Below is an open letter I sent to the board of directors of Madison Market, a co-op grocery store near Capitol Hill in Seattle.
Hello Board of Directors,
I am writing to express my deep concern with your active support of Estrella Creamery. I have been a long-time supporter of yours going back to the central co-op [...]
A bit over a week ago I had surgery to keep my arm from falling off. It’s happened at least a half dozen times in the last couple of years — while snowboarding, rock climbing or climbing Mt Rainier. Then the attachment became really weak and it would come off for no good reason at all — just taking off a backpack or even reaching for a glass of water. While I was wiping my ass was definitely the worst. Thank god for awesome roommates. Anyway, after a long process of finding a kick-ass orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shouders…
...full articleRevolutionaries are idealists. They have to be. They risk their lives to fight for what they believe in. Lenin, Mao, Castro — they all truly and deeply believed that they were fighting for a better way of life for their people. And to a varying degrees, they accomplished that. In fact in all three of these cases — Russia, China and Cuba, the early years after the revolution were relatively good for the people. Wealth was redistributed and poverty decreased. The second world is generally better than the third world. When I was living in communist China, I found it…
...full articleA number of folks have been courting me for positions as a software development engineer recently. Many of them sound really fun. I love writing code, and even though it hasn’t been my professional focus for years, I think I’m still alright at it. But I’ve had to come to a sober realization that I simply cannot take a job where writing code is my primary function. I’m just not physically capable of it. I just about cried during a job interview once when explaining this. People come in my office and say “that’s a cool keyboard.” My response is…
...full articleMy girlfriend has an auto-immune skin condition called psoriasis that gives her rashes. For some people the condition gets serious enough that patients and MD’s turn to drugs that suppress T-cells, the part of the immune system which causes the inflammation. Turning down the volume level on your immune system has all sorts of easily predictable side-effects, but for people whose immune systems are just a little too enthusiastic it can be the right choice. My girlfriend’s condition has gotten worse in recent months, to the point where immuno-suppresents seem reasonable. But instead, she’s opted to do something much more…
...full articleThis is a public service announcement and reminder. Men: please make a habit of periodically feeling your testicles for new growths or lumps. Women: same for breasts. If you have close friends who can help you with the task, then it can even be fun. But please try to remember to check regularly. Once a month is good. And don’t think that you’re safe because you’re young. You’re not. I bring this up because a one of my favorite people just got testicular cancer. I’m impressed but not surprised by my community’s reaction to the news — a hugely generous…
...full articleI’ve climbed Mt. Rainier twice now. Once in 1996 and once in 2006. (I hope in 2016 I’m still up for it!) I get a lot of questions from friends who are interested in trying the climb themselves. So I thought I’d write some notes on how you could prepare. First off, if you don’t have a fair amount of rock climbing experience and mountaineering experience, or have a lot of experienced friends who are willing to babysit you, go with a guide service. This year I went without a guide service and I’m really glad I did it. But…
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Leo is a professional geek who looks forward to the robots taking over. For more current, less coherent thoughts, follow him on twitter