William Carleton, Counselor @ Law

Maker Faire 2013 - Saturday

2013-05-18T16:02:33-07:00

It's sunny and 70 degrees in San Mateo as I write this at 3:49 pm.

I'm at Maker Faire, volunteering for friends and, by turns, wandering about.

Pictured are a few of the happenings I've seen so far today.

The most interesting lend themselves to short video, which I am posting to YouTube via the Capture app, which is a godsend.

The shiny new Asus server, I want to swap out my Dell at work for that. The letterpress pictured is steam powered!

I had a great roast pork sandwich from a food truck that said it was from San Francisco, General something-or-other. Taiwanese, the truck said. Steamed pr baked. The presentation was superb, as good as I'd expect at the foodie places I like in Seattle. The top of the bun was off center, to showcase a layer of meat on the bottom bun, topped by a thicket of cut cabbage and mustard seed. Was delicious before I took a bite. That's not pictured.

Speed and distance

2013-05-17T08:40:53-07:00

During the flight down from Seattle to San Francisco this morning, I watched a commercial jet flying north, the opposite direction. It was moving fast, much faster than I'm used to seeing planes fly when watching from the ground.

Hard to say how far the fast jet was from where I sat, but, from its relative size in my eye, it looked farther than jets typically fly over Seattle approaching SeaTac.

I told myself that the fact that my plane was moving in the opposite direction accounted for (at least some of) the impression of the other jet's unusual speed. That is, although I felt I was viewing from a fixed position, in fact I was not. The two planes were pulling away from each other, but my eye was attributing all of the speed to the other plane.

But that other plane still looked like it was moving three times faster than normal.

Some minutes later, I focused my attention to a dotted line of waves on the California coast. For many beats, they were as still in my eye as they are in this picture. Even when I finally picked up some movement, it was within a single wave, not the entire formation.

Weird. I know waves move slowly, even from the perspective of pier or beach, but I can't account for the perception of stasis from, what, 37,000 feet.

More notes from the plane trip: as we approached the San Francisco airport from the south, the plane rode along the edge of a cloud bank, such that I could see the bright sky and white topped surface of the clouds in the top half of the frame, as it were, and the marsh and muddy water of the overcast East Bay at the bottom. It was oddly beautiful, and a study in the diffraction of light.

I wished I had the gumption to snap a photo of that, but the protocol of course is to have your phone shut down during landing (think of all the landing photos that will be on Flickr once that rule is changed!). Then again, the camera wouldn't have been able to deal with the contrast.

Maker Faire 2013

2013-05-16T18:47:03-07:00

Sorry for the lateness of today's post.

Tomorrow I'm heading to San Mateo for the 2013 Maker Faire.

It's a working visit, so I won't be at total leisure to blog about everything I see; but I'm sure my posts for the next few days will center around the Faire.

Today's picture is not about the Faire, not directly. It's a detail from a Ken Kelly painting, Fairy Tale, 1988, that I spied this afternoon in the hallways of the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle, where I am attending a reception.

Light reading

2013-05-15T12:51:13-07:00

Last night I participated in a "legal best practices" panel at the new WIN Reactor space (near the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Park).

I'm just getting to know about the Reactor program. Its head, Chip Hallett, described it as a "launch incubator" for startups in the game industry.

The panel was a mix of lawyers and game company founders/CEOs. As anyone would expect going in, the founders/CEOs were more interesting to hear. (That said, Seattle attorney Scott Warner did an uncommonly good job of moderating the discussion; he'd be a good moderator even when the topic isn't legal).

I think the whole show (long – 2 1/2 hours?) is preserved for posterity on video - I can actually see it being a good resource for first time game startup entrepreneurs, because Scott was so careful to cover all the basic topics - so I sure as heck won't attempt anything like a recap here.

What I do want to remark on briefly: the answers the CEOs/founders gave to one of Scott's questions, to the effect of, do you read all the legal contracts that affect your business?

Bob Berry of Uber Entertainment, Matt Wilson of Detonator Games, and Randy Chung of Zhurosoft, each said, yes, of course, every line, you have to.

I knew this is the answer Bob would give, as I and my firm represent Uber and know his style. But I was impressed to hear Matt and Randy equally adamant.

