"History is a wonderful thing, if only it was true"
-Tolstoy

Monday, February 21, 2005

Prey for Peace

The Doc Searls Weblog : Monday, February 21, 2005

Excellent comments on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and his suicide:
"He opened journalism to the rest of us:
  I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.
  If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
  A word to the wise is infuriating.
  The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason. "

and:

"  The doctor made a virtue of failure at self-destruction:
  I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
  It's a bummer that he finally succeeded. "

From TheBleat...
Monday, February 21, 2005

"HST killed himself. He never would have “turned his life around” – that’s a hard thing to try when the room’s been spinning for 40 years. Depression? Wouldn’t be surprising. A bad verdict from the doc? Wouldn’t be surprising. A great writer in his prime, but the DVD of his career would have the last two decades on the disc reserved for outtakes and bloopers. It was all bile and spittle at the end, and it was hard to read the work without smelling the dank sweat of someone consumed by confusion, anger, sudden drunken certainties and the horrible fear that when he sat down to write, he could only muster a pale parody of someone else’s satirical version of his infamous middle period. I feel sorry for him, but I’ve felt sorry for him for years. File under Capote, Truman – meaning, whatever you thought of the latter-day persona, don’t forget that there was a reason he had a reputation. Read "Hell's Angels." That was a man who could hit the keys right."

Friday, February 18, 2005

Economist on Howard Dean

Economist: Lexington on Howard Dean

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If you can't access via the link, subscription is suggested
My opinion, best damn weekly magazine in the English language

From Bill to Howard
Feb 10th 2005
From The Economist print edition

Excerpts:
BACK in 2003, with Howard Dean way ahead of the pack in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the cover of the conservative National Review pleaded “Please, nominate this man”. The Democratic caucus-goers of Iowa were sensible enough to ignore this advice, consigning Mr Dean to third place. Earlier this month, with Mr Dean once again way ahead of the pack, this time in the race for the chairmanship of the Democratic Party, the National Review tried again: “Pretty please”.

This is an extraordinary turn of events, particularly for Bill Clinton and pragmatic New Democrats. Five years ago the Democratic Party was so firmly in the grip of those oh-so-sensible types that Jesse Jackson, the chief screamer of the time, pronounced himself a “New Democrat”. The Dean chairmanship shows how little Mr Clinton actually managed to change his party. The fact that Mr Dean is replacing Mr Clinton's lapdog, Terry McAuliffe, makes this even clearer.

Does Mr Dean's accession really mark a lurch to the left? Optimistic Clintonites and centrists are clinging to two arguments. The first is that the party chairmanship doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Alas, it does. Party chairmen are responsible for running the political machines that increasingly make the difference between winning and losing elections in a closely divided nation.

...

The second argument is that the distance from there to here really isn't all that great. Already, some Clintonites have some reassuring ideas. Wasn't Mr Dean really a centrist governor of Vermont? (a rather "left-wing" state)

...

Mr Dean thrives on the adulation of the party's hard-core activists. And he burned himself into the national consciousness as a tribune of the left. A man who said that Osama bin Laden should not be presumed guilty until after a fair trial is always going to be beyond the pale for many Americans.

...

Mr Dean recently summed up his appeal to the party's populists in a single sentence: “I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organisation.” These populists want somebody who can rage against Republicans. But they also want someone who can out-organise them. Mr Dean's admirers point out that his internet-based presidential campaign raised more than $50m, almost entirely in small donations. ( internet campaign run by Joe Trippi, who was a tout for Wave Systems stock turing it's incredible run from $1 to nearly $50 via internet chat such as SiInvestor and Raging Bull )

...

Why didn't the Clinton revolution prove longer-lasting? Some of it is Mr Clinton's own fault: his policy of triangulation inevitably alienated the party's leftists (however much they rallied round him over Monica). It is partly the fault of the New Democrats, who were always more interested in policy discussion than in mass organisation. It is partly a result of Mr Bush's hardball politics: whenever centrist Democrats have tried to compromise with Mr Bush, he has taken all they have to offer and given nothing in return. And it is partly to do with a genuine shift of political power away from old-style money-raising. Mr Clinton and Mr McAuliffe were master-schmoozers of the money-men. But the money-men have lost their power to veto candidates like Mr Dean, because the internet has provided mavericks with a way to bypass them.

Perhaps the New Democrats will turn out to have more fight left in them than they now appear to possess. Perhaps a charismatic centrist—Hillary Clinton, for example—will ride to the rescue. But at the moment it looks as if the Democrats are in exactly the same state as the British Labour Party was in after their 1987 defeat—in need of one more humiliation before it can come to its senses. If so, they have chosen the right man in Howard Dean.

