Marc's Space

Marc's Space Has Moved

2010-05-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

I've moved my blog from blogger.com to a private hosting service (webfaction.com). Click here to visit Marc's Space at it's new location. Or use my domain (mkcohen.com) which automatically routes you to the new location.

Marc

The Five Minute iPad Review

2010-04-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

I was headed to Jamba Juice last night to pick up a smoothie for my sick daughter (ok, I really wanted one too) and there happens to be an Apple Store about 100 feet away so I ducked in for a quick play with an iPad. Everyone seems to have an opinion about this device but it really helps to pick one up and try it out for yourself. Here are my findings based on five minutes of experimentation...

The Good

Beautiful, crisp display. Seems like a perfect personal video viewing device (e.g. watching a movie in flight or in bed).
Very nice web browsing experience - nothing beats clicking, scrolling and zooming by touching the screen.
The book reader seems quite nice. Very readable text and cute touch-driven page turning animation. With the backlit display, it looks great for one of my needs - reading in bed at night after the lights are out.
Email is much more usable compared with the iPhone. You get a list of message headers and a separate message preview window.
In landscape mode, the soft keyboard is pleasant to use (the cramped keyboard is easily my biggest problem with the iPhone) and you can type fast with two hands. It's almost, but not quite, as good as a real physical keyboard.

The Bad

As noted in David Pogue's excellent review, it's a bit heavy. After holding it upright for a few minutes, you feel it. Although that may not be a problem when it's on your lap (I was standing up, which is probably not the typical usage scenario).
I tried searching for something I actually wanted to know at the moment ("Jamba Juice hours"), but this failed because Jamba's location finder page requires Flash, which Apple refuses to support. For a device that is marketed as the best web browsing experience ever, this is inexcusable. The good news is that if Apple ever changes this policy, it should be a software-only fix.
The iPad has the same uni-tasking user interface as the iPhone, which feels a bit constrained and simplistic to me. On the other hand, it's also extremely simple, which makes life easier for non-power users. This video, which records the first meeting between a two-year-old and an iPad, makes a good case for its simple and intuitive user interface.

I understand some people are waiting for the more expensive 3G version (which will work with AT&T's data network) coming later this month. Personally, I think that's a waste of money - I don't see this as much of a mobile device. Due to its size, it's hard to imagine carrying it around with me, except when traveling long distances, in which case I can usually find a free or cheap wi-fi service.

In my opinion, the iPad doesn't have any essential functionality that can't be accomplished with other technologies. Rather, like the iPhone, it's value is that it packages so many useful functions into one device with a unique and compelling user interface. In my book, that makes it a luxury product. The problem is that $499 is not a luxury price.

Don't get me wrong - it's a good price for all that functionality but I think it needs to come down a bit to attract a wider audience. That's exactly what happened with the iPhone. In June 2007, the original iPhone cost $499 at launch. One year later (June 2008) Apple offered a higher functioning model (the iPhone 3G) for $199. I bought the iPhone 3G in late 2008 so I had to wait over a year to get my hands on one but by doing so a) I got a much better performing product and b) I saved $300.

The Bottom Line

I love the product but I don't love the price. I'll probably wait a year or so and see if I can get a better iPad at a better price. In the meantime, I'll have to deal with a serious case of iPad envy.

Movie Review: In Bruges

2010-03-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

If I had to categorize "In Bruges", I'd go with Thriller/Travelogue, which is not a very crowded field. It's the story of two career hit men who go on a little vacation, ostensibly to lay low after a recent crime spree. But as you might guess, there's more to this trip than meets the eye.

I call it part travelogue, because this movie does a wonderful job transporting the audience to the real city of Bruges, a beautiful and amazingly well preserved medieval city (pictured above). Situated on a series of canals in northwest Belgium, it's sometimes called "Venice of the North". Visiting Bruges feels a bit like going back in time.

To these picturesque surroundings, the filmmaker has added a large dose of Hitchcock style suspense, some Tarentino style violence, a few darkly comic moments and some first rate acting.

The film is far from perfect - character development, frequently a weakness in the thriller genre, could be better. There are several strained plot elements that really should have been cut from the script. And I found the climax convoluted and disappointing.

Nevertheless, despite the unsatisfying ending and other flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Even if you don't love this movie, when it's over you'll feel like you just got back from Bruges, which is not a bad place to spend a couple hours.

Here's the Rotten Tomatoes page, where "In Bruges" currently enjoys an 80% score.

Remember This Date

2010-03-20T13:40:00.001-07:00

[Cross-posted at DailyKos]

March 21, 2010. Remember that date because it's going to be an important one. If everything goes according to plan, tomorrow the US House of Representatives will approve H.R. 4872 ("The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010"). A section-by-section summary of the bill is provided here.

After President Obama signs this bill into law...

by 2014 it will no longer be possible for insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions (and for children, that rule goes into effect six months after the bill is signed).
within six months, insurance companies will be prohibited from rescission - dropping people simply because they represent too great a risk.
annual limits will be restricted within six months and done away with entirely by 2014.
the federal government will fund community health centers, providing basic health and dental care to needy people, to the tune of $11 billion over the next five years.
perhaps most importantly, this law will help make health care affordable by subsidizing premiums and other costs for millions of Americans with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level.

This has been a long, hard struggle lasting over a year. Public approval of Congress is at an all time low. Many people, including some of his strongest supporters, have written off President Obama as ineffective, out of touch, or worse. A less principled leader might have cashed in his chips by now and moved on to another battle. But President Obama hasn't given up. And isn't that why we put him there? Didn't we want someone who would fight for us and fix our broken health care system?

If this bill passes tomorrow, the entire narrative about Obama and this congress is going to change. The resulting political gamesmanship is going to be interesting to watch, but underneath it all, there's a more important story: in 2009, we the people, did something which led directly to the most sweeping health care reform in the history of our nation. When this bill is passed and subsequently signed into law, we will have accomplished precisely what we set out to do last year -- we will have improved the lives of all Americans.

I think it's going to be a pretty good day.

The Most Global U.S. Sport

2010-02-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Watching the Olympic hockey tournament and seeing all those NHL players representing countries around the world made me wonder: which professional sport in the US has the highest percentage of foreign-born athletes? Before I reveal the answer, think about this for a minute and see if you can guess the most global U.S. sport.

Here's a list of the major American professional sports, arranged in order of percentage of non-U.S. born players (most to least):

Sport	% Foreign Born Players	Source
Hockey (NHL)	80%	2/9/2010 (source)
Soccer (MLS)	33%	4/5/2007 (source)
Baseball (MLS)	28%	4/6/2009 (source)
Basketball (NBA)	19%	12/9/2009 (source)
Football (NFL)	6%	7/30/2007 (source)

According to the table above, the NHL can rightly claim to be America's "Most Global Sport", however, including hockey on this list is anomalous in the sense that professional hockey is really more Canada's sport than ours: 54.2% of NHL players are Canadian!

Why should we care about these statistics? Because we live in an increasingly global world. Every two years the Olympic Games come around and remind us of the phenomenally talented athletes living all over the world. I think it's nice to see some of our professional sports in the U.S. reflecting that reality.

Concert Review: Two Guitar Phenoms From East and West

2010-01-28T21:05:00.001-08:00

Last night Kimberly, Maya and I had the privilege of seeing Trace Bundy perform live with his special guest, Korean guitar prodigy Sungha Jung. This was my first time at The Triple Door and it's one of coolest venues in Seattle. It has a nightclub style layout with an in-house Asian restaurant. Your party sits at a table or booth facing the stage. It's a fairly intimate room and there's not a bad seat in the house. We had a nice dinner while waiting for the show to start. Maybe I'm just getting old but it was a refreshing change from the usual concert venue where you have to jockey for position in front of the stage and stand for hours waiting for the opening act. It's family friendly too with a lot of all-ages shows. I'm definitely going back.

The opening act was Korean guitar wunderkind Sungha Jung. Check out this video to see just a small sample of what this kid can do:

This was Sungha's first trip to the U.S. and it was great to see a 12 year old kid with such poise and technical ability.

Trace Bundy, the headliner, is known for his innovative playing, featuring double handed string tapping, drumming on the guitar body, multiple custom capos, loops and other effects, eclectic song choice and some amazing fingerstyle playing. It's hard to describe what a Trace Bundy performance is like - you have to see it to believe it. Here's a little taste:

I've been watching Trace's youtube videos for a while now but this was my first time seeing him perform live and I was really impressed. He has a great sense of humor and puts on a very unique, entertaining show. If you have a chance to see him perform live, don't miss it - you won't be disappointed.

At the end of the night both artists came out to mingle with the crowd and Sungha was kind enough to pose for this picture with Maya:

As you can tell from Maya's smile, we had a great evening.

The Coolest App Ever is Coming to an Apple Tablet

2010-01-26T23:51:00.000-08:00

The internet is abuzz over tomorrow's unveiling of Apple's new tablet computer. Will it be a game changer like the iPhone? Or just another overhyped misfire like the infamous Newton? Without knowing any facts (that's never stopped me before), I think it's going to have a very big impact. I'll explain why in this article.

Amazon's Kindle is a very cool product. It let's you store your entire library in one device. It has a great, book-like user interface, optimized for reading, with an amazing battery life. And Amazon came up with a very clever way of implementing the wireless function so that you aren't required to have a service contract with a wireless carrier. Got that? You buy a Kindle and it does its thing over the air with a ubiquitous network and you don't need to sign up with Verizon or AT&T or anybody and you don't have to shell out $75 dollars every month for wireless service. For people like me who love reading books, it's a killer product with a killer service concept.

So you might ask, if it's so great, why don't I own one? The answer is simple: Kindle is a single purpose device. It's really, really great for reading books and newspapers and magazines. But if you want to surf the web or play a game or do your taxes or watch a video, no can do. It's a bit like buying a computer that only does spreadsheets.

Which brings me to the Apple tablet. Although the details are top secret, it seems reasonable to assume it will look like an iPhone scaled up to a bit larger than a Kindle, which has a 6" screen. It will likely have the iPhone physical design with a beautiful, big, bright multi-touch screen. It will undoubtedly have WiFi and 3G connectivity so you'll have internet access everywhere, just like you do with an iPhone. It will store music like a jumbo iPod. It will run iPhone apps natively and will spawn a whole new breed of apps specially designed to take advantage of this device's unique hardware. And, of course, it will let you find, purchase, download, store and consume all kinds of media: newspapers, magazines, books, TV shows, movies and all sorts of new "hybrid media" combining elements of all of the above.

It will probably not be as perfect for reading as the Kindle, which uses a special technology called E Ink that is optimized for reading and low power consumption, but I suspect you'll get very reasonable reading functionality and you'll also have a general purpose computing device with the ability to run the 100,000+ apps now available in Apple's app store. Still not sure how useful this will be? Here are a few scenarios that I find compelling:

- I'm a night owl but my wife goes to bed early and likes the lights out so I have to sit in another room to read or surf the web at my desk. I would love to be able to read a book or surf the web in bed without disturbing my wife. Yes, I can do that with my iPhone but the screen is too small. Yes, I can do that with my laptop but it's too big, too heavy and too hot.

- Have you ever watched a movie on a iPhone or iPod Touch? It's ok for a short youtube video but for anything substantial, the screen is just too small. I think this device will have the perfect size, weight and screen to serve as a personal video/TV viewing device.

And, finally, I will now reveal the coolest app ever...imagine a classroom in which each student has one of these tablets. All of those big heavy textbooks we used to have to lug around in our backpacks are now a bunch of bits inside your tablet computer. And those textbooks are retooled to incorporate audio and video and interactive features like end of chapter quizzes that tell you how well you are understanding the material. And there's no blackboard in this classroom. Thanks to integrated WiFi, everything the teacher writes is automatically and instantly transmitted to all the students' tablets where they have a complete record of the audio, video and whiteboard. Guess what? No more note taking; instead of spending your energy transcribing what the teacher is saying, you can focus on listening and learning the material.

I've been thinking about this app (really a family of apps) for a long time - I've always been interested in harnessing technology to enhance eduction. Until now there really was no viable hardware platform at a reasonable price point on which to realize this vision. If I'm right about Apple's upcoming announcement, I think that will change tomorrow. We'll see.

A Killer Feature For Amazon.com

2010-01-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Amazon.com,

Nothing beats the convenience of browsing your huge catalog from home, reading reviews and seeing what people think about my prospective purchases, ordering something online and having it suddenly materialize at my door two days later. Thanks to you, I get a little buzz every time I hear a UPS truck. But there's one feature I really wish you would add.

When searching for a product, if I select a department (like books or electronics), you give me the ability to sort the search results in various ways, like relevance and price. I really like sorting on the average customer rating (1-5 stars), because it gives me a sense of which products are best reviewed.

Here's the problem: the value of a high average rating is proportional to the number of people who've rated the product. One thousand 5 star ratings are a lot more significant than one top rating. If my search happens to be somewhat broad (e.g. "bluetooth headsets") I can easily generate several hundred hits and the highest rated hits are going to be a bunch of questionable products that happen to enjoy perfect 5 star ratings because exactly one person really, really liked them. But due to the nature of statistics, the bell curve, etc., any product with a lot of reviews will have a less than perfect average rating and will be found several pages down the list. Which means I have to tediously click and scan my way to the good stuff.

So, please consider this simple enhancement, for each product in your catalog:

Take the average number of stars and subtract 2.5 (to normalize the rating around zero).
Multiply the result of the last step by the number of people who rated the product.
Store the resulting number in your database and make it visible (and sortable) to customers. Call it the "customer quality factor" (CQF) or some snazzy marketing term.

With the feature above, if one person rates a book 5 stars, it'll have a CQF of 2.5. But if 1,000 people give a book 4.5 stars, it'll have a CQF of 2,000! Negative numbers indicate a below average rating and a large negative CQF means a lot of people gave it a rating below 2.5 stars.

This enhancement would make the highly AND widely reviewed items stand out. It would make it easy for your customers to find your best reviewed products without spending their time scanning page after page of search hits. Using this data, Amazon.com could automatically generate "best rated" lists of products in various categories. I wonder which ten books and CDs in your catalog currently enjoy the highest CQF. Hmmm...

Please, Amazon.com, implement this one feature and make an old friend really happy.

Yours truly,

Marc Cohen

Don't Forget To Write!

2010-01-06T22:14:00.001-08:00

I started this blog on December 29, 2008, so I just passed my one year anniversary. It was started as a lark - I really expected it to be one of those projects I get excited about and then never finish (when the going gets tough...I usually lose interest). But I've managed to keep writing for a whole year.

I've written 38 articles so far, which amounts to roughly one article every 10 days. I have one loyal reader (hi Mom!) and several kind souls have claimed to enjoy one or two of my modest creations. Google's adsense service tells me I've had almost 4,000 page hits over the past year (3,936 to be exact). If you google "Marc's Space" (admittedly, an obscure search :), I'm the number one hit returned.

Those results are a lot better than I expected when I started this site but I'm not about to quit my day job. I know I'm not, and never will be, a real writer. But even if I had zero page hits, I think I would keep doing this. Here's why...

Writing is good for your brain. It forces you to organize your thoughts into a coherent statement, and requires you to exercise reflection, introspection, planning, logic and analysis.
Writing helps maintain and improve your vocabulary and spelling.
Writing is an important life skill. Being able to effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas in email is critical for success in the business and professional worlds.
Writing is therapeutic. Have you ever had this experience: you're mad about something and you write an angry letter but by the time you're done with the letter you no longer feel the need to send it? That's because the process of writing has a way of helping us sort out our thoughts and deal with raw emotions.
Probably most importantly: it's not about being a great writer. It's about being the best writer that you can be. And practice is the only way to get there.

Many of us stop writing after our school days. The ghosts of arduous term papers haunt us at the thought of writing anything longer than a typical facebook update. And that's unfortunate, because writing can really be fun and relaxing and good for you.

When I started this site, I pondered a modern variation on that old "if a tree falls in the woods..." question: if I write a blog and no one reads it, will it have an impact? One year later, my answer is emphatically yes - the impact is on me. I've enjoyed writing it and I feel like the "writing part of my brain" is getting good exercise these days. And I get a great feeling every time I finish an article. If it entertains or informs anyone else, that makes me extra happy.

Book Review: Guitar Man

2010-01-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

The full title of this book is "Guitar Man - A Six String Odyssey, or, You Love That Guitar More Than You Love Me". It's the autobiographical tale of a Brit named Will Hodgkinson, who takes up the guitar in his mid-thirties. The interesting twist here is that the author sets himself a goal of performing in public within six months. That would be a bold move for anyone, but especially so for a guy with a job, a wife, a couple of kids, no prior musical experience and a self-proclaimed lack of talent. He has a few factors on his side, however: a long held dream, a few eccentric and marginally musical friends, and a long-suffering but ultimately supportive wife.

Here's a brief excerpt from the first chapter:

The golden light of creation was shining. Harmony filled the world. I closed my eyes and let the guitar resonate with the sweet vibrations of eternity.

"STOP IT! I can't stand that guitar. It's driving me crazy!"

I was getting used to that reaction from my wife. It seemed that my every rendition of the chorus of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones was like a needle piercing the nerve endings of her brain. But it wasn't [my wife] who was complaining. It was our three-year-old son Otto.

"I don't want you to play your guitar any more", he cried, sticking his fingers in his ears. "I don't like it. It's horrible."

I had only had the guitar for two weeks...and my family were already rebelling against any attempts to bring a bit of musical provenance into their lives. But I had set myself a task which, having been foolish enough to boast about, there was no getting out of: to perform before an audience in six months' time. This was before I had picked up a guitar, when the idea still sounded fun; a way of forcing myself into doing something I had only talked of for the last two decades. The possibilities of life are infinite, limitless and exciting before you start attempting to do something. But as soon as you apply yourself to learning a new skill, you are confronted with the severity of your limitations.

So begins a journey of both musical education and self discovery. At times it becomes a sort of musical travelogue. Hodgkinson's quest takes him to some interesting places, including London's famous guitar mecca Denmark Street, and a trip to the deep south to explore the roots of American blues. He meets a few famous musicians along the way, including Johnny Marr, Roger McGuinn, Cat Power, P.J. Harvey and others.

I enjoyed this book. It's not perfect - the writing is a little bit uneven in places and the story lags occasionally. But if you happen to be interested in playing guitar or the history of rock and roll, I think you'll enjoy it too. Here's a link to this book at amazon.com.

Movie Review: Who Killed The Electric Car?

2009-12-27T22:14:00.001-08:00

Good documentaries make you feel something. This film will make you feel angry. Very angry.

The story begins in California, which has both the nation's worst air pollution problem and one of our most progressive state governments. That combination should lead to dramatic change and for a while in the late 90s it did. The CA state agency in charge of air quality imposed strong new requirements on auto makers to sell a minimum percentage of "zero emission vehicles". This led General Motors to introduce the EV1, which was a convenient, powerful, fuel efficient electric vehicle. And it was cool looking to boot.

Other auto makers followed suit and, for a while, it seemed like California was on the brink of a genuine automotive and energy revolution, which just might sweep the country. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. "Who Killed The Electric Car?" explains why and who's to blame.

In addition to telling a good story, this film will teach you a few things about the air pollution problem in CA, the auto and oil industries, battery and hydrogen fuel cell technologies and some cars you probably didn't hear about, which were sold just a few years ago. Along the way, you'll meet an interesting assortment of heroes and villains.

A popular bumper sticker of our time reads: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention". This movie helps you pay attention. Fortunately, "Who Killed The Electric Car?" ends on an optimistic note, which is nice, because it takes a little edge off the outrage.

Here's the Rotten Tomatoes page for "Who Killed The Electric Car?", where it enjoys an 88% score (93% among top critics).

Trace the Source of Junk Mail (and Spam)

2009-12-27T16:22:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how you got signed up for all the junk mail you receive? I'm talking about old fashioned junk mail delivered by the postal service. Oftentimes, it's those magazine subscriptions and other services you voluntarily sign up for. They don't tell you they're going to sell your name and address to bulk mail services (or perhaps they tell you in the fifteen pages of unreadable legalese you have to accept in order to finalize a transaction). In addition to the annoyance of going through all the extra mail, delivering all that useless stuff is a real waste of paper and energy.

A few years ago my wife came up with a cute idea for tracking this stuff. Whenever you sign up for a new service, like a magazine subscription, in the customer name field, enter your real last name but a first name that indicates the company you're doing business with. For example, when I lived in the New York area, my New York Times subscription was under the name "Nytimes Cohen". Yesterday I received a piece of junk mail addressed to "Atlantic Cohen", which tells me The Atlantic magazine sold me out.

I've extended this idea into the email/spam realm. We have a family domain (mkcohen.com), which I use for my email address. I have setup a rule which forwards "marc at mkcohen.com" to my current email account. This way I have one email address for my entire life. If I change my email provider, I simply adjust my forwarding rule. Here's the tie-in with spam detection: I also have a default routing rule which says "anything at mkcohen.com" should be routed to my main email account. So when I sign up for a new web service, I use a name that reflects the business providing the service. For example, my facebook account is setup with email address "facebook at mkcohen.com". It's the same trick, applied to the email address instead of the name.

Neither of these tricks will stop the initial flow of junk mail but they can give you some insight into the source of the problem. And if it bothers you enough, you'll know who to contact in order to put a stop to it.

Five Myths of Health Care Reform

2009-12-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

[cross-posted at DailyKos]

I'm seeing a lot of blog articles trying to spread blame for the prematurely declared failure of health care reform. People like to point their finger at a particular person or group because it gives them an outlet for their rage. But our failure to pass comprehensive health care reform is not the fault of any one individual or group; it's due to this simple fact: We live in a sharply divided country (much more closely divided than one might think given the current composition of Congress), and the depth of that division is manifested in the incredibly close fight we are seeing over the health care debate. In this article I will present what I consider to be five myths about the fight for health care reform.

Myth #1 - We have a supermajority in the Senate.

On many of the progressive issues we care about most, Joe LIEberman is about as Democratic as Dick Cheney. So we're really stuck at 59. Moreover, we have a handful of "centrist Democrats" who simply do not share our progressive agenda. On any given issue, there are several Dems who will not side with the majority. So that takes us down from 59 to the mid-fifties. Sure, there are going to be some slam dunks where we'll get the payoff from that supermajority but for the thorny problems, we've really got 50-something senators on our side.

Myth #2 - Obama has not provided sufficient leadership.

Remember that Obama does not write the laws. It's up to Congress to get this bill passed. The president is like a coach and the senators and representatives are the players on the field. Given that fact, it seems to me the President has shown pretty decent leadership...he addressed the nation on this issue specifically and told us, and Congress, his criteria for success. In the same speech, he sketched, in broad terms, his outline of a detailed reform plan. On numerous occasions he's met with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to try to smooth roadblocks and keep things moving forward.

Myth #3 - If only Harry Reid had a backbone we would get what we want.

I'm not a fan of Harry Reid but, I have to say, he has impressed me lately. Insisting on including a public option in this bill when it seemed clear that doing so would sacrifice nabbing 60 votes was a bold gambit and one that showed real leadership. I think he's doing the best he can to get something valuable for all of us out of this process but the filibuster proof numbers are simply not there without some major compromises.

Myth #4 - Democrats are dithering, two-faced, spineless losers who can't get their act together.

I believe there are good and bad elected officials on both sides of the aisle. I happen to believe in the agenda of the folks on the left but our opponents are not all stupid or evil. They just see things differently. But one thing I like about our side is we are more diverse in every way, and that includes our range of thought on various issues. So, with more diversity of opinions on our side, it's harder to get all of our elected officials to vote the same way. With a few notable exceptions, the Repubs seem to march more in lock-step. This diversity of thought is both a strength and a weakness. At the moment, it really sucks. :)

Myth #5 - We will send the Dems a valuable lesson by not voting in the next election.

No you won't. You'll just make it harder for us to move our country forward. Change happens incrementally. And it can also be reversed. This health care bill will undoubtedly be insufficient and unsatisfying in many ways to many people, but if it passes it will be the first time in my life that Congress actually did something to improve our broken system. And if you don't give up, we'll have additional chances in 2010 and 2012 to advance our majority even further, maybe to the point of having a *real* supermajority. OR...you can stay home and hand the leadership of our country back to the likes of Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. It's your choice.

My Encounter With A Bona-Fide Wingnut

2009-12-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

[Cross-posted here: Daily Kos]

As Shakespeare once wrote "Facebook maketh for strange bedfellows". OK, he probably didn't say that, but I'm sure he thought it. Anyway, I have a friend who posted a facebook update bemoaning a new "war tax" proposal. My reaction to the latter caught the attention (and the ire) of my friend's ultra-wingnut buddy. Below the fold is my annotated transcript of the ensuing bizarre conversation, which would be funny if it weren't so scary.
My friend, whom I'll call "Indy" due to his political non-affiliation, started the conversation with this facebook post:

Indy: What's on my mind? Yet another tax being imposed on Americans, that's what!
Rep. McCollum co-sponsors war tax

My immediate reaction was here's a guy who is a) gainfully employed, b) makes a very comfortable living and c) has top notch health insurance and his biggest problem is that the Government *might* take an additional 1% of his pay. I responded thusly...

Me: What's on my mind? You and I are in the top 1% of the wealthiest people on earth. How incredibly fortunate we are. See Global Rich List.

Hint, hint, stop whining. I think he got my point (sorta) but he doesn't really like thinking of himself as rich...

Indy: I agree we're very fortunate. However, I'm not so sure I believe those statistics, as I surely don't feel like I'm in the top 1% of the wealthiest people on earth.

I pushed a little harder...

Me: The glass is half empty or half full. You can focus on the fact that you have good health insurance, a high paying job, lots of marketable skills that will leave you in good stead if you ever lose your job, and you live in a country where you have freedom, opportunities and a standard of living unmatched anywhere in the world...OR...you can focus on how overtaxed we are.

It was at this point that my friend's buddy, whom I'll call "Wingnut", jumped into the fray with this barrage of BS...

Wingnut: I think we do need to focus on how overtaxed we are, because our government is slowly chipping away at the freedom we have. It seems like the current administration is hellbent on creating an entitlement society, and with each passing tax increase, we have our freedom decreased. Ben Franklin said it best: "The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either."

As far as good health insurance goes, you can say goodbye to that when healthcare is rationed, and if you look at the job market, the constant barage of governmental regulation and taxation is forcing companies to do more with less, which will inevitably shift jobs overseas.

Being a half full kind of person is all well and good, but you can't look past what is happening in this country. If you do, freedom and liberty will disappear right before your eyes, and you'll wonder what happened.

Wow. Where do I start? After the ~~Bush~~ Cheney administration, do you really want to have a conversation about not trading freedom for security? "As far as health insurance goes"...was I talking about health insurance?

How do you argue with someone like this. I could go in a thousand directions but I decided to focus on this comment: "our government is slowly chipping away at the freedom we have". Compared to the rest of his mini-rant, it's fairly clear so I decided to challenge that statement. I started with a little dig of my own at the previous administration...

Me: The current administration is picking up the pieces of the mess left behind by the worst administration in US history. You state that the government is chipping away at your freedoms. What specific freedoms have you lost since Obama was elected?

This threw him into overdrive...

Wingnut: Bush's was the worst administration in history? That is just utter liberal nonsense. You want to talk worst, you need look no further than Jimmy Carter. What you are getting with Obama is Carter 2.0. In regards to our freedoms, you just don't get it. It is a slow chipping away of freedom that comes over time. Read Saul Alinsky's book, Rules For Radicals. It is Obama's bible. There is not going to be any point in continuing this line of converstation. I cannot argue with brainwashing.

Apparently I just don't get it. Lucky for me, I have this guy to straighten me out. By the way, is "liberal nonsense" somehow different from other forms of nonsense? The Carter comments are amusing - it's like he's saying "I know Bush sucked but your guy was worse!". Then I hear his refrain again "It is a slow chipping away of freedom that comes over time". And he's already giving up because I'm too brainwashed. Could he be throwing in the towel so soon because he has no chance of answering my question and he knows it? I persisted...

Me: I don't mind the name calling. I am a liberal and proud of it. However, I noticed you didn't answer my question - can you name one specific freedom you've lost since Obama was elected?

He responds with a big bowl of crazy...

Wingnut: Liberalism is brainwashing plain and simple.

Well, for starters, creating unconstitutional czars takes away from my freedom. Reviving the so-called "fairness doctrine" is another, and let us not forget the organization that Obama used to work for, ACORN, disenfranchising the American people by stealing elections (that dope Al Franken).

Obama sold the masses of sheep a bill of goods, promising hope and change. Socialism is not the kind of change those voters counted on, and each time Obama bows to another foreign leader, he eats away at the very heart of what made this country great. I find him utterly sickening, as do millions of us out here in America.

Unconsitutional czars? Obama used to work for Acorn? Socialism? This guy's amazing - he hit all the Fox News cliches in two paragraphs, even managing to squeeze in something about bowing in Japan. And he's calling me brainwashed. :) Love the part about "as do millions of us out here in America". Like where do you think I'm writing from? It smacks of Palin's "real Americans" comment. Not fully satisfied, he unburdens himself with this gem...

Wingnut: The thing I haven't been able to figure out about liberals is if they are fully aware of the destruction they cause, or if they are just unaware of it. I hope it's the latter...

Isn't it nice the way he gives us the benefit of the doubt? At this point, an unknown confusenick pipes in with this perplexing remark:

Confused Guy: Worst president in my lifetime...Carter, next likely candidate, Obama. Twice in my lifetime, before a presidential election, I told all my friends that if elected these candidates would be abysmal: Carter, Obama. I'm a democrat.

Yeah, right, you're a Democrat and I'm Amelia Earhart. With Democrats like you, who needs Republicans? But I digress. Once again, I try to focus on one simple question...

Me: I think you do yourself a disservice when you assume everyone who disagrees with you is dumb, evil, or brainwashed. BTW, I am still waiting for an answer - what *specific* freedoms have you personally had taken away from you by the Obama "regime"?

The tirade continues...

Wingnut: I listed 3.

Besides, my goal is to stop Obama from destroying my freedom BEFORE he does it, not after it's too late. Answers like this are not always simple and concrete. This is the difficult thing about arguing with liberals.

Confused Guy: I empathize with you as well. I know plenty of decent, hard working democrats who are disturbed by the takeover of your party by the radical leftists.

Yes, I am passionate about this, but it is not merely politics to me. This is a struggle against tyrrany, and it is a battle for our way of life, and I am not going to sit on the sidelines and watch Obama, Pelosi, and Reid trample all over our Constitution. I can't let that happen to my children.

Now if you'll excuse me, but this capitalist has to get ready for work. There are millions of people and politicians out there who think they are entitled to a portion of my earnings, and I cannot let them down.

Love the "Besides, my goal is to stop Obama from destroying my freedom BEFORE...". Also love "answers like this are not always simple and concrete". In other words, OK, he hasn't taken away ANY of my freedoms so far but I'M SURE HE'S ABOUT TO ANY DAY NOW! Here's me again, trying to keep calm and giving it one more try...

Me: you're right, you "listed three" right wing talking points but you never answered my question. In response to a request for one *specific* freedom Obama has taken away from you, you cited:

1. unnamed czars who took away unnamed freedoms
2. ACORN (?!)
3. the fairness doctrine

Yup, that's a list of three things, all right. :) But it has nothing to do with my question.

I'll help you out here - the answer is "none". There are no specific freedoms you can cite which Pres. Obama took away from you and I think you know it. But that answer is very unsatisfying because it undermines the right wings caricature of Obama as a stealth socialist intent on ruining the world as we know it.

You've cited standard right wing talking points like "chipping away at our freedoms", "struggle against tyranny" and "trampling on our constitution" but when challenged to cite an example you can't name a single one. So who's brainwashed? :)

Again I get no answer but something akin to Bluto's rousing call to action at the climax of Animal House...

Wingnut: I will agree that both sides use talking points, and I realize that I am never going to convince you that the liberal philospohy is absolutely destructive to our nation. The only thing I can do is cancel out your vote, and do my damndest to talk to as many people as I can , and work to cancel out as many liberal votes as possible. You can count on me doing that for as long as it takes.

If Obama has done one successful thing in his 11 months, it has been to awaken the quiet masses of Americans who are sick of big government, sick of massive spending, and sick of our leader going around the world apologizing for our way of life. Obama's election will eventually lead to the left's downfall, and for that, I am truly grateful.

Can you hear the John Phillip Sousa music playing in the background? "When the tough get going...uh...". I made one final comment...

Me: Let me translate your response into plain english:

"I can't cite a single concrete freedom that Obama has taken away from me but I still hate him because of...all those other talking points". :) Let's agree to disagree. I'm fine with you having different opinions and even though I don't think you can justify some of your statements, I respect your right to disagree with me and to reach different conclusions.

And it's great that you're going to work hard to support your views but I'll be working just as hard to support mine. :)

And then I heard no more. Perhaps he is back in front of the TV, reloading his impressive stockpile of right wing talking points.

Why Are Jews Democrats?

2009-11-29T12:03:00.001-08:00

It's a stereotype but one that happens to be true - Jews in America disproportionately support the Democratic party. In 2008, despite concerns about whether the huge bloc of elderly Jewish voters in Florida would vote for an African American candidate (see Sarah Silverman's hilarious Great Schlep video), Barack Obama won 75% of the Jewish vote.

Jews represent a mere 2% of the US population. Consequently, of the 535 members of Congress, it would be reasonable to expect roughly 10 Jewish congresspeople. Amazingly, there are 44 Jewish members of Congress (13 Senators and 31 Representatives). Anyone care to guess how many of those 44 members are Republican? Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is the sole attendee at the annual Republican Hanukkah party.

But why are Jews so overwhelmingly blue? Why isn't the Jewish population split as evenly as the rest of our deeply divided nation? My theory is education.

As an ethnic group, Jews are one of the best educated in America. Educated people ask hard questions and see through simple explanations. Educated people realize that we are all connected - we all succeed when everyone succeeds. Educated people are more inclined to cast their votes on the basis of substance and policy, rather than personality and charm. Educated people realize that our government can be a force for positive change in our lives.

In short, education is the Republican Party's worst enemy because it's hard to trick educated people into voting against their self-interest. That's why I think so many Jews are Democrats.

While we're on the subject of Jewish demographics, everyone knows that New York has the largest Jewish population in the US (as a percentage of total population) but can you guess which five US states have the next highest percentages?

Answer:

New Jersey (5.5%)
Massachusetts (4.3%)
Maryland (4.2%)
Florida (3.7%)
California (3.3%)

Orange You Glad You Don't Dress Like Me?

2009-11-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

My wife once called me a fashion nightmare and I can't dispute that assessment, however, I think I've recently raised (or lowered?) the bar to a new height. I'm on a three week business trip to England and I forgot to pack my nice, business casual coat. It's a bit chilly so I'm stuck wearing my radiant bright orange windbreaker to work every day. As if that wasn't bad enough, I bring my lunch to work in little plastic bags I've collected from trips to the local supermarket. Those bags are, of course...bright orange.

So every day I tromp off to work in my bright orange jacket carrying my neon orange lunch bag. Without further ado, here's a picture of me in full regalia. You might want to shade your eyes before viewing this photo...

As you can see, I'm doing my best to show the Brits my uniquely American sense of style. I only hope they don't deport me before I finish my work here.

Traitor Joe: Obama's Chess Move With Lieberman

2009-10-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

[cross posted at dailykos]
Remember when everyone was clamoring for Joe Lieberman's head? After doing everything in his power to defeat Obama, including firing up the crowd at the Republican (!) National Convention, a lot of people wanted Senator Joe stripped of his prize Homeland Security Chairmanship, or worse. As you can see here, I was part of the "Kick Joe to the Curb" campaign myself.

You may also recall that one big reason why Lieberman was shown compassion, rather than the door, was because Obama publicly stated his recommendation to cut Joe some slack. At the time, I was disappointed in this response but here we are nearly a year later and we could really use Joe's vote to pass health care reform. I know what you're thinking: What good did leniency do us? He's up to the same old tricks again, threatening to support a filibuster with his fellow Republicans. But here's why things are different this time around...

Because we didn't force Joe out of his leadership role, we still have leverage. It may not seem like much, but imagine what kind of bargaining position we'd be in if last November we had exiled Lieberman to the Senatorial equivalent of Siberia? Instead, today Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic Caucus still have control over something Lieberman wants to keep. If push comes to shove, Reid can say "stand with us or kiss your chairmanship (and any future leadership role in a Democratically controlled Senate) goodbye, once and for all".

Let's face it - Lieberman is a stealth Republican. He may not care whether the Dems expel him, but I think we're talking about a guy with some serious ego who's not going to be happy spending the rest of his term with the standing of a Congressional intern. And exiling him from the Dem caucus would pretty much force him to officially become a Republican. As Rachel Maddow once observed, how do you think Lieberman will fare running for re-election as a Republican? In New England. :)

Win or lose, this situation suggests to me the wisdom of Obama's decision last November. He realized he was going to need Lieberman's vote on an important issue and when that time came, he'd need all the leverage he could get. He showed us that strategic planning beats retribution and revenge. Once again, Obama has shown himself to be not just a great politician, but a consummate chess player. Like all good chess players, he thinks several moves ahead and makes sure every move has a purpose.

Movie Review: "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?"

2009-10-25T17:08:00.001-07:00

I'm a sucker for offbeat, quirky documentaries. My favorites have a little dose of crazy - either in the characters or the story or both. For me, the craziness is what makes it human and compelling.

The story in "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?" is so strange you'll have a hard time believing it's true - an elderly female truck driver (you read that right) of very modest means buys a cheap painting in a thrift store and discovers, to her amazement, that it appears to be an authentic Jackson Pollock (the drippy guy) painting worth several million dollars. And that's just the beginning.

In order to certify a master work of art (and thereby sell it for big money), you need experts to give their stamp of approval. This quest for authentication leads to an epic culture clash: brash, street smart and determined trucker lady vs. erudite, snobby and skeptical art critic. Throw a world renowned forensic scientist and a felonious art promoter into the mix and you're in for quite a trip.

I won't reveal any further details but this film is a gem - in a relaxed way it explores class boundaries, the battle between science and art and the inner workings of the art world, all told through the eyes of some wonderfully eccentric characters.

Here's a link to the movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

Mormon Church - Epic Hypocrisy In Their Own Words

2009-10-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

[Cross-posted on dailykos]

This morning I read Spud1's diary about how the Mormon church is up to their usual tricks (this time in Maine) of backing anti-gay rights groups while publicly distancing themselves from such contributions. I got curious about something: given their obvious aversion to publicity in this area, I wondered how the Mormon Church itself portrays its views on gay rights. So instead of consulting an anti-Mormon web site, I went straight to the source, the official LDS web site to see what they have to say about their position gay rights. Here's what I found...

The first thing you'll notice is that (surprise!) it's not easy to find any material on this site about gay rights, gay marriage, etc. I looked under the "Home and Family" and "Marriage, Family and Individual Counseling" subject areas but found no relevant content. Next I tried a site search on the term "gay" and found a short article titled "Homosexuality" in their alphabetical index of "Gospel Topics". So, without further ado, here's an annotated copy of the Mormon Church's official policy on homosexuality:

People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians.

The "those who consider themselves" clause is a way of not so subtly denying the existence and identity of some 5-10% of our population.

My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God.

Which is why they want to deny them the same basic rights everyone else enjoys.

They may have certain inclinations which are powerful and which may be difficult to control. Most people have inclinations of one kind or another at various times.

Yup, they do have certain inclinations. The inclination to live their lives they way they choose free of harassment and discrimination. The inclination to fall in love and marry the person of their choosing. The inclination to have a family of their own. You can call these inclinations but I call them basic human rights.

If they do not act upon these inclinations, then they can go forward as do all other members of the Church. If they violate the law of chastity and the moral standards of the Church, then they are subject to the discipline of the Church, just as others are" (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 71).

In other words, "it's our way or the highway". I would actually have much less of a problem with them if that was their real position. If they, as a private group, choose to discourage or disallow free choice amongst their own members, I wouldn't agree with it but that's their choice. But the truth is that by actively supporting anti-gay groups and legislation they go way beyond the position stated above - they've set out to curtail the rights of free people everywhere, all around this country, whether they belong to the Mormon Church or not.

I happen to be a straight guy but I've been around long enough to know that when one group's rights are denied, we all suffer. It's time to stand up not just for gay people but for people everywhere and show groups like the Mormon Church that they cannot say one thing publicly and then privately try to force their religious views on all Americans. If you agree, whether you're straight or gay, take a stand. Make your voice heard. Let people know how you feel. Progress is made when enough people care strongly enough to do something about it.

I Know What Happens To You When You Die

2009-10-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Now that I've got your attention, let me just say that my title is perhaps just slightly overstated. I probably should have called this article "I'm Pretty Sure I Know What Happens To You When You Die" but that doesn't have the same ring, does it? Anyway, I've been thinking about this question for a long time and I've finally found the answer (actually I came upon the answer a long time ago but I was too lazy to write it up).

Before I pull back the curtain on this ancient conundrum, let me just say that the answer is not warm and fuzzy. So if you're not ok with a little metaphysical tough love then now would be a great time to move on to a more uplifting blog.

Ok, for those of you still reading (hi Mom!), sit back, make yourself comfortable and prepare for some enlightenment. So...what happens to you when you die is...wait for it...

Nothing. That's right, a whole lot of nothing. You don't go to heaven. You don't go to hell. You don't get to meet god (she's way too busy for the likes of you). You don't even get to meet St. Peter. You're not reunited with your deceased loved ones (although I admit that's a nice thought). And you don't get to frolic with angels. You go into a profound state of non-existence.

How do I know this? Because I've been there, man. I don't mean I've been dead. I mean I was once before in a state of non-existence. So were you. Remember? Before you were born, you didn't exist. For a really long time. Six billions years of non-existence - those were some boring times, weren't they?

No one has any memories from before they were born. That's because your memory is a product of the rich configuration of neurons you've spent your whole life assembling in that hunk of cells called your brain. Without those neurons and some associated biochemical goo, you'd have no memories and there really would be no you. That's why you have a hard time recalling anything before your birthday.

So given what I think of as me came into existence on April 27, 1960 (or thereabouts), when the hunk of brain cells in my very hard head run out of oxygen and die, all those memories and personality taints - everything that makes me me, will die with the rest of my body, at which point I will return to a state of non-existence. All those other theories, which sound so nice and serene, are really just adult fairy tales, designed to make us feel like our lives have some sort of cosmic meaning and that we're so special that we must somehow live on after our bodies have stopped working.

Some people might say: "Wait a minute, if my life doesn't have some sort of cosmic significance, why should I bother being a good person? Why not just do all those filthy things I think about doing every 7.4 seconds?". And the answer couldn't be more simple: when you do "the right thing", when you help other people, when you work hard, you get a good feeling. It's called fulfillment. You don't need someone to give your life meaning by telling you a fairy tale about some reward at the end of the rainbow. Your life has as much meaning as you choose to give it.

So work hard, have fun, be a good person, help other people, try not to be too selfish and the result is you'll probably live a happy and fulfilling life. And then you'll die. That's just the way it goes. In the meantime, enjoy your state of existence while it lasts. Trust me, the second time through non-existence is even longer than the first. :)

I have a Scream

2009-10-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Those of you who followed the 2004 Presidential campaign will remember the moment when Howard Dean's candidacy was damaged by this over the top display of exuberance:

I can think of no event, before or since, that more aptly demonstrated the mediocrity of our mainstream media, which played the clip incessantly and turned the narrative that this was Dean's downfall into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dean was a pretty formidable candidate and more compelling, in my opinion, than John Kerry, who lost by a very small margin. Were it not for an ill-timed scream and the ensuing media attention, we might have had a Democratic president in 2004.

Fast forward to a few days ago - I was cleaning up some old files on my computer and I stumbled across an audio recording I had made in January of 2004 and all but forgotten about. Without further ado, here is five year old Maya's impression of that fateful moment in American politics.

Reflections on Marriage Equality (w/ video)

2009-10-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently discussing the quest for marriage equality in the US with a buddy of mine, who happens to come from Pennsylvania (the significance of which will become apparent below). My friend asked "why do gay people need to be married? With many states recognizing civil unions and many companies providing domestic partnership benefits, don't they already have the equivalent of marriage?".

Here's how I answered:

How would you feel if the government said you can't get married because you're from Pennsylvania? We'll let you do something that's kind of like being married (but isn't really) and it has most of the rights and privileges of marriage (but not entirely) and when your kids ask why you're not married you'll have to tell them it's because you're from Pennsylvania and your kids will go "huh?".

The point being it's easy to think of civil unions as being "good enough" when you're not one of the people being told who you can or can't marry.

This lighthearted video from Ireland makes the point eloquently:

Those of you living outside of Washington state may not know about our Referendum 71 - it asks voters to reaffirm or deny various domestic partnership rights already approved by our state legislature. Similar to California's infamous Proposition 6, it's an attempt to circumvent the established law by taking the question directly to voters. I just filled in my WA state ballot, and I voted "Approved" to affirm our state domestic partnership laws . If you live in WA state, I hope you do the same thing.

If Referendum 71 passes, I'll be happy. But it will be just one more step toward the real goal, which is a time when civil unions are unnecessary, when everyone in America enjoys the right to marry the person they love. I'm not sure when that will happen but I think it's coming soon. As Barack Obama once said: "Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change." If you agree with me, please make your voice heard.

Book Review: "The Informant: A True Story" by Kurt Eichenwald

2009-10-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Oftentimes, when I start a new book my initial enthusiasm gets me through the first chapter or two. Then comes the moment of truth. If the author doesn't succeed in capturing my pathetically short attention span, I find myself checking my progress every few pages. It's the sound of my bored brain repeatedly asking myself "Are we there yet?". But every once in a while I pick up a book which gives me the opposite feeling - instead of wondering when I'll be done, I want it to last forever. "The Informant: A True Story" is a long book - over 500 pages, but I never once noticed what page I was on. It's the kind of book you'll stay up all night to finish.

The story revolves around a covert FBI investigation into a massive global price fixing scheme involving a number of companies, chief among which is a highly profitable and very powerful company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The FBI is lucky to have on their side Mark Whitacre, a senior Vice President at ADM who turns government witness against his employer. Whitacre is the most highly placed cooperating witness in the history of undercover FBI investigations. The ensuing twists and turns might seem too far fetched if they weren't all true. Eichenwald foreshadows the developments thusly:

By the night of the raids in June 1995, the government had amassed an arsenal of evidence unprecedented in a white-collar case. Despite the secrecy of the criminals, despite their ability to spend millions of dollars on a defense, despite the political influence they could bring to bear, the possibility that they could beat back the prosecution seemed ludicrous. They were trapped - trapped by their own words and images, forever captured on miles of magnetized plastic ribbon. The government agents did not know whether Whitacre would emerge as a hero or an unemployed martyr, but they felt sure of their investigation. That night, they could hardly be blamed for believing that this case was all but over.

But it would be their last night of confidence and celebration for years to come. For despite all of the evidence the agents had collected, critical information had escaped them. Before dawn broke, they would sense that something had gone terribly awry. Years later, they would understand that the evening had not signaled the end of the case, but rather the beginning of events that eventually touched the highest reaches of government and industry around the world, events that no one could have imagined.

For on that night in the summer of 1995, almost nothing was what it appeared to be.

I heard about the recent film based on this book (which I haven't seen yet), thought the story sounded intriguing and noticed the book was extremely well reviewed on Amazon. "The Informant: A True Story" did not disappoint - it's a thrilling, informative and well researched book. But most of all, it's a fun book you won't be able to put down. And when you're done, I think you'll agree that it proves the old adage, once again: Truth really is stranger than fiction.

"Nous Sommes Tous Américains"

2009-10-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

On September 12, 2001, the day after the most egregious terrorist attack in US history, the French newspaper Le Monde published a front page editorial under the headline "Nous Somme Tous Americains" ("We Are All Americans"). The message was poignant - the rest of the world stood by our side in condemning and opposing the evil that was visited upon our nation. But the article concluded with a prophetic warning:

Beyond their obvious murderous madness, these latest attacks nonetheless follow a certain logic. Obviously it is a barbarous logic, marked by a new nihilism that is repugnant to the great majority of those who believe in Islam, which, as a religion, does not condone suicide any more than Christianity does, and certainly not suicide coupled with the massacre of innocent people. But it is a political logic, which, by going to extremes, seeks to force Muslim opinion to “choose sides” against those who are currently designated as “the Great Satan.” By doing this, their objective might well be to spread and deepen an unprecedented crisis in the Arab world.
In the long term, this attitude is obviously suicidal, because it attracts lightning. And it might attract a bolt of lightning that does not discriminate. This situation requires our leaders to rise to the occasion. They must act so that the peoples whom these warmongers are seeking to win over and are counting on will not fall in step behind them in their suicidal logic. This we can say with some dread: Modern technology allows them to go even further. Madness, even under the pretext of despair, is never a force that can regenerate the world. That is why today we are all Americans.

We did not heed that warning. In a few short years we descended into a collective madness fueled by fear and arrogance. We stopped worrying about what our friends and allies thought and we stopped caring about some of the basic rights embedded in our Constitution.

But all that changed in 2008. It took great sacrifice in the form of millions of hours of volunteer work and millions of dollars in small donations. It took an army of people organizing and knocking on doors and making phone calls and talking with friends and registering voters and getting out the vote. And most of all, it took a candidate with a vision and a laser like focus. It took a man who could inspire enough of us to believe that, once again, we could be the people we were meant to be.

And now we're beginning to see the fruits of that labor: the speech in Cairo expressing our solidarity with the Muslim world, the re-engagement with the United Nations and our allies around the world, the troop reductions in Iraq, the strategic reduction of a missile defense program in Eastern Europe and its impact on our relationship with Russia. For the first time in nearly a decade, we are once again admired and respected around the world.

Many people feel that the Nobel Prize awarded to our President this week is premature, that in his short time in office he has yet to prove his worthiness. But to me this award is an affirmation of the power of our democracy - it's a recognition that one of the most powerful nations on earth has drastically changed it's policies for the better. It is the rest of the world saying to us, once again, "We are all Americans". But this time around, we are humble, not arrogant. This time around our response is "We are all world citizens".

Google/Verizon Announcement Changes Everything

2009-10-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

With its amazing combination of features and vast array of low cost applications, the iPhone has been a game changer - it's been hugely profitable for Apple and has helped AT&T substantially expand its subscriber base. But due to an exclusivity agreement between the two companies, AT&T has been the only game in town for iPhone users. With a relatively quiet announcement from Google yesterday, the playing field for smart phones has shifted dramatically.

In 2008 google announced an open software platform, called Android, for use in smart phones like the iPhone. Android competes with Apple's iPhone software because it provides an operating system or software core for smart, location aware touch screen mobile applications. But Google's strategy also differs from Apple's in some important ways:

The iPhone software is "open" in the sense that developers are encouraged to create their own applications, but Android is more open in the sense that the platform itself is available for inspection and modification.

Whereas the iPhone software is tied to a particular piece of hardware (the iPhone :), Android is hardware independent and is therefore portable to any mobile device.

The Android platform is available to all phone manufacturers and all service providers.

Thus, it's easy to imagine a new generation of smart phones, provided by multiple service providers, all built on Android and competing purely on the basis of price, services, and applications.

At the end of 2008, I took a close look at Android but at the time there was only one phone available (the G-1) and it was available from only one carrier (T-Mobile). Yesterday's announcement changes all that - the largest US carrier, Verizon Wireless, announced plans to deliver two new Android phones by the end of this year. Sprint has also announced a new Android phone to be available October 11 and T-Mobile has had one for over a year.

That makes three of the four major US carriers (basically everyone but AT&T) that have now committed to making Android phones available on their networks. Verizon also one-upped Apple/AT&T by announcing willingness to support Google voice, which would allow users to make free calls via the internet, bypassing their cellular voice network:

Verizon signaled its commitment to opening up its network by pledging to support Google Voice, a program that allows users to route their calls to one Google number and also receive advanced phone features all for free. AT&T and Apple set off a government inquiry earlier this summer when the same app was rejected from the iPhone App Store.

Don't get me wrong - the iPhone is a once in a lifetime, killer product and it's not going away any time soon. The main problem with the iPhone is not technical - it's political in that it limits competition and flexibility. No one but Apple can see or modify the core software. No one but Apple can sell devices that run the iPhone software. And no one but AT&T can provide the voice and data services for the iPhone. The promise of Android is to knock down those barriers so that people can use the best software on any hardware with any carrier - isn't that how it should be?

I Need Structure

2009-09-22T11:43:00.001-07:00

So my wife and daughter have left me home alone for three days. Party time, right? Wrong. In addition to my day job, I now have to figure out how to feed the pets, clean the litter boxes, do the dishes, keep the house neat, administer pet meds, cook myself dinner, walk the dog three times a day...I have to actually do all the stuff my wife normally does. For three whole days!

But my wife is a very smart woman. She knows I'm in way over my head so here's what she did: she created a three day schedule, with little check boxes for every activity. 10am on Tuesday - time to walk Meiko, check! 7pm on Wednesday - time to clean the litter boxes, check! Not only have I not missed a single job yet, I'm actually enjoying this because here's the secret: I love checking stuff off lists. It doesn't really matter what's on the list.

Over the years, I've learned that seemingly reasonable requests like "Can you do X whenever X needs to be done?" don't seem to work for me. What I need is "Please do X every day at 7pm". Extra credit for "here's a list with checkboxes you can use to keep track of when you've done X". Let me be the first to admit that requiring this level of coddling is pathetic. Perhaps there's a biochemical explanation but the bottom line is: in order to do a job, I need some structure. And the more boring the job, the more structure I need.

Perhaps it's just me but I wonder if this is a common male trait. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts. Is this is a guy thing or a Marc thing?

My Brush with Head Trauma

2009-09-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Imagine you're 49 years old, very clumsy, accident prone and you've just discovered a newfangled, two piece skateboard (like this: http://bit.ly/4aUqlG).

Question: What's the stupidest thing you can possibly do?

Answer: Ride the thing down a hill without a helmet.

In case there was ever any doubt, I've now officially earned my Darwin Award.

Yesterday we were visiting some friends and both kids and parents were enjoying riding various forms of rolling equipment down their gently sloping driveway. Of course, we insisted the kids don protective helmets, as we always do, but for the adults it was a case of "do as I say, not as I do". You know where this is going, right?

I don't actually remember the events directly leading up to my fall but at some point both feet went out from under me, my body jerked violently backward and my head smashed hard on the driveway pavement. The next thing I remember is a) tremendous head pain, b) no feeling anywhere in my body and c) screaming at the top of my lungs. I don't remember consciously generating the screams, it was as if someone else was controlling my body and I was watching the whole scene.

I'm told I screamed three times and then suddenly stopped. I remember thinking how strange it was to feel completely disconnected from my body. Then I began to feel a tingling all over, just like when part of your arm or leg falls asleep. A short time later, all the feeling came back into my extremities. By that time, our friend, Richard, had called 911 while my wife was trying to assess my condition.

The paramedics arrived very quickly. They gave me a bunch of field neurological tests and took my vital signs. Because I was lucid, the paralysis was gone and my stats were ok, they were optimistic but suggested I take a ride to the local ER. I declined, partly because I didn't want to further traumatize my daughter. My wife was not quite so sanguine - she insisted on driving me to the ER near our house, where I spent the rest of my Sunday.

Five hours later, I learned that I had suffered a mild concussion but the results of a CAT scan and neck X-ray were normal so I was likely out of the woods. Apart from a very stiff neck and a feeling like I'd been hit in the head with a baseball bat, I seemed to be ok. And I'm feeling a little better today.

