Outside Lands, take two
August 15, 2016 
Well, “take two” isn’t really fair. I’ve actually been to the festival three times. I hope you’ll see a jump in quality from last year’s.
Pretty crazy how people are willing to be photographed due to the air of professionalism of a DSLR in ways that a smartphone camera wouldn’t allow. As I asked people to take their photos, they would constantly ask things like “Where will these be published?” or “What site are you taking the photos for?” and were oddly surprised when I told them it was for a personal blog. The camera is both a bridge and a barrier.
If you came looking for a specific photo, and it isn’t here, reach out and I’ll happily send it your way. 600 was a lot to post at once. More...
Links - July 14th, 2016
As you can tell from the articles below, I’ve read a lot about consciousness lately. In general, I like the topic a lot, but I was actually trying to find an article on the subject from a couple of years ago that I remember being really good. Sadly, I didn’t find it, but it did take me down the rabbit hole of the Internet, and I found all of the consciousness related posts below, so hopefully you will enjoy those.
- A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning Kevin Simler - Melting Asphalt
A graph theory approach to the meaning of life, and, by extension, every one of our actions.
- Square is guilting us into tipping basically everyone Ester Bloom - Quartz
Because who wouldn’t tip $3 on a cup of coffee?
- The Facebook of ecommerce Benedict Evans
- A Technical Glitch Ben Thompson - Stratechery
- Medieval technology, indistinguishable from magic E R Truitt - Aeon
- Six centuries of secularity began with the first 'how-to' books William Eamon - Aeon Essays
- How Did Consciousness Evolve? Michael Graziano - The Atlantic
- Consciousness Began When the Gods Stopped Speaking Veronique Greenwood - Nautilus
- Postcards From the Edge of Consciousness Meehan Crist - Nautilus
- End of Cycle? Elad Gil
- Why Python is Slow: Looking Under the Hood Jake VanderPlas
- Why Does Pepperoni Curl? J. Kenji López-Alt - The Food Lab/Serious Eats
Yeah, its a post about pizza. To be more accurate, pizza + science.
- Fintech Revolution or Evolution? Alex Rampell, Angela Strange, and Charlie Warzel - a16z
In a recent post, I shared Charlie Warzel’s analysis on the future of payments. This episode of the a16z podcast takes a deeper dive.
- Remembering Stonewall 99% Invisible
Living in San Francisco, and having just attended Pride, this seemed very fitting. A really interesting story, which made me think a lot about how what is socially and culturally acceptable changes over time and space.
- Who Do We Think We Are? This American Life
I listened to this several weeks ago, but just noticed I hadn’t posted it. Mostly recommending it for Act 1, which deals with a really hard story. Especially interesting due to the herd mentality of “we do this because it is the way we’ve always done it,” which I hate so much. Other people’s decisions can change our lives forever. Sometimes unknowingly, and for all the wrong reasons.
The Last Two Weeks
July 11, 2016 
Summer in San Francisco is great. On most days, the city gets cold and foggy, so it is better to stay inside. Luckily, an hour or two away there are endless warm options to get away to. I definitely took advantage of it these past weeks. More...
Links - July 4th, 2016
I haven’t read much lately. I checked my stats today (yes, I keep track of how many articles I read) and my rolling one week daily average is about to hit 1 article read per day. That is scary, because I don’t know what is consuming my time in place of my usual online reading.
It might be Twitter, and the bots, but that doesn’t add up in my head.
Pride '16
June 27, 2016 
It is amazing to live in a city like San Francisco, where people can be whoever they want to be, without worrying about what others think. It is sad that something that simple can set this city apart from the rest.
Our identities shape our lives. Might as well pick the ones that make us happy.
Be proud of who you are, whatever that may be. More...