Olbermann on Rumsfeld
August 31, 2006 | Governance | People & Society
Every once in a while, it's worth noting that the majority of people continue to disagree with the Bush/Cheney administration and their approach to the so-called War on Terror, even if we don't talk about it much. Thank you, Keith Olbermann, for this searing critique. Transcript and video via the link.
Zero!
August 30, 2006 | Life
My email inbox count is now zero. That's right, zero email messages in my inbox. Once more, with feeling: ZEEEEEEROOOOOO!!! Praise the lord and pass the chocolate. It has been years, possibly ten years, since the inbox was completely empty. Typically on a major cleanup I can get it down to 15 or so. This week I decided to go for the gold. If you keep up with the incoming, and process the old ones at five or ten a day, you can make some real progress.
Now, let's keep it that way.
Trapping Telemarketers
August 30, 2006 | Business & Commerce
Rather cruel for the telemarketing employee, but genius nonetheless.
A little while ago I put together a little application on our phone system so that when a telemarketer calls in, I can transfer them to this extension and annoy the hell out of them. I thought about it a bit more and decided to make it a little more interesting, so I can get them to hold on the line as long as possible.
Previously: TeleZapper. I have one of these and it definitely makes a difference.
Update: The author admits it was a joke, not a real telemarketer. Totally lame.
IRS Installment Plans
August 29, 2006 | Life
In case you ever find yourself owing the IRS $12,363, here is what you need to know about payment plans and interest rates.
IRS-PUB, 2005, IRS Publication No. 910, An Installment Plan to Pay Your Taxes
If you are not able to pay all your federal taxes by the due date, a monthly payment plan may be the answer. The process isn't automatic and there may be alternatives, but if you are eligible, this could be the solution that makes paying taxes easier.
Apply for a payment plan by completing Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request. This form also has details about eligibility requirements.
Generally, you may have up to 60 months to pay, but paying the full amount as soon as possible will save you money in penalties and interest. The late payment penalty is usually 0.5 percent a month, every month, up to 25 percent of the tax owed. Interest rates vary because they are set quarterly. You can check the current interest rate by going to www.irs.gov, keyword interest rate. Interest and penalties are figured on the declining monthly balance throughout the life of the payment plan. There is also a $43 set-up fee for an installment agreement, which is taken from your first payment under the plan. Do not send the $43 with Form 9465.
The current interest rate is 8%.
The Business Card Menger Sponge
August 28, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Science
If you had 66,000 business cards sitting around, what would you do with them? Make a Menger sponge? Wow, me too!
The primary goal of the Business Card Menger Sponge Project was to build a depth 3 approximation to Menger’s Sponge as shown above, out of 66,048 business cards. This can be done by building 8000 business card cubes of 6 cards each, linking them together and using the additional cards to panel the 18,048 exterior faces of the sponge, giving a more pleasing finish to the final structure.
In order to build the sponge, I devised a decomposition of the overall structure into simple units that almost anyone can learn to make, which can then be assembled into the whole. The finished sponge measures slightly over 54 inches (140 cm) on each side and weighs about 150 pounds (70 kg).
Nine years of effort, with several hundred card folders across the country. And OMG!—includes instructions on how to build your own.
Rail Trail to Twigs
August 27, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Life
Most readers of this blog will be shocked to hear that I rode my bicycle 14 miles yesterday. I have owned this bike for ten years, and on yesterday's one ride I probably doubled it's total lifetime miles.
One of the draws was the Rail Trail, a reclaimed railroad bed turned into a flat, well-maintained activity trail, with beautiful "behind-the-scenes" views of neighborhoods, covered bridges, lakes, rivers, and streams. Compared to riding around near my country house, with its steep hills, both short and long, the rail trail was a breeze, and that made it more fun. Lots of people had been telling me to get out there, for at least a year now, and I'm glad I did.
But the big news is the absolutely amazing Twigs cafe in Enfield, NH.
It's at the ~7 mile mark riding from Lebanon, and I expected yummy carbo treats, but in addition to all that they have fantastic sandwiches. I had a turkey wrap with sprouts, tomato, mustard, and, get this, real roasted turkey, like from Thanksgiving dinner. It was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had, no kidding.
Cool decorative atmosphere, river views, free wi-fi, what more could you want? It's really worth the ride.
Just opened next door is Stecco, an upscale Italian restaurant with a menu that looks great. Downtown Enfield is coming into its own. There was talk of training this winter and next spring to ride the full length of the rail trail (45 miles) to the Thai restaurant in Concord, NH. Some of you have just spit out your coffee; I apologize.
