By Eric Yulo, Recruiter

In less than a month, Black Rock City opens its gates for another week of community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. Burners are feverishly rushing to produce costumes, build mutant vehicles, polish installation art, hoard bottled water, and dust off camping gear.

“Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind,” says founder Larry Harvey.

Obviously, this statement was made before Searchme was born. Enjoy Burning Man through my stack— you’ll miss out on the sandstorms, extreme desert temperatures, dust-encrusted cuisine, and non-stop thumpa thumpa music, but you’ll get a clear picture of what I think is the ultimate American vacation.

By Colette Sandstedt, PR Director.

I’m a contractor who works out of LA, and yesterday at approximately 11:42 AM I was prepping for an upcoming Searchme meeting in my favorite cafe when all of a sudden the earth gave a long shake and the ground started rolling. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, it was a 5.4 earthquake and it lasted, like, an hour and half (OK, 15 seconds).

It was totally scary. I jumped out of my chair and bolted for the door along with everyone else in the place. (Not the smartest thing to do, but better than sitting next to the giant plate-glass window or the steaming espresso maker.)

Anyway, once it was over and my heart rate went down, I went back to my computer and hopped online, along with everyone else in the greater LA area. I went straight to Searchme and sure enough, there was a picture of the USGS web page showing the epicenter of the earthquake - a big angry red box. It was at this moment that I (yet again) appreciated Searchme - seeing the web page itself instantly let me know that this was the site I was looking for, whereas a link would have just given me the name of the site without letting me know if it contained up-to-the-minute information.

I emailed my colleagues in SF to let them know about the quake and my subsequent experience on Searchme, and got a flood of responses asking me if I was OK, if I had water stored away, and if I had considered the fact that this might just be a pre-shock (thanks!) I also got one asking me if I were looking for combat pay.

I’m not, and trust me, this isn’t the kind of product testing I’m eager to do, but, hey, there it is - yet another reason why I really like visual search.

By Erin Blythe Sanders, Search Analyst.

As an original contributor to The San Francisco Examiner and a man with a storied past, Ambrose Bierce had this to say about San Franciscco:

‘Careful now.
We’re dealing here with a myth.
This city is a point upon a map of fog;
Lemuria in a city unknown.
Like us,
It doesn’t quite exist.’

Writers have often equated San Francisco to Shangri-La, denoting it as a mythical place where reality is all in the eye of the beholder. On a day like today - foggy, cool and quiet - Bierce’s words ring even more true.

By Barbara Locke, Search Analyst.

No words needed…

By Michelle Cardinal, Director of Customer Support.

As always during summer in San Francisco, we’ve woken up to a seemingly endless string of gray, foggy days. Many tourists who were thinking “Baywatch!” when they packed and are either freezing in their beach attire or sporting a brand new fleece jacket complete with embroidered Golden Gate Bridge.

If the rest of the locals are like me, they are seriously considering a move to the much sunnier East Bay and dramatically increasing their caffeine intake. My dog fusses more than usual when I kick her out of bed in the morning, as the sunny spot in the yard is missing. *Sigh*.

The not especially secret secret is that summer around here actually arrives during September/October. That’s the time to bbq and wear flip flops. To tide myself over, I made a Sunshine Stack. I take great comfort from the World Sunlight Map, because it shows that it’s always sunny somewhere!

By Eric Yulo. Eric works in HR.

I usually don’t go around searching for art, so it’s great that art keeps finding me.

JcR, our resident spammologist, recently spammed me with a link to a site that elevates mayonnaise to an art form. Clearly, mayo belongs on both charcuterie and canvas.

The mezzanine gallery of our San Francisco building has an exhibit of black and white photographs by Eugene Resheko. On display are 11 interesting earthscapes and dramatic urban scenes from San Francisco and Guatemala. Good old black and whites are a welcome break from my C++, Actionscript and PHP5- dominated desk.

Should Gap founder Don Fisher be allowed to build a contemporary art museum in the Presidio? I am one degree of separation from this controversy, as my pro-museum manager Deva gets heckled and boo’d by the anti-arts contingent at the Presidio Trust Public Board of Directors Meetings. I, too, am pro-museum, and I will think of Deva’s art advocacy each time I see Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”

On the homefront, my de facto mother-in-law’s second book, “Art is Fundamental,” just hit the stands, and I am mentioned in the acknowledgements page. It’s a relief to know that I can champion the arts without having to lift a brush, get lynched or build a clothing empire.

By Erin Pipkin. Erin is part of the Search Quality Team.

I thought it was about time to update my list of favorite Etsy jewelry sellers (see my blog post from a month or two ago). Now I’ve got a new feature to help me keep track of the greatness! Here are some of the most interesting things I’ve come across lately on Etsy, all gathered into a nice, neat stack.

By Lexi Kent-Monning, Customer Support Specialist. This is a two-part series.

After Radiohead’s great success with their online experiment, Nine Inch Nails was the next to follow suit by releasing two free albums in a matter of months. Trent Reznor, the man behind Nine Inch Nails, recorded an instrumental album, “Ghosts,” consisting of 36 tracks. He posted nine of them for free on his web site. All 36 tracks could be downloaded for only $5, the physical CD could be bought for $10, or deluxe editions were available for $75 or $300.

Just a few months later, Nine Inch Nails released an entirely free album, “The Slip,” with Reznor posting on the band’s site that this was his way of thanking his fans for their support over the years, essentially saying “This one’s on me.” Reznor also produced an album for the poet Saul Williams entitled “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!,” which was offered for free or for $5 to support the artist. This album was downloaded by over 150,000 people, nearly 30,000 of which paid.

Many other artists are turning to the Internet to release music – Girl Talk is another example – or to raise funds from their fans to record new music without an advance from a record label - the route taken Jill Sobule and Giant Drag. Can this model work? Well, Radiohead made in excess of £1 million in one week with their new album, while their old record label, EMI, announced its 4th round of layoffs in less than a year just two weeks ago. Clearly these artists see the endless opportunities of music and the Internet, while many record labels are still clinging to their old, antiquated methods.

By Lexi Kent-Monning, Customer Support Specialist. This is a two-part series.
The Internet has changed the way users consume media - newspapers, movies, TV shows, and maybe most of all, music. Musicians are now taking control of their own music in ways they previously couldn’t - especially in regards to how their music is recorded, listened to and released.

Radiohead was the first high-profile group to release their music essentially for free on the Web. After several years on a major label, the band decided not to sign to any label after fulfilling their contractual obligations. Instead, they recorded a new album, “In Rainbows,” in their own studio and released it on the Web for listeners to download - for any amount of money. Aside from a £1 processing fee to download the digital files, listeners were not obligated to pay anything to access the band’s new album.

Over a million unique users downloaded the album in the first week it was available, easily earning the band more money than any advance from a major label. (They would have earned more even if all the users had paid the minimum fee.) Users also had the option to buy (for set fees) a copy of the physical CD, vinyl, or a box set, all of which came with a free copy of the digital album.

By Michelle Cardinal, Director of Customer Support.