Bug Zappers and Thoreau

Thoreau loved swamps. Modern Americans love swamps too, as long as they surround them with bug zappers. I think there’s a lesson in there.

Going Solar without Rooftop Panels (Renters Too!)

If you live in the PG&E service area, and a growing number of other locales in the US, you can now choose grid-sourced solar energy for your electricity. Reduce your carbon footprint and encourage more renewable energy in the future.

Why I Quit Using Facebook and Pocket

It wasn’t just that I grew tired of being a click slave in the Facebook mines, but I also didn’t like what it was doing to my mind. What *was* it doing to my mind? That’s a bit complicated.

Why I Don’t Go Paperless

Is it really “green” to go for paperless billing, or is it just a “dark pattern” by which companies seek to distance you from your costs, fees and other nastiness? Read on to see wny I think it’s a dark pattern and what the actual difference in carbon footprint is.

The Boy Behind The Couch

In which our hero recalls an embarrassing moment in the life of a barely-teen introvert upon reading a chance passage in Susan Cain’s book Quiet and discovers his true nature.

Learning to Read

We talk about “learning to read” as if it’s something we do and is done. As in “when did he learn to read?” But I’m 52 and still learning to read. In this article I recount my meetings with extraordinary readers and what goes into truly learning to read.

Sarah’s Watch

A man awakes in a cell with nothing but a watch that won’t even truly tell him the time. And secondarily, an experiment in writing using the Hemmingway App

Best Jeremiah Johnson Quotes

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this film, but not enough. Words to live by. The quotes that guided me from childhood into adulthood. You might be asking me whether it was worth the trouble to put this together. Ha? What trouble?

If that response means nothing to you, go watch the movie, then come back here.

Uniformity, creativity and the employee handbook

George Hartzog, the greatest leader of National Park Service understood that creativity can be crushed in the name of “standards.” He killed the employee handbooks and set his people free.