Monday, June 4, 2007
Candidate Watch 2008
Check out this SF Gate article on presidential candidates stopping by Google's MTV office and then run over to YouTube to see the talks.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
In memory of Andra
[Posted recently to a guest book set up for my Aunt (Andra) who passed away on Memorial day at the age of 59 after months in the hospital.]
Ten years this summer my wife and I were married near her home town in Germany. This made it an impossibility for many of my family to come (Andra and Tommy included). Wedding planners had not caught on in Europe and much of the work fell onto us. Stressful as you can imagine, it allowed us to create a few traditions of our own for the ceremony.
My mother and father arrived in Germany a few days before the wedding and instead of the usual carry on luggage they stepped off the plane with three cardboard boxes. Customs must have assumed they carried crystal goblets or maybe family heirlooms or something as such. They wouldn't be far wrong. Breakable yes, but the cargo was more of the crumble kind then the crack or shatter kind.
The wedding went well and at the reception after everyone had eaten dinner my wife and I took two silver platters and walked around the room. On the plate of each guest we placed two small gifts from my wife and I as a sign of the sweetness of life we hoped to share together and we wished to share with all of them. The gift? Italian cookies which my mother had carried over to Germany after Andra had made them as a personal request for our wedding.
The standard cookie was a dome of sugary goodness slightly smaller then a table-tennis ball. Christmas in Birmingham was always fun as a child, but the cookies that Andra made were the proverbial icing on top. These buttery balls of dough covered with a pastel colored glaze of sugar are hard to describe. Think short-bread with a doughy quality but far far better.
One labor intensive variant on the cookie was the same dough that wrapped a dollop prune preserves. Andra had sent some of those to Germany also and I must admit with much guilt to hording most of these cookies from the reception. Andra knew these were my favorites and always insured a few were set aside whenever we visited Birmingham.
Andra's love could never know a better metaphor: bit size, made with all her heart, given with all her heart, plenty for everyone, and willing to travel the world in order to find their recipient.
Ten years this summer my wife and I were married near her home town in Germany. This made it an impossibility for many of my family to come (Andra and Tommy included). Wedding planners had not caught on in Europe and much of the work fell onto us. Stressful as you can imagine, it allowed us to create a few traditions of our own for the ceremony.
My mother and father arrived in Germany a few days before the wedding and instead of the usual carry on luggage they stepped off the plane with three cardboard boxes. Customs must have assumed they carried crystal goblets or maybe family heirlooms or something as such. They wouldn't be far wrong. Breakable yes, but the cargo was more of the crumble kind then the crack or shatter kind.
The wedding went well and at the reception after everyone had eaten dinner my wife and I took two silver platters and walked around the room. On the plate of each guest we placed two small gifts from my wife and I as a sign of the sweetness of life we hoped to share together and we wished to share with all of them. The gift? Italian cookies which my mother had carried over to Germany after Andra had made them as a personal request for our wedding.
The standard cookie was a dome of sugary goodness slightly smaller then a table-tennis ball. Christmas in Birmingham was always fun as a child, but the cookies that Andra made were the proverbial icing on top. These buttery balls of dough covered with a pastel colored glaze of sugar are hard to describe. Think short-bread with a doughy quality but far far better.
One labor intensive variant on the cookie was the same dough that wrapped a dollop prune preserves. Andra had sent some of those to Germany also and I must admit with much guilt to hording most of these cookies from the reception. Andra knew these were my favorites and always insured a few were set aside whenever we visited Birmingham.
Andra's love could never know a better metaphor: bit size, made with all her heart, given with all her heart, plenty for everyone, and willing to travel the world in order to find their recipient.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Bad Science
This news was meant for blogging.
Apparently the head of NASA thinks Global warming isn't that big of a deal.
First a link to the NPR interview with him...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10571499
And now the jaw dropping excerpt...
"""
Do you have any doubt that this (global warming) is a problem that
mankind has to wrestle with?
I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure
that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.
"""
Who pays this guys salary?
Apparently the head of NASA thinks Global warming isn't that big of a deal.
First a link to the NPR interview with him...
http://www.npr.org/templates
And now the jaw dropping excerpt...
"""
Do you have any doubt that this (global warming) is a problem that
mankind has to wrestle with?
I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure
that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.
"""
Who pays this guys salary?
Friday, May 11, 2007
information aesthetics
Saw this site posted on Diggs. Simply duplicating their note seems silly so I tried to come up with my own favorites, but gave up as they all look cool...
http://infosthetics.com
http://infosthetics.com
Monday, May 7, 2007
Personal Finance - Index funds compared to ETFs
After that long winded entry, here is an attempt to a short and to the point post.
Wall Street Journal's Monday, May 7, 2007 edition has the article...
