W R Carlson: Friends & Extended Family

Playlist - not enough details with one Genre field - Thanks Apophenia

Tue, 04 Jan 2005 19:09:50 GMT

In this post by Apophenia - there is the sense that Genrefication is the solution - but I think the "would you make me a dub-mix" line is the key - it is the play list you want to listen too - not just the Genre's - genre's cannot be specific enough if there's only one field of information - even within one artist - there's too much variety to pack into a single genre, let alone mood, and setting.

Someone in a position of authority (read Steve Jobs? or an appropriate iPod minion) needs to think about this for a while and come up with a list of fields - 2.0. I know there are a few solutions out there, but none seem to do it quite right. So maybe there's an opportunity for Apple or Creative, or Red Chair, to come up with the solution that will take this whole thang to a new level.

====================================

music genres and moods.

One of the reasons that i loved Napster was that you could see how people labeled their music, particularly the genre. In music, i use genre like i use tagging in Gmail, del.icio.us and Flickr, only i'm a bit more obsessive about keeping them organized. My playlists are all automatically created based on my idiosyncratic genre labels. The labels are not for you, but for me and i don't care if PsyChill doesn't really exist - it's the label that ties together things like bluetech and Shpongle.

Due to 1) my new iPod, 2) the barfing of my Mac, 3) the scanning of CDs and 4) my obsession with last.FM, i am diving deeply into my music collection to re-genrify things. It is this attribute of last.FM that is given me the greatest curiosity. Last.FM is full of people with - shall we say - "interesting" tastes. I'm sorry but there is no playlist in the world that should have Gwar and Nina Simone together. Wrong wrong wrong. And why is Elliott Smith on the top artists page of the genre Breaks? No no no.

Of course, i'm part of fucking this up. I love Elliott Smith and i love breaks. Since i am in the breaks group, my listening to Elliott Smith is affecting that genre page. This is a problem. I know better when i manually genrify my music. Elliott Smith is is the MaleNeuvoFolk genre (which is effectively equivalent to Sadcore except can also be listened to when not depressed). I would never recommend Elliott Smith to a breaks aficionado.

I'm worried that this diverse listening pattern is messing up all the data. After three days of listening to non-stop chillout, goa and breaks, i should not be getting recommendations for Rancid and Ludacris. The problem is that there's a big gap between Beth Orton and Son Kite and i fear that trying to resolve those two listening patterns will result in abysmal results. The system should know that i'm listening with two different faceted patterns - the chill danah and the dancey danah.

When i ask a friend for music advice, i don't simply say "give me anything you listen to." I know better. But i would ask "could you make me a dub mix?" or "what would complement Dr Toast?" Or think about the Back to Mine series (collections based on what musicians chill out to). I want my last.FM to understand that there are moods. All of my playlists get this. All of my genrification gets this. Now it's time for last.FM. I should be able to play everything that userx thinks makes for "coding music" or for "chill out" or for "getting ready to go out." I want to be able to cluster my music. I want to be able to inform Audioscrobbler to only tell the genre group "PsyTrance" about things that i've marked Full-On, Melodic, Scando or PsyChill. Or tell them about a playlist or two. Tag the genres so that i don't blush when i see my love of Johnny Cash appear as appropriate for other Trip-Hop fiends.

[apophenia]

Ditto - Congrats on the New Position Werner!

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 00:31:52 GMT

Werner and I met at BloggerCon 2003 - where we stood outside and had a cigarette with Adam Curry. Since then, I've been following him via my aggregator and those of people around him who know him better than I do.

Hope to reconnect at some point - but this position sounds like it could be really cool and fun!

====================

Go Werner!.

Go Werner!

Werner Vogel's heading to Seattle to work for Amazon as Director of Research -- I'm thrilled for him. [Halley's Comment]

Halley-Brilliants - 9 AM Monday Dance Break!

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:38:07 GMT

Must Do in Schedule, Pattern interrupt! You are a font of Museful Ideas!

Monday Thing.

Monday Thing

I have this theory that people try to get 85% of what they need to do for the entire week done on Monday. This makes them half nuts and very unpleasant to be around. (Once I started working on my own, I realized this was a good reason to crank up rock and roll very loud around about 9:00am on Monday and spend the first hour of the week dancing. This, correlated with the fact that the highest rate of heart attacks take place allegedly at 9:00am on Monday, seemed a much more healthy response.)

When I worked in real offices, Monday mornings were often spent in sales or marketing meetings where the boss was yelling at the staff like an angry dad and the staff was stuffing themselves with pastry and coffee to feel better like unhappy children eating sticky treats.

Then on Tuesday, people do the last 15% of their week's work and fix mistakes they made from rushing around like crazy people on Monday. Then Wednesday, they see what really matters that week and what they would have been better off focusing on right from the beginning to be really effective. Thursday they rest because they start thinking about the weekend. Friday they don't do anything because it is Friday after all, Thank God! [Halley's Comment]

Wrote, Don't think! Let tem know they matter. thanks again Halley!

