Recent articles

• Barcamp LA 4 recap

  Nov. 5, 2007

  I spent a day at Barcamp LA this past saturday, and it was in fact inspiring! Whether the talks I attended hit or missed, each one inspired in me a half dozen ideas for new things to do or make. I met several excellent folks, including Eliot Philips, who was kind enough to let me store my motorcycle helmet in his car, Dan Kaminsky, who gave his excellent speech (ppt) on DNS rebinding that made us all fear for our lives and livelihoods, and Tom Longson, who had brain-stimulating things to say about wearable technology. Eric Gradman, who gave a ...

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• Missing Tokyo, Surviving Los Angeles

  Oct. 7, 2007

  

  A week ago this morning I landed at LAX, home safe from Tokyo thanks to Korean Airlines. It was the end of two weeks' vacation with my girlfriend, Zoe. I looked out at the 405 as the plane made its approach, and thought "I never want to drive anywhere again." I grew up in the country, where everything was miles and miles apart, and then to a dreary suburban city that was anti-pedestrian not by malice but by laziness. Then I moved to Los Angeles, the city of the car, with its overcrowded bus lines and train that doesn't ...

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• Dashers unite

  Oct. 23, 2006

  The dash is a movement convention from the world of video games in which a character makes a smooth, fast movement forward with the press of a single button - a special action related to movement that allows the player character to cross from one side of the screen to another quickly, but often precludes any action while on the way (thus differentiating itself from normal movement). Of the popular movement conventions in video games, the dash is one of the few that easily translates to real life.

  I've had experiences where my work was so intense that I worked ...

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• New job.

  Sept. 13, 2006

  I have been meaning to write about my great new job as Project Manager, Technology at Revver, Inc., but I have been too swamped launching:

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• Dorkbot Socal 13

  May 11, 2006

  I had the pleasure of attending Dorkbot Socal 13 this weekend. Zoe accompanied me, and we went straigh from lunch - I wanted to stop at home to grab some tools, but we didn't want to be late. We arrived, and between 10 and 20 people were milling about. After a couple minutes, a tall gentleman with (in my opinion) excellent style (Tom Jennings I believe) hauled out some old gear to take apart, including an oscilloscope and some radiation-detecting devices of 50s vintage. After about 20 minutes of discovering what the insides of old kit looked like (and snagging ...

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• Skin.Graft.Designs

  April 14, 2006

  

  here's a quick one for the weekend - the myspace page of designer jonathan cota. What fabulous stuff - the person who linked me assured me he'd certainly never seen a Final Fantasy game. Unlikely, but if true he needs to not only see the games but move to japan and start working for squenix!

  

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• Notes from the underground

  April 4, 2006

  From a downtown warehouse party last weekend. That's right, not fashion week, not a halftime show, but a downtown warehouse party.

  
  Love this town. Love the future and wallowing in its shit.

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• 498cc of Contentment

  Nov. 9, 2005

  I received some well-thought-out advice from an avid motorcyclist during the research phase of my bike purchase. He opened with his belief that "getting one is the best decision a person can ever make in their lifetime as far as happiness/inner peace is concerned..."

  Think that sounds pretty extreme? So did I. People who are extremely wrapped up in their hobby often sound like missionaries. I met his words with the same skepticism with which I'd greet a door-to-door prosletyzer. I tend to be suspicious of anyone who claims epiphany through merchandise.

  I then purchased a motorcycle. How ...

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