Democratic Strategy
August 25, 2006 | Governance | People & Society
The smartest thing the US Democrats could do for the next two years is split the Republican Party down the middle between the church-focused social conservatives and the less-government economic conservatives. Karl Rove (has his middle name always been "Christian?") and Grover Norquist have been masterful at holding these two unrelated groups together in one party, but if we are able to show the social conservatives how they need to pay more taxes to support their social agenda, and show the economic conservatives how the lack of social programs and safety nets hurt the economy, then perhaps these two groups can be split apart fighting about what programs to fund.
The best-case scenario is that the social conservatives start a new Evangelical party which pulls people out of the Republican party—then it's a Democratic majority all the way down the line. This has got to be Rove's worst nightmare.
We need a sound bite, along the lines of, I lost my job to outsourcing, I lost my health insurance to an underfunded pension plan, I pay all these goddamn taxes, and I still can't buy liquor or porn at the grocery store.
Or something.
TMI: Kundalini
August 24, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Life | People & Society
Kundalini Yoga: The roused Kundalini energy moves upwards in the central nadi, the Sushumna, passing through each of the lower chakras to reach the seventh, the Sahasrara Chakra. This process is known in Kundalini Yoga as the piercing of the chakras and represents the merging of the female with the male.
Headaches: Most Kundalini headaches are caused by too much energy in the head. Many people are accustomed to releasing energy downward, into the Earth. This works if they are spiritually awakened, but not Kundalini awakened, or only using prana.Lust/Lack: While some Kundalini teachers advocate abstinence, I am not one. I believe in the Wiccan ideal, "All acts of love and pleasure serve the Goddess." Sexual tantra has been used to facilitate the awakening process, for millennia. Sex with an awakened person can cause awakening. (Something to beware of, once one reaches the stage of being Shakt-contagious... awakening can be horrific for the unprepared, so be discerning in your choice of lovers.)
Jargon alert.
Now In Clogs
August 24, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Life | Products & Opportunites
On May 10 I cracked a sole on my Birkenstock Chicago shoes. No biggie, they were six years old, and it was my second pair. The first pair failed the same way at about the same time. Not so bad: Spend $200 on shoes and wear them almost every day and they last six years. They were also super-comfortable—I could go to a trade show in NYC and walk on concrete for 16 hours and my feet were fine.
So on May 11 I went to the local store to buy another pair, and I found they had discontinued the Chicago model. Okay, what's the replacement? I ended up in the Wexford, which looked a little more business-like, but had a thinner sole and the Footprints low-arch footbed. I like the high-arch footbed, but this model didn't allow the swap. Oh well. $195 later I'm out the door.
The following week it rained. Not hard pouring rain, but a steady drizzle. And walking down Main Street, my feet got soaked. Not because I stepped in a puddle or anything, just from the rain. Bad sign; the Chicago's never did this.
The week after that I noticed that my feet were killing me, and I was mostly just walking to work and sitting all day at the computer. Another bad sign: the Chicago's never did this either.
So I stopped in the store to see if anyone had had similar problems. Of course the store hadn't heard anything.... so I went on my merry way thinking, "No way am I wearing these for six years. I'll last the summer, switch to winter boots when it snows, and then buy some Rockports in the spring, and put Birkenstock insoles in them for the high-arch comfort."
Then this morning I went to put my shoes on and the right one was completely blown out on the side. I hadn't noticed yesterday or last night, but there was a six-inch tear in the seam between the leather and the sole. When did I buy these again? It appears to me that they've either cost-cut this thing to the point of worthlessness, or I got a real bad apple.
I stopped in the store on my way to work, and the owner, who sold me the shoes, was there. He was genuinely surprised. His brother has worn these for the past two years without a problem. We talked about the history as related above. Long story short, not wanting another pair of Wexford's, I'm now in some stylish Alton clogs. Comfy, easy on and off, a firmer sole, and a high-arch footbed.
We haven't actually sorted out the money yet. He wanted to talk to Birkenstock, but if they didn't "do something" he would. I said that weighing 160 lbs, with only three months of use, I didn't really want to eat it, but I'd trust him to sort it out in the next couple of weeks. I'm a 15-year Birkenstock customer, so I'm assuming that they'll do the right thing here.
Meanwhile, for business shoes, I'm headed for the waterproof Rockport with Birk insole option.
Getting Things Organized
August 24, 2006 | Life
A great Flickr tour of an office organization system based on Getting Things Done. Really advanced implementation. See also: Martin Ternouth's highly-regarded workflow system.
DIY Website Heatmaps
August 24, 2006 | Software
Fantastic. Fully documented source code for making your own heat maps of user clicks on websites.
Drivemocion
August 24, 2006 | People & Society | Products & Opportunites
I have wanted something like this for years. (Horrible website alert.)
NPR Tufte Interview
August 24, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Science
Six-minute NPR interview with Edward Tufte.
Is Fear Always a Negative?