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:22:10 GMT

Halley, you are always expressing thoughts that so many of as have-but fail to Say!

i woke up in a hotel room this morning, and flipped on the TV after getting out of the shower. there was this movie w/Sean Connery, where he plays an author. He is helping maybe Denzil Washington to learn to write, and spends the whole fame saying: Write Don't think! Something I need to do! In this way You Capture raw ideas and at least say staff that ends up being meaningful to your self, your family and as you do anther post-tell people they mean something to you. Even of you don't do what you say yon should or ought to do.

Wouldn't It Be Nice?.

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

My Monday mornings, as much as they get jam-packed full of things to do and places to go and people to see and ALL THAT, are still emotional and lush and human.

But even on those hustle bustle Monday mornings, I would like to remember to let the people I love know one thing -- that I love them and appreciate all the nice things they do for me. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all take time to do that? [Halley's Comment]

Rollerblades and the Big Honking Pink Cast!

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 12:12:13 GMT

Monday (Patriot's day for those of you who are from MA), my daughters were home and decided to go outside and rollerblade. I suggested they dig out their wrist guards, etc... No of course not, they are tough, they don't need no stinkin' wrist guards! While guess what!!?

I got to spend a big hunk of yesterday hustling one of em around from Pediatrician to Hospital to Orthopedic guy, and now we have a broken radius, ulna and and big honking pink cast. No not the lovely delicate waterproof gore-tex cast, but the huge, above-the-elbow fiberglass (looks like the old plaster type I had when I broke my arm) type. And Pink - Oh my God! It's practically neon. How do you sign a cast like that... Oh well. Live and Learn. Sometime's Dad knows what he's talking about.

At least the general level of embarrassment over actually having fallen and hurt herself kept her from wimpering too loudly or complaining about the consequences. It was her own damn fault. And in fact she was tough and did show great courage. Coming in the house, getting an ice pack and taking tylenol - all before informing me of the injury at all. Quite stoic! She is a cool kid.

Now the gym teachers who were having her do LONG-JUMPING before I picked her up for the trip to the pediatrician will think twice when a kid says they can't participate because they hurt themselves - jees, can you imagine if she had landed on her broken arm during gym! Wow!

Yet Another Social Networking Software YASNS - site list

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 23:11:51 GMT

The list has been moved to here: Social Networking Sites and Software sorted by name
Please note that YOU can edit this list yourself to make it more accurate and up-to-date! I am not personally maintaining this list anymore, I am counting on all of you to continually keep it updated. Thanks very much.

Websites
Ryze: business
ecademy: business
LinkedIn: business
itsnotwhatyouknow: business
Friendly Favors: business
ZeroDegrees: business (corporate)
Accolo: jobs
RealContacts: jobs
Eliyon: business, jobs
Friendster: friendship, dating
Sona Matchmaker: friendship, dating (India)
Huminity: friendship
everyonesconnected.com: friendship
Ringo: friendship
PalJunction: friendship, business, dating, roommates
Tribe: friendship, business, dating, roommates, classifieds
Club Nexus at Stanford - need URL: alumni, article
MeetUp: in-person
Buddy Zoo: IM social networking analysis
*PayDemocracy: political groups
*classmates.com: alumni
*.reunion.com: alumni
*InfoSpace: yellow pages (references)
*SwitchBoard: yellow pages (references)
*Match.com: dating
*People on Page: friendship, dating
*all of the other dating sites
People Aggregator: ???

*= could easily cross over into social networking

Software:
Spoke SW: business (corporate)
Visible Path, business (corporate)
**wwPlaxo.: contacts
**GoodContacts: contacts
**Accucard: contacts

** contact software could easily add social networking features as they have all of the necessary data

Blogs with some features of Social Networking
livejournal: blog
Expressions: visual blogging
Fotolog: visual blogging

Question Marks
WisomeBuilder
NetDiva

Preliminary Analysis
It seems pretty clear that not all of these social networking sites or software will survive. Clay Shirky states "The *only* thing these services have to base a business on is lack of interoperability". I believe there is another part to the value proposition that they offer users -- the ability to go beyond 1 degree of separation. However, it's really difficult to think of situations where going more than 2 degrees of separation is worthwhile, unless you are a contagious disease - see my whitepaper Links and Nodes in Social Networks. Unless >2 degrees of separation and node secrecy are valued by users (maybe not everyone but an interestingly large set of users), an "open" networking service will make these proprietary services and software obsolete. before they've made a penny.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to the many people who helped me compile this list including:

Clay Shirky
Danah Boyd
Doug Rush
Sean Murphy
Debi Jones
Patti Anklam

If I left your name off let me know and I will add it.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9/14/2003 09:49:58 AM

Halley - you are endlessly fascinating!

