January 31, 2008
Just Do It!
"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
– Dustin Hoffman's character in movie: "Wag the Dog"
January 30, 2008
Ralph Nader to aid Republican candidate in November election.
Let's be clear here. Anyone who supports Ralph Nader in the presidential election is actually advancing the candidacy of the Republican nominee. A vote for Nader is as good as a vote for the GOP.
CNN:
Ralph Nader, the longtime consumer advocate who was blamed by many Democrats for Al Gore’s loss in the 2000 presidential election, launched an exploratory committee Wednesday for another White House bid, and told CNN he is likely to get in the race if he can put the resources in place.
January 25, 2008
The worst is past
Just for the record, this morning I predicted (to the guy at the coffee place, and on twitter) that today was the last sub 20F morning of the season.
You heard it here first.
[UPDATE – OK, now I see what the guy in comments was talking about. I originally wrote "sub-20F", which I now see might be confused for "sub minus twenty". So now it just reads "sub 20F".
January 21, 2008
January 19, 2008
Beautiful Mistakes
The fortune cookie from my recent visit to the Hong Kong in Harvard Sq:
"How can you have a beautiful ending without making beautiful mistakes."
(The fortune didn't end in a question mark, and I've not "corrected" its mistake.)
January 18, 2008
Merlin Mann on Productivity
It sounds like Merlin Mann's session at Macworld was a big hit. I'm not surprised.
Here's an interesting clip:
...whenever the e-mail dinger goes off, most people drop what they're doing and check e-mail.Mann suggested turning off mail settings that have it poll automatically, instead setting e-mail checks to be manual. He also suggested turning off alert sounds that tell you when you have new e-mail.
He suggested simple e-mail filters to make the most important messages float to the top. Since he's been bombarded by press releases, he has a filter set up that deletes anything containing the words "For Immediate Release." And e-mail that's sent to multiple recipients "goes into a little gray folder I look at once a day," he said.
Read the whole article on Mann's talk in Information Week.
January 17, 2008
The Hong Kong Restaurant
Tuesday, after the Keynote gathering, I walked up into Harvard Sq. and ended up having a late luncheon special at an old favorite: The Hong Kong chinese restaurant.
The Kung Pao Chicken with pork fried rice and chicken wings, was reminiscent of lunch at the old place on Eliot Street where Rob and I used to eat back in the days before going to Calif.
I need to go back to the Hong Kong soon.
January 15, 2008
Romney Wins Michigan
The nets are starting to announce that Mitt Romney has won the Michigan Republican Primary. I want to see the exit polls to see what part of his vote is Democratic switchers.
Macworld Keynote Watching
I'll be spending the middle of the day hanging out at BetaHouse in Cambridge, where a group of Mac fans will be following the net "coverage" of the Steve Job's Keynote in SF.
I'll be posting notes and pointers over on the tech blog.
January 14, 2008
Democrats for Mitt Romney
"...rich, desperate, and lashing out Like a drunken fratboy."
What happened to Spring?
Six-plus inches of snow here just north of Boston. Here are some pics I took on my coffee run this morning.
January 11, 2008
A Classic
Welcome to
Pacific Tech's
Smart People on Ice
"Now if we can just keep it from exploding!"
January 10, 2008
The New Bush Coins
"Fighting Terrorism By Creating It"
"Lest They Forget -- We'll Remind"
[Sorry about the un-pausable ad at the end of the video. I'm looking for a copy without it.]
January 08, 2008
NH Primary 2008
I'm mostly concerned with the Democratic side of things.
It seems that we're down to three right now. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
I supported Edwards in 2004, all the way through to the nomination. I still think he'd make a good president. But he seems less than inspiring this time around. I'd vote for him in Nov., but probably not today.
Obama seems to be a good man. When he spoke at the convention way back when, I was inspired. And I thought he could be the first really viable black presidential candidate. And he's obviously making great strides in this campaign. But I really can't get past the idea that he's not ready yet. He's not as experienced as I'd like my candidate to be. But I'd vote for him in Nov.
I had serious doubts a year ago, when Hillary Clinton announced, that America was ready to elect a woman president. But her persistence, and the legendary Clinton campaign machine, have shown me that I may have been wrong. I admire her experience. Of any of the candidates she arguably has the only real understanding of what it means to be president. This may sound weird, but I respect how she served our country by being first lady for 8 years. Although she was not silent, she largely constrained her ability and ambition during that time to fill her role, supporting the president. And during an historic crisis, where she was truly the only really aggrieved party, she refused to fan the flames, and stood beside her wandering husband. She's paid her dues. I'd like to vote for her in November.
January 07, 2008
Big Music
When I was a kid I was in the church choir. One of my favorite parts of it all was to watch the choirmaster play the big pipe organ at St. Paul's Church in Malden.
This organ is at Harvard College.
January 06, 2008
2008 NFL Playoff Grid
I like making tables and charts.
Seed numbers are based on my imprecise understanding of the NFL tie-breaker rules. And the game date/times are unofficial.
Should I return to Survivor?
Veteran readers of this blog know that I used to be a huge fan of the TV show "Survivor". But, a couple seasons ago I ODed, and stopped watching.
I just saw a commercial for the new season, which appears to be another All-Stars season, sort of. 10 newbies vs 10 former players. I may watch.
Interesting thing: Of the three past-players that they showed in the commercial, I only recognized one of them. So a lot of it will be new to me.
Forty-Seven
Beautiful day here in Boston. 47F. Supposed to get to 50 for the next couple days.
It's only 15 days to the Hump. If it stays like this I may survive.
More blogging stats
Going back a few more years, you can see that I became pretty intense about this blogging thing back in late '03 into '04.
January 04, 2008
Year 2007 in Blogging
Some have pointed out to me that I don't blog as much as I used to. They're right.
Here are my monthly blog posting numbers for 2007, with 2006 for comparison.
I've enjoyed blogging over the 7+ years that I've been doing it. And although I'm clearly doing it less here in the Etc. blog, you should not think I've really slowed down.
I've been very active creating online content in other places on the net.
* I do a weekly podcast called Uncontrolled Airspace (UCAP).
* I post to the UCAP blog, and its new Forum area.
* I'm very active on Twitter, with over 400 "followers"
* I've been making the occasional posting to my Social Media website voxci
But I admit that my post count here in this blog is down, and over on my tech blog, Techpopuli, it's been zero for months. Having said that, I do miss traditional blogging.
One of my New Years' resolutions is to revive my activity in traditional blogging. So my goal is to raise the 2008 numbers up to at least match 2006.
And, I'd like to revive the tech blog. We'll see.