Oh, look. A blog.

It’s not like I’m Mister Usability Stickler, but c’mon, how long would this take to fix? Like, an hour?

From LegoFountain

So this was an idea I had way back at Maker Faire in 2007. It got me just inspired enough to buy a pump and a couple of the Legos, and then I let the whole thing sit around in my file cabinet at work for two years.

Finally, I got off my butt and followed through with it. All-in-all, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, so I thought I’d share with you what I did in case you’re ever inspired enough to build your own…

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Okay, so I often shop at Whole Foods — there’s one conviently located on my way home from work, and the produce is always nice. But like many other Whole Foods shoppers, I occasionally make a “Whole Paycheck” crack. It’s my little way of saying, “Yeah, I know I’m paying more for my groceries, but I’m trying to show you I’m not a chump by at least acknowledging it in a self-deprecating joke. Ha ha!”

So it surprised me when, while reading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford, the author made the following claim: If you’re comparing the exact same item, fancy-shmancy supermarkets like Whole Foods aren’t actually any more expensive than your local Safeway or Stop & Shop. It’s just that the fancy supermarket will carry the more expensive brands and none of the cheaper brands, so the “middle-priced” item will cost more at the fancier supermarket.

To put it another way, both Safeway and Whole Foods might carry organic eggs, and they’ll cost the same at both places. But at Safeway, those will be next to some standard conventionally-raised eggs, while at Whole Foods those will be next to the Organic Free Range Pastured Omega 3 Eggs Laid By Chickens Who Listen to Smooth Jazz All Day. The organic eggs will be at the top of the price scale at Safeway, but near the bottom of the price scale at Whole Foods.

Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to test this out. Read the rest of this entry »

So here’s an interesting bit of trivia I learned today during my San Francisco architecture walking tour…

If you own a spot of land downtown, not only do you own that land, but you own the entire volume of space above that land, up until the limit that you’re allowed to build to. (So if I own a plot of land that’s zoned to allow a 120-foot building on top, I own the space that goes up 120 feet above that land.) So far, not all that surprising, right? But get this…

You can sell that space above your building to another developer so that they can increase their building’s height. In other words, consider the following example…

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