For-pay Web content is information terrorism and should be banned (experts-exchange.com, etc = evil)

Any computer programmer who has ever googled an error message (for some reason, especially Microsoft error messages) knows the annoyance of running into an experts-exchange.com kind of website that has EXACTLY the question you're wondering about, "Help, I have error X" -- but then when it comes to the answers to these questions, it touts "I have 6 expert replies to this question, just sign up now!"


How wrong is that? You're using google against me! Helpful information like this yearns to be free, but you're telling me I have to pay in order to get my question answered? Here's another one by justanswer.com.


I just cut my finger. I actually did kind of want to see what the answer was. But what awful copy to use in this case. "This Answer is Locked!" Wow. OK, so you're saying, I'm bleeding all over the place, I am worried as heck about my health, and you want me to bleed all over my keyboard typing my credit card number so that you can make a buck?

The sad thing is almost every answer to any question on these sites can be found readily elsewhere. I would never pay into these sites, and I am annoyed that I have to wade through this cruft in my google results. I just feel sorry for the poor schmucks who don't know any better and pay for it. As a business, it's effective. It works. It makes money. But ultimately, Google pagerank should ban these guys on principal. They shouldn't even appear in the first 10 pages of my search results.

Press 1 for Infuriation, press 2 for More Phone Trees


If it's one thing a startup has made me feel, it's utter disdain for large lumbering organizations. I understand why they exist, and I know it may well never change. There's just so much inefficiency, and it may well never go away because at the end of the day, I probably won't switch [my car insurance / my health insurance / my health care provider / my internet provider] JUST because of customer service. Hell, we want to minimize the amount of exposure we get to those bastards.

Why do companies require you to wade through phone trees? It's probably one of the more disrespectful and absurd things in customer service. "Your business is important to us." If it was that important, I'd be speaking to a human now. What's even more infuriating is when you have to speak to the machine and it doesn't actually understand anything. I usually end up screaming my head off into my phone. I know it doesn't hurt the computer's feelings, but it sure does make me feel better.

It's proven. Back at Stanford I did research with Prof. Clifford Nass. His entire career is based on the sheer fact that people treat computers like people.

Now if only large companies would treat people like people, instead of like computers, then maybe we'd be on to something.

Michael Lewis on one's calling in life

[A job vs a calling:] The distinction is artificial but worth drawing. A job will never satisfy you all by itself, but it will afford you security and the chance to pursue an exciting and fulfilling life outside of your work. A calling is an activity you find so compelling that you wind up organizing your entire self around it -- often to the detriment of your life outside of it. 

-- Michael Lewis, in a Bloomberg Commentary about Wall Street

I have a strong feeling Posterous is my calling.

A good time at Picaro in the Mission. Cheap Tapas and good friends.

Got together Saturday night after Sachin's movers finished dropping off all their stuff. Andalu couldn't seat us, so instead we went down the street on 16th to Picaro. Way cheaper, way better. I love inexpensive food! We were celebrating Sachin's return to the SF Bay, and man am I ever glad we're in the same city again.

 Good times to be had by all. Try Picaro on 16th and Albion. Delicious and totally worth it. The whole meal with sangria cost $25 per person, probably 1/3rd of what we would have paid at Andalu.

 Welcome home, Sachin!

Debussy's Clair de Lune

Given that Debussy's music is apparently so concerned with mood and colour, it is somewhat unexpected to discover that, according to one author, many of his greatest works appear to have been structured around mathematical models even while using an apparent classical structure such as sonata form.

--Wikipedia on Claude Debussy, composer

I believe in Santogold

Santogold is a breakout new artist who is trying to break the sonic boundaries. She grew up listening to Fela Kuti, James Brown, Led Zep, and Joni Mitchell. You can definitely hear it in her multi-talented 2008 eponymous album. It's only $5 on Amazon Music Store. It's totally a good deal for an hour of solid head nodding sound.

She's breaking down the walls to music, and I'm all for it:
I hope that I help break down boundaries and genre classifications. If I’m a black woman I’m just about singing R&B. I guess with those producers I’m supposed to be making club music.