California has something which not every place in the world has: It has what I would call a sunny side, and I don't mean just physically, but the sunny side is a future. California's worth saving, to put it bluntly.

I wish I was a great writer or a great journalist or a great scientist or a great artist; I'm not.

Commodity exchanges have a lot of advantages. One, you are helping transparency. Two, they are not political. It's institutional building. It can survive any environment, in theory.

I can drive. Let's just say you don't want to be in the passenger seat.

Brunch is boring, but that's part of the charm of it.

Everything I do now is about growing the pot to have more to give away.

California is a place of invention, a place of courage, a place of vision, a place of the future. People who made California what it is were willing to take risks, think outside convention and build.