I am a high-frequency trading programmer and erstwhile freelance computer programmer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, recreational teenage runaway capital of the world and home to Arthur Ganson's kinetic sculptures and the Brattle Theatre.

My wife and I have a consultancy called "Ben and Kate Consulting". I do a bit of informal consulting with tech startups on the side, and I always want to do more. We have been brought in by Presidents (well, a President) and small businesses and we have inserted ourselves elswehere to friends with unsolicited advice (tech gadget brands should reduce the number of product variations they offer; a screenplay researcher for the Ang Lee Hulk film should ditch the serious phychology and Oedipal angle and instead emulate compelling comic-book storylines). Unsolicited advice is a great way to keep friends!

I recently lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, working for the presidential administration of Mikheil Saakashvili. People who love travel off the beaten path should visit Georgia.

I have lived in New York City for most of the last 15 years, and currently live in wonderful Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I try not to make "Do or Die" jokes because hey, people really died. But sometimes they slip through.

In my offline writing, I have written about national and international politics, technology policy, and gadgets. I am a member of the Pigou Club, I think State Department Policy Planning Study 23 should be required reading, teachers should be paid like doctors, and that it should not be illegal to fast-forward dvds, or to make a list of the websites your library is blocking (1, 2), or to help others keep their communications secret.

I am interested in collaborative filtering, how-to publishing, user interface design, and folksonomies.