2026.4.3. Astronaumic Art + Circus

4/3, Friday, UW. 2 events this evenings, both are enjoyable, and worth a few lines.

First, the opening of UW Plantetarium Arts' exhibition of Colectivo Arte Guenda - a group of female artists in Oaxaca (not all Mexicans). 22 artists were given an imprint of an SDSS targeting plate made in UW. They created their visions in the same 38"x38" frame, incorporating the holes on the plate. All very different and many are interesting. Only one embroidery. A couple of collages and photography. Most are paintings. Peace Kat gave some of us a tour of the pieces and talked briefly about each and its creater.

At 6pm, 3 people gave a speech: Yvonne Kennedy (Curator of this exhibition, Guenda), José Franco (UNAM), Peace Kat, and Sarah Tuttle (astrophysics UW). I very much enjoyed Sarah's talk, and learned about these plates. Kat is a good speaker. She emphasizes the systemic under-representation of women, and the goal of Guenda. At the break, before this panel, I got to checkout the actual plate and the robotic fiber positioner. Had to leave early, in the middle of this panel discussion.

Wolfed down some food I brought, and practically ran to Meany Theater for the 8pm show Passengers that I watched 2.5 years ago, by 7 Fingers, a Quebec circus group. Still quite enjoyable.

2026.4.1. Advanced Tech Policy Town Hall

WTIA's Arry Yu hosts many events every year. This one is by far the best, most informative.

• WA State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI)'s Faith Anderson (Acting Director of Securities), Shannon Tushar (Program Manager Division of Banks), JJ Choi (Chief of Regulatory Affairs Division of Consumer Service). They have office hours that anyone can stop by or call for consultation.
• WTIA's Director of Government Affairs, Amy Harris on this past short legislative session in Olympia ($M tax ...).
• WA State Attorney General's AI Task Force lead, Yuki Ishizuka. Their most recent report is this PDF.

~180 people signed up, but less than 50 showed up. So much food. A pity. Kudo to Arry who ordered dinner from a small business in the International District. I also enjoy reading her newsletters, especially the 10 lessons she just learned recently.

2026.2.9. Super Bowl ads analysis

2/9, Monday after the Super Bowl Sunday, where Seattle Seahawk won the championship. Seattle University hosts an annual Super Bowl ads analysis. This time it was co-organized by AAF Seattle. Despite of being a marketing and ad agency, and plenty images and slogans were displayed, I had to Google AAF to find out what it is: so bad! It also pretty much hijacked the event. I like SeattleU's original format better, even though I did enjoy this one too. This time, they also collected audience's reaction. These ads were talked about: Search Party from Ring, Last Harvest from LAY's, Bet on Kendall from Fanatics Sportsbook, Shake Your Bots Off from SVEDKA, OpenAI, Gemini, Instacart.

2025.11.13. SEFW 2025 Fall Forum Las Vegas' Sphere

11/13. Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington's annual fall forum has becoming my favorite lecture every year. This year's forum is about Las Vegas Sphere.

I arrived ~15 min late, missed the other 2 speakers, or they didn't exist. Cawsie Jijina, principle of Severud Associates was on the podium speaking. For more details, check out this article in Structure Magazine. Some funny annecdotes are :

• Las Vegas's day-night temperature difference can as much as 50°F, the steel has to accommodate up to 3" expansion (during the lecture, he said feet).
• Construction broke ground in 2018, the year when the first Trump administration imposed 25% tarrif on steel. They changed to concrete. When Biden was elected, they switched back to steel (upper level).
• He spent quite a bit of time talking about the dome/roof. Instead of building opposite direction for balance, it's built horizontally one ring at a time.
• The large crane on the right of this photo is the 4th largest in the world. It was shipped here from Belgium by sections. Trucked in from SF. The crane on the left was used to assemble it. Once assembled, a base has to be built for it to sit on.
• He lamented that he couldn't build a true sphere, because elevators cannot provide enough capacity to deliver people between the ground and the venue.
• He didn't mention the cost or the Covid pause and supply shortage.

