FRIENDS OF IRAQ BLOGGER CHALLENGE... FROM SPIRIT OF AMERICA
Support freedom, democracy and peace in Iraq
Leading bloggers are competing to raise funds to benefit the people of Iraq. 100% of all donations go to needs selected by these bloggers. Many of our projects support requests made by Americans serving in Iraq (Marines, Army, SeaBees) for goods that help the Iraqi people. Other projects directly support Iraqis who are on the front lines of building a better future for Iraq.
"Americans want to help our troops and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan who are working hard to rebuild their countries through freedom and democracy. Spirit of America offers excellent opportunities for personal involvement. The name says it all -Spirit of America - and it is providing ways to give support that makes a difference." - Senator John McCain
If you want to help out, donate here.
Junto Boyz
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
|
SHOULD YOU REALLY BE A LAWYER?
My friend, Deborah, has her book out now. I mentioned before that she was starting her book tour, but now you can buy it on Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com:
"Should You Really Be A Lawyer? The Guide to Smart Career Choices Before, During and After Law School"
(Although Amazon says the book is "not yet released," it actually is and people will receive the book right away once they order it.)
Also you can check out her website here.
|
My friend, Deborah, has her book out now. I mentioned before that she was starting her book tour, but now you can buy it on Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com:
"Should You Really Be A Lawyer? The Guide to Smart Career Choices Before, During and After Law School"
(Although Amazon says the book is "not yet released," it actually is and people will receive the book right away once they order it.)
Also you can check out her website here.
MY FIRST OP-ED PIECE
My fiancee complained that during my freetime (outside of us spending time together... lately just shopping) all I do is blog, play basketball, and look at fantasy football & basketball related shows and information. She strongly suggested that I write an op-ed piece for a newspaper, so I took a shot at it this past Saturday afternoon. Pretty cool. First attempt, submission and The Boston Globe took it: "A lesson for the liberal elite."
Actually, my original title was "I, Christian" with respect to Asimov's "I, Robot," which I still like better. Also The Boston Globe editor, who was great, made some minor changes (e.g. original last line: As with Asimov’s “Robbie,” we seem to be misunderstood with multiple myths surrounding our beliefs, motivation, and existence.)
My original tagline was "Bernard Moon is a high-tech entrepreneur and blogger at http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com," but they just put "Bernard Moon is a freelance writer in San Francisco" so my blog didn't get promoted. Crap. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
UPDATE: My op-ed was the most popular story for the day at The Boston Globe's website. Pretty cool.
|
My fiancee complained that during my freetime (outside of us spending time together... lately just shopping) all I do is blog, play basketball, and look at fantasy football & basketball related shows and information. She strongly suggested that I write an op-ed piece for a newspaper, so I took a shot at it this past Saturday afternoon. Pretty cool. First attempt, submission and The Boston Globe took it: "A lesson for the liberal elite."
Actually, my original title was "I, Christian" with respect to Asimov's "I, Robot," which I still like better. Also The Boston Globe editor, who was great, made some minor changes (e.g. original last line: As with Asimov’s “Robbie,” we seem to be misunderstood with multiple myths surrounding our beliefs, motivation, and existence.)
My original tagline was "Bernard Moon is a high-tech entrepreneur and blogger at http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com," but they just put "Bernard Moon is a freelance writer in San Francisco" so my blog didn't get promoted. Crap. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
UPDATE: My op-ed was the most popular story for the day at The Boston Globe's website. Pretty cool.
Monday, November 29, 2004
"END OF EMAIL IN KOREA"
HatTip to Doug Yeum. When I came back from Korea this past May, I remember SMSing my friends about whether they were going to play basketball one night. One of them called back and told me that he didn't know his cellphone could receive text messages. I was surprised since I was so accustomed to SMSing my friends in Korea about everything.
It was convenient to text message people when you're in meetings, on the go, or when you needed a simple response. I easily SMSed more than 10 messages a day. People a decade younger probably at least 30 times. Two decades younger probably 50 times. Whether a busy professional, housewife, or student, people didn't need a Nokia commercial to tell them the benefit and convenience of text messaging on your mobile phone.
In the U.S., it is a different story. Blackberry came first and captured the attention of the professional market. For various reasons not completely known to me, SMS never took off in the U.S, but I wonder if this is another trend that the U.S. is lagging behind in.
Earlier this year, I read about the growth of camera phones in the U.S. and related issues of privacy that Korea dealt with almost three years ago. Wireless and broadband services in general are at least a couple years behind the South Korea market in adoption and quality. So will SMS have the same impact on email in the U.S. as it did in Korea?
Some more information on this matter:
A poll conducted by Chungbuk University computer education professor Lee Ok-hwa on over 2,000 middle, high school and college students in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces in October revealed that more than two-thirds of the respondents said, "I rarely use or don't use e-mail at all."
.....
Daum Communication, the top email business in the country, saw its email service pageviews fall over 20 percent from 3.9 billion in October last year to 3 billion in October this year. By contrast, with SK Telecom, the nation's No. 1 communication firm, monthly SMS transmissions skyrocketed over 40 percent in October from 2.7 billion instances last October.
Again, good post and article link from my friend's blog(Doug runs an IT consulting shop and built the first blog service in Korea for Korea Telecom's broadband portal):
I've said before that email is no longer a very effective communications tool due to spam and increasing popularity of instant messaging, SMS, and blogs/mini-hompy (personal media). The younger generation, especially, tend not to use email unless it is necessary (e.g. submitting reports to professors).
This article also suggests that use of email will continue to decline in Korea as other forms of online communications become the preferred choice among young online users.
The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed "one-man media"), and SMS are wielding their power. As a consequence, the stronghold of email, once the favorite of the Internet, is being shaken from its roots.
The ebbing of email is a phenomenon peculiar to Korea, an IT power. Leading the big change, unprecedented in the world, are our teens and those in their 20's. The perception that "email is an old and formal communication means" is rapidly spreading among them. "I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, "I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices."
The reasons given for shunning email are that it's impossible to tell whether an addressee has received a message right away and replies are not immediately forthcoming. Still another reason is that you send messages through SMS or messenger as if you were playing a game, while doing so through email makes you feel as if you are doing homework or performing a task. "The new generation hate agonizing and waiting and tend to express their feelings immediately," said Professor Lee. "The decline of email is a natural outcome reflecting such characteristics of the new generation."
|
HatTip to Doug Yeum. When I came back from Korea this past May, I remember SMSing my friends about whether they were going to play basketball one night. One of them called back and told me that he didn't know his cellphone could receive text messages. I was surprised since I was so accustomed to SMSing my friends in Korea about everything.
It was convenient to text message people when you're in meetings, on the go, or when you needed a simple response. I easily SMSed more than 10 messages a day. People a decade younger probably at least 30 times. Two decades younger probably 50 times. Whether a busy professional, housewife, or student, people didn't need a Nokia commercial to tell them the benefit and convenience of text messaging on your mobile phone.
In the U.S., it is a different story. Blackberry came first and captured the attention of the professional market. For various reasons not completely known to me, SMS never took off in the U.S, but I wonder if this is another trend that the U.S. is lagging behind in.
Earlier this year, I read about the growth of camera phones in the U.S. and related issues of privacy that Korea dealt with almost three years ago. Wireless and broadband services in general are at least a couple years behind the South Korea market in adoption and quality. So will SMS have the same impact on email in the U.S. as it did in Korea?
Some more information on this matter:
A poll conducted by Chungbuk University computer education professor Lee Ok-hwa on over 2,000 middle, high school and college students in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces in October revealed that more than two-thirds of the respondents said, "I rarely use or don't use e-mail at all."
.....
Daum Communication, the top email business in the country, saw its email service pageviews fall over 20 percent from 3.9 billion in October last year to 3 billion in October this year. By contrast, with SK Telecom, the nation's No. 1 communication firm, monthly SMS transmissions skyrocketed over 40 percent in October from 2.7 billion instances last October.
Again, good post and article link from my friend's blog(Doug runs an IT consulting shop and built the first blog service in Korea for Korea Telecom's broadband portal):
I've said before that email is no longer a very effective communications tool due to spam and increasing popularity of instant messaging, SMS, and blogs/mini-hompy (personal media). The younger generation, especially, tend not to use email unless it is necessary (e.g. submitting reports to professors).
This article also suggests that use of email will continue to decline in Korea as other forms of online communications become the preferred choice among young online users.
The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed "one-man media"), and SMS are wielding their power. As a consequence, the stronghold of email, once the favorite of the Internet, is being shaken from its roots.
The ebbing of email is a phenomenon peculiar to Korea, an IT power. Leading the big change, unprecedented in the world, are our teens and those in their 20's. The perception that "email is an old and formal communication means" is rapidly spreading among them. "I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, "I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices."
The reasons given for shunning email are that it's impossible to tell whether an addressee has received a message right away and replies are not immediately forthcoming. Still another reason is that you send messages through SMS or messenger as if you were playing a game, while doing so through email makes you feel as if you are doing homework or performing a task. "The new generation hate agonizing and waiting and tend to express their feelings immediately," said Professor Lee. "The decline of email is a natural outcome reflecting such characteristics of the new generation."
Sunday, November 28, 2004
BLOGGER HAVING PROBLEMS
All day I suffered from Blogger having problems with their system. My sidebar was deleted as I was publishing changes, so I had to reconstruct most of the script and html code. Additionally, the system was so slow and bogged down at times that it took forever to make any corrections or changes. Very annoyed at Blogger. I even checked out other Blogspot sites and found them to be slow or not coming up, so I assume this was a system wide problem.
|
All day I suffered from Blogger having problems with their system. My sidebar was deleted as I was publishing changes, so I had to reconstruct most of the script and html code. Additionally, the system was so slow and bogged down at times that it took forever to make any corrections or changes. Very annoyed at Blogger. I even checked out other Blogspot sites and found them to be slow or not coming up, so I assume this was a system wide problem.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
BILL O'REILLY BACKS DAN RATHER
"Dan Rather did not get what he deserved in this case. He made a mistake, as we all do, but he is not a dishonest man."
O'Reilly took sides with Dan Rather against the blogosphere that took Rather down. This could have been a positioning move by O'Reilly, but I'm not sure how he would benefit or build up his capital from this situation. He is probably speaking from his personal relationship with Rather. For me, it seems O'Reilly could be blinded by his past relationship since more fingers do point towards the fact that Rather did knowingly use fake documents in that story against President Bush. This also seems confirmed by Andy Rooney's recent comments at Tufts University.
Either way, I might have brought this up before, but Bill O'Reilly is a great political commentator because he criticizes people on the left and right, and will support people on either side as long as it makes sense to him.
I remember speaking with one of my Dem friends about O'Reilly and he started bashing him.
"Wait. You have to admit he's fair as political commentators go. Others on CNN or wherever are afraid of criticizing people from their own party or ideology. O'Reilly rips on everybody... And you watch him, right? Even though you hate him."
"Okay. I'll give you that. He's even-handed at times... Yeah, I watch him."
|
"Dan Rather did not get what he deserved in this case. He made a mistake, as we all do, but he is not a dishonest man."
O'Reilly took sides with Dan Rather against the blogosphere that took Rather down. This could have been a positioning move by O'Reilly, but I'm not sure how he would benefit or build up his capital from this situation. He is probably speaking from his personal relationship with Rather. For me, it seems O'Reilly could be blinded by his past relationship since more fingers do point towards the fact that Rather did knowingly use fake documents in that story against President Bush. This also seems confirmed by Andy Rooney's recent comments at Tufts University.
Either way, I might have brought this up before, but Bill O'Reilly is a great political commentator because he criticizes people on the left and right, and will support people on either side as long as it makes sense to him.
I remember speaking with one of my Dem friends about O'Reilly and he started bashing him.
"Wait. You have to admit he's fair as political commentators go. Others on CNN or wherever are afraid of criticizing people from their own party or ideology. O'Reilly rips on everybody... And you watch him, right? Even though you hate him."
"Okay. I'll give you that. He's even-handed at times... Yeah, I watch him."
LEGENDARY DON VALENTINE SPEAKS
Good interview at News.com. Don Valentine is the founder of Sequoia Capital and a legend in Silicon Valley. He was one of the original investors in Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Electronic Arts, and his firm through other partners were the early investors in Cisco, Yahoo!, PayPal, and Google.
" If there is an application for nanotechnology, it's going to be the later part of our lifetimes. You have this huge amount of press coverage and no market problem that needs solving."
"I really think it's sort of embarrassing for South Korea to have an intrinsically greater disposition in broadband than California."
|
Good interview at News.com. Don Valentine is the founder of Sequoia Capital and a legend in Silicon Valley. He was one of the original investors in Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Electronic Arts, and his firm through other partners were the early investors in Cisco, Yahoo!, PayPal, and Google.
" If there is an application for nanotechnology, it's going to be the later part of our lifetimes. You have this huge amount of press coverage and no market problem that needs solving."
"I really think it's sort of embarrassing for South Korea to have an intrinsically greater disposition in broadband than California."
Friday, November 26, 2004
PEER IMPACT THROWS ITSELF INTO THE ONLINE MUSIC ARENA
Peer Impact signs up three out of the four major record labels for online music distribution rights:
The deals with Peer Impact, a new division of online marketing company Wurld Media, continues the labels' gradual warming trend toward peer-to-peer services. Top label executives have increasingly said they are willing to support file-swapping networks, as long as no pirated songs appear alongside authorized works.
For now, Peer Impact's partners include Universal Music, Sony BMG and the Warner Music Group. The company remains in negotiations with EMI Music and plans to launch the file-swapping service in early 2005.
Songs will cost 99 cents, as they do at Apple Computer's iTunes and other download stores, and they'll be wrapped in copyp-protection technology. But executives say the file-swapping technology can help build relationships between customers in a way ordinary Net music stores can't. (full article)
|
Peer Impact signs up three out of the four major record labels for online music distribution rights:
The deals with Peer Impact, a new division of online marketing company Wurld Media, continues the labels' gradual warming trend toward peer-to-peer services. Top label executives have increasingly said they are willing to support file-swapping networks, as long as no pirated songs appear alongside authorized works.
For now, Peer Impact's partners include Universal Music, Sony BMG and the Warner Music Group. The company remains in negotiations with EMI Music and plans to launch the file-swapping service in early 2005.
Songs will cost 99 cents, as they do at Apple Computer's iTunes and other download stores, and they'll be wrapped in copyp-protection technology. But executives say the file-swapping technology can help build relationships between customers in a way ordinary Net music stores can't. (full article)
"REJECTING THE NEXT BILL GATES"... VISA CRISIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED
Good article on how the recent immigrant crack-down and foreign-visa crisis is turning away future innovation, which drives most of our economy.
Rejecting the Next Bill Gates
The dirty secret about our scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants. Americans don't do science
NEWSWEEK
By Fareed Zakaria
Nov. 29 issue - As Condoleezza Rice enters the State Department, she will face a number of pressing foreign-policy problems that she cannot solve. This will not be for lack of effort or intelligence on her part. It's just that many foreign-policy crises involve the interests and activities of countries across the globe, and changing these takes time. And even then, whether it's Iran, North Korea or Darfur, there is no quick fix that Washington can impose. But there is a growing danger for the United States that needs urgent attention, can be solved and is almost entirely within Rice's power to handle. It's the foreign-visa crisis. Left unattended, it is going to have deep and lasting effects on American security and competitiveness.
The facts are plain. U.S. visa procedures have become far too cumbersome, and bureaucrats are turning down far more applications than ever before. One crucial result is the dramatic decline of foreign students in the U.S.—the first shift downward in 30 years. Three new reports document the magnitude of this fall. Undergraduate enrollment from China dropped 20 percent this year; from India, 9 percent; from Japan, 14 percent. The declines are even worse in graduate schools: applications from China have dropped 45 percent; from India, 28 percent.
Some Americans might say, "Good riddance, it's their loss." Actually the greater loss is ours. American universities benefit from having the best students from across the globe. But the single most deadly effect of this trend is the erosion of American capacity in science and technology. The U.S. economy has powered ahead in large part because of the amazing productivity of America's science and technology. Yet that research is now done largely by foreign students. The National Science Board (NSB) documented this reality last year, finding that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and engineering work force are foreign-born. Foreigners make up more than half the students enrolled in science and engineering programs. The dirty little secret about America's scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants. (full article)
|
Good article on how the recent immigrant crack-down and foreign-visa crisis is turning away future innovation, which drives most of our economy.
Rejecting the Next Bill Gates
The dirty secret about our scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants. Americans don't do science
NEWSWEEK
By Fareed Zakaria
Nov. 29 issue - As Condoleezza Rice enters the State Department, she will face a number of pressing foreign-policy problems that she cannot solve. This will not be for lack of effort or intelligence on her part. It's just that many foreign-policy crises involve the interests and activities of countries across the globe, and changing these takes time. And even then, whether it's Iran, North Korea or Darfur, there is no quick fix that Washington can impose. But there is a growing danger for the United States that needs urgent attention, can be solved and is almost entirely within Rice's power to handle. It's the foreign-visa crisis. Left unattended, it is going to have deep and lasting effects on American security and competitiveness.
The facts are plain. U.S. visa procedures have become far too cumbersome, and bureaucrats are turning down far more applications than ever before. One crucial result is the dramatic decline of foreign students in the U.S.—the first shift downward in 30 years. Three new reports document the magnitude of this fall. Undergraduate enrollment from China dropped 20 percent this year; from India, 9 percent; from Japan, 14 percent. The declines are even worse in graduate schools: applications from China have dropped 45 percent; from India, 28 percent.
Some Americans might say, "Good riddance, it's their loss." Actually the greater loss is ours. American universities benefit from having the best students from across the globe. But the single most deadly effect of this trend is the erosion of American capacity in science and technology. The U.S. economy has powered ahead in large part because of the amazing productivity of America's science and technology. Yet that research is now done largely by foreign students. The National Science Board (NSB) documented this reality last year, finding that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and engineering work force are foreign-born. Foreigners make up more than half the students enrolled in science and engineering programs. The dirty little secret about America's scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants. (full article)
NEW BRANDING FOR DEMOCRATS
HatTip to Instapundit. Pretty funny post at Hubris. Check it out. I personally like:
"We Don't Think You're A Bunch of Stupid Hicks. Honest."
"Don't You Prefer Evil Union Bosses To Evil Corporate Robber Barons?"
|
HatTip to Instapundit. Pretty funny post at Hubris. Check it out. I personally like:
"We Don't Think You're A Bunch of Stupid Hicks. Honest."
"Don't You Prefer Evil Union Bosses To Evil Corporate Robber Barons?"
Thursday, November 25, 2004
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!
Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving Day! My fiancee and I are spending a quiet Thanksgiving holiday in our new city. It's wonderful to spend this time with ones you love.
This year is a contrast to the large celebrations I grew up with and that have become less frequent during this stage in life. I remember my parents inviting family members, friends, friends without a place to go, my friends who didn't get a chance to go home, and always a random guest or two. I'm always grateful how my parents taught me how to give with a gracious heart. They never expected anything back for all the services, gifts, or dinners they held. Unconditional giving is the most rewarding giving.
Well, maybe in certain family situations or rare cases, but for the vast majority they didn't care for social etiquette or recognition. I respect and love this about my parents and I know many people over the years have been blessed by their giving.
Anyway, here is an article at The American Thinker on George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d dy of October, A.D. 1789.
(signed) G. Washington
|
Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving Day! My fiancee and I are spending a quiet Thanksgiving holiday in our new city. It's wonderful to spend this time with ones you love.
This year is a contrast to the large celebrations I grew up with and that have become less frequent during this stage in life. I remember my parents inviting family members, friends, friends without a place to go, my friends who didn't get a chance to go home, and always a random guest or two. I'm always grateful how my parents taught me how to give with a gracious heart. They never expected anything back for all the services, gifts, or dinners they held. Unconditional giving is the most rewarding giving.
Well, maybe in certain family situations or rare cases, but for the vast majority they didn't care for social etiquette or recognition. I respect and love this about my parents and I know many people over the years have been blessed by their giving.
Anyway, here is an article at The American Thinker on George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d dy of October, A.D. 1789.
(signed) G. Washington
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
IT'S WICTORY WEDNESDAY
Wictory Wednesday blogroll on sidebar below. Even if you're not Republican, consider donating. Just kidding. Have a nice day!
The elections aren't over yet. There are two Congressional seats in Louisiana that will be decided in a couple of weeks. If either party wins both these seats, it will be big news.
Louisiana just elected a Republican senator for the first time ever. Republicans already hold 4 of the 7 House seats. If the GOP can win the two run-offs (a distinct possibility), then it will control 6 out of 7 House seats and Louisiana will have gone firmly Republican, the way of Georgia.
But to accomplish this, the local GOP needs your help. You can easily contribute to the Louisiana Republican party online.
Imagine if the GOP wins those two seats! It will give credence to the idea of a solid Republican majority and will further convince red-state Democrats in the House and Senate that obstructionism will lose them elections. Help make that happen.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign.
|
Wictory Wednesday blogroll on sidebar below. Even if you're not Republican, consider donating. Just kidding. Have a nice day!
The elections aren't over yet. There are two Congressional seats in Louisiana that will be decided in a couple of weeks. If either party wins both these seats, it will be big news.
Louisiana just elected a Republican senator for the first time ever. Republicans already hold 4 of the 7 House seats. If the GOP can win the two run-offs (a distinct possibility), then it will control 6 out of 7 House seats and Louisiana will have gone firmly Republican, the way of Georgia.
But to accomplish this, the local GOP needs your help. You can easily contribute to the Louisiana Republican party online.
Imagine if the GOP wins those two seats! It will give credence to the idea of a solid Republican majority and will further convince red-state Democrats in the House and Senate that obstructionism will lose them elections. Help make that happen.
Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign.
MOZILLA'S FIREFOX SLOWLY EATS AWAY AT IE
A fair amount of press on Firefox over the past few weeks, so I guess I should post something just in case some of you haven't read about it or tried it. A couple weeks ago I downloaded Firefox for the first time and love it. It seems faster than IE and the functionality is better. Some more notes on its functionality and the possible impact on Google at Steve Hall's blog here. You can download it here.
|
A fair amount of press on Firefox over the past few weeks, so I guess I should post something just in case some of you haven't read about it or tried it. A couple weeks ago I downloaded Firefox for the first time and love it. It seems faster than IE and the functionality is better. Some more notes on its functionality and the possible impact on Google at Steve Hall's blog here. You can download it here.
PHISHING SCAMS INCREASING... WATCH OUT
Automated phishing and other techniques are on the rise. Typically, I saw these phishing scams as lame that preyed upon the neophyte surfers and email users since their scams requesting for information seemed generated from my old Apple IIe or written by a high school kid. This past month I got one that seemed to be from PayPal requesting me to update my information due to numerous visits from a foreign IP address. The email showed to be sent from "service@paypal.com," and I had to double-check with PayPal since it almost seemed convincing. It was a phishing scam that was pretty good.
Fraudsters are achieving higher levels of automation for phishing scams, using software tools and botnets to increase the reach of their work, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
Security experts from the APWG have witnessed massive increases in the number of phishing Web sites, which they say suggests scammers are improving their techniques. (full article)
More from Vikram Desai:
Phishing crooks aren't staying still--they're getting smarter.
Phishing is a technique used by hackers in which spammed e-mail draws you to a phony Web site that looks amazingly like that of a trusted institution such as your bank. Once there, victims unwittingly disclose personal financial information that the phisher uses to defraud the e-business and conduct identity fraud and theft. Because of well-publicized phishing attacks, most people are now sensitized to these scams.
There is now an even scarier development on the phishing horizon--one in which e-businesses may become unwitting accomplices, because it is difficult for even the most savvy of Web users to detect. "Blended phishing" attacks employ a trusted organization's legitimate site, rather than a mock site and a fake URL address. The result is that even the most cautious users are unlikely to recognize the bogus link as a threat. (full article)
|
Automated phishing and other techniques are on the rise. Typically, I saw these phishing scams as lame that preyed upon the neophyte surfers and email users since their scams requesting for information seemed generated from my old Apple IIe or written by a high school kid. This past month I got one that seemed to be from PayPal requesting me to update my information due to numerous visits from a foreign IP address. The email showed to be sent from "service@paypal.com," and I had to double-check with PayPal since it almost seemed convincing. It was a phishing scam that was pretty good.
Fraudsters are achieving higher levels of automation for phishing scams, using software tools and botnets to increase the reach of their work, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
Security experts from the APWG have witnessed massive increases in the number of phishing Web sites, which they say suggests scammers are improving their techniques. (full article)
More from Vikram Desai:
Phishing crooks aren't staying still--they're getting smarter.
Phishing is a technique used by hackers in which spammed e-mail draws you to a phony Web site that looks amazingly like that of a trusted institution such as your bank. Once there, victims unwittingly disclose personal financial information that the phisher uses to defraud the e-business and conduct identity fraud and theft. Because of well-publicized phishing attacks, most people are now sensitized to these scams.
