Wayback: The Web Is Not Walden Pond
From the Bloggle Archives, circa March, 2002. I wrote this as an antidote to what struck me as a surge in misplaced web design ideals; ideals that, in fact, turned out to be the beginning of ‘Web 2.0,’ for all that’s worth. I think it’s as...
It’s a Consumer Appliance. It’s a Digital Media Consumption Device. Oh, and it takes calls.
Jeff Bezos this week trumpeted Amazon’s Fire Phone, an all-new smartphone-cum-shopping-appliance species with a fork of Android OS at its core and cameras perched on most every available conceivable surface, most of which unblinkingly observe the user. (Selfie fans take note.)
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
Albert Freakin' Einstein
Hello, Vancouver, Goodbye
Herself and I had a too abbreviated experience in Vancouver, owing to a increasingly typical SNAFU on the part of United Airlines — %&#$!%, United! — which left us in Chicago for, oh, some 24 hours longer than we’d planned. (Chicago, you know I...
Various & Sundry
Firstly, to all who’ve kindly expressed their well-wishes about Jessie, online and offline and in real space, thank-you. And while, yes, I *did* consider (for about 0.002 seconds) writing an, “All I Need to Know About Life I Learned From My Dog”...
Good-night, Jessie.
Yesterday our time with Jessie — our lovable, neurotic and blind golden retriever — came to its inevitable end. For some while my wife and I have known it was nearly Jessie’s time… that the discomfort of living with glaucoma was reaching the...Uh-oh…
It’s sunny and seventy-eight degrees. The sky is powdery blue, and a warm breeze carries the scent of fresh earth and early blooms. This can’t possibly end well. ‘Cause face it — this is Vermont. You get sunny days and seventies in the month of...
Still Crazy About Seattle
Despite the rain, and the blustery breezes. Despite the strep throat, and bronchitis. Despite the fact it would appear the city of my birth might see me catch my death, I love Seattle, still. Seattle remains a guiding star for coffee. From Vivace to Zoka, Trabant to...
Science Rules
Just in case there was any doubt in your mind, science rules. Case in point, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. After completing its original four-year mission, Cassini is now a year into a secondary, extended mission, and still sending back mind-bending images that...
Coffee Notes from All Over
It’s getting stupid busy around here, and so to make sure that I keep up with things I’m challenging myself to do more, not less. (That right there… that’s likely the stupid part of stupid busy.) As always, there’s more coffee reviews...
PT’s Sidamo Special Prep
At PT’s Coffee, blondes have more fun. No, really. When’s the last time you had a blonde coffee? What’s that, you say? Never? Well it’s about time that changes… Okay, so maybe it’s not really a blonde roast… that stuff’s...A Taste of Things to Come
Arrived home to find a care package waiting for me. Which is always nice. A parcel from Jeff Taylor at PT’s Coffee in Topeka (you probably remember Jeff; his crew were recently awarded Roast Magazine’s Roaster of the Year) was sitting on my doorstep and...Get Your Vote On
This started out as a lengthy post. But honestly, I bet you’ve heard every argument for — and against — both presidential candidates, and every other candidate down-ticket by now. And if you’re in possession of a spinal column I’d feel...
Vote and the Coffee’s On Us
First, it’s worth noting that I’ve been known to give Starbucks grief from time to time… which only stands to reason as they frequently earn the griefing they get. On the other hand, sometimes the folks in Seattle get it dead to rights, and this is...
Hey… Nice pumpkins!
In the nearly twenty seasons that my wife and I have lured a parade of diminutive ghosts and goblins to our door with the telltale porchlight and a jack-o-lantern or two — not counting the smallish number of years that we were flat broke and could barely afford...Coffee Notes from All Over
Has your brewed coffee got Mojo? Maybe. Just how would you know, anyway? By measuring it, of course. Let’s face it: you can tweak your coffee-to-water ratio, temperature and grind ’til you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t know the total...
Ten thousand thousand fruit
The first time I really tasted apple cider… …was in Hannibal, Missouri, in a park perched on the bluff of the Mississippi River. I was thirteen, and my freshman class had just trounced the sophomores in the annual October flag-football tradition known as...