Andy Valencia

Editorial Page, Island Voices, October 2024

King County Zoning

By Andy Valencia Vashon is awake and very, very interested in what the upcoming zoning changes for our Island will mean. One of our leading citizens helped the Vashon Loop highlight some important questions in our previous issue, and follows that with more commentary in this issue. Our Community Council has also spoken clearly to…

Rather Than Lose the Argument
Commentary, Editorial Page, September 2024

Rather Than Lose the Argument

By Andy Valencia Imagine you’re in an argument – you, your opponent, and some people listening. Your audience is nodding their heads when your opponent speaks; they’re expressionless when it’s your turn, and you’ve already used all of your best material. The honorable person will graciously acknowledge their defeat. What do the other kind of…

Using Evil to Win Arguments
August 2024, Commentary, Editorial Page

Using Evil to Win Arguments

By Andy Valencia In college, a friend of mine periodically ran a game called “Assassin.” None of the players knew each other, and all were paired up: one target, one assassin. You were “assassinated” with a chalk mark, and the target could defend with chalk-filled small cloth bags. The rules favored the target once they…

Goodspaceguy: A Perennial Candidate
Commentary, July 2024

Goodspaceguy: A Perennial Candidate

By Andy Valencia f you’ve been a voter in Washington for more than a few years, you have seen a candidate calling himself “Goodspaceguy.” In fact, if you’ve lived here 10 years, or 20, or 30, or even 40 – you’ve been seeing him on your ballot. Since 1980, he’s run for public office 21…

Controlling Your Mind
Commentary, Editorial Page, July 2024

Controlling Your Mind

By Andy Valencia What would you guess your political view is worth? What would it cost to change it? The 2020 election could have gone differently if just the right 100,000 voters had voted differently. Given that our federal government prints $1 trillion dollars every three months or so, you could easily justify spending $10…

Updates on Pecan Court Apple Cake
July 2024, Recipes

Updates on Pecan Court Apple Cake

Alert reader M.D. noted that our apple cake recipe, lacking any oil, milk, or water, might end up being unusably dry. Happily, reader C.H.L. wrote in about the recipe; she had discovered that there’s an entire genre of oil-free cakes. Finally, M.T. noted that these were likely rooted in the Great Depression times, when one tried…

Editorial Page, June 2024

Hypernovelty

There’s a joke going around that, in 2004, you had to be a computer wizard to find what you wanted on the internet. In 2014, anybody could do it. In 2024, we’re back to only computer wizards finding what they want. What happened? My list of culprits would include click farms, search engine rigging, and…

Editorial Page, May 2024

Vashon Community Care Center

By Andy Valencia Way too many people are dying from their addictions. The latest United States annual report on drug overdose deaths puts the count above 111,000, but that is only a small portion of the misery present throughout our society. The federal budget allocates more than $42 billion dollars for drug programs. But how…

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