There is now an even scarier development on the phishing horizon--one in which e-businesses may become unwitting accomplices, because it is difficult for even the most savvy of Web users to detect. "Blended phishing" attacks employ a trusted organization's legitimate site, rather than a mock site and a fake URL address. The result is that even the most cautious users are unlikely to recognize the bogus link as a threat. (full article)
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
CRACKS IN NORTH KOREA?
HatTip to Mingi. Who really knows what is happening behind the green curtain?
Japanese Official Warns of Fissures in North Korea
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By JAMES BROOKE
November 22, 2004
TOKYO, Nov. 21 - After weeks of reports from North Korea of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country's ruler, the leader of Japan's governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of "regime change" in North Korea.
"As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government," said Shinzo Abe, acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Fuji TV, referring to talks on North Korea's abductions of Japanese in the 1970's. "I think we should consider the possibility that a regime change will occur, and we need to start simulations of what we should do at that time."
By breaking an unspoken taboo on talking publicly about "regime change" in North Korea, the powerful Japanese politician underlined a feeling spreading in the region that cracks are starting to show in the Kim family's control over North Korea after nearly 60 years. (full article)
|
HatTip to Mingi. Who really knows what is happening behind the green curtain?
Japanese Official Warns of Fissures in North Korea
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By JAMES BROOKE
November 22, 2004
TOKYO, Nov. 21 - After weeks of reports from North Korea of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country's ruler, the leader of Japan's governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of "regime change" in North Korea.
"As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government," said Shinzo Abe, acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Fuji TV, referring to talks on North Korea's abductions of Japanese in the 1970's. "I think we should consider the possibility that a regime change will occur, and we need to start simulations of what we should do at that time."
By breaking an unspoken taboo on talking publicly about "regime change" in North Korea, the powerful Japanese politician underlined a feeling spreading in the region that cracks are starting to show in the Kim family's control over North Korea after nearly 60 years. (full article)
DAN RATHER STEPS DOWN AS ANCHOR
Good news for many people. CBS needed new blood since it was in the basement of primetime news ratings forever. Some more from Power Line here.
Dan Rather to leave anchor desk in March
Decision comes amid review of Bush-National Guard story
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Longtime anchor Dan Rather will leave the "CBS Evening News" on March 9, the network said Tuesday, just months after Rather's use of questionable documents in a report critical of President Bush's National Guard service.
Rather, 73, said he will continue to work full time as a correspondent for the network's two "60 Minutes" programs as well as other assignments. (full article)
|
Good news for many people. CBS needed new blood since it was in the basement of primetime news ratings forever. Some more from Power Line here.
Dan Rather to leave anchor desk in March
Decision comes amid review of Bush-National Guard story
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Longtime anchor Dan Rather will leave the "CBS Evening News" on March 9, the network said Tuesday, just months after Rather's use of questionable documents in a report critical of President Bush's National Guard service.
Rather, 73, said he will continue to work full time as a correspondent for the network's two "60 Minutes" programs as well as other assignments. (full article)
KOREAN-NESS BECOMING POPULAR IN JAPAN
Interesting article:
Koreans have a harsh history in Japan. Their homeland was under Tokyo's colonist yoke for 35 years, and in Japan they still face discrimination and cruel stereotypes. But thanks to the mega-hit South Korean soap opera "Winter Sonata," Koreans these days also face something quite different in Japan: adulation.
On visits to Tokyo, the show's two main actors -- Bae Yong-joon, 32, and Choi Ji-woo, 29 -- are mobbed by swooning fans, and sales of chewing gum and chocolates they advertise have surged.
Japanese are filling Korean language classes, crooning Korean pop songs at karaoke clubs and buying out flights to Seoul to visit places featured in the drama. (full article)
|
Interesting article:
Koreans have a harsh history in Japan. Their homeland was under Tokyo's colonist yoke for 35 years, and in Japan they still face discrimination and cruel stereotypes. But thanks to the mega-hit South Korean soap opera "Winter Sonata," Koreans these days also face something quite different in Japan: adulation.
On visits to Tokyo, the show's two main actors -- Bae Yong-joon, 32, and Choi Ji-woo, 29 -- are mobbed by swooning fans, and sales of chewing gum and chocolates they advertise have surged.
Japanese are filling Korean language classes, crooning Korean pop songs at karaoke clubs and buying out flights to Seoul to visit places featured in the drama. (full article)
ANDY ROONEY ADMITS TO CBS'S HOSTILITY TOWARDS BUSH... HE'S A FOOL TOO
Andy Rooney from CBS's "60 Minutes" admitted at a Tufts University event that "the motivation behind CBS's hit on President Bush based on forged documents to the political agenda of CBS News staffers."
I love some of the other stuff he say:
"Rooney also attributed voters' reliance on religion in the recent election to ignorance" and "said Christian fundamentalism is a result of 'a lack of education. They haven't been exposed to what the world has to offer.'" In addition, "Rooney said he also could not understand how 'men who work with their hands voted for George Bush,' and again attributing the phenomenon to a lack of education."
Rooney has a definite disconnect with those that voted for Bush and much of America. Also I don't fully understand some liberals' misunderstanding of Christianity and how it is a religion of the uninformed or uneducated. From Sir Isaac Newton to George Washington Carver to Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson to Fyodor Dostoievski to C.S. Lewis, these are great leaders and people that helped mold our world that would be defined as Christian fundamentialists. Christianity always had intellectual giants and change agents anyone can respect, but maybe some choose to ignore.
|
Andy Rooney from CBS's "60 Minutes" admitted at a Tufts University event that "the motivation behind CBS's hit on President Bush based on forged documents to the political agenda of CBS News staffers."
I love some of the other stuff he say:
"Rooney also attributed voters' reliance on religion in the recent election to ignorance" and "said Christian fundamentalism is a result of 'a lack of education. They haven't been exposed to what the world has to offer.'" In addition, "Rooney said he also could not understand how 'men who work with their hands voted for George Bush,' and again attributing the phenomenon to a lack of education."
Rooney has a definite disconnect with those that voted for Bush and much of America. Also I don't fully understand some liberals' misunderstanding of Christianity and how it is a religion of the uninformed or uneducated. From Sir Isaac Newton to George Washington Carver to Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson to Fyodor Dostoievski to C.S. Lewis, these are great leaders and people that helped mold our world that would be defined as Christian fundamentialists. Christianity always had intellectual giants and change agents anyone can respect, but maybe some choose to ignore.
Monday, November 22, 2004
BUSH SAVES SECRET SERVICE FROM FALL... KERRY BLAMED THEM FOR A FALL
Another reason why majority of Americans voted for this man. I'll bet Secret Service agents are very happy that Bush is their man, and not the guy that blames them for falls on the snow and curses them out.
In role reversal, president rescues Secret Service agent
By James G. Lakely
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 20, 2004
SANTIAGO, Chile — President Bush broke up a fight last night between his lead Secret Service agent and a Chilean security detail, pulling the agent through a wall of men trying to bar his bodyguard's access to a state dinner.
Mr. Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived at 8 p.m. local time yesterday at the Estacion Mapocho Cultural Center for the official dinner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
After the first couple posed for photos with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, the four entered the doorway with a line of Chilean security guards and uniformed police closing quickly behind him.
The president's lead agent approached the line of men as quickly as it closed and demanded to be allowed through. Within a few seconds, the confrontation began to escalate with voices being raised and shoving in all directions.
"You're not stopping me! You're not stopping me!" yelled the agent, as captured by several television cameras. "I'm with the president."
During the fracas, another Secret Service agent was roughly pulled from the tumult and pushed against a concrete wall by Chilean security. A few seconds later, after posing for yet more pictures about 15 feet inside the doorway, Mr. Bush and the rest of the party turned to enter the dining room. But the president quickly turned his head to the growing din just outside.
Mr. Bush calmly turned right as the other three continued on and inserted himself into the fight. The president reached over two rows of Chilean security guards, grabbed his lead agent by the shoulder of his suit jacket and began to pull. (full article)
|
Another reason why majority of Americans voted for this man. I'll bet Secret Service agents are very happy that Bush is their man, and not the guy that blames them for falls on the snow and curses them out.
In role reversal, president rescues Secret Service agent
By James G. Lakely
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 20, 2004
SANTIAGO, Chile — President Bush broke up a fight last night between his lead Secret Service agent and a Chilean security detail, pulling the agent through a wall of men trying to bar his bodyguard's access to a state dinner.
Mr. Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived at 8 p.m. local time yesterday at the Estacion Mapocho Cultural Center for the official dinner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
After the first couple posed for photos with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, the four entered the doorway with a line of Chilean security guards and uniformed police closing quickly behind him.
The president's lead agent approached the line of men as quickly as it closed and demanded to be allowed through. Within a few seconds, the confrontation began to escalate with voices being raised and shoving in all directions.
"You're not stopping me! You're not stopping me!" yelled the agent, as captured by several television cameras. "I'm with the president."
During the fracas, another Secret Service agent was roughly pulled from the tumult and pushed against a concrete wall by Chilean security. A few seconds later, after posing for yet more pictures about 15 feet inside the doorway, Mr. Bush and the rest of the party turned to enter the dining room. But the president quickly turned his head to the growing din just outside.
Mr. Bush calmly turned right as the other three continued on and inserted himself into the fight. The president reached over two rows of Chilean security guards, grabbed his lead agent by the shoulder of his suit jacket and began to pull. (full article)
Sunday, November 21, 2004
TASTE OF WHAT KERRY WOULD HAVE DONE WITH OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Wheww! Close call with our healthcare system. Thank the Almighty, Bush was elected!
Innovative health plan overwhelms Tennessee
By Dahleen Glanton
Tribune national correspondent
Novermber 20, 2004
Faced with a $250 million budget deficit 10 years ago, largely due to rising Medicaid costs, Tennessee came up with a novel idea. It would establish a low-cost managed health-care system, bring thousands of uninsured people into the program and fill its coffers with matching federal Medicaid dollars.
The TennCare program for a while was hailed nationally as a successful model for managed health care. But now the program has spiraled out of control, costing $7.8 billion a year and forcing the governor last week to threaten to shut it down unless he can implement reforms. That would leave 430,000 people without any form of health care. (full article)
|
Wheww! Close call with our healthcare system. Thank the Almighty, Bush was elected!
Innovative health plan overwhelms Tennessee
By Dahleen Glanton
Tribune national correspondent
Novermber 20, 2004
Faced with a $250 million budget deficit 10 years ago, largely due to rising Medicaid costs, Tennessee came up with a novel idea. It would establish a low-cost managed health-care system, bring thousands of uninsured people into the program and fill its coffers with matching federal Medicaid dollars.
The TennCare program for a while was hailed nationally as a successful model for managed health care. But now the program has spiraled out of control, costing $7.8 billion a year and forcing the governor last week to threaten to shut it down unless he can implement reforms. That would leave 430,000 people without any form of health care. (full article)
"SOUTH KOREA AND THE CHANGE FUNCTION"... UBS'S PIP COBURN
Interesting article and a good view on South Korea's advancements. Also read the posts at this AlwaysOn piece. As I wrote before, what I read about in the wireless industry in the U.S. and elsewhere are things I read 2-3 years ago in Korea or Japan.
|
Interesting article and a good view on South Korea's advancements. Also read the posts at this AlwaysOn piece. As I wrote before, what I read about in the wireless industry in the U.S. and elsewhere are things I read 2-3 years ago in Korea or Japan.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH SETTLES DISCRIMINATION SUIT WITH $40 MILLION
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has agreed to pay $40 million to black, Hispanic and Asian employees and job applicants to settle a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit that accused the clothing retailer of promoting whites at the expense of minorities. (full article)
Weird hearing about this for me. Back around 1997, I remember hearing a lot about Abercrombie & Fitch's subtle discrimination practices and obvious marketing campaigns that excluded minorities, but after I left for Asia for four years I didn't keep up with the related news. In 1997, I took a retailing course at Columbia Business School with Alan Kane (cross-referencing among Columbia's professional schools and considering an e-commerce startup at the time), and Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, came in to speak about his operations and tremendous growth at the time. I remember a few students who questioned Jeffries about these practices and his company's targeted marketing towards white, suburban teens. Obviously, he denied these charges and stated that his company didn't make any conscious effort in their hiring practices and marketing efforts. Whatever.
Here are some testimonials against Abercrombie & Fitch's practices:
Eduardo Gonzalez, a Stanford student from Hayward, California, was pleased with the settlement. "I remember how discouraged I felt when I applied for a job at the Santa Clara store and the manager suggested that I work in the stock room or on the late night crew in a non-sales position. I felt it was because I was a Latino - but there was no one I could report this to at the time."
Plaintiff Anthony Ocampo, a recent Stanford graduate, who was told he couldn't be hired because "there's already too many Filipinos," agreed with Gonzalez. "It is important that Abercrombie seek out employees of color and provide them training and opportunities for promotion."
Jennifer Lu worked at the Crystal Court Mall store in Costa Mesa, California for three years while she was a student at U.C. Irvine. She and five other Asian American employees were terminated after a visit from senior management and replaced with white sales staff. "I was very distressed after I was terminated for being an Asian American woman. I am now very excited about the policies and programs Abercrombie must implement that came about as a result of this lawsuit. I am looking forward to seeing a more diverse Abercrombie; one that actually reflects the look of America," said Lu.
Carla Grubb, an African American student at California State Bakersfield, was constructively discharged from the Abercrombie store in the Bakersfield Valley Plaza Mall after being assigned cleaning and other menial jobs. "I felt demoralized being the only African American employee and being specifically assigned to dust the store, wash the windows and clean the floors. With this settlement, I now know that Abercrombie cannot treat other employees of color in such a manner."
|
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has agreed to pay $40 million to black, Hispanic and Asian employees and job applicants to settle a class-action federal discrimination lawsuit that accused the clothing retailer of promoting whites at the expense of minorities. (full article)
Weird hearing about this for me. Back around 1997, I remember hearing a lot about Abercrombie & Fitch's subtle discrimination practices and obvious marketing campaigns that excluded minorities, but after I left for Asia for four years I didn't keep up with the related news. In 1997, I took a retailing course at Columbia Business School with Alan Kane (cross-referencing among Columbia's professional schools and considering an e-commerce startup at the time), and Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, came in to speak about his operations and tremendous growth at the time. I remember a few students who questioned Jeffries about these practices and his company's targeted marketing towards white, suburban teens. Obviously, he denied these charges and stated that his company didn't make any conscious effort in their hiring practices and marketing efforts. Whatever.
Here are some testimonials against Abercrombie & Fitch's practices:
Eduardo Gonzalez, a Stanford student from Hayward, California, was pleased with the settlement. "I remember how discouraged I felt when I applied for a job at the Santa Clara store and the manager suggested that I work in the stock room or on the late night crew in a non-sales position. I felt it was because I was a Latino - but there was no one I could report this to at the time."
Plaintiff Anthony Ocampo, a recent Stanford graduate, who was told he couldn't be hired because "there's already too many Filipinos," agreed with Gonzalez. "It is important that Abercrombie seek out employees of color and provide them training and opportunities for promotion."
Jennifer Lu worked at the Crystal Court Mall store in Costa Mesa, California for three years while she was a student at U.C. Irvine. She and five other Asian American employees were terminated after a visit from senior management and replaced with white sales staff. "I was very distressed after I was terminated for being an Asian American woman. I am now very excited about the policies and programs Abercrombie must implement that came about as a result of this lawsuit. I am looking forward to seeing a more diverse Abercrombie; one that actually reflects the look of America," said Lu.
Carla Grubb, an African American student at California State Bakersfield, was constructively discharged from the Abercrombie store in the Bakersfield Valley Plaza Mall after being assigned cleaning and other menial jobs. "I felt demoralized being the only African American employee and being specifically assigned to dust the store, wash the windows and clean the floors. With this settlement, I now know that Abercrombie cannot treat other employees of color in such a manner."
HORROR IN MOTOR CITY... BRAWL AT PISTONS/PACERS GAME STAINS NBA
The biggest news in sports last night was the fight at the Pistons/Pacers game in Detroit.
It was simply a horrible night for the NBA, basketball, and sports in general. After watching the numerous replays of what occurred, it's almost unbelievable to accept that this wasn't a dream influenced by some horror movie but an ugly reality about fans and players today.
There are many grey areas of fault, but I believe Ron Artest should not have crossed the line over a thrown drink. What was Tim Legler talking about on SportsCenter and in his article today? Last night, he stated that any player would have done the same. What are you talking about, Tim? I know a lot of players who would have brushed off the thrown drink as idiocy or simply yelled at the fan. To cross into the fan section and attack the person was completely uncalled for and unprofessional. I understand that he was emotionally charged, but he committed an unneeded flagrant foul on Ben Wallace towards the end of the game (Yes, Wallace overreacted too).
A theory I have about the situation is that if Artest was so calm and cool about the situation after Wallace shoved him in the face, why did he charge into the stands over a thrown drink? It was his pride boiling over. He wanted to take on Ben Wallace, but a certain amount of fear came into play and he backed down after seeing Wallace huge pipes and scary fro. As a release of frustration, he jumps into the stands to take on that little guy. Did you see the guy? He must have been no more than 5' 9" and 140 lbs. versus Artest's 6'7" 247 lbs. frame. Human nature, damaged pride, frustration, and immaturity in dealing with his emotions. I've seen it in altercations before where a pseudo-tough guy backs down in a situation with a more physical imposing person, and then starts it up with a smaller guy he has a chance on to release his tension and embarrassment. Pathetic. Human nature is sometimes like a broken record.
I thought it was stupid for Stephen Jackson to attack another fan. Who was he protecting? Artest proved to be more of an emotional fireball and unprofessional by not walking away and hitting an idiot challenging him on the floor. Again, Tim, what are you talking about?
"I believe the on-court fighting between fans and players shouldn't result in punishment for players. The punches that Artest and O'Neal threw at fans on the court should be exempt from suspension because all bets should be off when a fan comes onto the court and goes after a player. When fans go after a player and threaten him physically, they deserve what they get."
What's the difference between the court and on the street? You walk away. If a man comes on my property, am I allowed to hit him in the face? Is it justified? Are you saying that the NBA court is sacred ground or an area where normal laws don't apply?
Anyways, soon afterwards, Jermaine O'Neal throws a sucker punch on the same moron. What was that? Just walk away. This isn't some high school game. These Detroit fans may be idiots and thugs, but shouldn't NBA players be above them? Yes, they should. And yes, they can. It's not a high school game or a recreation league where chaos feeds chaos. This is a game of professionals where their pride should be beneath the game and their conduct above the fans.
Practically speaking, Artest, Jackson, O'Neal, and Wallace should face fines and suspensions to varying degrees. The fans involved should be not allowed to anymore NBA games for the coming year, especially the Detriot thug swinging at innocent Fred Jones. The NBA obviously needs to do a better job of security near the team benches. And Tim Legler should seriously stop kissing Ron Artest's ass and the players' asses, and go buy a new world view.
UPDATES: ESPN's Jim Caple, "NBA should throw book at Artest."
ESPN's Marc Stein, "Brawlers' punishment should be modeled on soccer."
Running commentary at SportsBlog on my post.
FINAL UPDATE: Ron Artest is out for the year.
|
The biggest news in sports last night was the fight at the Pistons/Pacers game in Detroit.
It was simply a horrible night for the NBA, basketball, and sports in general. After watching the numerous replays of what occurred, it's almost unbelievable to accept that this wasn't a dream influenced by some horror movie but an ugly reality about fans and players today.
There are many grey areas of fault, but I believe Ron Artest should not have crossed the line over a thrown drink. What was Tim Legler talking about on SportsCenter and in his article today? Last night, he stated that any player would have done the same. What are you talking about, Tim? I know a lot of players who would have brushed off the thrown drink as idiocy or simply yelled at the fan. To cross into the fan section and attack the person was completely uncalled for and unprofessional. I understand that he was emotionally charged, but he committed an unneeded flagrant foul on Ben Wallace towards the end of the game (Yes, Wallace overreacted too).
A theory I have about the situation is that if Artest was so calm and cool about the situation after Wallace shoved him in the face, why did he charge into the stands over a thrown drink? It was his pride boiling over. He wanted to take on Ben Wallace, but a certain amount of fear came into play and he backed down after seeing Wallace huge pipes and scary fro. As a release of frustration, he jumps into the stands to take on that little guy. Did you see the guy? He must have been no more than 5' 9" and 140 lbs. versus Artest's 6'7" 247 lbs. frame. Human nature, damaged pride, frustration, and immaturity in dealing with his emotions. I've seen it in altercations before where a pseudo-tough guy backs down in a situation with a more physical imposing person, and then starts it up with a smaller guy he has a chance on to release his tension and embarrassment. Pathetic. Human nature is sometimes like a broken record.
I thought it was stupid for Stephen Jackson to attack another fan. Who was he protecting? Artest proved to be more of an emotional fireball and unprofessional by not walking away and hitting an idiot challenging him on the floor. Again, Tim, what are you talking about?
"I believe the on-court fighting between fans and players shouldn't result in punishment for players. The punches that Artest and O'Neal threw at fans on the court should be exempt from suspension because all bets should be off when a fan comes onto the court and goes after a player. When fans go after a player and threaten him physically, they deserve what they get."
What's the difference between the court and on the street? You walk away. If a man comes on my property, am I allowed to hit him in the face? Is it justified? Are you saying that the NBA court is sacred ground or an area where normal laws don't apply?
Anyways, soon afterwards, Jermaine O'Neal throws a sucker punch on the same moron. What was that? Just walk away. This isn't some high school game. These Detroit fans may be idiots and thugs, but shouldn't NBA players be above them? Yes, they should. And yes, they can. It's not a high school game or a recreation league where chaos feeds chaos. This is a game of professionals where their pride should be beneath the game and their conduct above the fans.
Practically speaking, Artest, Jackson, O'Neal, and Wallace should face fines and suspensions to varying degrees. The fans involved should be not allowed to anymore NBA games for the coming year, especially the Detriot thug swinging at innocent Fred Jones. The NBA obviously needs to do a better job of security near the team benches. And Tim Legler should seriously stop kissing Ron Artest's ass and the players' asses, and go buy a new world view.
UPDATES: ESPN's Jim Caple, "NBA should throw book at Artest."
ESPN's Marc Stein, "Brawlers' punishment should be modeled on soccer."
Running commentary at SportsBlog on my post.
FINAL UPDATE: Ron Artest is out for the year.
WORLD'S LARGEST SOLAR POWER STATION IN SOUTH KOREA
Figures. Koreans love the phrase "world's best" or "world's largest" or anything within this range. I'm just poking fun at this because in Korean advertising at the mid to low-end production range these phrases are overused and stated too often. Anyways, Korea does now have the world's largest tidal water plant and soon will have the world's largest solar power station.
|
Figures. Koreans love the phrase "world's best" or "world's largest" or anything within this range. I'm just poking fun at this because in Korean advertising at the mid to low-end production range these phrases are overused and stated too often. Anyways, Korea does now have the world's largest tidal water plant and soon will have the world's largest solar power station.
Friday, November 19, 2004
SIRIUS HIRES MEL KARMAZIN... ANOTHER WEBVAN?
Sirius Satellite Radio has stepped up the stakes in hiring Mel Karmazin, former Viacom President, as its new CEO. This comes after it's recent deal with Howard Stern. This is not great news for XM Satellite Radio, the leader in the industry, but not horrible since it helps to add validity to the satellite radio industry.
I can't help think about George Shaheen's, former CEO of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), joining of Webvan and all the hype and validation the online grocery industry received. It's a calmer period in technology, but I wonder how this story is going to end up especially if satellite radio takes a very slow road to growth.
|
Sirius Satellite Radio has stepped up the stakes in hiring Mel Karmazin, former Viacom President, as its new CEO. This comes after it's recent deal with Howard Stern. This is not great news for XM Satellite Radio, the leader in the industry, but not horrible since it helps to add validity to the satellite radio industry.
I can't help think about George Shaheen's, former CEO of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), joining of Webvan and all the hype and validation the online grocery industry received. It's a calmer period in technology, but I wonder how this story is going to end up especially if satellite radio takes a very slow road to growth.
MICROSOFT TARGETS VOIP MARKET... FROM FIERCEWIRELESS
Whenever I read something like this about Microsoft, the "Death Star/Stormtrooper" track plays through my head and a shiver goes down my spine. Watch out, Vonage! Be fearful, SunRocket! Look over your shoulder, AT&T!
Microsoft aims to capture VoIP market
Microsoft plans to dominate the IP telephony applications market. The company is planning to offer a new version of its instant messaging server, Live Communications Server (LCS), and a corporate IM client, code-named Istanbul. LCS incorporates a SIP-based platform that can be used to handle VoIP calls. The new LCS/Istanbul combo is designed to work in tandem with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. This messaging framework will allow a user to call someone over the Internet by clicking on a person or a phone number in their Outlook address book.