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 16:13:45 GMT

OK OK - you are endlessly fascinating - juxtaposing posts - On The Perceived Hermanetics of Didactic Fundamentalism and then this one...

I am hot just imagining you in your bikini - pink hat - darjeeling dream

And Great Link to Daniel Day Lewis as Cecil - talk about contrasts - Room with a View and then Last of the Mohicans - don't underestimate the flexibilty of us tweedy guys...

==============================================

Cock-A-Doodle Do.

Cock-A-Doodle Do

Rise and shine, guys. Let's go. It's getting late. 5:22 am here I suppose that rooster noise is what woke me, figuratively, metaphorically, not literally, as there is no strutting bird anywhere in sight, but in my mind's eye, which is to say a rather sexy dream woke me, what's a girl to do, but stagger out of bed, say ... "hmmm" about that, put a light on, shuffle into the kitchen, grab the counter for balance, flip the switch on the teapot, reach for the Darjeeling to bring her back to Earth, and with spring battling winter and my dreamy landscape a hot summer beach, I don a most inappropriate but perfect costume, last summer's black and white bikini, a black cashmere sweater, a pink faux fur hat. You can't take this life too seriously you see.

I think, "Who Was That Masked Man?"

Maybe ... him?
Maybe ... him?
Maybe ... him?
Maybe ... him?
Maybe ... him?
No, must have been ... oh yes, he's the one. [Halley's Comment]

If I've luck sir, She's my Uxor - thanks Halley for a romp through my maying years!

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 15:56:33 GMT

Thank you Halley - once again for keeping me on my literary toes. My introduction to Uxor comes from an a capella song I sang back in high-school. It is a very sophomoric tribute to latin lessons by John O'Keefe:

Amo, Amas

AMO, amas,; I love a lass
As a cedar tall and slender!: Sweet cowslips' grace; Is her Nominative Case,
And she's of the Feminine Gender.
Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!
Harum, scarum Divo!
Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,
Hic hac, horum Genetivo!: Can I decline; A Nymph divine?
Her voice as a flute is dulcis!: Her oculi bright!; Her manus white!
And soft, when I tacto, her pulse is!
Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!
Harum scarum Divo!
Tag rag , merry derry, periwig and hatband,
Hic hac, horum Genetivo!: O, how bella; Is my Puella!
I'll kiss sæculorum!: If I've luck, Sir!; She's my Uxor!
O, dies benedictorum!
Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!
Harum scarum Divo!
Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,
Hic, hac, horum Genetivo!: John O'Keefe

Note the line above - "if I've luck sir, she's my Uxor." In other words the beautiful woman he is singing about will become his wife! Or, at least will perform some "wifely" activities...;-)

Thanks again=======================================================

Uxorial.

Uxorial

I used this word "uxorial" today on the phone with someone who knows a lot of words and he didn't know this one. It's a great word.

I have nothing but avuncular or perhaps, fraternal feelings for this guy, btw.

And he is not particularly uxorious either. He simply needed to ask her a question before we could plan an outing. [Halley's Comment]

SpellBound - Spelling Bee documentary. I missed it, but I tried to watch

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 02:40:09 GMT

Only Rave Reviews

Shattering a child's enchantment - Fairies are not real!

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 14:46:07 GMT

Last night I got home to learn that our daughter had sobbed herself to sleep. Her illusions shattered - the enchantment broken. Fairies are not real.

A few months ago, she came home all excited. At her school, she and a friend of hers had discovered a fairy tree! This tree had little seed pods that contained fairy seeds. She immediately wanted to construct a little fairy play-world and incubate the little seeds until they hatched.

So, we encouraged this flight of wondrous imagination. On a trip, my wife discovered two beautiful cards with images of angels or fairies - so we cut them out from the cards and one of the seeds magically "hatched." Her new friend, Arabella, was conjured from fancy.

Arabella was a source of the most intense and imaginitive play our daughter had ever experienced. She created whole histories and worlds for her to inhabit. She wove magical tales rivalling the best fairy tales I know. Some were a bit of a leap, or included mundane bits of household stuff - Dead leaves, tupperware swimming pools, PollyPockets.

Soon a sign appeared:

Dont come in there is

a reel fairy in heer!

She is very shie and

She dosint like to be desterbed.

SSShhhhh! Thank you

And so it continued.... They began a correspondence. She would spend hours composing notes, asking about the fairy world and details about Arabella's life as a fairy. Her anticipation and delight at receiving a response was palpable! She encouraged a friend at school to hatch a fairy, and so the enchantment spread.

Once, early on, she asked an adult whether fairies were real. The adult said No, she did not believe in fairies.