August 23, 2006 | Life | People & Society
Kat asked, in a comment, "Is fear always a negative thing?" I briefly reflected, and here's where I am now:
I think of fear as a continuum between "an alert edge" and "paralyzed with fear." What we generalize as "fear" starts at alertness, because at that point you can no longer be fully "open"—you are looking for something, even if you don't know what. By the time you increase your fear to paralyzation, you're toast. In the middle range are an infinite number of emotional and psyiological states which have a fearful component. A less fearful, more fear-less life would seem to have a number of important benefits. It might be worth reflecting on those in depth.
Bats in the Belfry
August 23, 2006 | Life
On June 18, 2002, I awoke from a dream and wrote this:
Recently, a problem has surfaced where huge numbers of bats suddenly infest a house, church or other public place. Sometimes the bats can reproduce so quickly that they overtake the people present, driving them out. Oddly, it doesn't seem to happen at coffee shops, restaurants or music stores. But city council meetings, Board meetings, homes, churches of all denominations, and courts of law have all experienced situations where bats suddenly and without much warning have reproduced rapidly, in geometric proportions, and driven people to the streets. In one case, a family of five were driven from their house during dinner. By the time the police and fire departments arrived the bats were so thick you couldn't move through the rooms of the house. One estimate on site put the bat population in that house at over a million, in only 1,500 square feet of living space. People are scared.
A public hearing has been called, and a prominent scientist has been asked to testify about the problem. He is at a witness stand, facing the audience. A governing body of some sort (city council, or panel of judges perhaps) is also at the front of the room, and they are asking questions trying to understand the problem and determine what to do.
The scientist is explaining that it is primarily a psychological problem. "You see," he said, "bats do not exist without fear. In fact, I would go so far as to say that bats are created by fear – without fear there would be no bats. The way to eliminate the bats is for each of us to eliminate our fears."
A panelist asks, "But the bats are a physical entity. You're telling us about a psychological state. How can the two be related?"
The scientist explained, "It's an interesting phenomenon. There are many examples of the mind influencing or even controlling physical conditions. The most famous of course is the so-called mind/body connection. Psychosomatic illnesses, cancer patients becoming cured, allergies, asthma, etc. We've known for years that the mind can have an influence over our well-being. Now, in this case, we have an example of our minds manifesting a physical presence due to our insecurity. It's quite an interesting situation, and may be important for all of mankind to understand and learn from."
There was much murmering from audience members when another panelist pressed for a description of how the mechanism worked. "How, exactly," he asked, "does this work? I need to see evidence that your theory is correct."
"It's fairly technical," said the scientist, "but I think it's important to walk through the details. I should warn you, though, that during my description it is critical for every audience member to stay focused on the technical aspects of my theory, and not yet consider the ramifications. There are solutions to the problem at hand, but first let's understand the problem."
"When the first bats appear, each one represents a different fear. These fears come from people's thoughts and interactions. It's very rare for a single person to have enough fear to manifest a bat, but as people congregate their fears form a sort of energy field, and this field can sometimes be strong enough to create bats. In order for a bat to be manifest, the fear factor must exceed a threshold defined by the ratio of the product of collective fears to the sum of individual fears. That is, a strong-willed person without much fear can compensate for another person that carries much fear. However, in groups, the effect of the fear-less people is typically less than that of the fear-full people, and then the dominant effect multiplies, whereas the individual effects only add. The net result is that things can be fine for a long time but as each person's fearful threshold is approached it contributes to the dominant group threshold. At some point the threshold is crossed and then there's little that can be done for that configuration of people."
The first panelist asked, "You said that each bat represents a different fear. Say more about that."
"Sure. As the fearful threshold boundary is approached, dominant fears emerge. When the threshold is crossed, the first bat manifested represents the most dominant fear. At that point the particular fear is 'consumed' so to speak, and pushed down below the threshold – it's a form of redirection. There was fear, it was manifested, now it's not as fearful – since it is now present we can 'rationally' deal with it. As each new fear crosses the threshold, a new bat is manifest. So, if there are a lot of fears, there will be a lot of bats. The real problem however, is that sometimes a fear begins to spin through a group of people such that they continue to think about it, perhaps stuck in a loop of fearful thoughts, each amplifying the others, magnifying the worst potentials of each fear. When this happens and the fear crosses the threshold _again_ a new bat is not created, but rather the existing bats associated with that fear duplicate, similar to cell division."
"For instance, one bat can turn into two, then the two into four, then the four into eight, etc. This can proceed quite rapidly, and once started tends into feedback onto the fear factor, creating new fears and new bats. But, since there are a number of fears possible, eventually there are enough bats that the bats themselves become the fear source. Then it becomes obvious that there is no rational way to deal with over a million bats in one house, the fears continue to multiply there's very little you can do and you don't have much time. It takes a lot of love to counterbalance that much fear, and sometimes the best thing to do is burn the building down and start over."
