David Goldenberg: Blog

PigSpigot Launches!

noreply@blogger.com (david goldenberg) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

For the last year, I've been working with my friend Josh Stein to create a revolutionary new greeting card website called PigSpigot. (Why did we call it PigSpigot? Because we're nerds.) The site combines two of my favorite things in the world: user-generated content and hilarious drawings, which we've fused to help create some of the best and edgiest greeting cards around. And now we've launched into public beta mode!

We didn't just want to offer free e-cards, which are nice but don't have that tangible, I'm-loved feel to them. So we teamed up with a print-on-demand service that allows our customers to buy cards, personalize them, and have them sent on the their recipient by mail that same day. All for the affordable price of $3.99a pop.

So check out the site, buy a few cards for loved ones, and let me know what you think!

My New Treadmill Desk

noreply@blogger.com (david goldenberg) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:19:00 +0000

A couple of years ago, I sent one of our Gelf writers to check in on a new fitness "trend" I had heard about: walking while working. Dr. James Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic, had found that thin people generally expend more energy in the trivial everyday things than fat people (think fidgeting and wandering). He came up with a way to harness and apply that finding by creating the world's first treadmill desk, which was, basically, a slab of wood balanced over the arms of a slow-moving treadmill. By walking incredibly slowly while going about their jobs (around .7 mph), folks could expend up to 800 extra calories per day and thus theoretically lose up to a pound a week.

Since Sarah Arnquist's Gelf article came out (accompanied by Eric Lister's awesome drawing above), the practice hasn't changed much. There are a few more practitioners out there, but it's mainly confined to people who work from home or have lots of leeway at their jobs. Like the Segway, its silly appearance seems to have stifled its appeal.

But I work from home, and can try out silly-looking things whenever I damn well please. So behold (below) my first treadmill desk. I've used it for three whole days now, so I'm in no real position to describe its health benefits. But it was easy and cheap to build--I basically used this tutorial--and I can pretty much do everything work-wise that I was doing before. (Like write silly blog posts when should be editing.)

The Spider Solitaire Rabbit Hole

noreply@blogger.com (david goldenberg) — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:01:00 +0000

If you, like me, spend a far too significant part of your day moving around cards on your PC instead of working, you probably aren't too surprised when Slate's Josh Levin points out that the most popular computer game in the world is spider solitaire (a feat he compares to "living in a universe in which Pong were the most-popular title for PlayStation 3"). After a particularly well-played round, you may have even looked up spider solitaire records online (and found that you were wanting).

But I just experienced one of the weirder happenstances in my career as a minor-league procrastinator. Halfway through a recent game, the universe turned inwards in such a way that life as I knew came screeching to a halt. Check out the this screenshot, and let me know if you have any tips on how to proceed.

Why Do Sports Writers Hate Sports Bloggers?

noreply@blogger.com (david goldenberg) — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:53:00 +0000

My most recent interview in Gelf is with Michael Tunison, who was recently fired from his gig at the Washington Post for blogging for Kissing Suzy Kolber in his off time. Certainly KSK is silly and un-PC and raunchy, but no one would mistake Tunison the sports blogger for Tunison the WaPo writer, so the rush at the paper to get rid of him once he outed himself on KSK seems odd at best.

Then, though, I watched the famed sports writer Buzz Bissinger go apeshit on Deadspin's Will Leitch on Bob Costas Now, and I started to realize the actual hatred that many sportswriters seem to have for sports bloggers. Perhaps Bissinger explains it best here:

"Perhaps that's why I'm so heated and so angry. Because this guy, like it or not, is the future. I'm not the future."

Test post for testing purposes, yo

noreply@blogger.com (J. Schock) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:19:00 +0000

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Consequat?!?

Stuff I Used to Do

noreply@blogger.com (J. Schock) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Study Monkeys and Chimpanzees

Here's the Journal of Virology article I co-wrote with my BFF Jane Goodall

Teach Zambian Poachers how to Farm

Go Hiking in Other Countries

on top of Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (before everything melted). Here's the PDF of an article about my trip in the New York Times Magazine.

on top of Mt. Stanley, Uganda, DRC

With Rich Wright on the top of Volcán Concepción, Nicaragua

Stuff I Do

noreply@blogger.com (J. Schock) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Gelf

In 2005, I founded Gelf Magazine with Carl Bialik. Our slogan is "looking over the overlooked." I write and edit articles and Gelflog posts. Here are a few of my favorites:

PigSpigot

In 2009, I launched PigSpigot with Joshua Stein. It's a user-generated greeting card site that allows folks to send awesome cards by mail without leaving the comfort of their computer chairs. They can upload their own designs as well. Here's one of my favorite cards we've got up there right now:

OjoDojo

In 2008, I founded and launched Ojodojo, a funny picture website that lets users organize and rank the best photo memes on the internet.

Here are a few of my favorite snaps:

from the Gallery, "You and Me Baby Aint Nothing But Mammals"

from the Gallery, "Unusual Warning Signs"

Wired

Since interning for Wired in 2004, I've had the opportunity to write several technology pieces for the venerable rag:

2006

2005

2004

Other Publications

I've also written for several other publications about several different topics. Here's a partial list:

Business 2.0 Magazine (RIP)

Slate Magazine: Can Patients Keep Their Excised Parts?

Wildlife Conservation: The Honey Gospel [PDF]

Legal Affairs: To Kill an Elephant [PDF]

Yale Alumni Magazine

The Monitor (Uganda): Mountain Climbing Reopens with a Scam

Northern California Super Lawyer (!) [PDF]

Stuff I Like To Do

Go on Really Long Walks

Manhattan Pub Crawl

Lower Haight to Mt. Tam

Travel