But she had the story of the Polar Express (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395389496/104-5362871-9229543?v=glance) in her head. As you may recall, the story ends with the adults and even the little boy's sister unable to hear the silver sleigh-bell that Santa gave him. "It's broken" they say. But those who believe can still hear it.

My daughter made a quick connection, and concluded that adults, and some of the kids, just couldn't hear the bell anymore - and this became shorthand for explaining the fact that she knew Arabella was real, and others didn't.

A few months later, she had a birthday party. Her favorite gift was a Christmas ornament that Arabella gave her. It was delicate and beautiful, and had fairy dust sprinkled in a spiral pattern around it. She loved it.

While we were planning to have Arabella migrate or hibernate for the winter - so that the enchantment would slip into memory, and form an oasis of magical memory for her to tap into - this had worked with Santa, who she concluded was no longer real on her own, and with no trauma.

Unfortunately it was not to be.

She discovered her letters to Arabella in my wife's nightstand last night. She walked out and held them out in front of her - searching, hoping, wanting an explaination that made sense, that would not break the spell! But my wife was so startled and unprepared that she blurted out the cold hard truth. Arabella was not real. Mommie had written the letters (and in some cases Nana). It was a cruel lie. She was terribly sorry. She never meant for it to become so elaborate.

Then the wailing began. The unconsolable crying of our daughter at the tearing down of her world. What about the fairy tree. Just a regular tree with seed pods. What about the pictures she had sent. They were cut from magazines and greeting cards. What about... The Christmas Ornament! It was really a gift from Mom and Dad. And the fairy dust sparkling on the ornament. Not really fairy dust... On and on it went. What about her friend's fairy - it wasn't real either...

Sobbing and Disillusionment - the light ebbed from her eyes. We had hurt her deeply.

That's when I came home - Oh how I wish that I had been the one she confronted. Now my wife is sorry to have let it get started in the first place! Later when putting her to bed and saying prayers - it felt very empty. Would she lose her belief in God too? Didn't it diminish our own!? Telling the truth may be hard up front - she says - but then we're not confronted with this devastating experience later.

No - I don't agree at all! But I wasn't there, I can't criticize my wife after she just went through this. Yet, I believe that it was a tremendous and good thing! Imagination and fantasy must me nurtured and explored. Deep down, she knew. Even if she didn't, she did believe that one day she would not be able to hear the bell ring anymore. Why not let that ringing be a quite memory - not a dull clang of reality setting in.

Now we need give her some space - then to help her to reconstruct a new lenchantment. A deeper level of magic for her. There are things beyond our understanding. Dimensions we cannot percieve. Things seen and things unseen that we profess to believe in. Each time we learn that one enchantment was not sufficient, we must not give up on enchantment all-together! We must allow a newer deeper, real-er muse to lead us to a world that we want desperately to inhabit. A world with magic, with spirit, with emotion, with enchantment.

So, muse, sing me and my daughter and my wife a new song. A song that will weave a new spell, a good spell, a spell we can test and not find wanting - for now and perhaps for always.

Role of Small-Talk in real world relationship building?!

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:32:41 GMT

Need some elaboration here... The role of small-talk in building real-world relationships. What is it exactly? How does it work? This could be a fascinating concept.

I think Ryze uses its message list (on your page there) as the vehicle to convey small-talk initial stuff... But you get a better insight into who someone represents themselves to be, before you initiate the small talk.

=====================

Awkward profile introductions. Zephoria uses something I wrote to delve into the way in which our profiles in a social network don't well serve the role of small-talk generation so important to building new relationships in the real world.... [Joho the Blog]

Friendster - what is this community?

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:07:59 GMT

Just marking this for further reading - I'm not on Friendster...yet.? So far can't get the rational for joining it beyond Ryze and LinkedIn - is it just a different community, or is it a dating community... Havn't figured it out...

==============================

NYT: Danah Boyd on Friendster.

This NYT profile of cybersociologist Danah Boyd focuses on her work in online social networks, and her participant-observation of Friendster. Danah knows what she's doing. Along with the likes of Marc Smith, Mimi Ito, Rich Ling, Sadie Plant, Judith Donath and, of course, Sherry Turkle, Danah is part of an exciting incandescence of cybermobile social sciences.

[Smart Mobs]

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:33:03 GMT

Caught this blog entry on LinkedIn! Still growing!

=================================

200 Of Reid Hoffman's Closest Friends.

Tonight was yet another sold out social networking event -- it was IBD Network's Under The Radar. The CEOs of LinkedIn, Spoke, ZeroDegrees and VisiblePath all presented their businesses. Esther Dyson of Release 1.0, Pradeep Tagare from Intel Capital and I were on a panel to discuss their respective business models. Based upon what I heard this evening, here is how I would sum up the different companies' business models.

