Companies have a problem on their sign in page: they need new users to register, and they need returning users to log in. Usually they have two separate forms, or one group gets short shrift. Jakob Nielsen pointed out Amazon’s design in his latest Useit column, and the more I’ve looked at it the better [...]
Posts under ‘Uncategorized’
Fall 2010 Semester Goals
This semester’s going to be the toughest semester I’ve had in terms of demands on my time. My goal this semester is just to show up, which Woody Allen says is “90% of life.” If I can be reliable and turn in assignments when I’m supposed to, show up to parties when I’m supposed to, [...]
Five regrets of the dying, from someone who works in palliative care
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I didn’t work so hard (almost exclusively from male patients) 3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my [...]
Four days in Sequoia Nat’l Park
I noticed that when I hiked at the front of the group I had lots of energy, and wanted to hike quickly, but when I hiked at the back I got tired more easily. I am sure that this difference is mental, and I wonder why that would be. Maybe if you were someone at [...]
Typography in the wilderness
Who knew that our national parks contained such great typography? I love the cursive font here: The trail signs also look great: You can find that cursive font here.
Wilderness first responder training
CMC brought in a Wilderness First Response expert to teach us first aid so we could be prepared while leading freshmen on orientation trips in the backcountry. We had been partying every night and everyone was hung over for the talk, but even so, the nonchalance of some group members towards the emergency training put [...]
Recent changes
You may have noticed, but the blog’s undergone a pretty heavy redesign/stripping of extraneous features lately. It’s hard to go wrong with “remove everything peripheral to the content, and change the content to Helvetica,” although I’m going to tweak the design more soon. Feel free to leave comments if you have any. In the interest [...]
Lectures for Basketball Coaches: Fatigue is Entirely a Mental Phenomenon
The last three summers I’ve coached at the best basketball camp in the East Bay. One big part of camp are the “defense” and “skills” lectures. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but I’m not at camp, and I’m a way better writer than I am a motivator, so I’m posting my lectures [...]
How to sell a scoop of ice cream for $60,000
Sell it on top of Mount Kilimanjaro and make the buyer feel good about giving to charity: They also offered a $45 ice cream bucket, with two dozen scoops of all the flavors, which we ordered.
Theory of conversation, part 2
Last week I noted Scott Adams’ thoughts on how to make good conversation. Making conversation is a skill that I need to work on. Good Tell a story, if you are a good story teller, or funny Create something from nothing; it’s hard to describe this category, but think about standing in a nondescript environment [...]