Sensing that he had hit an especially rich vein in the silver mine, Scott pressed everyone for examples of where contracts go wrong, issues presented or sections and legal contracts to be especially wary of. Everyone had great examples. We got into not just legal drafting "gotchas" but also the nitty-gritty of payment terms and how important it is to spell out unspoken assumptions.

If I come across a link to the video archive, I'll try to remember to post it here.

I'll leave you with a link to a video calling card that Bob kindly created for me in the span of about 90 seconds, using a fun app created by a startup which is part of the current WIN/Reactor class, Freak'n Genius. It had me in stitches.

Photo courtesy of Julian Allen, REACTOR community manager.

The future of angel investing and venture capital fund formation

2013-05-14T09:19:26-07:00

Important post by Joe Bartlett on VC Experts this morning: Joe's take on the future of both angel investing and venture capital fund formation.

It will be, Joe says, aggregation of capital by funds formed online, which permit investors to cherry pick what deals they want to participate in (indirectly, through an investment-specific fund).

The no-action letters secured recently by FundersClub and AngelList validate (most) of the necessary legal framework, but Joe sees the successful funds of the future as perhaps being more niche specific - "each Super Platform will aggregate investment opportunities by specific categories … e.g., medical devices; robotics; solar power; wind power; bio-pharma; clean tech; spin outs from a specific academic center's lab . . . ."

I love seeing how Joe puts all the pieces together.

What I like most about this post, though, is this paragraph of quintessential Bartlett prose about the age in which we live (diction note: "gazelle" is a Bartlett term for an emerging growth company):

"There is a high level of agreement among scientists and techies with the proposition that the next few decades (and, of course, beyond) will experience a worldwide (and principally in the U.S.) explosion of inventions and discoveries capable of giving birth to a multitude of promising Gazelles. The curve is accelerating upwards, approaching a 90 degree angle. The advances in communications, information technology, manufacturing, robotics, alternative energy, biotech, nanotechnology, agribusiness, mental health, transportation, etc. are multiplying geometrically, as theorists, physical scientists, mathematicians and technicians continue to expand the envelope to realms which once were the province of science fiction writers. You needn't go to the limits (or, better, the lack thereof) to which Ray Kurzweil's Singularity University is pushing the boundaries to accept the premise of the science and tech expansion, continuing a curve which has been building since the Enlightenment."

We ain't so special. Tomorrow is.

Photo: Swamibu / Flickr.

Sheryl Sandberg's Silicon Valley HR

2013-05-13T06:30:24-07:00

For Mother's Day, I finished reading Sheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In.

Sandberg gives advice that she expressly admits (she hopes, I hope, we all hope) will be dated within the lifetimes of our children, if not sooner.

For instance, she advises women to conduct job negotiations following an approach she attributes to a Harvard Professor Hannah Riley Bowles: first, they must be "nice," and second, they must justify their requests. Men needn't bother. "I understand the paradox," Sandberg acknowledges, "of advising women to change the world by adhering to biased rules and expectations."

That's bold.

She also describes some non-conventional HR practices she has followed as an executive, including a willingness to ask women about their plans for children, sometimes even in a job interview context.

That's bolder.

Late in the book, she reflects on how employment discrimination law presents an impediment to frank discussion about issues that directly impact the ability of employers and employees to discuss where family and professional lives will intersect:

"The first time I asked a prospective employee if she was considering having children soon, I understood that doing so could expose me and my company to legal risk. Unlike many women, I was in a position to evaluate this risk and chose to take it. The laws that protect women and minorities and people with disabilities, among others, from discrimination are essential, and I am not suggesting they be circumvented. But I have also witnessed firsthand how they can have a chilling effect of discourse, sometimes even to the detriment of the people they are designed to defend. I don't have a solution to this dilemma and will leave it to public policy and legal experts to solve. I do think this is worth some serious attention so we can find a way to deal with these issues in a way that protects but doesn't suppress."

A lot to unpack there.

Image from Google Maps.

Happy Mothers' Day

2013-05-12T20:56:05-07:00

Thinking today about my Mom, of course, but also about the women who love and have nurtured my kids as they were growing into young adults.

The parental adoration and concern never stops. But today I look back and am thankful to to their Mom, the moms of their friends and the other women in their lives.

These flowers are from the garden that is the Central District. Picture taken earlier today.

