Financial Times: “The Bush administration has misled the American people”
Financial Times: “The Bush administration has misled the American people”.
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Entries for June 2004
NY Times: “President Bush should apologize to the American people”
NY Times: “President Bush should apologize to the American people”.
Eyebeam launches Street Memes, “a project designed
Eyebeam launches Street Memes, “a project designed to track the spread of street art”.
The Chicago Tribune lists its 50 favorite magazines
The Chicago Tribune lists its 50 favorite magazines. Wired tops the list.
Complete leather-bound set of Far Side cartoons only $800
Complete leather-bound set of Far Side cartoons only $800.
No doubt about it, push is back, baby!
No doubt about it, push is back, baby!. Mike Davidson on agents and smart aggregation.
Attempting to retrieve data for gmail.com
Attempting to retrieve data for gmail.com on Alexa brings up information on catalinaisland.com instead. OMG! OMG!! Is Amazon conspiring against Google?
Lucky (??) Meg will be running the NYC marathon this fall
Lucky (??) Meg will be running the NYC marathon this fall.
Pistons beat the Lakers
Watching the Pistons beat the Lakers last night to win the NBA championship was a pleasure. No one gave them a chance at the beginning of the series yet they dominated the Lakers with defense, good fundamentals, and team basketball. Some miscellaneous notes:
- The Lakers’ age, lack of cohesion, and reliance on luck finally showed in this series. The last few years and especially in these playoffs, whenever the Lakers needed a big bucket or a run to get back in the game, some random player would come off the bench to score 10 points above his average, Kobe would nail an impossible shot, or Shaq would get hot at the free throw line. Except for game 2, that didn’t happen in this series. If only Sam Cassell hadn’t been hurt and the Lakers had been a little less lucky in the Minnesota series…
- As the Pistons celebrated with the trophy up on the podium, Darko Milicic stood quietly behind his raucous teammates. He’s the loneliest championship winner I’ve ever seen; even some of assorted entourages in attendance were closer to the trophy celebration than Darko. At 18 and the #2 draft pick from Serbia, Darko just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the team. You could see it on the bench, when he was on the floor briefly during the playoffs, and after the game.
- Darko’s stark separation from his teammates reminded me of the Lakers. As the series started, there was all that talk of Malone being the father figure of the team, bringing them all together. What a load of crap. Neither Malone or Payton ever fit in with the rest of the team, not really. Payton hated the triangle offense. Kobe and Shaq tolerate each other and that’s being kind. They had no role players that complemented their strengths. The Lakers prided themselves on being able to “pull together” when they really needed to but were too dysfunctional to do even that much this time.
- Doc Rivers is a fantastic announcer. As an ex-player and an ex-coach, he knows a ton about the game. But unlike many athletes-turned-broadcasters, Rivers is smart, articulate, witty, and outpaced even veteran broadcaster Al Michaels. He is Bill Walton’s exact opposite, which is to say he should not be banned from announcing anything other than volleyball for the rest of his life.
ps. Back on May 27th, Ralph Wiley, a writer for Sports Illustrated, nailed the outcome of the Finals before the Lakers/Pistons matchup had even been decided. Further ps. Lots of email about this one…Ralph Wiley passed away recently, right before game 4 of the Finals got underway actually.
Ulysses, one page each day via the Web and RSS
Ulysses, one page each day via the Web and RSS. Like Gyford’s Pepys and Webb’s Da Vinci efforts.
This person has read 112 books so far this year
This person has read 112 books so far this year. Including 4 Harry Potter books in 2 days.
Music is everywhere
From Niall Kennedy comes a quote from a Walt Mossberg interview with Steve Jobs in the WSJ:
The interesting thing about movies though is that movies are in a very different place than music was. When we introduced the iTunes Music Store there were only two ways to listen to music: One was the radio station and the other was you go out and buy the CD.