If this initial rollout works, Microsoft will likely bundle VoIP applications in future versions of Longhorn and Windows Mobile. By integrating VoIP into Outlook, Exchange, MSN Messenger, and Windows, Microsoft could corner both the VoIP applications and PBX markets. If you add Windows Mobile into the equation, the software giant could also capture the wireless VoIP market before it even gets off the ground. Microsoft could potentially do to VoIP what it did to Netscape in the 1990s.
|
Whenever I read something like this about Microsoft, the "Death Star/Stormtrooper" track plays through my head and a shiver goes down my spine. Watch out, Vonage! Be fearful, SunRocket! Look over your shoulder, AT&T!
Microsoft aims to capture VoIP market
Microsoft plans to dominate the IP telephony applications market. The company is planning to offer a new version of its instant messaging server, Live Communications Server (LCS), and a corporate IM client, code-named Istanbul. LCS incorporates a SIP-based platform that can be used to handle VoIP calls. The new LCS/Istanbul combo is designed to work in tandem with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. This messaging framework will allow a user to call someone over the Internet by clicking on a person or a phone number in their Outlook address book.
If this initial rollout works, Microsoft will likely bundle VoIP applications in future versions of Longhorn and Windows Mobile. By integrating VoIP into Outlook, Exchange, MSN Messenger, and Windows, Microsoft could corner both the VoIP applications and PBX markets. If you add Windows Mobile into the equation, the software giant could also capture the wireless VoIP market before it even gets off the ground. Microsoft could potentially do to VoIP what it did to Netscape in the 1990s.
GROUPER... FORMER AOL/SPINNER.COM EXECS START A PRIVATE P2P SERVICE
Hmm... reminds me of grouper in Hong Kong. One of the best fish you will ever have and a definite must-do if you visit Hong Kong. Yum... you have to take the sauce and put it over your rice and eat it too.
Anyways, here's the article on Grouper:
Is there a place in the enterprise for a legal file-sharing application using peer-to-peer technology?
Three former America Online Inc. executives with a history of entrepreneurial success believe they have the answer with Grouper, an encrypted P2P network that integrates file sharing, instant messaging and multimedia streaming.
Josh Felser, who hit pay dirt with the $320 million sale of Spinner.com to AOL in 1999, is one of the key people behind the Mill Valley, Calif.-based Grouper, the company he created with former AOL colleagues Dave Samuel and Mike Sitrin.
"Our technology turns the computer into a private server that allows you to share files securely in a small, invite-only group," Felser said in an interview with eWEEK.com. Each group becomes an encrypted peer-to-peer network that allows one-click access to browse and download files.
Currently in beta, Grouper limits private networks to 30 members. While file sharing is a key feature in the application, there is no uploading/downloading of music, Felser explained, citing the legal issues associated with sharing of copyrighted works. (full article)
|
Hmm... reminds me of grouper in Hong Kong. One of the best fish you will ever have and a definite must-do if you visit Hong Kong. Yum... you have to take the sauce and put it over your rice and eat it too.
Anyways, here's the article on Grouper:
Is there a place in the enterprise for a legal file-sharing application using peer-to-peer technology?
Three former America Online Inc. executives with a history of entrepreneurial success believe they have the answer with Grouper, an encrypted P2P network that integrates file sharing, instant messaging and multimedia streaming.
Josh Felser, who hit pay dirt with the $320 million sale of Spinner.com to AOL in 1999, is one of the key people behind the Mill Valley, Calif.-based Grouper, the company he created with former AOL colleagues Dave Samuel and Mike Sitrin.
"Our technology turns the computer into a private server that allows you to share files securely in a small, invite-only group," Felser said in an interview with eWEEK.com. Each group becomes an encrypted peer-to-peer network that allows one-click access to browse and download files.
Currently in beta, Grouper limits private networks to 30 members. While file sharing is a key feature in the application, there is no uploading/downloading of music, Felser explained, citing the legal issues associated with sharing of copyrighted works. (full article)
NEW GOOGLE SCHOLAR SEARCH
Great idea. Check it out here.
New Google Scholar search service aimed at academics
Free service allows users to search for scholarly literature and technical reports
INFOWORLD
By Laura Rohde, IDG News Service
November 18, 2004
Google on Thursday formally launched a new search service aimed at scientists and academic researchers.
Google Scholar is a free beta service that allows users to search for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports, the Mountain View, California, company said.
The new service accesses information from resources such as academic publishers, universities, professional societies and preprint repositories, it said.
Because the service automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, users can find references to older works that may only exist offline in books or other publications.
A query for "Albert Einstein" and "relativity," for example, pulls up 2,920 references along the left-hand side of the page, clearly identified as articles from the Web, or pointing to offline material such as citations or books, which when clicked on are presented much in the same manner as a library card catalog. (full post)
|
Great idea. Check it out here.
New Google Scholar search service aimed at academics
Free service allows users to search for scholarly literature and technical reports
INFOWORLD
By Laura Rohde, IDG News Service
November 18, 2004
Google on Thursday formally launched a new search service aimed at scientists and academic researchers.
Google Scholar is a free beta service that allows users to search for scholarly literature like peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports, the Mountain View, California, company said.
The new service accesses information from resources such as academic publishers, universities, professional societies and preprint repositories, it said.
Because the service automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, users can find references to older works that may only exist offline in books or other publications.
A query for "Albert Einstein" and "relativity," for example, pulls up 2,920 references along the left-hand side of the page, clearly identified as articles from the Web, or pointing to offline material such as citations or books, which when clicked on are presented much in the same manner as a library card catalog. (full post)
PROFESSOR VICTOR CHA SLOTTED FOR NSC POSITION
HatTip to Mingi. I don't think the Roh Administration is happy about this appointment, but this is a good move by the Bush Administration.
Victor Cha Expected to Become Asia Director in U.S. National Security Council
THE CHOSUN ILBO
WASHINGTON -- It has been learned that Korean-American Professor Victor Cha will be appointed Asia Director of the National Security Council in U.S. President George W. Bush's second term. Succeeding incumbent senior director Michael Green, Prof. Cha, 43, will constitute America's Asia policy line, taking charge of the Korean Peninsula and Japan, along with Stephen J. Hadley, National Security Advisor-designate.
Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Cha will become the first Korean-American assuming the highest U.S. government post that could affect Korean-American relationship profoundly. Harold Koh, dean, Law College, Yale University, served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor under the Clinton administration, but was not directly involved in Korean Peninsula policy.
Prof. Cha, a Korea and security expert, drew attention in 2002 when he introduced the concept of "hawk engagement" calling on the U.S. administration to intervene and resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. He has supported Bush's policy of not compensating North Korea, which has breached its promises in the international community. Along the context of the Bush administration's Asia policy, he asserted that the U.S. should maintain friendly relations with China and Japan in Asia, resolve Pyongyang's nuclear issue through the six-party talks, and utilize multilateral forums like APEC and ASEAN as a debate arena on security matters.
Prof. Cha has maintained a friendship with Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, then academic affairs dean of Stanford University, when he was a researcher at the university's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Associating with foreign policy and security officials of the Bush administration
like Green and outgoing Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Cha has provided advice to the administration from the outside.
On the current Korea-U.S. relationship, Prof. Cha has asserted, "Though the two countries have had some discord, it is outcome rather than processes that is evaluated." Korea's support in Afghanistan and Iraq and successful conclusion of negotiations on re-alignment and reduction of U.S. forces in Korea are results that show Korea-U.S. relations will strengthen in the future, he assesses.
Born in New York, Cha majored in political science at Columbia University, earned a masters degree at Oxford University in the U.K., and earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia University.
|
HatTip to Mingi. I don't think the Roh Administration is happy about this appointment, but this is a good move by the Bush Administration.
Victor Cha Expected to Become Asia Director in U.S. National Security Council
THE CHOSUN ILBO
WASHINGTON -- It has been learned that Korean-American Professor Victor Cha will be appointed Asia Director of the National Security Council in U.S. President George W. Bush's second term. Succeeding incumbent senior director Michael Green, Prof. Cha, 43, will constitute America's Asia policy line, taking charge of the Korean Peninsula and Japan, along with Stephen J. Hadley, National Security Advisor-designate.
Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Cha will become the first Korean-American assuming the highest U.S. government post that could affect Korean-American relationship profoundly. Harold Koh, dean, Law College, Yale University, served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor under the Clinton administration, but was not directly involved in Korean Peninsula policy.
Prof. Cha, a Korea and security expert, drew attention in 2002 when he introduced the concept of "hawk engagement" calling on the U.S. administration to intervene and resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. He has supported Bush's policy of not compensating North Korea, which has breached its promises in the international community. Along the context of the Bush administration's Asia policy, he asserted that the U.S. should maintain friendly relations with China and Japan in Asia, resolve Pyongyang's nuclear issue through the six-party talks, and utilize multilateral forums like APEC and ASEAN as a debate arena on security matters.
Prof. Cha has maintained a friendship with Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, then academic affairs dean of Stanford University, when he was a researcher at the university's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Associating with foreign policy and security officials of the Bush administration
like Green and outgoing Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Cha has provided advice to the administration from the outside.
On the current Korea-U.S. relationship, Prof. Cha has asserted, "Though the two countries have had some discord, it is outcome rather than processes that is evaluated." Korea's support in Afghanistan and Iraq and successful conclusion of negotiations on re-alignment and reduction of U.S. forces in Korea are results that show Korea-U.S. relations will strengthen in the future, he assesses.
Born in New York, Cha majored in political science at Columbia University, earned a masters degree at Oxford University in the U.K., and earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia University.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
"THE APPRENTICE" COMMENTARY... ANNOYING CHARACTERISTICS
I just watched "The Apprentice" tonight, but I'm not going to do an analysis like last month. It was a good show tonight since Trump did something different and fired both Wes and Maria. I agree with the move since both deserved to go for different reasons. Wes just did not know how to lead the group. He showed weak leadership skills in not being able to plan their project effectively and reel in Maria when needed. Maria was just a loose cannon that was destructive to the team chemistry and the outcome of the project. Definitely control freak in the worse possible way. If you're going to be a control freak, but excellent in what you do it's sometimes forgivable. Who talks to his/her colleagues or team members like they were little kids? Telling Wes to "back off" and Sandy to leave the room with the designer? What purpose did that serve in telling Sandy to leave? Why was she being territorial? Did she want to take all the credit for the design of the catalog along with the photoshoot? Obviously, she didn't make many friends in her prior jobs.
Speaking of taking credit, Jennifer annoyed me when she took credit, or didn't give credit, to Ivana during their presentation to the Levi executives. Ivana was clearly the one who generated the spin wheel idea, so when the executive asked how the idea came about Jennifer should have at least acknowledged Ivana before moving on to hear herself talk. Giving credit is a basic building block of team chemistry and trust, and she lost all credibility with me. She was being petty and delusional in thinking Ivana and Kevin were "out to get her." Please. She was just embarrassed because she could not grasp the simple concept of making a spin wheel to present Levi's product line.
You're dumb, Jennifer, or very close to the definition, and I don't care if you went to Princeton and Harvard Law. Also I don't know why people think your hot. You're pretty "plain jane" to me. (Yeah, I was annoyed during the show and venting now.)
Jennifer is mainly style and no substance. She proved herself again to be poised and a solid presenter, which led to the deception that she was the best performer in the group to the Levi executive. If it were possible, Jennifer should have been fired along with Maria and Wes. I would probably have ordered it Maria, Jennifer, and Wes.
|
I just watched "The Apprentice" tonight, but I'm not going to do an analysis like last month. It was a good show tonight since Trump did something different and fired both Wes and Maria. I agree with the move since both deserved to go for different reasons. Wes just did not know how to lead the group. He showed weak leadership skills in not being able to plan their project effectively and reel in Maria when needed. Maria was just a loose cannon that was destructive to the team chemistry and the outcome of the project. Definitely control freak in the worse possible way. If you're going to be a control freak, but excellent in what you do it's sometimes forgivable. Who talks to his/her colleagues or team members like they were little kids? Telling Wes to "back off" and Sandy to leave the room with the designer? What purpose did that serve in telling Sandy to leave? Why was she being territorial? Did she want to take all the credit for the design of the catalog along with the photoshoot? Obviously, she didn't make many friends in her prior jobs.
Speaking of taking credit, Jennifer annoyed me when she took credit, or didn't give credit, to Ivana during their presentation to the Levi executives. Ivana was clearly the one who generated the spin wheel idea, so when the executive asked how the idea came about Jennifer should have at least acknowledged Ivana before moving on to hear herself talk. Giving credit is a basic building block of team chemistry and trust, and she lost all credibility with me. She was being petty and delusional in thinking Ivana and Kevin were "out to get her." Please. She was just embarrassed because she could not grasp the simple concept of making a spin wheel to present Levi's product line.
You're dumb, Jennifer, or very close to the definition, and I don't care if you went to Princeton and Harvard Law. Also I don't know why people think your hot. You're pretty "plain jane" to me. (Yeah, I was annoyed during the show and venting now.)
Jennifer is mainly style and no substance. She proved herself again to be poised and a solid presenter, which led to the deception that she was the best performer in the group to the Levi executive. If it were possible, Jennifer should have been fired along with Maria and Wes. I would probably have ordered it Maria, Jennifer, and Wes.
CLARKE TESTIMONY RELEASED... FROM POWER LINE
Richard Clarke's testimony has been released by the joint Select Committee on Intelligence which confirmed what objective, rationale people knew already... that he's a liar. Power Line's Hindrocket has more:
It has been widely speculated that the Democrats will use Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing as an opportunity to resurrect the charge that she failed to heed warnings about al Qaeda given by Richard Clarke during the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. The point would not be to refuse to confirm her, but to once again use Clarke's charges to discredit both Rice in particular and the Bush administration in general.
We have repeatedly critiqued Clarke's baseless attacks on the Bush administration, which grew out of his disagreement with the administration's policy on Iraq. Examples are "Richard Clarke, Fraud," "Clarke Takes a Beating," and "Richard Clarke, Liar." If you search our site, you will find many other posts discussing Clarke's fictitious charges.
Clarke's credibility has long been in tatters, but the final blow was delivered today when the joint Select Committee on Intelligence released the transcript of his testimony before that committee on June 11, 2002. Clarke's testimony, with only slight redactions for security reasons, can be accessed here.
Clarke's testimony is completely devoid of any suggestion that he delivered any warning of any kind to Rice or any other member of the Bush administration, let alone any claim that any such warning was disregarded. In fact, what is notable about Clarke's appearance before the Joint Committee is that the Bush administration was scarcely mentioned at all. There was a great deal of discussion about what happened during the Clinton administration, and Clarke generally tried to defend Clinton against criticism. But, with a single exception noted below, not even the most partisan Democrats on the committee, like Nancy Pelosi, tried to suggest that there was anything the Bush administration could or should have done differently during the brief time it was in office prior to September 11, 2001. (full post)
|
Richard Clarke's testimony has been released by the joint Select Committee on Intelligence which confirmed what objective, rationale people knew already... that he's a liar. Power Line's Hindrocket has more:
It has been widely speculated that the Democrats will use Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing as an opportunity to resurrect the charge that she failed to heed warnings about al Qaeda given by Richard Clarke during the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. The point would not be to refuse to confirm her, but to once again use Clarke's charges to discredit both Rice in particular and the Bush administration in general.
We have repeatedly critiqued Clarke's baseless attacks on the Bush administration, which grew out of his disagreement with the administration's policy on Iraq. Examples are "Richard Clarke, Fraud," "Clarke Takes a Beating," and "Richard Clarke, Liar." If you search our site, you will find many other posts discussing Clarke's fictitious charges.
Clarke's credibility has long been in tatters, but the final blow was delivered today when the joint Select Committee on Intelligence released the transcript of his testimony before that committee on June 11, 2002. Clarke's testimony, with only slight redactions for security reasons, can be accessed here.
Clarke's testimony is completely devoid of any suggestion that he delivered any warning of any kind to Rice or any other member of the Bush administration, let alone any claim that any such warning was disregarded. In fact, what is notable about Clarke's appearance before the Joint Committee is that the Bush administration was scarcely mentioned at all. There was a great deal of discussion about what happened during the Clinton administration, and Clarke generally tried to defend Clinton against criticism. But, with a single exception noted below, not even the most partisan Democrats on the committee, like Nancy Pelosi, tried to suggest that there was anything the Bush administration could or should have done differently during the brief time it was in office prior to September 11, 2001. (full post)
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
IGNORANT AND RACIST SHOTS AT RICE FROM THE LEFT.
Maybe I should recant a bit of what I wrote earlier:
Lot more action than talk from the right than from the left, especially with pretentious white men who pretend to be for minorities causes but really look down on them (ah um... John Kerry. Did you ever hear him refer to Blacks? Holy condescending, Batman).
Okay, cheapshot since Republicans are the party that Senator Jesse Helms dwelled in for decades and Senator Trent Lott still plays a role in. Hey, we're making up for those questionable characters now.
I mean check this cartoon out from Jeff Danziger:
HatTip to Roger Simon:
Democracy Project has some disturbing links to cartoonists who may have fallen into the not-so "Tender Trap" of racism while making fun of our newly-nominated Secretary of State, including this "masterpiece" by the "highly-sophisticated" Jeff Danziger.
UPDATE... More from Roger Simon:
Some people object to my calling certain "liberals" the "new reactionaries." A good example is this clown, a radio talk show host in Madison who called Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima." He probably wasn't aware that Rice is a concert level pianist who has played duets with Yo Yo Ma or that she is an expert in Russian literature. He's probably an expert in nothing but his own antedeluvian views.
Radio Host Calls Rice 'Aunt Jemima'
MILWAUKEE - A radio talk show host drew criticism Thursday after calling Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima" and saying she isn't competent to be secretary of state. (full article)
|
Maybe I should recant a bit of what I wrote earlier:
Lot more action than talk from the right than from the left, especially with pretentious white men who pretend to be for minorities causes but really look down on them (ah um... John Kerry. Did you ever hear him refer to Blacks? Holy condescending, Batman).
Okay, cheapshot since Republicans are the party that Senator Jesse Helms dwelled in for decades and Senator Trent Lott still plays a role in. Hey, we're making up for those questionable characters now.
I mean check this cartoon out from Jeff Danziger:
HatTip to Roger Simon:
Democracy Project has some disturbing links to cartoonists who may have fallen into the not-so "Tender Trap" of racism while making fun of our newly-nominated Secretary of State, including this "masterpiece" by the "highly-sophisticated" Jeff Danziger.
UPDATE... More from Roger Simon:
Some people object to my calling certain "liberals" the "new reactionaries." A good example is this clown, a radio talk show host in Madison who called Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima." He probably wasn't aware that Rice is a concert level pianist who has played duets with Yo Yo Ma or that she is an expert in Russian literature. He's probably an expert in nothing but his own antedeluvian views.
Radio Host Calls Rice 'Aunt Jemima'
MILWAUKEE - A radio talk show host drew criticism Thursday after calling Condoleezza Rice an "Aunt Jemima" and saying she isn't competent to be secretary of state. (full article)
MICROSOFT TAKES LEAD FROM PALM
Microsoft's Windows CE passed Palm OS to become the leading PDA operating system during this third quarter. Doesn't surprise me. They are just a juggernaut. Whether fast or slow to grab a market, they just do it.
I won't be surprised if they soon dominate the settop box operating systems worldwide as interactive TV seems to be gaining steam again... for the tenth time in a couple decades. I will be slightly surprised if Xbox takes the lead over Sony's PS2 in the coming years simply because Sony is another juggernaut, and they have such a stronghold in the game developers' world.
|
Microsoft's Windows CE passed Palm OS to become the leading PDA operating system during this third quarter. Doesn't surprise me. They are just a juggernaut. Whether fast or slow to grab a market, they just do it.
I won't be surprised if they soon dominate the settop box operating systems worldwide as interactive TV seems to be gaining steam again... for the tenth time in a couple decades. I will be slightly surprised if Xbox takes the lead over Sony's PS2 in the coming years simply because Sony is another juggernaut, and they have such a stronghold in the game developers' world.
CREATIVE ON THE HEELS OF APPLE
The battle for MP3/online music market heats up as Creative plans to spend $100 million in marketing muscle. If you're a PC/game user for a while, you might be familiar with their Sound Blaster product that made the mark for this Singapore-based company.
Creative already has 10% of the global MP3 market trailing Apple's 17% share. They are heating up a market where electronic giants have already begun their pushes to grab the lead. Sony and Samsung are heavily eyeing the market along with smaller players, such as Rio.
|
The battle for MP3/online music market heats up as Creative plans to spend $100 million in marketing muscle. If you're a PC/game user for a while, you might be familiar with their Sound Blaster product that made the mark for this Singapore-based company.
Creative already has 10% of the global MP3 market trailing Apple's 17% share. They are heating up a market where electronic giants have already begun their pushes to grab the lead. Sony and Samsung are heavily eyeing the market along with smaller players, such as Rio.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
U.S. MARINE SHOOTING A WOUNDED IRAQI... WAIT FOR THE FACTS NBC
Controversy brewing over the U.S. marine who killed a wounded Iraqi. I briefly saw "Hannity & Colmes" with FOX News Military Analyst and former U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis and civil rights attorney Michael Gross discussing this situation. It seems all the facts are yet to be discovered and the U.S. marine involved might have been shot at by a wounded Iraqi playing dead. Leading him to the incident that caused the Iraqi prisoner's death.
More from LGF:
Here comes the next Abu Ghraib scandal, brought to you with great relish by NBC: Report: U.S. Marine Kills Wounded Iraqi.
.....
I don’t know the full story yet, but the mujahideen are well-known for fighting until martyrdom, blowing themselves up, hiding weapons, and treachery, and I am extremely skeptical of this report. A quick Google lookup on Kevin Sites reveals quite a bit of admiration at lefty sites for his past work, which causes my antennae to tingle.
|
Controversy brewing over the U.S. marine who killed a wounded Iraqi. I briefly saw "Hannity & Colmes" with FOX News Military Analyst and former U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis and civil rights attorney Michael Gross discussing this situation. It seems all the facts are yet to be discovered and the U.S. marine involved might have been shot at by a wounded Iraqi playing dead. Leading him to the incident that caused the Iraqi prisoner's death.
More from LGF:
Here comes the next Abu Ghraib scandal, brought to you with great relish by NBC: Report: U.S. Marine Kills Wounded Iraqi.
.....
I don’t know the full story yet, but the mujahideen are well-known for fighting until martyrdom, blowing themselves up, hiding weapons, and treachery, and I am extremely skeptical of this report. A quick Google lookup on Kevin Sites reveals quite a bit of admiration at lefty sites for his past work, which causes my antennae to tingle.
ONLINE ARENA HEATING UP... YAHOO! FOCUSED ON CONTENT EXPANSION
Yahoo! hired former Wall Street Journal Online editor, Neil Budde, who I'm guessing will lead Yahoo's effort to produce proprietary financial news which will help create an advantage against MSN and AOL.
Other news has Dow Jones buying MarketWatch for $519 million:
Dow Jones will pay $18 per share in cash to acquire MarketWatch, the parent company of MarketWatch.com and a longtime leader in the online delivery of hard financial news, such as stock quotes and earnings reports. The sale price represents a premium of more than 7 percent over Friday's closing price. With some $56 million in cash on hand at MarketWatch factored in, the real value of the deal is closer to $448 million.
Founder and CEO Larry Kramer said having the backing of Dow Jones gives MarketWatch "a terrific platform to grow our business and compete with the largest media companies."
"This transaction supports our mission to be the market leader in licensed and advertising supported financial news and information," Kramer said in a statement announcing the deal.
|
Yahoo! hired former Wall Street Journal Online editor, Neil Budde, who I'm guessing will lead Yahoo's effort to produce proprietary financial news which will help create an advantage against MSN and AOL.
Other news has Dow Jones buying MarketWatch for $519 million:
Dow Jones will pay $18 per share in cash to acquire MarketWatch, the parent company of MarketWatch.com and a longtime leader in the online delivery of hard financial news, such as stock quotes and earnings reports. The sale price represents a premium of more than 7 percent over Friday's closing price. With some $56 million in cash on hand at MarketWatch factored in, the real value of the deal is closer to $448 million.
Founder and CEO Larry Kramer said having the backing of Dow Jones gives MarketWatch "a terrific platform to grow our business and compete with the largest media companies."
"This transaction supports our mission to be the market leader in licensed and advertising supported financial news and information," Kramer said in a statement announcing the deal.
RICE BECOMES SECRETARY OF STATE... AP DOES IT AGAIN
As you probably heard, Condoleezza Rice shifted over to the Secretary of State position today. This has been a common move in the past after someone serves as National Security Advisor they move on to the more public and somewhat lighter role as our head foreign affairs statesperson. It was even rumored that if Gore won back in 2000 that Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, would have become his Secretary of State.
