I've gotten used to seeing Treasure Island and Oakland vanish into the fog since we switched coasts, but this past week offered something I hadn't noticed before. The Bay Bridge poked its way out of the fog, while its lower half looked like someone had swiped a Photoshop blur brush across everything close to the water (as seen above in the photo I took from the Financial District). It was beautiful, but it did get me wondering about why the fog behaves in different ways. Then — lo and behold — an answer showed up in my RSS feed. As SFGate explained, the cause and effect are pretty simple: cold stays low, and during the current time of year, the fog is filled with cooler air than the summer months when the fog reaches higher.
Specifically, this fog is now "coming from Central Valley while the fog that's higher in the atmosphere and typical in summer months is formed over the Pacific Ocean." Great to know.
I've got two big updates on the podcast front this week. The first is that there's a new episode on artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Which is on Soundcloud like the previous two episodes. However, the ongoing Bistrocast podcast is now also available on iTunes as well. Click here to find it, listen to it, subscribe to it, and rate it as you see fit.
Much thanks and appreciation to everyone who has listened and given feedback so far.
Episode No. 2 from the Bistrocast is live, and live you can listen to it with the embedded player below. It's an interview with my colleague Will Barkis about the state and future of Smart Cities technology. There's more info on the OSV blog.
The new publication I started on Medium isn't overflowing with content yet, but I did add a second installment to it, collecting some more insights from my editorial work. This one is called "How to Publish Things That Don't Fail Miserably (Even in B2B)," and I'm sure much of it sounds obvious, but for anyone who is getting started — or even just looking to re-calibrate their internal compass for success measures and standards, that post represents the top-level pieces of advice I would offer.
I don't update the Medium account too often, as anyone who has looked at it would know. Last week, though, I posted a piece called "Please, Never Tell This Story at a Job Interview" that has been burning a hole in the back of my brain for a while. It's based on some advice that I've tossed out in a handful of individual instances. I felt like it could use a full bake.
Seven days after getting back from a half-recreational, half-business family trip to Milan, Italy, I think I've finally got the sleep hours re-banked to share some short insights. I'd been to Italy along the Italian Riviera and in Venice before, but this was my first time to Milano — and my first time trying to make a weeklong trip abroad work while exploring one-on-one with a 16-month-old.
It was a great expedition. The architecture, the artwork, the history, and the people were overwhelmingly beautiful on a daily basis. I'd hoped to have some more sunlight, but unfortunately the rain drove us inside for much of four out of the six days that we got to spend there. The nice side of that deal was that we got to learn how few Milanese patrons show up to the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna on an alternatingly overcast and rainy day.
And by the way, see the modern art museum in Milan. The Picasso, Gauguin, and Boccioni works were all rich and worth the visit, but the real surprise of the day — in addition to the yard of flamingos down the street — was the slender hallway of Toulouse-Lautrec items, including some ink illustrations that brought me a few steps closer to the personalities in his faces than I'd ever been before.
As for the architecture, the Duomo di Milano was every bit as impressive as people say, though the many other churches and basilicas throughout the city are worth a reasonable, meandering walk to seek them out and experience the flow of the residential areas into piazzas, business districts, and other public spaces. The Basilica di San Lorenzo was especially worth the hike; and when you see it, take note of the colonnade out front that's left from the structure that used to lead up to the old Roman road system. The complex itself is a magnificent three-dimensional view of the historical periods that built and folded together to make Milan what it is today.
And though the rain did keep us out of the parks for a few days, I was happy that we saved up the Friday full of sunny skies to visit Castello Sforzesco, the castle up the street from the Duomo that was built in the 15th century by the former Milan's former duke, Francesco Sforza. It's got works by da Vinci and Michelangelo among its treasures, and there's a sprawling Parco Sempione behind it is a wonderful place to let a small kid burn off some energy and yell back and forth at a pond full of ducks.
Originally, I'd gone into the week hoping to make a day trip or two out of the city by train — Lake Como came up as the most likely option. In the end, however, I got a little shy over the weather and not wanting spend the hours of transit time necessary to end up in yet another storm.
Fortunately, Milan had plenty to offer, especially at Potafiori and Note di Cucina, the two real dining out experiences we got to experience as a family, the latter of which was for our wedding anniversary.