A panelist asked, "Once the bats appear, is there anything to do to minimize their impact?" Suddenly, a single bat appeared on the back wall of the room. The scientist saw it immediately. The panelists noticed it as he spoke.
"Because the fear factors multiply in groups of people, the best thing to do is to break up the group so that each person can regain their personal center. Smaller groups of two or three, focused on deep desires rather than hypothetical fears, can begin to leverage their love to overcome the fears. This is much more difficult in groups due to psychological entrainment, but basically the largest group that can sustain the least fear will have the most impact over a population. However there is a danger in that if a group suddenly loses their focus and fears coalesce it can be almost impossible to reset the whole group. In that case the groups need to refactor again and focus more narrowly on positive futures."
Now there were about a dozen bats on the back wall, and before the scientist could continue the panelists watched in horror as the bats each morphed into two, halving themselves and doubling at the same time. Like a sophisticated special effect from a science fiction movie, the bats existed outside of normal time – they could appear instantly, grow exponentially, and consume all space. A panelist called the meeting to adjourn. A bat squeaked and flew across the room. Someone screamed. People ran panicked for the doors. Within seconds the bats consumed virtually the entire ceiling volume and were doubling quickly downward toward the audience. The scientist shook his head sadly. Someone called 911. The fire department arrived. When they couldn't see anything but bats through the windows, they set the building on fire.
Is Psychoanalysis Elitist?
August 22, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Life | People & Society
Was digging around the unblogged writing archives, and found this half-formed thought from July 22, 2003.
A comment has been raised that psychoanalysis is the most narcissistic and elitist of pursuits. I'm beginning to wonder if "elitist" is like "affirmative action" – defined on the fly to suit and argument or perspective.
Sure, rich people do analysis. And so do poor people. And smart people and undereducated people. I'm not sure what the label adds to the discussion.
Is self-discovery and self-knowledge ONLY narcissistic? Is self-awareness ONLY elitist? Should poor people not have access to the advantages of self-knowledge? Should we, as a species, abandon psychoanalysis and by extension formal inquiry and introspection because only some people can afford it?
No, much better that in many places analysis is on the rise. An increase in therapists will drive prices down, just as in Berkeley massage is so cheap as to have created a barter economy. Most therapists are not rich – some are, but plenty are doing it for the love of soul and as a way to increase the evolution of consciousness. This process takes eons, and simplistic labels simply enforce the status quo.
As regards narcism – it may be culture, it may be our place in our collective evolutionary path, but we are a narcissistic people. (cf fashion, makeup, designer eyeglasses, rolex watches, and blogs). What analysands find, however, is that by having an outlet for narcissism they bring LESS of that into their other relationships. You can't will narcissism away – you have to pay attention to it, listen to it, and nurture its healing.
It is likely that a root cause of narcissism is a lack of parental attention in childhood (unproven generalization alert). If this is so, we might want to consider if the two-income, high-materialist lifestyle is the best approach to parenting. It might be better to ditch one income, live a little less large, and spend more time with family and community. Or, perhaps, take a deep look at why one might want to raise children in the first place. Is it because you want a dependent, someone you can control, someone to grow in your image, someone to listen to every word you say as if it comes from God herself? If so, try analysis – it's much cheaper than children.
So. Everyone can afford children but cannot afford a few hundred dollars a month (full boat, no insurance, no reduced rates) for analysis? There's something here other than elitism.
Where the winds hit heavy
August 22, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Life
Fred Wilson posts an mp3 of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash singing Girl of the North Country. Stunning.
Well, if you're travelin' in the north country fair, Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline, Remember me to one who lives there. She once was a true love of mine.
Continuing Examples of Music Industry Stupidity
August 21, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Business & Commerce | Products & Opportunites
This is worth a lengthy quote:
NY Times: Now the Music Industry Wants Guitarists to Stop Sharing
Lauren Keiser, president of the Music Publishers’ Association, says guitar tablature Web sites reduce the earnings of songwriters.
In the last few months, trade groups representing music publishers have used the threat of copyright lawsuits to shut down guitar tablature sites, where users exchange tips on how to play songs like “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” “Highway to Hell” and thousands of others.
“People can get it for free on the Internet, and it’s hurting the songwriters,” said Lauren Keiser, who is president of the Music Publishers’ Association and chief executive of Carl Fischer, a music publisher in New York.
So far, the Music Publishers’ Association and the National Music Publishers’ Association have shut down several Web sites, or have pressured them to remove all of their tabs, but users have quickly migrated to other sites. According to comScore Media Metrix, an Internet statistics service, Ultimate-Guitar.com had 1.4 million visitors in July, twice the number from a year earlier.
The publishers, who share royalties with composers each time customers buy sheet music or books of guitar tablature, maintain that tablature postings, even inaccurate ones, are protected by copyright laws because the postings represent “derivative works” related to the original compositions, to use the industry jargon.