Anyways, the Associated Press cracks me up with their biased reporting again. Scott Lindlaw's headline for this event is "Bush Names Hawkish Rice Top U.S. Diplomat." Words matter.
|
As you probably heard, Condoleezza Rice shifted over to the Secretary of State position today. This has been a common move in the past after someone serves as National Security Advisor they move on to the more public and somewhat lighter role as our head foreign affairs statesperson. It was even rumored that if Gore won back in 2000 that Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, would have become his Secretary of State.
Anyways, the Associated Press cracks me up with their biased reporting again. Scott Lindlaw's headline for this event is "Bush Names Hawkish Rice Top U.S. Diplomat." Words matter.
Monday, November 15, 2004
"ARAFAT FOR BEGINNERS"... AND THE MESSED UP FRENCH
Good post to start with for those that need a reminder to who Yasser Arafat. Unless of course if you're from the left in France. The Jerusalem Post reports that:
Several French municipalities governed by communist and left-wing majorities are considering naming a street or a square after Yasser Arafat. (full article)
Okay. This is whacked and messed up. Racist, anti-Semitic losers.
|
Good post to start with for those that need a reminder to who Yasser Arafat. Unless of course if you're from the left in France. The Jerusalem Post reports that:
Several French municipalities governed by communist and left-wing majorities are considering naming a street or a square after Yasser Arafat. (full article)
Okay. This is whacked and messed up. Racist, anti-Semitic losers.
ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICANS LEFT OUT OF "THEY MADE AMERICA"
Got this email where I believe the cause is good, but I'm not sure about the delivery. The Asian Media Watch should have listed possible Asian American innovators that they believe should have been included within the top 64 American innovators or even the appendix of 101. I assume Harold Evans used some criteria list for his book, so they should have learn what it was and argued based on that system. Or for the sheer merit of an outstanding individual argued for his/her inclusion. Anyways, read below:
No APIAs Are Among the Key Innovative Americans in the Book and PBS Documentary "They Made America"
Asian Media Watch
November 12, 2004
There are no Asian/Pacific Islander Americans among the 64 key American innovators in the book, "They Made America," by Harold Evans, the basis of the PBS documentary of the same name. 92% of the individuals featured in the book and documentary are white Americans. The 4-part documentary film, produced by WGBH Boston and promoted as a teaching aid, premiered on PBS November 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Asian Media Watch is concerned that PBS and WGBH are encouraging educators to use the book, website, and documentary film "They Made America" as resources for teaching students about American History. "They Made America" does not adequately acknowledge the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and Native Americans, and presents a Euro-centric presentation of American History. Asian Media Watch wants you to express your opinion to PBS and WGBH Boston.
The demographics by ethnicity of the 64 innovators profiled in the book and website are: 59 White, 3 Black, 2 Middle Eastern, 0 South Asian, 0 East Asian/Pacific Islander, 0 Native American.
The book also contains an appendix of 101 other innovators "who also made a difference." None of the people on this list are identifiable by name as being of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, or Native American descent.
The author of the book credits the building of the Transcontinental Railroad to the "engineering and managerial feats" of Theodore Dehone Judah, and to Charles Crocker, foreman of the Central Pacific Railroad. Crocker is hailed for his "managerial skill" and innovation as a "motivator" by making "railway builders [out] of thousands of Chinese laundrymen, chefs, errand boys, gardeners ..." Omitted are important accounts of the treatment of Chinese railroad workers including a labor strike in which the Chinese demanded more wages and shorter hours in return for their life-threatening, dawn-til-dusk work hand-chiseling, blasting, and clearing tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crocker responded by stopping the supply of food and provisions to Chinese laborers. Threatened with starvation and violence at the hands of a well-armed posse of white men led by Crocker, the Chinese were forced back to work. Yet, the author describes Crocker as the "choreographer" of a "ballet." If the author credits Judah and Crocker for their innovativeness as engineers and managers, should he not similarly hold them accountable for the exploitation of Chinese labor, and mention the bias and discrimination that Chinese immigrants experienced after the railroad's completion e.g. The Chinese Exclusion Act.
Contact the producers of "They Made America" to express your opinion. An online feedback form and contact information are available here.
Tell PBS, WGBH, and the producers of "They Made America" to:
1. Include the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Americans in their educational materials for "They Made America."
2. Add Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American innovators to the "They Made America" PBS/WGBH website
3. Supplement the PBS/WGBH documentary with discussions and segments about Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American contributions to American History.
4. Ensure that future educational programming include a diversity of materials and perspectives.
We recognize that the book and documentary film "They Made America" have already been written and produced. However, PBS and WGBH still have the opportunity and responsibility to include more diverse materials and perspectives into the documentary, website, and educational materials for "They Made America."
About They Made America
The documentary film and website "They Made America" are produced by WGBH Boston. They are based on the book of the same name authored by Sir Harold Evans, a distinguished historian and journalist, and published by Little, Brown and Company, a unit of Time Warner Books Group. Evans has been successively the founding editor of Conde Nast Traveler; president and publisher of Random House, editorial director and vice chairman of U.S. News and World Report, and the New York Daily News. He credits the idea for the book to conversations he had in 1998 with Pat Mitchell, head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (sponsor of the documentary); and Laurence Kirshbaum, then Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Books Group.
More information is available here.
About Asian Media Watch
Asian Media Watch is an independent non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to promoting a diverse, fair, and balanced portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the media and entertainment industry.
|
Got this email where I believe the cause is good, but I'm not sure about the delivery. The Asian Media Watch should have listed possible Asian American innovators that they believe should have been included within the top 64 American innovators or even the appendix of 101. I assume Harold Evans used some criteria list for his book, so they should have learn what it was and argued based on that system. Or for the sheer merit of an outstanding individual argued for his/her inclusion. Anyways, read below:
No APIAs Are Among the Key Innovative Americans in the Book and PBS Documentary "They Made America"
Asian Media Watch
November 12, 2004
There are no Asian/Pacific Islander Americans among the 64 key American innovators in the book, "They Made America," by Harold Evans, the basis of the PBS documentary of the same name. 92% of the individuals featured in the book and documentary are white Americans. The 4-part documentary film, produced by WGBH Boston and promoted as a teaching aid, premiered on PBS November 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Asian Media Watch is concerned that PBS and WGBH are encouraging educators to use the book, website, and documentary film "They Made America" as resources for teaching students about American History. "They Made America" does not adequately acknowledge the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and Native Americans, and presents a Euro-centric presentation of American History. Asian Media Watch wants you to express your opinion to PBS and WGBH Boston.
The demographics by ethnicity of the 64 innovators profiled in the book and website are: 59 White, 3 Black, 2 Middle Eastern, 0 South Asian, 0 East Asian/Pacific Islander, 0 Native American.
The book also contains an appendix of 101 other innovators "who also made a difference." None of the people on this list are identifiable by name as being of Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, or Native American descent.
The author of the book credits the building of the Transcontinental Railroad to the "engineering and managerial feats" of Theodore Dehone Judah, and to Charles Crocker, foreman of the Central Pacific Railroad. Crocker is hailed for his "managerial skill" and innovation as a "motivator" by making "railway builders [out] of thousands of Chinese laundrymen, chefs, errand boys, gardeners ..." Omitted are important accounts of the treatment of Chinese railroad workers including a labor strike in which the Chinese demanded more wages and shorter hours in return for their life-threatening, dawn-til-dusk work hand-chiseling, blasting, and clearing tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crocker responded by stopping the supply of food and provisions to Chinese laborers. Threatened with starvation and violence at the hands of a well-armed posse of white men led by Crocker, the Chinese were forced back to work. Yet, the author describes Crocker as the "choreographer" of a "ballet." If the author credits Judah and Crocker for their innovativeness as engineers and managers, should he not similarly hold them accountable for the exploitation of Chinese labor, and mention the bias and discrimination that Chinese immigrants experienced after the railroad's completion e.g. The Chinese Exclusion Act.
Contact the producers of "They Made America" to express your opinion. An online feedback form and contact information are available here.
Tell PBS, WGBH, and the producers of "They Made America" to:
1. Include the contributions and perspectives of Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Americans in their educational materials for "They Made America."
2. Add Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American innovators to the "They Made America" PBS/WGBH website
3. Supplement the PBS/WGBH documentary with discussions and segments about Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American contributions to American History.
4. Ensure that future educational programming include a diversity of materials and perspectives.
We recognize that the book and documentary film "They Made America" have already been written and produced. However, PBS and WGBH still have the opportunity and responsibility to include more diverse materials and perspectives into the documentary, website, and educational materials for "They Made America."
About They Made America
The documentary film and website "They Made America" are produced by WGBH Boston. They are based on the book of the same name authored by Sir Harold Evans, a distinguished historian and journalist, and published by Little, Brown and Company, a unit of Time Warner Books Group. Evans has been successively the founding editor of Conde Nast Traveler; president and publisher of Random House, editorial director and vice chairman of U.S. News and World Report, and the New York Daily News. He credits the idea for the book to conversations he had in 1998 with Pat Mitchell, head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (sponsor of the documentary); and Laurence Kirshbaum, then Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Books Group.
More information is available here.
About Asian Media Watch
Asian Media Watch is an independent non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to promoting a diverse, fair, and balanced portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in the media and entertainment industry.
GLOBAL TEST AND PREEMPTIVE WAR COMMENTARY
Here's an unpublished op-ed piece I thought I should post up. It's dated and a differing view than my own, but it is always good to have various perspectives posted here. It is written by Brett M. Frischmann, who is an Assistant Professor of Law at Loyola University of Chicago. I knew Brett from the volleyball courts at Columbia University and from my close friend, Kevin, who went to Georgetown Law with him.
The "Global Test" and Preemptive War
Something that has been troubling about the presidential and vice presidential debates concerns the "global test" referenced by Kerry. The "global test" language leaves too much left unsaid. Rather than introducing a new buzzword and an unfortunate soundbite, Kerry should have explained the actual legal test in simple, unambiguous, and non-legalistic terms. Since he has not done so, let me try.
Despite the apparent confusion among pundits, campaign advisors, and the candidates, there really is a "global test" for the use of preemptive force. The test is "global" not in the sense that all nations have a say in a particular country's decision whether or not to exercise preemptive force. Rather, the test is "global" in the sense that throughout the world, in nearly all legal systems at both the international and domestic levels as well as within most systems of moral norms, there is an almost universal (or "global") test for the legitimate use of preemptive force, and the test is rather simple:
Preemptive force is justified only when one is faced with an imminent threat.
Self defense and defense of others within criminal law and civil tort law are simple, widely accepted and understood examples. You can use deadly force to defend yourself or another against an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death; however, you cannot use deadly force against someone when he tells you that he will kill you next week because the threat is not imminent and there are other options
available.
The same is true in international law: A nation faced with an imminent threat, which means there is no way to avoid the attack except to attack first, is justified in using preemptive force. If another nation has the intent but not the present ability to strike another country with armed force, that threat is not imminent and so using armed force first is not justified.
The rationale behind the imminent threat test is simple: Preemptive force should always be a last resort; when a threat is not imminent, there are inevitably other options available. The reason you cannot shoot your neighbor today when he informs you that he will shoot you next week is that society is better off if you seek to employ alternative means to meet the threat, such as seeking the assistance of third-parties (e.g., police or mutual acquaintances) or perhaps talking with your neighbor (e.g., to reconcile or negotiate).
It is clear that both now and at the time that we entered into war, there was no evidence of an imminent threat, and that the options available at the time-multilateral efforts, inspections, and economic sanctions-were working. Thus, the imminent threat test was not met, and the preemptive attack on Iraq was not justified.
Kerry should explain to the American public that he voted to authorize the President to use force with an express understanding that these other alternatives would be used first and that the threat of Unites States force was needed to make these other options feasible. Instead of using the power bestowed upon him by the Congress to provide the necessary leverage for multilateral efforts to succeed in Iraq, Bush
rushed to war.
While it is tempting to say that 9/11 changed everything and made the traditional "imminent threat" test impractical in Iraq, this temptation reflects two important misconceptions. First, the link between Iraq and terrorism is an illusion, as several reports have now documented. Even if preemptively striking (known) terrorists is necessary even short of an imminent threat (or perhaps on the fallacious notion that terrorism constitutes a persistently imminent threat), this line of reasoning would not justify preemptively striking Iraq.
Second, we should be very careful about relaxing the imminent threat standard for the very same reasons we have not done so in the law of torts or criminal law. A very high standard for the use of preemptive force is essential because it provides stability and order, channels rivals into less confrontational and less costly forums for resolving tensions, and serves as a basis for rallying other countries to our aid.
Whether we like it or not, the United States leads by example, and the precedent we are currently setting is truly a dangerous one. Consider a stark example. Under the President's logic, both Iran and North Korea would be justified in preemptively attacking the Unites States, based upon our current military capabilities and various pronouncements by President. At the same time, these countries have leveraged their nuclear capabilities to preempt preemptive strikes by the United States. Despite Bush's claims to the contrary, the world is edging towards chaos and becoming less safe, in part due to 9/11 and the terrorists, and in part due to Bush's unilateral break from international and national tradition.
The "imminent threat" test I have described is probably what Kerry meant by the "global test." If so, Kerry should go to greater trouble to make it clear because the test is more than a mere legalistic formula; it is a concept of moral and political integrity. And it's something the voters (and the rest of the world) want to understand.
|
Here's an unpublished op-ed piece I thought I should post up. It's dated and a differing view than my own, but it is always good to have various perspectives posted here. It is written by Brett M. Frischmann, who is an Assistant Professor of Law at Loyola University of Chicago. I knew Brett from the volleyball courts at Columbia University and from my close friend, Kevin, who went to Georgetown Law with him.
The "Global Test" and Preemptive War
Something that has been troubling about the presidential and vice presidential debates concerns the "global test" referenced by Kerry. The "global test" language leaves too much left unsaid. Rather than introducing a new buzzword and an unfortunate soundbite, Kerry should have explained the actual legal test in simple, unambiguous, and non-legalistic terms. Since he has not done so, let me try.
Despite the apparent confusion among pundits, campaign advisors, and the candidates, there really is a "global test" for the use of preemptive force. The test is "global" not in the sense that all nations have a say in a particular country's decision whether or not to exercise preemptive force. Rather, the test is "global" in the sense that throughout the world, in nearly all legal systems at both the international and domestic levels as well as within most systems of moral norms, there is an almost universal (or "global") test for the legitimate use of preemptive force, and the test is rather simple:
Preemptive force is justified only when one is faced with an imminent threat.
Self defense and defense of others within criminal law and civil tort law are simple, widely accepted and understood examples. You can use deadly force to defend yourself or another against an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death; however, you cannot use deadly force against someone when he tells you that he will kill you next week because the threat is not imminent and there are other options
available.
The same is true in international law: A nation faced with an imminent threat, which means there is no way to avoid the attack except to attack first, is justified in using preemptive force. If another nation has the intent but not the present ability to strike another country with armed force, that threat is not imminent and so using armed force first is not justified.
The rationale behind the imminent threat test is simple: Preemptive force should always be a last resort; when a threat is not imminent, there are inevitably other options available. The reason you cannot shoot your neighbor today when he informs you that he will shoot you next week is that society is better off if you seek to employ alternative means to meet the threat, such as seeking the assistance of third-parties (e.g., police or mutual acquaintances) or perhaps talking with your neighbor (e.g., to reconcile or negotiate).
It is clear that both now and at the time that we entered into war, there was no evidence of an imminent threat, and that the options available at the time-multilateral efforts, inspections, and economic sanctions-were working. Thus, the imminent threat test was not met, and the preemptive attack on Iraq was not justified.
Kerry should explain to the American public that he voted to authorize the President to use force with an express understanding that these other alternatives would be used first and that the threat of Unites States force was needed to make these other options feasible. Instead of using the power bestowed upon him by the Congress to provide the necessary leverage for multilateral efforts to succeed in Iraq, Bush
rushed to war.
While it is tempting to say that 9/11 changed everything and made the traditional "imminent threat" test impractical in Iraq, this temptation reflects two important misconceptions. First, the link between Iraq and terrorism is an illusion, as several reports have now documented. Even if preemptively striking (known) terrorists is necessary even short of an imminent threat (or perhaps on the fallacious notion that terrorism constitutes a persistently imminent threat), this line of reasoning would not justify preemptively striking Iraq.
Second, we should be very careful about relaxing the imminent threat standard for the very same reasons we have not done so in the law of torts or criminal law. A very high standard for the use of preemptive force is essential because it provides stability and order, channels rivals into less confrontational and less costly forums for resolving tensions, and serves as a basis for rallying other countries to our aid.
Whether we like it or not, the United States leads by example, and the precedent we are currently setting is truly a dangerous one. Consider a stark example. Under the President's logic, both Iran and North Korea would be justified in preemptively attacking the Unites States, based upon our current military capabilities and various pronouncements by President. At the same time, these countries have leveraged their nuclear capabilities to preempt preemptive strikes by the United States. Despite Bush's claims to the contrary, the world is edging towards chaos and becoming less safe, in part due to 9/11 and the terrorists, and in part due to Bush's unilateral break from international and national tradition.
The "imminent threat" test I have described is probably what Kerry meant by the "global test." If so, Kerry should go to greater trouble to make it clear because the test is more than a mere legalistic formula; it is a concept of moral and political integrity. And it's something the voters (and the rest of the world) want to understand.
COLIN POWELL STEPPING DOWN... WHAT WILL HE DO NEXT?
Secretary Powell is stepping down along with three other cabinet members. Attorney General John Ashcroft already stepped down with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales chosen to succeed Ashcroft by President Bush. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham sent in their resignation letters around the same time as Powell.
Powell definitely made his mark in the public service and I hope he will be back in some form. It's too bad he didn't try walking down the avenue of running for President. He would have change the landscape of U.S. politics dramatically, especially if he won. Imagine a Black president of the United States of America. The fabric of the political party sytem would have been torn, and regardless of race I believe he would have been an excellent leader of the free world.
He was the first African American to be National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. Actually, President Bush's cabinet has some other significant firsts. Condoleezza Rice was the first woman to be National Security Advisor; Rod Paige was the first African American to hold the education post; Ann Veneman was the first woman to be Agriculture Secretary; and Alberto Gonzales could be the first Hispanic Attorney General if confirmed. Going back a decade, Republicans were the first to put women in leadership positions in Congress. Lot more action than talk from the right than from the left, especially with pretentious white men who pretend to be for minorities causes but really look down on them (ah um... John Kerry. Did you ever hear him refer to Blacks? Holy condescending, Batman).
Okay, cheapshot since Republicans are the party that Senator Jesse Helms dwelled in for decades and Senator Trent Lott still plays a role in. Hey, we're making up for those questionable characters now.
|
Secretary Powell is stepping down along with three other cabinet members. Attorney General John Ashcroft already stepped down with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales chosen to succeed Ashcroft by President Bush. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham sent in their resignation letters around the same time as Powell.
Powell definitely made his mark in the public service and I hope he will be back in some form. It's too bad he didn't try walking down the avenue of running for President. He would have change the landscape of U.S. politics dramatically, especially if he won. Imagine a Black president of the United States of America. The fabric of the political party sytem would have been torn, and regardless of race I believe he would have been an excellent leader of the free world.
He was the first African American to be National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. Actually, President Bush's cabinet has some other significant firsts. Condoleezza Rice was the first woman to be National Security Advisor; Rod Paige was the first African American to hold the education post; Ann Veneman was the first woman to be Agriculture Secretary; and Alberto Gonzales could be the first Hispanic Attorney General if confirmed. Going back a decade, Republicans were the first to put women in leadership positions in Congress. Lot more action than talk from the right than from the left, especially with pretentious white men who pretend to be for minorities causes but really look down on them (ah um... John Kerry. Did you ever hear him refer to Blacks? Holy condescending, Batman).
Okay, cheapshot since Republicans are the party that Senator Jesse Helms dwelled in for decades and Senator Trent Lott still plays a role in. Hey, we're making up for those questionable characters now.
HAVE YOU WIKI-ED TODAY?
Only recently have I been introduced to Wikis. I'm not really taken by it, but I can see their usefulness in the right work environment. Good article by Chad Dickerson at InfoWorld:
Is Wiki under your radar?
Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built
InfoWorld
By Chad Dickerson
November 05, 2004
Lots of attention has been paid to blogging and its relation to traditional media. But I’ve been more interested in blogging as a quick-and-dirty enterprise knowledge management tool for internal use. At InfoWorld, an intranet blog in my own IT department has become the hub of our documentation activities.
Blogs are not the only collaboration game in town, though. Recently, I decided to bone up on the concept of the Wiki, a collaborative environment that is gaining traction in corporations. In fact, your employees might already be Wiki-ing without your knowledge. Despite its whimsical name, the underhyped Wiki concept could become one of the more useful and easy-to-implement tools in your IT management arsenal.
According to Wikipedia — a Wiki itself — a Wiki is a Web site that allows any user to add content, but also allows that content to be edited by any other user more easily than a blog. The term “Wiki” can also be used to refer to the software used to drive a Wiki.
I recently spent some time with an excellent Wiki guide: Peter Theony, the developer of TWiki, a widely used open source Wiki implementation. Peter developed TWiki in the late ‘90s in a classic moment of “scratch the itch” software development. He had been hired by a company to be an engineering manager but a reorg detoured him into a support manager role. In that role, he needed to build a dynamic knowledge base for customer support and he found the concept of the Wiki as a knowledge base platform intriguing.
Thus TWiki was born and several years later, TWiki is being actively and enthusiastically used as the platform for everything from document management to project planning and corporate knowledge bases at corporations as varied as Disney, Yahoo, British Telecom, and SAP. TWiki.org publishes detailed case studies of these organizations with gushing testimonials from employees who gladly publish their names and job titles. This is clearly the real deal.
Superficially, the Wiki concept is scary to many CIOs and CTOs. The hallmarks of the Wiki environment — organic, easy to change by anyone, constantly evolving, aggressively open, unstructured — are a far cry from the relative rigidity of more traditional knowledge management systems. When we started blogging IT documentation internally at InfoWorld, there was an explosion of documentation not because of the novelty of blogging (frankly, documentation just isn’t fun), but because the documentation was easy to create and people were able to quickly realize the benefits of knowledge-sharing. The Wiki environment is even more informal than blogging, but what you lose in fine-grained control, you gain in information flow.
After my conversation with Peter, I was psyched up to give TWiki a spin, so I logged into our intranet server planning to set TWiki up and check it out. Guess what? It had already been installed months ago by our IT manager. I took this as yet another reason that I needed to pay attention. Worthwhile IT innovation is nearly always a bottom-up affair. If you were a naysayer about the Internet, Linux, or even Weblogs, embracing the Wiki might be your chance to beat your staffers to the punch at last. Next week, I’ll go into more specific detail on how a Wiki implementation such as TWiki can be used in the enterprise. Stay tuned.
Chad Dickerson is CTO of InfoWorld.
|
Only recently have I been introduced to Wikis. I'm not really taken by it, but I can see their usefulness in the right work environment. Good article by Chad Dickerson at InfoWorld:
Is Wiki under your radar?
Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built
InfoWorld
By Chad Dickerson
November 05, 2004
Lots of attention has been paid to blogging and its relation to traditional media. But I’ve been more interested in blogging as a quick-and-dirty enterprise knowledge management tool for internal use. At InfoWorld, an intranet blog in my own IT department has become the hub of our documentation activities.
Blogs are not the only collaboration game in town, though. Recently, I decided to bone up on the concept of the Wiki, a collaborative environment that is gaining traction in corporations. In fact, your employees might already be Wiki-ing without your knowledge. Despite its whimsical name, the underhyped Wiki concept could become one of the more useful and easy-to-implement tools in your IT management arsenal.
According to Wikipedia — a Wiki itself — a Wiki is a Web site that allows any user to add content, but also allows that content to be edited by any other user more easily than a blog. The term “Wiki” can also be used to refer to the software used to drive a Wiki.
I recently spent some time with an excellent Wiki guide: Peter Theony, the developer of TWiki, a widely used open source Wiki implementation. Peter developed TWiki in the late ‘90s in a classic moment of “scratch the itch” software development. He had been hired by a company to be an engineering manager but a reorg detoured him into a support manager role. In that role, he needed to build a dynamic knowledge base for customer support and he found the concept of the Wiki as a knowledge base platform intriguing.
Thus TWiki was born and several years later, TWiki is being actively and enthusiastically used as the platform for everything from document management to project planning and corporate knowledge bases at corporations as varied as Disney, Yahoo, British Telecom, and SAP. TWiki.org publishes detailed case studies of these organizations with gushing testimonials from employees who gladly publish their names and job titles. This is clearly the real deal.
Superficially, the Wiki concept is scary to many CIOs and CTOs. The hallmarks of the Wiki environment — organic, easy to change by anyone, constantly evolving, aggressively open, unstructured — are a far cry from the relative rigidity of more traditional knowledge management systems. When we started blogging IT documentation internally at InfoWorld, there was an explosion of documentation not because of the novelty of blogging (frankly, documentation just isn’t fun), but because the documentation was easy to create and people were able to quickly realize the benefits of knowledge-sharing. The Wiki environment is even more informal than blogging, but what you lose in fine-grained control, you gain in information flow.
