Mindblown: culture, urbanism, leadership, technology.
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motd: 20250628
We are building what they said could not be built. Together.
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motd: 20250621
You are not alone. You are not powerless.
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Governing AI Is the Least of Our Problems
This week I attended the Seattle University Ethics & Tech Conference; a half-day affair with a focus on “the legal and political frameworks shaping AI governance”. Just the kind of boundary spanning problem that I love to sink my teeth into. Easily the best conference of the year you didn’t attend. For me, it felt…
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motd: 20250614
We wrote this in the margins. They never read the margins.
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Why does the Japanese national land-use zoning system work?
Japan’s cities work in ways that feel almost impossible to replicate in the United States, and much of that difference begins with zoning. The country uses a nationally standardized land-use system that local governments apply without the power to modify. This top-down simplicity enables dense, walkable communities where homes, businesses, shrines, schools, and even light…
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motd: 20250607
They rely on your silence. So speak. Even if it’s nonsense. Especially if it’s nonsense.
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motd: 20250531
Language is executable. Rewrite the spell.
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motd: 20250524
She jacked in sideways and found the off switch mapped to a lullaby. So she sang.
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motd: 20250517
You are dreaming of the outside again. We noticed. And so did something older than the system.
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Psychic morphine and the scourge of artificial nostalgia
The morning of January 20, 1961 was cold but clear in Washington, D.C.. The temperature began in the teens and never rose much higher. There is something telling in the fact that the United States installs its head of state not in the bloom of spring or the harvest of fall, but in the dead…