So, let me get this straight. There are 1.4 million web surfers addicted to guitar tablature. And there is an existing legal arrangement where the publishers share royalties with the artists.
Listen up bubba, this right here is what we call a strategy: The publishers should license the websites to use the material and find the natural market price point.
D'oh, he said.
I mean, come on! This is not rocket science. Charge $0.99 a song for guitar tablature PDFs and see what happens, fer cryin' out loud! There might be varying degrees of sophistication among the PDF products, and maybe some tabs are worth $1.49, or even $2.99 per song. Maybe some are only worth $0.49 or $0.29. Who cares? Internet distribution removes friction. You can make money at any price by scaling to the market.
Instead of shutting them down they should be creating a new market.
I can't even believe people are this dumb sometimes.
So here's your Web 2.0 startup solution: Define a standard XML format for guitar tablature, and a server-side translator to take this XML, render it through template(s), and generate PDFs on the fly. Optionally, develop and support some sort of digital rights management scheme that is not ridiculously onerous. Tie this into a mass-customized MLM marketing, e-commerce, and community-driven web interface, and get started in the indie low-budget music scene. Build an audience, and a revenue stream, and sign on the heavyweights. At some point they will realize that while it might be worth reverse engineering the software and building their own system, they can't replicate the community.
Then you have your liquidity event, as they say.
Grids and Graphs
August 21, 2006 | Life
Free Online Graph Paper / Grid Paper PDFs
Amazing collection of graph and grid paper downloads. Each is generated on the fly from your parameters: Doc size, border, grid size, grid color, etc. Way highly useful.
Weekend Fun, Friday Edition
August 18, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Governance
August 11: My anger at The New York Times subsides somewhat as I skim Foucault and Sartre. Surveillance serves its disciplinary function only if the populace is conscious of it. And if Americans aren't wrenched from being-pour-soi to being-en-soi (at least in relation to an observer who is Other) by the objectifying gaze of the state -- well, then the terrorists have won.
August 14: Back in Washington. Dick exults that the foiled London terror plot and the tightened airport security should keep voters' minds focused on national security through the midterms. Naturally, I think of Cottard, the shady entrepreneur in La Peste who comes into his own only when the city of Oran is under plague quarantine, and say so. Dick seems nonplussed.
It's absurd, and funny. And it's the only post this week, so having saved you a bunch of time, you'll just have to read it to humor me.
What Is Lingr?
August 13, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Products & Opportunites | Software
Now live: "Lingr is the place for chat on the web. That's it, seriously- nothing could be simpler."
Attics of My Life
August 12, 2006 | Life
Well, after that last bout of capitalism, I've been relatively introspective, and also relatively productive.
In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see
Playing guitar. Writing emails. Reflecting. Working this weekend so I can have fun next weekend. Knocking out the work backlog, and dealing with a lot of financial planning and catch-up. Beautiful weather. What more can I say? Life happens.
Declaring First Use
August 9, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Products & Opportunites
I want to take this moment to claim first use and moral rights on the following trademarks.
- Governance for Design and Technology™
- Feed-Forward Governance™
- Strategic Website Leadership™
- People, Process, and Positive Feedback™
- Feed-Forward Methods for People and Process™
- Proportional Budget Matrix™
- Factor-Based Peer Review™
- Weighted-Factor Competitive Review™
- Concentric Roles™
- Fast-Feedback Design/Build™
- Polyrhythmic Iteration™
- Small-Multiple Deliverables™
- Loosely-Coupled Timeline™
All of the above have zero Google hits as of today.
That's Odd
August 9, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Life
Sticker found on bananas: "Eat five a day for good health." Five bananas a day?? Wow.
How do you know it's early August? You receive the Eddie Bauer Holiday Preview catalog in the mail. That is so, like, in sync! I have been thinking about Christmas gifts and winter clothing recently, haven't you?
The world is a very odd place.
Helvetica, The Movie!
August 8, 2006 | Arts & Culture
Very exciting. A movie about a typeface.
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
I kid you not, there will be a viewing party at my place when the DVD ships. (via)
The Collision of Two Tendencies
August 7, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Life
Hannah, bless her heart, happened to quote something from The Little Prince that spoke to me, and created an hour of research unrelated to any of my pressing commitments.
The dominant idea in the story of The Little Prince is to be found, of course, in chapter XXI, in which the little prince meets, tames, and says goodbye to the fox.
—Adieu, dit le renard. Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
You can only see well with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye. The fox adds a corollary to this:
—Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité, dit le renard. Mais tu ne dois pas l'oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé. Tu es responsable de ta rose...
People forget this truth, but you shouldn't forget it. You become forever responsible for what you tame.
