My kids often tell me that it would be criminal to bring a baby into this world, but I strongly disagree. It’s by far the best time in human history to be born. Things are better now than they have ever been worldwide. By the numbers News shows often highlight the bad things in the…
The first book I read for fun was at summer camp when I was around 11 or 12. The book was A Cast Of Killers by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick. It totally captured my imagination and I read it without stopping, cover to cover. Thus began a decades-long obsession with reading. I actually got in trouble…
Some birds have been leaving dead mouse parts in a small stone water pool we have in our front yard. The mystery is why. I have thought of some possibilities. A Sicilian Message Maybe the birds are sending us a signal. Like “Luca Brasi swims with the fishes”. The birds are saying that our days…
I have been working (or looking for work) non-stop for almost forty years. My first job in high school was at Waldenbooks, which I loved. I worked through college, had my own business, was employee #1 at Marketo and was there through a successful IPO. I was early to use CSS, early to use jQuery,…
The world of design is changing more rapidly than ever before. I had considered writing a book of everything I know about product design, but I think the title would have to be “How we used to make software back before AI”. (Sad trombone noise) One of my least favorite things about AI is the…
Our black labrador retriever, Leroy, has been with us a long time. He just turned 14 and is in pretty good health. In his younger days, Leroy was Olympic level fetch master. He could sprint non-stop. Nowadays, his arthritis is bad, but if you have a ball, he will still run hard to get it…
I was recently at the doctor and saw the user interface they use. It made me throw up in my mouth a little. Redacted screenshot below. Apologies for cropping the left hand side of the screen. It’s just more of the same. This is a perfect example of an application with no information architecture. It’s…
This has come up recently in many forms. It’s interesting to me how trust is the key ingredient in almost all human interactions. Musical Bands I have two family members in bands and the issue of trust comes up often. I’m not a musician but I understand how you need to trust your drummer or…
The zen feel of the dog laying its head on my lap. I never want to get up. The visual creativity of the Jujutsu Kaisen bunny fight scene. The screensaver in my office showing pictures from the my past. The memories fill me up. Paradise season 2 episode 4, “A Holy Charge”; so sad and…
Writing in March 2026 I’ve never experienced such a period as the current, when the possible futures are so diverse. Where things are changing so rapidly and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. It’s honestly unnerving. I find it soothing to break down the plausible options rather than be overwhelmed by infinite possibilities. US Dictatorship…
I grew up outside of NYC in the suburbs and lived in Manhattan for many years. After 9/11, the city became unpleasant and we decided to move to my wife’s hometown, Berkeley, California. I had visited California once before (Santa Monica), but I had little experience with the state. I quickly fell in love with…
We are all humans. There are commonalities that binds us all, baked into our DNA. One of those common threads is the desire for increased social status. We use status to denote in-group and out-group. We use it as a weapon when we verbally decrease a person or group’s status. We use it as a…
I have been witness to many technical “BIG changes” in the last 40 years. Notice the frequency of milestones is accelerating. Introducing Open Claw ChatGPT shows how a natural language dialog can be part of personal computing. Unfortunately, it hallucinates constantly and has a terrible memory. It also doesn’t know that much about me. Recently,…
I really dont like the shrug emojis.🤷🤷♂️🤷♀️ They all look upset. Look at the eyes and mouth. Also, why do we need three color shirts? Whats the point of that. Compare this emoji to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ – The emoticon looks more whimsical like “Whatcha gonna do?” It’s smiling or at least positive-neutral. The details of design…