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Toni Schneider’s blog about Silicon Valley startups, cars, biodiesel, WordPress, Automattic, and True Ventures

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Written by Toni

November 26, 2008 at 9:53 am

Posted in Technology

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Robert Scoble shows how various services are causing online conversations to become more real-time and less permanent.

Written by Toni

November 24, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Posted in Technology

Car porn

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Do not click this link unless you are a serious car nerd.

Written by Toni

November 24, 2008 at 11:24 am

Posted in Cars

This looks fun

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Written by Toni

November 19, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Posted in Asides

Jerry Yang

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I’m sad that Jerry is stepping down. I enjoyed working for him when I was at Yahoo.

Written by Toni

November 17, 2008 at 8:42 pm

Posted in Asides

Virtual teams

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Raanan gave a well received talk about virtual team collaboration at WordCamp Israel:

Written by Toni

November 17, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Posted in Automattic, WordPress

Thank you firefighters

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My sister lives in Santa Barbara. Last Thursday evening around 6pm she and her husband got a phone call telling them that they had 15 minutes to evacuate their house. A dangerous fire had flared up less than a mile away. They grabbed what they could, put the kids in the car, and took off with embers flying through the air and the fire coming towards their house. They went to their in-laws (who later also had to evacuate) and started listening to the radio. Chances for their house were low. Late into the night they heard confirmation that their neighborhood had burned to the ground. Their hopes sank to near zero. Then, after being up all night, they got a call from a neighbor. She had managed to get back up to their street and told them that miraculously my sister’s house and two others below it were still standing. Everything else around them was gone.

My sister thinks that the fire hydrant on their property might have saved their home. Firefighters must have climbed on their roof, chainsawed off the breezeway connecting their house to a smaller building (a recording studio) and started hosing down their house. The studio ended up burning to the ground, but the main house made it through. Even the ancient oak and eucalyptus trees next to the house survived.

My heart goes out to the over 200 families who lost their homes in the Tea Fire. And my gratitude goes to the anonymous firefighters who saved my sister’s family from losing their home and all their belongings.

Update: A picture of their studio on fire from a CNN video feed:

fire

Written by Toni

November 16, 2008 at 6:49 pm

Posted in Asides

Kites

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tiger

kite

Everyone needs at least one great book about kites.

Written by Toni

November 10, 2008 at 8:54 pm

Posted in Asides