tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39144079685305757092024-03-12T21:59:25.807-05:00Maladroit MissivesAwkward alliteration affectionately adapted. And sometimes just things I'm thinking about.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-54922796711166131832013-05-31T14:06:00.003-05:002013-05-31T15:06:30.398-05:00Neat new - and not new - netcasts Some years back, I published some <a href="http://www.maladroitmissives.com/2009/07/plethora-of-podcasts.html" target="_blank">suggested netcasts</a> (podcasts for most people, but I'm the anti-Apple guy so please excuse the generic term). It's a fantastic way to keep informed, and entertained, while your hands are free and you're walking your happy beagle in the morning. Or doing the dishes. Or driving somewhere while desperately avoiding the inanity that is commercial radio.<br />
<br />
The world has changed, and it's time for a refresh on my recommendations. Some new, some old, and some have sadly gone away. The biggest change is how easy it is to listen to all this great, free content in 2013. Back in 2009, I had to download content to a computer, and sync it to an MP3 player, remembering to charge that device and having no end of problems keeping at the right place in each of my netcasts. Now I have a <a href="http://gdgt.com/samsung/galaxy/nexus/reviews/sru/" target="_blank">Galaxy Nexus</a> phone running <a href="http://www.doggcatcher.com/" target="_blank">Doggcatcher</a>. The phone and the app do all the work, I just get to listen and enjoy.<br />
<br />
A word of caution: there is an amazing amount of great content out there. Be careful how often you click subscribe. I've just had to slim my list down because I was downloading great stuff and just deleting it as a higher priority producer had my attention. Sorry, super cool producers out there, but there are only so many hours in the day.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://twit.tv/tnt" target="_blank">Tech News Today</a>. Can't miss this one. Listen to it every day before everything else. Great use of a shorter form, really informed team. Thanks, TNT crew, you rock.</li>
<li><a href="http://twit.tv/twig" target="_blank">This Week in Google</a>. The longest netcast I currently listen to, it's worth the time because the mix of <a href="http://twit.tv/people/leo-laporte" target="_blank">Leo Laporte</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ginatrapani" target="_blank">Gina Trapani</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeffJarvis/posts" target="_blank">Jeff Jarvis</a> is such a great use of the weekly format. Different opinions and specializations, and not just focused on Google. Great info about new cloud services, social web, and much, much more. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/" target="_blank">Planet Money</a>. This was on my first list as a "they are just getting started" and have come a long way since then. Very informative, great take on economics for those of us not formally trained, but who like smart people who say smart things.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/" target="_blank">Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me</a>. Yes, it is a stupid quiz show with celebrities. Yes, I laugh out loud.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.itsathing.me/" target="_blank">It's a Thing</a>. <a href="http://www.tommerritt.com/" target="_blank">Tom Merritt</a> and <a href="http://themolly.com/" target="_blank">Molly Wood</a> on the same show? Yes, please. Short, fun, and great conversation about very unimportant things that seem to be ... things.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/" target="_blank">Freakonomics</a>. Mostly short bits, but now and then a longer program about the hidden side of everything. Where Planet Money does more reporting, this favors the unexpected side of markets and incentives.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/" target="_blank">This American Life</a>. Still the best in terms of production value, and often needing more concentration and time for thought. A slice of what makes us people in whatever way that happens to come about that week. Amazing work.</li>
<li><a href="http://twit.tv/aaa" target="_blank">All About Android</a>. True geeks, geeking out about the worlds best mobile operating system. Segments on hardware, apps, news and more.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.radiolab.org/" target="_blank">Radiolab</a>. OK, so remember when I said This American Life was the best produced show? Maybe I should think it over. Production value, science, thought, live shows and more. Really worth your time.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Now and then life is so busy I have to declare netcast bankruptcy and just delete old episodes so I can listen to the current stuff (except for TNT, as noted in number 1 above). Mostly, it's great stuff for minds tired of being insulted. Traditional commercial broadcasts - I can't say as I miss ya.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-16158315510263520242012-06-10T08:09:00.000-05:002012-06-10T08:09:02.520-05:00Temporary tech to take me to tomorrowI have said it before and I will say it again: I love living in the future. I recounted a story for my daughter the other day, telling her about my college days when my old roommate would spin science fiction stories of what our lives would some day be like. He would tell of days to come when we could get music and video <i>on demand</i> in our homes, through the then-emerging internet. People would travel with computers, he'd say. Distribution would be disrupted.<br />
<br />
And here we are.<br />
<br />
The future has not come to all players and parties at the same time in the same way, however. The automobile industry is my most recent example of an economic sector clawing at the last strands of the 20th century. The fat profits from fat cars are too hard to give up, and being the first mover into the 21st century hasn't quite worked yet for the <a href="http://www.chevrolet.com/volt-electric-car/" target="_blank">Volt</a> or the <a href="http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index" target="_blank">Leaf</a>. There is no bellwether to show new ideas will provide new big profits, and so the capital-heavy industries lumber behind with the oil companies and cable television.<br />
<br />
The future is coming, of course. Time may stretch out patiently while I tap my metaphorical foot demanding the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_Playtime_(album)" target="_blank">Great Leap Forward</a>. The change I want may be later, and so I need to bridge the gap to the future that will someday arrive. My wife and I had a choice when the time came this year to replace our old minivan with a new vehicle. We could plan to finance and keep a car for seven or eight years, as we did with the last one, or we could just look on this as a short-term solution to a long-term problem - because a longer term solution is not that far away.<br />
<br />
I did the research and the test drives, and settled on the <a href="http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/" target="_blank">Prius</a>, not because it is the most beautiful car in the world, but because it reaches some short-term goals with a substantial resale value so the depreciation hit won't kill us when we sell the car in about three years. I normally like to use my tech to death (and slightly beyond death), so this is out of character for me. Technology solutions must sometimes be hard realizations that the thing we really need is coming soon, so let's just <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver" target="_blank">MacGyver</a> something for now that keeps costs down, does the job, and where we won't feel the short-term investment is really just a loss.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/04/17/fords-electric-car-strategy-comes-into-focus/" target="_blank">Ford</a> and some others are getting ready to give us what we expected from the future. I just need to use the old tech a little while longer, keep my expectation of investments in line, and keep tapping my foot.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-8608584008826919772012-03-21T11:36:00.001-05:002012-03-21T11:36:57.744-05:00Mixed messages in marketing mayhemI remember the book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394823370/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=maladrmissiv-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0394823370">The Lorax</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=maladrmissiv-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0394823370" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>
from my own childhood, when I had taped environmental posters to my bedroom wall and took out a youth membership in the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/home-full.html" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a> with my allowance.<br />
<br />
Yes, I was <i>that </i>kind of rockin' eleven-year-old.<br />
<br />
The book paints a pretty dark picture of what happens when our rampant consumerism - our thneeds, if you will - gets the better of us. None of us is without blame, and all of us can do better to restrain our desire for stuff, and let the earth get a breath now and then. The best part of the message from the book was that no matter how bad things got, if one person cared enough, it could get a little bit better over time. And maybe, just maybe, the Lorax would come back.<br />
<br />
There are some areas where we have made some progress. Water quality in many areas is better, and air pollution in some cities has improved. So we have a ways to go, but we seek change over time and not an instant turn around. Stewart Brand's groundbreaking book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003P9XCY4/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=maladrmissiv-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003P9XCY4">Clock Of The Long Now</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=maladrmissiv-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003P9XCY4" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>, preaches patience in our world view, and I believe him when he says the planet will recover just fine given enough time, whether we humans are here to see it or not. I also believe that if we want humans on the planet to witness the recovery, we perhaps should make some changes.<br />
<br />
The Lorax was created to speak for the trees. Trees don't have particularly aggressive public relations strategies, and are notoriously bad at updating their Twitter feeds. Usurping that vision to speak for<i> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1377834698">seventy</a></i><a href="http://ecochildsplay.com/2012/03/01/selling-out-the-lorax-70-different-product-tie-ins/" target="_blank"> product tie-ins</a> is the worst example of ignoring a brand and an audience I can think of since Susan G. Komen paired up with KFC. So what is my response as a consumer when I see a product brand I have purchased in the past now splattered with a "Endorsed by the Lorax" banner? <br />
<br />