Steve, pass around whatever you’re smoking because I’d like some. People listen to music at concerts (!!), on television shows & commercials, in movies, on cable music stations, on MTV, in elevators, on hold, on airplanes, in waiting rooms, at friends’ houses, at bars & clubs, on my iPod, on old cassette tapes, and most significantly in recent times, people download and listen to tons of music they’ve downloaded from the Internet. I agree that “movies are in a very different place than music”, but I don’t think it has much to do with a paucity of ways to listen to music.
Short interview with David Sedaris in Time magazine
Short interview with David Sedaris in Time magazine. “It’s the kind of job where you just couldn’t take enough baths.”
Jet engine that plays CDs
Jet engine that plays CDs. Which button activates the afterburner? And wasn’t this a prop in The Fifth Element?
Boing Boing tweaks their layout a bit, adds advertising
Boing Boing tweaks their layout a bit, adds advertising.
Movable Type pricing and licensing structure changes
In response to constructive feedback from their customers, Six Apart has once again modified the licensing and pricing structure for Movable Type. While the new licensing scheme is not exactly what what I’ve been suggesting, I’m satisfied with the changes they’ve made.
The tiered pricing remains, but the three options for the Personal Edition are more flexible and easier to understand:
1. The free version. You can have up to 3 sites and 1 author, no tech support, you need to install it yourself, and a few other small limitations.
2. A $69 version with unlimited sites and 5 authors. You also get technical support, promotion on the MT site, and discounts on future versions of MT.
3. A $99 version with unlimited sites and authors plus all the benefits from option #2.
Pricing for the corporate edition has changed as well, with many tiers depending on the number of users. 6A has also added educational and not-for-profit pricing.
Despite the problems that 6A had with this process, there’s a lesson in here for other companies looking to determine pricing and licensing for their products and services. User testing in Web design, once reserved for after a site or application was fully launched, now happens early in the design cycle. Designers get users involved as soon as possible, not answering questionnaires or taking surveys but using functional prototypes or alpha/beta versions of sites. The design is iterated based on feedback. Design, test, iterate, repeat. When you’re done, you should have a design that takes into account the initial requirements and what the users are looking for.
Why not do this with pricing? Make your best guess based on the competition’s pricing and internal business knowledge and throw the pricing out there. Be prepared to listen to customer feedback. Modify the pricing according to feedback and your business needs. Test it again. Make sure your early customers can get discounts if the later prices are higher in some cases…otherwise everyone might wait it out to get lower pricing. And allow for refunds for early customers if the later pricing or licensing doesn’t suit their needs for some reason. Aside from the bad PR that 6A received because of their initial pricing structure, the test/iterate approach worked well in coming up with a pricing/licensing solution that reflects both 6A’s business needs and the needs of their customers. (And I’m not even going to mention The Wisdom of Crowds here even though it’s pertinent to this whole discussion.)
Plain Layne, another Kaycee Nicole?
(Note: the title is a reference to the Kaycee Nicole hoax from 2001.)
About a year and a half ago, I started reading a weblog called Plain Layne (found it on this list of best blogs of 2002), ostensibly written by a young woman from Minnesota named Layne. PL was my soap opera. Some people watch Friends or American Idol, I read Plain Layne.
In the past two years, Layne has discovered she’s bisexual; fell in love with a Spanish go-go dancer; made room in her home for her cousin’s pregnant girlfriend and now her newborn infant; met up with one of her birth parents for the first time; recounted a fling she had with a former boss (who had a girlfriend at the time); hinted at a rape she endured in Mexico (which turned her into a lesbian); charmed a straight woman co-worker into sleeping with her, becoming her girlfriend and then fiancee (!); broken off the engagement with said co-worker; frequently hooked up with one of the ex-fiancee’s friends (another straight girl, if you can believe it); most recently slept with three women in the same week; and somehow, as all this was going on, held down a job at a large corporation working 80 hours a week managing a very successful IT group.
