Author Archives: Brewster Kahle

Libraries vs Bookstores? No, False dichotomy. They are different Animals

There is a recent written attack on libraries that I find odd and somewhat dangerous– libraries overlap too much with new-book bookstores. At first I thought it was trolling, but I now believe it is sincere. More worrisome is that … Continue reading

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10 years trying 7 approaches to providing affordable housing for non-profit workers, here are the results so far

The Great Recession started in 2008 and everyone suffered– the Internet Archive hired 146 out-of-work parents, leveraging an Obama stimulus welfare-to-work program to scan books  for the visually impaired.   I had employees polled as to how they were doing financially, … Continue reading

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Zone trip #5? Inventing a Desirable Physical World in Pandemic — August, 2020

San Francisco is best when it is inventing utopias (executing on it sometimes goes astray, but stay with me). In our Covid/Pandemic world we are all pushed into virtual classes, virtual work, virtual relations.  Lets face it, we can only … Continue reading

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Helping Make Housing Affordable with “Non-Intrusive Joint Ownership”

We have been trying Foundation Housing with an apartment building in San Francisco, and while we like that structure for many reasons, we are now trying something else, this time more personal that others might want to try: joint ownership … Continue reading

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The Game of Oligarchy

You should try this game. I just invented and played a game today with my family, and it worked great– it was fun and we learned an important lesson. Similar to the game “Monopoly” which shows that one person ends … Continue reading

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Slingshotting around the Sun? Grasping the Oberth Effect

A Washington Post article talked about getting to interstellar rocketry by slingshotting around the Sun. I understood the idea of slingshotting required a planet or a moon– something that was orbiting something else because you are taking some of that … Continue reading

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Lyft took 50% of the fare from the driver this morning

Going to the airport this morning, I took a Lyft for $46. It us usually less, but it was rush hour, and still less than a taxi (usually $65) and more reliable than a taxi. The driver was cheerful, been … Continue reading

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FasTrack (wireless highway toll-takers) that are not creepy? Yes, possible.

In the old days, paying a highway toll meant I paid with cash often a tossing a quarter in a basket or smiling at a toll-taker and handing over a dollar. But now I get to speed through. To do … Continue reading

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Amazon.com Charging Me 43% More Than Another Customer

Same product, same vendor, to same address, same day, same shipping, same billing address, but different customer, different price $8.63 vs $12.37. 43% higher price for me than for the Internet Archive. In fact I checked the price for me … Continue reading

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Hiring teams in addition to hiring individuals?

I am wondering if the Internet Archive, and tech orgs more generally, could effectively hire teams in addition to hiring individuals.  I am thinking of 4 or 5 people that could work effectively with each other, be remote from HQ, … Continue reading

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