Marie-Louise von Franz, in her amazing Jungian interpretation of the story, writes (pg. 94ff):
It can be said that the fox teaches the little prince the important value of the here-and-now, and with it, of feeling. Feeling gives value to the present, for without it one has no relationship to the here-and-now situation, and with it comes responsibility, and, through that, a formed individual. [...] The fox is here on earth and that friendship must last, for otherwise it is meaningless. [...]
For instance, if a man has an obligation to his anima and also to the woman with whom he made friends or married, then he gets into the typical duality situation of life where one always has a real conflict and a double pull, and is always torn between obligations to this side of life and to the inner or other side. That would be the realization, or the crucifixion, the basic truth of life, that life is double and is a double obligation. Life itself is a conflict because it always means the collision of two tendencies. That is what makes up life, but that realization escapes the little prince completely or he escapes the realization.
Thanks Hannah. Thanks Marie-Louise. I hope I can recover from this reeling mind-bomb and deliver on my obligations today, the ones on the outside, not the inner ones, and at the same time not escape this realization.
N.B.: Do not literalize Saint-Exupery's story, von Franz's interpretation, or my reference. For metaphorical use only.
What a Weekend is For
August 7, 2006 | Life
Leaving work early on Friday and stocking in enough food to avoid going back into town. Going for a walk and checking out the waterfall down the road for the first time this year. Champaign aperitifs. Cooking easy suppers. Red wine. Listening to music. Enjoying wonderful company. Waking up early and cooking good breakfasts. Chocolate. More music. Cleaning the grill. Long showers. Taking naps. Cooking yummy dinners. A good Merlot. Going to bed early. Waking up late. Having leftovers for breakfast. Visiting the neighbors and their barn, seeing the pigs, the goats, the horses, and the barn swallows just hours before fledgling. Walking through dew-dropped fields. Daytime skinny-dipping in the pond. Smiling through water droplets in the yellow sun of the blue sky. Late lunches. More chocolate. More naps. Discovering that both good restaurants in Claremont are closed Sunday and Monday. More red wine. Sitting on the deck with a bug-protecting light wind, watching the sunset. Late suppers. Good conversations. Self-reflection. Sharing. Exploring. Waking up to a quiet Monday rain and beginning the transition back to the work week.
Bogus Mail List Data
August 4, 2006 | Business & Commerce
Today in the mail I received three identical computer catalogs from Hewlett-Packard (Holliston, MA office). The interesting thing was the people they were addressed to:
- Ms. Roxanne Waldner, Executive Director
- Mr. Bill Bitzer, Executive Director
- Ms. Beth A. Milardo, Manager
So? Well, I don't have any employees, first of all. But those names are familiar. They are clients whose names appear under their testimonial quotes on my professional website. Totally bogus. Either there is a software robot scanning the web for names and addresses to add to direct mail lists, or someone deliberately (and fraudulently) is beefing up the size of their list by intentionally adding whatever names they can find attached to any addresses available.
The worst thing is that these names are now in circulation in the list industry, and will be rented and sold over and over again. More bad data in the infosphere.
The vertically stacked coding numbers on the label were: 0120 — 0046 — [ 012/013/014] — 4294, in case anyone cares where this data came from.
Creating and Destroying Mutual Understanding
August 4, 2006 | Governance | People & Society
Daniel O'Connor has a brilliant post over at Catalaxis called The Political Economics of Stephen Colbert.
In simplest terms, when we communicate we tend to at least implicitly, if not explicitly, raise a set of three distinct validity claims regarding what is true, what is right, and what is sincere. When either one of us has a problem accepting any of the validity claims raised by the other, we may through dialogue challenge the claim and make an effort to come to a mutual understanding of what really is true, right, and sincere for each of us. In our ideal efforts to validate or invalidate one another's claims, we will refer to objective facts to determine what is true, intersubjective values to judge what is right, and subjective intentions to appreciate what is sincere. All three types of claims made by both of us would have to be validated before we could declare a shared understanding--and even then, we would not necessarily have a mutual agreement on all three claims.
He looks into Colbert's truthiness, and wikiality, then invents syncerity to summarize our political discourse today.
Just listen carefully to any political debate, whether it's between presidential candidates or media pundits who make a living expressing their opinions about politicians. There is so little personal sincerity and so very much deception and acrimony that it is a wonder we put up with it. Moreover, the fact that we do put up with it, that we are so easily deceived, or that we claim dishonestly to have been so frequently deceived, is evidence of our own dysfunctional syncerity, disowning the power we really do have to withdraw legitimacy from those who are systematically syncere, whether their syncerity is conscious and calculated or subconscious and incompetent.
Read the whole thing.
Small-Scale Music Marketing
August 3, 2006 | Arts & Culture | Business & Commerce | Products & Opportunites
Last weekend I recorded my friend Chris and his band, testing out the new gadget. I sat in the second row and held the recorder in my hand on my thigh. Considering the situation, the recording is surprisingly good.
