Howard Greenstein: Random Thought

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 14:28:31 GMT

Mr. Personality decided to blitz Times Square this morning, where there must have been 100 or so masked butt ugly guys (how do I know- they were the ones in masks) giving out information for the new Fox "reality" show. (They don't get a link since they don't deserve it).

Now, I had thought it was illegal to walk around with a mask in New York, but apparently that law was overturned last year. While the law was intended to keep things like Klan rallys from happening, it would have been useful this morning, when you couldn't go five feet without some masked butthead trying to assertively hand you a flyer.

The show is hosted by an american sweetheart, a woman who publically fell for "Mr. Personality" - hook, line, and cigar. Now, I had changed my opinion about Monica after seeing her HBO show. I've changed it back. She's fallen for another line - "Baby, this show will make you famous."

And another thought - if this was a show with WOMEN who had great "personality" but no face showing, and men making the decision, people would be all up-in-arms about it. Oh, wait, I forgot. That's every singles bar in America after 2 am.

Open Source Haggadah

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 18:33:18 GMT

Keep it light at Passover tonight.

Ten Quick Cheesy Ways to Enhance your Seder

Humorous

Bangitout.com

10. Two Words: Plague Charades

from 'The Open Source Haggadah", via Boingboing, via Adina.

From one (ex)Evangelist to Another

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:03:46 GMT

Robert Scoble: OK, so by now you've all seen the news that I've "swallowed the red pill." Source: The Scobleizer Weblog; 4/16/2003; 4:53:11 AM.

Robert:

I'm blogging you this wish for all the best at Micrsoft. I, too, swollwed the red pill many years ago. It was Pre-Matrix, most people used "Borg" references. I've since left on good terms. I still like and respect the company, the friends I've made, and fondly remember the times I had there. I believe it's mutual. I'm still a stockholder. (So go make me some money.)

I'll try to pass on some bits of wisdom for you that may be helpful for a future evangelist. Of course, as with anything, take what you like and ignore the rest.

1. Welcome to Microsoft. It is, as you pointed out, a fantastic place to work. It has great excitement. People know the work they do makes a difference in the lives of millions of other people. My biggest piece of advice is what I told Tod Nielsen when he offered me the job. I told him that I needed to be the voice of the customer. That I felt Microsoft wasn't listening to the web developers that were my core constituencey at the time (when I was running the WWWAC group.) We agreed that I could be 49% for the customers and 51% for Microsoft's interests. Well, I lied. I did mostly 50-50 the whole time I was there. Ask any of my former customers. Guess what - it made both customers and Microsoft better places (or so I'd like to believe).

1.a. Of course, detractors of Microsoft will say "sure, everytime they make an upgrade they ruin the lives of thousands of system administrators, allow viruses, etc..." Your job - don't ignore the detractors. They are many, and they are vocal. They are telling you what needs to be done to make the world better. As an evangelist - you get to do these things. You beg, cajole, influence, define, specify, demand, and fight to make these things better for the developers. Helping the detractors see that things are improving makes you a more effective evangelist.

1.b. Linda Stone, former VP in the MS Research Labs, told me 3 weeks into my MS career about the list. The list is a list of jabs, insults, and other nasty things she made up to categorize the way people teased her for joining Microsoft. (Not that I'm in any way implying that Linda is thin-skinned and needs help defending herself from someone teasing her.) She told me something like: "Someone says 'Microsoft is Evil.' I just say, well that's a number 6. Then I tell them about something that Microsoft did that isn't evil."

2. You're in a great group. I've worked with VicG (hi Vic!) and Robert (hey!) and they've been at Microsoft for a long time. (They remember when people were making fun of Windows 3.1 as a silly graphics shell. And Windows 95? It will never catch on. Right...) These guys made it happen.

2.a. They've also seen the 'dark side' of evangelism. They've seen the people go over the top - taking their vision and changing the company, but doing it in a way that isn't ultimately the way to make friends, influence people, or stay at Microsoft - Assignment: Read Renegades of the Empire. Discussion question for extra points: Push your own vision and make the company do something radical, or go along with the conventional wisdom and ship an inferior product?Or Find the middle ground. Good luck.

2.b. Evangelize, but don't believe your own hype. It is easy, in Redmond, surrounded by your friends, to believe the press releases, memorize the powerpoints, absorb the sales points, and sell yourself. You hone your pitches to developers, and its more credible if you believe them.

I believe one of the worst problems at certain levels of Microsoft is that there are insufficient inputs to the decision process. To managers don't have time to read the Net, the trades, the rants of the average man. Large customers, and their needs, often unduly influence decisions that affect literally everyone.

You have to take on the task of reading the trade press, read the Net (no dot), read the worst Microsoft critic's pages, and listen to the developers you encounter. And be their voice. (I'm beating on this point a lot, I think.)

Things don't work as advertised. Acknowledge it. Fight to get it fixed. As in 1.a. above, it gives you credibility with your audience.

3. Share secrets. I don't mean that you should post NDA information on the net. Share secrets regarding the passion of team members. About the fights you have internally to get the developers you represent what they want. The .NET team no doubt has people that want to make the programming platform that 's adopted for the next 10 years. There's vision. There's passion. There are conflicting points of view. Find your trusted customers, share the secrets, and get their advice. Then close the feedback loop by sharing the customer's secret desires with the product teams. Magic happens - customer needs translate into product features. It may not happen, in fact it won't happen as fast as you want it to. Example: There are great features (a big shout out to BretOr, TomHon, and the team) for Ad insertion in the new Windows Media Services offering in Windows Server 2003 that I was fighting for in 1999 and 2000! But they look like they were done right, and they will make Windows Media a better offering. (And, at the time, we found work-arounds and solutions that satisfied the customers that needed them.)