LinkedIn -- subscription (eventually) service to input and manage one's own contacts to search for connections.
Spoke -- deeply integrated enterprise solution extracting contact data from enterprise applications (e.g. Outlook, Notes, etc.) to establish and leverage connections.

ZeroDegrees -- Outlook plugin and related service to input, manage, prioritize and search connections.

VisiblePath -- social networking software engine for prioritizing and understanding connections for integration into traditional enterprise software applications (SFA, CRM, etc.).

If you're thinking that they all sound pretty similar, I'm with you. These companies have way more in common than not. After the companies presented, the panel and audience voted on what they believed was the most interesting business. The audience preferred the model described by Ben Smith of Spoke, while the panel collectively preferred the business described by Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn. Interestingly, both Spoke and LinkedIn announced at the event that they had recently come to terms on financings -- Spoke wouldn't yet say from whom they were raising money, LinkedIn announced that it will be funded by Sequoia -- whereas ZeroDegrees and VisiblePath remain angel funded.

One thing that did surprise me tonight was the percentage of the audience who were users of LinkedIn. By show of hands, the LinkedIn members outnumbered the Friendster members by over 2 to 1. It looked like two-thirds or more of the audience had signed up to LinkedIn. Those are pretty surprising numbers. Of course I don't think there is another audience in the country that could replicate those statistics, but it tells you that the Bay Area entrepreneur community has bought into social networking on some level (either that or Reid had packed the audience with a couple hundred of his closest friends). It will be interesting to see how that scales beyond the Bay Area.

[VentureBlog]

Thanks for the Muse-like musings Halley - Your on a roll here!

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:00:40 GMT

Boy - I need to reconnect with you at some point - I know we only met for a few minutes at BloggerCon, but the more I read the more I'm happy we actually met - and at some point I'll send you the photos I took of you (God its been months! - Can't seem to overcome the technical difficulty that the filenames are all a string of digits - so to scroll through and find the right photos is a pain....) There must be a solution!

Thanks again,

Carve Out A Life.

Carve Out A Life

An unusual residual from reading this book about re-imagining business has struck me ... that is, re-imagining a life. Carving out a life that fits you. A life that fits you exactly. A life tailored to you -- as if -- it were your life. I worry we are all living a life someone else thinks we should be living.

Take an inventory of all the things you have going on in your life. Decide which really matter and which really don't. It can be a little shocking. Like cleaning out closets, when you are done, you wonder, why was I keeping all that crap around here anyway?

I've had the added pleasure of helping clean out old clothes and stuff of my parents after they were gone and it makes it painfully clear how much stuff just doesn't matter. Are we lost in a swamp of stuff and a swirl of little pieces of paper and a wind that blows us here and there and everywhere for no good reason?

There's just no doubt that we're all dying. And still, every day we put off real and authentic relationships with living human beings and choose other silly busy work, to get through our days instead. Perhaps its just too frightening to look others straight in the eye. Maybe we will find that truth I mentioned, right there in their deep regard, that we are all dying.

The only people left who seem to know how to enjoy the liveliness of a day are children. When I'm with my son, there is no shying away from rolling down a green summer grassy hill, or throwing yourself into a cold lake, or letting ice cream melt and drip all over your face. They do not hold back.

We still think someone's watching. We think someone's deciding if we're pretty or handsome enough. We think someone's deciding if our car is cool enough. We think someone's deciding whether or not to be our friend based on whether our house, apartment, mansion, or hut is good enough.

No one is watching. They are too busy dying. [Halley's Comment]

Halley's secret MILF fantasy

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 18:51:26 GMT

Hi Halley,

Just thought I'd point out that you are a mother...;-)

Sorry you removed the comments from your page - so I'll comment on my page. You are the kind of mother that ispired the MILF page - but probably far from the mothers that populate the video clips.

Keep on steath discoing...

Leading MILF Economic Indicators.

Leading MILF Economic Indicators

Nice to know you're in the hottest new demographic. All you business majors and MBA's won't want to miss this post by Baccus about where money in the new economy is really being made. The darnest thing is a nice gentleman once tried to make me believe the "M" in MILF stood for Mature Women. Funny I don't remember Maturewomen being one word. He was adamant. He could not admit that the "M" stood for Mom. Funny, it must have been an edible, I mean, Oedipal thing. [Halley's Comment]

Reminder of gift from Scott & Susan! Good Idea!

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 18:32:10 GMT

Don't have a cow--you can have Heifer.org!. This season's first holiday miracle just happened--my catalog from Heifer International (online at www.heifer.org.)

The miracle is that I am thrilled to see it.

I remember how pleased my mom was when she discovered this way to give her present-showered grandkids the gift of helping poor families. She didn't have to hit malls, wrap packages, or spend a lot to give an unforgettably special present. My kids were old enough to be thrilled by the idea.