After my conversation with Peter, I was psyched up to give TWiki a spin, so I logged into our intranet server planning to set TWiki up and check it out. Guess what? It had already been installed months ago by our IT manager. I took this as yet another reason that I needed to pay attention. Worthwhile IT innovation is nearly always a bottom-up affair. If you were a naysayer about the Internet, Linux, or even Weblogs, embracing the Wiki might be your chance to beat your staffers to the punch at last. Next week, I’ll go into more specific detail on how a Wiki implementation such as TWiki can be used in the enterprise. Stay tuned.
Chad Dickerson is CTO of InfoWorld.
FCC MAKES THE RIGHT MOVE FOR VOIP
Michael Powell seems to be the right person to lead the FCC during these times. Old news but good news... from FierceWireless:
FCC to keep VoIP free from state, local regulations
The FCC today moved to shield VoIP service providers from many state and local regulations. The commission voted 5-0 in favor of VoIP service provider Vonage, which asked the agency to declare the company's product an interstate service. The decision gives the FCC regulatory responsibility over most aspects of IP telephony. The FCC's move is expected to bring stability to the IP telephony market by eliminating a fast-growing string of state and municipal rules and taxes. The ruling, however, doesn't affect access charges, the fees VoIP providers pay to local phone companies for completing calls sent via the Internet to the traditional PSTN phone system.
Today's decision could trigger a boom in the fast-emerging field of wireless VoIP. Assuming the FCC continues its minimalist regulatory positions towards WiMax and WiFi, a number of services providers will likely launch wireless and mobile VoIP services. Vonage is already targeting its service at the WiFi hotspot market. The company recently inked a deal with hotspot service provider Boingo Wireless, bundling its SoftPhone with Boingo's hotspot access client. Cellular carriers might also jump on the VoIP bandwagon. These companies could easily add wireless VoIP capabilities to their cell phones. Companies like SBC could launch hybrid phones that could access wireless VoIP in the carrier's hotspots while converting over to cell access through its carrier Cingular when a user roams outside of a WLAN.
MORE from Wi-Fi Networking News:
FCC’s Plan for Internet Voice May Aid Cell/Wi-Fi Hybrid
By Glenn Fleishman
The Wall Street Journal notes that easier regulation and a lower tax burden might contribute to VoIP as a cellular complement: A new phone from Motorola might be one of the first to hit the U.S. market in which voice calls could travel over home Wi-Fi, hotspot Wi-Fi, and GSM cell networks. Reporter Jesse Drucker writes that the Yankee Group estimates one-third of people’s cell calls would be within range of some Wi-Fi service. Offloading minutes via Wi-Fi could be appealing to consumers if the cell companies don’t count those as in-plan minutes. It allows carriers to be more “generous,” reducing customer churn, and it avoids filling expensive cell spectrum with more calls. (full post)
|
Michael Powell seems to be the right person to lead the FCC during these times. Old news but good news... from FierceWireless:
FCC to keep VoIP free from state, local regulations
The FCC today moved to shield VoIP service providers from many state and local regulations. The commission voted 5-0 in favor of VoIP service provider Vonage, which asked the agency to declare the company's product an interstate service. The decision gives the FCC regulatory responsibility over most aspects of IP telephony. The FCC's move is expected to bring stability to the IP telephony market by eliminating a fast-growing string of state and municipal rules and taxes. The ruling, however, doesn't affect access charges, the fees VoIP providers pay to local phone companies for completing calls sent via the Internet to the traditional PSTN phone system.
Today's decision could trigger a boom in the fast-emerging field of wireless VoIP. Assuming the FCC continues its minimalist regulatory positions towards WiMax and WiFi, a number of services providers will likely launch wireless and mobile VoIP services. Vonage is already targeting its service at the WiFi hotspot market. The company recently inked a deal with hotspot service provider Boingo Wireless, bundling its SoftPhone with Boingo's hotspot access client. Cellular carriers might also jump on the VoIP bandwagon. These companies could easily add wireless VoIP capabilities to their cell phones. Companies like SBC could launch hybrid phones that could access wireless VoIP in the carrier's hotspots while converting over to cell access through its carrier Cingular when a user roams outside of a WLAN.
MORE from Wi-Fi Networking News:
FCC’s Plan for Internet Voice May Aid Cell/Wi-Fi Hybrid
By Glenn Fleishman
The Wall Street Journal notes that easier regulation and a lower tax burden might contribute to VoIP as a cellular complement: A new phone from Motorola might be one of the first to hit the U.S. market in which voice calls could travel over home Wi-Fi, hotspot Wi-Fi, and GSM cell networks. Reporter Jesse Drucker writes that the Yankee Group estimates one-third of people’s cell calls would be within range of some Wi-Fi service. Offloading minutes via Wi-Fi could be appealing to consumers if the cell companies don’t count those as in-plan minutes. It allows carriers to be more “generous,” reducing customer churn, and it avoids filling expensive cell spectrum with more calls. (full post)
Sunday, November 14, 2004
NEW QUOTES... OLD MUSCLES
I haven't updated the notable quotes on the sidebar since August 2, so I decided to do that tonight. I'll try to go back to making it a weekly task. I take these from my list of quotes that I've collected over the years, but if you have any you would like to suggest please feel free to email it to me and I'll put it up. Inspirational, thought-provoking, or funny will do.
Yesterday I played in a flag football tournament and I was aching today. Trouble walking up stairs, bending over, and even sitting down. Two jammed fingers and a bruise on my forearm. In Korea, with some friends we played almost every weekend. 5 on 5, 7 on 7, or whatever we had... one rusher, no blockers, and everyone goes out. Great times and great stories.
In the tournament yesterday, it was a little more serious. It was 7 on 7 with two linebackers and the offense had three linemen (two ineligble and one eligble tight end). Since I only know a couple guys on this team and never played with any of them, they asked me to play linebacker instead of my preference towards being a wideout. I played the position a couple weeks ago in a scrimmage game, and enjoyed it. First, the tournament is composed primarily of Asian Americans and we're on the west coast (even Caucasians here are smaller than the corn-fed Midwest boys I grew up with), so I'm bigger than the average player. Second, I'm deceptively quick... for being in my chunky stage. My 6' 1" 220 lbs. frame can move pretty fast, so I had a good chance of getting to the QB almost every down. One game that probably wrecked me was when I went against this 280-300 lbs. fat lineman. I had to push and drive my legs hard to be effective. The challenge was fun but my arms, shoulders, and quads are killing me now. My body after I hit 30 years takes days instead of hours to recover.
|
I haven't updated the notable quotes on the sidebar since August 2, so I decided to do that tonight. I'll try to go back to making it a weekly task. I take these from my list of quotes that I've collected over the years, but if you have any you would like to suggest please feel free to email it to me and I'll put it up. Inspirational, thought-provoking, or funny will do.
Yesterday I played in a flag football tournament and I was aching today. Trouble walking up stairs, bending over, and even sitting down. Two jammed fingers and a bruise on my forearm. In Korea, with some friends we played almost every weekend. 5 on 5, 7 on 7, or whatever we had... one rusher, no blockers, and everyone goes out. Great times and great stories.
In the tournament yesterday, it was a little more serious. It was 7 on 7 with two linebackers and the offense had three linemen (two ineligble and one eligble tight end). Since I only know a couple guys on this team and never played with any of them, they asked me to play linebacker instead of my preference towards being a wideout. I played the position a couple weeks ago in a scrimmage game, and enjoyed it. First, the tournament is composed primarily of Asian Americans and we're on the west coast (even Caucasians here are smaller than the corn-fed Midwest boys I grew up with), so I'm bigger than the average player. Second, I'm deceptively quick... for being in my chunky stage. My 6' 1" 220 lbs. frame can move pretty fast, so I had a good chance of getting to the QB almost every down. One game that probably wrecked me was when I went against this 280-300 lbs. fat lineman. I had to push and drive my legs hard to be effective. The challenge was fun but my arms, shoulders, and quads are killing me now. My body after I hit 30 years takes days instead of hours to recover.
LIEUTENANT JOSHUA MICHAEL PALMER... REST IN PEACE
From Hugh Hewitt. Story of Lieutenant Joshua Michael Palmer reflects a great life and makes me proud to be American.
Yesterday I broadcast from the Manchester Theater at the University of San Diego. In the course of the program, I received this e-mail:
Hugh, because it is the Marine Corps birthday today, and because I heard that you are broadcasting live from USD, I wanted to let you know that USD lost one of its alumni on April 8th of this year, in Fallujah. His name was 1st Lt. Joshua Palmer. It would be great if you could somehow remind the students that they've lost one of their own over there, especially today, and especially before veterans day. Josh loved USD. He graduated just a year before going to Iraq, and still has a lot of friends on campus. In fact, he was president of the College Republicans there. Thanks,
Josh's girlfriend,
Laura
I read the e-mail on air, and asked Laura's permission to post it. She agreed, and also sent along a copy of the remarks given at Lieutenant Palmer's memorial service:
.....
On April 8th, in the afternoon, Josh’s convoy began taking sniper fire as they entered Fallujah. Josh was a first lieutenant, and led a group of men. Some of the men in the convoy, from another lieutenant’s unit, were injured by the sniper fire. It was determined that someone needed to hunt down the snipers and kill them, before they killed any of the men in the convoy. Josh had been trained in sniper hunting, and volunteered. He led a small group of men into the area where the snipers were. They pinpointed the snipers’ location and ran to the building were the snipers were located. Josh didn’t hesitate, he just ran. When they got there, they began clearing rooms with grenades. When they got to the room where the snipers were, Josh insisted on being in front. Usually officers stay in the back, because their lives are considered more valuable. But Josh had always said that he would never send his men somewhere he wouldn’t go himself, and the test of a true leader was whether or not he led from the front. It was known that there was a very high chance that the person in front would be shot, as they were so close to the snipers, and the snipers were waiting for them. Josh still went in front. He probably knew that he was going to be shot, but he wouldn’t allow someone else to die when he could have prevented it. So he leaned forward and threw the grenade. As he did, he fell a little bit forward, and was shot many times all up his left side and into his neck. Immediately his men pulled him back, and killed the sniper who had shot Josh, the other two snipers were taken prisoner. They pulled Josh to a safe location, where he eventually bled to death. The photo I have, which many of you have seen in the papers, is of Josh’s men praying over him, just after he died.
It is important to know that the snipers, when the US soldiers got there, were strapped with C-4, a very dangerous explosive. They were cowards and monsters. They had enough to blow up the entire city block. It was a civilian block, and many innocent people would have been killed. Josh died protecting other people, the same as the way he had lived. Somehow, it doesn’t seem real that someone like him existed here, someone with such high ideals and such brave determination. Josh’s captain, Captain Smith, said that Josh was an unreal soldier, that he’d never met someone so strong in his convictions and so devoted to a cause. We are left to wonder why it is so often those that are so great, that live with such nobility, are the ones to die. The answer is that, because of their nobility and greatness, they are the first to volunteer. It is often the better people who end up giving their lives for others. My cousin Laura, Josh’s girlfriend, said that she knew something like this would probably happen, because Josh was the type of person who would volunteer his life, if he thought it would help someone else. These are our heroes, the men and women who believe in the greatness of our country, and want to share that greatness with the world, so much so that they are willing to give their lives, on the small chance that some other poor, underdeveloped country will have freedom like ours I want everyone to know how much I love Josh, and how proud I am of him and the type of man he is. And that, because I love him, and I know how important these ideals are to him, I would do the whole thing again, because I knows that, even if Josh were told that he would die in Iraq, he would have gone anyway, because he believes it is that important. God bless our troops, and God bless America." (full post)
|
From Hugh Hewitt. Story of Lieutenant Joshua Michael Palmer reflects a great life and makes me proud to be American.
Yesterday I broadcast from the Manchester Theater at the University of San Diego. In the course of the program, I received this e-mail:
Hugh, because it is the Marine Corps birthday today, and because I heard that you are broadcasting live from USD, I wanted to let you know that USD lost one of its alumni on April 8th of this year, in Fallujah. His name was 1st Lt. Joshua Palmer. It would be great if you could somehow remind the students that they've lost one of their own over there, especially today, and especially before veterans day. Josh loved USD. He graduated just a year before going to Iraq, and still has a lot of friends on campus. In fact, he was president of the College Republicans there. Thanks,
Josh's girlfriend,
Laura
I read the e-mail on air, and asked Laura's permission to post it. She agreed, and also sent along a copy of the remarks given at Lieutenant Palmer's memorial service:
.....
On April 8th, in the afternoon, Josh’s convoy began taking sniper fire as they entered Fallujah. Josh was a first lieutenant, and led a group of men. Some of the men in the convoy, from another lieutenant’s unit, were injured by the sniper fire. It was determined that someone needed to hunt down the snipers and kill them, before they killed any of the men in the convoy. Josh had been trained in sniper hunting, and volunteered. He led a small group of men into the area where the snipers were. They pinpointed the snipers’ location and ran to the building were the snipers were located. Josh didn’t hesitate, he just ran. When they got there, they began clearing rooms with grenades. When they got to the room where the snipers were, Josh insisted on being in front. Usually officers stay in the back, because their lives are considered more valuable. But Josh had always said that he would never send his men somewhere he wouldn’t go himself, and the test of a true leader was whether or not he led from the front. It was known that there was a very high chance that the person in front would be shot, as they were so close to the snipers, and the snipers were waiting for them. Josh still went in front. He probably knew that he was going to be shot, but he wouldn’t allow someone else to die when he could have prevented it. So he leaned forward and threw the grenade. As he did, he fell a little bit forward, and was shot many times all up his left side and into his neck. Immediately his men pulled him back, and killed the sniper who had shot Josh, the other two snipers were taken prisoner. They pulled Josh to a safe location, where he eventually bled to death. The photo I have, which many of you have seen in the papers, is of Josh’s men praying over him, just after he died.
It is important to know that the snipers, when the US soldiers got there, were strapped with C-4, a very dangerous explosive. They were cowards and monsters. They had enough to blow up the entire city block. It was a civilian block, and many innocent people would have been killed. Josh died protecting other people, the same as the way he had lived. Somehow, it doesn’t seem real that someone like him existed here, someone with such high ideals and such brave determination. Josh’s captain, Captain Smith, said that Josh was an unreal soldier, that he’d never met someone so strong in his convictions and so devoted to a cause. We are left to wonder why it is so often those that are so great, that live with such nobility, are the ones to die. The answer is that, because of their nobility and greatness, they are the first to volunteer. It is often the better people who end up giving their lives for others. My cousin Laura, Josh’s girlfriend, said that she knew something like this would probably happen, because Josh was the type of person who would volunteer his life, if he thought it would help someone else. These are our heroes, the men and women who believe in the greatness of our country, and want to share that greatness with the world, so much so that they are willing to give their lives, on the small chance that some other poor, underdeveloped country will have freedom like ours I want everyone to know how much I love Josh, and how proud I am of him and the type of man he is. And that, because I love him, and I know how important these ideals are to him, I would do the whole thing again, because I knows that, even if Josh were told that he would die in Iraq, he would have gone anyway, because he believes it is that important. God bless our troops, and God bless America." (full post)
Friday, November 12, 2004
THE DEBATE GOES ON AFTER THE ELECTION
Interesting discussion started by Tony Perkins going on at AlwaysOn:
Where Do the Democrats Go from Here?
Back in 1978, at 20 years old, I was the statewide student campaign manager for Jerry Brown’s (a.k.a. Governor Moonbeam) re-election campaign. As part of my job, I hosted the entire Democratic slate in a huge outdoor rally at UC Davis the day before the election, and I still have the photos to prove it. By 1980, I was voting for Ronald Reagan, and I have voted Republican ever since.
My political philosophy is very complex and is based upon a combination of many factors. I studied western European history and American politics in school and have been a political activist since 13. I worked for a start-up bank for the first 5 years of my career, then became a media entrepreneur, TV commentator and editorialist. Most significantly, I am a husband, a father of three daughters, and a practicing Roman Catholic.
While I have voted Republican since 1980, I believe that the Viet Nam war was a bad idea. I am against the death penalty and have never owned a gun. I believe in legalizing drugs and prostitution and affirmative action for the socio-economically disadvantaged. I also believe that the Federal government should maintain a “safety net” for kids who want to go to school, and old people who run out of money.
In other words, I am not a “survival of the fittest” Republican who is merely looking for lower taxes. I believe in the basic idea that if you have been given a lot (as I have, as our nation’s has) then you/we owe a lot. According to my view, this is not a choice, but a (dare I say) moral obligation. (full post)
ANOTHER view by Daniel Terdiman at Wired, "Longing for a Blogging Candidate." HatTip to Instapundit who wrote:
This article echoes something that I've said before -- if Kerry had hired Joe Trippi, he'd probably be President-elect now.
Of course, the notion of using blogs to make a rapid response to the Swift Boat Vets' allegations might have stumbled on the Kerry campaign's big problem, which is that it didn't have a very good response. But more active use of blogs would at least have kept them from being taken by surprise.
LASTLY a great commentary by Charles Krauthammer at The Washington Post:
'Moral Values' Myth
The Washington Post
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, November 12, 2004
In 1994, when the Gingrich revolution swept Republicans into power, ending 40 years of Democratic hegemony in the House, the mainstream press needed to account for this inversion of the Perfect Order of Things. A myth was born. Explained the USA Today headline: "ANGRY WHITE MEN: Their votes turn the tide for GOP."
Overnight, the revolution of the Angry White Male became conventional wisdom. In the 10 years before the 1994 election there were 56 mentions of angry white men in the media, according to LexisNexis. In the next seven months there were more than 1,400.
At the time, I looked into this story line -- and found not a scintilla of evidence to support the claim. Nonetheless, it was a necessary invention, a way for the liberal elite to delegitimize a conservative victory. And, even better, a way to assuage their moral vanity: You never lose because your ideas are sclerotic or your positions retrograde, but because your opponent appealed to the baser instincts of mankind.
Plus ca change ... Ten years and another stunning Democratic defeat later, and liberals are at it again. The Angry White Male has been transmuted into the Bigoted Christian Redneck. (full article)
|
Interesting discussion started by Tony Perkins going on at AlwaysOn:
Where Do the Democrats Go from Here?
Back in 1978, at 20 years old, I was the statewide student campaign manager for Jerry Brown’s (a.k.a. Governor Moonbeam) re-election campaign. As part of my job, I hosted the entire Democratic slate in a huge outdoor rally at UC Davis the day before the election, and I still have the photos to prove it. By 1980, I was voting for Ronald Reagan, and I have voted Republican ever since.
My political philosophy is very complex and is based upon a combination of many factors. I studied western European history and American politics in school and have been a political activist since 13. I worked for a start-up bank for the first 5 years of my career, then became a media entrepreneur, TV commentator and editorialist. Most significantly, I am a husband, a father of three daughters, and a practicing Roman Catholic.
While I have voted Republican since 1980, I believe that the Viet Nam war was a bad idea. I am against the death penalty and have never owned a gun. I believe in legalizing drugs and prostitution and affirmative action for the socio-economically disadvantaged. I also believe that the Federal government should maintain a “safety net” for kids who want to go to school, and old people who run out of money.
In other words, I am not a “survival of the fittest” Republican who is merely looking for lower taxes. I believe in the basic idea that if you have been given a lot (as I have, as our nation’s has) then you/we owe a lot. According to my view, this is not a choice, but a (dare I say) moral obligation. (full post)
ANOTHER view by Daniel Terdiman at Wired, "Longing for a Blogging Candidate." HatTip to Instapundit who wrote:
This article echoes something that I've said before -- if Kerry had hired Joe Trippi, he'd probably be President-elect now.
Of course, the notion of using blogs to make a rapid response to the Swift Boat Vets' allegations might have stumbled on the Kerry campaign's big problem, which is that it didn't have a very good response. But more active use of blogs would at least have kept them from being taken by surprise.
LASTLY a great commentary by Charles Krauthammer at The Washington Post:
'Moral Values' Myth
The Washington Post
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, November 12, 2004
In 1994, when the Gingrich revolution swept Republicans into power, ending 40 years of Democratic hegemony in the House, the mainstream press needed to account for this inversion of the Perfect Order of Things. A myth was born. Explained the USA Today headline: "ANGRY WHITE MEN: Their votes turn the tide for GOP."
Overnight, the revolution of the Angry White Male became conventional wisdom. In the 10 years before the 1994 election there were 56 mentions of angry white men in the media, according to LexisNexis. In the next seven months there were more than 1,400.
At the time, I looked into this story line -- and found not a scintilla of evidence to support the claim. Nonetheless, it was a necessary invention, a way for the liberal elite to delegitimize a conservative victory. And, even better, a way to assuage their moral vanity: You never lose because your ideas are sclerotic or your positions retrograde, but because your opponent appealed to the baser instincts of mankind.
Plus ca change ... Ten years and another stunning Democratic defeat later, and liberals are at it again. The Angry White Male has been transmuted into the Bigoted Christian Redneck. (full article)
SOUTH KOREANS TAUGHT NORTH KOREAN IDEOLOGY
HatTip to Mingi. This is messed up. South Korean government employees were taught North Korean "Juche" ideology at a union meeting. And what will Roh's administration do? Nothing. Messed up!
Civil Servant Union Taught Members N. Korea Ideology
THE CHOSUN ILBO
It has been revealed that North's Korea's "Juche" ideology of self reliance was taught to some members of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), which has planned a general strike for Monday, as part of the union's education programs.
The problematic material was taught to union members at the first-ever Korean Government Employees' School, which was conducted from Sept. 2 in a condominium in Asan, South Chungcheong province. The KGEU said about 85 union members were taught there. The headmaster of the program was Kim Young-gil, head of the KGEU council, against whom an arrest warrant has recently been issued in connection with the union's moves toward a general strike.
Yoo Se-hwan, an official with the National Assembly secretariat, said through his Internet homepage (www.yoosehwan.com) on Thursday that National Alliance for Democratization and Reunification of Korea (NADRK) organizational committee head Park Se-gil's 27-page, "A Philosophy to Change the World; For A World Where the Masses Become Master," which Park taught to students during a union education program lecture, was North Korea's Juche ideology.
The union's educational materials from that time, including Park's piece, were still in the KGEU homepage's document material section, and participant photos containing scenes of the education sessions were also found on the website. The materials and Yoo's criticism spread through the Internet like wildfire, sparking debate among Internet users.
Yoo claimed, "If you exclude the fact that Park's writing doesn't explicitly mention the 'theory of the Leader,' other than that, it's almost precisely identical to North Korea's Juche ideology and strategy of encouraging revolution in the South." Specifically, he pointed out that pages 69-71 of the union's educational material was an unadulterated version of the Juche ideology's view of man, while page 76's "revolutionary masses line" was a direct copy of North Korea's reunification propaganda strategy that adheres to the "class" and "masses" lines.
The Chosun Ilbo asked Sogang University Graduate School of Public Policy professor Shin Ji-ho and Citizens United for a Better Society policy director Hong Jin-pyo, both of whom are experts in Juche ideology, to compare the materials uploaded on the KGEU homepage with "About Juche," which is believed to have been written by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 1982. Both men replied that while some of the terms and expressions had been changed, much of it was the same.
Park Se-gil, who wrote the piece in question, is a former activist who graduated from Seoul National University. He penned, "Re-writing Korea's Contemporary History," which is evaluated as the history text of the past activist circle's pro-Juche "National Liberation" faction.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said Friday they had begun analyzing the union's lecture material. Police said they have opened their own investigation separate from the prosecutors' into possible National Security Law violations.
Prosecutors obtained a copy of the material lectured to KGEU members by NADRK's Park Se-gil and are currently considering whether it constituted a violation of Article 7 of the National Security Law, which bans praise of North Korea. Prosecutors plan to call those involved in for investigation should they decide legal measures were necessary.
About the, the KGEU said in a statement, "Since we don't even know what 'Juche' ideology means, we don't know how such talk could arise... All we did is to get famous lecturers to come and listen to their lectures, but people are making up stories that our union members systematically adhere to the Juche ideology."
|
HatTip to Mingi. This is messed up. South Korean government employees were taught North Korean "Juche" ideology at a union meeting. And what will Roh's administration do? Nothing. Messed up!
Civil Servant Union Taught Members N. Korea Ideology
THE CHOSUN ILBO
It has been revealed that North's Korea's "Juche" ideology of self reliance was taught to some members of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), which has planned a general strike for Monday, as part of the union's education programs.
The problematic material was taught to union members at the first-ever Korean Government Employees' School, which was conducted from Sept. 2 in a condominium in Asan, South Chungcheong province. The KGEU said about 85 union members were taught there. The headmaster of the program was Kim Young-gil, head of the KGEU council, against whom an arrest warrant has recently been issued in connection with the union's moves toward a general strike.
