Thanks for the kind words. No I'm not dead. I'm just not on the radio any more. I've been podcasting for longer than most (started in 2004) and plan to continue as long as I am able.
Leo, thank goodness you are alive! That headline had me worried.
It's unlikely you would remember me, but we met sometime around the late 1970s or early 1980s. We were attending some kind of est spinoff workshop in San Jose. It may have been Playground or Summit Workshops or some such? There were so many of them that I have lost track.
I do seem to recall that people at this workshop were promoting the latest pyramid scam, Circle of Gold or something like that. You would be expected to bring in ten of your friends, and then they would each bring in ten of their friends, etc.
I tried to use simple logic to explain to one of the promoters that the math just didn't work out. Exponential growth, anyone? I said that after a very few generations, we would have signed up every human being on Earth. And then what do you do?
Their response was "That's not a problem. Everyone can just sign up again!"
A few of us went out to lunch and sat at a round table at the corner of the restaurant. You were sitting near the corner and I was across from you.
Memory is a funny thing. Mine is very positional. I don't remember the name of the workshop, the restaurant or type of food, but I do remember where we sat. (If it jogs your memory, I had a fuzzy red Afro thanks to my Neanderthal heritage - wish I still had hair like that! - and I was probably wearing some kind of South American jacket.)
You may have just been starting your radio career around that time, and I distinctly remember thinking "this guy has a radio voice!"
I don't suppose you happen to remember what workshop that was? Don't worry, no offense taken if none of this rings a bell. :-)
I don't remember the Circle of Gold and, like you, would have been very unlikely to support such a thing. I did take est in San Jose in 1978 and participated in quite a few graduate seminars for some years after so your story checks out. Sorry I don't remember your red afro. I'm amazed you remember me!
As scammy as it probably was (Werner Erhard mostly just cribbed from Alan Watts and others) est was a very formative experience for me as a 21-year-old. I think it has stayed with me ever since. I was just thinking about that the other day, in fact.
My fondest memory of est was a lesson in forgiveness.
I'd started assisting at Franklin House, Werner's residence. (As you know, "assisting" meant "working for free!")
My first task was to draw up a schematic of the home automation system under Werner's bed. You would flip up the top of the bed and underneath it was a point to point circuit of relays, and no one knew what it all did or how they connected together.
I don't know why this system of relays was under his bed, but there it was.
So I traced out all the wiring - there was a lot of it! - and made the schematic.
They found out I enjoyed cooking, so I started assisting in the kitchen.
Werner loved scallop quenelles, and we made a lot of them.
Then he had his first physics conference, with Richard Feynman, John Wheeler, Leonard Susskind, and many other luminaries.
And I was the breakfast chef!
I made custom omelets to order for all the physicists, and as far as I know, they all enjoyed them.
After that success, they asked me to fill in for dinner one night when his chef was on vacation.
My menu included French onion soup, and sautéed broccoli and scallops with brown rice.
For some reason I thought I would throw some brewers' yeast into the soup. You can't go wrong with that, can you? So I put in a lot! It was pretty terrible, and someone else there said "It's time to save the soup!" So he threw in bouillon cubes and who knows what, and it got worse and worse. But we served it anyway.
Now we get to the sauté. Werner was on some kind of no-fat diet, so I decided to "sauté" the scallops and broccoli in white wine with no oil. As you can imagine, it came out very sour and unappealing.
All in all, it was the worst meal I've ever cooked.
A few days later, I got a note in the mail from Werner, thanking me and saying how much he appreciated me and not a word about how terrible the meal was.
When anyone disappoints me, I hope I can treat them with the same courtesy.
Seriously, I read that title and panicked. I remember watching ZDTV in high school, and listening to twit podcasts up until 2011-ish? We're taking about the foundation of my love of tech. The early-90's to early 2000's pre crash was an amazing time to come up in the internet. Even the post crash boom was like the wild west compared to today. You were there producing content through it all.
I got off the habit of tuning in after I abandoned itunes and the iphone for Android. There just wasn't as a robust podcasting network on Android at the time.
It sounds like twit is still going strong. Time to check back in!
Leo, I've listened to all of your podcast (Security Now, Twit, even Windows Weekly as a non windows user) for ages (maybe since I was 15?). Pre-vista (I remember you and paul going on about that). I think I came across you while watching diggnation (though obviously you stand on your own).
Been a fan since your techtv days on the screensavers. Used to watch your shows religiously as a young kid. Just wanted to say thanks for all of the entertainment and knowledge throughout the years.
I apologize for the confusion. I really didn't mean the original title in the way it came out. I did enjoy the day on the show. If you would like the post removed, I'll do so.
I was lucky enough to visit the broadcast studios seven or so years ago for a taping of windows weekly. It was a bucket list item of mine after I started listening to Leo in 2008 during grad school.
It beat my wildest expectations, getting to watch live one of the best in the business. Even after taping for nearly two hours, with a fast turn around to his next show, he was kind enough to grab me his fez hat, take a couple of photos behind the desk, and chat with me about life.
I still look at that photo from time to time, and remember the joy I felt that day. Those are those special moments that make life so beautiful.
Same story for me! I had just moved to San Francisco in ~2014 after landing my first Silicon Valley tech job. One of the first things I did was head up to the studios to watch This Week in Tech live. Leo was so nice and we chatted for a bit after the show and took pictures. I love that photo! I’ve been a fan since TechTV!
Leo in many ways has spawned a whole industry with podcasting and youtubers covering tech. Kevin Rose did a great interview years back with Leo as the subject and it was fascinating hearing about how it all came to be. Much respect!
I'm pretty sure I can say I've listened to every episode of This Week in Google¹ since the very beginning. It's a pause whatever else I'm listening to and start listening to it event whenever it hits my podcast player.
Glad to hear you plan to keep the podcast going, it's practically an institution. Growing up in rural Australia, your shows were one of the only connections I had to technology education, and you were the only one making it look fun and exciting! I used to spend hours watching TechTV (when perhaps I should have been at school even). Technology has become my career, and I can fairly say you were a big part of how I got here. So thank you for that, Leo and I am glad to hear the show will go on.