I switch brands.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-33771316963271199752012-01-28T13:56:00.002-06:002012-01-28T13:57:35.072-06:00Grading and Gating Gadget GuiltI've had a long moral struggle about where and how my gadgets are manufactured. A couple of recent stories from <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory" target="_blank">This American Life</a> and the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank"> New York Times</a> has shifted the focus to Apple, largely because it coincides with Apple <a href="http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/1661834914x0x536523/381559d7-04a1-40d5-8e2a-236e3f867158/AAPL%20Q1FY12%2010Q%2001.25.12.pdf" target="_blank">earnings announcement</a> that they've made over $13 billion in profit, in <i>one quarter</i>, and <i>after taxes.</i> This is on gross sales of about $46.3 billion. Which is to say, after taxes and every other expense, Apple's profit margin is about 28%.<br />
<br />
If that margin worked equally on all products, the after-tax profit on the cheapest iPad available would be about $140.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57367594-256/dear-apple-do-something-about-chinese-working-conditions/?tag=mncol;txt" target="_blank">Molly Wood</a> issued a call for Apple to take the lead in improving working conditions at Foxconn, Apple's primary manufacturer in China. It appears, after all, that they can afford it to spend a little. They charge more for their products than competitors, and clearly this hasn't hurt them in the market. Apple can hardly say competitive forces are to blame for their decisions to force overtime and other difficult working conditions in China. They are currently the most valued, publicly-traded company in the United States, worth more than even the oil giants. <br />
<br />
Let's unpack that last thought.<br />
<br />
Oil, which is really to say gasoline for most Americans, is something we buy at least once a month, very often once a week, and often for more than one car. One <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/05/news/economy/gas_prices_income_spending/index.htm" target="_blank">2011 study</a> put the average family investment in gasoline at $368 per month, or roughly $4,400 per year. How many people do you know that spend this much per family each year on phones and tablets? Nevertheless, Apple is far more profitable - and hence more valuable - than the leading oil producer.<br />
<br />
So there is no economic argument for Apple not do better by its contracted labor. Heck, with profit that high, they could perhaps even afford to pay Americans and still eke out a little for stockholders. But they don't. And people still buy their products.<br />
<br />
I don't personally own any Apple products (though there are some in my household). This wasn't a principled stand against using Chinese labor, as the Asus computer I am using to write this was manufactured in China. I own a Samsung phone from Korea, and a Kindle Fire tablet that was "assembled" in China (presumably from some imported parts). One of the reasons I own each of these devices is because they are considerably cheaper than owning Apple counterparts, and I am price conscious just like most consumers. <br />
<br />
The primary reason I don't own Apple products is I don't like being locked in to their controlled world. I want to be able to do ugly hacks and break things on the machines I own, and Apple doesn't make that easy so I just avoid their stuff. I have both Linux and Windows boots on my laptop, and both my phone and my tablet are rooted Android devices that I regularly mess up because I find that fun.<br />
<br />
So, Apple is the most highly-valued company on the exchange because they produce a controlled, pretty experience that many people will pay a premium to use. <br />
<br />
I admit a great deal of mixed emotions in this debate. I'd perhaps consider buying American-made gadgets (I've always bought American-made, union-made cars, for example) but that means there needs to be some in the market that are at least competitive. There aren't, so I own cheap electronics from places which likely have poor working conditions. In the cases of my tablet and laptop, at well under half what I would have had to pay for Apple products.<br />
<br />
Does this make me less culpable? Maybe not. Does it make Apple more culpable when they have huge profit margins and still support conditions that would be illegal in their home country?<br />
<br />
Yes. I think it does.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-57983049761804938072011-12-22T18:30:00.000-06:002011-12-23T07:18:09.728-06:00Cutting the Cord: Costs CurtailedThe great adventure began as wife and I were talking 2012 budget, and I once again suggested that we could lose cable television. We've had this conversation before, but this year she wanted to save some more and I put my favorite sacrifice on the altar for her consideration. This time, she said yes. <br />
<br />
I made arrangements (more on this below) and when the time was right, I disconnected our two converter boxes and drove down to Comcast to surrender the rented equipment and terminate my service. I must admit I was in love with this idea, because despite my hopes that cable companies would some day allow us more a' la carte options, they clearly have no intention of letting me get the Sci Fi channel without paying for ESPN 1-92 (or whatever numbers are really on the service). The whole industry has no interest or ability to meet consumers where they are, so I'm happily jumping off the wagon and letting them ride the way of the buggy-whip manufacturers. <br />
<br />
My kids - all teenagers - haven't skipped a beat in losing cable. They'd really abandoned the concept a long time ago, in favor of internet options. My wife and I, however, still want some TV on our TV. So, here's how we broke it down:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.tivo.com/" target="_blank">TiVo</a>. We got a box from Amazon (much cheaper than buying from TiVo) and an adapter from MicroCenter to allow us to use our wireless internet service instead of Ethernet for getting TiVo information. We ordered digital antennas for both television sets. Total hardware costs of about $140, or about 1.5 months of cable costs. Now we have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video_recorder" target="_blank">DVR</a>, or I should say, my wife has a DVR because I still don't use the thing, really.</li>
<li>Roku/Netflix/Hulu/Amazon VOD. We already had a <a href="http://www.roku.com/" target="_blank">Roku</a> box (which has been my primary video entertainment since we got it about two years ago). We already had a <a href="http://netflix.com/twit" target="_blank">Netflix</a> subscription. We already had Amazon VOD (some free, some pay-per-view) as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=13819211" target="_blank">Prime</a> members. We've added Hulu, only to find the <i>paid </i>version of Hulu has fewer choices than the web-only free service. As a result, we'll probably stop paying for Hulu. Netflix is really the best deal all around, with more content than I will ever get to in my lifetime, and for cheap.</li>
<li>Decided to clean up one more extra cord, and cut the landline phone service. I called our new phone company, Century Link (which used to be Qwest, which used to be US West, which used to be Northwestern Bell....) and told them I was moving our home phone number to an extra mobile line ($5/month versus $35 for landline). They were polite and respectful, asked if we could review the DSL service I was going to keep, and then offered me a deal to slightly reduce my costs and greatly increase my speed. Ummmm... yes. Yes, I'll take that. Bonus points to Century Link.</li>
<li>Total cost changes: We used to pay about $200/month for these services (internet, cable, phone, Netflix, etc...) and we've brought the total down to about $70 (including the monthly TiVo service - which we may choose to replace with a lifetime service and eliminate the monthly fee).</li>
</ol>
<div>
Do we make some sacrifices? Sure. My wife can't see <i><a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/what-not-to-wear" target="_blank">What Not to Wear</a></i> anymore. We'll have to pay Amazon for a season pass to <i>Mad Men</i> next year. I'm going to wait on <i>Walking Dead</i> until Netflix gets the new season, so I'm a little behind in that. Now, however, we're only paying for content we want and not someone else's college football needs. We have a long way to go in this transition, but as more producers allow us to just pay for their content directly, we're going to end up with better stuff at less cost.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I love living in the future.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17382755726558649604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-76412989385804525082011-10-24T14:37:00.000-05:002011-10-24T14:39:29.532-05:00Amazon: Aquire a Queue Anon!I love living in the future. Most days I have at least one type of computer on me at all times, and my phone-computer can generate a wi-fi hotspot nearly anywhere I want to go (recent trips to the north shore of Lake Superior notwithstanding). I have podcosts-a-plently procured, and of course, access to huge stores of video entertainment. <br />
<br />
The world is my technological oyster. And yet...<br />
<br />
I've been a huge <a href="http://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a> fan for the last few years, since we got our <a href="http://www.roku.com/">Roku</a> box and I can enjoy the great streaming selection from on my television with my remote control. I love the Netflix Queue, the great way to mark a movie you want to watch later. Back when I had DVD and Instant Queues, I could mark a movie not yet available for streaming in the DVD queue, and if it became available in streaming in just showed up there for me. A happy present; a nice surprise. <br />
<br />
Netflix since split the services and I can no longer put movies in queue that aren't currently available, so now I have to keep a separate list of movies that I want to see that *may* someday show up for streaming (p.s., thanks, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/">IMDB</a>, for letting me create a comprehensive watch list). Not a good solution. A real first world problem, for sure, but just the sort of imperfection that wrecks my dream of living<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_(TV_series)"> twenty minutes in the future</a>. It is just enough of an irritant, as long as I have to make queue of movies I want to watch elsewhere, maybe I can just move the whole kit and caboodle?<br />
<br />
Right around this time comes the announcement of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051VVOB2/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=8780182524&ref=pd_sl_8ge1sbxet9_b">Kindle Fire</a>, and the promise of tight integration to Amazon Video on Demand/Prime Streaming. I have also been a huge fan of Amazon since it became my primary way to get new episodes of Dr. Who. A fair amount of the content I've been seeking is available in Amazon as well as we Netflix, so if I could get a Wish-List like function and enter all my movies to watch once, then I could ...<br />
<br />
Ah, rats. Nevermind.<br />
<br />
Amazon doesn't have <i>any</i> kind of queue, let alone what I need. If the Fire and Amazon Video on Demand are going to be a success, they need - and they need fast - to:<br />
<br />