4. Just being there, and being a public presence by blogging, talking, etc. reminds people that not everyone at Microsoft is Bill or Steve. Most of the people have kids like you do, have a family, a house, a mortagage (unless they're one of the 'Microsoft millionaires' - which are fewer and further between than people understand).

4.a. Some evangelists at Microsoft have in the past allegedly said things like "you have to win over developers because when they buy other company's products they are taking food from the mouths of your family." I believe that the day of people saying things like that at Microsoft is past. Know when to call Bullshit. Your competitor today is someone you're courting tomorrow. Act like it and win respect in the industry.

Ok, I'm going to get down off my high horse now. You've got a fantasatic opportunity. Go get 'em. And if you want a sounding board, I'll be right here. And if you need to know where to send all that free extra software, tshirts, and stuff hanging around your office, just drop me an email :-)

Guns. Lots of Guns.

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:35:55 GMT

Next door to Saddam's Love Shack, enough guns and ammo to take out a few regiments.

In the house next door, which had its windows sealed by iron sheets, troops found thousands of weapons.

More than 6,000 Berretta pistols, 650 Sig Sauer pistols, 248 Colt Revolvers, 160 Belgian 7.65 mm pistols, 12 cases of Sterling submachine guns and four cases of anti-tank missiles all still in the unopened original boxes, were discovered.

There were also tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition mortars and cases of old handguns and heavy machine guns. {Via SkyNews}

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 17:18:33 GMT

Man, this guy is just too easy to make fun of:

“The U.S. military has not taken Saddam International Airport, nor are their tanks streaming through the streets of Baghdad. Also, the Boston Red Sox bullpen looks to be in great shape.”

--Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraq’s Information Minister. via SportsPickle.com

"I would like to stress again that the Americans are not in control of Bagdhad. Also, I would like to make a shout-out to all my homies in New York, and request Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell," or any song that has the word "Run" in the title.

--Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraq’s Information Minister , on-air soundbite on Q104.3

Wed, 09 Apr 2003 14:23:27 GMT

"How do we strengthen the Second Superpower? What are the next vital developments we need to make? " [Jim Moore's Weblog]

Even more interesting are the comments from the audience here. Rahul Dave throws down the idea of a Blog News Network which my friends can tell you I've also had designs on for a long time. What would it take to take on the AP or UPI with bloggers everywhere?

Important New Internet Standard

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 13:58:07 GMT

Important New Internet Standard

Internet security guru Steve Bellovin proposed today an important new Internet standard, RFC 3514, which creates a new "evil bit" in Internet Protocol packet headers. The evil bit is required to be set in all malicious packets. RFC 3514 fully examines the ramifications of this innovative proposal, including a discussion of what existing systems must do to maintain their current behavior. [Via Freedom-to-Tinker.]

This should be implmented today, April 1st!

Embedded Again

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 13:29:35 GMT

This morning I made the kids some pancakes. I decided to "embed" chocolate chips within the pancakes. And, interestingly enough, after a short time, it was tough to tell the difference between the pancakes and the chips "embedded" within them.

Oh, and I also watched the news.

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 03:15:29 GMT

The House passed a resolution Thursday calling for a national day of humility, prayer and fasting in a time of war and terrorism....Under the resolution, President Bush would issue a proclamation designating a specific day as a day of "humility, prayer and fasting." ...A similar resolution approved on March 17 said it was the sense of the Senate that that day should be a national day of prayer and fasting.
[via Newsday]

I was surprised about this, considering I thought this kind of declaration of a religion-related holiday was a no-no.Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. U.S. Constitution, 1st Ammendment.

I guess I was wrong. This isn't establishing a religion. It is just asking everyone to have one. Better make sure yours is the right one.

Sometimes it's like pulling teeth

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 12:21:06 GMT

And sometimes, it is exactly like pulling teeth. Mine, to be exact. Off to get my wisdom teeth out. Wish me luck.

Modern Fairytales...

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 00:54:00 GMT

What fairy tales will we tell our children next?

I admit it - I'm Bi (Bi-Blogger)

Tue, 25 Mar 2003 21:01:54 GMT

I've come out of the closet. I'm sharing a dark secret with everyone. I'm now bi. Bi-Blogger, that is. I'm actually multi-blogger, if one can be such a thing. This blog will remain as a place where I share personal or flippant thoughts.

My new blog is for business and tech issues, and it is the Continuum Transfunctioner. I admit I basically stole the two-blog concept from my friend Mitch Ratcliffe, who also has two blogs. I'm using Radio for this blog, but Continuum Transfunctioner is a Moveable Type blog.

You may be asking - "What is the Continuum Transfunctioner?" Well, the Continuum Transfunctioner mentioned is a Mysterious and Powerful Device.

And?

And its mystery is exceeded only by its power. Reference Material.

I'm also messing around on the Raging Cow issue with Sodapopwhore.blogspot.com and I occasionally contribute, with Kevin Marks' permission, to Mediagora.