Interesting. I'm looking forward to next November's lecture.

2025.11.4. Ed Yong: Becoming a Birder

11/4, Tuesday, 6:30pm. An excellent talk hosted by UW Graduate School at Town Hall: Ed Yong speaks about Becoming a Birder. I found this recording on Youtube of the same talk he gave earlier this year. The talk is very well laid out, excellent photos by Yong himself, many moments of funny remarks. This photo is a wetland near his home where he first picked up birding. He talked about peace (meditative, quiet), community (other birders), reliability and surprises, amazing feats by some birds. The only one I still remembered is the non-stop migration pf Bar-tailed Godwit. During Q&A, he commented that his next book will be published early 2027, which he just finished. That's much longer than I expected.

Out in the lobby, there's a table to sign up on some bird club. A few flattened bird that we are allowed to touch. All their furs are very soft.

Update: I just ordered both of his books, even though I've already read one. I also bought a laminated leaflet of PNW birds when I went to a different book talk at Elliot Bay Books.

2025.10.15, 17, 29. October talks at Seattle U: Esports, Votegrity, Expeditors

10/15, Wednesday. Seattle Business School's Sport and Entertainment Program (wow, didn't think there's such an academic program) hosted Chris DeAppolonio, CEO of Evil Geniuses, for a discussion on Where Esports meet Business. It's interesting for me, because I know nothing about the gaming industry, let alone multiplayer video game competition, which apparently is very popular. Seems most of the competitions in US are in L.A. (more popular in Asia). I'm not sure why, since these are online. Maybe due to regulation? One advantage of esport is that it's easier to organize, can be scoped to one community. Income is from sponsorship and ads. Accoridng to one audience member who asked a question, seems a significant veteran participate esport within the veteran community. It helps to treat (maybe only mitigate) post traumatic disorder.

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10/17, Friday, another "Founder Fridays" event at Seattle Univ. I really like this series: real local enterpreneurs talk about their experience.
This afternoon features Tom Thomas, CEO of Votegrity. I was late, so only heard Q&A. Seems so far, only adopted by HOA-like small organizations. The users have much higher participation rate, cheaper to run, minimizes paper/mailing waste and other overhead. Hope platforms like this can be adopted by wider organizations.

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10/29, Wednesday. Business School's Executive Speaker Series features Dan Wall, CEO of Expeditors. Dan has worked in every part of the organization, started from 0. Be humble, visits each office every few years. Talks to employees and their work. He emphasizes work ethic, emphasizes that he cares about the company and his people. He also started a training program for "undesirable youth", and then hire some of its graduates. In the era of high tech, this is very rare. He seems very genuine. I like the guy.

2025.10.20, 23, 24. One Ocean week

One Ocean Week in Seattle. I went to 3 events.

10/20, Sound Check at Seattle Aquarium

I first heard of Quiet Sound was a talk at last November's Marine Expo. Was very impressed. It's a voluntary program, encourages and facilitates captains to lower their speed (hence noise) when entering puget sound during winter. It's a small team of 3, and made an impact. This Monday is its annual update, see this PDF.

• Rachel Aronson showed the summation of last 3 years' adoptation, map.
• Sara Adams talked about her master thesis on motivating container ship participation in the Quiet Sound Slowdown.
• Gonzalo Banda-Cruz talked about orca spotting and alert system, from an app for everyone, and the backend, and broadcast.
• Capt. Will Kelly also spoke briefly.

Afterwards, I talked to an employee by the octopus tank. He showed me an octopus beak. I learned that all the arms of a female has sucsion cups, while the male has one arm free to mount the girls.

Then, I walked to the new Ocean Pavilion to see the "habitat". It's quite lovely. Wooden benches in front of the huge tank for you to slow down and enjoy. There're also a few very small windows on the side to showcase certain species.

