Even Keeled

Found a great interactive chart that details how the US Govt budget is allocated.  

Looking at this chart, it’s very useful to identify spending areas…but what I find exceptional frustrating is trying to infer second levels of data.   Are we over budget in some areas?  How fast is spending increasing in each segment? What metadata can be extracted to allow our elected officials to better manage the country?

One idea I had which I would still love to dedicate time to is called “Dashboard for America”.   Getting a quick snapshot of the key metrics of your business fundamentals is all the rage in tech companies (as well as the Fortune 500 I would think).  Why can’t we start an initiative to do the same for federal spending?  It would serve the dual purpose of accountability (for politicians) and sense of ownership/responsibility (for citizens). 

Eventually, I’d really love to see something similar on a local level for every city/county in the country, that rolls up to the state level.  Will be my next gig…either that or my Denim-Wine-Coffee bar.

I find it really hard to devote almost any amount of time to reading.  My window of opportunity is in morning before I leave for work, usually the San Francisco Chronicle or Google news.  I haven’t read a book in maybe 2 years.   What free time I do get to read is usually spent on a variety of magazines.  Two of my favorite are Cabinet and Good.  I’d classify them both as thought provokingly off-beat. 

Cabinet (published quarterly) tends to focus a little more on obscure topics, though they are usually very forward looking.  I find many of the articles weave themselves into conversations months after I read.  There is a heavy artistic element as well, sometimes just photos running as a story.  The content and tone is vaguely similar to McSweeney’s, though not nearly as irreverent or purely literary in a good way.  Each issue of cabinet is dedicated to a particular topic…insects, the sea, ruins, flight, etc.  Not all articles are dedicated to the core topic, but the theme is present throughout the issue.  The best way to describe for me is “craftsmanship”.  Each issue is both aesthetically and intellectually very well put together.  You really get a sense the editors and authors pour maximum effort into the endeavor.

Good (published monthly) focuses more on current events and doing things that are, well, good for the world. Common areas of focus are science, culture, the environment, education, technology, health, etc.  Their motto is “media for people who give a damn”.  With a heavy focus on getting involved in solutions to common problems, I generally feel slightly inspired.  The editors also write a very frequently updated blog with running items that many of the same issues.  Good was created by Ben Goldhirsh,  his father founded Inc magazine so publishing certainly runs in the family.

With all the crap out there in most media outlets, especially weekly “news” magazines, Good and Cabinet fill a great void of not just reporting on issues, but providing enough information that you can follow-up and/or get involved. 

No, that’s not the new quarterback for University of Texas.   I’m talking about the small, but growing, segment of consumers that are seriously into a jeans.  I’ve been watching the trend of high-end denim for sometime.  I’m not hardcore by any means, but find the willingness to pay >$300 for a pair of raw denim absolutely fascinating.  Oh yeah, you don’t wash them.  Ever.

For me it started with organic Levi’s.  I read about them and looked for awhile before finally picking up a pair last summer.  This is like nicotine to the speed ball addicted denim afficianados…I started to read more and more about various materials, cuts, styles, etc.  Japanese companies arguably started the industry, mostly be copying original Levi’s cuts, but there is also a growing number of US companies getting into the act. 

Self Edge in SF carries a bunch of hard to find brands.  I’m going to head up there sometime in the next week and check it out.  My main interest is demographic research.  I have an idea to open a combination wine-bar-premium-denim store…wondering what the crowd is like.  Will do another post soon on the variations in styles, etc.

The Cosco Busan incident made me think about the maritime industry again.  My family has been immersed in all things nautical forever.  I went to Tulane with the plan of becoming a BSD maritime lawyer and kicking the foreign owned fishing vessels out of US territorial waters.  (Thanks Sen. Stevens!  Hope you get eaten by a Grizzly).

One other area that caught my interest for awhile was the ’ship breaking’ industry.  After I’m done with work, I’d love to figure out what to do with old boats.  Eco-friendly method of recycling these things?  Dunno yet…recycled post below that talks about an artist who took incredible pictures of the industry.

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One somewhat disappointing aspect of my recent (Ed Note: Aug. 2005) trip to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and India was the lack of time to do any sightseeing. I’m not talking real touristy type activities, but just the basic landmarks beyond airport, hotel, taxi and local Yahoo! office. The trip was very compressed, and except for one Saturday in China, we hardly saw any of the true culture each location had to offer - and of course any free time was spent working to justify the expense of the wonderful trip to Yahoo! senior management

This led to an interesting conversation about the ‘anti-tourist’ world tour. Basically, locations that have no interest but for their complete obscurity. A few locations that Jonathan Grubb mentioned were a giant repository of plastic bags floating somewhere near the equator, an island in SE Asia (Nauru) made of bird crap which had been completely strip mined and the coastal towns in India and Bangladesh that turn old merchant ships into scrap metal.

A few weeks after I got back, I read an article about an exhibit at the Stanford Center for Visual Arts by a Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky who specializes in large (5′x5′) photographs of eco-industrialism (my description not his). Basically, any type of massive operation where the environment and industrial spirit collide. What makes the photos so interesting is the guilty pleasure you receive in viewing. Most free thinking individuals are taught that strip mining, tire dumps and ship breaking operations are inherently bad…but honestly, in Burtynsky’s photos images of these activities are completely breathtaking, even beautiful.

I have a limited amount of nautical knowledge.  The recent container ship crash into the Bay Bridge is just wrong on so many levels.  I’m not a tree hugger, but looking at the oil slicks around SF Bay is very, very sad. 

Knowing how careful most ship captains and pilots are, I can’t even imagine what went wrong.  Also knowing how opaque the registration and ownership history of most vessels are, I can’t imagine the owners of the Cosco Busan will be ever be held accountable. 

This GPS playback from the morning the Cosco left dock in Oakland is fascinating.  Literally like watching a bad dream play over and over in your mind. 

I’m also not an engineer…but I’d feel alot more comfortable if some one did a little checking on that span of the bridge underwater.  I 902′ boat hitting another object created an enourmous of amount of energy transfer.  Some was absorbed by the bumper (that’s what it was designed for) and some energy was (partially) absorbed by the Cosco Busan herself. 

But considering this is the FIRST time a ship has ever hit the bridge pillar, wouldn’t it make sense to just do a quick dive and check the concrete under the water level?