So there you have it. I'm out. Deal with it.

Sat, 22 Mar 2003 02:37:10 GMT

Thanks, Jason Kottke, for saying what I was thinking all damn day:

Note to anchors and reporters: stop smiling

The TV coverage by the cable news networks of the war in Iraq is disappointingly shoddy. Somehow, they think we want to see green, pixelated pictures of trucks moving through an empty desert; endless grainy shots of Baghdad at night; choppy, pixelated live reports from embedded reporters; and the neverending analysis of the minutia of warfare. This is supposed to give us a sense as to what's happening and what to make of it all?

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 19:52:14 GMT

Even More Friday Fun:

Odd Todd is back. And he's still working...on being unemployed.

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 13:58:06 GMT

Greg Elin explores the highs and the lows.

Hey Greg, I'm sorry and congratulations. That's terrible and wonderful. I'm saddened that things are going so badly in the world and so happy that things go well for you.

Goodbye and hello again. Peace.

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 13:57:46 GMT

Ignore this.

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:54:41 GMT

Sitting and watching war unfold on TV is inspiring shock and awe - in me. I'm shocked at some of it, in awe of some of it, definitely saddened by all of it.

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:51:55 GMT

My new hosting provider, ipowerweb.net, has helped me through some startup issues. The tech support on the phone was quite good. Only compliant was that one of their web-based help forms didn't work - when filled out it went to a '404' page. But they took that info on the phone and hopefully will fix it. Good deal so far.

War starts

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 01:59:01 GMT

Watching ABC on TV, where Ari Flisher announced that the President will make an annoucement at 10:15 EST. ABC is showing a fixed camera shot of Baghdad, with the sky lightening over minnerets. You can hear occasional explosions and bangs in the background.

The full quote: "The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime have begun." (thanks CNN)

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 01:42:00 GMT

What if someone took everything on my website and replaced it with an exact duplicate? (munged from Stephen Wright)

Welcome to my new hosting provider. The last one had one too many outages, and I've upped and moved everything to here. Still some uploading issues, but I'm sure we'll get past those soon. Really, I mean it.

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 19:15:37 GMT

B8 d++ t+ k s- u f i o x-- e l c

http://travis.kroh.net/archives/blogger_decoder.html will decode it, and then you'll know my innermost secrets :-)

I guess I do follow some of the net Memes. Whatever.

Digital Identity Loss

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:47:02 GMT

Update: 5:00pm - Problem Solved. Cool. But still a mystery as to why it happened.

Today, at about 1:42pm Eastern Time, I lost my oldest digital identity. My AOL IM account was suspended. Looking for more information got me to a page that told me either I violated terms of service, or that I have to verify my age in some way. I try to follow the links, which get me to some other pages that force me to log into Netscape.Net's home page. Netscape.net doesn't seem to have an issue with my ID - it lets me log in and shows my username in its interface. It lets me check my netscape mail (I never use the account).

This article from PC Magazine describes the problem I'm likely having. At one point AOL seems to have suspended a bunch of people relating to a version change. Normally, I'd file a bug report. It's quite frustrating, though, because if you can't log in, you can't file a bug. So I'm in a Kafkesque Catch-22 situation of sorts here - can't log in file a bug, bug doesn't let me log in. I hope that putting this out will make some waves down in Reston.

Another reason I'm posting this is the way it made me feel. I've lost an ID which many friends and family use to communicate with me, I seem to have no recourse or way to communicate with the service provider. Between this and several outages related to my ISP and my domain, I'm feeling a bit screwed in cyberspace.

This gives me an up close and personal view about why I want to manage my own Digital Identity. I've not-very-closely followed what Mitch Ratcliffe, Doc, Eric Norlin, David Weinberger , AKMA, and others have had to say about Digital ID, but I now know how it feels to lose one. Now I want to take back what's mine - the "ME" of my online "me," if you will. Who will help ME?

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 20:42:49 GMT

CNN: House leaders change the names of "French Fries" and "French Toast" to "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast".

In a related statement, kids at George H.W. Bush High School in Amarillo, Texas, declared that they would no longer be caught "French Kissing" between classes. "Freedom kissing is much cooler!" declared sophomore Jane Lewis.

Salad Bar owner Joe Fisher, of Houston, said he would no longer serve "French Dressing," rather, he would serve "Russian Dressing without relish."

Come on.

Free Speech Outage

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 20:31:28 GMT

Yesterday this Weblog was off the net. Not many people noticed, but I did. So was my email. It seems the hosting provider I used was under a denial of service attack. In other words, some little reckless "cyber terrorist" was using one or more PCs or servers to hit my ISP in such a way that their servers, or firewall, or network equipment literally could not keep up. The service went down and was unusable for 6 hours or more.
I don't just look at this as a denial of "service." Email and Weblogging are forms of free speech. This idiot or group of idiots was denying my rights. I expect this isn't the first time it's happened to my ISP, and it won't be the last. But it is the first time I've looked at the issue in this way. When people intentionally take out parts of they net, they cut off the speech of those people who are using the net, just as a repressive government keeps its people from having net access or freedoms.

And I hope they catch the bastard(s) responsible for my free speech outage.

King Friday has declared the flags will fly at half-staff

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 14:45:16 GMT

His Royal Highness King Friday has declared the flags will fly at half-staff today in the Land of Make Believe, as a salute to Fred Rogers, who died today of cancer at age 74.

