We turned on the radio during our epic drive last weekend and all we heard was auto-tune (great piece on NPR here). Particularly enjoyed Kanye’s Love Lockdown and The Game’s My Life #
The I-5 inversion
This blew my mind yesterday. For about 4 miles north of Castaic, California, the lanes of Interstate 5 invert, with northbound traffic on the left-hand side and southbound traffic on the right-hand side, “in order to make the grade manageable…
Autumn leaf on a city sidewalk
I believe this is a leaf from a Callery Pear tree (also known as a Bradford Pear)—you may recall having seen something similar here before: Scanner Art Interesting update: My photo tattooed on someone’s body
Thanksgiving at Joshua Tree
We went down to Joshua Tree National Park over the long Thanksgiving weekend, which is becoming something of a tradition for us (see Thanksgiving at MacKerricher, Thanksgiving at Lassen). This was our campsite, complete with joshua trees. Our campsite, complete…
Geekiest birthday present ever?
An easter egg in our ticketing system at work (on a pretty funny ticket):
Best birthday lunch ever?
Two hot dogs with grilled onions and spicy brown mustard, bacon cheese fries, and a coke
Best birthday dinner ever?
That’s four strips of Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon. Man, it was like eating barbecue. Definitely the best bacon I’ve ever had! And that’s a Rogue Dead Guy Ale in the background. Courtesy of the Rogue Public House in San Francisco.…
I’ve been thinking about creating a Twitter account
To practically everyone I know, that sentence is probably tantamount to: “I’ve been thinking about getting an email address.” In other words they take 5 seconds to create, they’re free, and everyone has one. WTF!? The one thing that’s been…
On blog comments and Twitter
I started Justinsomnia (during a bout of sleeplessness) with Blogger back in 2002. This was before blogs had built-in commenting functionality. Eventually third party apps came along (like Haloscan, YACCS) that added commenting, but I was reluctant. I didn’t want…
Close encounters with Twitter
I’d been working as a web producer at O’Reilly for about a year when I got an IM sometime in April 2006 from ex-coworker Tony Stubblebine. He asked if I knew any good web developers who were looking for a…
Learning how to save, two years later
To recap, in 2006 I started an IRA with Schwab. In 2007 I moved my money over to a “high” interest checking account, also with Schwab. It happened to come with a brokerage account which I used to start automatically…
So you want to buy a new camera?
The other day my friend asked me to suggest some models she might want to consider for her next camera purchase. She has a run of the mill point-and-shoot, and was looking to upgrade to something that might befit her…
Claüs freaks me out
Tell me I’m not alone on this one. I mean he’s a young dude with a white beard. Mommy, is Santa an albino? The ad links to http://www.palm.com/textclaus/ by the way. I’ve seen it around on Digg and The Onion.…
La reproduction interdite (after Magritte)
I have to admit, that’s a “side” of me I don’t often see reproduced in photos. So that’s what I look like from the back, eh? Inspiration was mine, iPhone photo by Andre, Magritte allusion from Andy, backdrop courtesy of…
Chocolate tasting
I’ve been wine tasting, cheese tasting, even olive oil tasting, so why not chocolate? On Thursday night, Stephanie and I went to the official opening of the TCHO Factory Store on Pier 17 for a chocolate tasting. TCHO’s CEO is…
Alamo: the building and the beer
The building And the beer Bonus, the tex-mex (came with chili con carne!)
Gingerbreading
Stephanie built her first gingerbread house Check out that hot icicle action!
A Christmas Eve Raclette
We brought the raclette machine with us to Austin in case my family would be willing to take us up on a “personal pan fondue”. Everyone was game, so we set out to do a slightly Americanized version of Raclette…
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
In what’s become something of a tradition, we took a photo this morning in front of the Christmas tree (before opening any presents). I hope everyone was able to spend some time with their friends and family over the holidays,…
On the way to the airport
If I can schedule my flight to depart Austin sometime after 3pm, that means we can stop at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q for lunch on the way. This trip was no exception. I flew home with a half rack of baby back…
Chestnuts roasted over an open fire
Probably only the second time in my life I’ve ever had roasted chestnuts, which is funny considering their prominence in that song. And we got them from the same place too, $3 for 6 out in front of Macy’s in…
From what region of France does Camembert cheese originate?
This would be a Trivial Pursuit question that Stephanie (and I) got wrong over the holidays. We didn’t even have a clue. Thanks to Cost Plus World Market, we will never forget… Answer: Normandy!!!
The $100,000 ad-supported salary
Let’s say you wanted to create a website that would generate enough annual revenue to allow you to live comfortably. For the sake of round numbers, let’s say that magic number was $100,000. With that as a target, I wondered…
Better late than never I guess… “Prop 8 – The Musical” also: Protect Marriage, Protect Children, Prohibit Divorce (wait for the ending) #
I finally found what I’m getting for EVERYONE in my family this Christmas:
Fun Wikipedia finds: Hippie trail and the Banana Pancake Trail #
This amused me WAY more than I thought it would: The Angry Video Game Nerd reviews Ghostbusters for the Nintendo #
This is so hot: XXX Porn for Women #
Weekend project: making Applesauce (aka what to do when you’ve gotten apples in your veggie box the past two times and you don’t want to eat them as is) Verdict: surprisingly tangy #
This is pretty cute: Feist on Sesame Street #
I can’t think of a better person to help guide the future of HTML: Sam Ruby has been appointed as a new co-chair [of the HTML Working Group] by the W3C Director, Tim Berners-Lee #
How surreal: Brad Pitt in yellow #
Thank you Boing Boing:
The homeless in San Francisco have been on my mind lately (generally on my walks to and from work), so I had this idea the other week about building a shopping cart that transforms into a portable shelter. Wouldn’t you know it, someone invented one: EDAR (Everyone Deserves a Roof) More info here.
Statistic that I find appalling:
For future reference: Photography on Simply Recipes #
What a breath of fresh air:
To eat at later: Zuni Cafe (on Market between Franklin and Gough) #
You stay classy, James:
Who could have imagined that the environment would become a wedge issue for the evangelical-set? #
Something I learned after listening to a talk by Matt Flannery, CEO and co-founder of Kiva:
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He previously was a professor of economics and is famous for his successful application of microcredit – the extension of small loans. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”
Apparently Grameen is going to start a microfinance program in NYC. #
For future reference: the Art Direction WordPress plugin allows per-page custom CSS and JS #
Three loosely-related things worth noting:
- xkcd’s comic: Our relationship entered its decline at this point
- Joy of Tech’s comic: Love knows no bounds, please repeal prop 8
- Something called the Courage Campaign, an “online hub for progressive Californians” (that I’ve never heard of, so I don’t know how legitimate it is) and their “Please don’t divorce us” photoset on Flickr
Good to know:
The Cheese School of San Francisco’s Winter 2009 Class Schedule is out #
When are the youths of Israel and Palestine going to finally say, “Enough is enough!” #
A sentiment I am sure is shared by many:
Nice Marlboro parody:
Google’s not just a brand; it’s a habit, and unlike cigarettes, a generally good one.
—Quote from Danny Sullivan’s Tough Love For Microsoft Search #
Bug of the year: