Stillest Words

Woods

2009-06-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday Evening Supper

2009-05-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

One vegetarian lasagna:

sauce: san marzano tomatoes cooked down over approximately 9 hours with balsamic, salt, dry herbs, black pepper.
mushrooms: portbellas grilled, then diced and spread as a single layer;
sauteed in butter: carrot, shallot, zucchini, lemon juice, black pepper spread within lasagna
cheese: fresh mozzarella
chard: swiss, lightly charred on the grill

Baked on one butter lined dish.

2006-06-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan and Time Magazine continue fearless journalism. In addition to covering the seldom told and globally important stories of the Congo, President Bush's hyper powerful executive branch, and others, Sullivan has long been the most authentic, tireless freedom champion anywhere.

2006-06-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

To think that jamming was a thing of the past...

2006-05-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

Mr. Mike Olson's succinct scenario for the future of software describes the loosely coupled, specialized dynamic that I hope will enrich me and other Sun investors: "Applications of the future...will be composed of small cooperating components, each specialized in a particular task, tied together on demand to perform a particular task." Those manifold applications give Sun's Schwartz a crisp one-liner: "Demand for what we build, for the technologies that power the network, will never cease."

If the communication structure behaves in that small, specialized, on-demand fashion, won't the org chart adapt to it?

(via Mr. O'Grady)

2006-05-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

PD's Paul Gullixson relays the local media's Sixth District picks to represent us:

Rep. Lynn Woolsey - Marin Independent Journal, Pacific Sun

Assemblyman Joe Nation - Press Democrat, San Francisco Chronicle, Petaluma Argus-Courier, Sonoma Index-Tribune

2006-05-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

More music--Ozomatli on Morning Becomes Eclectic--for your Memorial Day weekend; it's beautiful today.

2006-05-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

2006-05-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

A small round-up of lively American writing.

"Along the way, though, we had to deal with Cairo traffic, which is to traffic what Iraq is to nation building -- with the added distraction that Egyptian pedestrians are utterly fearless when it comes to wading out into a major arterials, and utterly indifferent to any problems this may cause for the drivers bearing down on them. Egyptians in general don’t so much walk as glide (those ancient tomb painters knew their subjects) and watching a bunch of them weave their way among the cars zinging past is enormously entertaining, like watching a enormous chorus line do the cha cha.

But I wasn’t in the mood for it. "
...

“Hurry,” the cop said. And so we did – out into the hurricane of flesh and metal that is downtown Cairo.
...

What kind of American tourist comes in and asks for a cash advance, leaves, and then immediately comes back and tries to change a small bill? I was acting desperate, and desperation is always grounds for suspicion.

Billmon, All's Well That Ends Well

...at the moment that we need the Congress most, it is feckless, corrupt, and venal.

Jack Balkin, A corrupt Congress is shocked to find a lawless Executive

2006-05-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

My own view is that conservatism is fundamentally rooted in skepticism about the human mind and its capacity to change society. So it's basically resistant to large-scale change, but, on the rare occasions that such change happens, is necessary and turns out okay, conservatives can live with it.

So writes Andrew Sullivan. Yes. Tempo, in addition to scale, defines the conservative resistance: change should be small and gradual. The conservative philosophy applied tends towards 'messy'. Sullivan himself provides the paradox of a conservative supporting a shocking, awesome, massive, and immediate revolution in Middle Eastern society.

Whatever its wisdom or moral inspiration, such a big bang is not conservative. The more self aware liberal, having faith in incredible change as Thomas Barnett does below, finds comfort in the Operation Iraqi Freedom upheaval: "Will this all work out in our favor? Hardly. But that wasn't the point of the Big Bang, simply setting in motion change was."

2006-05-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

ZDNet's David Berlind:

Several television and movie studios have joined forces to sue Cablevision which has been testing a TiVo-like recording service (officially: Networked Digital Video Recorder or Remote Storage (RS) DVR) where the recorded programs are stored on Cablevision's servers rather than locally at the customers premises in a digital video recorder like the ones offered by TiVo and Motorola.

Cablevision should try to settle this out of court with an iTunes Music Store like licensing agreement with the studios. The studios would benefit from centralized DRM and avoid the iPod lock-in that gives Steve Jobs so much price setting leverage. Cablevision would need slightly better marginal terms than Apple for want of a high-margin device. Or perhaps those negotiating hurdles prove too high, and the studios build their own digital storage and delivery data centers:

The plaintiffs contend that because Cablevision only has agreements in place for the simultaneous broadcast rights to their content, it would require a separate license for the network DVR that would see Cablevision storing that content and sublicensing it to consumers. The cable platform, the sixth largest in the U.S., has said it will not shell out a further license fee or share the additional revenue from charging customers for the service.

Either way, the network is the computer and EMC, and Sun lick their lips. For Mr. Berlind is right that "moving all of those terabytes out of our homes and into the cable operators' data centers will require some series (sic) hardware not to mention some special storage management software".

2006-05-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

Information Week (via Rajesh Jain):

Microsoft has two assets [that corporate search competitors, including Google, do not]: its Windows monopoly and the huge number of programmers who write software based on its technology. "This is Microsoft's play against Google--the 2 million Visual Studio users," says Rick Sherlund, a managing director at Goldman Sachs. Microsoft is building into the next version of Visual Studio a tool code-named Atlas for creating Ajax-powered Web sites; Atlas apps will be able to tap into Microsoft's new adCenter auction system for Internet advertising.