1. Allow me to create and manage discrete watch lists. One for me, one for my wife, one for the both of us when we want to watch things together. <a href="http://multiqs.com/">MultiQs</a> does this for Netflix, and better than Netflix. I can be done.<br />
2. Give me a Wish List for videos not yet available, so I can add them once to Amazon and they appear in my watch list when Amazon gets the license.<br />
3. Negotiate new content based on Wish List demand. Not just what studios think we want, let us tell you what we really want.<br />
4. Let us manage the lists from the web, from the Fire, and from our TVs via Roku and other streaming boxes.<br />
<br />
We love you Amazon. We're rooting for you. Let's get going on this, let's communicate that it is coming, and let's move the future twenty minutes back to the present.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-74888316155118379692011-09-27T19:07:00.000-05:002013-06-01T07:14:20.335-05:00“Limited” lacks legal legitimacy<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recently completed my Master of Nonprofit Management
degree from Hamline University. It was a
great experience, certainly worthy of well-written wrangle. Another time, perhaps. I’ve been thinking more about the work I did
in the final phases of that degree; a capstone project on how nonprofits talk about value
of intellectual property (copyright, patents and the like).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was privileged to present some of these thoughts at
<a href="http://tedx1000lakes.com/">TEDx1000Lakes</a>, an event sponsored by the Blandin Foundation in Grand
Rapids. My talk was entitled <a href="http://bit.ly/TEDxBoland">Freeing the Value of Ideas</a>, and focused on how we might create a new means for valuing
open-source decisions. I think the idea
is worth spreading and hope you do, too. A key concept in my talk is the length of copyright protection. The definition of "limited" in this context deserves a little more thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Congress is empowered to create laws around intellectual
property protection by Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution. The specific language reads:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>To
promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times
to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The idea here is creators (artists, authors, inventors and
other muse-inspired people) are only going to make things of value if they have
the ability to get people to pay for them, and people are only going to pay for
them if they can’t just get it for free. I think <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> may have some things to say about that, but let's take that for rote right now. The flip side
of this pretty, pretty coin is the public domain. The Congress has been empowered to makes laws
which protect exclusive rights for “limited” times. The definition of limited
in the copyright realm has changed quite a bit.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>1790 – 14 years plus a possible 14 year
extension</li>
<li>1909 – 28 years plus a possible 28 year extension</li>
<li>1976 – Life of the author plus 50 years</li>
<li>1998 – Life of the author plus 75 years, or 120
years for works for hire</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So just what is a “limited” time? When do we in the public domain get our crack
at your great idea? We are killing the
ability to riff – to build on another idea and make a new one. We are suffocating our collective story in
favor of silos of individual stories with no connection. In short, we’re asking the golden-egg goose
to get in the gallows. It is
short-sighted and petty, and we need to knock it off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can fight for a fair definition of exclusive use and a
fair balance of public domain. We can do
it by going back to the constitution. No
reasonable person is going to say that 120 years is a “limited time” to secure
a work. Technically, yes, that is a
limit. So is one billion. It is very clearly not the intention to use
such a high limit –and an ever expanding limit – to keep works out of the
public realm indefinitely. Intellectual
property protection is broken in many ways, but redefining limited is a place to begin. I'll suggest 28 years is plenty, roughly seven times longer than the average length of employment at any one job in the 21st century. I'm willing to negotiate the time, but let's make it something that includes the public. A practical definition of limited - as in limited to the foreseeable future - is a great start.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-78169562666082192182011-09-08T20:14:00.000-05:002011-09-08T20:14:33.824-05:00Daily deals deliver disinterest<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This morning was not unusual in one way:<span> </span>my email inbox greeted me at a very early
hour (along with my beagle, Selby) with the standard fare of seven or eight
deal offers.<span> </span>80% off of this service in
this place you never go!<span> </span>50% off this
thing you don’t want in a suburb you’ve vaguely heard of!<span> </span>Two-for-one vacations to a place you have no
interest in seeing!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This morning was unusual in how I responded (to the deal
sites, not my dog – he still got his standard morning walk).<span> </span>I would normally just mark them all “read”
and move on to interesting things.<span>
</span>Today, I made the decision it was time to nuke them all.<span> </span>I started to find the unsubscribe links and
got off the roller coaster.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve bought some great deals on these sites in the past, and
I’ve unsubscribed from some who just ticked me off for unrelated reasons.<span> </span>(<a href="http://www.groupon.com/">Groupon</a> – and your tasteless <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-groupon-tibet-whales-rainforest-ads.html">campaign of trivializing important causes</a> for your own coy marketing – I’m looking at you).<span> </span>I subscribed to deals from the Saint Paul
Winter Carnival that, as it turns out, kept coming all summer and had nothing
to do with Saint Paul, Winter, or Carnivals.<span>
</span>How many manicure offers for places 30 miles from me do I need before I
realize these folks have lost any sense of personalization they may have
claimed to have?<span> </span>I’m guessing the answer
was 8, but I lost count.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Daily deal sites have flooded into the market and I’m happy
to consider a contender who actually wants to match me to deals that are relevant
to things I need in my life.<span> </span>I’d
happily take a site that simply waved me on for the day if they didn’t have a
deal that really and truly had interest for me.<span>
</span>“Nothing for you here today, so no email for you.<span> </span>Move along, move along….”<span> </span>Got two-for-one golf at a course I can
actually play?<span> </span>Let me know.<span> </span>Two-for-one golf sixty miles away at
championship courses is nothing of note for me.<span>
</span>Don’t bother me with extraneous stuff.<span>
</span>As it turns out, I can and eventually will unsubscribe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My advice to the intermediaries who are running down all
these deals:<span> </span>do what the web does best
and personalize the experience.<span> </span>Let me
select real areas of interest, real geographies that matter, and then let me
opt out of the rest.<span> </span>Until then, I’ll go
back to only buying stuff I need rather than things which appear to have added
value but I really can’t use.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-92150097113620233872011-02-18T15:32:00.005-06:002011-02-19T14:54:38.555-06:00We must all hang together...<span class="Apple-style-span">President Obama has presented his 2012 budget proposal to congress. The congress is debating cuts to existing 2011 spending and of course permanent cuts to the 2012 budget and forward. The result of these proposals is predictable: I get email.<br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I've received email from public radio, the lung association, planned parenthood supporters... and it will just keep snowballing from here. The theme of each email is similar. We do really good and important things. We can't withstand this cut (optional sub-theme: we save the government money in the long run), and we need you to contact your legislators to save us.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">All of these emails are true, but I think they all miss the point. Each organization or cause which contacts me is advocating for the congress and president to save <i>them. </i>Each individual organization is trying to salvage their own government support, thinking they alone are a very small portion of the budget and saving just them won't cost much so if enough people just contact their legislators, they will be spared.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Problem is, every other good cause in America is working to save only themselves. Amid the cacaphony of separate voices, no one message will be heard. Almost certainly very few specific organizations will actually be successful in saving just their own financial hide.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I have a suggestion: let's all line up on one common message. The message isn't "spare program X from cuts." The message is "okay, if you refuse to have a fair tax system and raise revenue from things like estate taxes that worked for years, then let's cut where cuts will matter. Military spending goes first."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; ">A brief digression to the numbers. The </span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/tables.pdf"><span style="color: blue; ">president's budget</span></a><span style="color: black; "> shows total discretionary "security" spending for 2011 at $891 billion. All other discretionary spending - everything else that all my friends in nonprofits want to spare from elimination or amputation - is listed at $496 billion dollars. Military spending is nearly <i>twice</i> the budget of all other categories of discretionary spending combined. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">The president proposes a 2012 budget that reduces the military and related budgets from $891 billion to $881. And then every projected year after that <i>increases</i> those line items. Remember, we are broke and can't afford to educate our kids or feed the hungry. But we are increasing military related spending. The one year cut for security amounts to just over one percent of their budget. And then it goes back up.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; ">The </span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/overview"><span style="color: blue; ">OMB</span></a><span style="color: black; "> goes on to describe a cut in all other domestic discretionary spending from $496 billion in 2011 to $462 billion in 2012 and then cut again in 2013 to $444 billion and then held to an inflationary cut of $444 billion in 2014. (Remember, in these out years military related spending is increasing again, to $895 in 2014 and breaking $900 billion in 2015). So while the bigger-by-nearly-two-times section of the budget gets about a 1% cut, the smaller section of the budget - which includes all these groups doing amazing work - is being slated for about a 7% cut. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">A 7% cut is the best case scenario. Congress is calling for wholesale program eliminations.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">So, even the less-extreme proposal from the president calls for huge cuts to social needs while largely holding military-related spending harmless and increasing that spending <i>before</i> investing in kids and families.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">Okay, end of digression.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">My point is we cannot defend the real needs of our communities one program at a time. We are guaranteed to come out overall losers - even if we save one or two programs - if we are scattered everywhere and not addressing the real issues. Those issues are:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">1. We as a nation have enough money to meet our basic needs. We have just been chosing to spend it for things like oligarchical transfers of wealth and nearly unlimited wars.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">2. If we agree we are going to cut government spending, let's start with the biggest chunk of the discretionary budget. If we can really make the decision to cut spending on such critical needs as housing for people without shelter, we can spread that pain at least equally in both real dollars and percentages to the security industrial complex.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span">3. Whenever any specific interest comes to us and says "contact congress to save X program" we should respond, I will contact the president and congress to save us all. My message: I will only accept cuts in social goods when all discretionary budgets take the same cut.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><a href="http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/quote71.htm">We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately</a></span>. </span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-640547332904934532011-02-06T12:46:00.008-06:002011-02-06T14:54:46.019-06:00Drinking the Chrome Kool-Aid<span class="Apple-style-span">The end of December brought a special holiday surprise to my house. My family had just returned from a short vacation, coming home right before the Christmas. Amid the mail that had piled up in our absence was an inconspicous box, which I assumed to be a late arriving holiday present I had ordered. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I was almost right about that.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">It turned out that my desperate pleas to the folks in charge of the Google Chrome Netbook distribution plan were heard after all. I had been given a <a href="http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program-cr48.html">Cr-48</a>, the test computer for the new Chrome operating system (Chrome OS). I had no advance notice from Google that I had gotten a golden ticket, it just showed up. I am the only non-press person I know with one of these machines, and I was (and still kinda am) ecstatic.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">In exchange for getting one of these units, I pledged to use it as my primary computer, which means living exclusively in the Chrome web browser. For those not familiar with the ChromeOS vision, there is no software on this machine in the traditional sense of the word. The operating system provides you with a web browser, and everything else you need comes to you via the browser. Word processing in the browser, presentation software in the browser, and of course, the web in the browser.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">With the help of some key <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore?hl=en-US">Chrome Apps and <span class="Apple-style-span"><u>Extensions</u></span></a>, the experiment thus far has been a rousing success. My primary, non-work needs have been met very well. There are bugs, to be sure, as with any beta product not yet released for purchase. I wasn't able to use the <a href="http://www.sliderocket.com/">Slide Rocket</a> for a presentation in class, for example, because I couldn't get the remote mouse to advance the slides. Everything else with the presentation worked.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Here's where it gets fun.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Last week, my PC refused to boot into Windows 7 properly. I'm not sure what I'd done, but I break operating systems through unadvised tinkering on a fairly regular basis. So I decided to install a clean copy (I hadn't done that since Windows 7 launched, probably about time anyway). I got my nice, fresh copy of Windows running and then began my usual software installation process. I got Office 2010 on and updated, as there are some times I still really want the full Office product. I installed Chrome beta, and it synced to everything that was installed on my Cr-48, as it promised to do. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Then I stopped. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Did I really <i>need</i> anything else? I installed my printer. OK, really, what else, now? Microsoft Security Essentials. OK. Anything else? It was two days before I discovered I had failed to install a .pdf reader, so installed that. And <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a>. And my PC has been humming like never before. No bloated software demanding unnecessary updates. No extra anything in my task manager. Just Chrome, a few essentials, and I'm on my way.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I should note that I've had a particularly good year for getting new tech toys to play with. I won an iPad at a conference Tweet-off. I got a new Android phone. So it occurred to me I have Windows 7, Ubuntu (dual boot on my PC), iOS on the iPad, Android on my phone, and ChromeOS on my netbook. With all those options, what I really want is my browser that syncs across every device. I even gave up using Outlook for home (I still have it at work) and live in the Apps email client. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I've moved to fanboy status. Kool-Aid = consumed.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-63441519475465066032010-11-14T14:02:00.002-06:002010-11-14T14:23:51.779-06:00Concession<span class="Apple-style-span" >It is mid-November, and although most concession speeches have been given, we are currently awaiting a few, very specific people to wake-up, smell the coffee, throw in the towel, and ride into the sunset. Or do it without the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 19px; ">cliché</span>s, I don't care. It's time to admit defeat, and move on.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >So, in the spirit of admitting when you've been beat, I've rejoined Facebook. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I am not proud of this decision. Nor am I ashamed. I am, however, beaten. I concede. Facebook has a won the battle for control of my social communications. When I announced my write-in candidacy for social networking with a conscience, many of my friends told me they understood and wished me well. I told people I would keep in touch with other mechanisms, and despite my earnest belief that I would do that, the closest I came was in using Twitter more regularly. I did not pick up the phone more often. I did not email people I didn't see. I just sorta dropped off the face of social communications.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >I lost.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >So now comes the part where I wax wearily about waning wants. As much as I thought I could make a reasonable go of it, my opponent outspent me and had the more resonant message. I stood on the outside and planted my banner, hoping the as-yet-still-inactive Diaspora or someone else (GoogleMe, are you out there?) would come to my rescue. I waited as my supplies dwindled, and everyone else in the walled garden continued on, sharing updates and photos. I didn't see a picture of my classmate's new baby. I missed invitations to events. The cost of being on the outside simply outweigh the cost of living in walled garden.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Facebook doesn't seem to mind that I've been gone, however. It let me reload my contacts, re-up my Scrabble game, and repost some pictures. I'm back in, as if I never left. I'd like to promise to fully support my opponent, but really, if the time comes when there is a real working alternative, I'll be jumping at the chance. Until then, let me congratulate the winner. You've built a darn good mousetrap, and I guess I really need one.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-41085523943345142462010-05-28T15:31:00.004-05:002010-05-28T15:51:21.185-05:00It is goodbye after all, Facebook.I'm taking a class in professional ethics right now, and it was a fantastic opportunity to examine the constant conundrum of callous craziness conceived and created by Facebook. I posted earlier that I would come back if Facebook woke up and smelled the revolt.<div><br /></div><div>Well, they responded to the privacy issue. Check out their blog for the official response if you care about such things. For me, it didn't ring with any conviction. It read like something drafted by a politician caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "I'm sorry you misunderstood my good intentions." </div><div><br /></div><div>So I thought on this some more and did some writing for my class. I had said I would return to Facebook if they got the privacy issue resolved, and they did improve the situation. But then I realized - when the furor dies down and no one is looking, they can <i>unimprove it</i> in some as-of-now-not-yet-conceived way. They have done that before. I have no reason to doubt they will do it again. I don't see any signs of "oh - I see now" concern coming from Facebook. I see signs of "Hmmmm. Will this placate you for now?"</div><div><br /></div><div>I could be dead wrong, of course. But the ethics class I'm in is circling around the intangibles of what makes an ethical decision. We have some structured thinking to work through in class, but a lot of it comes back to the "smell test." I just don't feel good about being engaged with this company. It makes me antsy. So I set loose the gerbils in my head to spin on their various wheels (<i>Gerbil one - you take the Convenience wheel. Gerbil two - you get the Mass Adoption wheel. Gerbil three - run the Constructive Engagement wheel for a while...). </i>I turned the wheels round and round. And the answer, like Dorothy's red shoes, was there all along.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This just *feels* wrong.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't trust them. I don't like not trusting them. I don't feel good about going back in to a service I don't feel good about. I'm meta-uncomfortable. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, mea culpas aside and any temporary fixes that may be coming notwithstanding, I'm closing out. May 31 is <a href="http://www.quitfacebookday.com/">Quit Facebook day</a>, and I signed up to kill my accounts then. Facebook won't notice, and Facebook won't care. But I'll feel better, and gerbil seventy-two can take a rest from the Why Are We Doing This wheel.