A Close Race, a Surprising Finish
By IAN SALISBURY
The article does a great job of analyzing the comparison between Index and ETF funds of similar type (Morningstar actually did the leg work) and you should check it out.
No surprise that Vanguard and Fidelity take up a prominent position in the article which is nice to see. Generally speaking the article suggests that Index funds have performed better then ETFs, but the real interesting take away for me was the focus on expense as being a significant factor.
OK, I'm confirming my own thoughts here but there you have it.
Wall Street Journal's Monday, May 7, 2007 edition has the article...
A Close Race, a Surprising Finish
By IAN SALISBURY
The article does a great job of analyzing the comparison between Index and ETF funds of similar type (Morningstar actually did the leg work) and you should check it out.
No surprise that Vanguard and Fidelity take up a prominent position in the article which is nice to see. Generally speaking the article suggests that Index funds have performed better then ETFs, but the real interesting take away for me was the focus on expense as being a significant factor.
OK, I'm confirming my own thoughts here but there you have it.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
In the trenches at the LA Book Festival of 2007
Last Weekend was the Los Angeles Festival of Books. In years past I have enjoyed this annual event in LA as a visitor walking around the expanse over the UCLA campus, exploring the various booths, and attending a few of the many panels and author readings. This year was different as after suggesting my company get a booth there the next thing I know I'm organizing said booth. This involved everything from getting paper work filed, to organizing folks to man the booth, to building up and breaking it down. An exhausting endeavor though I would hope valuable - and from the feedback it would seem the case.
There as a vendor was a different experience for sure even when all the hard work is taken into account. The eclectic mix of individuals becomes more an anonymous blob with the occasional nut case - all too occasional as I discovered. I'll highlight this from a couple of anecdotes.
The first comes from a panel I attended Sunday morning on Religion and Culture whose most prominent member was Christopher Hitchens. Attending panels was certainly an activity I had participated in over the past few years, but very quickly I had learned that the Q & A sessions which followed the panel were the largest waste of time. The primary culprit in this waste of time is want-to-be authors who get up and promptly publicize or seek personal guidance on their own works. I understand getting published can be tough, but a forum on a given panel in front of often hundreds of other people is hardly the place to make a personal request for another author to comment or provide assistance. And to be quite frank, many of these struggling authors are struggling for good reason.
Rude as it can be, leaving once the Q & A begins has become my norm while at the Book Fest. My intentions on this trip however forced me to alter my behavior as I (hypocritically enough) had to make a personal request to Hitchens (namely to come to my company to give an author talk). But rather then stand up and waste the fellow attendees time with this request I was waiting for the conclusion to make my approach and appeal. The obvious side effect being the need to actually sit through the Q & A. To the credit of those who approached the public mic the most of the questions were good and on topic. With one glaring exception.
Before the moderator had even got close to asking for questions, an attendee with a much more subversive goal had already stood up. He was hard to miss as while awaiting his turn he held up a sign reading "9/11 Tell the Truth" or some such nonsense. This group was at the Festival in force this year and were prostelitizing their message. I must admit ignorance to their specific argument, but from what little I am pretty sure it involved a cover up by the US government in its roll in the destruction in the lower Manhattan as opposed to the two airplanes seen on every TV in America that dismal September morning.
No surprise that the first question went to the other mic and the moderator waved over security who were little more then bibliophile volunteers to usher the nut case out. Yells from the 9/11 wack could be heard though his microphone was off and eventually Hitchens shouted down the guy labeling him a fascist loon or some such insult just as the multiple security folk forced the guy out of the hall.
Conspiracy theorists seem an odd (and at times disgusting) breed who seek to create a belief of the world that is obviously not there. Ironic giving the panels topic as it focused much on the potential dangers of religions in general or particular dogma or teachings of those religions. In my view conspiracy theorists are the worst of blind faith as at their core always seems to be a malicious intent.
The other story from the festival on crazy folks hit closer to home and came later that same day. Working the booth my head became numb with repeating the same phrases as I handed out bookmarks or explained my reason for being there. Most folks were happy to get the bookmark and interested in learning more about why I was there to promote the speaker series available online.
The odd folks in the crowed - surprise surprise - were often desperate authors, publicists or publishers. But I guess a free event to the public must be way to much a magnet for some.
This particular guy of 6+ feet in an FBI hat approached me and seemed a little more forward with his questioning about why my company was there. I fended him off with a bookmark and a side step to go chat with someone else. In the mean time he settled in to listen to the loop of authors recordings we had set up for folks to listen to.
The loop was 30 minutes long and contained some of the most notable folks we had made available. Working the booth for multiple hours at a stretch the speakers are etched on my mind: Hillary Clinton, Adam Gopnik, Even Ensler, Jane Smiley, Jane Goodall, and Matt Berry.
