# Steve Krause

> The personal website of Steve Krause — founder of Fairmind, former tech executive, and author of the blog Words & Numbers. The site includes the blog as well as pointers to his projects elsewhere on the web.

Words & Numbers is a blog about discovering new ideas in tech, design, business, books, and the pseudorandom — and about analyzing how words and numbers can enlighten or confound. Its archive goes back to 2005.

## Key pages
- [About](https://stevekrause.org/about): Background on Steve Krause.
- [Words & Numbers — blog index](https://stevekrause.org/blog): All posts, newest first.
- [Best Of](https://stevekrause.org/blog/best-of): A selection of favorite posts.
- [Topics](https://stevekrause.org/blog/topics): Browse the blog by topic.
- [Archive](https://stevekrause.org/blog/archive): Every post, grouped by year.
- [Projects](https://stevekrause.org/projects): Steve's projects elsewhere on the web, including Fairmind and Americans Agree.
- [Follow](https://stevekrause.org/follow): Ways to follow the blog (RSS and email).
- [RSS feed](https://stevekrause.org/rss.xml): Full-text feed of the latest posts.

## Best Of posts
- [The Fastest Human in History](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2012/04/the-fastest-human-in-history/): A parenting story about fear, trust, and the moment a child breaks through.
- [Nuclear Weapons and Murphy’s Law](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2011/11/nuclear-weapons-and-murphys-law/): A 1958 report shows how researchers were thinking about what could accidentally go wrong with nuclear weapons.
- [The Use and Abuse of the Em Dash](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2011/07/the-use-and-abuse-of-the-em-dash/): The em dash is the most assertive way to set off a phrase. Used sparingly, it’s perfect for a pause, pivot, or added punch.
- [Review: “The Yugo” by Jason Vuic](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2011/05/review-the-yugo-by-jason-vuic/): “The Yugo” tells the odd story of America’s cheapest car: an import from Eastern Europe that became a punchline on wheels.
- [Banksy Breaks the Frame](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2011/01/banksy-breaks-frame/): Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop” mixes street art, hype, and hoax into a fresh, head-spinning take on the classic question, “What is art?”
- [States with Places with English Names (or, How Much More English is New England?)](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2010/12/states-with-places-with-english-names/): An analysis of place names in the U.S. and England shows that New England states’ place names are three times more English than those in the rest of the states.
- [Review: “Fargo Rock City” by Chuck Klosterman](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2009/12/review-fargo-rock-city-by-chuck-klosterman/): “Fargo Rock City” defends 1980s hair metal as ridiculous, memorable, and culturally meaningful—at least for those who lived through it.
- [Full-Circle Guitar](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2009/12/full-circle-guitar/): At nine years old, I learned simple songs on a cheapie guitar. Several decades, guitars, and garage bands later, a young daughter has me back to simple songs.
- [Highway Exit Numbers: When Simple Was Too Simple](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2007/08/highway-exit-numbers-when-simple-was-too-simple/): Highway exits were once numbered in sequence, but adding new exits exposed the design flaw that distance-based numbering mostly solves.
- [Issues, Character, and Tuchman’s “The March of Folly”](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2007/05/issues-character-and-tuchmans-the-march-of-folly/): A poll finds that many voters weigh a candidate’s character first. Barbara Tuchman’s study of disastrous leadership suggests that instinct may be sound.
- [Trojan Goldfish](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2007/04/trojan-goldfish/): A 45-year trail of clues suggests that Goldfish crackers may be at the center of an extraterrestrial genetic conspiracy.
- [Bassmaster and the American Dream](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2006/12/bassmaster-and-the-american-dream/): Takahiro Omori’s path from sleeping in a van to winning “the Super Bowl of bass fishing” is as improbable as American Dream stories get.
- [The Netflix Prize: Research Project as Product](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2006/10/netflix-prize-research-project-as-product/): The Netflix Prize turns a research problem into a product, using prize money, real-world data, and smart marketing to crowdsource a better algorithm.
- [David Foster Wallace Serves It Up](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2006/08/david-foster-wallace-serves-it-up/): David Foster Wallace’s “Federer as Religious Experience” gets obsessive about the nature of tennis mastery.
- [Pandora and Last.fm: Nature vs. Nurture in Music Recommenders](https://stevekrause.org/blog/2006/01/pandora-and-lastfm-nature-vs-nurture-in-music-recommenders/): Two music recommenders, two philosophies: Pandora dissects each song’s “genes,” while Last.fm infers taste socially.

## Optional
- [Contact](https://stevekrause.org/contact): Send Steve a private message (form).