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-77102706465171210142010-05-14T07:34:00.004-05:002010-05-14T07:59:56.278-05:00So long, Facebook. Perhaps not goodbye.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">For years, I have been among the devoted Facebook followers, asking my friends to join, posting irrelevant, and sometimes relevant, stuff there. Sharing photos, playing Scrabble - you name it. It was great.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">All good things, apparently, must come to an end. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I won't go on and on about the horrible changes Facebook has made to their privacy settings and how they treat users. Persons interested in learning more can go to <a href="http://bit.ly/dA08GB">here</a> for a great graphic of how this has changed since it all started. There's plenty of posts detailing the horror. No need to repeat. It is, after all, a link economy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">What I've struggled with is the question, do I need to participate in something I am ethically opposed to (appropriating information from users without choice) or can I live without the news stream, which is really the important part of Facebook for me. So, I tried it for a week. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Here I am, on the other side, alive.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I miss my friends' updates, but I am also convinced that it is better to make a conscious decision to keep in touch with them via web, Twitter, phone, email, IM and - heaven forbid - postal mail. I'm also convinced that either Facebook will wake up and smell the revolt, in which case I'll come back, or someone else will do it better and Facebook will become MySpace.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">One of the contenders in the "doing it right" space is <a href="http://bit.ly/96aqH7">Diaspora</a>. I love the name. They are working on a dedicated, privacy rich, open source social network movement. So are others, I'm sure. These folks aren't funding it with venture capital demanding a bazillion point return or an advertising based exit strategy. I don't mind viewing some ads to pay for a useful service, but c'mon - not allowing me to post profile information unless I make it public to the world? Thanks, but no thanks.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So, I'll keep my stripped-to-the-bone, personal FB profile in cryogenic suspension. It'll be there if things change and I come back. I'll keep my work account alive, but will similarly strip that down to just the things I need for work. In the meantime, I'll be watching and waiting for the inevitable Better Idea to replace the Zuckerberg craziness.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-66749891861651165572009-12-02T15:10:00.002-06:002009-12-02T15:16:55.063-06:00Add to the "This I Believe" seriesI believe one should never miss the opportunity to shout “Woooo!”<br /><br />Let me explain.<br /><br />Some months ago, my overcomplicated brain was busily chugging along trying to think of new ways to overcomplicate my world and the world of those around me while I was driving my kids to some kid-thing or another. I love to find difficult answers to easy questions. And of course difficult answers to difficult questions really make me happy. And so I obfuscate and create twists of logic that mirror the path of a rollercoaster. <br /><br />This, to me, is fun.<br /><br />So as I’m undergoing this current round of cerebral gymnastics, I approach a cloverleaf exit from the freeway. I’m a pretty tame driver, and I take the sharp curve at a slow approach in my sports car (which is how my wife refers to the minivan that is our family vehicle). From the back seat, I hear a mild - but nevertheless declarative - “wooooo!”<br /><br />My daughter, 11 years old at the time, had her hands in the air as if my mental rollercoaster had somehow taken shape in the real world and my most recent 100 foot drop impacted my daughter’s stomach as much as my brain. I gave her a slight raise of one eyebrow through the rearview mirror, which said “Really, now?” as much as it was an inquiry. And she gave me back this amazing piece of wisdom:<br /><br />You should never miss a chance to go “woooo!”<br /><br />So it wasn’t the fastest she’s ever ridden. It wasn’t the most amazing slope. It wasn’t a lot of things. But it <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> a lot more fun than just going straight on a freeway. So why not?<br /><br />Why not, indeed.<br /><br />My daughter isn’t the first person to make this observation; she was just the one who got it into my head again despite my Rube Goldberg mind. You’ve heard others say Stop and Smell the Roses, or similar stuff. I think it’s better to boil it down to having fun, even a little bit of fun, when there is fun to be had.<br /><br />Never miss a chance to shout woooo.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-90969188511423091202009-09-19T12:28:00.010-05:002009-09-19T16:23:03.542-05:00The new Face(book) of businessI love Facebook.<br /><br />I know, truly an unoriginal, if honest, sentiment. I chew up a lot of time on the world's largest social networking platform, and I enjoy it. But it isn't just social, anymore. Now, it's also business. Big business. And maybe I don't want all of my business and social stuff mixed-up.<br /><br />I started using Facebook a couple of years ago as it was intended - a place to catch up with friends online. But something about the newsfeed kept itching in the back of my mind. There was something more there - something about the serendipitous discovery of new information that wasn't really serendipity. It was a small group of people providing me with links and videos and thoughts that were sort of pre-screened to be of interest to me. After all, I was friends with these people. I had a connection. Things they found of interest were usually kinda cool. There has to be a broader use for this feed.<br /><br />Hmmmmm.<br /><br />So I went merrily on my way, adding content to share with friends, posting links to share with friends, writing silly notes to share with friends, writing politically-provocative things to share with friends. And as the site got busier, and more people joined, I started getting more friend requests from people that were more colleagues and comrades then friends. People that had a work connection, but with whom I didn't necessarily want to share my vacation photos.<br /><br />Hmmmmm.<br /><br />We've all been there. What do you do when you get a Facebook request from someone like that? Or, and this has happened a lot to me, from people I haven't actually ever met but who are friends of friends or allies in my work field that just want to network? Do I really want to share a new picture of my kids at the State Fair with absolutely everyone? I decided no. So, I double checked my privacy settings, and blocked my Facebook content to be just friends of mine, not networks beyond that. I politely declined to friend people I haven't met, and awkardly accepted some that I wasn't sure about, but felt too Minnnesota-nice to turn down. And it's been a struggle as the site grows in popularity.<br /><br />So, I felt a schism was in order. Not a great split of old (I don't have anything nailed to church doors) but I like using the word schism and here's my chance. I split myself into two. My personal Facebook can still be personal and a closed system, but now I have <a href="http://facebook.com/stevebolandwork" target="_blank">http://facebook.com/stevebolandwork</a> to connect with colleagues and comrades. This system is wide open, thank you very much. All comers are welcome, and it is searchable on the web. I can use those cute little Facebook badges on my personal site now, where I really couldn't before.<br /><br />The business me, and forgive me for getting all jargon on you, has some brand value. I've worked hard for a lot of years to build relationships with people, and me making some off-hand comment on a quiz can detract from that value. The flip side of this is also true. I have friends - and you know who you are - that are not interested in me going on and on in Facebook about my work. I have things to share in a Facebook newsfeed that are cool, but not to everyone I went to high school with, fer Pete's sake.<br /><br />Now, the messy part. I have to put some principles into practice to make this work. I've been slowly working my way through the 300 some friends I have on Facebook now, and sending new friend requests to some from my new work account. Some can and maybe will be both personal and work friends, but not everyone wants both. I've got to clean up the lists I have, and the maybe I can start adding a few more in that I have declined in the past. My suggestions on this:<br /><br /><ol><li>The "you have been to my house" test. If at some point in your life you have actually been in the place I have lived (not necessarily my current house, but one of my addresses over time), then you are a friend of mine. I have people I am friendly with, whom I like and all, but I only see in public contexts. If you've been to my house, you're on my personal account.<br /></li><li>The "we have actually met in life" test. I have many people I have met in my career, and I like a great many of them. But I am also getting friend requests from people I have never met in the real world. Most of the folks I have met but not seen socially are going to be in my work account, but some of them I have a real connection with and will see if they want to stay in both worlds.</li><li>The "sure connect, but I reserve the right to Hide you" fail-safe. Okay, those of you wanting to connect on Facebook that I have never actually met, let's give it a try on this work thing. But be forewarned: spend your time trying to get me to join your Mafia, and I'm likely to quietly Hide your posts.<br /></li></ol>Two tactical tips for those considering trying this at home.<br /><ol><li>You will, of course, need more than one email account. I have seven at last count, so this wasn't much of an issue for me, but for anyone else, perhaps you should just use the work account for work, and the personal account for personal. I've blurred that line too often now, so I'm just going to have to sort it out and I'm using my blog account to start the new one.<br /></li><li>Use two browsers. If you use one browser, you will have to log off and log on periodically to check the feed on the two accounts. My primary browser, Firefox, is my personal account. My secondary browser, Chrome, is my work account. Internet Explorer can just go sit in a corner and think about what it has done. This way, I can keep logged in on both and easily update or check either.<br /></li></ol>If I learn anything cool, I'll let you know.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-73740803725175249532009-08-26T16:06:00.015-05:002009-08-29T15:52:14.680-05:00Getting schooled on health insuranceHere's my health care horror story to add to the list of millions more out there. Mine has a surprise twist, so maybe it's a mystery/horror story. (Many of you have already tuned out, not getting to the third sentence in this carefully crafted credo created to craze contented crowds. Yeah, another health insurance tale of woe. Yep, I'm with you! Except I got mine, so I don't need to read yours. Well, if you did get this far, bear with me a little more.) It's fun with math time!