10/23. Working Waterfront Day

Part 1 - ports and cities authority

• Dan Strauss, Councilmember, City of Seattle
• Marit Warncke, Mayor of Bergen, Norway
• Fred Felleman, Commissioner, Port of Seattle
• Ryan Calkins, Commissioner, Port of Seattle
• Michael Forland, Director, Port of Bergen
• Koji Shirahase, Deputy Director, Port of Kobe
• Kristin Ang, Commissioner, Port of Tacoma

My notes of no particular order

• Seattle
  • Career path for young people. The first maritime highschool's first graduation last year. Maritime certification.
  • City of Seattle funds school district. All other WA cities get funding from the state.
  • Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma plan together, instead of competing. The only competitor is BC, Canada (Vancouver and Prince Rupert, Vancouver has a bridge that prevent largest vessel from entering.)
  • 20% cargo used locally, the rest go to midwest. Some of midwest's cargo also came in through Canada.
  • Shore power, 3 sites. In 2027 only plugged curise ships are allowed into Seattle.
• Tacoma
  • deepen the waterway.
  • Maritime Skills Center, parnered with Tacoma Public Schools.
  • Zero-Emission trucking/cargo handling equipment.
  • US-Korea Green Shipping Corridors Project
  • Partnership with local tribes.
• Bergen
  • 300k population. 1M tourists. 40K studetns. 6k researchers.
  • 60% cruise use shore power (9M kWh), 2026 all cruise ships must use shore power.
  • Mostly passenger (cruise, ferry), some service and cargo. Otherwise, 1500 Liter desel per day per ship.
  • 2018 visible pollution igniteed city council decision: limit of 4 ships and 8000 pax per day, build shore power.
  • Buying land outside of the city, which caused some object of those communities.
• Kobe: filled land in the ocean (Not filling more land.) They are creating some bridge-like crane to access cargo ships. Space to grow kelp in the ports. 2040 vision of the integrated port.

I have trouble understanding the director of Port of Kobe (during the panel discussion, there was a translator). Bergen's port director made an interesting comment: we are picking the cruise industry because they are most visible, which only counts for about 5% traffic. Most are cargo ships and overland lorries (cheaper), which the public is not paying attention to.

Part 2 - >Green Manufacturing and Diversified Workforce

• Kirk Desler, Site Director at Bellingham, Corvus Energy (battery)
• Dan Tucker, Executive Director, Whatcom Working Waterfront Coalition (need more industrial land)
• Jamila Gordan, Principal, Maritime High School (in Des Moines, 120 students -> growing to 400, no grades, no credit. Competency check.) More hispanic, less Asian less girls than KC demographic. Multiple pathway (construction, ocean science, ...)
• Erica Spiritos- Mass Timber Accelerator
• Kyle Rowe- Electric Era
• Daniel Lokic- Sound Industrial Alliance
• Tuuli Snow- Snow and Company Boat Building (100% medical insurance)
• Dr. Alex Parker- Astraeus Ocean Systems
• Savannah Smith- Sea Potential

Part 3 - Argosy Tour of Seattle Waterfront
More people joined the cruise. We walked from Pier 66, and the sailed south along the shore to Harbor Island, and then into Duwamish River. Various short speeches about cargo operations, tribal fishery, community benefit program.
My notes:

• Puget Sound has deep waterway, can host very large container ship (up to 18k TEU. To accommodate THE largest (24K TEU), need to extend the piers further out.
• Port of Seattle's biggest container content is hay, second is potato.
• Our biggest trading partner is import from China, export to Japan (followed by Korea)
• Harbor Island is man-made, over 100 year old.
• Canadian ports don't charge Harbor Maintenance Tax (0.125%), making Prince Rupert the upcoming competitor.
• Many barges and smaller container ships along Duamish waterway. Many from Alaska.
• Port of Seattle/Tacoma is much smaller than LA/Long Beach.
• I was getting sicker and sicker on the cruise. I'm only good on solid ground.
• Native people are allowed to fish in Duamish River.

