After celebrating its 50th anniversary just a few months ago, Kepler’s Books suddenly closed its doors yesterday. What a shock, and what a shame — it was one of the most prominent independent bookstores in the U.S., akin to City Lights in San Francisco, Vroman’s in Pasadena, or Powell’s in Portland. Situated in Menlo Park …
Author Archives: Jimmy Lin
Google’s changing public perception
I find it fascinating how there is suddenly a bunch of articles talking about how the perception of Google is changing from a bunch of fun-loving hackers dedicated to helping the world to a bunch of fun-loving hackers hellbent on controlling and dominating the world. First, the New York Times, then USA Today, and finally …
Catastrophe
As the scale of the enormous disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama becomes clear, two things come to my mind: Despite the mandatory evacuation orders, 20% of the population stayed behind to ride out the storm. Let’s just take the New Orleans metropolitan area, which has more than 1.3 million people. That means about 260,000 …
Windows 95 — Has it really been ten years?
Windows 95 was launched ten years ago yesterday. It was a huge deal at the time. People lined up at midnight to buy it, and some of them didn’t even own a PC! I was interning at Microsoft that summer, and I remember how massive the launch was. Calling it a carnival is not an …
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Adventures in mass transit
When I first started working at IBM Almaden, my commute was about 30 minutes each way, against traffic (thank goodness). It wasn’t bad, as commutes go in the Bay Area, but I was using about 1.3 gallons per day. That quickly adds up, especially the way gas prices are now. Then I found out that …
Grand openings
Grand openings I’m keeping my eye on: Guadalupe River Park and Gardens: Saturday, September 10 De Young Museum: Saturday, October 15 San Jose’s new City Hall: also Saturday, October 15 (hmmm, that’s kinda annoying) Vasona VTA Light Rail Extension: whenever VTA can get federal approval to open. Hopefully September
The Newest American Indians
Native Americans have been dealing with the loss of their culture through assimilation and interracial marriage for over 100 years. But those claiming to be Native American have jumped substantially in the last couple of decades, including those who don’t “look” Indian. How do Indians deal with such challenges? What does it mean to be …
Are ducks more important than people?
The recent killing of ducks near a car wash in Campbell has spawned outrage and a reward fund of over $17,000. Now, I’ve seen enough of the security video footage to know that it was a barbaric act. But I strongly agree with those who say that people seem to care more about animals than …
The Onion: “Intelligent Falling” Theory
The Onion hits the nail on the head once again: Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New ‘Intelligent Falling’ Theory
Santa Cruz
Last month I visited Alex in Santa Cruz. (Yeah, it took me a while to upload the photos…) I hadn’t been there in years, and what struck me is how much the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk looked like an old photo from the 1920s. The crowds, the old buildings, the wooden roller coaster… it was …