The Snail Shell

2013 hasn't been the easiest. The careful reader may note that I posted a lot less here in 2013 than most years. Work has been difficul...

I started playing FTL (warning: takes about an hour to get into but then is very addictive). I've gone through this cycle with other g...

This is my bad weather bike. Batavus Navajo, classic Dutch style. I found it in my basement when I moved in. Not sure who it used to belong...

Why donate anything? We who earn USD can make a lot of difference for people abroad We in tech (and non-tech folks too) sometimes have mo...

It's only a tinge of iconoclasm, and mostly that I just don't really want to listen to it a lot. Anyway, I'd sooner put MBDTF o...

Networking. All-nighter. If you're saying these words, you're probably doing something wrong. People have been meeting each oth...

From The Scotsman newspaper today: "This emerging group of middle-aged thrill-seekers is increasingly driven by the phenomenon of ...

if there's no "meaning of life" except what we create for ourselves, could you just decide "the meaning of life is to b...

In fall 2006, I was having a tough time. Junior year, taking the hardest classes I had yet, and not really knocking them out of the park. I...

Sometimes life expands, and you start a thousand new projects and buy some stuff and make new friends. Sometimes it contracts, and you tie ...

Well, that was quick. I spent a couple hours at Kraynick's today, and it's good to go! The last few parts (bottom bracket,...

This is far enough along that I'm confident that I'll end up a Guy Who Built A Bike and not a Guy Who Blogged About Building A Bike...

1. They are usually about the healthiest thing you can eat, so making a habit of eating a big one every day means that, over time, you'...

If you pay attention, you can watch your brain shut down. (or, better metaphor, "suspend", or more appropriately "do a bunch...

You might have heard about Soylent , this drink made by a bunch of Y Combinator softwaremen who wanted to have an alternative to eating foo...

... is surprisingly easy. 1. print your design. 2. tape it to a non-corrugated cardboard. Tape a sheet of acetate (or "Dura-lar...

I got to talking with a friend about, uh, the state of the world, and she asked at one point, what's my take? At this point, it's s...

I like rakia/schnapps/slivovitz/fruit brandy. I thought it'd be fun to make some. However, turns out it's illegal . Which means...

" In California, there isn't a conflict between being a capitalist and a liberal ." "The companies here are more than ju...

It's beautiful and humble. I spent a couple days at a Buddhist center, thinking I'd get some sort of concentration or mental clarit...