I remember watching this show as one of my first TV experiences, along with the original Sesame Street. It will be missed in the vast wasteland of Power-Rangereque children's TV.

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:02:12 GMT

Doing a little travel. Sporadic entries. Don't break anything while I'm gone!

The Snow Gods Must be Crazy - Updated

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 14:50:31 GMT

The Snow Gods Must Be Crazy - Updated

My post from yesterday must have angered the Snow Gods. Note the snow drifting up to the passenger windows.

Update at 3:30 pm - note how high the snow is now!

The snow made it's own snowcone. Reminds me of Beldar, the conehead.

Now Look at it! 3:30pm

Check the pointy snowdrift, plus the black pavement on the leeward side of the car.

The wind shifted, and you can't see anything now! The cars are almost covered. This should be fun.

To give you a better idea of scale of the snowdrifts - the thick line above the pooh stickers is the middle of my back door.

Extra! Weather Forecasters run out of superlatives!

Sun, 16 Feb 2003 21:33:33 GMT

Extra! Extra! Weather Forecasters run out of Superlatives!

Su`per*la"tive, n.

Grammar. Of, relating to, or being the extreme degree of comparison of an adjective or adverb, as in best or brightest.

It's about to be snowing here in Northern New Jersey. Nothing yet, but by many accounts, this will be a HUGE snowstorm. In fact, news sites are running out of adjectives and superlatives to describe it. And that has me worried. What ever happened to the 'jumping off the page' headlines of yore? You know, the kind the guys from the NY Post try to come up with every day?

Weather.com is suggesting that this is the "Crown of Winter" :

The Crown of Winter storm, the blockbuster that brings snow cover to a seasonal maximum, often comes in March. But a tentative coronation probably should be given to the ongoing Presidentsâ€™ Day Storm, a blinding snowmaker that by midday Sunday already had unloaded a foot and a half of snow on parts of the Washington, D. C., metro area.

Crown of Winter? Please, I'm shaking in my timberlands. It also says it's the "Worst Storm in Years" for Washington DC.

MSNBC calls it a "Blizzard," on it's home page, hardly a sufficient term for this monster. Blizzard isn't exactly "SnowStorm 2003!!!" Though, following the link above, I see it's a "Weather Emergency." Wow, I feel much better knowing that MSNBC hasn't lost it's sense of urgency.

The Baltimore Sun, smack in the middle of this, um, Blizzard, tells us it's a "Major" snowstorm. Gee, guys, with a subhead like Meteorologists predict up to two feet overnight I think you could do better than "Major." At least the Washington Times is letting it's readers know they could be "Buried" by 2 feet of snow. That's a adjective in service to it's reader!

On TV, the Weather Channel has turned up the country to Weather Alert Red! Well, guys, where do we go from there? Is this the weather equivalent of Klingons off the starboard bow?

With the Weather at Red and the Terror level at Orange, I'm thinking it's time to kick back and make a Tequilla Sunrise. Stay tuned for further updates!

Google buys Pyra

Sun, 16 Feb 2003 19:12:02 GMT

Google buys Pyra

Best wishes to Ev, Meg, and all the other team members- I see an excellent trend:
Internet Survivors buying other survivors for *real* user bases and (hopefully) real revenue/value creation.

I wonder if we'll look back and this will mark a point in the turn around of the Internet revolution - in a good way.

Sun, 16 Feb 2003 00:08:01 GMT

My daughter's birthday party today. Gotta love the energy of a bunch of 5 year olds in a touch-museum. I was exhausted by the end. And we got some great presents. What do we do to make sure these wonderful kids grow up? Do we take out Saddam now, or wait till he tries to take us down later on?

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 16:01:27 GMT

MSNBC acknowledges 2003 may be the Year of the Blues. About time. But, as with many blues riffs that are used and re-used, borrowed and stolen,

This story appeared in slightly different form on MSNBC.com on Feb. 28, 2002. It has been updated for 2003. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

That said, it isn't a bad article. 'Course, you could learn a whole lot more by going out an' buying yourself some blues to listen to.

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 14:58:47 GMT

This concept is blowing my mind. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I like it. Reversible.org.

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 01:58:49 GMT

I've reset my date format using Active Renderer. I wonder how it's working.

Update: Marc Barrot who created the module helped me fix a bug in my own template. Now that's great service.

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 02:46:07 GMT

Back from SF with a head so full of ideas and a brain so full of jetlag that I can't yet write them down.

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 01:27:11 GMT

I'm off to San Francisco to see Jerry and company. Can't hardly wait.

Almost...cut my hand

Tue, 04 Feb 2003 14:58:02 GMT

Almost...Cut my hand...

Like the line in that David Crosby song, I'm not feeling up to par. Last night whilst cleaning some dishes, I had a mug handle break in my hand. It nicely sliced open my thumb with what looked like a very deep laceration*.

After screaming like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, I washed the cut (more screaming, I am not a fan of pain) and Pam and I tried to stop the bleeding with a paper towel. I washed it again, and saw several layers down into my thumb's epidermis.

We called my sister in law to watch the kids, and prepped for a "quick" visit to the emergency room. My sis-in-law is a nurse, and she used butterfly bandages to seal the wound before letting us go over there. Well, there's a bit of a doctor's strike in NJ, so we went to a NY hospital, and waited. And waited.

