Government

From time to time, Thomas Friedman writes something that has the power to change lives. So far, Friedman’s The World Is Flat has had the greatest impact on me, as it inspired my business partner, Jesse Davis, to start work on our…

I think one of the most interesting stories of the 2010s will be whether my generation puts an end to “gotcha journalism” or makes the problem even worse than it is today.

I was talking with a few people at the last High Tech Happy Hour and the last Capital Entrepreneurs meeting about what makes a city startup friendly. We came up with a short list, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. What makes a city startup friendly and how can…

I only had time to read two books in October, but they were both interesting and well worth my time. One was fiction and one was non-fiction. Check out my reviews from past months here.

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide…

I attended a talk by Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, last night at the Kohl Center in Madison. Pollan is one of my favorite writers and thinkers because he almost always has a new take on old problems that…

With the stock market looking toppy and the unemployment rate still on the rise, the “green shoots” are starting to look rather brown (or more like a mirage) and some are calling for a second stimulus. For now, leave the ridiculous fact that only a tiny percentage of first stimulus…

I just watched The Smartest Guys in the Room, a documentary about the rise and fall of Enron. I have a special interest in Enron, as I margined my entire stock portfolio and shorted it in my 10th grade mock stock competition for a few days, but relented…

London’s Telegraph had an interesting story over the weekend about an innovative program that Flint, Michigan is using to combat its huge drop in population. The article, titled US Cities May Have to be Bulldozed to Survive, explains that the program’s…

In an apparent crackdown on online gambling, the US government froze $30m in online gambling winnings of around 27,000 people. In the past, the government had only gone after gambling processors and betting companies. Some how, legislation banning…