at this point, it certainly isn’t breaking news that steve jobs passed away a couple days ago. the news came in torrents, particularly via social media. for a solid 24 hours, little else was talked about. even at the time of this writing, 2 of the top 10 trending topics on twitter are steve jobs-related.

the most interesting aspect of the deluge of tweets was how sincere the response was. there was a genuine expression of sadness and loss (myself included). when celebrities die, there is plenty of emotional response—particularly from musicians—because their art becomes woven into the very essence of our lives.

but steve jobs was a retired ceo.

of a tech company.

so why do people really care? undoubtedly, in 2011, at least a handful of CEOs of large, successful companies have passed away. but can we name them? no. and there’s been a handful of recognizable celebrities die in 2011 but they haven’t clogged social media streams like this. so why do we (particularly 20- and 30-somethings) care about steve jobs?

last night at the starlight theater in kansas city, christen and i had the pleasure of seeing a concert we’ve wanted to see for a very long time: brandi carlile (opening) and ray lamontagne. as expected, it was amazing. we saw brandi last year in new orleans (as the headliner) and it was, without a doubt, one of the top 1 or 2 concerts we’ve ever been to. we can now add last night’s concert to that select list.

if you listened very closely a couple days ago, you could hear the collective gasp of the residents of little rock, the state of arkansas & the entire south. why?

because it snowed.

more than once (to deal in understatement), i’ve been called an apple fanboy. there’s a certain contingency of the unconvinced (the ignorant?) that assume if you like apple’s products, you must be blindly being led like a brainless sheep. but, of course, there’s another contingency. that is, naturally, the contingency of the convinced: the people who have seen, time and [...]

this is final post in an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here. in another blogger’s recent appraisal of the past decade, it was described as “the decade that snuck up on us.” his main thesis was that the decade started off very well, [...]

this is part of an ongoing series called 25 in the 2000s. if you want a bit of information about the series, you can find the introduction here. in technology standards, 10 years is a very, very long time. innovative people and programs are constantly looking for new ways to connect people, spread information and make life easier through advances [...]

ah, the love between a brother and sister. it’s a beautiful thing, especially when it plays itself out for the whole world to see on facebook. now, i don’t do facebook. it’s just one more thing for me to have to do (although, as a matter of full disclosure, i’ve considered it long and hard simply for networking purposes). christen, [...]