I gave Chris copies of the audio and the .wav file, and encouraged him to post it online. Of course, the band needs to make the decision as a group, and they might want to break it into tracks instead of one 56 minute piece, but the idea was to put it out there.
Chris responded:
I don't think I'll post the whole thing -- our playing isn't up to our snuff throughout -- but definitely snippets.
My internal reaction was, "What if the Grateful Dead or Phish had only put out their perfect playing?" Rarely did a full Dead or Phish show contain flawless playing. We never would have heard anything but official recordings under this criteria. It's also worth noting that I listened to the recording the day after the performance and didn't hear a single error—not that they don't exist, just that the typical listener is not working from the score to easily hear or find mistakes.
Chris' music is much more formal and structured, so you could argue that this style should have a higher quality standard than rock 'n roll. But I would retort by pointing to the boatload of lame classical releases which pale in comparison to the premiere performances of any given composition. Chris' response got me thinking about what I would do if I had a band and wanted to spread the music (assumption alert: they may not want to spread the music). Here's what I consider the basics of small-scale music marketing.
On the website, have a music archive page, and put up mp3's of every show, or at least put them up on Archive.org and point to them there. (This is what Oshe did before they broke up.) Then, sell compilations of the best cuts. Create CD-length "albums" that you can buy (or download from iTunes) that have good flow, that put things together in a new way, that are built around a theme, whatever.
The basic idea is to give away the full-length works for the hardcore fans, for people who went to the show, for people who are going on a long drive and want a full-length work, etc. Then sell the "best of" discs/downloads as the consolidated snapshot. List these at the top of the music page. Feature them on the home page of the website. "Lead" with them, as they say in journalism. Encourage your hardcore fans to buy the compilations to support you, even though they already "own" everything. Present it as a new experience, the Band's Choice, as it were.
This is the model that the Grateful Dead pioneered in the '60s and '70s. Use the free trading to drive people to the live experience. Give away full performances, because what people want to pay for is a unique experience, either live in person or via the "official" CDs. The advantage of putting up everything comes later on, when someone discovers your music and wants to dig deep. Now they've got a huge archive to listen to, and while they're focused on you for a few weeks or months they'll tell their friends, who will go check it out too. If there's just a bit of music posted, you can't create the depth of engagement. And that depth is what will hook people.
Now, having decided what they should do, it might be good to ask them what their goals are. Oh, wait, did I reverse the order?? Sorry, I was acting like a manager, getting all tactical first, not a consultant, starting with the goals. Oh well, this is only what I would do after all.
Cancer Sucks
August 2, 2006 | Life
Got into town at 7:15 AM, ready for my super-productive day. Energized, upbeat, focused. Saw a friend drinking coffee on a bench on Main Street and stopped to talk. "How are you?," I asked. "I never know how to answer," he said. "Yeah, I know, me too," I said. He asked, "Do you want the straight shot or the friendly response?" "The straight shot," I said.
Cancer, bad. Got the news Monday night. I knew he had been something of a walking miracle having beaten it back a few years ago. But it's back and the prognosis is not good. So we talked for an hour, a really good talk, a valuable hour of connection, and now here I am in the hot office, thinking about life and living, death and dying, and trying to work back around to the clients.
I wouldn't have given that hour up for anything, but man, the best-laid plans.... And, to reiterate, cancer really, really, sucks.
Campion Wine
August 2, 2006 | Arts & Culture
Backup brain: Recommended by Fred Wilson.
The Stages of Giving
August 2, 2006 | People & Society
A very nice summary over at GiftHub of the stages of giving
The stages are given in the businesslike language of money and accounting, but they seem to also articulate a kind of personal journey to self-mastery, wisdom and serenity.
Phil is a philanthropy advisor for a major financial services company, and a great guy who cares deeply about our society. If you're interested in the intersection of NGO's, government, philanthropy, and a better world, it's worth following along.
Hot
August 2, 2006 | Life | Nature & Environment
At 5:10 AM it's 79 degrees. Wha? Forecast is for 97 degrees and thunderstorms, read: air as thick and close and humid as you can imagine. Welcome to August.
This morning's wake-up fun was to attempt killing a bee's nest under a deck chair. They say to do this at night or early morning, "when the bees are at rest." I think what they mean is, "when it's cool outside and the bees are too sluggish to move." I slowly turned the deck chair on its side and bees immediately started crawling out, blowing my carefully choreographed plan. I started wildly spraying them and the nest before one escaped and circled around the mist and came after me. I think I got him in the face while I was running for the door. Unharmed, today. Requires another attempt tomorrow.