Most of the clips were interesting, but two grated the senses. Hillery's talk was a little too much like a political add. On top of that many (not all but enough) folks grumbled underneath their breath before she had said a word. This was the longest clip of the bunch clocking in at over 10 minutes. The other grating speaker was Ensler. In any other context her talk would have been amusing or even funny, but with a random smattering of the public walking buy including minors her frank talk on vagina's seemed a bit much even for my liberal disposition.
Half way through the first day we started fast forwarding through much of Clinton's talk and skipping Ensler's all together. We didn't police this with any passion, but if standing near the laptop running the loop it was a quick flick on the mouse pad followed by a click to move things along.
The loop of talks was prominent as it faced out to the crowds walking buy and serving its purpose as eye candy - sucking in its fare share of viewers. As a courtesy, I'd avoid my on the fly editing if anyone was actually watching that particular clip which brings me back to the FBI hat guy. As I so tactfully sidestepped his odd line of questioning he gravitated over to the video loop and glued his eyes to the screen just as Ensler's clip began. Mentally preparing for a complaint on the subject matter I stood back pretending to reshuffle the books we had laid out on the table.
First quietly he began to comment and then much more vocally he started to cuss. Not to me or anyone standing around him, but to the screen or rather to Ensler personally as her clip played on the screen. I'm editing myself here but the specific comment that forced me into action was something like "Oh yeah. I bet you take it in the a__. You stupid f__k'n whore!"
The guy was leaning over the screen, resting his arm on the booth pole and like an idiot I stepped into this awkward spot *lightly* placing the fingers of my right hand on his chest while at the same time saying "sir you are going to have to leave." Before I finished that sentence Mr. FBI hat punched me square in the chest. I would like to think that I held my composure because a tussle with the crowds passing by would have certainly gotten some innocent bystander hurt to say the least of reflect negatively on my company (I was there as a representative after all). The truth of the matter was his punch packed little force and caused no pain but it was an absolute surprise to me as was his loud crazy rant about me assaulting him. The rant went on for at most 5 loud seconds and then the guy all but ran off leaving me there with a handful of bookmarks and a bunch of blank stares. "Are you OK?" someone asked. "Fine" I answered as I immediately began to hand out more bookmarks in some strange attempt to bring things back to normal. It all happened so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it and my response didn't let on otherwise.
In retrospect I should have told security and put them on the lookout for this loon (one of many there that day I'm sure), but I pressed on. You better believe that I fast forwarded through Ensler's clip completely each time it came up for the rest of the Festival no matter who was standing there.
Will I as a member of the general general public or an exhibitor attend the Festival again next year? We'll see how successful this is for our program. There definitely are some great names to hear speak, but maybe I'm more jaded given the above stories or maybe it is the truth but the quality of the booths seem so much more suspect then 6 years ago when I went for the first time. My memory tells of a time that every few booths was a publisher or an exhibitor of worth. Increasingly to me the quality of attendees seems lower and lower on average with way to many religious or spiritual booths who seem more interested in converting folks then enlightening them (odd how this comes back to religion).
What do you make of a world when freedom of expression gives freedom to voices that have nothing of value to say? I would hardly argue for squashing public discourse just to silence a few nut cases, but when in a room where every voice is heard there is often little that can be heard of value.
There as a vendor was a different experience for sure even when all the hard work is taken into account. The eclectic mix of individuals becomes more an anonymous blob with the occasional nut case - all too occasional as I discovered. I'll highlight this from a couple of anecdotes.
The first comes from a panel I attended Sunday morning on Religion and Culture whose most prominent member was Christopher Hitchens. Attending panels was certainly an activity I had participated in over the past few years, but very quickly I had learned that the Q & A sessions which followed the panel were the largest waste of time. The primary culprit in this waste of time is want-to-be authors who get up and promptly publicize or seek personal guidance on their own works. I understand getting published can be tough, but a forum on a given panel in front of often hundreds of other people is hardly the place to make a personal request for another author to comment or provide assistance. And to be quite frank, many of these struggling authors are struggling for good reason.
Rude as it can be, leaving once the Q & A begins has become my norm while at the Book Fest. My intentions on this trip however forced me to alter my behavior as I (hypocritically enough) had to make a personal request to Hitchens (namely to come to my company to give an author talk). But rather then stand up and waste the fellow attendees time with this request I was waiting for the conclusion to make my approach and appeal. The obvious side effect being the need to actually sit through the Q & A. To the credit of those who approached the public mic the most of the questions were good and on topic. With one glaring exception.
Before the moderator had even got close to asking for questions, an attendee with a much more subversive goal had already stood up. He was hard to miss as while awaiting his turn he held up a sign reading "9/11 Tell the Truth" or some such nonsense. This group was at the Festival in force this year and were prostelitizing their message. I must admit ignorance to their specific argument, but from what little I am pretty sure it involved a cover up by the US government in its roll in the destruction in the lower Manhattan as opposed to the two airplanes seen on every TV in America that dismal September morning.