10/24 Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl

Statsraad Lehmkuhl is on its Seattle visit (10/22-26) during a year-long One Ocean Expedition. The ship is also open for public access on tomorrow (10/23).

This Friday afternoon The Vast and Deep Ocean hosts many talks and demonstration tables and UW student posters, and many short presentations in the dinning room below deck.

It was pouring cats and dogs when I walked to Pier 66. I missed the welcome by the capital, University of Bergen Rector, and some UW officials, as well as the research being done onboard the ship.

• ​2:00 Deep Sea Science
  • ​Maja Jæger, Department of Earth Science, UiB: “Uncovering the mysteries beneath the Arctic Ocean”
  • ​Håvard Stubseid, Researcher, Department of Earth Science, UiB: “Hidden deep-sea landscapes in the Arctic”
  • ​Sissel H Eriksen, Senior Geologist, Norwegian Offshore Directorate: “collaboration between Science and Resource Management”
  • ​Mariela White, OOI and Regional Cabled Array, UW: “Wiring the Ocean: NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative Regional Cabled Array”
• ​3:00 Ocean Biogeochemistry & Biology
  • ​Jodi Young, Associate Professor, UW School of Oceanography: “Studying the role of microalgae in polar regions”
  • ​Jan Newton, Principal Oceanographer and Professor, UW Applied Physics Lab and Washington Ocean Acidification Center: “Ocean Acidification: A global condition with local effects”
  • ​Anuscheh Nawaz, Principal Research Scientist/Engineer, UW Applied Physics Lab: “Innovation for Scalable Oceanography”

During the breaks, I visited some of the demo tables: air pockets in ice, deep-sea mud. These are set on the deck, under a canvas canopy (raining). Thankfully the rain tapered off gradually. Of course, I walked around the ship. It's a good looking ship. Very tall masks, with fuzy protection on the cord where the sail may strike. It's bowel is composed of 2 sections. The lecture room on one end, and you have to get upstairs, over some (engine?) and down a different set of stairs to the dining area. Big tubes of air vent here and there.

2025.10.9. Mexican Graphic Designers at Cornish

10/9, Thursday afternoon. Cornish College of Arts hosted Magallanes vs Ollervides, 2 Mexican graphic designers. I didn't plan to stay long, but ended staying till the end of the talks by the two artists, and really enjoyed both. The consulate of Mexico was present, and gave a speech at the beginning. However, he didn't really have much to say, nor anything interesting.

Magallanes designs poster, books, events. Ollervides designs logo, album cover, restaurant decor, events. Both very interesting. I thouroughly enjoyed their art. Thinking of moving to Mexico City!

Food and wine is a welcome surprise.

2025.9.17. History Cafe at MOHAI - Kubota Garden

9/17, Wednesday 6:30pm. Once a month, MOHAI hosts a History Cafe. I've been to a few of these talks, and thouroughly enjoyed them. This one about Kubota Garden is no different.

Ernie Dornfeld, archivist/historian of Kubota Garden Foundation, and information system manager for King County and the City of Seattle, showed us archival photos and the history of the garden and the Kubota family.
Andrew Hem, grandson of Tom & Amy Kubota, recounted his childhood stories in the gardening with family.
Very interesting. I visited Kubota Garden only once during the early pandemic lockdown, and liked. Should go again in early summer or fall for more colors.

2025.9.17. Road Nation - a documentary

9/17, Wednesday 4pm. Gates' Discovery Center hosts a celebration of the new documentary Rethinking Higher Ed by RoadTrip Nation, funded in part by the Gates Foundation. 2 of the 3 participants of this movie were on stage giving their testemony. One is a fashion student in NYC, another studying in Univ Hawaii where he grew up from. Both are very well spoken, maybe why they got picked or may due to the experience of this road trip. Seems every year, RoadTrip Nation sends out multiple buses. If you know a highschool student, apply.