Long story short, by the time they saw me the butterflys had helped the wound seal up. They basically soaked my finger in Betadine and sealed it with Dermabond.

Dermabond is pretty wild stuff - its like crazy glue instead of stiches. Their site says:

*Recovery*
	•	No need to have stitches removed
	•	Forms a strong, flexible bond and protective barrier for your incision that seals out most common infection-causing bacteria, including certain staph, pseudomonas and e.coli
	•	Shower or bathe (but don't soak) — the wound doesn't need to be kept dry
	•	Disappears naturally as the incision heals
	•	Bandages and dressings are usually not needed, so you and your doctor can easily keep an eye on your incisions as they heal
	•	Eliminates the need for bandages

Meanwhile, I can't really grasp much with my left thumb. As noted here, opposable thumbs are important for such things as opening child proof tops, water bottles, zippers, etc. Luckily, I don't use my left thumb too much for typing. This will suck for several days.

Alternative titles for this piece:
Other cleaver titles for this piece could have been

One-handed typing
Thumbthing's wrong
1,2,3,4 -- I lost a thumb war
A stich in time isn't worth 9pm-11pm in the emergency room
Dermabond, it's not just for breakskin anymore

By the way, I'm pissed about the mug too. We got them on graduation day, making mine almost 15 years old. Where am I gonna find another one of those? There aren't any class of '88 mugs on Ebay. Damn.

*I love the word laceration. When I was about 4 my uncle, the Harvard Law School student (at the time) taught me to use 'laceration' instead of 'boo-boo' for a cut on my body. It still amuses me to do so. I will have to remember to teach the kids...

Sat, 01 Feb 2003 14:43:31 GMT

Sat, 01 Feb 2003 14:41:31 GMT

Mourning in America

Sat, 01 Feb 2003 14:35:59 GMT

Rest In Peace

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 17:53:39 GMT

At least I can Hear some Evil

I have both Conjuntivitis and Laryngitis (both mild). So, basically I'm seeing and speaking none...

Hey! Maybe I can get a note from David’s Mother…

Well, at least every doctor in the state isn't going on strike next week. Oh, wait, they are!!!

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 17:51:18 GMT

Could be Worse. Could be Raining…

Snow and ice bring Britain to standstill Thousands of motorists are still stuck in their cars after spending the night trapped on motorways blocked by blizzards and black ice. [via BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

One motorist told BBC Breakfast News that he had only moved two miles in 10 hours and had had just two pasties to sustain him.

I'm sure this is a reference to some English dish, and that the gentleman in question didn't have a lap dancer along for the ride.

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 00:57:10 GMT

I went to the iBreakfast this am with Cometa chairman Ted Schell. Thanks to Alan Brody of iBreakfast for inviting me.

ZDNet covered the event here. I also took some notes of the event.

Aside from the content of the event, I was very impressed by one statement Ted used. In two sentences he basically outlined his business, telling me end to end who his value chain, customers and potential partners are.

Cometa will build an infrastructure using 802.11 access points which will be available in highly visible, nationally branded locations (chains), licensed to any carrier with no preference (or preferred rates) and provide the reliability and density of network demanded by enterprise customers.

This isn't just marketing speak. Ted has stated:

A concept - build infrastructure of 802.11a+b access points
A location and partners - highly visible nationally branded locations and chains (McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts and Kinkos were mentioned as examples previously)
a primary user base - licensing to any carriers with no preferred deals
the ultimate end user - enterprise users who demand consistancy.

I've learned a marketing lesson just by hearing this speech. This is a great lesson in having a clear way to explain your business. As Mitch likes to say, Read it and Think.

Wed, 29 Jan 2003 01:05:46 GMT

State of the Union is starting. Mitch is blogging it live now.

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:04:28 GMT

Some of my thoughts today on Martin Luther King Jr., America, Freedom, and Raising Kids.

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:02:53 GMT

Welcome to the world, and to our family, our new niece and cousin, Ilana Gayle. Born this morning! Mother, Father, Baby, sister, and various relatives all doing fine.

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 14:36:06 GMT

This is interesting. US policy seems to be that once we've taken out Iraq, Israel must figure out what to do with the Palestians asap, including shutting Israeli settlements. But I've only seen this in the Israeli papers.

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 20:26:19 GMT

I've added a GEOURL to this site so you know where you can find me when I piss you off. Thanks to Andrew for the link, and for telling me about it in person.

Bon Voyage

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 15:44:46 GMT

Had a nice time last night with Jerry and friends. The pictures are here.

Jerry and the lovey Jen are off to Hong Kong for work and adventure. I will miss them, but am looking forward to the promised frequent NYC visits from Jerry.

Lots of great folks at dinner last night, thanks to host Renee Edelman and her neighbor Don. The pictures tell an ok story, not my best shots. I hope Jerry or Greg got better shots than I did.

Tue, 14 Jan 2003 01:10:54 GMT

A friend of mine, upon borrowing a wi-fi card, opened his laptop in his kitchen to find that one of his neighbors is sharing their access point with the neighborhood. Instant, free, high-speed internet access. He had an epiphany! He suddenly understood what all the articles in the NY Times and other places about always-on, always connected, untethered access meant. There was pure joy in his voice as he explained it. That's the kind of advertising that this "industry" (apply your own filter here) needs.

