KmikeyM

I've been thinking about robots. The iRobot Corporation creates the 610 professional series vacuum cleaning Roomba and 710 multi-mission combat ready Warrior robot. KIVA Systems has an amazing "Mobile Fulfillment System" for warehouses and distribution centers. All the shelves are robots, and they move and arrange themselves in Tetris-like pursuit of optimization. When you need something, the shelf comes to you. The system learns what is popular and keeps those items close. A warehouse run with robots would need less people to run. I imagine Unions are pretty anti-robot. I know unions opposed the revolution of container based shipping. Has there been an example of Unions not opposing technological progress? "Technological progress" only succeeds where it can promise profit. It's more often a tool of industry and business than humanity.

No one protests military robots on the basis that they take jobs. Does enlistment increase during high unemployment? One would expect it does. Does more robots deployed in industry mean more human resources for the military? (Can the government manufacture a recession in order to build troop strength?)

I read somewhere about a small tech company that worked four days a week. Not four 10-hour days, just four 8-hour days. What if everyone came in on Friday and didn't "work," but instead they wrote or developed office projects? Things related to the company, but not part of their usual responsibilities. Sort of like the Google 20% thing (is this a myth? It seems like a myth.). Make weird applications. Have fun. Tinker. Fail. Grow plants. Learn other skills.

Why do we put so much value in "having a job"? Why can't the savings from automation go to free people's time instead of adding value to the corporation. Warehouse as collective non-profit. Instead of making more money it frees up more time while keeping wages the same. People have same money and extra time. Instead of keeping the extra time within the company release it. Let people have freedom with no responsibilities. Watch TV, build a robot, or whatever you want.

It reminds me of this Buckminster Fuller quote:

We find all the no-life-support-wealth-producing people going to their 1980 jobs in their cars or buses, spending trillions of dollars' worth of petroleum daily to get to their no-wealth producing jobs. It doesn't take a computer to tell you that it will save both Universe and humanity trillions of dollars a day to pay them handsomely to stay at home.

Ars Technica posted an article attacking ad blockers. The argument being, "Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay."

Nope. It's not like that all.

It's more like, imagine a restaurant that offers free food. When you arrive there are ads on the walls. 40% of the people order the food to go.

This restaurant isn't going to make it*.

I like that later in the same article they state, "Invariably someone always pops into a discussion like this and brings up some analogy with television advertising, radio, or somesuch. It is not in any way the same."

And yet they start the article with an analogy to a restaurant?!? The article is poorly formed attempt to back up their legitimate point: "blocking ads hurts the sites you love. Please consider not blocking ads on those sites."

*Interesting side note: Google gives their employees free food. Their income is from advertising.

My friend Jason Wilson has been experimenting with the idea of aural perfume under the name "Bzzt:"

The first time you launch Bzzt you will grant it the right to surprise, confuse, and amuse you anytime of day or night with a variety of sounds. Bzzt acts like it's running in the background! The sounds will come through no matter what application is active, even while your iPhone is sleeping in your pocket. In the middle of breakfast, on the train, or in an important meeting, Bzzt has no qualms about interrupting your life. One day might involve a handful of sounds, then a week might go by without a peep. There are no settings, no blackout times, and no previews of the sounds.

I ran this app for a few months and found it oddly reassuring. My iPhone felt more alive. I only stopped using it when I started using my iPhone as an alarm clock to take Jona and Claire to the airport really early.

It was on my return home from that drive to the airport that I was passed by several police cars. I have the police scanner app Emergency Radio and I tuned in to see what was up.

As I was parking the car and still listening to the police scanner (w/o headphones, just using the speaker) and I wondered what the effect of having a police scanner on speaker phone had on the people around me. It struck me that a combination of the aural perfume of Bzzt and the sounds of a police scanner might help project a sphere of safety around a person in a dangerous neighborhood as it implies some sort of connection to the authorities.

An audio forcefield. Or an audio-based social forcefield. Or an audio-based antisocial forcefield.

I blame Marc Berezin.