The Difference a ".." Makes
August 1, 2006 | Life | Software | Technology
Unbelievably crazy-busy day. At one point in the morning, Adrian was working on a website redesign, Marty was starting the v4.1 SFTP programming, Anne was catching me up on her sales work and the plan for August, and I'm thinking, "It used to be that I came to this office and it was mine alone and it was quiet and I could work for hours without interruption." Then Chris walked in to pick up his CDs and we talked about Radial for a few minutes. I looked around and there were five of us, three working on my projects and me wanting to escape and go talk music for a few hours. Insane.
So let's skip over the middle of the day, including the improvisational client meeting, the friendly walk back afterwards, the guilty pleasure of a massage mid-day, the haircut, and the work-dodging visit to Strings. I went to the post office and back to work. Oh, wow, now it's 5:30—is that still "mid-day??"
So I walk in and Marty is coding Perl, Adrian is coding CSS, and Anne is rearranging the office, having taken all the boxes to the basement, set up another desk in the corner, swapped locations of the round table and the printer, consolidated the office supplies, reset my filing space, measured for window shades, and generally cleaned up virtually everything. She's a little aggressive that way—I mean, I had done a thorough cleaning when I moved into the place in 1999, does it really need it again already?? Anyway, now four people can work there, maybe five, and while it might not be exactly private or spacious it certainly looks like a startup scene.
So by 6 PM all the slackers cleared out of there and we could get some work done. After just barely finishing the brain-meltingly complicated testing for version 4.0 (and, truth be told, it's not quite exactly totally done until I finish some UI changes and write the release notes and perform one last round of basic testing on the staging site) we launched into version 4.1, which has the SFTP support.
SFTP stands for secure FTP, and basically it tunnels insecure FTP over a secure encrypted SSH connection. Crypto is like the hardest thing in computing, and luckily Scott could get all the special pre-built binaries installed on Sunday so we could get right at it this week.
The first thing we needed was a server account where we could publish files via SFTP. We got that going, but it stopped working. We tried from another machine but couldn't get connected to the net. I wondered about the firewall, and messed around with some settings there. Didn't help. (Red herring: if it worked once, it wasn't the firewall.) Marty took the laptop outdoors to get some free Ivy League wi-fi, and it worked out on the porch even at 100 degrees and high humidity. So we messed around with the Ethernet routing and got the laptop connected and verified that it could SFTP in, but our development box couldn't. I had a flash that they were filtering our IP address because of our bad login attempts, and convinced Marty that it was worth emailing them to check. Ten minutes later, yes indeed. Notio shoots; scores. Okay, so now we can log in from both machines.
You probably can't believe you're still reading this.
So then I configured our software to publish to this now-working server. The target working directory path was "../www/workspace/pivot" We verified that when we logged in manually this path worked. We tested a publish run, and it failed. Well, off to look at logs, etc. Iterate on verifying where the code is failing. Etc.
Long story short, after, who knows? an hour? half an hour? we realized that logging in via SFTP put you in a different location than logging in via FTP. Really? Test. Yes, it's true. Logging in via SFTP you need to use "../www/workspace/pivot" but logging in via FTP you need "www/workspace/pivot" And that's the difference a ".." makes. It's sensible, one you realize that FTP typically sandboxes you into a location amenable to a webserver, whereas SFTP is actually using SSH, which is typically dropping you into your home directory, only a subdirectory of which is wired to the webserver. Oy vey.
So we need to have two config variables, one for FTP and one for SFTP. Now we know. Then we spent half an hour talking local search dev models, engineering talent availability, funding options, various complications, etc.
At 8 PM I went to the Coop to get dinner, technically supper, and came home to have a beer and eat and write this and try to chill enough to go to sleep. So much got done today, but exactly zero on my list. The next two days have to be super-productive, or the clients will have my head. Wish me luck.
The Difference An Hour Makes
August 1, 2006 | Life
The problem with 1:00 PM meetings is that if you spill something while eating lunch there's no time to recover. If the meeting is at 2:00 you can run to the men's store and buy new clothes. At 1:00 you just have to live with it. Really puts a lot of pressure on food selection and careful eating.
A Cooperative Solution
August 1, 2006 | Business & Commerce | Cooperatives | People & Society | Products & Opportunites
An excellent 3,300 word article in Strategy + Business on the cooperative advantage. A very good read.
Cooperatives are often assumed to be merely local affiliations of small and midsized companies, and therefore limited in scope and reach. But their deep roots in their countries of origin — as well as their surprising pervasiveness and stability — are exactly what puts cooperatives in a strong position in the new global economy. Through their highly participative governance models (involving both members and employees in making decisions), the cooperative system is particularly well suited to combining entrepreneurial and social objectives. Because it encourages internal checks and balances and general transparency, cooperative structure also makes it easier to avoid the ethical and legal lapses that have brought down the management of many investor-owned companies.
Also quotes my SoL colleague Arie de Geus, former head of Royal Dutch/Shell scenario planning and author of The Living Company on the value of cooperatives for being people-based and long-term focused. (Thanks Chris.)
