"Portland is where young people go to retire." That's the rap laid down by Portlandia, a funny send up of life in Oregon's biggest city. However, the issue of few jobs and low wages is not very funny for the Oregon citizens searching for their first job or in the...
Steve Jobs, An American Original
"It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.†-Steve Jobs Steve Jobs passed away from a rare form of cancer last week at the age of 56. Since then, I've read a handful of articles about the man and the impact he made on modern culture. Maybe you have...
Obama Is Pressing On, But You Have To Press Play To Hear About It
Last night a friend visiting from Seattle said, "We don't really listen to music anymore." He's right, the emphasis today is on portability, not audio quality, and that's one reason we don't listen like we once did. When you're proud of your record collection and your...
Let’s Go Back In Time, To Marin Headlands In 1984
Steward Brand is an icon, and a man I'm learning more about. His thinking is central to a talk I'm preparing to give at Geekend in Boston next month. It was in 1984 that Brand, founder of Whole Earth Catalog, helped put together the first ever Hacker's Conference,...
I’ll Have The Nerd Rock Sandwich, Please
We've been listening to Okkervil River since 2007, when The Stage Names came out. Last night at Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon we go to see the band perform in a beautiful outdoor setting. AgesandAges opened the bill, followed by Okkervil River and The Decemberists....