---
Which begs the question as to who the Republicans run in '08 ?




Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Chinese Numerology

From commentary on Boeings plans for aircraft production, and numbering (naming):

The timing for aircraft sales is a "complicated, long process," says 787 Program Manager Mike Bair. "The Chinese are wonderful negotiators and they're very patient." He says Boeing is holding commitments for 250 787s even though it has made public only 186. The others are awaiting announcement decisions by carriers.

Bair joked that the name of the new aircraft had turned into a food fight between partisans "of the proud tradition of seven series airplanes" and those ready for the chance to market an "efficient" airplane with the 7E7 moniker. Tradition won out months ago, but an announcement was kept secret in anticipation of the Chinese order because numerology is so important in their culture. Says Bair, "787-8 for the 2008 Olympics just kinda made a nice package for them."

Release 1.0 / Fresh Produce / Bringing Cellular Home

Cell-Home

Now this is something who's time has come ... maybe
It will be good to have a choice

WiFi phone going via Skype over the cable-modem high speed net
or
Cell to replace landline with unlimited calling plan ?

In any case, bye bye SBC etc.

Contestant on NBC Reality Show Commits Suicide

Now this does it!

The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > Contestant on NBC Reality Show Commits Suicide

What next?
We have moved on The Trump to "contestant" disturbed and walking the streets of some Jersey Shore town with her suitcase, then later dropping out of the "contest"

Note that in the story that :
"The incident stirred concerns about the risks of reality television, and led Mr. Burnett to conduct extensive psychological tests on his contestants. "
What tests ? to make sure that they were a bit wacko ?

Ah ... where's Jerry Springer ?

I do miss Alistar Cooke ...

More Moto(rola)

But wait, there's MORE !

RAZRwire shades - Motorola bluetooth with Oakley
Due in 2nd half of '05

BTW - I have to assume that the image in the linked piece is just a prototype, final product should be fully intergrated, more like Thumps
see Sunglasses Internationale

"Motorola, Inc. and Oakley, Inc. have unveiled a new line of premium Bluetooth wireless technology named RAZRWire. The new product line allows active users to quickly answer or place calls with the touch of a button. RAZRWire represents the fusion of Oakley optics with Motorola’s Bluetooth technology.

Available in three frame colors RAZRWire offering an integrated easy-to-use design. For cyclists, skateboarders, rock climbers, golfers the eyewear encourages hands-free connection while on the go.

The features of RAZRWire include Oakley’s comfortable, lightweight frame made of O-Luminum, a durable alloy that is 40 percent lighter than pure titanium. RAZRWire includes patented XYZ Optics, an innovation that maintains razor-sharp clarity at all angles of vision.
Customers also get the impact protection and 100% UV filtering synonymous with Oakley performance eyewear, and all this technology comes with the convenience of never having to worry about tangled wires again. The product is expected to be available in the second half of 2005."



What's next? - work with GE Imagining systems for X-Ray glasses
2007 ?
(power supply may be a bit bulky)

Monday, February 14, 2005

Yipes Skype and Freebies

Free Phoning

Peer-to-peer Internet-phoning company Skype Technologies is teaming up with a PDA manufacturer to introduce a device that will offer users a combination of wireless-calling options, including Wi-Fi, GSM, and GPRS. In many applications, users will be able to make free calls to anywhere in the world.

Then there is Motorola
MOT/Skype for WiFi phones

So you look for a Motorola handset, slash calls from home
Wonder if cell providers will sell them or allow them on their systems

More Motorola

MOT/iTunes phones
At the 3GSM World Congress taking place this week in France, Motorola announced a myriad of new cell phones Monday, including the long awaited iTunes-compatible E1060, slated to ship in the fourth-quarter of 2005.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

CorpBlog developments : MuSoft

CorpBlog developments : MuSoft
Feb 10th 2005
From The Economist print edition
Does Robert Scoble, a celebrity blogger on Microsoft's payroll, herald the death of traditional public relations?
ROBERT SCOBLE, known in the blogosphere as “the Scobleizer”, is a phenomenon not just because he has had an unusually strange career of late, but because his example might mark the beginning of the end of “corporate communications” as we know it. Mr Scoble is, first, a blogger—ie, somebody who keeps an online journal (called a “web log” or “blog”) to which he posts thoughts and web links several times a day. But Mr Scoble is also an employee of Microsoft, the world's largest software company, where he holds the official title of “technical evangelist”. Those two roles are intertwined. It was his blogging prowess that led to his job, and much of the job consists of blogging.
Later :
“It's not the end of PR but the end of the old PR department,” he says. “The clarifying force will be credibility and reputation.” The truth is, nobody yet knows how corporate blogging will evolve.

