so much more to learn.

on saturday, i spent the day watching hopeful young motorcycle riders go from stalling and tipping over to moving around a track at a pretty good clip - but nowhere near ready for real roads. more interesting to me was that by the end of the day, they felt more comfortable calling themselves motorcyclists (as evidenced by their discussion of the next day's dress code - the guy who wore his nice kenneth cole boots wasn't going to repeat that mistake, and all of the ladies planned to bring ponytail-clips).

today, i'm sitting in the mediaX conference at stanford watching presenations on technology and people and collaboration. and i am once again reminded taht i already know so much more about these topics than the average citizen - but only on a practical, applied level.

mental models

lately my epistemic identity has been shaken by the realization that i know and have synthesized a great deal of information into a fairly decent mental model of my universe, but i have a great deal of trouble discussing the individual building blocks. or, for that matter, explaining my model. or capitalizing on it.

i think that's why i started this blog.

they've got me surrounded

cluetards are everywhere. they are the people that move through the world oblivious to their surroundings. they are the people driving and talking on cell phones that miraculously miss bicylists but cause ten other cars to make evasive maneuvers. they are the idealists that completely ignore any aspects of human nature or politics. they are the intolerant fanatics that rage against moral turpitude without examining any of their own faults. they are the non-voters.

they are the cluetards.

the most stunning example that comes to mind is an idiot who approached me last year at burningman. he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and holding a tiny paper cup of water in 95-degree sun. and he said "i parked last night and then went for a walk. now i can't find my car. it's blue. and dusty. can you help?"

food quest

i'm planning a food quest. this is an idea i picked up from my step-father, who likes to get together with other couples in his building to seek out the "best of" a certain kind of food within a geographic area. for instance, last year he and my mom and two other couples hopped all over manhattan trying philly cheesesteaks, and then drove to philly for a homegrown version.

when i arrived at stanford, my classmate janet and i spent 7 sundays trying to find decent bagels. we finally found House of Bagels right on University Avenue in Palo Alto... with its other location in San Francisco. very convenient.

mob rule

Tonight at 11, news by neighbors

sure, that'll work...

print is only mostly dead

this week in his Digital Journalism class, Howard Rheingold brought Dan Gillmor in to discuss his book, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People.

when Friedrich Nietzsche penned God is Dead, he was mourning the passing of the age of religion. now, bloggers and amateur journalists are jumping on the Print is Dead bandwagon. like Nietzsche, they are both premature and perhaps ultimately wrong. but if professional journalists and journalism schools don't embrace and incorporate the new participatory model, we may have to declare that Journalism is Dead.