More Morozov

2013-05-11T18:42:34-07:00

This morning on the back porch with a cup of coffee I read "The Meme Hustler: Tim O'Reilly's crazy talk," an article by Evgeny Morozov in a magazine called "The Baffler" (I might subscribe to it, just based on the fun of the Morozov piece).

A few pages into it, I found myself wondering, "why would Morozov pay so much attention to a PR shrill? Won't it just encourage him?"

But deeper into the piece, as I recognized that the article pursues essentially the same theme as, and could serve as an addtional chapter in, Morozov's new book (to read my thoughts on that book, click here), I settled down. The Morozov thesis is one that bears repitition and iterative applications. And I feel in need of the corrective.

I myself am not so stupid as to subscribe to the O'Reilly RSS feed or follow him on Twitter. But I am stupid enough, even yet, to follow all sorts of people on Twitter who are meme hustling. I wish I had the courage to stop following all of them.

Anyway, the story of the day gets better. We walked to SODO and saw the Sounders kick the butts of the San Jose team. Lamar Nagle, the Man from Federal Way, scored two goals; Mauro Rosales scored on a wicked free kick; and Obafemi Martins came on in the second half and scored. All the Sounders had great games. San Jose is not a bad team.

And we walked home, and stopped at the neighborhood branch of the library and borrowed some DVDs. No Netflix, no Amazon, no internet. Throw in sunshine and it feels like living!

That said, I did order some cigars online this morning, early enough that they will ship today and hopefully make the meeting midweek I intend them for.

SBX5

2013-05-10T12:12:10-07:00

I left you hanging yesterday, so I'll report now on how the event went.

The brisket was gorgeous, smoky and succulent. Men and women were comparing the experience of consuming the beef ribs with the choicest multiple orgasms they've ever had.

The scene? Celebrities and film crews. Food hipsters, of course.

But also regular families, including children.

Deirdre is a filmmaker and Jack her producer, so they know how to stage events. Brick walls, live music, great bar, quiet slideshow with BBQ definitions, impeccable staging and timing on the revelation of the meats, the sides and then an amazing check pastry dessert by Jack's niece.

I didn't help at all of the event, just enjoyed it. From helping out around the smoker during the day, I lifted just some of the veil of the mystery of how good BBQ is made, but, thankfully, not too much.

In fact, the way you get beef to taste that way now seems even more magical.

Central Texas meets Central Seattle

2013-05-09T08:13:21-07:00

There's a little patch of Central Texas in Central Seattle today.

BBQ Jack, a/k/a @JackTimmons, is smoking brisket, ribs and pork butt for his SBX5 extravaganza tonight.

(Tonight's event is sold out, but you can sign up here to learn about future Seattle Brisket Experiences.)

Daniel Vaughn, a/k/a @BBQsnob, may drop by later in the day, and will be the special guest star at the event tonight.

I've taken the day off to help Jack out.

Don't know that I'll liveblog, per se, the day, at least not in the same manner that I liveblog Congressional hearings or conference panel sessions, but I will try to journal the day with updates here. Follow me on Twitter, @wac6, if interested in keeping up!

I'll start off with a picture taken last night, Jack moving meat. I'd guess the brisket pictured is but 8 pounds of the 160 pounds or so Jack is smoking.

Update 9:50 AM Central Seattle (11:50 AM Central Texas)

The meat spent the night packed into these cambros. The morning's order of business was to get the meat back into the smoker.

Jack stoked the fire while yours truly washed out the cambros (not pictured). (This is called participatory journalism.)

Being a high-tech Microsoft alum, Jack has all kinds of gadgets, even a wireless temperature reader that reports on what's happening inside the smoker while Jack's inside updating his tumbler.

But he's nothing if not practical: a cinderblock works fine to secure the fire kiln door.

Update 11:15 AM Central Seattle (1:15 PM Central Texas)

Filmmaker and writer Dierdre Timmons punches up the menu copy.

Update 1:50 PM Central Seattle (3:50 PM Central Texas)

Temperatures are steady. Jack bringing the brisket in for a landing.

Update 3:50 PM Central Seattle (5:50 PM Central Texas)

Brief video of Jack using his new drill bit designed to pull the pork.

And here's Jack 'splaining stuff to the ABC videocrew. I didn't get a shot of Jack chatting with Daniel Vaughn, because I had greasy gloves on. Maybe later at the event.