The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Doc on the pros & cons of blogads

The experience of no advertising

I've decided to establish more than one "blog" some will be, as with this one, venues for rants and ramblings. Some will be more contemplative, some will be fully "balls to the wall" out commercial.

Commercial blogging is to provide an alternative channel of communication with clients, and potential clients. Timely and fully opt-in in the best sense, viewers make the choice to visit and read.

If the material presented, and linked to is useful, the client may find it worthwhile to revisit, and, hopefully, reccomend the site to others.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Here's the Pew Report:

Pew Internet & American Life Project: Search Engine Users

Blog Bog ?

Charlotte Observer | 02/07/2005 | Will blogs liberate us or just bog us down?:

"Last year, blog readership jumped 58 percent in America, so now would be an excellent time to acknowledge our limitations.

If we can.

The problem is we don't always know when we stink. A Cornell University study showed that people who bombed tests of logic, grammar and humor "grossly overestimated" how well they did on the tests.

"Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions," said the authors, "but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it."

Then we have ...

"More than 90 percent of people who use search engines online say they are 'confident' of their searching skills, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

But only 38 percent of them could tell paid search results from unpaid search results."

But Wait ... There's More !

Blogging for Dollars :
Slashdot:

" "Michael Buffington chose to build a weblog using highly automated content aggregation tools around a single keyword, asbestos, because of the high click through rate associated with the ad. ..."

And so it goes

Thursday, February 10, 2005

juxtoposition

Juxtaposition...
Clicked off of "the Apprentice" to "Scarface"
(Comcast offerings tonight)

Such interesting parallels, the Donald vs. Pacino’s character
All ego, all ego all day
Amazin

More Conspiracy Speculation on Google as Registrar | Threadwatch.org

Some interesting ideas about Google's potential as Domain Name Registrar

More Conspiracy Speculation on Google as Registrar | Threadwatch.org

Borg
Looks like they're staying a step ahead of MuSoft

Tom Friedman 2/10/05 :Calling All Democrats

Excellent piece by Tom
Time to get on board, leave Ted (Kennedy) and his ilk behind

Link:Op-Ed Columnist: Calling All Democrats

"I think there is much to criticize about how the war in Iraq has been conducted, and the outcome is still uncertain. But those who suggest that the Iraqi election is just beanbag, and that all we are doing is making the war on terrorism worse as a result of Iraq, are speaking nonsense.
Here's the truth: There is no single action we could undertake anywhere in the world to reduce the threat of terrorism that would have a bigger impact today than a decent outcome in Iraq. It is that important. And precisely because it is so important, it should not be left to Donald Rumsfeld.
Democrats need to start thinking seriously about Iraq - the way Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton have. If France - the mother of all blue states - can do it, so, too, can the Democrats. Otherwise, they will be absenting themselves from the most important foreign policy issue of our day."
Let's all hope that the people of Iraq move foward, and that the people of Egypt, Saudia Arabia, and eventually Iran have the power to take charge of their own future.
Maybe the NeoCon's were right
If not in execution, in concept


Note : still trying to get the hang of this bloggin stuff

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Google follow up

Besides the potential to provide tools for rapid site creation ( much as the editor I am using right now ) and preformatted templates, who else has both the existing mass of server farms, with low cost commodity processors, and the cash flow to expand this base.

Then, if you combine an ability to be first to spider these site, and dare we say hinder other spiders ?

How does this benefit Google?
What about enhancing the income stream via AdSense ?

I have not fully connected all the dots, but just musing.
Maybe Mr. Parsons is whistling past the graveyard …

A New Direction at Google - and a coup

Read between the lines
If a HTML cripple like me can fiddle around and generate a blog, how far off is a simple site ?

I never talked to a human on this, just stumbled around the help files and came up with a trick or two. Bingo ... a Blog.

Pattern this to setting up sites.
Who needs Yahoo, Dotster, Go-Daddy?

Then, Google spiders quickly and where do you want to be for quick listing/ranking?

Duh

Google coup

Monday, February 07, 2005

Graphology Giggles

Who could it be?
"...an aggressive, unstable man under enormous pressure, struggling to keep his irritability under control"
and
“There is more than a hint of megalomania about him which I haven’t seen before,”

click here for link
Times Online - Britain

Enjoy

First Post

All this posting is for is to establish a starting point.
Is is is ... depends on what the meaning of is ... is

Likely this blog will have fewer posts, pretty much depending on my state of mind