hero for our time

From an interview with Trent Reznor:

Where does that extra $10 on your album go?

That money's not going into my pocket, I can promise you that. It's just these guys who have f---ed themselves out of a job essentially, that now take it out on ripping off the public. I've got a battle where I'm trying to put out quality material that matters and I've got fans that feel it's their right to steal it and I've got a company that's so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don't know what to do, so they rip the people off.

Given all that, do you have any idea how to approach the release of your next album?

I've have one record left that I owe a major label, then I will never be seen in a situation like this again. If I could do what I want right now, I would put out my next album, you could download it from my site at as high a bit-rate as you want, pay $4 through PayPal. Come see the show and buy a T-shirt if you like it. I would put out a nicely packaged merchandise piece, if you want to own a physical thing. And it would come out the day that it's done in the studio, not this "Let's wait three months" bulls---.

spoiled

xkcd makes me laugh

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.