Eric Aderhold
@eric.aderhold.us
Curler/software engineer/dad/Scouter/urbanist in Seattle.
Meanwhile you're penalizing the folks who do try to pay what they owe, and just guess wrong. Expect to commute 20 times, buy a pass, but you get sick and only go 17? Expect to ride 15 times so you don't buy a pass, but you lose your bike and take transit more for non-work trips? Too bad for you.
December 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Meanwhile you're penalizing the folks who do try to pay what they owe, and just guess wrong. Expect to commute 20 times, buy a pass, but you get sick and only go 17? Expect to ride 15 times so you don't buy a pass, but you lose your bike and take transit more for non-work trips? Too bad for you.
If you're the type of person to skip paying and take your chances with fare enforcement you're probably not going to be buying a pass anyway, unless the pass is obviously cheaper than the average non-payment penalties.
December 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
If you're the type of person to skip paying and take your chances with fare enforcement you're probably not going to be buying a pass anyway, unless the pass is obviously cheaper than the average non-payment penalties.
People in the building industry were just as interested in profit a century ago as they are now.
Just like higher-end products in any other industry, nicer-looking buildings can be profitable when people are willing and able to pay for them.
Just like higher-end products in any other industry, nicer-looking buildings can be profitable when people are willing and able to pay for them.
December 31, 2025 at 5:17 AM
People in the building industry were just as interested in profit a century ago as they are now.
Just like higher-end products in any other industry, nicer-looking buildings can be profitable when people are willing and able to pay for them.
Just like higher-end products in any other industry, nicer-looking buildings can be profitable when people are willing and able to pay for them.
Sure. As an investor I don't want founders to need to worry about that, and as an employee I don't want to have to worry about whether my employer has done that.
December 31, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Sure. As an investor I don't want founders to need to worry about that, and as an employee I don't want to have to worry about whether my employer has done that.
To the folks suggesting larger depositors should have been wiped out...do you realize how much of a dead weight loss to the economy it would be for any prudent company to run their payroll through a dozen different banks because you can't count on your money being safe if you just use one bank?
December 31, 2025 at 1:52 AM
To the folks suggesting larger depositors should have been wiped out...do you realize how much of a dead weight loss to the economy it would be for any prudent company to run their payroll through a dozen different banks because you can't count on your money being safe if you just use one bank?
Yeah the startup I worked for in 2021-22 laid off a bunch of folks at the beginning of 2023. Turned out they were using SVB. I remember getting a note to the effect of "we're doing our best to pay your severance this week as agreed but we just don't know when we can access the money...sit tight."
December 31, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Yeah the startup I worked for in 2021-22 laid off a bunch of folks at the beginning of 2023. Turned out they were using SVB. I remember getting a note to the effect of "we're doing our best to pay your severance this week as agreed but we just don't know when we can access the money...sit tight."
Here in Seattle the monthly pass breaks even at 18 round trips. If you commute every weekday it pays off. If you work from home some days or have a vacation planned you might do better paying for individual rides. Why make people guess in advance? Put in a monthly fare cap. Better customer service.
December 30, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Here in Seattle the monthly pass breaks even at 18 round trips. If you commute every weekday it pays off. If you work from home some days or have a vacation planned you might do better paying for individual rides. Why make people guess in advance? Put in a monthly fare cap. Better customer service.
Fare capping is simply a good customer service move. Plenty of times I've failed to purchase a day pass and then ended up taking an unplanned ride that would have made the pass pay off in hindsight. Riders shouldn't be penalized for a failure to predict their rides in advance.
December 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Fare capping is simply a good customer service move. Plenty of times I've failed to purchase a day pass and then ended up taking an unplanned ride that would have made the pass pay off in hindsight. Riders shouldn't be penalized for a failure to predict their rides in advance.
I felt really sorry for him with all his unfortunately-timed ailments preventing him from riding the cable-laying ships. I hope he gets the chance he deserves to prove himself.
December 30, 2025 at 2:24 AM
I felt really sorry for him with all his unfortunately-timed ailments preventing him from riding the cable-laying ships. I hope he gets the chance he deserves to prove himself.
Yes, and of course we can rest assured that an increasing number of people commuting long distances due to insufficient housing near their workplace has no harmful impact whatsoever on the health of the baby orcas.
December 30, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Yes, and of course we can rest assured that an increasing number of people commuting long distances due to insufficient housing near their workplace has no harmful impact whatsoever on the health of the baby orcas.
If you let someone cut down a tree to build a home something something runoff something something baby orca death.
December 29, 2025 at 6:54 PM
If you let someone cut down a tree to build a home something something runoff something something baby orca death.
That's a pretty small Costco run by my family's standards. We live ten miles from the store and fill up the Prius trunk. If we didn't have a car we just wouldn't go there. I do smaller grocery trips (similar to the amount in your photo) in my neighborhood by electric scooter all the time though!
December 29, 2025 at 3:15 AM
That's a pretty small Costco run by my family's standards. We live ten miles from the store and fill up the Prius trunk. If we didn't have a car we just wouldn't go there. I do smaller grocery trips (similar to the amount in your photo) in my neighborhood by electric scooter all the time though!