Sat, 11 Jan 2003 01:27:17 GMT

Mea Culpa

I'm dining on a bit of crow tonight. I'm not sure why I posted the story from yesterday, but it was pointed out to me by some folks who remain nameless that confusing issues as I did was not good. Hence the value of editors. As I respect the opinion of said folks, I will just reiterate that my story yesterday was a bit of a flight of fancy, a "what if" in my head. While I won't self-censor, and I always speak what's on my mind, I will try to clearly label my wild speculations. Peace.

Too much paranoid is bad for your rep

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 14:55:25 GMT

So, yesterdays' discussion was a flight into way too much fancy. An arguement with too many holes. Got lots of interesting mail on it.

David Isenberg replies:

I hope you'll blog that Mitch and Kevin and I (and others?) think you've been smoking too much paranoia-weed. There's plenty of reason to be scared of Poindexter's TIA,
and there are strong reasons to oppose the repeal of telecompetition that the elimination of UNE-P discounts would bring, but a fantasy that joins these two threads is a *bit* far-fetched.

Agreed. It makes good science fiction though. And lets my doctor know about my med levels :-)

My bottom line on it is: TIA is probably not the reason for the UNE-P rules relaxation discussion. However, it is possible that limiting consumer's choice in access, either by phone or ISP connection, HELPS the TIA cause. Which is a bad thing in many ways. I'm against terrorism, but more against the systematic stripping of any semblence of a right to privacy in this country.

Paranoia May Destroy Ya

Thu, 09 Jan 2003 13:50:26 GMT

Paranoia May Destroy Ya

dr. dr. help her please i know you'll understand
there's a time device inside of me i'm a self-destructin' man
there's a red, under my bed
and there's a little green man in my head
and said you're not goin' crazy, you're just a bit sad
'cause there's a man in ya, knawin' ya, tearin' ya, into two -The Kinks

[Note: I realize that by publishing this, some of my friends, and others in the future, may wonder if I've gone off the deep end with conspiracy theory. This article is intended only to spark a discussion. This can't possibly be true. Right?]

updated at the bottom (12:11pm EST)

Premise: What if the FCC's dissolution of the UNE-P rules that force the Bell phone companies to share their infrastructure with potential competitive new entrants into the phone or ISP business aren't being killed because of extensive lobbying on the part of the Bells. What if this is part of the plans around Total Information Awareness that our friends at Homeland Security are cooking up for us. I'm not the only paranoid on the block, as Declan McCullagh has proposed a whole list of things TIA wants to do. [link from Smartmobs.com]

What if limiting the number of phone companies, and limiting the number of ISPs that provide Internet access is part of that plan. I'm crazy right? This is just bullshit, easily refuted. Read on.

On the bus this morning during my commute I was reading the chapter in Smart Mobs about how cooperative behaviour helped create, shape and develop the Internet. There was a discussion about the End-to-End arguement put forth by Dr. Reed, et.al. that

suggests that functions placed at low levels of a system may be redundant or of little value when compared with the cost of providing them at that low level ...The function in question can completely and correctly be implemented only with the knowledge and help of the application standing at the end points of the communication system. Therefore, providing that questioned function as a feature of the communication system itself is not possible.

Or, in more plain and less clear english, don't assume that you know how the users will use the network, just make the network work in the middle and let them figure out how to create the applications at the edges. A similar complimentary theory is put forth by David Isenberg's Stupid Network paper.

This has all been said before by folks smarter than me. The interesting part (hopefully for you) is that on another track in my mind I was thinking about why the FCC is limiting the access to Bell infrastructure, as described above. It doesn't make sense from an economic standpoint if you want in any way to encourage competition, increase the amount of broadband connections, and really bail out the industry. I can't (yet) back this up, but I bet that having lots of new local phone companies and ISPs in a post-telecom-boom world would help a lot of companies sell equipment, and stimulate our economy. Bruce writes that this proposal is deadly to thousands of small businesses. Why would a 'rational economic actor' cause this harm? Especially a regulatory agency that claims it wants to deregulate? It is obvious that the telecom wirelines are a natural monopoly, because until cell service gets a whole lot better, or wireless networking gets much more ubiquitous, we're stuck wtih it. (Note: I'm aware rationality is in the eye of the beholder, etc.)

But there are a whole lot of people acting irrationally in this post-Setember 11th, terror driven world we live in. Or acting rationally within their world view with less concern about how their actions would potentially harm future generations. Any number of people can be added to this list from Bin-Laden to Bush and on and on.

But assume for a second that eliminating the UNE-P rule is being done for nefarious homeland security reasons. How many ways does that leave us to communicate? There are 5 major cell providers, where at least 2 that I know are majority owned by the Bell companies (Verizon Wireless and Cingular, owned by SBC and Bell South). There are about 7 major cable companies that have the majority of cable/broadband subscribers. There are (increasing the paranoia level) only a few major entertainment companies, some of which own cable companies and large amounts of dial-up and broadband access gateways (AOL in particular). In this shrinking universe of consumers' choices it is a lot easier for a government to tap communications. I've heard lots of arguements regarding the impossibility of gathering all the traffic at MAE-EAST or a similar net choke point. But limiting the number of points of entry to the Internet gives the paranoid gov't agent a way to track those terrorists/you and me at more local, simpler connections.