OK, I admit it, I'm also smiling at this photo of a little boy holding a baby duck in his hands (it's bigger in my catalog).

Go check them out--and you'll be smiling too.

"Passing on the Gift" is a key component of Heifer International's program. Participants give offspring of their livestock to others, in an ever-widening circle of hope. Here, a woman in India passes on a goat in a ceremonial setting.
Photo credit: Darcy Kiefel
Copyright: Heifer International

Just $10 lets you give a share of a goat.

...$20 buys a flock of baby chicks.

...or, for that special someone, $25 buys a share in a water buffalo.

Each price represents "the complete livestock gift of a quality animal, technical assistance, and training," says my catalog.

[Betsy Devine: Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar?]

FACING FEAR - FACADES AND GLIMPSES OF REALITY

Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:24:26 GMT

I love the line in this post about how Kevin's mother might find out exactly who he really is....

This is fear!

Who else would I not really want to know this? Most everyone that you want some sort of facade or some sort of personal privacy?

On the one hand, Mothers (and wives, kids, ex-lovers, friends, co-workers, etc) have some level of intimate relationship with you. They know a lot about you and a lot about your quirks and talents.

On the other hand, they know too much. And now they can find out more and connect pieces together.

For anyone who is not living a life of total integrity and alignment within and without, this is a problem - in other words IT'S A PROBLEM FOR ALL OF US.

Until we face our fears and realize that most people are more concerned about themselves and the way they come across than about you. So maybe it is just your mother... Or your wife... or your kids...

HMMM no solution -

mom finds out about blog. I've always ranted about how there are two people that no one wants to have access to their digital presentation of self: mom and boss. Apparently, The Onion concurs.... [zephoria]

Columbus - Feeding our kids the Politically Correct Line

Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:50:44 GMT

I just had an argument with my 10 year old. I thought - Hey it's Columbus Day, maybe there's some good movie (e.g. not rated R) that tells the Columbus story!?

Her reaction - NO WAY. Columbus had slaves! Further, you can't even find non-mixed-raced Coriander people left! He didn't discover America! I do not want to watch a movie that celebrates the life of someone who owns slaves... And on and on...

Holy smokes! I know there were indiginous peoples here first, and what about that Swede Leif Ericson? But raking poor Columbus over the coals for Slavery in the 15th Century! I shudder to think what she'll say about Thomas Jefferson.

Beyond that is the entire lack of understanding of who this guy was, and why what he did was considered important. This dead white europeans were EVIL crap has got to stop. I don't make a big deal about Columbus, but to write him off as an evil slaver rather than a brave explorer is more than I can take! And we pay through the nose to have this crap spoon-fed to our kids!

Action is required!

I'll be singing the Mozart Requiem for All Hallow's Day - That is the day after Halloween aka the All Souls Requiem

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:22:31 GMT

Need to get the vocal parts in Midi format. According to our choir director extraordinaire, this can be obtained from "The Silvis Woodshet" http://gasilvis.net. But I have no experience downloading and playing midi files. So this (like LinkedIn) will be an experiment.

I'll post how it works. I can learn the part by listening to a good CD - such as the John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Monteverdi Choir - with Barbara Bonney's exquisite solo soprano singing. But I think it will be easier to learn the part by hearing the Midi file.

We'll keep you posted

Went to a Private School Auction Last Night. Recession? What Recession!!

Sun, 13 Apr 2003 14:13:43 GMT

Had a nice evening at another private school auction. Small school and while we don't have kids there ourselves, a number of people we know have or had kids there. You would never know there was a recession for the prices people paid for stuff. Oh, granted that it is for a good cause... But over $500 to have a teacher make your kids lunch for a week??? Or over $500 for a coat made from duct tape (and not a new coat either...). Several items sold in the thousands. I'm sure it was a great success.

It also made me realize that my personal network is still pretty damn small. Who are these parents - cars lined the streets as the parking lot was full. SUV's BMW's Mercedes, etc. And these are not generally right wing types. This is an artistic and culturally oriented school. Who are these parents and where do they get their wealth? Doesn't quite seem like the tech sector.

We sat with a judge and a former hospital president turned teacher. Others we know there are professors, vp's at local companies... Still I think our contacts are not representative of the tables spending the bucks. There was serious money there and it is interesting to wonder about who these high-bidding types are.

Replay has changed my life - Everyone needs to buy one IMMEDIATELY. Save the company.

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 18:17:10 GMT

SonicBlue - don't let this be true!!! Replay is the greatest things sinced sliced bread!!! No I don't work there, I am just an enthusiastic user. If you are sitting on the fence - buy one now!!!! Tivo is not nearly as nice as this. Also, buy directly from the company's website! So they get the money, The retail channel can catch up later (sorry guys, got to save the company first).

