RIP Tom, thanks for being an inspiration to me as a very young child. Soul Of A New Machine had a place on my father's bookshelf right next to The C Programming language. I might not work in the industry today if I hadn't been so stricken by Kidder's description of your work ethic.
Why does the RIAA have so much power? If their businesses really are shrinking then, well, does the music industry even matter? It's depressing how much damage you can do to society when you use your ill-gotten gains to hire lobbyists to turn ordinary citizens into criminals.
Finally, I've been trying to convince my landlord to stop allowing phone books for the past two years. Beyond the waste, the amount of trust we give to strangers delivering phone books is absurd. I've always thought if I wanted to case an apartment/condo building to figure out who leaves their doors unlocked, I'd show up with a pickup truck and some phone books. The security guard would just let me in without question.
Now that we've spent a trillion dollars killing one man in Afghanistan, it's time to shift our focus on creating a cold war with China to make sure the coffers of the military-industrial complex stay full.
One of positive aspects from the year and a half I did in Seattle was that fewer engineering jobs meant people didn't expect to leave a company every year or two. When hiring systems engineers I found it easier to hire smart, competent employees who got shit done and had a long-term view. Three or four of the best engineers I've ever encountered, and my closest friendships, were built in Seattle.
Still, I was somewhat underwhelmed by Seattle's tech scene. All conversations inevitably devolved into pity sessions comparing Seattle to the valley. Diversity seemed lacking; I recall only one engineer I met who didn't come from UW, Real, Amazon, Microsoft, or Boeing. The Microsofties would often introduce themselves by what they used to do at Microsoft before they had decided to cash in their 401k to jump onto the "Social" bandwagon.
It's a super dump, but you can get a studio for $1k/month at Trinity Plaza on Market St. Expect to lose your deposit from what I'm told, but hey it has a pool, and plenty of meth dealers, and it's right at Market & 9th so it's central to everything.
But seriously, for $1k -> $1,200 you can actually find a decent studio on nob hill. I just helped my ex-girlfriend move into a beautiful and very well-laid out 450 square foot studio for $1,100/month at Clay & Leavenworth with all utilities included.
Very clear and indisputable impending global destruction with a short window before the event. (Think Asteroids or Aliens). Also, children who fall into wells or survive airliner crashes. Nothing else will work.
I had a phone interview with Marc sometime in 2007, I think just after TC40. During the interview they made me aware of Mint.com, so I spent the afternoon playing with Mint & Wesabe.
By the end of the afternoon I had begun using Mint to track all of my finances and had only managed to get Wesabe to recognize 1/3 of my accounts. Wesabe had a fantastic team, but Mint was the clear winner, so I decided not to go forward.