The way the Stupid Network/End-to-End-Argument world is designed, people can always make new applications like Napster that no one pre-supposed, and communicate in a way of which central authorities don't approve. A way to 'subvert the arguement' is by limiting how the network is used, and by trying to take control of something that has traditionally never been able to be 'managed' by a central body.

(By the way, as long as we're being really paranoid, limiting the number of carriers and applications benefits Hollywood and the Music Industry as well. In this case Verizon is being sued by the RIAA to turn over the name of a terrorist, um, I mean a peer-to-peer software user who was allowing access to 600 songs. If there are fewer network providers for the RIAA and MPAA to sue in order to stop us from using peer-to-peer services, this works hand in hand with the goal of keeping terror information from flowing while embedded in graphics, songs or other innocent looking files.)

So what Total Information Awareness goal does limiting the number of phone companies and Internet access carriers accomplish?

Fewer points to watch. Why did China close down 17000+ Internet cafes?
Potential to limit the way the "Stupid" Network is used by limiting choices of access, and ways that access can be used
Potential to control the uncontrollable Internet by limiting choices for users.

I realize this is only a very rough arguement with a million holes and lots of ways for it to be refuted. I'm only throwing this out in hopes that folks with more time to debate this (See people like Mitch, Kevin, Dan, Doc, David, David, Bruce (all of whom I've emailed) or you) can pick it apart, advance it, or help me cure my paranoia with the appropriate drug surreptiously added to my local water supply by secret government agents in black helicopters.

By the way, If I disappear or start acting differently, you'll know I was right. ;-)

Update:
Kevin and Mitch reply in email that they don't believe this is the case, and that throwing this out confuses the debate about this issue.

Kevin: There was a lively debate post-9/11 about whether what happened in Lower Manhattan proved that we need to strengthen the monopoly local carriers (Verizon's argument) or just the opposite, because diversity of networks allowed for greater resiliency and faster disaster recovery (the CLEC argument). It's important to continue fighting this battle. But the arguments will get much less credence if they are couched in terms of the TIA bogeyman.

A good response, which is why I asked in the first place.

Thu, 09 Jan 2003 13:05:49 GMT

This is my new favorite commercial from Apple.

Thu, 09 Jan 2003 01:17:44 GMT

Broadband ISPs mull the healing power of price cuts [theStreet.com] - George Mannes suggests that tiers of service at lower price points will attract more broadband customers, which is better for basically everyone. The cable companies get more revenue for the already-deployed plant, and online services get more potential customers. If someone would only clue in Cablevision, which is raising my rates to $44.95, f--k you very much. With the increase to $63 for the basic+HBO+Starz+channels you want to watch, my monthly cable "relationship" is costing me $100. Now, since I can't get DSL due to local phone "SLICKing" I'm pretty stuck with the cable modem, but sattelite TV is another story...

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 18:37:52 GMT

Seems a company in the UK is trying to keep people from keeping their rental cars out too long by embarrasing them. Fascinating way to keep costs down.

In defence of 'net naming and shaming' Stelios Haji-Ioannou replies to criticism about

easyCar's practice of publishing the pictures of people who keep cars too long.
[via BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 02:51:33 GMT

Seems I wasn't the only one who noticed :-)

MSN Messenger outage affects millions. Cause of worldwide service interruption unknown [InfoWorld: Top News]

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 18:53:18 GMT

At least they know about it.

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 18:43:59 GMT

MSN messenger services is down. Has been all day. Can't find any pointers or news articles on this.

Crank Yankers

Sun, 05 Jan 2003 01:06:22 GMT

Seems that this guy isn't the only one having issues with airport security. Penn Jillete of Penn and Teller got his 'crank cranked' at Las Vegas Airport. Seems you can argue with the federal screeners if they feel you up, and get away without being arrested. If you're an international celebrity and a comedian. {Link via Peter}

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 18:03:05 GMT

My friend George Mannes revels in the idiocy of those just east of his office on Wall St. He documents them in his "5 Dumbest Things on Wall St. This Week" column for TheStreet.com. Here, you can enjoy a quiz about the events of the past year. Hey, George, when are you gonna write a book about this stuff? You know, like Who Soured my Cheese, or Llamas Can be Taught to Dance, or something?

Fri, 03 Jan 2003 00:41:27 GMT

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Ben, who's 90 today! His dad and mom lived into their mid-90's. Good to know I have longevity in my genes.

And Happy Birthday Megnut!

You Say You Want a Resolution

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 00:40:51 GMT

2003. Welcome. I hope you're a damn sight better than the last 2. We've been beat up economically, and the fair city of NY is still recovering. This year, I hope we can all work to make sure that "homeland security" means helping to keep the country safe while not turning the place into a police state.

My resolutions are simple this year:

1. More quality time with the family.
2. Successfully drive the Fund out of business.
3. Find a wonderful new gig that is intellectually stimulating, fulfilling and that also allows me time for #1.
4. Don't make unrealistic resolutions. I'll get to the gym. Now shut up.

Tue, 31 Dec 2002 16:54:25 GMT

I'll blog the resolutions, etc., later. For now, just have a safe and happy New Year!

Sat, 28 Dec 2002 00:51:56 GMT

Show me the baby!

MSNBC and others report the allegedly first cloned baby. CNN's lunchtime show had some experts on disputing the veracity of the claims. Unfortunately, CNN makes you use RealOne's pass to view the video I saw. So bottom line - the experts are saying "SHOW ME THE BABY."