In conclusion, here are three things I've learned from this experience:

I can't take the same risks I used to take when I was 18. Not because I'm no longer up to the challenge (I never was :) but because I have a daughter and a wife who need me to stay healthy. As my wife noted while driving me home from the ER: "Your nine lives have officially run out".
I'm very fortunate to have good health insurance so that when something like this happens I can get it fully checked out and treated.
Helmets: not just for kids.

The World of More

2009-09-12T09:38:00.001-07:00

TV is a great thing, isn't it? Anyone who's babysat a toddler for more than four hours knows the life saving value of Television. And there's a great deal of high quality educational fare available for the little ones. I'm convinced my daughter learned to read early by watching Sesame Street and other shows. But as my daughter has grown into tweendom, the quality and range of educational TV shows has rapidly diminished. At the same time, her taste has turned a corner - "Jonas" and "Wizards of Waverly Place" are now in (way in), while "Arthur", "Reading Rainbow" and "Nova" are out. Seemingly overnight, my daughter has acquired an addiction to the televised equivalent of junk food.

It was with this thought in mind that I recently received a letter from my cable provider (Comcast) telling me that our "expanded basic" cable service, which we've had for the past five years, is being phased out and going all digital. What this means in practical terms is that if I want to continue receiving the channels my daughter craves most, I need to upgrade to "Digital Expanded Basic" service, which requires a new set top box for each TV and yet another remote control.

Here are some choice excerpts:

"We at Comcast are enhancing our network..." - and by "enhancing" they mean, of course, taking away our existing service.

"...exclusively in digital format starting on the date listed below, to bring Washington the World of More" - the World of More what?

"You'll also have access to over 10,000 On Demand titles..." - the real reason surfaces: it's the World of More Money for Comcast.

The letter goes on to say that if you don't take action soon, your existing service will disappear and, more urgently, you'll miss out on the World of More.

My wife and I had already been comtemplating scaling back on our TV service. We've reached the conclusion that, when it comes to television, what my daughter really needs is the World of Less. And, amazingly enough, the World of Less is less expensive than the World of More. So it's a win/win!

And, at no additional cost, we get a free subscription to the World of More Reading.

The Road to Alaska

2009-06-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my co-workers kindly threw me a little going away party (or a "leaving do" as the Brits call them). Below is the text of a poem I wrote to mark the occasion. Caveat: it's chock full of inside jokes and references (e.g. the name of the project is "Alaska").

The Road to Alaska

I took a trip to Alaska, one February day
But I didn’t have directions to help me find my way.
I checked into the Holiday Inn, from there to Voyager Place
Which sounds like a name for something that comes from outer space.

I spent my first morning there with a guy named Jason Beard
And when we finished talking, things were worse than I had feared.
Jason summarized the job, software geek to geek
Then he gave me a year of work to finish in one week.

“I'll have to think on that”, I said, “but let’s be very clear:
Usually a year of work takes me about...a year."
"But you don’t have a year", he said, his eyes all a-flicker,
"With our British bank holidays, we have to work much quicker".

So get to work and start a’ codin' and don’t stop till you're done.
And if you’re still here in June you might even see the sun.
So off I went to find a desk and chair to call my own.
Thano took some pity on me and offered me a phone.

An Irish guy named Jim stopped by, to help with IN-VIEW
He liked to debug Javascript and drink a beer or two.
He took me under his wing, and became my friend as well.
Since then I’ve moved on, but he’s still in IN-hell.

Simon helped me learn the ropes, with mediator lore.
But he had a knack for vanishing when things went wrong with core.
He’s always up for taking an hour break for tea
He’ll even answers questions while performing surgery.

My sometime desk mate Nigel taught new words to this here yank,
Sophisticated English terms, like “bugger me” and "wank".
But I got the last laugh on him, which is why today I’m all smiles,
‘cause when he wasn’t looking, I deleted all his files.

One day a big door opened, and Turkish people came
Ersan, Borga, Erdem, and some I still can’t name.
Serdar, Serkan, Deniz, Fatih and Dilek too,
Huzeyfe, Guvenc and Sumeyra, just to name a few.

It’s not easy coming here, they’ve traveled very far,
And one who shall remain unnamed, can’t seem to start a car.
These guys are fun to hang out with, and always on the go.
And they’re easier to understand than most of the Brits I know.

So now my trip is over, my adventure nearly done.
Now I’ll take a little time for playing in the sun.
I’m excited to see two girls I haven’t seen in quite a spell.
But I’m also a little sad to have to say farewell.

I never really made it to Alaska all the way,
I don’t know if we ever will, though I’m hopeful on this day.
With Paul and Ian at the helm, I think we’re on our way,
But remember: the game’s not over till we get the customer to pay!

Twenty Great Songs

2009-06-13T04:01:00.000-07:00

A friend recently made me a CD with a sampling of her favorite songs. In attempting to reciprocate, I faced the daunting task of distilling my favorite music into 20 or so tracks. I started by acknowledging there is no such thing as "best" in music or art, which is why I'm calling this list "Twenty Great Songs" and not "The Twenty Greatest Songs" (I'm pompous, but not that pompous).

So this morning I rummaged around my CD collection and iTunes, trying to come up with just the right blend of new and old, mainstream and indie, classic and cutting edge. Each artist is limited to one place on the list. Here's the result, in no particular order:

"Three County Highway", Indigo Girls, Despite Our Differences
"In the End", Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
"Crazy Mary", Pearl Jam, Sweet Relief
"Phantom Limb", The Shins, Wincing the Night Away
"Hurt", Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around
"Let's Get It Started", Black Eyed Peas, Let's Get it Started
"Karma Police", Radiohead, Amnesiac
"Hey Ya", Outcast, Speakerboxxx
"Old Pigweed", Mark Knopfler, The Ragpicker's Dream
"When You Were Young", The Killers, Sam's Town
"Stratford-on-Guy", Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
"Reelin In the Years", Steely Dan, Can't Buy a Thrill
"For the Widowers in Paradise", Sufjan Stevens, Greetings From Michigan
"Meanwhile, Rick James", Cake, Comfort Eagle
"Weightless", Nada Surf, Lucky
"When Your Mind's Made Up", Glen Hansard, "Once" Soundtrack
"Careful", Guster, Keep It Together
"Where to Now St. Peter", Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection
"Passing Afternoon", Iron & Wine, Our Endless Numbered Days
"Box of Rain", Grateful Dead, American Beauty

Scanning this list, I see that I'm a sucker for ballads and I have a decided preference for indie artists. Some readers may wonder where, in god's name, are the Beatles? All I can say in my defense is a) you try picking just one Beatles song, and b) if you ask me tomorrow, you'll probably get a completely different list.

Please feel free to add your favorite songs in the comment section below. Now I have go burn a disk or three...

The New iPhone 3G S - Apple does it again!

2009-06-08T14:34:00.001-07:00

So Apple announced their new iPhone 3G S today and it's killer. Here are a few highlights:

The built-in camera on my 3G really sucks. It has no zoom capability and no flash and the light compensation mechanism never seems to work right. So if you are at all serious about photography (and who doesn't want to take nice pictures?) then you still have to cart around a digital camera. Problem solved: the new iPhone 3G S includes a 3 megapixel camera (the 3G had a 2 MP camera) with auto-focus. And, it's also got...

VIDEO CAPTURE! 30 fps VGA resolution with audio. Not too shabby. This feature alone probably means you'll want to opt for the 16GB model. The 8GB 3G was workable but tight. If you do any video capture at all you're going to want lots of RAM.

Finally, we get cut, copy and paste so we can move data from one app to another. This is actually an OS feature, not new hardware so iPhone 3G folks like me can take advantage of this when Apple releases the new OS later this Summer.

Landscape mode for all apps. This may not sound like a big deal but it's nice for people (like me) who struggle with the tiny "soft" keyboard because the keys are bigger in landscape mode.

Mail search. Yup, you can finally search your email folders, just like you can on gmail.

New navigation app with turn-by-turn directions. The 3G is a decent GPS navigator but it lacks spoken directions ("turn left in .2 miles"). With this feature, the 3G S is a full blown navigator. Also, there is a new built-in compass, so you can always tell which in which direction you're heading.

Speed - Apple claims the new device is 2X faster than the 3G.

Longer battery life - 30% improvement over the 3G, another pet peeve of mine as my 3G requires a daily recharge.

Price - same as the former price for the 3G ($199 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB). The 8GB 3G phone is now available for only $99.

In the words of the always insightful Junie B. Jones, "WOWIE WOW WOW!". The 3G S goes on sale June 19th. Just in time for Father's Day. :)

Answer to "How many of the world's ten largest countries can you name?""

2009-06-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

As promised yesterday, here's the list of the world's ten largest countries in population order, along with leaders' names:

Rank	Country	Population	Last Updated	% of World Population	Leader
1	China	1,338,156,900	5/10/09	19.87%	Hu Jintao
2	India	1,164,200,000	6/7/09	17.16%	Pratibha Patil
3	United States	306,573,000	6/7/09	4.52%	Barack Obama
4	Indonesia	230,330,000	6/1/09	3.42%	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
5	Brazil	191,401,196	6/7/09	2.81%	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
6	Pakistan	166,579,500	6/6/09	2.47%	Asif Ali Zardari
7	Bangladesh	162,221,000		2.41%	Zillur Rahman
8	Nigeria	154,729,000		2.3%	Umaru Musa Yar'Adua
9	Russia	141,814,578	6/6/09	2.11%	Dmitry Medvedev
10	Japan	127,630,000	2/1/09	1.9%	Taro Aso

Nearly 40% of the world's population (4 out of every 10 people on Earth) live in China or India. How many countries did you name? I was surprised that some countries I expected to be in the top ten are actually not even close. If you'd like to see a more complete list, check out this article on wikipedia, which is the source for the table above.

How many of the world's ten largest countries can you name?

2009-06-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working in a very diverse organization in England. Every day I get to interact with nice people from India, Turkey, England (of course), France, Ireland, Russia, Serbia, and many other places. Occasionally, I even encounter the odd American (and I do mean odd). Business meetings are a bit like the "It's a Small World, After All" ride at Disneyland. But spending time in an environment like this makes me realize how little I know about the rest of the world.

All my friends from Turkey know the name Barack Obama (who doesn't?) but how many of my American friends can name the President of Turkey? ...crickets chirping... I didn't know the name either. But not to worry, loyal readers, here at Marc's Space, where Marc does the work for you, I will reveal that name in a moment but first, I'd like you to take a little quiz...

Go grab a piece of paper and a pen and jot down what you would guess to be the names of the world's ten largest countries (by population). If you know any of the leaders' names, jot those down too. Go ahead, I'll wait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Gül.

My Mystery Neighbor

2009-06-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

This month I'm staying in a flat (that's an apartment for you yanks) in the upper crusty town of Windsor. I'm quite pleased to be living less than a mile from Her Royal Highness the Queen, although for some reason she hasn't invited me over yet. Not to worry, today a co-worker informed me that, in addition to my royal neighbor, there's another very famous celebrity living a mere 3.5 miles from my front door.

Here's a satellite image of the estate in question:

http://tinyurl.com/kw2ryq

Can you guess the name of my famous neighbor? The first one to correctly identify my mystery neighbor in the comments below gets a free subscription to my blog, which is worth, exactly...nothing.

I can't wait for the next block party.