<div><br /></div><div>First, a little background. For the vast majority of my life I've had employer-based health coverage. It got more expensive and it covered less over time, but I had coverage. Just over two years ago my wife and I found ourselves without employer based coverage. We got an individual plan - paying <i> a lot</i> more and getting <i>a lot</i> less. </div><div><br /></div><div>One more, seemingly unrelated, piece of information. I applied for and was accepted to a graduate program at Hamline University. I am pursuing my Master of Nonprofit Management degree over the next two years, giving up my Thursday nights in exchange for some structured study of what the heck I have been doing the last twenty years of my life.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, let me weave Chapter One and Chapter Two into a strangely united Chapter Three. Quentin Tarantino won't have anything to worry about from me. However, the story shows just how messed up we have become on this health insurance thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Earlier this summer, after getting the happy news I was accepted to Hamline's program, I busied myself in the online universe of Forms to Fill Out. Submit your vaccination history here! (Check.) Complete your financial aid loan package here! (Check.) Register for fall here! (You get the idea.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, amidst the cacophony of links, there was a small glimmer of incongruence. A link that caught my eye, given the painfully large checks our family writes for what is often referred to as health insurance and what I usually refer to as protection money. (An aside: Think of it this way - I would have spent less money on medical care if I just paid cash out of pocket and didn't carry any coverage. But of course, the Insurance Industry is there in my ear saying "Nice house you got there. It'd be a shame if you got into a major trauma and went bankrupt without us, wouldn't it? " And so I pay on the off-chance that anyone in my family gets hit by a bus.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So I click over to this link. It says, rather unpretentiously, Waive Health Insurance. A few clicks later, a different links says Request Health Insurance.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hmmmmm.... Click. Click. Click.</div><div><br /></div><div>Turns out, as a graduate student at Hamline, I can waive health insurance if I am of the privileged class with good employer-based coverage. Or, I can opt in to their group plan if I don't have better options. Click, click, click. Turns out, I can cover my family too, at a less-subsidized rate, but they will allow me to buy them in. Huh. Turns out, this is all <i>strikingly</i> less than I am paying now.</div><div><br /></div><div>I now <i>really</i> love Hamline.</div><div><br /></div><div>OK, fun with math time! Fire up your favorite spreadsheet program (I personally favor the old stand-by Excel 2007, but this is a matter of taste. Any good tabulator will do). Take what the health-insurance community calls a good rate for really bad coverage. Add to that the annual deductible ($1,000 per person in our case! And that was the good deal. *sigh*). Now, subtract from that very, very large dollar amount the new, more reasonable price for group coverage of the same family. Also subtract the new annual deductible ($50 per person. Yes, five percent of what I had to pay under individual coverage).</div><div><br /></div><div>That's a big number on that line. In fact, that number is greater than the total I am paying in tuition and fees as a graduate student in the Master of Nonprofit Management program. In fact, I am saving my family money by going to graduate school.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, you read that right. Check your spreadsheet, call your health insurance broker (and I've called more than one looking for a better deal) and, if necessary, check your eyeglasses prescription. I am making a profit by going to graduate school over what I would have to pay for bad health insurance coverage.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://bit.ly/wuSy4" target="_blank">Joseph Heller</a> would be so proud. And yet would likely have a hard time believing it. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, if anyone is wondering if our system is broken, maybe they need to get a little education. If our President has been unable to get this system fixed in two years, my wife will be enrolling next. She gets her MFA, we save money on health insurance. Let's hope our Members of Congress can get schooled as well.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-25825094156798350192009-08-23T16:41:00.004-05:002009-08-23T16:52:10.003-05:00Kindles and libraries and sharing, oh my!<run captainkirkvoice="" applet=""><i>Must... resist... Kindle... don't... need.... toy.....</i></run><div><run captainkirkvoice="" applet=""><br /><close applet=""><br />I love technology for technology's sake. I really do. I will run to an overcomplicated solution to a simple problem every time. Well, everytime it doesn't cost me money. As it turns out, I am a cheap son-of-a-gun. So, I get slowed in my purchasing - if not my lust - for new gizmos and gadgets gleaming with gears and glowing with green gases.<br /><br />As of yet, I don't own an iPhone. I don't have a <a href="http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/default.aspx" target="_blank">Roku box</a> for my TV (although I do have a <a href="http://soundbridge.roku.com/soundbridge/index.php" target="_blank">Soundbridge</a> for music in my kitchen). And I don't own a Kindle.<br /><br />It's not that I don't look longingly at these pretty pieces of processing power. But to really make use of any of these devices, you have to spend money regularly. The Kindle is (almost) completely replacable - <i>for free</i> - at your local public library.<br /><br />I should state for the record that I am a little fanatical about libraries, much as am I with technology. So take this fan-boy post for what it is. I started working in a library when I was in high school, and I got to see what people were checking out. I found more interesting books by re-shelving someone else's interesting books than by looking for cool stuff on my own. I love the idea of sharing a book. After all, how often do I really go back and re-read a book? In my case, pretty rarely. There are too many new ones stacked on my nightstand, thank you very much. So, what happened to all the books I paid for rather than borrowed from a library?</close></run></div><div><br /></div><div>They became trophies.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had conquered them and put their carcasses on a shelf for visitors to my home to inspect. Sometimes I'd lend them out. Mostly, they collected dust, like the trophy I got from the American Legion in 1984.</div><div><br /></div><div>Seems like a waste, really.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I got married and moved in 2004, my wife and I had to take a look at what books were coming along for the ride to our new home. How much <i>stuff</i> were we going to move with us, and what could go? Well, the paperbacks mostly went to books for prisons projects. The hardcovers that were worthwhile went to Books for Africa, some stuff went to the library as donations, and a select few we kept. Some we do go back to, and some have such deep meaning that keeping that particular momento seemed worth it.</div><div><br /></div><div>None of the sharing things can happen to books purchased for the Kindle.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can't give them to friends, you can't donate them to the library, you can't send them to prisons or to Africa. You can pay your $10 and have it forever, but the next person to enjoy that book is going to have to pay $10.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unless they go get a copy from their library.</div><div><br /></div><div>I go to the library with my kids at least once a week, more faithfully than we go to church (mostly because the kids never complain about going to the library). The kids still have books they own, but I like passing on the message that we should be sharing materials. Not just for the cost factor, although that counts (did I mention I'm cheap?). It's a good ethic. When my son needed the next book in a series the moment it came out (and library wait lists can be long - I'm still waiting for Slumdog Millionaire), we bought the book so he could enjoy it, and when he was done, he donated his copy to the library so the next kid won't have to wait so long to get a copy.</div><div><br /></div><div>And he'll always know where his copy is if he needs it again. In the interim, it won't be a trophy on a shelf, it will be spreading the joy to the next person.</div><div><br /></div><div>We don't have to limit ourselves to libraries to share media. I like that route, but there are sites like <a href="http://www.lendaround.com/" target="_blank">Lendaround.com</a> or <a href="http://www.bookcrossing.com/" target="_blank">Bookcrossing.com</a>. I hope to hear about a new feature on the next generation Kindle that let's you check e-books out of libraries and share books with friends. Then I'll be a little closer to giving in to my techie side and joining the Kindle army. For today, I'm back to logging into my library account and seeing what's due back for the next patron to enjoy.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-37778252198519468992009-08-14T11:29:00.004-05:002009-08-14T11:36:11.108-05:00Republican Hair Man<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';"><div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; width: auto; font: normal normal normal 100%/normal Georgia, serif; text-align: left; ">I met my wife, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Elen</span>, in 2003. She liked my hair, and still does. Then in my 30s, I had a full head of hair that had a good wave to it and was just starting to show a little silver. I often said I had Newscaster Hair, as if someone from the local TV news had injection-molded a template and I ordered one off the shelf. Now into my 40s, there is a lot more of the silver, but still lots of hair which makes me happy and angers my friend Shawn, who is not so fortunate and who feels the universe has been unkind to him.<div><br /></div><div>But I digress.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I have what I called Newscaster Hair, but what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Elen's</span> good friend Jesse and she called Republican Hair. As <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Elen</span> and I continued to date, I was referred to as Republican Hair Man. We all found this rather funny, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">cuz</span> ya see - I'm not a Republican. Get it? It's the whole facetious/irony thing! We slay us.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I digress.</div><div><br /></div><div>This all came back to mind recently as I was completing yet another <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Facebook</span> quiz of some kind. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you obviously have interesting things to do with your life. Good for you!) The quiz asked about a pet peeve or something, and it just came to me that I get a little irked that people that don't know me assume things about my values based on how I look, and those things are never assumed the way I would like them to be. I look like Republican Hair Man. I'm a tall, well-spoken, sober, white guy. Ergo: I think it's funny that women shop too much and married people are in shackles and we're really doing gay people a favor by keeping them out of state-recognized marriages because marriage is just heck anyway! Get it? <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Cuz</span> ya see, a tall straight white guy with good hair must think that's funny!</div><div><br /></div><div>Or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I was young, I wore my hair longer and I had in-your-face political buttons on my jacket and backpack. I had "Dump Reagan" bumper stickers on my beat-up car. (Side note: Many law enforcement officers misread "Dump Reagan" for "Ticket this uppity little hippie in the junker"). It was only later in life that I gave up on looking angry, and accepted the Irish salt-and-pepper mop that defines me to some as a Friendly. As someone you can tell off-color jokes to and not get in trouble. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">C'mon</span>, he's one of <i>us</i>. Can't you just see it?</div><div><br /></div><div>So this begs a question. It makes me think about the assumptions that come into <i>my</i> head when I see how people look. Which ones do I act on and which ones do I not notice? I am aware of my own Republican Hair Man bias - where I sometimes get cautious about stating my values in front of people who look like I apparently do. It's silly, I know, but I do catch myself wondering if people that look like me are going to start railing against a socialist take over of the health care system or some equally absurd idea. I may even be more careful about bringing up my support for a government-sponsored health care option. Or not.</div><div><br /></div><div>The flip-side of this is also a trap for me. I see people in dreadlocks and hemp clothing, I make an assumption about their values. I see people that don't have much money and are loudly shouting on the bus about the evils of government, and I'm taken aback that their values don't match what I expect them to be. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm an unabashed leftist trapped in a right-of-center body. I've come to accept my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">transpolitical</span> identity. Sometimes it's even fun to shock the heck out of someone who, with a smirk of knowing, jokes with me about how Government Interference is Ruining Our Lives. I then, sometimes, calmly mention that I think it is wrong that government policy perpetuates oligarchy - to transmit wealth (via the tax code) to some based solely on their birth and start others with zero for the same reason. That has taken the wink out of an eye or two in my time. </div><div><br /></div><div>I probably shouldn't think that is fun. Oh well, one more thing I can't assume about me from looking in a mirror.</div></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-42626792124001628392009-08-06T09:00:00.011-05:002009-08-06T17:36:22.104-05:00Garbage isn't healthy - but health care can be garbage-y<div>We have a private trash hauler system in Saint Paul. I understand those haulers have regulations on them, and taxes (solid waste fees - whatever) they pay to dispose of my non-recyclables. From what I read in the papers, there are more than a dozen residential trash haulers barreling down the streets of Our Fair City to remove the unusable stuff in our lives. Civilized places tend to have one truck doing this work, but I digress. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Saint Paul City Council is <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/52561627.html?elr=KArks:DCiUoaW_eEO7UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr" target="_blank">considering maybe doing a study</a> to maybe think about whether there is a better way to do this. Here's where some interesting parallels to health care can be uncovered - and I use the word "covered" intentionally here. </div><div><ol><li><b>People with money have coverage</b>. If you are well off, you have health insurance and maybe think of the rest of us as annoying for whining all the time that we either pay *way* too much for it (as in the case of my family with no employer-based coverage and with people who actually have to see a doctor on occasion) or we just can't get it at all. Same thing with garbage collection. When the system is voluntary and based on private haulers, people with money call someone and get it taken care of, and can't imagine why some people who don't have money don't have a private hauler taking away their unnecessary items.</li><li><b>People without coverage hurt the rest of the system</b>. So, let's assume you are one of those folks who can't (or yes, in some cases won't) pay for private garbage hauling. Maybe you've spent every last dime on medical bills. Who knows. In any case, you don't have $20/month or more to pay for hauling. So, you maybe slip your garbage in with your neighbor's and hope they don't notice. Perhaps you take a bag with you when leave the house and walk by the dumpster at the local church and pitch it in (after all - it's a church - aren't they supposed to relieve you of your sins?). Maybe, just maybe, it gets real bad and you simply leave the stuff in the alley and hope for the best. If so, feral cats or <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">squirrels</span> or whatever are going to open the bags and now your old garbage is floating on the breeze into your neighbors yard, the public streets, or into our storm water run off systems and so into the Mississippi. Those of you thinking back to the "free rider" problem from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PoliSci</span></span> 101, you get a gold star.</li><li><b>Private interests are vested in making money off the current system, so we don't get change</b>. Yes, some of these people making money off the current system are very nice people. They are family businesses and they smile at you and they are not vampires. I get it. However, is the benefit those people get a good trade-off for the problems we have in the current system? This question is not rhetorical. If you really think so, please help me understand and perhaps I'll get on your side.</li><li><b>People wanting to solve the problem are labeled as promoters of "big government" taking away "our freedoms"</b>. Me, personally, don't much care about the freedom to pick a garbage hauler. But sure, some people will lose some choice here. Is it enough of an issue to derail solving the problem? See number 3 again. I'm teachable (I hope). Tell me why this is more important than stopping free-riders from making churches pay for dumping and for having trash blowing in our streets.</li><li><b>People without money need more from the system than those with money. </b> I've been poor. Not abject poverty, and not for long periods, but I've maxed out a gas-station credit-card (the only card I had then) just so I could eat. Yes, I charged groceries at an Amoco station because that was the only way I was going to get them. Again, I digress.<br /><br />My point is when you are poor, you work with what you got. You take donated furniture and electronics. You buy second-hand clothes. If you buy new you're buying cheap, fiber-board stuff from discount stores. You know what happens to this stuff? It wears out. Fast. Then you have to dispose of it. And guess what? That costs money. Sorta like people without health insurance try to get by on the cheap until their bodies break down, and then it gets expensive. Fast. </li></ol><div>So, City <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Councilmembers</span></span> and my fellow Saint <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Paulites</span></span>, let's consider these issues and get some more facts. Then perhaps we'll see if universal coverage makes sense in a much smaller universe than just health care.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-24541912627738610822009-07-31T19:16:00.008-05:002009-08-14T08:57:08.540-05:00Pirate: reformedHow we frame a debate can impact the outcome. <a href="http://bit.ly/JnHyR" target="_blank">George <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Lakoff's</span></a> book on the subject presents the arguments well, so I won't repeat them here. I got to thinking of this recently at an <a href="http://bit.ly/19x3tx" target="_blank"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">MPR</span> News Q</a> question of the day popped about <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">whether</span> "illegally sharing music" is moral.<div><br /></div><div>Okay, a few things on this.</div><div><ol><li><b>"Illegally sharing" is a very specific frame to this debate</b>. After all - why would anyone make sharing illegal? Isn't this the golden rule we were all told to obey in kindergarten? Sharing is nice! So, whatever this "illegal" part is must be some mistake, I'm sure.</li><li><b>"Facilitating theft" is another frame one could use.</b> Maybe you don't actually download other people's music files when you use peer to peer networks (but honestly - when was the last time you got something legal from a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">BitTorrent</span>?). Maybe you just log in to peer-to-peer networks and you happen to share your music files folder. In this case, you really aren't stealing anything yourself, after all. But what legal purpose could you have for sharing that folder? The only real reason - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">c'mon</span> people - is to let other people steal a file.</li><li><b>Yes, copyright law is broken.</b> It is insanely corrupted, written by people who make money on the status <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">quo</span>. I mean really, life of the author plus 75 years? The only possible justification for this is to make corporations - not people - rich, and to perpetuate an oligarchy by making sure family members of really rich people stay really rich. Meritocracy? Not under this system. </li><li><b>Yes, copyright law can be fixed.</b> We have a perfectly good alternative in the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a> license. Already working and tested, thank you very much. So, why don't we just move the whole system and remove greater-than-lifetime protection? See above references to who is getting rich, here. Sony and Disney like their money, thank you very much. They've contacted Congress on this. Heck, they wrote the last bill.</li><li><b>Many consumers would rather take the easy way out, thank you very much.</b> Changing laws is hard, especially when you have to compete against Sony and Disney. "Illegally sharing" is so much more convenient. We consumers have gotten really good at rationalizations, as well. Such as:<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>a. The artists don't make the money, anyway. (True, often enough).<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>b. The corporations have been screwing us for years. (Again, often true).