Public Courses:
(oregonlive, Oregon Golf Assoc, oregongolf.com)

Heron Lakes
3500 N. Victory Blvd.
Portland, OR 97217

Broadmoor Golf Course
3509 Northeast Columbia Boulevard
Portland, OR 97211-2037

Colwood National Golf Club
7313 Northeast Columbia Boulevard
Portland, OR 97218-3709

Glendoveer Golf Course
14015 Northeast Glisan Street
Portland, OR 97230-3346

Gresham Golf Course
2155 Northeast Division St
Gresham, OR 97030

Rose City Golf Course
2200 NE 71st Ave
Portland, OR 97213

Eastmoreland Golf Course
2425 SE Bybee Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202

Wildwood Golf Course
21881 NW ST. Helens Road
Portland, OR 97231

Redtail Golf Course & Driving Range
8200 Southwest Scholls Ferry Road
Beaverton, OR 97008-6699

Eagle Landing
10220 Causey Avenue
Happy Valley, OR 97086

Portland Meadows
1001 North Schmeer Road
Portland, OR 97217-7599

Edgefield Pitch and Putt
2126 S.W. Halsey St.
Troutdale, OR 97060

Greenlea Golf Course
26736 SE Kelso Rd
Boring, OR 97009

Mountain View Golf Course - (503) 663-4869
27195 SE Kelso Rd
Boring, OR 97009

Private Courses:

Columbia Edgewater Golf Course
2220 NE Marine Drive
Portland Oregon 97211

Portland Golf Club
5900 SW Scholls Ferry Road
Portland, OR 97225

Riverside Golf and Country Club

Orchard Hills Golf and Country Club
605 39th Street
Washougal, WA 98671-9111

Rock Creek Country Club
5100 NW Neakahnie Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97229-1964

Waverley Country Golf Club
1100 Southeast Waverly Drive
Milwaukie, OR 97222-7415

I've been writing a monthly business column in the zine 'Portland Underground.' Each issue is based on a theme like Rain, Dinosaurs, Sleep, or Sex. It's been harder than I anticipated as I attempt to write a column of about 700 words on something business-related to the theme. So far I've written about weather control, Pan Am, polyphasic sleep, and a local sex-toy boutique.

I believe there are copies at Reading Frenzy and you can also usually find the latest issue at Half & Half.

BACKGROUND

Kenton, a neighborhood in North Portland, was a company town built by the Swift Meat Packing Company in 1911. The area is most famous for the large statue of Paul Bunyan. The industrial past of Kenton has created a legacy of surrounding warehouses and autobody shops.

"Downtown" Kenton is a stretch of about four blocks running south on N. Denver from N. Interstate.

TRANSPORTATION

The MAX yellow line stops in front of the statue, and the I-5 is only a few blocks away. The neighborhood streets are great for biking, with both Interstate and Denver having painted bike lanes.

NEIGHBORHOOD

Kenton Park contains a basketball court, two baseball fields, and plenty of open space. A post office is located a block off Denver. Just north is PIR, the Expo Center, Heron Lakes Golf Course, Portland Meadows, and just north of all that is Hayden Island. There is a nearby Fred Meyer on Interstate, as well as numerous coffee shops. The four blocks of downtown Kenton seem to be in a current state of development.

The Kenton Neighborhood Association (KNA) seems to actually use their website.

The official borders of Kenton are formed by North Portland Harbor (the channel of the Columbia River that separates the area from Hayden Island), Interstate 5 to the east, North Lombard Street to the south and the western border follows North Portland Road, North Columbia Boulevard, and North Chautauqua Boulevard.

DISJECTA

Located at 8371 N Interstate, Disjecta is a 10,000 square foot arts building that was originally a bowling alley. Run by Bryan Suereth, 36, Disjecta was founded in 2000 and in currently in its 3rd location. The current location opened in July of 2008.

In 2003, Suereth and Gavin Shettler launched "The Modern Zoo." They then formed the non-profit Portland Art Center, but Suereth left and PAC eventually folded.

In a November 2009 Willy Week article, when asked about the financial future of Disjecta, Bryan stated, "Are we guaranteed to exist at this same time next year? Hell no."

