My previous plan was to leave San Francisco June 19th and drive out to Colorado via LA. On the first of July I would fly to mexico for a 10 day meditation retreat and then move to New York City. That plan obviously didn’t work out and I’m very happy that’s the case.

I’ve been working with a friend on an early stage startup called Financial Gadget (fingad.com) which is the most fun I’ve had in ages. Working at Google was sort of like playing a video game with the cheat codes on, unlimited money and time made for easy sailing (most of the time). That can be fun for a bit (or until I’m no longer indigent from college) but ultimately I’m more excited about an interesting challenge. FinGad is going gangbusters, we’ve got an absolutely phenomenal team and more users than we know what to do with. Some big things are in the work$ and I’m going to be staying in California until the 10th of July, and yes, that means I’m going to priceless. The evening of the 10th I’m driving out to Colorado and flying from Denver to NYC on the 15th. From there:

from: Vipassana Meditation Center
to: TittyD
date: Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 12:16 PM
subject: 7/16/2008 Vipassana Course Registration

We are happy to accept you for the 10-day Vipassana meditation course at
the Vipassana Meditation Center from Wednesday, July 16, 2008 to Sunday,
July 27, 2008.

All course applicants must read, understand and agree to follow the Code of
Discipline as part of the application process. It is essential that all
participants understand the serious nature of the ten-day course before
applying. Therefore, please take the time to carefully read the Introduction
to the Technique and Code of Discipline prior to your arrival. Go to
www.dhamma.org/code.htm

Not entirely sure if it’s true but friends run the site and there’s definitely some interesting content on there that’s worth checking out.

Appreciate each mistake,
as a chance to awake,
and all that is to come,
will be much easier to take.

via my friend Doug Fuller who emails out little poems every week.

Jonathan Zittrain was on the Colbert Report a couple weeks back. I worked for JZ at HLS and he’s one of the best professors out there. He’s repping his new book The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. The interview is funny but really watered down.

The book on the other hand is a brilliant look at how increasingly controlled systems on the internet are preventing generative content from emerging. It’s a hard argument to make in a sentence or two but it’s really worth reading.

In less than 7 years, Mercedes-Benz plans to ditch petroleum-powered vehicles from its lineup. Focusing on electric, fuel cell, and biofuels, the company is revving up research in alternative fuel sources and efficiency.

The German car company has a few new powertrains in the line-up that European journalists have had the opportunity to test out in their facility in Spain. One vehicle includes the F700, powered by a DiesOtto engine that combines HCCI and spark ignition to get nearly the same efficiency as diesel, but minus the expensive after-treatment systems. The engine can run on biofuels, and we may have a purchasable vehicle by 2010 – a year that seems to be popular for the debut of a lot of new alternative fuel car models, making ’08 and ’09 simply thumb-twiddling years for consumers. I don’t know, maybe car makers just like the roundness of “2010.” The company’s next big step will be to launch a Smart electric car which is fuel and emission-free.

:: via Eco Geek ::

I think there are a lot of stupid web 2.0 company names because the vast majority of good internet domains are taken by advertising portals.

if I get less than 3 hours of sleep 2-3 nights in a row I become a total emotional basketcase. I get moody, depressed, afraid of everything(?). 90% of words seem like they’ve been misspelled. Not sleeping: probably worse than getting attacked by robots.