Learning to Speak English - The Seven Strangest British Sayings

2009-05-30T00:58:00.001-07:00

You've probably heard the famous George Bernard Shaw quote about America and Britain being "two nations divided by a common language". Everyone knows the common terminology differences like trunk/boot, elevator/lift, truck/lorry, etc. But after working in the UK for four months, I've collected some that you probably haven't heard - sayings that are commonplace over here but sound genuinely bizarre to my unrefined American ears.

So, without further ado, here's my list of the seven strangest things I've actually heard people say while living in England:

cock-a-hoop - overjoyed, ecstatic, as in "She's all cock-a-hoop about that new car".
faff - fool around, waste time, as in "Stop your faffing about!".
Bob's Your Uncle - there you go, there you have it, as in "Take exit 4, turn left and Bob's Your Uncle!"
donkey's years - a long time, as in "I haven't played cricket in donkey's years"
having kittens - feeling nervous or concerned
trundle - to ride a bicycle
teaching your granny to suck eggs - telling you something you already know

In the interest of cultural exchange, feel free to suggest your favorite Britism (or Americanism) in the blog comments below. But enough faffing about - I'm all cock-a-hoop over today's weather and it's been donkey's years since I've had a trundle. Cheerio!

The Hand on My Arm

2009-05-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Maya, is growing up too quickly. At some point the little girl who used to love to jump into my arms turned into a sophisticated pre-teen with an aversion to displays of affection, especially toward her father. That’s why the hand on my arm took me by surprise.

It was one of those perfect spring days in Seattle: 70 degrees, sunny and breezy. Maya and I rode the log flume at Seattle Center and played some carnival games. As we walked around the fair grounds together, I felt the little hand on my arm and a brilliant day got even better.

The next day, Maya and I walked to the supermarket together and there it was again. Maya knew I was about to leave on a business trip so I imagine that might have had something to do with it. But whatever the reason, once again I felt the indescribable joy of that soft tug on my sleeve. It says to me: “I’m still your little girl”.

As we walked along, I thought about how my father probably felt the same way about me when I was ten and how quickly life passes us by. Someday, that hand will again be on my arm but for a different reason. It will say to me, “Don’t worry Dad, I’ll take care of you”.

Peeance Freeance

2009-05-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

Dear loyal readers, or should I say loyal reader (Hi Mom!),

Let me begin by apologizing for the long delay in posting to this blog. I've been a little busy since my last post in (ahem) January. Or, to be perfectly honest, I've been a little lazy since then. At any rate, sometimes you stumble onto something so beautiful or so terrible that you just have to share it with the rest of the world and that's exactly why I'm getting back to work here.

So I'm visiting the British Library in London and there's this wonderful computer based exhibition on historical audio clips. They've got clips of all sorts of famous figures in history, from all around the world. I notice there's a little section on famous American political icons, featuring audio from the likes of FDR, JFK and Harry Truman. Oh, and I notice they've got a clip of George W. Bush. I can't resist clicking that one, wondering what he could have possibly said in his eight years of incoherence, which would have been worth capturing in this august collection. And what I hear is...

The "Peeance Freeance" speech set to a kind of rap/vocal backing. I thought I had heard all the famous Bushisms by now but this one was new to me. To experience the full joy of this gaffe, check out this youtube video (the music is by the George W. Bush Singers from their CD "Songs in the Key of W"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QnCZRlizMo

So the curators of the British Library decided the most noteworthy audio clip representing our last president was a blunder set to music. How appropriate.

How Michelle Obama Saved the Day and Other Inaugural Tales

2009-01-25T20:09:00.001-08:00

On Election Day, we were so busy getting out the vote that we never made it to the euphoric post-election celebrations immortalized in so many youtube videos. Among other things, we missed our chance to join happy Seattle revelers in their spontaneous sing-along to the Star Spangled Banner and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. On the morning after the election, hoping to belatedly capture some of that magic, my wife, daughter and I resolved to attend the inauguration. We had no tickets or lodging, but that didn’t matter. Somehow, we figured we would make it happen. Read on to hear about the highs, the lows and how Michelle Obama helped us out.

After making plans to rent a kind-hearted D.C. resident’s apartment (through craigslist), we counted the days until the big event. We traveled to the capital by plane and train, arriving late on the Sunday morning before the inauguration. The first event on our itinerary was the outdoor “Obamapalooza” concert being held later that day at the Lincoln Memorial. In what should have been a giant, flashing neon warning sign of things to come, the scene was disorganized and chaotic. We waited in a long serpentine line for several hours, and when we got within a stone’s throw of the security checkpoint, authorities announced that the concert was filled to capacity and closed all entrances. Fortunately, several giant video screens had been installed in an overflow area near the Washington Monument. Despite the long futile wait, a poor quality sound system, and freezing temperatures, it was fun to watch the show in this huge and happy crowd. But with no tickets for inauguration day, we wondered how much time we’d be spending this week viewing events from afar via jumbotron.

Monday was spent waiting in security screening lines to gain access to the offices of various elected officials, trolling for inauguration tickets. While we met many nice and sincere young congressional aides and got to see Congressman Jim McDermott’s office, we came away empty handed. While waiting in line outside the Hart Office Building, we met a fellow Seattleite named Katie, who offered to inquire whether her congressman might have any extra tickets available; I gave her my cell number but did not feel very optimistic about our prospects.

The second big event on our itinerary was the Kid’s Inaugural Ball, which was scheduled for Monday night. This concert was being hosted by Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and their children/grandchildren, and it was to feature the brightest stars of the pre-teen set, including the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and many others. As far as our ten-year-old daughter, Maya, was concerned, this was THE main event. Although I’d been looking for tickets for weeks, information about how to find them was scarce. Maya suggested that we try our luck outside the arena. I was dubious, fearing this would be a fruitless effort that would only lead to greater disappointment. Maya’s enthusiasm prevailed however, and we found ourselves outside the concert venue sans tickets, feeling a bit like Cinderella, with only a remote hope of attending the ball.

Unfortunately, many people were seeking tickets, but it appeared that no one had any to offer. My daughter watched, forlorn, as happy throngs of excited girls and boys streamed into the arena. I created a makeshift sign reading “Need tickets” which I held overhead to no avail. Finally, near the start time a woman emerged from the entrance with a bundle of tickets, saw my sign and told me: “Michelle Obama sent me to give tickets to any children and their families who would like to attend”. She handed my daughter three tickets and her face lit up like a pinball machine – for her this was the moment when Charlie Bucket found the golden ticket to Wonka’s Chocolate factory. If anyone is still wondering what kind of First Lady we have, I think this incident tells you all you need to know.

The kids’ concert was everything Maya had imagined it would be. It was such a magical night that we found ourselves feeling less disappointed about being unable to get tickets to the inauguration itself. But there was another surprise yet to come. As we were leaving the concert, I received a text message from Katie, the nice lady we had met while waiting in line earlier in the day. She had miraculously been able to obtain extra inauguration swearing-in tickets – enough for everyone in our group. The only challenge was that she was staying at a hotel in Alexandria, VA approximately 45 minutes outside downtown D.C. I hurriedly hopped a late night metro and was able to pick up the tickets just in time for the big day.

At 7AM the following morning, we set out from our rented apartment in Foggy Bottom filled with anticipation about the inaugural festivities. We opted to walk the 2.5 miles to the U.S. Capitol Building, fearing the DC Metro might become gridlocked, saturated with the record-breaking crowds. Our journey turned into an epic adventure. As we approached the Capitol, the crowds grew more and more dense, and the flow of people slowed as security check-points and barricades created a multitude of bottlenecks and dead-ends. Instructions from authorities and official volunteers were frequently conflicting, and often added to the confusion. Several times we were told to follow a particular route, only to reach an impasse and find ourselves forced to retreat to try an alternate path. After two hours of this confused, circuitous march, we finally reached the end of our voyage…the infamous Purple Gate, where we stood, unmoving, for another 90 minutes.

The Purple Gate experience has been widely and thoroughly documented elsewhere. As purple ticket holders, we were lucky that we were never directed into the dreaded Third Ave Tunnel. By around 10AM, we realized that we were not going to get in unless something drastic occurred. Among the massive throngs of people waiting in the vicinity of the Purple Gate, we observed a trickle of people far to our left, who appeared to be making their way through a small gap in the barricade to the Purple security check-points, which were the last obstacle for admission to the Capitol lawn. After struggling to move in the general direction of this opening, we found ourselves, unbelievably, within 30 feet of the entry gate. At this point, the mob began to compress around us. My daughter, who is just under 5 feet tall, was surrounded by an ever-tightening wall of bodies. She became understandably upset and my wife and I grew increasingly fearful for her and our safety.

Then something wonderful happened. The people standing around us noticed my daughter crying. They became concerned, and asked if we needed any help. They opened up a small circle around her to ease her anxiety, and they offered her words of encouragement to help raise her spirits. Although these caring individuals were complete strangers, they all bonded together to help our daughter. I told Maya, “You don’t need to cry now, all these people around you are going to help keep you safe.” It was a moving experience, and I think it says a great deal about the character of the people attending this event.

Gradually we inched forward, and finally passed through the narrow opening in the fence. We cleared security and were on the Capital Lawn by 11AM. The morning’s frantic quest had ended, and we had some difficulty grasping that we had made it to our destination. It seemed too surreal. We found a place in the standing area near the back of the Capitol lawn, where we had a wonderful view of the proceedings. The ceremony was magnificent. At the moment when President Obama was sworn in, there were a dramatic series of loud booms, as members of the military performed a twenty-one gun salute in celebration. It was a thrill to experience all of this first hand. I especially enjoyed observing the crowd at the Capitol. There were smiles, tears and hugs all around. The crowd was suffused with a kind of subdued joy, a quiet contentment at the thought that, finally, at long last, everything was going to be all right.

This trip was quite an adventure. At times it was frustrating, difficult, and overwhelming, particularly with a ten-year-old in tow. But we went to Washington with a desire to experience this unique moment in history and we were not disappointed. Many of us will never forget being in this place, at this time, at the very moment when the nightmare ended and the dream finally came true.

Cross-posted at dailykos here.

Book Review: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

2009-01-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

How do you know when you've enjoyed a book? That seems like a silly question, doesn't it? But books are mixed bags, not all good or all bad. Often, when I finish a book I like to stop and ponder whether and how much I liked it. A good metric is to ask yourself "Would I recommend this book to a friend?". But here's an even simpler way to measure how well you liked a book: How fast did you read it? The best books beg to be read - they seem to jump into your hands and refuse to be put down until their story is told.

Shortly after I started reading "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane", by Kate DiCamillo, aloud to my daughter, I realized this was no ordinary children's book. It's a surprisingly dark and tragic tale, punctuated by occasional moments of transcendent joy. In Edward's world, as in the real world, good deeds often go unrewarded and sometimes bad things happen to good rabbits. But above all, this is a simple and compelling story told with such exquisitely beautiful prose that it nearly reduced me to tears several times. When we finished the book, my daughter remarked "this is my new favorite book" and, amazingly enough, I felt the same way. Writers who can thoroughly satisfy children and adults at the same time are few and far between (Roald Dahl comes to mind).

Judging by the reviews on amazon.com, this is one of those books that people either love or hate. Although overwhelmingly praised, the few negative reviews complained that this book is too disturbing for children. But my sense is that children are more sophisticated than we give them credit for. They sense and respond to honesty, which is why I think this book ultimately works for them.

