People commonly use the word “procrastination” to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what’s happening as merely not-doing-work. We don’t call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working.

You can probably take it as a rule of thumb from now on that if people don’t think you’re weird, you’re living badly.

Google just issued a response to the Federal Trade commission’s staff discussion draft on potential recommendations to support the reinvention [read: preservation] of journalism [read: newspapers]. (here was my reaction). It’s a wonderful document that takes the FTC — and the news industry — to school on the First Amendment, copyright, fair use, antitrust, media history, business, and technology. The government and publishers should be embarrassed to need such remedial education.

The reason that I (and many of you) have had these similar quitting experiences is because many employers – despite having been employees themselves – don’t want to accept the fact that employees quit. Some even desperately try to change the fact. I can’t count the times I’ve heard “we offer careers, not just jobs” and “we’re more like a family than a company.” Interestingly enough, those companies tend to have the most mature dead-sea cycles. Employees – especially the most talented ones – are not “dating around” and moving from place to place in search of the Perfect Company at which they can grow old and retire at. They’ve already aced the first four rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy and are in search of self-actualization: the instinctual need of humans to make the most of their abilities and to strive to be the best they can. This point bears repeating. Indefinite retention is impossible; employees always quit. The key part is understanding why, and how to leverage this inevitability towards everyone’s advantage.

That this momentary portal to a quiet, prehistoric world is just an hour’s drive south of San Francisco makes it all the more miraculous. Purisima Creek Redwoods is one of 26 preserves that make up the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District — a collection of protected parcels of nearly 60,000 acres between San Francisco and San Jose.