Business
How much do you pay for your news?
Things I've Been Thinking
I just read this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine cover story, The Kansas Experiment. It begins as a profile of a state senator working to make Kansas a zero income tax state, and then chronicles the legislative session in which he and his colleagues attempt to balance the budget without destroying K-12 education in […]
Dear Mayor Hales and City Council
Things I've Been Thinking
I’ve been thinking a lot about how Portland is changing. I figure the city leaders must know many of us feel like the city is growing too quickly and leaving some folks behind. But maybe they don’t. After all, I’ve never told them how I feel. So with a city council meeting on the books […]
2014 Big Business Year in Review
Radio
K. Mike Merrill & Steve Schroeder (aka The Business Boys) follow the money and break down the Sony Hack, Uber, and Shark Tank. Music: 2 Bears – Money Man Challenger – Science of a Seizure Wendy Carlos – Rocky Mountains Jib Kidder – Appetites Fantastic Palace – Life’s Orchestration
I can turn $205 into $1000 and so can you.
Things I've Been Thinking
There’s a catch, right? Yes, of course there is. You have to live in Oregon. Here in Oregon we have something called the Oregon Cultural Trust. It’s basically a legal money-laundering scheme that helps you help the arts. Here’s how it works. Donate up to $500 to any Oregon arts and heritage non-profits organizations you […]
The Europa Report: Mysteries Under the Ice
Universe
Discovery, by nature, has a ripple effect. When one thing is found to be plausible, testable, or true, a suite of potential other truths and plausibilities tend to follow suit. This is the nature of inductive reasoning, the foundation of the scientific method, and the reason why science–as a human project–is generational. We discover something…
Fatherly Advice
Things I've Been Thinking
It’s Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to me. If you’re a dad, or you like dads, and want to spend an evening with dads and non-dads alike, thinking about dads, and eating some awesome food cooked by Olympic Provisions, I recommend coming to the Association tonight. It’s a new dinner series at Union/Pine here in […]
Is There Life on Maaaars?
Universe
You certainly didn’t hear it here first: today NASA, at a press briefing, announced that minerals analyzed by the Curiosity rover indicate that life might, in the galactic past, have survived on Mars. The rover’s been poking around an ancient network of stream channels descending from the rim of Gale crater since September of last year; now,…
My New Book: High Frontiers!
Universe
Writing for the Internet is like yelling into the void: freeing, probably more than a little cathartic, but ultimately lonely. That’s not to say that I haven’t made profound connections out here, but like most writers I long for a little thing with my name on it that fits in the hand, that can be…
What Distance Is
Universe
What is distance? There’s the distance between people, who subconsciously space themselves apart, providing a reliable visual matrix of intimacy. It’s no coincidence we use the word “close” to describe our most intimate relationships: to whisper and caress, we draw near to one another, less than six inches apart. For chatter amongst personal friends, the…