Yes, naming your company after the bad guy in the Lord of the Rings is a perfectly natural and logical thing to do if you wish to sell products.
December 29, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Yes, naming your company after the bad guy in the Lord of the Rings is a perfectly natural and logical thing to do if you wish to sell products.
The kitchen looks all righ—hold up, why is there a life-sized nude statue standing on the countertop?
December 21, 2025 at 1:31 AM
The kitchen looks all righ—hold up, why is there a life-sized nude statue standing on the countertop?
This mindset that tries to find fault with anyone other than the driver—even to the point of holding cyclists and pedestrians to a higher standard than any law requires—seems like exactly the motivation behind this protest.
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 AM
This mindset that tries to find fault with anyone other than the driver—even to the point of holding cyclists and pedestrians to a higher standard than any law requires—seems like exactly the motivation behind this protest.
So many of these questions are simply irrelevant. Were they hit in the bike lane? Irrelevant. Riding in the bike lane is not required. Were they wearing black? Irrelevant. The rules of the road don't regulate attire. Was the cyclist using a headlight as required? That's a more relevant question.
December 15, 2025 at 7:35 AM
So many of these questions are simply irrelevant. Were they hit in the bike lane? Irrelevant. Riding in the bike lane is not required. Were they wearing black? Irrelevant. The rules of the road don't regulate attire. Was the cyclist using a headlight as required? That's a more relevant question.
Include a photo of the property while it was in the permitting phase. "Given that design review made the block look like this for an extra X months, do you believe the process improved the design of the development enough to make up for looking at this grafitti-covered eyesore that much longer?"
December 15, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Include a photo of the property while it was in the permitting phase. "Given that design review made the block look like this for an extra X months, do you believe the process improved the design of the development enough to make up for looking at this grafitti-covered eyesore that much longer?"
At some point the zoning gets out of the way enough that the minimum amount of land per home is relatively affordable, so you're mostly paying for building materials and labor. These things can be expensive too! There's no good reason to have local regulations add a six figure sum on top of that.
December 7, 2025 at 6:31 AM
At some point the zoning gets out of the way enough that the minimum amount of land per home is relatively affordable, so you're mostly paying for building materials and labor. These things can be expensive too! There's no good reason to have local regulations add a six figure sum on top of that.
One home per lot was actually the rule not too long ago. More recently the limit on homes per lot was three, so you're paying almost $200k/home just for land. That's less than $500k to be sure, but it's still a pretty significant cost for the legal minimum amount of land per home.
December 7, 2025 at 6:31 AM
One home per lot was actually the rule not too long ago. More recently the limit on homes per lot was three, so you're paying almost $200k/home just for land. That's less than $500k to be sure, but it's still a pretty significant cost for the legal minimum amount of land per home.
There's not One True Cause of housing unaffordability. Many factors combine. One of those definitely is local regulation. Here in my neighborhood in Seattle an individual ~0.1 acre lot costs upward of $500k. If you could only build one home there, you're starting at $500k just to pitch a tent.
December 7, 2025 at 6:31 AM
There's not One True Cause of housing unaffordability. Many factors combine. One of those definitely is local regulation. Here in my neighborhood in Seattle an individual ~0.1 acre lot costs upward of $500k. If you could only build one home there, you're starting at $500k just to pitch a tent.
It is a numbers game, yes. If you have two bright red districts and one bright blue district each of those districts is quite safe for its majority party. If you change the lines so you have three reddish-purple districts they could all go blue in a sufficiently large wave election.
December 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
It is a numbers game, yes. If you have two bright red districts and one bright blue district each of those districts is quite safe for its majority party. If you change the lines so you have three reddish-purple districts they could all go blue in a sufficiently large wave election.
What I read elsewhere is that the appeals court doesn't seem to agree with that order. The plaintiffs would rather dismiss the case than risk an adverse ruling after oral arguments at the appeals court.
December 4, 2025 at 9:03 PM
What I read elsewhere is that the appeals court doesn't seem to agree with that order. The plaintiffs would rather dismiss the case than risk an adverse ruling after oral arguments at the appeals court.
This exactly. The options that involve putting the international district station right next to the existing train stations for easier transfers have been deprioritized because apparently inconveniencing businesses and drivers for a few years is worse than inconveniencing train riders forever.
November 19, 2025 at 9:17 PM
This exactly. The options that involve putting the international district station right next to the existing train stations for easier transfers have been deprioritized because apparently inconveniencing businesses and drivers for a few years is worse than inconveniencing train riders forever.
You can buy a lot of steel for $1.6 billion.
November 19, 2025 at 8:41 PM
You can buy a lot of steel for $1.6 billion.
Add onto this $1,100 all the other costs of operating a parking lot (lighting, security, cleaning). Also they're sitting on >$100k of land value per parking spot and they surely want to get a return on that capital investment.
All this goes into the price of groceries whether you drive or not.
All this goes into the price of groceries whether you drive or not.
November 14, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Add onto this $1,100 all the other costs of operating a parking lot (lighting, security, cleaning). Also they're sitting on >$100k of land value per parking spot and they surely want to get a return on that capital investment.
All this goes into the price of groceries whether you drive or not.
All this goes into the price of groceries whether you drive or not.