The scholarly authorities on freezing to death seem to be, unsurprisingly, Canadians.

A million people can call the mountains a fiction, yet it need not trouble you as you stand atop them.

Sometimes I mistake this for a universe that cares.

News networks giving a greater voice to viewers because the social web is so popular are like a chef on the Titanic who, seeing the looming iceberg and fleeing customers, figures ice is the future and starts making snow cones.

You don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.

Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out. You're curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.

When designing an interface, imagine that your program is all that stands between the user and hot, sweaty, tangled-bedsheets-fingertips-digging-into-the-back sex.