« January 2001 | Main | March 2001 »
February 28, 2001
Back on 2/9, I posted
Back on 2/9, I posted some cartoon trivia, and I can't believe I forgot The Tick. Mighty blue defender of justice! Spoooon! You know, friend, evil comes in many packages, small as well as large, and the Tick is the U.S. Postal Service of evil package handling. The Tick is a blue, 7-foot tall, 400-pound, nigh-invulnerable superhero. He is sworn to protect The City from the most wretched and freakish specimens of Villain-Breed. Along for the ride are Arthur, his moth-suited apartment-mate, his jungle pet, Speak, and a plethora of inept superheroes. If you like chewing gum, you'll like The Tick. Brandon Browning had a Tick web site that was among the very best, and it has been down for reconstruction, but is due back online -- tomorrow! There is a Tick webring called the Giant Circus of the Mighty, but most of the links are dead or dying. Most frustratingly, since Comedy Central (complain to them here) bagged the Blue One, it now appears that Fox has purchased the rights, and is bringing it back as a live-action TV show! Arrrgghhh! The injustice of it all! Compare this loser with the genuine article. Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, my friend. Can you dig it?
Posted by John at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2001
This is not the Three
This is not the Three Little Pigs you're familiar with. A little deconstructionist history on a tale that was originally about wisdom and practicality, but became subverted by economic forces in England and America (in the original version Brick House Pig gets eaten!). And if training is the problem, this series of German nursury rhymes ought to scare the crap out that misbehaving little rugrat. Excerpt from Little Suck-A-Thumb (wonderful title!):
"The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys that suck their thumbs.
And ere they dream what he's about
He takes his great sharp scissors
And cuts their thumbs clean off, - and then
You know, they never grow again."
Posted by John at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2001
In terms of energy consumption
In terms of energy consumption per capita, California ranks 47th out of 50 states. We ARE conserving energy.
Posted by John at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)
So we're finally back in
So we're finally back in "only a stage 2 power alert for California, down from stage 3 where we've been for more than 6 weeks. What exactly does that mean? Should I be only worried, not panicking, or only anxious, not worried? At first everybody was alarmed by "stage 3 alerts", but now they are routine. You can only maintain a high level of anxiety for so long before you just go numb. And the central question, which is "how do you screw up a business model like selling gas & electricity?" remains unanswered. Oh yeah? So, what are you gonna do if I DON'T pay my bill? Turn off the lights?" Well, um, yes.
Posted by John at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2001
World changin', baby. We've had
World changin', baby. We've had some lively discussions at the office about what's going on with all the dotcoms, and there are some clear patterns emerging. Just today, the free email newsletters from Silicon Alley Daily? Gone. Yesterday, the free streaming ticker tape from Datek? Gone. Also in the news today, E*Trade is trying to turn into Merrill Lynch, wants to focus more on banking and open more branch offices in Target stores. And Yahoo starts charging for auction listings, but sees an 80% decline in listings as a result. Yesterday, Amazon.com, the flagship of branding-over-revenues, landed a "Sell" rating from a mainstream broker. As the lustre fades from the Internet as an investment strategy for early retirement, we're starting to see the darker underbelly, and it's green, as in moolah, greenbacks, cash-sweet-cash. The prevailing sentiment among investors seems to be if it isn't profitable right now, take it out and shoot it.
I tend to think of this as simply the investment world learning to think in "Internet time". Just as the Internet allows companies to test new strategies, new marketing plans, new UIs and new packaging in time spans measured in hours and minutes instead of weeks and months, so now are investment analysts learning to collapse the business cycle into current valuations. The central problem with most Internet-based businesses continues to be figuring out the mechanics of monetizing traffic, content and technology. The spike in valuations in late 1999 and early 2000 gave companies the fuel to build and try new things. Some worked, some didn't, but the jury is still out on most. It is always going to come back to business model. What are you selling, and how unique or difficult to copy is it? How are you going to distribute it and get paid for it? How big is your target market, and how extensible is your product line?
One company I've been looking at that does seem to have it figured out is Ancestry.com. They do family trees. Not exactly rocket science. But they are the third largest subscription web site on the planet, with 300,000 subscribers paying between $15 and $60 per year, plus several other nifty revenue streams, the largest of which is software sales through their network of web sites. The fascinating thing about them is that they also have a lot of free content. Their network of web sites generates a TON of traffic, with over 60 million registered visitors. Collectively, these visitors have contributed over a billion records to a public database that ancestry.com maintains and offers to site visitors for free. Their vision is that data contributed by their users should not be sold back to those users, but should be available for free. And they use this content, which cost them almost nothing to collect, to build, sustain and support their community of users. And community is the true long-term winning strategy for any Internet company. If you have loyal customers who keep coming back, you win.
