Lately we’ve been giving the recommendation machine over at Netflix increased credence. If Netflix’s computer says that we’d give a certain film 3.8 stars, we’re more likely to queue it. 4.2 stars or higher, and we’re even more likely to watch it. I’m simultaneously thrilled and appalled when a computer can predict my taste [...]
Driving home from today’s family adventure, I spotted a neighbor’s car with the vanity plate: “VEGAS 71.” My first, and best guess, is it is the city and year they were born in.
Which immediately led me to wonder just how much action I’d get if I drove around San Francisco with the city and year [...]
I just got back from a business trip to Denver, and even though I didn’t need my laptop I wish I had taken it with me. I would have been able to make the three or four posts I wanted to, instead of piling them all into one big post here, now.
I flew into Denver [...]
If I were a stand-up comic, I would focus my “differences between men and women” routine on men’s addiction to outcome. Or, at least, my own personal addiction to outcome. There aren’t a lot of sporting events I plan on sitting down to take in: Golf’s Majors, Cal Football (until the 3rd quarter, when they [...]
My golf handicap has been hovering at well over 30 for a year now. I’ve broken 100 just twice in the three years I’ve been playing, and both of them were rounds played at Lincoln - a course with only one par 5 and a total par of 68. This has been frustrating for me, [...]
Fundraising auctions are a really interesting study in human psychology. There are the obvious archetypes: the people who need to make a donation in public, the adrenaline junkies who love the thrill of the chase, and the extremely competitive must-winners, to name a few.
There are also the people you could never dream up, not if [...]