Greg Gates

@gregat.es

philosopher-turned-software-engineer VP of pivot tables @ https://rowzero.com, the world's fastest spreadsheet data & technology manager for WA's 36th LD Democrats my little blog: https://gregat.es

not to take anything away from Kelabe, who is a phenomenal candidate & has run a great campaign, but this result does show the influence of The Stranger when you look at the 43rd and 46th LDs. The results in those races could have been very different if they had followed their progressive reputation

Northwest Progressive Institute@nwprogressive.org · 3d ago

ICYMI: Friday ballot drop, August 2026: Kelabe Tewolde now leads Sharon Tomiko Santos in 37th LD House race Here's what's happening in some of the… https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/08/friday-ballot-drop-august-2026-kelabe-tewolde-now-leads-sharon-tomiko-santos-in-37th-ld-house-race.html

The first rule of Socratic dialogue is "say what you believe." It sounds simple, but it's actually somewhat radical. Distinguishing what you believe from what you're supposed to say or your audience wants to hear is hard and is the beginning of wisdom.

what are the truth conditions for sentences of the form: "A group of X is called Y"? Given that a group of X is never called Y except in this sentence, it's either self-affirming or false. "Did you know a group of flamingos is called a ballet?" How many utterances would make that true?

It's well-known that American baby names have gotten more diverse over time. The last year in which any single name was given to more than 1% of the babies in the SSA baby names data set was 1997, in which 1.04% of babies were named Michael.

one way to tell if Claude got out on the wrong side of the bed this session is when it's like, "the build timed out, I can't verify that the code compiles", but the timeout was just some arbitrary threshold it picked for how long it would wait

The Seattle City Council's select committee on the city's transportation benefit district is kicking off now. This morning Katie Wilson's proposed Seattle Transit Measure renewal is getting amended before going to the voters. We're about to see how significantly.

Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social · 4w ago

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the votes happening later this morning at the Seattle City Council will decide the future of transit in the city. The choice is expansion or stagnation.

Best World Cup ever? Not only did we get a perfect England elimination, we get to watch them lose a 2nd time to France!

me to a coworker a couple years ago: "My dream is someday I'll be a senior distinguished principal architect, and my actual work will consist only of listening to other people talk about their work, then asking the right pointed question to get them on their way." [monkey's paw curls]

the best case scenario for 2028 is constant conflict between "Pivot to kitchen table," "Consolidate power & take revenge," and "Defend democracy; bring back justice." we'll need a few more democracy defenders to counterbalance the mighty kitchen tablers

James Butler@piercepenniless.bsky.social · 4w ago

I think for democratic politics to survive this century we will have to maintain a strong distinction between justice and revenge, and especially that the pursuit of justice cannot be reduced to the desire of political opponents to screw their enemies.

A year ago I went to a meeting of WA's 36th LD Dems. After the disastrous 2024 election, I was looking for a non-futile way to get more involved in politics. I've attended protests, volunteered for campaigns, knocked on doors for candidates. Mostly, it hasn't felt like it made a difference.