Posted by John at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2001
Forget your astrological sign... what's
Forget your astrological sign... what's your business sign? [Thanks Becky for forwarding.]
Posted by John at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2001
Evan Williams from Blogger has
Evan Williams from Blogger has certainly been put through the mill recently, as Blogger, the nifty web logging tool that brings you this site among hundreds of others, ran out of dough. Ev's been pretty much single-handedly keeping it afloat (kudos, Evan). Having been there -- running out of money, corporate restructuring, friends and coworkers pink-slipped -- I can tell you it is a harsh and difficult process. Anyway, in his spare time, Ev blogs. And calls to our collective attention some pretty cool stuff, like NASA TV. Thanks, Ev!
Posted by John at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)
Laundry instructions on a shirt
Laundry instructions on a shirt made by HEET (Korea): For best results: Wash in cold water separately, hang dry and iron with warm iron. For not so good results: Drag behind car through puddles, blow-dry on roof rack.
Posted by John at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
I feel like such a
I feel like such a dinosaur. Thing is, I’m a self-aware dinosaur, and I really don’t want to be a dinosaur. Bummer, eh? How bad is it when somebody takes the time to explain things, and you don't even get the explanation?? I’m setting up a new server, since I’ve got a new URL, and since I’m running out of my allocated space at my current ISP, and I’m tired of their bare-bones implementation (I need tools, give me tools!). And I really want to digitize my photo gallery, which is a disk hog. But I don’t know Linux (yet). Never configured an http daemon. Never set up Apache or SendMail. Meanwhile, at home, I’m trying to get my computers to talk to each other on a wireless network, working with a cable modem, and nothing works the way they say it will out of the box. My computer skills are not up the task. Hey, somebody has to maintain the trailing edge for all those uber-1337 h4x0rs. You want some programming done in PL1, Cobol, Fortran? Working on a 3270 or PDP-11? I’ll be your huckleberry. Bring on the punch cards. Sure, I’d love to learn javascript, PHP, ASP, CGI, and java applets. But in the here and now, I have a wife, four kids and a dog, and a company to run. I . have . no . time ! Ack.
Posted by John at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
Reminder to self: "Stressed" is
Reminder to self: "Stressed" is just "desserts" backwards.
Posted by John at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2001
Back in the days before
Back in the days before I started this little journal, I used to email selected friends links I stumbled across. So I was going to go back and collect all those URLs from my past emails, but they're gone! About 6 months ago I did a massive archive and delete of my email. 22,000 email messages. It was getting ridiculous; every time I wanted to search for something using Outlook's "Find" feature, the search took 20 minutes. When we did a little server shuffling in the office during our corporate restructuring, the archive I had created disappeared. Nevertheless, every once in a while someone sends me back one of those URLs in a return message, like this one, which still has to rank among the strangest web sites I've ever seen. I mean, really now...
Posted by John at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
Oh, BTW, file this one
Oh, BTW, file this one under "useful links" for the next time you're searching for one of those manuals for the numerous electronic gizmos that dot the landscape of our lives.
Posted by John at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
Well, there are bad days,
Well, there are bad days, and then there are bad days. Thanks, Gretchen, for passing this little gem along.
Posted by John at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2001
DSL vs. cable? I have
DSL vs. cable? I have no idea, although both camps have their ardent supporters. I do know that I got cable for one reason - they got here first! If you're shopping, check out DSLreports, which gives you some of the flavor of the experiences from end users on a wide variety of networks. Then ask some of your friends, who actually have the services you're thinking about getting, to test their bandwidth. My readings on my @Home cable service routinely run between 2,600 kbps and 4,500 kbps - pretty swift compared to my old 56 kpbs modem! A warning, though... throughput varies widely depending on the time of day. You can even correlate your test results with overall levels of Internet traffic, available at internettrafficreport.com, if you're interested.
Posted by John at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2001
www.tvparty.com is a trip down
www.tvparty.com is a trip down memory lane. Saturday morning cartoon lineup from 1966 on, forgotten kids shows, all the best stuff from the perspective of "historical TV". The deja vu sensation is amazing -- all those kid memories that have been buried for decades come bubbling up when you see your old friends! The only one that I looked for and didn't find at least a reference to was "Astro Boy", my absolute favorite cartoon from 1963-64 (revealing my age here) which, to be fair to the fine folks at tvparty, predates their current date coverage. I was at least as fervent in my fandom for that show as my kids are for Pokemon or DragonBallZ or whatever else has their interest at the moment. Probably more so, since the choices back then were far fewer. Astro Boy was the first Japanimation to come to U.S. that I know of, pre-dating even Speed Racer. The sharpness of the graphics made the typical US cartoons of the day, such as Flintstones, Atom Ant or Underdog, look old and tired. I got hooked. The show disappeared after 1964, when I was 6, and never made a comeback, not even -- at least as far as I know -- in reruns. But now he's back on video from Australia, where he achieved greater popularity than here in the states. Of course, as I got older and more sophisticated, Foghorn Leghorn assumed the top slot in my personal cartoon pantheon. Where he remains to this day.