Yoo Se-hwan, an official with the National Assembly secretariat, said through his Internet homepage (www.yoosehwan.com) on Thursday that National Alliance for Democratization and Reunification of Korea (NADRK) organizational committee head Park Se-gil's 27-page, "A Philosophy to Change the World; For A World Where the Masses Become Master," which Park taught to students during a union education program lecture, was North Korea's Juche ideology.
The union's educational materials from that time, including Park's piece, were still in the KGEU homepage's document material section, and participant photos containing scenes of the education sessions were also found on the website. The materials and Yoo's criticism spread through the Internet like wildfire, sparking debate among Internet users.
Yoo claimed, "If you exclude the fact that Park's writing doesn't explicitly mention the 'theory of the Leader,' other than that, it's almost precisely identical to North Korea's Juche ideology and strategy of encouraging revolution in the South." Specifically, he pointed out that pages 69-71 of the union's educational material was an unadulterated version of the Juche ideology's view of man, while page 76's "revolutionary masses line" was a direct copy of North Korea's reunification propaganda strategy that adheres to the "class" and "masses" lines.
The Chosun Ilbo asked Sogang University Graduate School of Public Policy professor Shin Ji-ho and Citizens United for a Better Society policy director Hong Jin-pyo, both of whom are experts in Juche ideology, to compare the materials uploaded on the KGEU homepage with "About Juche," which is believed to have been written by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 1982. Both men replied that while some of the terms and expressions had been changed, much of it was the same.
Park Se-gil, who wrote the piece in question, is a former activist who graduated from Seoul National University. He penned, "Re-writing Korea's Contemporary History," which is evaluated as the history text of the past activist circle's pro-Juche "National Liberation" faction.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said Friday they had begun analyzing the union's lecture material. Police said they have opened their own investigation separate from the prosecutors' into possible National Security Law violations.
Prosecutors obtained a copy of the material lectured to KGEU members by NADRK's Park Se-gil and are currently considering whether it constituted a violation of Article 7 of the National Security Law, which bans praise of North Korea. Prosecutors plan to call those involved in for investigation should they decide legal measures were necessary.
About the, the KGEU said in a statement, "Since we don't even know what 'Juche' ideology means, we don't know how such talk could arise... All we did is to get famous lecturers to come and listen to their lectures, but people are making up stories that our union members systematically adhere to the Juche ideology."
Thursday, November 11, 2004
AOL BROADBAND... SINKING SHIP?
Doesn't sound good to me.
America Online, which earlier this year stopped signing up new broadband customers, is telling existing broadband subscribers in nine Southern states that they must find a new broadband carrier by Jan. 17.
Those customers who do not switch to a new broadband carrier by that date will have their accounts revert to AOL's traditional dialup service, said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley. (full article)
|
Doesn't sound good to me.
America Online, which earlier this year stopped signing up new broadband customers, is telling existing broadband subscribers in nine Southern states that they must find a new broadband carrier by Jan. 17.
Those customers who do not switch to a new broadband carrier by that date will have their accounts revert to AOL's traditional dialup service, said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley. (full article)
"MISSILE MERCHANT"... MINGI'S OP-ED IN THE NEW YORK SUN
My friend got this op-ed piece printed in The New York Sun today. Subscription is needed, but he sent me his copy so check it out.
Missile Merchant
The New York Sun
by Mingi Hyun
November 11, 2004
Over the weekend, the diplomatic row between the European Union and Iran seemed to have simmered down, with possibilities of a settlement appearing on the horizon. The trio of European powers may be palm pressing with smiles, but this is no reason to celebrate. The truth is, even if Iran's nuclear weapons programs ceased, there is no guarantee its thirst for nuclear weapons would be quenched. After all, it has a trading partner of two decades that is developing nuclear warheads as we speak: Kim Jong Il's North Korea.
Mr. Kim's regime has been generously described by Condoleezza Rice as "the world's number one merchant for ballistic missiles." Iran and North Korea's relationship dates back to the 1980s, when Iranians helped fund a then-infantile North Korean missile program. With financial support from the mullahs and technical help from the communist Chinese, the North Korean ballistic missile program has made significant progress. In 15 years, any city in America could be targeted.
In September, Mohammad Khatami paraded his Shahab-3 missiles down the streets of Tehran. Capable of reaching Israel and other American interests in the region, the ballistic missiles were draped with banners reading "Wipe Israel Off The Map" and "Crush America." The Shahab-3s are not homegrown. Their design is based on a North Korean missile and composed of North Korean parts. Such are the dangers that North Korea spreads.
Just imagine the catastrophic implications of nuclear warheads in Mr. Kim's 2005 weapons of mass destruction catalog.
What's truly worrisome about Mr. Kim's possession of nukes is that the likelihood of him selling the weapons is far greater than his putting them to use. The Kim regime has been selling weapons, be it artillery, shoulder rocket launchers or ballistic missiles for decades. The payments for those weapons have funded his military and various weapons programs, including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. His clients have included Iran, Syria, and Egypt. Thanks to the Bush administration, Iraq is no longer a client.
Other cash-generating actions that Mr. Kim has orchestrated and continues to this day are $500 million a year in heroin and methamphetamine trafficking throughout Asia, and counterfeiting American dollars and laundering them through Chinese casinos. At one point, the North Koreans even sold food aid they had received. Numerous North Korean military defectors and former dockworkers have said much of the food aid is taken to military bases, not towns with starving children. It's no wonder the North Korean military, the world's fifth largest, has remained intact while over 3 million North Korean people have literally starved to death and hundreds of thousands have fled the country due to famine since the mid-1990s. Mr. Kim continues to arm his military with more potent weapons, and he has been doing the same for like-minded roguish Middle Eastern regimes. While beefing up his military and funding costly weapons programs, he has ignored, abused, and starved his people to death.
It's difficult to say Mr. Kim leads a nation. Rather, North Korea is a family-run enterprise selling contraband to countries prohibited from purchasing weapons from Lockheed Martin or Raytheon. Selling nuclear or chemical weapons to Tehran, Damascus, or anyone willing to pay is only fitting for North Korea.
Ignoring the whoring nature of the regime, keeping it in power, and naively pursuing a draining diplomatic solution has been an ignorant mistake. For those advocates of diplomacy, we have been down that path under Bill Clinton, who gave Mr. Kim an opportunity in 1994. Since then, Mr. Kim has continued to enhance his WMD programs while blackmailing our allies and us with threats of warfare.
By providing food and energy aid, we, America, are feeding Mr. Kim's soldiers. And by sitting still for the sake of diplomacy, we are giving time for Mr. Kim's weapons programs to grow to frightening heights. By that time, waging any scale of military action would prove to be more difficult.
As America, Great Britain, and our other allies look to face more unfriendly regimes in the years ahead, seeking regime change in North Korea is a priority. Doing so would no doubt bring about a better North Korea for its people and improved security for our Asian allies, not to mention the disappearance of a major weapons proliferator. It would also help our cause of creating a peaceful Middle East and help the security of our steadfast ally in the region, Israel.
Mr. Hyun is a reporter studying in the War Studies department at King's College London.
|
My friend got this op-ed piece printed in The New York Sun today. Subscription is needed, but he sent me his copy so check it out.
Missile Merchant
The New York Sun
by Mingi Hyun
November 11, 2004
Over the weekend, the diplomatic row between the European Union and Iran seemed to have simmered down, with possibilities of a settlement appearing on the horizon. The trio of European powers may be palm pressing with smiles, but this is no reason to celebrate. The truth is, even if Iran's nuclear weapons programs ceased, there is no guarantee its thirst for nuclear weapons would be quenched. After all, it has a trading partner of two decades that is developing nuclear warheads as we speak: Kim Jong Il's North Korea.
Mr. Kim's regime has been generously described by Condoleezza Rice as "the world's number one merchant for ballistic missiles." Iran and North Korea's relationship dates back to the 1980s, when Iranians helped fund a then-infantile North Korean missile program. With financial support from the mullahs and technical help from the communist Chinese, the North Korean ballistic missile program has made significant progress. In 15 years, any city in America could be targeted.
In September, Mohammad Khatami paraded his Shahab-3 missiles down the streets of Tehran. Capable of reaching Israel and other American interests in the region, the ballistic missiles were draped with banners reading "Wipe Israel Off The Map" and "Crush America." The Shahab-3s are not homegrown. Their design is based on a North Korean missile and composed of North Korean parts. Such are the dangers that North Korea spreads.
Just imagine the catastrophic implications of nuclear warheads in Mr. Kim's 2005 weapons of mass destruction catalog.
What's truly worrisome about Mr. Kim's possession of nukes is that the likelihood of him selling the weapons is far greater than his putting them to use. The Kim regime has been selling weapons, be it artillery, shoulder rocket launchers or ballistic missiles for decades. The payments for those weapons have funded his military and various weapons programs, including nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. His clients have included Iran, Syria, and Egypt. Thanks to the Bush administration, Iraq is no longer a client.
Other cash-generating actions that Mr. Kim has orchestrated and continues to this day are $500 million a year in heroin and methamphetamine trafficking throughout Asia, and counterfeiting American dollars and laundering them through Chinese casinos. At one point, the North Koreans even sold food aid they had received. Numerous North Korean military defectors and former dockworkers have said much of the food aid is taken to military bases, not towns with starving children. It's no wonder the North Korean military, the world's fifth largest, has remained intact while over 3 million North Korean people have literally starved to death and hundreds of thousands have fled the country due to famine since the mid-1990s. Mr. Kim continues to arm his military with more potent weapons, and he has been doing the same for like-minded roguish Middle Eastern regimes. While beefing up his military and funding costly weapons programs, he has ignored, abused, and starved his people to death.
It's difficult to say Mr. Kim leads a nation. Rather, North Korea is a family-run enterprise selling contraband to countries prohibited from purchasing weapons from Lockheed Martin or Raytheon. Selling nuclear or chemical weapons to Tehran, Damascus, or anyone willing to pay is only fitting for North Korea.
Ignoring the whoring nature of the regime, keeping it in power, and naively pursuing a draining diplomatic solution has been an ignorant mistake. For those advocates of diplomacy, we have been down that path under Bill Clinton, who gave Mr. Kim an opportunity in 1994. Since then, Mr. Kim has continued to enhance his WMD programs while blackmailing our allies and us with threats of warfare.
By providing food and energy aid, we, America, are feeding Mr. Kim's soldiers. And by sitting still for the sake of diplomacy, we are giving time for Mr. Kim's weapons programs to grow to frightening heights. By that time, waging any scale of military action would prove to be more difficult.
As America, Great Britain, and our other allies look to face more unfriendly regimes in the years ahead, seeking regime change in North Korea is a priority. Doing so would no doubt bring about a better North Korea for its people and improved security for our Asian allies, not to mention the disappearance of a major weapons proliferator. It would also help our cause of creating a peaceful Middle East and help the security of our steadfast ally in the region, Israel.
Mr. Hyun is a reporter studying in the War Studies department at King's College London.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
MICRSOFT LAUNCHING NEW SEARCH ENGINE TECHNOLOGY... SHOT ACROSS GOOGLE'S BOW
Microsoft knocking on Google's door. Has anyone ever stopped them from dominating a market? Apple? Netscape? Hmmm... Sony, but how long will PS2 stay on top? Google?
Microsoft to launch new search engine technology
Web users will be able to test-drive Microsoft's latest search efforts starting Thursday
IDG News Service
By Scarlet Pruitt
November 10, 2004
Microsoft Corp. is set to unleash its much-anticipated search technology on Thursday, as it ramps up efforts to take on market leader Google Inc.
The new search engine will go live on the company's MSN Web site, a representative for the company said.
The software giant has made clear its plans to conquer the lucrative search market, teasing industry watchers with Web and desktop search previews. In June, Microsoft upgraded its MSN Search site and it has been posting new search technology prototypes at its testing site http://sandbox.msn.com. Meanwhile, company executives have stated their intentions to take Google to the mat. (full article)
|
Microsoft knocking on Google's door. Has anyone ever stopped them from dominating a market? Apple? Netscape? Hmmm... Sony, but how long will PS2 stay on top? Google?
Microsoft to launch new search engine technology
Web users will be able to test-drive Microsoft's latest search efforts starting Thursday
IDG News Service
By Scarlet Pruitt
November 10, 2004
Microsoft Corp. is set to unleash its much-anticipated search technology on Thursday, as it ramps up efforts to take on market leader Google Inc.
The new search engine will go live on the company's MSN Web site, a representative for the company said.
The software giant has made clear its plans to conquer the lucrative search market, teasing industry watchers with Web and desktop search previews. In June, Microsoft upgraded its MSN Search site and it has been posting new search technology prototypes at its testing site http://sandbox.msn.com. Meanwhile, company executives have stated their intentions to take Google to the mat. (full article)
SONIM TECHNOLOGIES GETS $16 MILLION
I met Paul from Sonim back in April in Seoul and introduced him to LG Telecom as a favor to my friend. They are in an interesting and crowded space with about nine companies fighting to be the leading Push-to-Talk (PTT) technology provider to wireless companies in the world. Push-to-Talk definitely is a sticky service that creates higher monthly ARPUs (average revenue per user) and decreases churn rates. Nextel's success is the example everyone points to since they have the highest ARPUs and lowest churn rates.
They just closed a round of financing for $16 million, but back in February of this year they closed a round of $28 million. I know they didn't raise $28 million with the expectation of raising more money within a year. I wonder what made them go back to the well?
|
I met Paul from Sonim back in April in Seoul and introduced him to LG Telecom as a favor to my friend. They are in an interesting and crowded space with about nine companies fighting to be the leading Push-to-Talk (PTT) technology provider to wireless companies in the world. Push-to-Talk definitely is a sticky service that creates higher monthly ARPUs (average revenue per user) and decreases churn rates. Nextel's success is the example everyone points to since they have the highest ARPUs and lowest churn rates.
They just closed a round of financing for $16 million, but back in February of this year they closed a round of $28 million. I know they didn't raise $28 million with the expectation of raising more money within a year. I wonder what made them go back to the well?
GAGA OVER GOOGLE... WELL NOT EVERYBODY
Today Google's stock price is around $172 per share with a market cap of $46.5 billion. Down a bit from its outrageous high of 201.6 a couple weeks back. Anyways, here's an article on Google's success and its next steps:
Google Is On The GO-gle
TechWeb.com
By Don St. John
October 28, 2004
Maybe they should rename themselves Googleplex. With its successful and long-awaited IPO behind it, Google is employing the capital it's raised to begin forays into a host of new markets. And its performance of the past few years has given it a signal distinction for 2004—the #1 ranking on the Deloitte & Touche list of fastest growing tech companies, with a ridiculous revenue growth rate of 437,115%. A googleplex is 10 to the power of google—itself 10 to the power of 100, a mighty huge number—and that's seemingly how much Google has grown.
So, what to expect from the newest behemoth of the tech industry? The most interesting new initiative is a beta test of a mobile Short Message Service (SMS) that would confirm the frequent rumors that Google would like a piece of the IM market. Besides its implications for the enterprise, where messaging continues to be a hot item, consumers would also benefit from the innovative product-finder capabilities being built into the service—finding a restaurant based on the ZIP code, for example. Google's extension of its book-finding service is another consumer-based app that puts it squarely on Amazon's lucrative turf, even as Amazon seeks to challenge Google in search with its A9 offering.
However, the highest-profile release from Google is the recent rollout of its desktop-search application, which takes its methods of searching the Web and applies them to the clutter of your own PC. It already has security implications (the company recommends not using it on shared computers) and, as a free release, it isn't a revenue builder. But what it does build—much like its signature Web-search tool, its news aggregator, and its Google Toolbar for Web browsers—is the company's valuable brand. For much of the tech and consumer community, Google equals search, and beating its rivals to the desktop punch can only help it solidify its position as the name in search technology.
That branding will remain important to Google. Search continues to be a primary function for most computer users. A recent survey showed almost 25 percent of Americans have gone online to search for a person, be it friend, customer, or employee. And it's search, and the paid ads that accompany it, that continues to drive Google's revenue base. Still, with some believing that search is maturing and slowing down as a business model, it's incumbent in the face of intense competition for Google to not sit still. All indications are that it's already figured that Google in on the go.
Here is an old article on the inside story of their IPO ("Behind the Google IPO: A tale of hubris and greed") and a post poking fun at Google's corporate philosophy.
|
Today Google's stock price is around $172 per share with a market cap of $46.5 billion. Down a bit from its outrageous high of 201.6 a couple weeks back. Anyways, here's an article on Google's success and its next steps:
Google Is On The GO-gle
TechWeb.com
By Don St. John
October 28, 2004
Maybe they should rename themselves Googleplex. With its successful and long-awaited IPO behind it, Google is employing the capital it's raised to begin forays into a host of new markets. And its performance of the past few years has given it a signal distinction for 2004—the #1 ranking on the Deloitte & Touche list of fastest growing tech companies, with a ridiculous revenue growth rate of 437,115%. A googleplex is 10 to the power of google—itself 10 to the power of 100, a mighty huge number—and that's seemingly how much Google has grown.
So, what to expect from the newest behemoth of the tech industry? The most interesting new initiative is a beta test of a mobile Short Message Service (SMS) that would confirm the frequent rumors that Google would like a piece of the IM market. Besides its implications for the enterprise, where messaging continues to be a hot item, consumers would also benefit from the innovative product-finder capabilities being built into the service—finding a restaurant based on the ZIP code, for example. Google's extension of its book-finding service is another consumer-based app that puts it squarely on Amazon's lucrative turf, even as Amazon seeks to challenge Google in search with its A9 offering.
However, the highest-profile release from Google is the recent rollout of its desktop-search application, which takes its methods of searching the Web and applies them to the clutter of your own PC. It already has security implications (the company recommends not using it on shared computers) and, as a free release, it isn't a revenue builder. But what it does build—much like its signature Web-search tool, its news aggregator, and its Google Toolbar for Web browsers—is the company's valuable brand. For much of the tech and consumer community, Google equals search, and beating its rivals to the desktop punch can only help it solidify its position as the name in search technology.
That branding will remain important to Google. Search continues to be a primary function for most computer users. A recent survey showed almost 25 percent of Americans have gone online to search for a person, be it friend, customer, or employee. And it's search, and the paid ads that accompany it, that continues to drive Google's revenue base. Still, with some believing that search is maturing and slowing down as a business model, it's incumbent in the face of intense competition for Google to not sit still. All indications are that it's already figured that Google in on the go.
Here is an old article on the inside story of their IPO ("Behind the Google IPO: A tale of hubris and greed") and a post poking fun at Google's corporate philosophy.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
ANOTHER PLUG FOR INNOTIVE... ELECTION NIGHT GADGETRY
The company I am an advisor for, Innotive, displayed their technology this past election night on CBS Nightly News:
The TV networks may have played it safe when calling election results on Tuesday night, but many were on the cutting edge when it came to outfitting newscasters with high-tech gadgetry.
Among the most notable displays of electronic wizardry was on CBS Nightly News. Correspondent John Roberts seemed to mimic Tom Cruise in the movie "Minority Report," using his fingertips to control a 50-inch touch-screen monitor displaying maps of the country and various states. With a wave of his hand, Roberts magnified and dragged the maps around--each one spliced with detailed demographic, polling and election-returns data.
.....
CBS's futuristic plasma monitor was particularly mesmerizing. It was the creation of three technology suppliers, which spent eight months designing and building the system for CBS News just for election night. Panasonic supplied the hardware, while a small South Korean company called Innotive designed the drag-and-zoom interface. (full article)
When I use to do presentations and demos for Innotive, the "Minority Report" reference was stated often by people who saw the technology for the very first time. Here are some more articles at the NY Daily News and The Washington Post.
You can download a video clip of the actual presentation here.
|
The company I am an advisor for, Innotive, displayed their technology this past election night on CBS Nightly News:
The TV networks may have played it safe when calling election results on Tuesday night, but many were on the cutting edge when it came to outfitting newscasters with high-tech gadgetry.
Among the most notable displays of electronic wizardry was on CBS Nightly News. Correspondent John Roberts seemed to mimic Tom Cruise in the movie "Minority Report," using his fingertips to control a 50-inch touch-screen monitor displaying maps of the country and various states. With a wave of his hand, Roberts magnified and dragged the maps around--each one spliced with detailed demographic, polling and election-returns data.
.....
CBS's futuristic plasma monitor was particularly mesmerizing. It was the creation of three technology suppliers, which spent eight months designing and building the system for CBS News just for election night. Panasonic supplied the hardware, while a small South Korean company called Innotive designed the drag-and-zoom interface. (full article)
When I use to do presentations and demos for Innotive, the "Minority Report" reference was stated often by people who saw the technology for the very first time. Here are some more articles at the NY Daily News and The Washington Post.
You can download a video clip of the actual presentation here.
Monday, November 08, 2004
SUNSHINE POLICY SUCKS... ACTIVE NORTH KOREA LAUGHS AT WORLD
HatTip to Mingi. Not real news. No suprise that North Korea is active in this manner since it continues to blackmail the world while gaining the fruits from its trade of nuclear weapon building blocks.
North Korea Exported Nuclear Materials to Iran
THE DONGA ILBO
Japan's Sankei Shimbun, citing Japan's military sources, reported on Sunday that North Korea exported fluorine gas, one of the ingredients for building a nuclear weapon, to Iran in May of this year.
According to the Shimbun, North Korea air transported several kilograms of fluorine gas, a requisite material for producing the "fluorinated uranium (UF6)," a material needed for making enriched uranium, to Iran on May 20.
The sources asserted that "Iran entered into a treaty with North Korea due to the fluorine import difficulties arising from international trading restrictions, indicating that North Korea is participating in Iran's nuclear development program."
|
HatTip to Mingi. Not real news. No suprise that North Korea is active in this manner since it continues to blackmail the world while gaining the fruits from its trade of nuclear weapon building blocks.
North Korea Exported Nuclear Materials to Iran
THE DONGA ILBO
Japan's Sankei Shimbun, citing Japan's military sources, reported on Sunday that North Korea exported fluorine gas, one of the ingredients for building a nuclear weapon, to Iran in May of this year.
According to the Shimbun, North Korea air transported several kilograms of fluorine gas, a requisite material for producing the "fluorinated uranium (UF6)," a material needed for making enriched uranium, to Iran on May 20.
The sources asserted that "Iran entered into a treaty with North Korea due to the fluorine import difficulties arising from international trading restrictions, indicating that North Korea is participating in Iran's nuclear development program."
SPEEGLE... TALKING SEARCH ENGINE
A talking search engine by CEC Systems (Edinburgh, UK). They aren't part of Google, but they supposedly are powered by Google's search engine.
|
A talking search engine by CEC Systems (Edinburgh, UK). They aren't part of Google, but they supposedly are powered by Google's search engine.
GAY MARRIAGE MYTH... DRIVING FORCES OF THE ELECTION VOTE
Paul Freedman over at Slate writes how the gay marriage issue winning the election is a myth. It has been overplayed in the media and by Dems since the election. I'm sure it was driving force, but maybe not "the" force in the election:
Did "moral values"—in particular, the anti-gay marriage measures on ballots in 11 states this week—drive President Bush's re-election? That's the early conventional wisdom as Democrats begin soul-searching and finger-pointing. These measures are alleged to have drawn Christian conservatives to the polls, many of whom failed to vote last time. The theory is intriguing, but the data don't support it. Gay marriage and values didn't decide this election. Terrorism did.
The morality theory rests on three claims. The first is that gay-marriage bans led to higher turnout, chiefly among Christian conservatives. The second is that Bush performed especially well where gay marriage was on the ballot. The third is that in general, moral issues decided the election.
The evidence that having a gay-marriage ban on the ballot increased voter turnout is spotty. Marriage-ban states did see higher turnout than states without such measures. They also saw higher increases in turnout compared with four years ago. But these differences are relatively small. Based on preliminary turnout estimates, 59.5 percent of the eligible voting population turned out in marriage-ban states, whereas 59.1 percent turned out elsewhere. This is a microscopic gap when compared to other factors. For example, turnout in battleground states was more than 7.5 points higher than it was in less-competitive states, and it increased much more over 2000 as well. (full article)
|
Paul Freedman over at Slate writes how the gay marriage issue winning the election is a myth. It has been overplayed in the media and by Dems since the election. I'm sure it was driving force, but maybe not "the" force in the election:
Did "moral values"—in particular, the anti-gay marriage measures on ballots in 11 states this week—drive President Bush's re-election? That's the early conventional wisdom as Democrats begin soul-searching and finger-pointing. These measures are alleged to have drawn Christian conservatives to the polls, many of whom failed to vote last time. The theory is intriguing, but the data don't support it. Gay marriage and values didn't decide this election. Terrorism did.
The morality theory rests on three claims. The first is that gay-marriage bans led to higher turnout, chiefly among Christian conservatives. The second is that Bush performed especially well where gay marriage was on the ballot. The third is that in general, moral issues decided the election.
