15MB of fame

How "Atlas Shrugged" changed my life

Atlas Shrugged is one of those books with which you can divide humanity. I’m pretty willing to picks sides over this one. Here’s how it changed my life: it helped me understand why Plato thought the poets should be banned. It’s an apology for arrogance and selfishness, disguised as a subversive peek outside the cave.

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The last time I saw tinoo

The last time I saw Tinoo was at the Elysian in Seattle. We argued (in a constructive manner) about the war.

It was good to see him.

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How "Vanity Fair (Widescreen Edition)" changed my life

It made me want to read the book. The theme: “will you really be happy when you get what you think you want”, is an interesting one.

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Why I recommend "Hotel Rwanda"

I thought this movie did a good job packaging up a horrible tragedy into a entertainment product Americans might actually be willing to consume. The genocide in Rwanda changed my life by showing me how much death humans can do with simple tools and how conveniently the West can selectively overlook the responsibilities of power.

I think my hatred for French foreign policy reached its zenith in 1994-1995.

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How "Status Anxiety" changed my life

This might have been the best book I read this year. I really admire and enjoy de Botton’s casual style of intellectual investigation, and perhaps even better than his Consolations of Philosophy, this tome illustrates how drawing from the investigations of philosophers can help contextualize our travails. Why we care if people like us, how we want to be remembered, money troubles. It is all here and well addressed.

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The robots need a great designer

We are looking for a css guru who can help us build and design several new services (and improve the ones we have). We need a really great talent who values simplicity, white space, and clean lines. This is a contract job but involves several months of work and could lead to a more long term collaboration. We pay reasonably well for professional work. Ideally you have examples of your work online you could show us and hopefully you are familiar with how our sites work.

We have office space in Seattle we would be glad to host you in, but we are also use to collaborating over long distances. Drop a note in the comments or contact me through 43People if you are interested in this opportunity.

See more progress on: find a great designer to collaborate with

I no longer care to try and fix these problems.

I started becoming ambivalent about this goal as I spent time thinking about it and concluded that 1. there aren’t that many bad problems with traffic IN Seattle. Most of them involve suburban commuters coming in and out of the city. And 2. the traffic is really a testimony to the attractions of the city. The real “problem” is the lack of options to getting stuck in traffic at certain times, but to be honest, living and working in Seattle, I rarely have a real problem with traffic.

Finally, with the defeat of the monorail, I feel like the voters have spoken and said, basically, they care more about low taxes than congestion. So who cares. I still love Seattle, but I hate our politics.

See more progress on: fix seattle's transportation problem

Council pay

A good expose on the scandal that is our council voting themselves exorbitant salaries and rubbing Seattle voter’s noses in it with lines like “you get what you pay for”. Actually no Jan Drago, you get what we pay for. We, the Seattle voters, get no monorail and shortened library hours, you and the rest of the council get a six figure salary, $200K/yr for staff and office expenses (not bad for a lady who’s last job 2 decades ago was running an ice cream stand) and a shiny new office building at tax payer’s expense.

The issue here isn’t pay. The issue is the permanent political class in Seattle that sees itself as “professionals” deserving of “professional pay”. We ought to see rotation in office and the efforts of public servants from across the city, not 3 or 4 terms from six-figure politicos. And you can bet with the council paying themselves so richly, at large elections, and no term limits, folks like ice cream scooper Drago and insurance salesman Licata aren’t about to give anyone else a turn in office anytime soon.

See more progress on: Explore drafting a new city charter for Seattle

Before the kids were gone and they turned it into Condos

I went to kindergarten here with my pal Parks Dempsey in Mrs. Dickenson’s class in 1976. When I was a kid Seattle was a nice place to grow up. Now it seems like a nice place to own a condo.

See more progress on: West Queen Anne Elementary School

Delicious

Almost too ripe, but still delicious.

See more progress on: eat a banana