They're going to sell the whole shebang for 40m to some Japanese company. At $1000 per player (lifetime subscription included) That is equal to 40,000 buyers! Come on, there must be 40,000 people who will buy this.

How bout the troops (you've got 300,000 troops in Iraq). These are the guys who will want something cool as a reward for their hard work - Replay is the thing.

At least let's hope that the Japanese company will keep it operating nicely! I'd hate to be out the bucks, have a useless non-functioning machine, and have to go get a TiVo...

=========================================

Sonicblue seeks bankruptcy protection

By Jim Hu
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 21, 2003, 8:20 AM PT

Hardware maker Sonicblue has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and intends to sell its ReplayTV digital recorder and Rio MP3 player businesses.

The bankruptcy notice, filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, Calif., is intended to let Sonicblue continue operations long enough to sell its main subsidiaries. The company plans to complete those sales by April and then to open the bidding for its remaining assets.

"In the end, we and our financial advisers have concluded that the best outcome for our creditors and our employees is to sell our businesses to better-heeled owners," Gregory Ballard, Sonicblue's CEO, said in a statement.

So far, Sonicblue has signed nonbinding letters of intent with Japanese consumer electronics companies D&M Holdings and Marantz Japan to sell its ReplayTV and Rio subsidiaries for $40 million. The company also has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its GoVideo business to Opta Systems for $12.5 million.

Sonicblue has retained Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin Capital as its financial adviser and Pillsbury Winthrop as its legal counsel.

The bankruptcy filing caps an unsuccessful attempt by Sonicblue to find potential buyers or investors to reduce its debt. The company has been fighting a lawsuit by the entertainment industry over technology in its ReplayTV device that lets people skip commercials.

Sonicblue recently settled a patent suit with TiVo, its digital recording device rival.

Related News

Hidden ad-skipping feature found in TiVo January 15, 2003
No escape: Gadgets bring tech everywhere January 9, 2003
Sonicblue turned on to Universal remote October 23, 2002
Maxtor drives Sonicblue's ReplayTV October 22, 2002
Sonicblue pins hopes on holiday pricing October 21, 2002
Get this story's "Big Picture"

To Fly or to Disappear... Seems like a personality test or mood disorder test...

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 15:31:59 GMT

Blatantly ripped from Jon's Radio - Thanks Jon, you remind me that This American Life is one of the more fascinating insights into the reality of human existence - not just the facade of human existance. It should be called "American's Secret Lives."

Ripping this article, it is an interesting quetions, and I agree - when I listen to This American Life, I'm always challenged by the fascinating content. Last time I was able to hear it, one of the topics was about a father who had secretly taped his son's telephone calls. Result, learning about and being able to disrupt his son's secret drug life! Final outcome was that the son and father reached a new level of honesty... We'll see if it lasts.

I'd probably chose invisibility - flying is over-rated. Information is Power. Invisibility would allow for information gathering and better decision-making. It might create and end-game of arriving at that new level of honesty as in the Father-Son situation above.

Is this pointing to some core theme? People's secret lives. Secret information. Desire to know other people's secrets - for personal gain at first (fun sex etc), but later you might move beyond that to a place of reality of people that you didn't know before. Often the implication is that this would empower a better world. Is this the story-line from 100's of movies? Kubrik's Eye's Wide Shut? Or Matrix? Or Groundhog Day?

Even Superman who can fly has a secret life, and his other superpowers enable invisible-like activity: X-ray vision, super-hearing, etc. With these he has super-information gathering abilty! This is really what we want - our own secret spy agency gathering information for us that we would not have access to!

I'm sure there are counter examples, people who learn what they do not want to know and the enchantment is broken. Learning about affairs, and lying, and all the other sins. If the story stops there - at the point of disenchantment, you never reach the deeper magic. These are tragedies. People learn something, or are exposed and then commit suicide, or run away/disappear, or go on some killing spree!

Yes it is a dangerous game to play with the magic of invisibility. It's power to reveal truths, no matter how unpleasant, is always scary. The question is - since this seems to be some sort of life paradigm, how do you make the transition from disillusionment and depression to new enchantment and new life?

================================

Choose your superpower

In his latest newsletter, David Weinberger asks if there is a right to anonymity in cyberspace. Let's forget about the Internet for the moment. In one of my favorite episodes of This American Life, entitled Superpowers, interviewer John Hodgman asks people this fascinating question: If you could have the power to fly, or to be invisible, which would you choose?

The decision-making process, Hodgman says, has five stages:

Hodgman: Subject A begins as they all do, with stage one: gut reaction.

Subject A: Initially I would think, perhaps, invisibility...

Hodgman: Next comes stage two, practical consideration.

Subject A: You can walk around at work, turn invisible, listen to what they say about you, you have the power to spy on your exes, and that would all be enlightening, and fun, and in fact a little bit perverted...