The evidence that having a gay-marriage ban on the ballot increased voter turnout is spotty. Marriage-ban states did see higher turnout than states without such measures. They also saw higher increases in turnout compared with four years ago. But these differences are relatively small. Based on preliminary turnout estimates, 59.5 percent of the eligible voting population turned out in marriage-ban states, whereas 59.1 percent turned out elsewhere. This is a microscopic gap when compared to other factors. For example, turnout in battleground states was more than 7.5 points higher than it was in less-competitive states, and it increased much more over 2000 as well. (full article)
CAN NETFLIX SURVIVE?... I SPOKE TOO SOON
Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Amazon... Everybody Is Jumping In
I guess I should take back a few words from my post back in February of this year for AlwaysOn. The real question behind my prior post and this one is "how will all this be effected when video-on-demand services become mainstay in homes?"
News.com has a good series of articles on Netflix, its competitors, and the changing movie rental industry:
After years with little competition, online DVD rental company Netflix is facing a price war with Blockbuster and Wal-Mart. Amazon.com is likely to enter the market early next year. The result has been plunging prices and ramped-up marketing that is saving consumers money. Netflix executives have candidly said they didn't expect the competition this year. But now that the tides have turned, they're doing everything they can to avoid being "Amazon-ed." Can they hold their ground against the big boys? (series page)
|
Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Amazon... Everybody Is Jumping In
I guess I should take back a few words from my post back in February of this year for AlwaysOn. The real question behind my prior post and this one is "how will all this be effected when video-on-demand services become mainstay in homes?"
News.com has a good series of articles on Netflix, its competitors, and the changing movie rental industry:
After years with little competition, online DVD rental company Netflix is facing a price war with Blockbuster and Wal-Mart. Amazon.com is likely to enter the market early next year. The result has been plunging prices and ramped-up marketing that is saving consumers money. Netflix executives have candidly said they didn't expect the competition this year. But now that the tides have turned, they're doing everything they can to avoid being "Amazon-ed." Can they hold their ground against the big boys? (series page)
Saturday, November 06, 2004
CGI IS THE HOT SEGMENT OF THE MOVIE INDUSTRY... THE INCREDIBLES
Blogger was down yesterday, so I didn't get to post anything. I saw "The Incredibles" last night. It was good, but not great. The story has some slow parts and some predictable scenes, especially if you're an old comic book fan, but a overall decent film.
The CGI segment of the movie industry is definitely the hot growth area. The youth market is underserved and growing while the average cost of production on these films are lower than the industry average. Making the average margins on these computer-generate imagery movies gold for the major movie studios. Every studio that hasn't secured CGI partner is looking for one. Disney and Pixar are up in the air, but still the standard of the industry. Dreamworks bought out PDI a few years back ("Antz" & "Shrek"). Fox bought Blue Sky ("Ice Age"). Here are some other snapshots of the industry I had from a deal I worked on:
On the last slide, you might be able to notice or remember from these movies the difference in quality between "Monsters, Inc." and "Johnny Neutron," which let to the huge difference in cost (e.g. free-floating hair on the monsters vs. johnny's stiff, immobile hair).
|
Blogger was down yesterday, so I didn't get to post anything. I saw "The Incredibles" last night. It was good, but not great. The story has some slow parts and some predictable scenes, especially if you're an old comic book fan, but a overall decent film.
The CGI segment of the movie industry is definitely the hot growth area. The youth market is underserved and growing while the average cost of production on these films are lower than the industry average. Making the average margins on these computer-generate imagery movies gold for the major movie studios. Every studio that hasn't secured CGI partner is looking for one. Disney and Pixar are up in the air, but still the standard of the industry. Dreamworks bought out PDI a few years back ("Antz" & "Shrek"). Fox bought Blue Sky ("Ice Age"). Here are some other snapshots of the industry I had from a deal I worked on:
On the last slide, you might be able to notice or remember from these movies the difference in quality between "Monsters, Inc." and "Johnny Neutron," which let to the huge difference in cost (e.g. free-floating hair on the monsters vs. johnny's stiff, immobile hair).
RETURN OF BOBBY JINDAL... INDIAN AMERICAN IN CONGRESS
HatTip to Power Line. Jindal is good for U.S. Congress, Asian Americans, Republicans, and America:
We were sorely disappointed last November when Republican Bobby Jindal narrowly lost to Democrat Kathleen Blanco in his Louisiana gubernatorial bid. Jindal is a 33-year-old wunderkind -- a policy wonk with degrees from Brown and Oxford -- whose parents emigrated from India to Baton Rouge before he was born. (full post)
|
HatTip to Power Line. Jindal is good for U.S. Congress, Asian Americans, Republicans, and America:
We were sorely disappointed last November when Republican Bobby Jindal narrowly lost to Democrat Kathleen Blanco in his Louisiana gubernatorial bid. Jindal is a 33-year-old wunderkind -- a policy wonk with degrees from Brown and Oxford -- whose parents emigrated from India to Baton Rouge before he was born. (full post)
Thursday, November 04, 2004
COASTAL ELITES LICK THEIR WOUNDS... GET OVER IT
Hip, Cool Intellectuals? Naw... Nerdy, Geeky, Dorky
Great commentary by Thomas Lifton at The American Thinker:
It is amusing to scan the left wing pundits and read their sorry ruminations on the election results. William Saletan of Slate thinks that Bush won because he is simple (and so are you, stupid Americans).
Bush is a very simple man. You may think that makes him a bad president, as I do, but lots of people don't—and there are more of them than there are of us.
Democracy really is a terrible burden on the coastal elites!
Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times is more nuanced (forgive me that expression!). He understands that the elitism of the Hollywood and New York crowds is repelling more people than it is attracting. Still, he cannot help condescending himself, as he writes of
...millions of farmers, factory workers and waitresses who ended up voting - utterly against their own interests - for Republican candidates. (full post)
Wonkette has notes from some of the liberal "elite" contemplating leaving the U.S. or forming their own nation:
Where are all the hip young intellectuals heading? I'd hate to end up in France if all the cool kids are going to Canada, and vice versa.
First, I find these self-proclaimed "hip young intellectuals" amusing and off because I always thought some of my friends and I were the hip, young intellectuals. And we supported Bush. When did they start thinking that they got the sole rights on this title? Going down their path of thinking, I would have to generalize that the hip young intellectuals on the left are simply the pure nerds. Geeks without guts. Idealists without a base. While the hip young intellectuals from the right are the well-round and grounded ones. Smart, athletic, cool... Yeah, you geeky, wannabes go to Canada and have your fluffy discussions and sip your almond coconut cappuccino while the real "hip young intellectuals" stay in beautiful America and talk and work on real issues. Hahaha, I crack myself up.
Anyways, great timing since I waited a day to post this and I received the following email from my Clintonite friend that is making the rounds among the Democrats and liberal "elites":
American Coastopia!
11/2/04
Ladies and gentlemen, you needn't fret anymore. We have decided that we can't live in the United States anymore, because so many of you in the "heartland" are so full of shit. We were all going to move to various other countries, but then we thought - why should WE move?
We are tired of rednecks in Oklahoma picking the leader who will determine if it is safe for us to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. We are sick of homophobic knuckle-draggers in Wyoming contributing to the national debate on our gay marriages. So we have done the only thing we could.
We seceded.
May I present to you: AMERICAN COASTOPIA.
That's right, American Coastopia. The states of Washington, Oregon and California are joining us on one coast, and we will provide all of New England. In the middle of the country, we have taken Iowa and Illinois, mostly because we need the fine produce of Iowa's soil, and the museums in Chicago are fabulous.
The other dot is New Orleans, which you don't deserve. American Coastopia needs a place to gamble, and the locals want nothing to do with you.
Sure, you can visit, but it isn't part of your country anymore.
I can sense your worry. Who will get all the banks? You can fucking have most of them, because we're taking downtown and midtown Manhattan back, turning the whole thing into a giant artist colony replete with movie studios and progressive think tanks. Wall Street and other financial institutions will be relocated to Charlotte, which we believe will suit your needs better. Frankly, the good folks in Manhattan are sick of being a terrorist target for your benefit.
A word about our politics. Abortions will be safe and legal in American Coastopia, and homosexual men and women will be free to marry at their discretion. We will have our own currency, and trade with any countries we want. Everyone will have health care. Everyone will have an identity card. Homelessness and unemployment will be
virtually unknown. We believe in a meritocracy and a huge chasm between church and state. 100% of our cars will be hybrid by 2006.
Yes, we're taking all the people that ever created everything beautiful. Yes, we're taking all the funny people too. All the sculptors, architects, surgeons, philosophers, violinists and fishermen. You should have treated them better when you had them.
We have no pledge of allegiance, but I can say this: I am no longer from your United States of America. I belong to American Coastopia, the United States of My Friends, the Nation of Two: my wife and I. We hold our noses as we fly over you. We are sickened by the way you treat people that are different from you. The rest of the world despises America, and we don't want to be lumped in with you anymore.
Please, all of you who went to bed last night sick with worry, come to us. In American Coastopia, the light is always on, the hazelnut lattés are always hot, and we have a trundle bed for each and every one of you.
|
Hip, Cool Intellectuals? Naw... Nerdy, Geeky, Dorky
Great commentary by Thomas Lifton at The American Thinker:
It is amusing to scan the left wing pundits and read their sorry ruminations on the election results. William Saletan of Slate thinks that Bush won because he is simple (and so are you, stupid Americans).
Bush is a very simple man. You may think that makes him a bad president, as I do, but lots of people don't—and there are more of them than there are of us.
Democracy really is a terrible burden on the coastal elites!
Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times is more nuanced (forgive me that expression!). He understands that the elitism of the Hollywood and New York crowds is repelling more people than it is attracting. Still, he cannot help condescending himself, as he writes of
...millions of farmers, factory workers and waitresses who ended up voting - utterly against their own interests - for Republican candidates. (full post)
Wonkette has notes from some of the liberal "elite" contemplating leaving the U.S. or forming their own nation:
Where are all the hip young intellectuals heading? I'd hate to end up in France if all the cool kids are going to Canada, and vice versa.
First, I find these self-proclaimed "hip young intellectuals" amusing and off because I always thought some of my friends and I were the hip, young intellectuals. And we supported Bush. When did they start thinking that they got the sole rights on this title? Going down their path of thinking, I would have to generalize that the hip young intellectuals on the left are simply the pure nerds. Geeks without guts. Idealists without a base. While the hip young intellectuals from the right are the well-round and grounded ones. Smart, athletic, cool... Yeah, you geeky, wannabes go to Canada and have your fluffy discussions and sip your almond coconut cappuccino while the real "hip young intellectuals" stay in beautiful America and talk and work on real issues. Hahaha, I crack myself up.
Anyways, great timing since I waited a day to post this and I received the following email from my Clintonite friend that is making the rounds among the Democrats and liberal "elites":
American Coastopia!
11/2/04
Ladies and gentlemen, you needn't fret anymore. We have decided that we can't live in the United States anymore, because so many of you in the "heartland" are so full of shit. We were all going to move to various other countries, but then we thought - why should WE move?
We are tired of rednecks in Oklahoma picking the leader who will determine if it is safe for us to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. We are sick of homophobic knuckle-draggers in Wyoming contributing to the national debate on our gay marriages. So we have done the only thing we could.
We seceded.
May I present to you: AMERICAN COASTOPIA.
That's right, American Coastopia. The states of Washington, Oregon and California are joining us on one coast, and we will provide all of New England. In the middle of the country, we have taken Iowa and Illinois, mostly because we need the fine produce of Iowa's soil, and the museums in Chicago are fabulous.
The other dot is New Orleans, which you don't deserve. American Coastopia needs a place to gamble, and the locals want nothing to do with you.
Sure, you can visit, but it isn't part of your country anymore.
I can sense your worry. Who will get all the banks? You can fucking have most of them, because we're taking downtown and midtown Manhattan back, turning the whole thing into a giant artist colony replete with movie studios and progressive think tanks. Wall Street and other financial institutions will be relocated to Charlotte, which we believe will suit your needs better. Frankly, the good folks in Manhattan are sick of being a terrorist target for your benefit.
A word about our politics. Abortions will be safe and legal in American Coastopia, and homosexual men and women will be free to marry at their discretion. We will have our own currency, and trade with any countries we want. Everyone will have health care. Everyone will have an identity card. Homelessness and unemployment will be
virtually unknown. We believe in a meritocracy and a huge chasm between church and state. 100% of our cars will be hybrid by 2006.
Yes, we're taking all the people that ever created everything beautiful. Yes, we're taking all the funny people too. All the sculptors, architects, surgeons, philosophers, violinists and fishermen. You should have treated them better when you had them.
We have no pledge of allegiance, but I can say this: I am no longer from your United States of America. I belong to American Coastopia, the United States of My Friends, the Nation of Two: my wife and I. We hold our noses as we fly over you. We are sickened by the way you treat people that are different from you. The rest of the world despises America, and we don't want to be lumped in with you anymore.
Please, all of you who went to bed last night sick with worry, come to us. In American Coastopia, the light is always on, the hazelnut lattés are always hot, and we have a trundle bed for each and every one of you.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
ELECTION STRATEGY BY KARL ROVE... MOBILIZING THE EVANGELICALS
It was interesting listening to a segment on CNN on one approach by Karl Rove during this election. In the past, some campaign strategists have targeted the end of the political spectrums during the primaries and moved towards the center afterwards. Rove took a different approach and moved outwards not in. He focused on issues, such as gay marriage, that drove evangelical Christians to the polls. In 2000, over 4 million evangelical Christian voters stayed at home, so his objective was to get them out this time around.
One anecdotal example of the effectiveness of this strategy is looking within Korean American churches. I know from a handful of friends who told me that their parents were voting for the first time in their lives because of the gay marriage issue. Korean American churches, which are notoriously apathetic when it comes to any community issue much less political, were establishing voter drives and pushing their members to vote for Bush. If Korean American churches were this active, I can only imagine what some mainstream churches were doing. Chalk one up for Rove.
|
It was interesting listening to a segment on CNN on one approach by Karl Rove during this election. In the past, some campaign strategists have targeted the end of the political spectrums during the primaries and moved towards the center afterwards. Rove took a different approach and moved outwards not in. He focused on issues, such as gay marriage, that drove evangelical Christians to the polls. In 2000, over 4 million evangelical Christian voters stayed at home, so his objective was to get them out this time around.
One anecdotal example of the effectiveness of this strategy is looking within Korean American churches. I know from a handful of friends who told me that their parents were voting for the first time in their lives because of the gay marriage issue. Korean American churches, which are notoriously apathetic when it comes to any community issue much less political, were establishing voter drives and pushing their members to vote for Bush. If Korean American churches were this active, I can only imagine what some mainstream churches were doing. Chalk one up for Rove.
COMMENTARY ON THE ELECTION FROM THE LEFT... KEVIN DRUM
The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum:
BEFORE THE BLOODLETTING....I know the Ohio provisionals are yet to be counted, but it looks to me like George Bush won. This is obviously a pretty devastating loss for liberals, made worse by the fact that we can expect no quarter from the Bush White House over the next four years, close election or not. It's going to be tough, discouraging sledding for liberals.
But while there will be plenty of time for some valuable and needed soul searching over the next months and years, I have a few miscellaneous thoughts before the bloodletting starts:
I hope Democrats resist the urge to lash out at John Kerry. After all, the conventional wisdom said that a liberal senator from Massachusetts would get swamped, but in fact the election was razor close. It all came down to 1% of the vote in one state. (full post)
|
The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum:
BEFORE THE BLOODLETTING....I know the Ohio provisionals are yet to be counted, but it looks to me like George Bush won. This is obviously a pretty devastating loss for liberals, made worse by the fact that we can expect no quarter from the Bush White House over the next four years, close election or not. It's going to be tough, discouraging sledding for liberals.
But while there will be plenty of time for some valuable and needed soul searching over the next months and years, I have a few miscellaneous thoughts before the bloodletting starts:
I hope Democrats resist the urge to lash out at John Kerry. After all, the conventional wisdom said that a liberal senator from Massachusetts would get swamped, but in fact the election was razor close. It all came down to 1% of the vote in one state. (full post)
EXIT-POLL OUTRAGE... DICK MORRIS SPEAKS OUT
Makes you wonder about the networks... again.
IN the end, George W. Bush won the elec tion. But the net works were afraid to report that fact to us because their exit polls showed Kerry winning. Conditioned to believe that exit polls could never be wrong, the news anchors were left stuttering and stammering.
Before the polls closed, a friend called me with the results of the ABC-TV tracking polls reflecting a Kerry win in all but one of the swing states. Like the network anchors on election night, I concluded that Kerry would win in a walk.
But then the returns came in. In state after state, it became clear that Bush was running ahead of his performance in 2000: first, Kentucky, three points better, then Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, all for Bush by more than he had in 2000.
Was Bush just piling up votes in his base states? Then Massachusetts came in. Bush lost Massachusetts with 37 percent of the vote — a wipeout — but he had lost the Bay State in 2000 getting only 32 percent of the vote.
That Bush ran better in Kerry's home state than he did in 2000 when he opposed a Tennessean gave me a clear sense that Bush was going to win.
Why did the exit polls show such a Democratic win when the Republicans were ahead all along? Why did they bias the coverage in the favor of the Democrats when Bush was winning from the beginning?
Exit polls are almost impossible to get wrong this way. They are based on interviews with voters as they leave the polling places having just cast their ballots. They don't reflect absentee, mail-in or early-voting ballots, of course — but these voters generally tend Republican. When you combine military votes with those of voters who are likely to travel and need absentee ballots, the bias is all pro-Republican.
...
But these exit polls were wrong. And the fact that they were so totally, disastrously wrong is a national scandal. There should be a national investigation to unearth the story behind the bias. (full article)
|
|
Makes you wonder about the networks... again.
IN the end, George W. Bush won the elec tion. But the net works were afraid to report that fact to us because their exit polls showed Kerry winning. Conditioned to believe that exit polls could never be wrong, the news anchors were left stuttering and stammering.
Before the polls closed, a friend called me with the results of the ABC-TV tracking polls reflecting a Kerry win in all but one of the swing states. Like the network anchors on election night, I concluded that Kerry would win in a walk.
But then the returns came in. In state after state, it became clear that Bush was running ahead of his performance in 2000: first, Kentucky, three points better, then Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, all for Bush by more than he had in 2000.
Was Bush just piling up votes in his base states? Then Massachusetts came in. Bush lost Massachusetts with 37 percent of the vote — a wipeout — but he had lost the Bay State in 2000 getting only 32 percent of the vote.
That Bush ran better in Kerry's home state than he did in 2000 when he opposed a Tennessean gave me a clear sense that Bush was going to win.
Why did the exit polls show such a Democratic win when the Republicans were ahead all along? Why did they bias the coverage in the favor of the Democrats when Bush was winning from the beginning?
Exit polls are almost impossible to get wrong this way. They are based on interviews with voters as they leave the polling places having just cast their ballots. They don't reflect absentee, mail-in or early-voting ballots, of course — but these voters generally tend Republican. When you combine military votes with those of voters who are likely to travel and need absentee ballots, the bias is all pro-Republican.
...
But these exit polls were wrong. And the fact that they were so totally, disastrously wrong is a national scandal. There should be a national investigation to unearth the story behind the bias. (full article)
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
NERVOUS BUT HAPPY... BUSH WILL WIN?
Nothing is certain yet, but Andrew Sullivan has already given it to Bush and goes to sleep depressed...
President Bush is narrowly re-elected. It was a wild day with the biggest black eyes for exit pollsters. I wanted Kerry to win.
Little Green Footballs does too, but they are rejoicing over there.
Power Line has some good posts on the election results. While Fox and NBC confirm Ohio has gone for the President, CNN will not concede. Sort of annoying. Let's see what happens. The updated results from Ohio have just increased the margin.
I was actually nervous early in the day. Thinking about the horrors of have such a self-centered, baseless man as our president. A do-nothing that hedged himself for 19 years in the U.S. Senate without a major bill to his name... 19 years! This would have seriously have depressed me. Darkness would have covered America... okay, I'm being lame. Anyways, it seems that Bush will win, so I'm very happy right now.
|
Nothing is certain yet, but Andrew Sullivan has already given it to Bush and goes to sleep depressed...
President Bush is narrowly re-elected. It was a wild day with the biggest black eyes for exit pollsters. I wanted Kerry to win.
Little Green Footballs does too, but they are rejoicing over there.
Power Line has some good posts on the election results. While Fox and NBC confirm Ohio has gone for the President, CNN will not concede. Sort of annoying. Let's see what happens. The updated results from Ohio have just increased the margin.
I was actually nervous early in the day. Thinking about the horrors of have such a self-centered, baseless man as our president. A do-nothing that hedged himself for 19 years in the U.S. Senate without a major bill to his name... 19 years! This would have seriously have depressed me. Darkness would have covered America... okay, I'm being lame. Anyways, it seems that Bush will win, so I'm very happy right now.
Monday, November 01, 2004
ELECTION FRAUD WORRIES... MY EXPERIENCE AS A POLLWATCHER
Both sides are preparing a potential legal battle if the election comes down to a few hundred votes in certain swing states. Both sides are claiming early examples of election fraud.
Republicans already lost one legal battle in Ohio due to a loyal Clinton appointee:
The arguments that Democrats make in opposition to any efforts to reform our voting procedures often approach perilously close to the claim that Democrats, at least, have a Constitutional right to commit fraud. That seems to be the case in Ohio, where, following a bizarre Sunday night hearing, federal Judge Susan Dlott held that it is unconstitutional to have poll watchers in that state. Judge Dlott thus substituted her opinion for that of the Ohio legislature, which has enacted statutes that provide for poll watchers.
Poll watchers are necessary especially for elements that attempt to use intimidation and physical threat as a means of discouraging people to vote. Back in 1994, I was a poll watcher for the Republican Party in Illinois. I was a grunt for Governor Jim Edgar and one of the few non-attorneys that volunteered for this duty. I was assigned to a handful of districts to see that rules were being followed and everything was in order on Election Day. We were escorted and driven by a Chicago Police officer for our safety. It wasn't an important election cycle since the presidential race was two years before, and I was poll watching in a Democratic stronghold but it was an eye-opening experience.
Even during a relatively unimportant election year, some of these districts had their candidate supporters and "pushers" out in full force. I remember the first voting site I visited that early morning. A handful of guys from a local union came by the elementary school where the voting was taking place, measured 50 feet from the door (Illinois law didn't allow any political discourse within 50 feet of the polling site... pretty sure about this, but this might have changed by now), drew a line with chalk on the sidewalk, and stood there waiting and sipping on their coffee.
When people started to come by, I could heard them, "Sal, remember who to vote for... Daniel, you know who to vote for... Tony, you voted for the right person, buddy?"
I felt I was in a "B" mafia movie, but also aware that this was a working cog in the Democratic machine of Chicago. Some other polling sites were quiet and others were the same. People from these unions wanted to make sure their people voted for the union's selected candidates. This was power in America and I remember realizing it that day.
Tomorrow the stakes are higher. Maybe the highest ever in American history. I can imagine in some districts throughout America the tension will be thick and emotions might run out of control. I'm glad I'm not a poll watcher tomorrow. I'm just going to sit back and watch everything on the TV and through my laptop.
|
Both sides are preparing a potential legal battle if the election comes down to a few hundred votes in certain swing states. Both sides are claiming early examples of election fraud.
Republicans already lost one legal battle in Ohio due to a loyal Clinton appointee:
The arguments that Democrats make in opposition to any efforts to reform our voting procedures often approach perilously close to the claim that Democrats, at least, have a Constitutional right to commit fraud. That seems to be the case in Ohio, where, following a bizarre Sunday night hearing, federal Judge Susan Dlott held that it is unconstitutional to have poll watchers in that state. Judge Dlott thus substituted her opinion for that of the Ohio legislature, which has enacted statutes that provide for poll watchers.
Poll watchers are necessary especially for elements that attempt to use intimidation and physical threat as a means of discouraging people to vote. Back in 1994, I was a poll watcher for the Republican Party in Illinois. I was a grunt for Governor Jim Edgar and one of the few non-attorneys that volunteered for this duty. I was assigned to a handful of districts to see that rules were being followed and everything was in order on Election Day. We were escorted and driven by a Chicago Police officer for our safety. It wasn't an important election cycle since the presidential race was two years before, and I was poll watching in a Democratic stronghold but it was an eye-opening experience.
Even during a relatively unimportant election year, some of these districts had their candidate supporters and "pushers" out in full force. I remember the first voting site I visited that early morning. A handful of guys from a local union came by the elementary school where the voting was taking place, measured 50 feet from the door (Illinois law didn't allow any political discourse within 50 feet of the polling site... pretty sure about this, but this might have changed by now), drew a line with chalk on the sidewalk, and stood there waiting and sipping on their coffee.
