Birthday Inventory 2019

It's early on a sunny warm Saturday morning at my home in Montreal. I'm the only one up. I made waffles for my family because that's what dads are for; they're warming in the oven while everyone dozes. We're leaving for a weekend trip to the Maine coast in a couple of hours. I realize … Continue reading Birthday Inventory 2019 →

“Aspects Are Always True” Considered Harmful

I recently wrote a long piece on Reddit for a role-playing game system I love, FATE. People there use a shorthand for a part of the game, and I think that shorthand is not helpful to new players. My post got downvoted to obscurity, so I copied it here for safekeeping. You can safely ignore … Continue reading “Aspects Are Always True” Considered Harmful →

Building the next product at Mozilla

When I applied for a product manager position at Mozilla Corporation last year, the group I applied to asked that I write up how I would launch new product if I joined. I did a pretty traditional SWOT assessment to guide strategy and evaluate risks. I didn't end up joining, but I'd still like to … Continue reading Building the next product at Mozilla →

New Job at The Wikimedia Foundation

I have accepted an offer from the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) to become Product Manager for the next-generation API for Wikipedia and the rest of the Wikimedia sites. For non-tech people: I'm going to make it easier for programmers and companies to make tools that use and improve Wikipedia information. It's an opportunity to extend the … Continue reading New Job at The Wikimedia Foundation →

Birthday Inventory 2018

Tomorrow is my 50th birthday. It's a big one; about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through a North American man's life. I'm at the point of the baking show where the host comes around and says, "Five minutes left!" and the bakers all try to cover up their mistakes with frosting and get something … Continue reading Birthday Inventory 2018 →

A personal clock

Daylight saving time just switched over in Canada and the US, which always elicits collective shock that our system of telling time is arbitrary and kind of unhelpful. It made me think about other ways of measuring time that might be better. One option is to use a simple decimal time system with a universal … Continue reading A personal clock →

My 28-day 30-day challenge

I've been trying to focus my side projects into discrete 30-day challenges. This is less about keeping going, and more about keeping bounded. EvanCoin is a good example of a 30-day challenge I pulled off last year. In February 2018, I decided to focus on one of the side-projects I'd been toying with for months: … Continue reading My 28-day 30-day challenge →

Dollar-cost Averaging for Cryptocurrencies

I recommend to most people interested in investing in cryptocurrencies to use a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) strategy. DCA makes it easier to weather the volatility of cryptocurrency markets. It's also a simple strategy that doesn't require a lot of time or attention from the investor. Here's how it works: Budget an affordable amount of money … Continue reading Dollar-cost Averaging for Cryptocurrencies →

What is going on with me

I feel like I've been quieter online in the last few weeks than I have been in a while, so I'd like to take a few paragraphs to cover what's been happening with me. EvanCoin had a run of good press including a long article in WIRED, a mention in Bloomberg and a link in … Continue reading What is going on with me →

The health of the Internet

My friend Ian Forrester asked me for my thoughts a few months ago about the Internet Health Report that Mozilla published earlier this year. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly suggest you scan the site. It's a great document that covers some important issues with the Internet -- what makes it strong, and … Continue reading The health of the Internet →