2025.7.15. "Mandela in Seattle" exhibit at MOHAI

7/15 Thursday, 6-9pm, in conjunction with the new Mandela exhibition, This event not only allows attendees to view the exhibition for free, but more notably are the 2 speakers of tonight. This one was instrumental in bringing Mandela to Seattle. He had some anecdotes of how they raised $15M each from McCall and Gates.

The exhibition has quite many artifacts of Mandela and footages and newspapers of the time. I also briefly walked by some other exhibits on the 2nd floor, and found this photo amusing.

2025.7.10. The Bight - adventure story series at Feathered Friends

7/10, 6-7:30pm. The Bight adventure story series #2: Backpacking.

• how to pack ice cream for a day:
  1. high fat content ice cream;
  2. pack full in thermos wrapped in down sleeping bag.
• backpacking in San Juan islands via ferry:
  1. better with ebike!
  2. hiker/biker camps are always available;
  3. racoons will rip your gear in order to reach your food;
  4. ferry for foot passenger is mostly free, can wait out bad weather inside
• don't be afraid of bear: the chances of being killed by one is rare. Only statistics, no useful tips
• PCT southbound (July-Nov):
  1. buggy in WA in July; far from town for resupply in WA;
  2. Frogg Toggs ultralite2 waterproof rain suit set (I immediately bought one);
  3. lasting friendship;
  4. lots of cheetos and junk food

I did go to May 1st's Bight's first story night on spring skiing. It was excellent too. Looking forward to the next.

2025.7.9. Seattle Chamber Music Festival

Summer Festival of Seattle Chamber Music Society. Lecture by Lydia Goehr, titled “Listening Out of the Box; Chamber Music and Furniture Art”. Good speaker. However, the 2 examples of "thinking out of the box" were badly presented. She mentioned of a lecture yesterday, not sure what it was. Overall, a very good lecture, made me think of chamber music is a product in conjunction of a chamber. Acoustics of material and space was not discussed. I'm looking forward to the next lecture.

Update, 7/30, another lecture on cello quintet. Also very good.

2025.5.21. Judge Joel Ngugi speaks at Town Hall

5/21, another excellent UW Public Lecture. Kenya Court of Appeal judge Joel Ngugi speaks about political movement, alternative judiciary system, having hope, making small efforts collectively. Justice is never done, it's always an on-going effort. He talks slowly and very deliberately, almost like everything he says may be used in court as an evidence. Definitely brings hope. This comparison of continental European law and US law is interesting.

2025.5.14. Nucleate Demo Day

5/14 Wednesday. Nucleate Seattle Demo Day showcased six Activator teams. Winners are: FateShift (regenerate retina), BioLegacy (organ freeze for transport), Aulembic Theraputics (walker for patient with foot injury). These startups are a lot more advanced than other pitch events I went to. Each speaker had more time to present their work/progress. Watch on Youtube.

This is hosted at Allen Institute, its atrium and auditorium. Finger food, beer and wine. A good turnout.

2025.5.6. A Conversation at Seattle U with Washington Attorney General Nick Brown

5/6 Tuesday, 2-3pm. WA state's new Attorney General Nick Brown talks in Seattle U with President Eduardo Peñalver, and journalist Joni Balter. The event is recorded, available on Youtube.

I really enjoyed this discussion. Nick Brown was clear and determined to withhold the law, protect WA state and residents. He is well spoken, logical, clear thought. He discussed what his office is in charge of, over 800 lawyers (one of the largest in the nation), why WA joined or lead some of the 15 lawsuits against the Trump administration. I learned:

• WA AG is voted in by citizens. Other states' AG may be apointed by the governer, or voted by the legislative house.
• Nick Brown was a contestant in the reality TV show Survivor in 2020.