No surprise that the first question went to the other mic and the moderator waved over security who were little more then bibliophile volunteers to usher the nut case out. Yells from the 9/11 wack could be heard though his microphone was off and eventually Hitchens shouted down the guy labeling him a fascist loon or some such insult just as the multiple security folk forced the guy out of the hall.
Conspiracy theorists seem an odd (and at times disgusting) breed who seek to create a belief of the world that is obviously not there. Ironic giving the panels topic as it focused much on the potential dangers of religions in general or particular dogma or teachings of those religions. In my view conspiracy theorists are the worst of blind faith as at their core always seems to be a malicious intent.
The other story from the festival on crazy folks hit closer to home and came later that same day. Working the booth my head became numb with repeating the same phrases as I handed out bookmarks or explained my reason for being there. Most folks were happy to get the bookmark and interested in learning more about why I was there to promote the speaker series available online.
The odd folks in the crowed - surprise surprise - were often desperate authors, publicists or publishers. But I guess a free event to the public must be way to much a magnet for some.
This particular guy of 6+ feet in an FBI hat approached me and seemed a little more forward with his questioning about why my company was there. I fended him off with a bookmark and a side step to go chat with someone else. In the mean time he settled in to listen to the loop of authors recordings we had set up for folks to listen to.
The loop was 30 minutes long and contained some of the most notable folks we had made available. Working the booth for multiple hours at a stretch the speakers are etched on my mind: Hillary Clinton, Adam Gopnik, Even Ensler, Jane Smiley, Jane Goodall, and Matt Berry.
Most of the clips were interesting, but two grated the senses. Hillery's talk was a little too much like a political add. On top of that many (not all but enough) folks grumbled underneath their breath before she had said a word. This was the longest clip of the bunch clocking in at over 10 minutes. The other grating speaker was Ensler. In any other context her talk would have been amusing or even funny, but with a random smattering of the public walking buy including minors her frank talk on vagina's seemed a bit much even for my liberal disposition.
Half way through the first day we started fast forwarding through much of Clinton's talk and skipping Ensler's all together. We didn't police this with any passion, but if standing near the laptop running the loop it was a quick flick on the mouse pad followed by a click to move things along.
The loop of talks was prominent as it faced out to the crowds walking buy and serving its purpose as eye candy - sucking in its fare share of viewers. As a courtesy, I'd avoid my on the fly editing if anyone was actually watching that particular clip which brings me back to the FBI hat guy. As I so tactfully sidestepped his odd line of questioning he gravitated over to the video loop and glued his eyes to the screen just as Ensler's clip began. Mentally preparing for a complaint on the subject matter I stood back pretending to reshuffle the books we had laid out on the table.
First quietly he began to comment and then much more vocally he started to cuss. Not to me or anyone standing around him, but to the screen or rather to Ensler personally as her clip played on the screen. I'm editing myself here but the specific comment that forced me into action was something like "Oh yeah. I bet you take it in the a__. You stupid f__k'n whore!"
The guy was leaning over the screen, resting his arm on the booth pole and like an idiot I stepped into this awkward spot *lightly* placing the fingers of my right hand on his chest while at the same time saying "sir you are going to have to leave." Before I finished that sentence Mr. FBI hat punched me square in the chest. I would like to think that I held my composure because a tussle with the crowds passing by would have certainly gotten some innocent bystander hurt to say the least of reflect negatively on my company (I was there as a representative after all). The truth of the matter was his punch packed little force and caused no pain but it was an absolute surprise to me as was his loud crazy rant about me assaulting him. The rant went on for at most 5 loud seconds and then the guy all but ran off leaving me there with a handful of bookmarks and a bunch of blank stares. "Are you OK?" someone asked. "Fine" I answered as I immediately began to hand out more bookmarks in some strange attempt to bring things back to normal. It all happened so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it and my response didn't let on otherwise.
In retrospect I should have told security and put them on the lookout for this loon (one of many there that day I'm sure), but I pressed on. You better believe that I fast forwarded through Ensler's clip completely each time it came up for the rest of the Festival no matter who was standing there.
Will I as a member of the general general public or an exhibitor attend the Festival again next year? We'll see how successful this is for our program. There definitely are some great names to hear speak, but maybe I'm more jaded given the above stories or maybe it is the truth but the quality of the booths seem so much more suspect then 6 years ago when I went for the first time. My memory tells of a time that every few booths was a publisher or an exhibitor of worth. Increasingly to me the quality of attendees seems lower and lower on average with way to many religious or spiritual booths who seem more interested in converting folks then enlightening them (odd how this comes back to religion).
What do you make of a world when freedom of expression gives freedom to voices that have nothing of value to say? I would hardly argue for squashing public discourse just to silence a few nut cases, but when in a room where every voice is heard there is often little that can be heard of value.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)