Microwave Buttons

How many buttons on your microwave do you actually use?

The Spice of Life

Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes, and this tension between consistency (and the efficiency it affords) and variety plays out in so many areas.

Positive vs. Negative Sum Games

If I have an extra cup of coffee, and you have an extra two dollars, we both come out ahead when I agree to sell it to you.

Pruning Flowers

Growing flower bushes takes commitment. You have to water and weed them, and ensure they are safe from bugs and disease.

Questions from 6 Months of Writing

Clive Thompson made an online tool that extracts only the questions from a piece of writing. So I dumped the last six months of my blog posts into it in reverse chronological order. Here's what came out.

The Most Important Problems

Mathematician Richard Hamming made a habit of asking scientists from other disciplines, "What are the most important problems in your field?"

Calm Mind

How much would you pay to keep your mind calm most of the time?

Everything is a Remix

There's a popular myth about artists sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. In a flash, a song comes to them, wholly original.

Working On Vs. In

Working on a business consists of building out the systems for getting things done. Working in a business means carrying out those processes.

YouTube Videos

YouTube had a problem. After releasing their video upload app for iPhones, between 5-10% of uploaded videos were upside-down.