Brown also commented on the seriousness of our current federal attorney general, who claimed to fire anyone in DOJ against Trump, and who has been flagrantly removing obstacles that could hinder her personal and political benefits.

2025.2.4. A Year in the Life: Oregon's Desert Owls (zoom) + TJ Klune

2/4 Tuesday, 6pm. ONDA hosts speaker series. This is the first time I attended one of their events online.

I really enjoyed today's lecture, hence making a note here. Paul Bannick, today's speaker, is an author and wildlife photographer, speaks of owl's life in 4 seasons, like reading a poem. Captivating images, from his book Owls, a year in the lives of North American Owl. Now just owls in the desert.

I didn't stay for Q&A. Went downstairs to TJ Klune presents "The Bones Beneath My Skin". I'm surprised to find an almost full auditorium. I had never heard of Klune before. He writes fantacy novels, using queer characters. Quite prolific. Most audience members seem to have read all his books. He seems friendly, candid, reasonable, likeable. Wore 2 left shoes by mistake :) He shakes his leg non-stop (ADHD). Well, I probably won't read his books. Just make a note here, because he seems so popular.

2024.11.21. Pacific Marine Expo + Founder's Live

The Pacific Marine Expo is a 2.5 day affair 11/20-22. I only went on Thursday, not very early. My first time ever. Location: the event center of Lumen Field. Is it the same as WaMu Theatre? It's a very large 2 story hall. Lots of vendors, from mechanic tools to digital monitoring system, fishing industry, recreational vessels, government agencies, environment NGOs. There's one company that only showcases their chicken egg (in powder), but they don't sell it there.

I attended a few educational talks, and talked to a few vendors (including the egg seller, yes, it does taste like egg). I liked these.

• Linde's plasma cutting machine, and it cut a steel fish for anyone who wants one.
• Rachel Aronson from Maritime Blue talked about its Quite Sound voluntary program. About 70% vessels going through Puget Sound voluntarily lower their speed during winter season, to reduce underwater sound pollution, when Orcas are around.

No food or drink provided by the expo. There are vendors who sell lunch. However, at 4pm, one company hosted a happy hour with some sliders and beer, and it soon ran out. I'm also surprised to see quite a few groups from Alaska, at least 2 from Bristol Bay.

I left for Founders Live event (6-8pm). 4 founders today:

• news publishing/subscribing database service
• a little AI robot friend
• yet another social network
• EV charging robot

The EV charging robot idea won the popular vote today.

2024.11.14. Structural Engineer 2024 Forum

11/14, Thursday, 6pm, Benaroya Hall, recital hall. Structural Engineers Foundation of Washington's fall forum. I love this forum last year (about the Summit building of Seattle Convention Center). This time, it's a deep dive of the design and construction of the Overlook Walk at the waterfront.

The speakers are (in order of presentation):

• Peter Steinbrueck gave an overview of the Overlook Walkway project, and the history of Seattle waterfront, with historical photos from late 1800s.
• David Miller (Miller Hulls Architects, talked about the design and change/consideration since the conception of the walkway.
• Andrew Barash (Jacob, the actual project manager of the structural engineering of this project).
• Osama Quotah (LMN architects) on the design of the new aquarium expansion, emphasizes on regional and sustainable design.
• Arash Naderpour (Turner Construction) on aquarium's Ocean Pavilion. Impressive rebar!

One positive comment from all is the collaboration, and discussion throughout (especially before) the project. One negative comment is too many contractors and sub-contractors, so difficult/slow to coordinate.

2024.5.14. Steven Pinker speaks at Town Hall

5/14, Tuesday. Steven Pinker promoted his book Rationality, part of UW's Public Lecture spring series. Despite of some valuable examples, I didn't find the lecture engaging or fun. More like reading notes. The questions afterwards are mostly long winded and uninteresting, except for one lady, who asked his preference of the 2 rival bagel shops in Montreal.
Afterwards, people lined up for book signing.