That, I think, is the relevant context for the Google Web Toolkit. Do developers become increasingly important to the advertising engines as developers monetize dynamic applications with advertising? Thoughts about coupling rich web application development to advertising?

2006-05-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Maybe Karl Rove will set up a photo-op in October. The president could come to the Arizona border, assemble a crowd of anti-illegal immigrant activists and declaim, in reverse-Reagan mode: "Presidente Fox, build up this wall!"

- Andrew Sullivan

2006-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

"The fundamental difference between us is that I walk my talk."
-Lynn Woolsey, San Francisco Chronicle

No wonder she has no time to coalition build and legislate. Equally comedic were Woolsey's sophomoric remarks in a letter to James Oberstar, ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:

"Thank you again for securing $15 million for the Novato Narrows project on Highway 101 in my Northern California District. You won't believe this but I am writing today to request your further assistance."

Check this box if 'yes'!

While Representative Woolsey's opposition to the Iraq invasion and championship of withdrawal has not produced even modest results, her failure to combat No Child Left Behind best demonstrates her incapacity. Unfortunately, Kos' Malacandra gives the standard apology for the Act's disaster: the Bush Administration under funded it and it harshly punishes school districts. Actually, Congress, which controls the federal budget and of which Representative Woolsey is member, under funded it; strictly enforced "accountability" was one of the bill's central tenets. As ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Education Reform she failed to command decent, funded legislation. Rather than merely "advocating better education policies", our representative ought to legislate and pass them.

Representative Woolsey's challenger, Joe Nation, has demonstrated an ability to get things done: 42 bills enacted in six years. Malacandra also misunderstands Nation's proposal to correct the No Child Left Behind mistake arguing "he has no plan to fix or replace it". Not quite right--hitting the "Delete" key would be a terrific fix: "I would like to undo 'No Child Left Behind,'" [Nation has] said. "It was a disaster for California. I think we need to scrap it."

2006-05-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

How the union survived without language legislation

2006-05-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

Jim Wicks, Design Director at Motorola talked about the new model of product development used for the RZR and the PEBL. Nail the basics, by addressing business fundamentals including a solid design principles and branding strategy. Develop rhythm by synchronize the business strategies, software releases, consumer research and strategic component roadmaps. Partner and collaborate intensively both internally and externally. Don’t be afraid to tap into inventive talent outside your team.

Amanda May, Adaptive Path

Participating in a business bazaar makes sense not only as a design strategy, but as a life strategy.

2006-05-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Over E3's seven days, Microsoft pushed 5 million downloads and 600 terabytes via Live; You Tube does 40 million downloads and 200 terabytes a day.

2006-05-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

2006-05-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Wow.

The Google - Microsoft battle will be sooooo good.

2006-05-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

"Globalization and rampant interconnectivity has led to the rise of vast global smuggling networks. These networks live in the space between states. They are simultaneously everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

John Robb's BOOK REVIEW: ILLICIT by Moises Naim

"Our community would very much like us to continue on the fight against spam, and our community has grown over the last week," Reshef said. "But at the end of the day if we continue doing so, within a few days, major websites will go down. I don't feel that this is something I can be responsible for. I cannot go ahead and rip up the internet to make Blue Security work. This is not the decision a commercial entity can make."

The abrupt decision ends a high-profile standoff between spammers and a tiny startup whose unorthodox methods had seemingly stymied some of the most prolific purveyors of junk e-mail in the world, if only temporarily. For a few intense days, the fight showed with shocking clarity the lengths to which some spammers will go to protect their businesses, and the devastating arsenals at their command.

The lesson to be learned, Reshef said, is that large ISPs and governments need to recognize that spammers are connected to criminal syndicates and that they, not a small startup, are the only ones who can shut down these networks.

Wired's Under Attack, Spam Fighter Folds

2006-05-16T22:01:00.000-07:00

New sizzle: Gecko Turner's "Dizzie".

2006-05-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

2006-05-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Asurroca seems to have made the call first: MTV's Urge on XBox Live. Missing? Simple portable hardware.

2006-05-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

On occassion of Mr. Robert Scoble's May 2006, a hat tip to one of the best essays I can remember:

I would put my hand on your shoulder now, if I could. This is just the way the world is, friend. You can do nothing that seems reasonable. You cannot petition, or vote, or pray, or complain, or pay vast amounts of money to the Right Doctors, or call upon younger, loving, supporting, relatives for help and expect there to be any real difference. You have one choice, and yet it is amazingly not the choice most Americans in our class actually ever consider: will you participate the period of life when your parents are aging and dying, or remove yourself from it?

...

In the end we do age and decline. And before we die most of us get very sick, we lose more or less of our dignity, and we come to rely on the care of others. Our homes, our health, our social roles, and our abilities are all gradually tugged and yanked out from under us by uncontrollable forces, until we’re either knocked to the ground by a sudden jerk, or left standing on entirely unfamiliar ground.

William Tozier's "Real weirdos, wandering far off in the forest, quite distant from the American Way"

2006-05-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Etta James sings that hot and on fire "A Sunday Kind of Love" rendition in the Dockers' spot.