Experts have dismissed the notion that Clonaid is capable of producing a human clone because Boisselier does not have a track record in the field of either animal cloning or human reproduction.

And I agree. What's the likelyhood this cult actually has experts who can clone a primate, let alone a human?

Basic tenet: The old Hebrew phrase "Elohim" -- usually translated as a name for God -- should have been interpreted as a reference to non-Earthlings "from the sky." These entities are, Raelians say, responsible for the creation of life on Earth.

Sounds like someone's been watching too many episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

(As a complete side note, that site states that Star Trek Writer/Producer and Cornell Alum Ronald D. Moore has been tapped to write a 4-hour mini-series reviving BG. My only connection to Ron is that I was at Cornell when he was, and that he dated my girlfriend's roomate. What does that make us? Absolutly Nothing (tm Spaceballs).

Sat, 28 Dec 2002 00:36:59 GMT

Stuffy Nose? Don't forget to use a tissue-san! [link courtesy of Gen] (I wish I read Japaneese, this is probably much funnier in the original.)

Fri, 27 Dec 2002 20:00:15 GMT

On December 12th, I blogged that a lot was going on at work. I also noted that I couldn't talk much about it. I'm now thrilled to announce (a little late):

December 20, 2002 Twin Towers Fund Announces Third Round of Distributions:
Additional $38 Million To 9/11 Family Victims. More...

I've never been more proud to talk about my work than during the past year.

Do You, Uh, Yahoo Chat? What Did you say?

Fri, 27 Dec 2002 02:09:27 GMT

Do You, uh, Yahoo Chat? What did you say? Hello?

Had an online chat with Jerry's crowd tonight. In the middle of the chat, we lost power in the house. Amazingly, the UPSes I had upstairs kicked in and I kept going. Then I came downstairs, turned on the laptop, and dialed up to the chat again. Unfortunately, that was when the not-seeing-folkstyping thing started to happen. Like that recent episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where where Willow, and Buffy and the rest of the gang are in the same room but Willow can't see them and they can't see Willow, so went our chat. Only certain groups could see the typing of certain individuals, even though we all could see a long list of people signed into this chat room. The chat wound down to a series of private IMs. This was, I admit, the first candle-light Instant Messaging Chat I've ever had.

During the chat there were lots of side talks, which I won't cover as some people asked us not to. But interesting folks like Bob Frankston, David Isenberg, David Weinberger, Jon Guttenberg, Adina Levin, Judi Clark, Andrius Kulikauskas, Renee Edelman, and I'm sure there were other folks there, but I couldn't see them talking. I ran a webcam, as did Bob and David W. I showed off the kids, and many folks said nice things about how cute they were. Thanks!

To them and to all my other friends, an early Happy New Year!

It is now possible to create your own feeds with NewzCrawler!

Thu, 26 Dec 2002 01:41:09 GMT

This is a sample posting from News Crawler. I learned about it from Jeremy Allaire's weblog.

--
Composed with Newz Crawler 1.3 http://www.newzcrawler.com/

Thu, 26 Dec 2002 00:49:05 GMT

When I woke up this morning, I was mad at the weatherman for "crying wolf" again. They keep predicting huge snows, and we get small amounts. But after a brief pause in the 8-10am time, the snow started in earnest. We went to visit friends in the mid-day, and by the time we got back, there was at least 8 inches of good packing snow covering a layer of ice from mid-morning rain.

This picture is what it looks like at 8:00pm.

One of my neighbor's guests locked himself out of the car in the middle of the street, which forced me to park sideways in my spot. (Please ignore the corona effect of the streetlight on the drop of water on my window, there was no way I was going back outside to take this shot. ) I hope this guy gets his car (which is still running) out of the street so the plow can come and plow me into my spot :-)

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 16:31:49 GMT

I attended the NYNMA ITV SIG last night. Lots of thoughts in my head about it.
I published notes for it here.

I have my introductory speach here.

One thing that came to mind was that most of the folks are Broadcast folks with a capital B. That means they think in terms of sending stuff down to "consumers" with not a lot of thought to what people will send back, or send to each other.

I was told, when asking a lot of questions in this realm, that ITV is not the Web, and that's true in so many ways.

Mon, 23 Dec 2002 14:13:15 GMT

End of Civilization as we know it? Or just a new weblog?

Gawker is a Manhattan weblog magazine edited by Elizabeth Spiers, designed by Jason Kottke and published by Nick Denton. It is a live review of city news, and by news we mean, among other things, urban dating rituals, no-ropes social climbing, Condé Nastiness, downwardly-mobile i-bankers, real estate porn -- the serious stuff.

Actually- they don't take theirsevlevs as seriously as the audience they purport to cater to:

Q. How many Gawker readers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Two. One to mix martinis while the other calls the electrician.

Worth a click.

Wired News: Is That a TiVo Under the Tree?

Mon, 23 Dec 2002 02:00:32 GMT

Hey, Tivo Rocks. If you're not sure- now's the time to get one.

Yet for those eyeing a PVR, now is a good time to buy, analysts say.

The boxes normally cost around three or four hundred dollars, but in the last month the companies have reached the "magic $199 price point," Ireland said.

On its website, the TiVo Series2 DVR costs $200 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) plus a monthly fee of $13 or a lifetime fee of $250 -- that's the lifetime of the TiVo box itself -- to subscribe.