I check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID-19 stats each morning. This morning, all the stats it tracks are above the pretty-safe line, i.e. things are looking un-safe out there. I've stopped...
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Book Report: How to Do Nothing
In How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell exhorts us to occasionally look up from social networks and instead look around at the places and people around us. These days, at least here in the SF Bay Area, thi...
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Book Report: Misbehaving
It's an autobiography of an economist who wanted to affect policy. This is difficult: If you want to convince a politician to do something that they didn't already want to do, you probably need some ...
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A new batch of Nordic LARP talk videos went up a few days back. One of these applies even to non-LARPers. At least, it applies to non-LARPers who collaborate on big, ambitious projects. Brace yoursel...
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Question for folks who say "Don't punch Richard Spencer": Suppose I see Richard Spencer on the street giving an interview or whatever. What should I do instead? I concede that punching him probably w...
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Excerpt from the Ghost Patrol pre-game prep-mail from GC: Relatedly, we are fairly demanding on battery life, so please make sure your phones are charged ahead of time I think he means hunt ghost...
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Trial runthrough of my 15-minute Game Control Summit (have you RSVP'd yet?) talk was an hour long. That's… That's why you do a trial runthrough of your talk. Guess I'll cut some. Maybe I'll cu...
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Book Report: Being Mortal
It's Atul Gawande, thoughtful writer/doctor, on end-of-life issues. Gets into the question: why does society pressure doctors to make our last days miserable? Maybe because folks don't want to think ...
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I'm thankful for the internet. Because when my parents' oven was confused to find itself both locked and opened, I didn't know what to do. But someone knew, and they'd written it down. Oh, and I'm t...
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If you don't want to be bored, you can keep seeking out the next article to read, the next channel to watch, the next feed to follow, the next, the next, the next. Or you could surround yourself wit...
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Book Report: Republic, Lost
When Solyndra was falling apart, Republicans were screaming: these green companies were just boondoggles, false fronts to scoop up government money. It's easy to dismiss their complaints as a bunch o...
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Book Report: Little Bets
If you run a business that's supposed to be innovative, you must take risks. To succeed long-term, you must take many small risks; recognize which gambles work out and which don't; and then push furt...
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Charitable Giving for People with Tiny Mailboxes, Part 2
Once again, I saved my bulk mail from charities for a couple of years and just now counted it out. Some organizations get things done without sending me a bunch of crap; some organizations send me a...
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Book Report: Whole Earth Discipline
It's been a glum time at work lately. A co-worker was sick for a long time. Last week, he passed away. In our department, we could count on him to cheer people up when things went wrong. So now we m...
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Jotting Notes on Red Byer's GC Summit 2009 Talk "Run More Games"
OK, jotting some notes about Red Byer's GC Summit 2009 talk "Run More Games". Yes, the talk was months ago; my notes are not timely. Oh, before I even start, I should link to Red's own notes about ...
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Book Report: Predictably Irrational
A series of musings about how people really behave. Or, rather, how they misbehave. Describes experiments about placebos, cheating, and other circumstances in which people lie to themselves and to o...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Bless Them
Traffic was bad this evening; my commute was long; I emerged from the bus nauseous. That happens when the commute goes too long: stare at the laptop screen too long while on a moving vehicle, don't ...
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Book Report: She's Such a Geek
This is a book of essays by women geeks. It's pretty inspiring. That's partially because geek stories can be inspiring. But also because the stories from several years back tend to be about women ...
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Charitable Giving for People with Tiny Mailboxes
As a bleeding heart tree-hugging liberal dupe of the special interests, I give to many charitable organizations. Then they send me paper mail to let me know what they're doing and to encourage me to...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, even Redmond
I was planning to visit the Seattle area this autumn. MS Puzzlehunt 11 is happening around then. Any Microsofties reading this... any suggestions on how I might volunteer as slave labor for the fol...
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Book Report: How I Came into my Inheritance (and other true stories)
'Lene is out of the hospital. Meanwhile, Alexandra says that her mother is sick; Team Mystic Fish might be on shaky ground this weekend. I have no health problems myself; in theory I have no cause ...
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Pirate-themed Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, even the Castro
Even if it didn't conflict with No More Secrets weekend, I'm not sure I'd play in a treasure hunt run by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. That sounds like more fun than I could stand.Labels: arr...
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Book Report: The Design of Everyday Things
Yesterday I flew back into the San Francisco bay area after a business trip down South. I was looking out the window as we passed over scenic Fremont. We passed over some bodies of water. I looked...
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Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, but not where I am
Four conversations at work yesterday, vaguely remembered: Avani the intern and me: Me: Yeah, that phone conversation I had yesterday must have sounded pretty weird to you. All that stuff about "War...
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