Hodgman: You hear that doubt in his voice? That's the beginning of stage three, philosophical reconsideration.

Subject A: I believe it would immediately turn into a life of complete depression, you wouldn't be able to share with anyone, I know there would be problems.

Hodgman: Stage four, self-recrimination.

Subject A: Invisibility leads you, leads me as an invisible person, down a dark path...

Hodgman: Finally, stage five, acceptance.

Subject A: Yeah, I'd have to go with flight.

Another interviewee concludes:

I think a lot of people will tell you they'll choose flight, and I think they're lying. I think they'll say that in order to sound mythic and heroic, because the better angels of our nature would tell us that we should strive for flight. But I think if everybody were being perfectly honest, they'd tell you the truth, which is that they all want to be invisible so that they can shoplift, go to movies for free, go to exotic places without paying for airline tickets, and watch celebrities have sex.

In cyberspace we really can have both superpowers. Nothing compels us to choose between them, but I think we will. Although our wings have been clipped slightly by firewalls and NATs, our power of flight -- the ability to go anywhere, instantly -- remains essentially intact. The Internet was designed to enable us to fly. It wasn't designed to help us hide. We just happened to get that for free, in the beginning, because it was way easier to punt on identity.

Privacy, yes, to the fullest extent possible. Invisibility, no. I don't want to live in a world where "our every click is tracked, our every purchase becomes a datum to be turned against us." But neither do I want to become a cloaked and anonymous skulker in order to avoid that. We shouldn't have to make that choice.

Update: Patrick Logan writes:

I think in normal American society (where normal to me means the society I've been a part of for the past 42 years) I would also choose the ability to fly.

But what if I were living in a more tyrannical society? Like Iraq? I certainly would choose to disappear for any number of reasons.

Excellent point.

Thanks Shifted - What is Victoria's Secret?

Fri, 21 Mar 2003 14:57:35 GMT

Need to send this to some people I know. Just logging it here 'til I get online (email that is)

I thought I knew Victoria's secret. I always figured Victoria's secret was that she was a guy. According to What is Victoria's Secret? the answer is bulimia. [Radio Free Blogistan]

The Tyranny of Email, The Three Hour Rule, and Refocusing after "Warp-Offs"

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 00:58:14 GMT

Nice Long discussion that boils down to a few rules of thumb.

I particularly like the view that it takes three hours to get anything done (anything requiring mental clarity and effort). I agree, and am often driven nuts by a world where people operate in 2-9 minute chunks of time.

I also like the honesty about "Warp-Outs" - And the self-examination thinking on what people consider fun to do rather than hard to do. Fun usually is something you've mastered, and Hard is usually something you have not. Having children who are learning to play the piano - this is obvious. So how do we motivate ourselves? How do we motivate them... Each one is unique - but the themes tend to be around breaking the tasks down to smaller chunks and practicing/mastering each bit.

Finding a support network is helpful - Different piano teachers make an enormous difference in attitude. Mentors, and people who encourage you are key. If you don't have enough of them around you, then you need to work on developing this aspect of your life!

How to trust/ be vulnerable / demonstrate lack of mastery, etc. This is also extremely hard.

Hard is associated with Shame and Frustration and Anxiety over inability to master things and the social and economic consequences. Results are four fold in 2 themes- Attack Others / Attack Self; Avoid Others (hide)/ Escape Self (distract with fantasy). These coping behaviors are normal, but they need to be kept in check. How to do that well is the problem we all struggle with.

Ray Ozzie - neigbor's views of Blogging! - perhaps send to Leland and Neil

Sat, 17 Aug 2002 04:24:17 GMT

Architecture Matters: The Rebirth of Public Discussion. Ray Ozzie hits the nail on the head, detecting the architecture of the blogosphere and the benefits it confers through decentralizing the content management and enabling people to make the connections:

But blogs accomplish public discussion through a far different architectural design pattern. In the Well's terminology, taken to its extreme, you own your own words. If someone on a blog "posts a topic", others can respond, but generally do so in their own blogs, hyperlinked back to the topic's permalink. This goes on and on, back and forth. In essence, it's the same hyperlinking mechanism as the traditional discussion design pattern, except that the topics and responses are spread out all over the Web. And the reason that it "solves" the signal:noise problem is that nobody bothers to link to the "flamers" or "spammers", and thus they remain out of the loop, or form their own loops away from the mainstream discussion. A pure architectural solution to a nagging social issue that crops up online.

The downside? Well, part of why people like getting together is that unintended consequences can be quite rewarding. And there's a danger that the self-selecting environment of a given blogging community might limit unintended outcomes. But, then again, I could argue quite the opposite: in a traditional public discussion, a good idea might get lost in the noise.

[Radio Free Blogistan]


SONICblue Inc	SBLU	0.06	-0.17

Tivo Inc	TIVO	5.40	0.09