Disjecta's Board of Directors includes Meagan Atiyeh, damali ayo, Beth Gates, Brad Malsin, Marshall Runkel, and Kristin Wolff. The Board of Advisors includes Sam Gould, Matt McCormick, Stephanie Snyder, and Mark Woolley among others.

Disjecta has a small number of studio spaces they rent out, including the offices of The Sentinel, which recently announced they will be closing down in March of 2010. The Sentinel, run by Cornelius Swart, is published by SydHonda Media, which is a sponsor of the Portland Media Lab.

Steve and I have started a podcast called The Bright Future of Tobacco. We just posted our first episode, titled The Weakness In Our Value Chain Was The Quality Of Our Core Product, and I have a few show notes for anyone who wants to follow up on what we discuss.

The Domino's Pizza Pizza Turnaround results in pizza that we determine is only 15% improved. However, the stock price (NYSE:DPZ) has improved about 27%.

You should watch Big River Man, a documentary about Martin Strel. (Website, Amazon, Netflix)

If you like beer, you should buy a copy of Greatest Sips by the Hot Knives (Website, Publication Studio)

It might be time to rethink the value of metacritic.com.

Sweet Teddy P.

Mike owes Steve $155 because he is bad at NBA bets.

As predicted, "Things are looking bleak for the roller coaster."

There will be no April Fools' Day in 2010 and Nicole Richie will ultimately win Project Runway.

We enjoy Butera Royal Vintage Cigars from Rich's Cigar Store. The name "Butera" is from Michael Butera, who is a well known tobacco pipe designer who has licensed his name to these fine cigars.

We hope you enjoy the first episode of The Bright Future of Tobacco.

For the past 30 days I have maintained a vegetarian diet after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Natalie Portman wrote in The Huffington Post that "Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist."

Since then I have had discussions with many people about the various pros and cons of eating meat. Should I maintain a vegetarian diet?

Many shareholders are vegetarian. Some are ethical omnivores, and some are generally careless about what they eat. Is there a diet that adds value to KmikeyM? As the adage says, "you are what you eat." Should the KmikeyM enterprise be fed, if you were, by the various ill effects of modern American farming and its hormone-laden meat industry, or by the energy derived from natural photosynthesis? Food is fuel, and the machine of KmikeyM must continue to run unburdened for many years to come.

On the other hand, food is also social. The social ramifications of a limited diet can mean not sitting at the table of beef-eating titans of industry. That is a seat that offers many opportunities. On a more personal level there are meals where it might be impolite to invite a non-meater (like a pig roast, or a wing party). I myself have considered the dietary restrictions of guests when planning a small dinner party.

It may be counterproductive to consider this a dichotomous conflict of physical and social value; there may be unforeseen ill effects in either directions. For example, vegetarianism may be the norm in various circles (artistic, ecologically-conscious), or be seen as a sign of personal strength and ethical values, both superior business attributes. At the same time, a poorly-planned vegetarian diet may be detrimental to health. However, this is a brass-tacks decision and brass-tacks decisions require hard-lined arguments.

Vote here.

Discuss here.

We just announced the Hot Knives' book GREATEST SIPS, which is a collection of 21 essays on various beers written by Alex and Evan. The creation of this book has been a long journey. I'm much more accustomed to creating things for the web, and the shift to creating a physical item was full of all new problems and issues and considerations.

I had to learn Adobe's InDesign. That program is not intuitive AT ALL. It's like a secret club. Now, after a few months of using it I feel like I can open and do small edits. If learning to use a gun was as complicated as InDesign I'd be a level where I know just enough to not kill myself. Everyone around me is in SEVERE danger, but I won't shoot myself. Maybe.

We really rallied the Urban Honking team on this book in a way I don't think we've done before. The Hot Knives wrote it of course, and while I did the layout I had a lot of help from Flint and Jona, Rebecca stepped in with some design and artwork, Thomas edited the shit out of it, Steve compiled the .zip file of music... I'm sure I'm forgetting some people because for a while I was just bouncing around everyone I know getting help.

If you want to read about beer it's just $15 and being printed and sold by our friends at Publication Studio.

Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) claims to have remade their pizza with a new focus on making food that actually tastes good. They are calling it a Pizza Turnaround. The problem is that while the pizza may be changed, the pizza is still bad.