When I reflected on how much I liked this book, I didn't need to analyze much - my daughter and I raced through it, never wanting to stop reading, which, by my metric above, tells me everything I need to know. As for my daughter, her review is nicely summarized by the following direct quote: "Dad, can we read just one more chapter before bed? PLEASE???". That's music to any parent's ears.

Introducing RoboDad

2009-01-08T00:26:00.001-08:00

Have you ever worked on basic math problems with your kid and noticed a certain fixation with their hands? Kids are smart - they figure out how to hide the fact that they're counting on their fingers. But that tell-tale delay is a dead giveaway. Here's how I helped my daughter work through this phase...

I've always found that whenever I write something down on paper, it somehow eases the memorization process so I had my daughter write the basic addition facts for the digits 0-9 on a piece of scrap paper. We did this for a few days and then I quizzed her occasionally with some home made flash cards. Not surprisingly, she didn't relish these flash card sessions so I thought "what's more fun for kids than computers?" and RoboDad was born.

RoboDad automates the testing process in a gentle and fun way. You can choose the type of test, the number of digits to work with, the number of seconds to allow for an answer and the number of questions. I've added support for addition, subtraction, multiplication and music note recognition. At the end of the test you get a detailed summary of the results.

This worked well for my daughter so I've made it available on the web here for anyone to use. Feel free to comment below if you have any problems, suggestions or feedback of any kind.

Book Review: "Every Move Must Have a Purpose" by Bruce Pandolfini

2009-01-04T10:32:00.001-08:00

As a long time chess player, I've often thought of chess as a metaphor for life. Decisions made at the chess board, like those made in life, can never be undone so you need to choose your moves carefully. As Thomas Wolfe said, "You can't go home again". In chess, as in life, you can play a perfect game, only to throw it all away with one bad move. And I've often been fascinated by the way a player's style over the board mirrors his or her personality. My wife plays a cautious, analytical game whereas I tend to play impatiently, relying on intuition, often overextending myself.

Bruce Pandolfini, national master, prolific chess author and teacher, and inspiration for the chess tutor in Searching for Bobby Fischer, has written a tiny (105 pages) gem of a book that examines the idea of chess as a metaphor for decision making in business. Each chapter examines an important principle in chess and then shows how that concept applies in the business world and in life. Some sample themes:

Play with a Plan
Look at Your Opponent's Move
Don't Overextend
Seek Small Advantages
Don't Apply Principles Mechanically

It's worth noting that this is not really a "chess book", per se - it doesn't attempt to teach the reader how to play or improve their chess game in any specific way and it doesn't require or expect the reader to know anything about chess. The focus is on what we can learn from sound chess principles and how we can apply those same ideas to business and life decisions. It's interesting and, I think, healthy to ponder how the ideas in this book might help you in your own personal game of chess - you're playing one every day, whether you realize it or not. :)

So you want to write an iPhone app (3)

2009-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

In my last post in this series, I promised to spend a day or two reading the iPhone developer's getting started documents and then report back on what I'd learned. In typical fashion, it's taken me more like 4 days. Not because it's difficult - it's just that I'm incredibly lazy. So without further ado, here are some things I've learned:

iPhone OS Overview - This document summarizes the various layers in the iPhone. The iPhone kernel is a variation of the same OS X kernel (derived from Mach) running in the Mac. Of the four layers described (core OS, core services, Media, and Cocoa Touch) the former is the one on which you'll want to focus your attention. More specifically, there are two programming frameworks in the Cocoa Touch layer that serve as the most important API's in your application: "foundation" and "UIkit".

Tools for iPhone OS Development- This document summarizes three key developer tools: Xcode, which is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for both Mac OS X and iPhone (sorry PC, as noted in an earlier post, you'll need a Mac to run these tools), Interface Builder, which is a drag and drop style UI construction tool, and Instruments, which is a real time performance data gathering facility. Another interesting developer tool is the iPhone simulator, whch allows you to test your app on a virtual iPhone. Xcode supports real time debugging of your apps on both the iPhone simulator and a real iPhone.

Learning Objective-C: A Primer - This isn't really much of a primer - it's more of a high level summary. Even if you are an old time C programmer, there is a lot to learn here. Give this a quick read but eventually you'll want to review the authoritative source on Objective-C, which can be found here. I have to say, based on what I've seen so far, I am not a fan of this language. I'll elaborate further in a future post but for now this is the only game in town so if you want to develop iPhone apps, you'll have to swallow this pill.

Signing Code for iPhone Development - This is a high level summary of the code signing process Apple uses to ensure that you, as the author of record of an iPhone app, are who you say you are and that you don't change your code after it's been released. Don't worry about this too much for now - you can deal with code signing down the road when you have an application to sign.

Creating an iPhone Application - This is a very nice tutorial, which walks you through the creation of a sample application ("MoveMe"). Here's what MoveMe does, in a nutshell:
Touching the Welcome button triggers an animation that causes the button to pulse and center itself under your finger. As you drag your finger around the screen, the button follows your finger. Lift your finger from the screen and, using another animation, the button snaps back to its original location. Double-tapping anywhere outside the button changes the language of the button’s greeting.
You can download the code, build and test it yourself. The MoveMe app exercises a bunch of iPhone facilities so it gives you a good idea about how to do several specific tasks while at the same time giving you a general sense of how iPhone applications are structured and how the developer tools work.

iPhone OS for Cocoa Developers - This document is nothing more than a couple of paragraphs saying, basically, "if you're already a Mac developer you already know how to use Cocoa". Not a lot of help since I don't fall into that category. Fortunately, the Cocoa Fundmentals Guide provides a comprehensive description of the Cocoa application environment. I'm (slowly) working my way through this document.

Frequently Asked Questions - This is a handy collection of commonly sought information, organized into neat categories. An ambitious developer might comb through these pearls of wisdom but I'll read 'em when I need 'em.

Finally, one important document which is not mentioned in the list of getting started docs (it's in the reference libary list) is the iPhone Application Programming Guide, which is a free, useful and comprehensive reference manual for iPhone app developers.

So, my next step is to download, build and test the MoveMe app, per the "Creating an iPhone App" doc, which should help me get the hang of a basic app and also some familiarity with Xcode and the other developer tools. At the same time, I'll be working my through the Cocoa Fundamentals Guide. Someday, I'll actually write some code of my own... :)

In case today seems extra long to you...

2008-12-31T05:35:00.000-08:00

It is. By one second. At 11:59:59 pm Universal Time, one additional second will be added before the official arrival of 2009. The reason? To make a minor adjustment for the slowing of the earth's rotation, we need to add a "leap second" this year for the 24th time since 1972.

Here's a better explanation:

Why does the world need leap seconds? Chalk it up to the moon’s braking action on Earth’s rotation and to modern timekeeping that has become so precise it can make your head spin.

The moon is the single largest influence on Earth’s spin, slowing it by an average of 2 milliseconds per century. Since Earth’s rotation rate varies, so would the value of one second when it’s defined as a fraction of the time it takes for one spin of the Earth on its axis.

So where a leap year periodically makes up for the difference between a year on the calendar (365 days) and a year’s trip around the sun (365 days plus 6 hours), the leap second makes up the difference between an atomic clock’s second and one second as defined by astronomical time keeping.

You can read all about it here. So you now have a good excuse to sleep late tomorrow. Happy Leap Second!

So you want to write an iPhone app (2)

2008-12-31T04:48:00.001-08:00

Are you the kind of person who, upon receiving a new electronic gadget, tears open the package, tosses the instruction manual aside and starts using the new gizmo immediately? Or do you sit down and read every word of the manual before trying your new toy? I'm somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. I like to read enough to make sure I've got the basics but I don't have the patience to digest the whole user's guide before I touch anything.

You'll have a similar choice to make after downloading the iPhone SDK. You could just start running the development tools and "feel your way around" but, chances are, you'll waste a lot of time that way (and get very frustrated in the process). On the other hand, you could spend days or even weeks watching videos and reading documents before writing a single line of code, which could cause you to lose your momentum and never quite make it to writing the next great iPhone app.

On the download page, Apple offers two collections of getting started material: videos and documents. I'm opting to use the latter simply because I can control the information mining process much more effectively by reading a document than I can by watching a video. If I get very interested in a particular topic, I may try one of more of the videos but for now I'm viewing those as reference material.

If your goal, like mine, is to write a real iPhone app in this lifetime then I would advise making a quick pass through the seven getting started docs, as follows:

iPhone OS Overview - fast skim for background
Tools for iPhone OS Development - fast skim to understand what each tool is used for
Learning Objective-C - A Primer - slow skim to get up to speed on the language
Signing Code for iPhone Development (skip it - worry about this when you have an app to sign)
Creating an iPhone Application (slow skim)
iPhone OS for Cocoa Developers (slow skim)
Frequenty Asked Questions (fast skim for background)

I'm planning to spend a day or so skimming the above material. I've highlighted the three documents on which I intend to spend the most time in boldface type. When I'm done I'll report any findings of particular interest and then I'll move on to writing my first app.

So you want to write an iPhone app...

2008-12-30T11:20:00.003-08:00

The first thing you need to know is that Apple's official software development platform for the iPhone works only on OS X so if you are a PC-only household you may be out of luck. Fortunately for me, my daughter has a MacBook, which she'll share with me if I'm extra nice to her.

Now for the requirements: you'll want to have software release 2.2 loaded on your iPhone and OS X version 10.5.5 (or later) on your Mac. The iPhone SDK takes roughly 4.4 GB so you'll need at least that much free space on one of your local hard drives.

So now you're ready to download the iPhone SDK (software development kit), which can be done from this site: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/sdk1/. You'll need an Apple ID, which you can create via the "Create Apple ID" link at the above URL.

If and when you get serious about distributing apps to real customers via the iTunes app store, you'll need to apply to the iPhone Developer Program, which will set you back $99 (one time charge, not per app). The good news is you can "try before you buy", i.e. download the tools, write and and test some apps, play to your heart's content, before you commit to the $99 enrollment fee.

I'll have more to say about the development tools, the IDE, the language, the API, etc. but for now I just wanted to share some quick guidance about getting started. The good news is that if you have a Mac with some available disk space, it's easy and free to set yourself up as an iPhone developer.

I <3 my iPhone

2008-12-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

I bought myself an iPhone 3G a few weeks ago and I'm delighted with it. If you think about it, there's really no fundamentally new technology associated with this device - what's really great about it is the way in which it combines so many existing technologies into one elegant package. It's the swiss army knife of cell phones. I use my iPhone as a:

mobile phone
email client
digital camera
calculator
calendar and contact manager
mobile web browser
navigation system
music player (with video)
portable game system
stock tracker

and that's just with the standard apps that come with the phone. With some additional (mostly free) apps, I've made my iPhone into a:

voice recorder
guitar tuner
metronome

How cool is it that one small device that fits in my pocket can do all those things? And with the iTunes app store, the sky's the limit.

Perhaps the coolest feature isn't even on the list above because it's hidden from view: whenever your iPhone 3G is in range of a wifi service, it will automatically try to use wifi, which will give you big performance boost over AT&T's 3G data network.

After using this device for a few weeks, I no longer think of my iPhone as a fancy cell phone - to me it's really a small but powerful mobile computer, which happens to make and receive phone calls. Now I'm investigating how to write software for this mobile computer, which will be the subject of a future post.