Obama at the Republican retreat

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via whitehouse.gov Politically interested bloggers have been posting this video all over the Internet, and I enjoyed it enough I’ve decided to follow suit. This particular one comes from whitehouse.gov and it unfortunately starts after the gracious welcome from the Republican leadership, which helped set the tone. There’s a lot to like in this video. I like Obama a lot. I think he’s sensible, direct, and not afraid to throw a couple of (polite) punches. I like the Republicans a lot. They, again politely, go after him on some big things–which is of course what the opposition party should do. Read more…

Kasparov on computers

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The availability of millions of games at one’s fingertips in a database is also making the game’s best players younger and younger. Absorbing the thousands of essential patterns and opening moves used to take many years, a process indicative of Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours to become an expert” theory as expounded in his recent book Outliers. (Gladwell’s earlier book, Blink, rehashed, if more creatively, much of the cognitive psychology material that is re-rehashed in Chess Metaphors.) Today’s teens, and increasingly pre-teens, can accelerate this process by plugging into a digitized archive of chess information and making full use of the Read more…

State wins $590 million for high-speed rail work

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The Portland-Seattle line carried 750,000 passengers in 2008, an 82 percent increase over 10 years ago. Corridor improvements could reduce travel time from Portland to Seattle by almost an hour, from three hours and 25 minutes to two hours and 30 minutes. via thenewstribune.com I had no idea that many passengers road the Amtrak to Portland. And at 2 hours, 30 minutes from Seattle, that’s … what? 2 hours from Tacoma? Sign me up!

the iPad

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So, it’s a “pad,” but I still think of it as a tablet. Everyone had been hoping for a giant leap forward, but it’s not. It’s just a well-designed tablet computer, and tablet computers aren’t new (they’ve been Windows so far). So a good tablet is a good thing, but it’s not as big of a deal as the iPhone was. That said, watching the promotional video (link below) should make it clear that this really is where things are going. In a few years my current laptop will go kaput, and the iPad may be a viable option by Read more…

The Tablet

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Lest there be any doubt I’m a bit of a nerd, Apple’s new tablet sounds a lot like this gadget they use on Star Trek. Characters read books on it, they do their work on it, and it looks pretty much the same. So does that mean Apple was ahead of its time, or that Star Trek was?

Metro Parks!

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This morning I went in to Metro Parks HQ on 19th and was administered the oath of office … by Mary! It was a very cool thing to have her be a part of it. I'm jumping in with both feet–there's a lot on the board's plate! As far as this blog goes … well professional changes have often made this blog divert in tone, content, and substance. I really like blogging, and I can't imagine stopping. I do feel like it's gotten a little stale around here, though. Part of that is time: writing interesting posts can take more Read more…

Back to Baking Bread

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After some notable failures last year, I put my no-knead breadmaking on hold for awhile. It was disheartening not to get the great bread I did when I'd started. But I picked it up again this weekend and once again loved the process. And things seem to be a little more successful too! The first loaf was still a little doughy, but the second loaf goes in the over in a couple hours (thanks Mary!) and it looks light-years better already. I'm coming to realize that one of the things I appreciate about baking bread is that it's something fun Read more…

Tacoma Startup Weekend This Weekend!

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If you're an interested entrepreneur or techie, we've got a big weekend ahead of us! Start-Up Weekend is like the 72-Hour Film Competition, except instead of making a movie in 3 days, you create a company, a product, and a business plan. Bringing together people with a variety of different talents, people team up, get to work, and then at the end of the weekend, they've got a company. From there, it's up to them to decide whether to keep it going or not. We'll be at Suite133. Andrew Fry's blog has a good run-down of what the weekend would Read more…