When people started to come by, I could heard them, "Sal, remember who to vote for... Daniel, you know who to vote for... Tony, you voted for the right person, buddy?"
I felt I was in a "B" mafia movie, but also aware that this was a working cog in the Democratic machine of Chicago. Some other polling sites were quiet and others were the same. People from these unions wanted to make sure their people voted for the union's selected candidates. This was power in America and I remember realizing it that day.
Tomorrow the stakes are higher. Maybe the highest ever in American history. I can imagine in some districts throughout America the tension will be thick and emotions might run out of control. I'm glad I'm not a poll watcher tomorrow. I'm just going to sit back and watch everything on the TV and through my laptop.
"BETTER OFF WITH BUSH"... BY GEORGE WILL
I love George Will. Seriously. He's one of my favorite political writers over the past decade. And he's great on baseball too.
THIS column has expressed abundant skepticism about the grandiosity of George W. Bush's foreign policy. And about his passivity about spending (he has vetoed nothing), his enlargement of the welfare state (the prescription drug entitlement), his expansion of inappropriate federal responsibilities (concerning education grades K-12, through No Child Left Behind) and his complicity in vandalizing the Constitution (he signed the McCain-Feingold bill that rations political speech). Still, this column prefers Bush.
Reasonable people can question the feasibility of Bush's nation-building and democracy-spreading ambitions. But, having taken up that burden, America cannot prudently, or decently, put it down. The question is: Which candidate will most tenaciously and single-mindedly pursue victory? The answer is: Not John Kerry, who is multiple-minded about most matters. (full article)
|
I love George Will. Seriously. He's one of my favorite political writers over the past decade. And he's great on baseball too.
THIS column has expressed abundant skepticism about the grandiosity of George W. Bush's foreign policy. And about his passivity about spending (he has vetoed nothing), his enlargement of the welfare state (the prescription drug entitlement), his expansion of inappropriate federal responsibilities (concerning education grades K-12, through No Child Left Behind) and his complicity in vandalizing the Constitution (he signed the McCain-Feingold bill that rations political speech). Still, this column prefers Bush.
Reasonable people can question the feasibility of Bush's nation-building and democracy-spreading ambitions. But, having taken up that burden, America cannot prudently, or decently, put it down. The question is: Which candidate will most tenaciously and single-mindedly pursue victory? The answer is: Not John Kerry, who is multiple-minded about most matters. (full article)
ELECTION FORECAST
A fair amount of these, but here's a thoughtful, biased piece from The American Thinker.
Election predictions from Bill Kristol and the staff at The Weekly Standard.
|
A fair amount of these, but here's a thoughtful, biased piece from The American Thinker.
Election predictions from Bill Kristol and the staff at The Weekly Standard.
DIRTY POLITICS... TERRY MCAULIFFE AND THE DEMS CONTINUE THEIR WAYS
Schwarzkopf Calls On DNC To Stop The Lies... He Endorses Bush Not Kerry
HatTip to Drudge. On a sidenote, there are serious issues with some Dems out there. Over the past few weeks there have been reports on Dems physically threatening Republican staffers or voters. Do you hear of Republicans doing such things? No.
I know most of this stems from the Democratic Party's labor union ties, but their thuggery has got to stop and the party leaders should keep this in check. Anyways, read below:
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Calls On DNC To Stop Fraudulent Phone Calls Claiming He Has Endorsed Senator Kerry
TAMPA, FL – Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf today issued the following statement:
"The Democratic National Committee is making fraudulent phone calls claiming that I have endorsed Senator Kerry. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I demand that they stop immediately.
"Senator Kerry opposed the Reagan defense build-up that won the Cold War. Senator Kerry opposed the removal of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Senator Kerry proposed billions in intelligence cuts after the first attack on the World Trade Center. Senator Kerry voted against funds to equip our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplies like body armor and ammunition.
"I am supporting President Bush for reelection, because he is the candidate who has demonstrated the conviction needed to defeat terrorism. In contrast to the President's steadfast determination to defeat our enemies, Senator Kerry has a record of weakness that gives me no confidence in his ability to fight and win the War on Terror. His attempt to make up for these deficiencies by falsifying my endorsement only confirms my impression that he is not the man we need to lead our nation."
|
Schwarzkopf Calls On DNC To Stop The Lies... He Endorses Bush Not Kerry
HatTip to Drudge. On a sidenote, there are serious issues with some Dems out there. Over the past few weeks there have been reports on Dems physically threatening Republican staffers or voters. Do you hear of Republicans doing such things? No.
I know most of this stems from the Democratic Party's labor union ties, but their thuggery has got to stop and the party leaders should keep this in check. Anyways, read below:
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Calls On DNC To Stop Fraudulent Phone Calls Claiming He Has Endorsed Senator Kerry
TAMPA, FL – Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf today issued the following statement:
"The Democratic National Committee is making fraudulent phone calls claiming that I have endorsed Senator Kerry. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I demand that they stop immediately.
"Senator Kerry opposed the Reagan defense build-up that won the Cold War. Senator Kerry opposed the removal of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Senator Kerry proposed billions in intelligence cuts after the first attack on the World Trade Center. Senator Kerry voted against funds to equip our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplies like body armor and ammunition.
"I am supporting President Bush for reelection, because he is the candidate who has demonstrated the conviction needed to defeat terrorism. In contrast to the President's steadfast determination to defeat our enemies, Senator Kerry has a record of weakness that gives me no confidence in his ability to fight and win the War on Terror. His attempt to make up for these deficiencies by falsifying my endorsement only confirms my impression that he is not the man we need to lead our nation."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ENDORSES BUSH
Long time supporter of Democrats comes out and endorses Bush... "Right war, right time, right man"
The United States is at war — long-term, make no mistake. Muslim fanatics are bent on destroying the rest of humankind. One September morning three years ago, they felled the World Trade Center, struck at the Pentagon and might have smashed the Capitol or the White House had they not been stopped by the heroism of the doomed passengers on a hijacked jetliner. In rage and sorrow, New Yorkers do not forget that terrible day.
And we live now in the shadows of menace.
The next President of the United States has no higher duty than to prevent more such catastrophic blows, here or anywhere on these shores, by waging a sustained worldwide assault against the bringers of destruction. As New York's Hometown Newspaper and eyewitness to the devastation that can suddenly rain down, the Daily News prays that the coming commander-in-chief will be up to the task of fighting this great war. (full editorial)
|
Long time supporter of Democrats comes out and endorses Bush... "Right war, right time, right man"
The United States is at war — long-term, make no mistake. Muslim fanatics are bent on destroying the rest of humankind. One September morning three years ago, they felled the World Trade Center, struck at the Pentagon and might have smashed the Capitol or the White House had they not been stopped by the heroism of the doomed passengers on a hijacked jetliner. In rage and sorrow, New Yorkers do not forget that terrible day.
And we live now in the shadows of menace.
The next President of the United States has no higher duty than to prevent more such catastrophic blows, here or anywhere on these shores, by waging a sustained worldwide assault against the bringers of destruction. As New York's Hometown Newspaper and eyewitness to the devastation that can suddenly rain down, the Daily News prays that the coming commander-in-chief will be up to the task of fighting this great war. (full editorial)
AMAZON, EBAY, GOOGLE TURNING INSIDE OUT
From Business 2.0's Future Boy...
Amazon, eBay, and Google Turn Themselves Inside Out
When big, successful companies let software developers use their data to build new businesses, everyone wins.
Business 2.0
By Erick Schonfeld
October 15, 2004
In software, if you own the platform, you own the empire. The platform is that layer of software on top of which all other applications are written. During the PC era, the platform of choice was the Windows operating system. The browser was supposed to replace the operating system as the preferred platform, but it failed to do so. Now nearly every major Internet company -- Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY), Google (GOOG), Salesforce.com -- is trying to turn itself into a software platform. That is, each one wants customers, software developers, and other companies to build new applications and new businesses based on the very same data that runs its website. In order to do that, they are literally turning their companies inside out and making available for free much of the information they use for their own businesses.
Can you imagine Wal-Mart (WMT) sharing sales data or pricing information with anyone other than suppliers? But that's exactly what these Web-based businesses do. And when they reveal their application program interfaces, they are in effect sharing some of their most critical business data. Their bet is that if other companies can build applications on top of their businesses, they will create miniature economies around the most popular platforms. And in the software world, that is how empires are built.
Why would a big company do that? Because it hopes to unleash the creative energies of people besides its employees to create new applications that tie into its website. That, in turn, will drive more sales. Amazon, for instance, makes available through Web services the product descriptions, pricing, product images, and customer-written reviews for every item available on its site. During the past two years, 65,000 developers have registered to access this data, and they are doing some creative things with it. A company called ScoutPal, for example, offers cell phones with bar-code scanners to Amazon booksellers, so that they can compare prices at book fairs or garage sales with the going rate on Amazon.
Some Amazon developers, though, are just building cool sites. One is Musicplasma, which prompts users to type in the name of a favorite artist and then displays a map of related artists based on the purchasing and clicking patterns of people who visit Amazon. Type in "Otis Redding," for example, and you will see that he is directly connected to Al Green, who, in turn, is connected to Barry White and the Isley Brothers. Each artist is visually represented by a planet. Click on the Barry White planet and it shifts to the middle of the screen to reveal other connections, such as Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle. On the left-hand side is a discography, with each album linked to the page on Amazon.com where you can buy it.
"Two people in France built this," Amazon CEO Jeff Jeff Bezos told an audience at last week's Web 2.0 conference. Because Amazon opened up its data through APIs, these two developers "were able to use very powerful assets that would be difficult for them to get access to any other way," Bezos noted. Developers have an incentive to link back to Amazon thanks to an affiliates program whereby they can get a cut of any sales they refer. The upshot: Amazon benefits as well. "We want to get people to use the guts of Amazon in ways that surprise us," Bezos said. "I think it is something every company can do, if they look inside and think what are some unique assets that others might enjoy."
He is not alone in this assessment. So far, 10,000 developers have tapped into eBay's auction data, mostly to create tools to help sellers manage their eBay auctions. Meg Whitman recently told me that expanding eBay as a software platform is central to her strategy. "We think it is important to open up the platform because it makes eBay stronger as other people develop applications to the platform," she explained. Similarly, Google is opening up its search APIs and Salesforce.com lets customers and other software developers add new features to its Web-based customer-relationship management software.
Most of us may think of companies like Amazon simply as services we access over the Web. But to software developers, they are huge applications with vast databases of extremely valuable information that can be used to build other Web-based applications and businesses. These are the new platforms on top of which they want to write their software. "We are going to see the rebirth of the software industry," predicted Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff at Web 2.0. "In this new architecture, the platform is really the Internet itself."
John Battelle, one of the organizers of the Web 2.0 conference (and a Business 2.0 contributor), perhaps sums it up best: By making the Web a software platform, you can now "build your business by letting your customers build your business." But it will require a measure of openness unheard of until very recently.
|
From Business 2.0's Future Boy...
Amazon, eBay, and Google Turn Themselves Inside Out
When big, successful companies let software developers use their data to build new businesses, everyone wins.
Business 2.0
By Erick Schonfeld
October 15, 2004
In software, if you own the platform, you own the empire. The platform is that layer of software on top of which all other applications are written. During the PC era, the platform of choice was the Windows operating system. The browser was supposed to replace the operating system as the preferred platform, but it failed to do so. Now nearly every major Internet company -- Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY), Google (GOOG), Salesforce.com -- is trying to turn itself into a software platform. That is, each one wants customers, software developers, and other companies to build new applications and new businesses based on the very same data that runs its website. In order to do that, they are literally turning their companies inside out and making available for free much of the information they use for their own businesses.
Can you imagine Wal-Mart (WMT) sharing sales data or pricing information with anyone other than suppliers? But that's exactly what these Web-based businesses do. And when they reveal their application program interfaces, they are in effect sharing some of their most critical business data. Their bet is that if other companies can build applications on top of their businesses, they will create miniature economies around the most popular platforms. And in the software world, that is how empires are built.
Why would a big company do that? Because it hopes to unleash the creative energies of people besides its employees to create new applications that tie into its website. That, in turn, will drive more sales. Amazon, for instance, makes available through Web services the product descriptions, pricing, product images, and customer-written reviews for every item available on its site. During the past two years, 65,000 developers have registered to access this data, and they are doing some creative things with it. A company called ScoutPal, for example, offers cell phones with bar-code scanners to Amazon booksellers, so that they can compare prices at book fairs or garage sales with the going rate on Amazon.
Some Amazon developers, though, are just building cool sites. One is Musicplasma, which prompts users to type in the name of a favorite artist and then displays a map of related artists based on the purchasing and clicking patterns of people who visit Amazon. Type in "Otis Redding," for example, and you will see that he is directly connected to Al Green, who, in turn, is connected to Barry White and the Isley Brothers. Each artist is visually represented by a planet. Click on the Barry White planet and it shifts to the middle of the screen to reveal other connections, such as Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle. On the left-hand side is a discography, with each album linked to the page on Amazon.com where you can buy it.
"Two people in France built this," Amazon CEO Jeff Jeff Bezos told an audience at last week's Web 2.0 conference. Because Amazon opened up its data through APIs, these two developers "were able to use very powerful assets that would be difficult for them to get access to any other way," Bezos noted. Developers have an incentive to link back to Amazon thanks to an affiliates program whereby they can get a cut of any sales they refer. The upshot: Amazon benefits as well. "We want to get people to use the guts of Amazon in ways that surprise us," Bezos said. "I think it is something every company can do, if they look inside and think what are some unique assets that others might enjoy."
He is not alone in this assessment. So far, 10,000 developers have tapped into eBay's auction data, mostly to create tools to help sellers manage their eBay auctions. Meg Whitman recently told me that expanding eBay as a software platform is central to her strategy. "We think it is important to open up the platform because it makes eBay stronger as other people develop applications to the platform," she explained. Similarly, Google is opening up its search APIs and Salesforce.com lets customers and other software developers add new features to its Web-based customer-relationship management software.
Most of us may think of companies like Amazon simply as services we access over the Web. But to software developers, they are huge applications with vast databases of extremely valuable information that can be used to build other Web-based applications and businesses. These are the new platforms on top of which they want to write their software. "We are going to see the rebirth of the software industry," predicted Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff at Web 2.0. "In this new architecture, the platform is really the Internet itself."
John Battelle, one of the organizers of the Web 2.0 conference (and a Business 2.0 contributor), perhaps sums it up best: By making the Web a software platform, you can now "build your business by letting your customers build your business." But it will require a measure of openness unheard of until very recently.
RSS FEEDS OF SEARCH RESULTS... FROM NAVER.COM
My friend, Doug, points out that Korean Internet portal, Naver.com, has started providing RSS feeds of search results:
I mentioned yesterday that Naver News has started offering RSS feeds of search results. I've been playing around with this feature and I'm beginning to realize that this is a really great feature when combined with an RSS reader like Xpyder.
For example, if I'm a sales person and I need to monitor of one of clients (let's say Samsung Electronics), then I can go to Naver News and do a search on Samsung Electronics. When the results are displayed, I can copy the RSS URL of this search result and add it list of my RSS channels in Xpyder. Now, I don't need to go to Naver News again to do a search on Samsung Electronics. I can just go to Xpyder, and it will let me know if there is a new content related to Samsung. I can view the title of the content and if I'm interested, I can click on the link and the link will take me to Naver News, where I can see the entire content.
Combining Naver News RSS feeds with Xpyder will make it much easier for me to follow news of companies that I am interested in.
It would be really useful if Naver News RSS feeds shows little bit of the article instead of just showing the title of the article. It would be even better if it showed the entire content but I guess I would be asking too much from them.
Anyway, everyone should try this out.
I need to speak with Naver News team to see if I can have a better integration between Xpyder and Naver News.
|
My friend, Doug, points out that Korean Internet portal, Naver.com, has started providing RSS feeds of search results:
I mentioned yesterday that Naver News has started offering RSS feeds of search results. I've been playing around with this feature and I'm beginning to realize that this is a really great feature when combined with an RSS reader like Xpyder.
For example, if I'm a sales person and I need to monitor of one of clients (let's say Samsung Electronics), then I can go to Naver News and do a search on Samsung Electronics. When the results are displayed, I can copy the RSS URL of this search result and add it list of my RSS channels in Xpyder. Now, I don't need to go to Naver News again to do a search on Samsung Electronics. I can just go to Xpyder, and it will let me know if there is a new content related to Samsung. I can view the title of the content and if I'm interested, I can click on the link and the link will take me to Naver News, where I can see the entire content.
Combining Naver News RSS feeds with Xpyder will make it much easier for me to follow news of companies that I am interested in.
It would be really useful if Naver News RSS feeds shows little bit of the article instead of just showing the title of the article. It would be even better if it showed the entire content but I guess I would be asking too much from them.
Anyway, everyone should try this out.
I need to speak with Naver News team to see if I can have a better integration between Xpyder and Naver News.
NEW TWIST ON SEARCH FROM BAIDU.COM
From Esther Dyson, tech guru...
search'n'chat
It seems like such an easy trick as not to be worth a whole blog entry (it's the transaction cost, y'know), but the best thing I have heard about in search lately is something offered by Baidu.com - the leading search engine in China. (I don't read Chinese and can't confirm this independently...but the concept is brilliant if simple).
For any search term, you can click a link to (dynamically created the first time) message thread dedicated to that term. For example, search on "K-3 remedial reading" and you'll get comments from experts offering advice, people soliciting ideas, perhaps disgruntled users of a particular product.... the founder, Robin Li, says spam is not a problem. perhaps there's some self-policing mechanism, and as the thing scales you could add slashdot-like functions... (full post)
|
From Esther Dyson, tech guru...
search'n'chat
It seems like such an easy trick as not to be worth a whole blog entry (it's the transaction cost, y'know), but the best thing I have heard about in search lately is something offered by Baidu.com - the leading search engine in China. (I don't read Chinese and can't confirm this independently...but the concept is brilliant if simple).
For any search term, you can click a link to (dynamically created the first time) message thread dedicated to that term. For example, search on "K-3 remedial reading" and you'll get comments from experts offering advice, people soliciting ideas, perhaps disgruntled users of a particular product.... the founder, Robin Li, says spam is not a problem. perhaps there's some self-policing mechanism, and as the thing scales you could add slashdot-like functions... (full post)
Business & Technology, Politics, and Random Posts from the Left, Right, and Elsewhere
Place of Birth: Seoul, Korea
Hometown: Northbrook, IL USA
Lived in: Seoul, Chicago (Villa Park & Northbrook), Madison, WI, Springfield, IL, St. Louis, New York City, Chicago (Glenview), Seoul, San Francisco
Also blogs at: AlwaysOn, Coro Blog, SportsBlog
More on Bernard or Blogger profile or GoingOn profile or Linkedin profile
Max Yow
Homeland: Canada
Sports: combative sports, sports you play with a ball, sports with no swimming, sports you can play while drinking and smoking (pool, darts, bowling, video games).
More on Max
ARCHIVES
- April 2003
- May 2003
- June 2003
- July 2003
- August 2003
- September 2003
- October 2003
- November 2003
- December 2003
- January 2004
- February 2004
- March 2004
- April 2004
- May 2004
- June 2004
- July 2004
- August 2004
- September 2004
- October 2004
- November 2004
- December 2004
- January 2005
- February 2005
- March 2005
- April 2005
- May 2005
- June 2005
- July 2005
- August 2005
- September 2005
- October 2005
- November 2005
- December 2005
- January 2006
- February 2006
- March 2006
- April 2006
- May 2006
- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- Current Posts
If you have questions, topic ideas, or whatever, just email bernard at bernard.moon@gmail.com. Thank you!
site feed
forget the long tail!
(03/21/2006)
2084
(11/02/2005)
building the perfect team
(08/17/2005)
open it up, new york times, chicago tribune, san francisco chronicle!
(06/07/2005)
staring down the digital divide
(06/08/2005)
2005 world series of poker... tech style
(03/30/2005)
rss: real simple syndication or really saturated space?
(02/10/2005)
blogosphere: lost in translation?
(02/10/2005)
diamonds in the rough at redmond
(02/10/2005)
it's a wiki wiki world
(02/03/2005)
where technology is ubiquitous, opportunity abounds
(1/12/2005)
start of "reality media" column
(12/23/2004)
Tech
bill joy's apocalyptic vision, determinism, and commonality with stephen hawking
(07/22/2005)
google economy => blogosphere
(01/25/2005)
power of the long tail
(12/14/2004)
protectionist china... will chinese or u.s. companies lose out?
(3/15/2004)
skype... p2p telephony & a very cool company
(2/13/2004)
poor george glider is right
(2/9/2004)
it's not the deficit stupid!... tech is the primary driver for growth
(12/02/2003)
immature venture capital industry in asia (9/29/2003)
boom time memories... masayoshi son was the man
(7/1/2003)
Politics
south korea's recent idiotic policies against foreign direct investment
(09/09/2005)
my first op-ed
(11/30/2004)
100,000 protest against Bush for... what?
(11/23/2003)
Society
generalizations of east asians
(5/16/2004)
sports is the great equalizer and unifer
(4/20/2004)
defining wisdom... age is the lesser factor
(10/18/2003)
living together before marriage
(8/25/2003)
friendships, relationships, people in life... (7/7/2003)
sugar mommas
(6/13/2003)
need for laws and enforcement
(4/10/2003)
old shaq issue
(4/2/2003)
Religion
creationism & christmas
(12/23/2004)
the passion of the christ... misunderstood
(2/20/2004)
christian's view of homosexuality
(1/13/2004)
is man determined or free?
(8/18/2003)
destructive christianity
(5/3/2003)
Others
"Blah Blah Bernard Blah Blah" Changing to "Junto Boyz"... A New Direction
(4/20/2004)
art of asking questions
(9/18/2003)
ode to bacon
(8/13/2003)
big guys... eating stories iv
(7/27/2003)
big guys... eating stories i
(4/2/2003)
cnn
cnet
businessweek
economist
forbes
fortune
fast company
pe week wire
the deal
ecommerce times
ne asia online
pacific epoch
eweek
release 1.0
technology review
techweb
zdnet news
the american spectator
drudge report
foreign policy
frontpage
harvard political review
mother jones
national review
the new republic
the weekly standard
il conservative politics
the atlantic
the hill
roll call
george f. will
asianweek
financeasia
korea herald
the onion
cox & forkum cartoons
garage technology ventures
growthink research
entrepreneur.com
entrepreneur america
venture economics
venture reporter
vfinance.com
yahoo! small business
nationmaster
thomas, legislative info
american enterprise institute
brookings institute
carnegie endowment
cato institute
center for american progress
center for strategic & int'l studies
heritage foundation
hudson institute
national center for policy analysis
progress & freedom foundation
progressive policy institute
rand corporation
reason public policy institute
urban institute
columbia institute for tele-info
international justice mission
charles barkley's outrageous career
liquid generation
wikipedia
"You cannot go on explaining away things over forever or you will find that you have explained even explanation itself away. You cannot go on seeing through things forever because the whole point of seeing through something is to see something else through it." - C.S Lewis
December 11, 2005
"This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." - Western Union internal memo, 1876
December 4, 2005
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." - Marie Curie
November 27, 2005
"One cannot step into the same river twice." - Heratidus
November 20, 2005
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment." - Robert Maynard Hutchins
November 13, 2005
"We are moving away from the old idea of leadership -- leadership has less to do (now) with heroism. We don’t look for... unblemished omnipotent heroes, but leaders who are complex, dependent, changeable... We do not need one dominant authority structure telling all our inner voices to shut up..." - Walter Truett Anderson
November 6, 2005
"To know oneself is to know one’s [country]. It is also... paradoxically a form of exile from that world... to know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks. It is to measure oneself against Truth, and not the other way around. The first product of self-knowledge is humility, and that virtue is not conspicuous in any national character." - Flannery O’Connor
October 30, 2005
"Men content themselves with the same words as other people use, as if the very sound necessarily carried the same meaning." - John Locke
October 23, 2005
"In order to thrive in a world of change and chaos, we will need to accept 'chaos' as an essential process by which natural systems, including organizations, renew and revitalize themselves." - Margaret Wheatley
October 16, 2004
"Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary." - Robert Louis Stevenson
October 9, 2004
"We will be better and braver if we engage and inquire than if we indulge in the idle fancy that we already know - or that it is of no use seeking to know what we do not know." - Plato
October 2, 2004
"Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions." - Oliver W. Holmes
September 25, 2004
"What you learn intellectually lies in the shallow pools among the wrinkles of your brain. What you learn through the skin of experience sinks deep into your roots." - Hank Taft
September 18, 2004
"In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him." - C.S. Lewis
September 11, 2004
"A society is judged by how it treats its least desirable people." - Anonymous
September 4, 2004
"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
Yahoo! Directory
Vote for this Blog!
The Weblog Review
Wictory Wednesday Roll
Blogdom of God Roll
League of Reformed Bloggers Roll
ProLifeBlogs Roll