Posted by John at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2001
Snoring. It was a problem
Snoring. It was a problem as I was growing up, and it's gotten worse as an adult. Now that it's resulting in my periodically getting kicked out of the bedroom, it's time to do something about it. So I've having my throat microwaved. I opted to go to a doctor for this procedure, as should you if you need to have it done; do not try this at home. It's called somnoplasty, which is not only easier to pronouce than the old scalpel-based uvulopalatopharyngeoplasty (UPPP) or the dreaded laser-based uvulopalatopharyngeoplasty (LAUP), but less painful and more effective too. Basically, the doctor deadens the area with a local anesthetic, then pokes a device into the soft tissue (specifically, in my case, the uvula and soft palate at the back of the throat) and hits a button that delivers the juice. Some warmth, some crackling like the sound of bacon in a frying pan, and in about 10 seconds, you're done. My doctor did it in 4 places the first time, yesterday in 3 places. I probably have 1 or 2 more visits. The pain is pretty minimal, easily managed with Tylenol or, if necessary, Vicadin. I could easily have gone right back to the office, but since I had the forethought to schedule my appointment late in the afternoon, I didn't have to. It's not cheap -- cost in my case was 2 grand -- and it's not covered by insurance unless you're suffering from -- and diagnosed with -- sleep apnea (in which case stop reading weblogs and go the doctor, fool!). But in my case, I figure that works out to about 10¢ for every elbow poke in the ribs I've gotten in the middle of the night, which is pretty cheap.
Posted by John at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2001
Penguins do not topple over
Penguins do not topple over when aircraft fly overhead, contrary to common belief.
Posted by John at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2001
Riddle de jour. Jane and
Riddle de jour. Jane and John want to buy a book. Jane needs seven more dollars to buy the book, John only needs one more dollar. They decide to club together, but still cannot afford the book. How many dollars does the book cost? OK, I know it sounds stupid... See Spot run. but it took me at least a full minute to figure it out, which either indicates that this question is at least a little harder than it looks, or -- more probably -- I was having a slow day.
Posted by John at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
He could be talking about
He could be talking about technology.
“…the doorkeeper laughs and says: ‘If you are so drawn to it, just try to go in despite my veto. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the least of the doorkeepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper after another, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look on him.’ These are difficulties the man from the country has not expected; the Law, he thinks, should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone…” – Kafka, Before the Law
Posted by John at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2001
A place for everything and
A place for everything and everything in its place. And on the web that means there's a place for road side attractions. Growing up in the South, everywhere we went we passed giant signs painted on barns and outbuildings from Louisiana to Kentucky urging us to "See Rock City". We did -- my dad was intrigued by these places, and my mom tolerated his eccentricities. (The first time we went, I was about 7 yrs old and I had nightmares about "Fairyland Caverns", part of the Rock City tour, for a solid week afterward. Imagine a room full of plaster dolls -- each about the size of your average 7 yr. old -- topped with grotesque, oversized dwarf heads. Carrying pickaxes. Barbie dolls with wings circling around the ceiling. The real kicker, though, is the whole thing is illuminated only with black light. Shudder.) We also saw Crystal Caverns, and Ruby Falls, the grave where Stonewall Jackson's arm is buried, the World's Largest Frying Pan and too many other sites to recount here. Especially when someone else has already done it for me. Ever since I read a short piece about a town whose claim to fame was that they had the world's second-largest ball of string, I've wondered if there was a good compilation of this type of Americana -- one step off the beaten path. One very large step. OK, kids, everybody in the car!
Posted by John at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)
Implicit Attitudes. People don't always
Implicit Attitudes. People don't always say what they mean, and don't always mean what they say. This test tells you what you were really thinking. This one is a cut above most of the online tests I've run across.
Posted by John at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
Time out for parental bragging
Time out for parental bragging rights... Congrats to Travis, who pulled an awesome erg score today. Erging, for those of you not into the rowing scene, is basically rowing machine reps for a set distance (e.g. 2,000 meters). I think it's named for the sound the rowers make at the end of their row, when they fall off the machine. For an account of what it's like, read this. Rowers log their scores (times) into a national database, where they are ranked. Travis' score placed him 60th in the nation among high school varsity rowers, and 3rd in the nation for lightweights. And he's only a junior (the #1 and #2 ranked guys are both seniors). Of course by his senior year, he'll probably put on enough additional muscle that he won't qualify for lightweights any more, but he's already #60 among all varsity, and rising! Travis rows for the Marin Rowing Association, one of the strongest teams in the country. Proud papa here... If this gets you interested in rowing, remember you can practice anywhere!
Posted by John at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
