Posted Thu, Jan 26, 8:50 a.m.

Excellent, detailed reporting here by C.B. Hall. A couple of further personal observations: As a boatbuilder myself (of much smaller boats), I'm acutely conscious of space utilization and efficiency. Every time I ride the Chetzemoka I marvel at its lavish acres of incoherent wasted space. It looks like half a ...

Posted Wed, Jan 18, 11:30 a.m.

Eric Scigliano writes: "Proclamations like Ferriss's have struck terror in traditional publishing circles." Exactly, and the traditional publishers richly deserve their terror. There are individual exceptions, but as an industry, they have been self-absorbed, stagnant, and unresponsive to change. In recent years they have offloaded most of the manuscript development ...

Posted Wed, Oct 26, 12:08 p.m.

I chime in with deep appreciation for Raban's writing. One intriguing aspect is his remarkably evocative and original ways of describing water and human interaction with it, on display in several of the pieces in "Driving Home" as well as in "Passage to Juneau." Two fine examples: "Having grown up ...

Posted Thu, Oct 20, 7:53 a.m.

I definitely agree with Tony Robinson that " a person’s religion, or lack of it, should not be either the qualifier or the disqualifier for public office, including the presidency." I'm increasingly frustrated with the intense scrutiny and debate, much of it fueled by religious bigotry, over the candidates' church ...

Posted Thu, May 26, 7:38 a.m.

A good, thoughtful commentary, especially since it comes from a dedicated techie. I too use a bare-bones cell phone (and as little as possible, at that), and I have fewer than a dozen apps on my iPod touch. I don't think of myself as a Luddite either, but I simply ...

Posted Wed, Oct 6, 8:30 a.m.

What's the new address for mailing in member donations? The online form still has the Cedar Street address. Good move. It'll be a more interesting neighborhood, even lacking Elliott Bay Books. —Larry Cheek

Posted Wed, Mar 24, 9:55 a.m.

I usually agree with Mossback—in fact, I edited his book, Pugetopolis—but not this time. I'm appalled and profoundly worried by the Tea Party crowd's reflexive hatred, increasingly linked with boorish incivility in Congress itself. I'm fine with passionate opposition and unruly demonstrations, but there's a jagged line somewhere between unruliness ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 9:06 a.m.

Tony's upper-mid-life inventory of self and career is a nearly exact parallel of mine: "I turned the corner of 60 and somehow the future no longer looked bright and open, but shadowy and tight. A bunch of the things I'd invested in — newspapers and book publishing, church and seminaries ...

Posted Wed, Dec 16, 3:15 p.m.

One reason KING might be "struggling" is its timid, lightweight approach to repertoire. Its playlist relies on toothless little baroque trio sonatas and the eternal Top 40 of classical masterpieces. Its program director seems to think the 20th century ended with Ravel. Serious listeners who truly love music—who aren't just ...

Posted Wed, Nov 26, 7:38 a.m.

Hiskes' choices are all excellent. For me, the indispensable addition is Jonathan Raban's Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings (Pantheon 1999). It's a masterful weave of natural history, regional culture and personal narrative. —Lawrence W. Cheek