<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>c. I can't buy this song anyway, it's out of print, so I can get a copy peer-to-peer. (Many songs have never been made available on CD/digital version - but many very clever people have made their own digital copies from other media).<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>d. My few songs won't make any difference to anyone (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">hmmmm</span>, now we're getting lame).<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>e. It doesn't cost the company single cent - it's not like I took something they duplicated and put in a store. (Ditto on the lameness).<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>f. I wouldn't have bought this song if I had to pay money, so it's not like they are losing any sales. (Lamer, still.)</li></ol><div>You may wonder at point 5 here, just how do I know so much about rationalizations to steal digital work? Yes, I used to pirate stuff from the comfort of my own home, oh those many years ago now. First, I worked up all my rationalizations, then I made a puzzle out of finding the right software, hunting down files, and all the rest. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, I had to get honest with myself. (Note to self: blog sometime about getting honest). </div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't stealing in order to change a broken system, or to pay artists for their time, or to sock it to the Man, whoever this Man may be. I was stealing to gratify a fairly unnecessary desire for more.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even then, I had a great deal of legally purchased music and movies. I didn't really *need* more. I wanted more. And taking more because I wanted more wasn't really good for me as it turns out, I have a problem with *more*. So I stopped. I purged any file that I didn't have license to, and made a list of files I liked enough to actually buy. And I started a very slow, methodical campaign to own the songs I wanted to own and to deal with my own gluttony and lust (yes, I was raised Catholic) for the rest.</div><div><br /></div><div>So this may come off as holier than thou, but I have been way less holy than most, so I cast no stones at anyone lest I get a boulder or two lobbed my way (did I mention I was raised Catholic?). I will urge you to think about the real problem, here. Most people are willing to pay for their stuff. After all, I don't know anyone who steals groceries. The major music sellers are all <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management" target="_blank"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">DRM</span></a> free now, so you can buy digital copies of your music (a lot if it, anyway) and actually play the stuff. Now, we have to have the will power to expect some change from Congress.</div><div><br /></div><div>*sigh*</div><div><br /></div><div>So, let's buckle down, and be honest with ourselves and with them. And if you really want to call attention to a broken system, organize a group of pirates who admit they are stealing and accept the consequences. Go to jail over it. I won't be joining you, but if you get a thousand people arrested for breaking copyright, I bet you'll get some change.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-15720943999298376222009-07-29T20:04:00.008-05:002009-07-31T20:06:24.412-05:00A plethora of podcastsMy life was missing something subtle.<br /><br />Mostly, I'm a pretty happy guy. I've had some crazy stuff to deal with in my past (note to self: blog about dealing with crazy stuff), but on the whole, I'm grateful for the good things in life and try to let the rest just be what it is. This is easier to do with big-picture stuff, like death and taxes. Sometimes, the little things find a wedge into my brain and poke in like a very small splinter under the skin. I can't see it, but something there is bugging me.<br /><br />It turns out it was subconscious recognition of the need for spoken word entertainment in my life. I'm an American - I get a lot of television. I watch a lot of movies. Recently, I've even started kicking it old school with those book thingies I used to use all the time. I started slowly. I caught "This American Life" on the radio now and then. Eventually I tracked down episodes on the Web and was amazed by how compelled I could be by a story without pictures. Not a book, just voices. I could stream the old shows, so I started dragging my laptop computer around the house as I did chores. I had my wireless connection so I could listen to the show while I cleaned the bathroom. My advice to you if you don't like to clean: treat yourself to some good stories, and you'll find yourself looking forward to scrubbing the bathtub because it means you can enjoy this more.<br /><br />I started adding other shows. I streamed "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and Leo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Laporte's</span> TWIT broadcasts. Locally, I got into "In the Loop". It was a slow progression at first. Eventually, this content became available for download, and I didn't have to stream it all the time. It all sped up when Selby joined the family.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1uPEbJ3HO1Q/SnOLbzMFJzI/AAAAAAAAAPA/jShpkyr0V-w/s1600-h/selbycontest+004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1uPEbJ3HO1Q/SnOLbzMFJzI/AAAAAAAAAPA/jShpkyr0V-w/s200/selbycontest+004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364784890841999154" border="0" /></a><br />Selby is my dog. He's a four-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ish</span> something beagle that came to live with us in 2007. He is the best dog on the planet and anyone wishing to challenge that assumption just ain't right in the head. So there.<br /><br />Selby does have some needs that changed by life. For one, he potties outside. For this, I am grateful. Mostly. There are times when he needs to go out at 5 AM in January that I wish he wasn't housebroken. Ah well, the sacrifices we make. The other big one is he has to get some exercise, and someone has to go with him. Most often, that's me.<br /><br />Now, Selby is cute as heck, but he is not a witty conversationalist. He needs a good 2-3 miles in the morning if we are going to prevent him from trying to taste the tantalizing tidbits tucked in our tasteful turf. I grab some poop-bags (yes, fully biodegradable from the fine folks at <a href="http://www.poopbags.com/" target="_blank"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Poopbags</span>.com</a> - I love the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Interwebs</span>) and off we go for a walk each morning about 5:30. My feet are moving, but my brain is in low gear. I enjoy the sights of the cathedral, downtown, Crocus hill and all the rest, but mostly, this is downtime. So I plug in the headphones and let someone else do the thinking.<br /><br />All of this in the way of saying I have some recommendations for you. In a particular order:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/" target="_blank"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">RadioLab</span></a>. Please visit and listen. I recommend starting with the episode on musical language, but hey - you really can't go wrong.<br />2. <a href="http://www.thislife.org/" target="_blank">This American Life</a>. No, they haven't even begun to lose it after all these years.<br />3. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=35" target="_blank"> Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me</a>. Just silly, but in a clever way. I was a contestant once. I lost.<br />4. <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/gadgettes/" target="_blank"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Gadgettes</span></a>. Molly Wood in particular just rocks. Kelly and Jason, you're great, but Molly just gets me. She does great video <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">podcasts</span> for C/NET as well, but today we're talking audio.<br />5. <a href="http://www.twit.tv/ww" target="_blank">Windows Weekly</a>. Yes, way geeky, but unlike some of the other <a href="http://www.twit.tv/" target="_blank">TWIT</a> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">podcasts</span>, this is likely to stay on topic. Paul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Thurrott</span> is wry, and I love the depth to which we reluctant Microsoft minions are willing to delve to feel like we made the right choice.<br />6. <a href="http://www.twit.tv/twit" target="_blank">This Week in Tech</a>. When Leo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Laporte</span> doesn't totally derail the train on some completely <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">untech</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">tangent</span> for fifteen minutes (really - I did *not* tune in to listen to you and your friends drink scotch. Really. No, for real.) this show can be very entertaining.<br />7. <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/" target="_blank">Planet Money</a>. Kinda hit and miss, but still finding its footing. A podcast about the depression we are in, while no one calls it that.<br /><br />I have more, but they are not the ones I make sure to get through each week. I listen to every episode of these, and I encourage you to check them out. If you need a test dog to walk while giving them a spin, I have a beagle that is happy to show you where all the rabbits in the neighborhood hang out.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3914407968530575709.post-71303583092009288062009-07-29T19:52:00.003-05:002009-07-29T20:13:55.189-05:00Monitize is a wordOh fer Pete's sake - another blogger.<br /><br />I just need some place to dump some thoughts. You're welcome to read them, or not. Take what you like, leave the rest. Or not. Really.<br /><br />I have a few things to say about a few things, but before we get into any of that, a quick comment from me about setting up this page in Blogger. <br /><br />There is a "Monetize" tag in the control panel and setting box. Now, I listen to a fair number of podcasts (note to self: must blog later on podcasts....) and many of them ponder the perturbing problems of paying the piper. However, I've never seen the darn word in print before. <br /><br />So, I clicked the link. <br /><br />If I get rich, I'll let you know.<br /><br />The point being, I was sort of slapped in the face by the realization that our amazing Interwebs - our space where billions of pages of data and more are just waiting for our playful fingers to hit the right sequence of keys to breath life into dynamically-generated content - may need to be Monitized by random schmucks in their living rooms typing on less-than accurate keyboards while their adopted beagles sigh in the corner by the fireplace as if to say "are you still tapping on that thing?"<br /><br />*whew*. I feel better. That was a long sentence, but it needed to come out in one crazed, cathartic, careening crash of chaos. Trying to structure that particular piece of penmanship would have pulled the literary equivalent of a hamstring. I'd be virtually limping for months.<br /><br />So, our living language leaps left, and Monitize is a mouse-click away. I smile. My dog sighs again. We move on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0