Late last week, her site was taken down and replaced with a bit of Polish text. And that (plus the fantastical series of adventures that Layne was constantly and consistantly embarking on) set people wondering:
Is Layne real? And if so, how real is she?
The main investigation by the people that frequented PL is taking place on a site called “strip mining for whimsy”: plain layne and the mystery of the missing sidebar link. It’s a long, long thread, so I’ll summarize the high points for you:
1. No one seems to have met Layne in real life. Several people (including a close friend of mine) have reported either wanting to make plans with Layne and eventually being rebuffed or making plans with Layne only to be stood up.
2. There are a number of connections between Plain Layne and a noted Web journal from a few years ago written by a woman named Acanit, who won a diarist.net award in 2001 for her writing (archive of Acanit’s site). Similar writing styles, similar topics, similar themes, PL contains phrases borrowed from Acanit’s site. They both wrote that they lived in the Twin Cities in 2001. Some photos of Layne (or “Layne”) (presumably from an early incarnation of Plain Layne) were hosted on the same server (aptura.com) as a version of Acanit’s site.
3. The author of PL is highly familiar with Minnesota and the Twin Cities in general (I can attest to that) and is also familiar with what is going on there at any given time (weather, shows, etc.). The author, whether a woman named Layne or not, most likely lived or lives there.
4. There is ample photographic evidence that a young woman matching the description of Layne exists. Photos here and here (these are from old or cached versions of her site). No one knows if the woman pictured is Layne, a model, or an unsuspecting someone.
5. Attempts to track Layne (or anyone she wrote about on her site) down in the real world have failed so far. By her own admission, Layne attended the University of Minnesota, works at a prominant Minnesota-based multinational corporation she nicknamed Minicorp, lives in Woodbury, has a sister named Drew, an ex-fiancee named Lauren who is currently taking architecture classes at the U of M, her parents are from Koochiching county in northern MN, and probably a hundred other little details that could be used to track her down in real life. No luck so far.
There’s all kinds of speculation as to what Plain Layne is:
- a group fiction exercise
- Layne is real and so is most of the site; she just used Acanit for inspiration
- Layne and Acanit are the same person, one or both of their sites are fiction
But there’s no evidence to support any of those theories conclusively. What’s more, most of the people doing the research (former commenters on Layne’s site) know each other only online. If one of us (I’m including myself in the research group) says we’ve met Layne or know where she works or vouches for her in some way, how do we know that person is a) real, and b) telling the truth? What if a long-time commenter on PL is another of Layne/Acanit’s alter egos? What if several are? I can vouch for my existance (I think it’s pretty clear by now that I exist and am not part of Meg’s grand plan to get written up in the New Yorker) and I’ve met a couple of people IRL who have infrequently commented on PL, but that’s about it.
However this plays out, it’s fascinating. Many whom now think Layne is fake are pretty pissed about it; they feel betrayed. And I guess I’ll be a little disappointed if it all turns out to be a hoax, but all in all, the site was entertaining to read while it lasted. I’m going to open the comments on this one, just in case anyone has any information to offer. I know several folks from the Twin Cities still read my site, as do a few old school journalers that may have some info on Acanit’s journal.
Dave Winer shuts down weblogs.com hosting with no warning
Dave Winer shuts down weblogs.com hosting with no warning. The shutdown apparently didn’t affect Doc Searls, a friend of Dave’s. You know the old saying: keep your friends close and kick everyone else to the curb.
PurpleSlurple takes any Web page and adds
PurpleSlurple takes any Web page and adds permalinks for each paragraph.
Interesting piece on Reagan’s legacy
Interesting piece on Reagan’s legacy. With minimal right wing cheering or lefty jeering.
Magazine update
You’re disappointed with me. You don’t even know it, but you are. I can feel it, your disappointment, coming at me from the edges of the Internet. Or perhaps it’s just all those mashed potatoes I had for dinner last night. There’s a simile for all you writers out there: “his disappointment affected me like indigestion brought on by too many mashed potatoes for dinner last night.” That’s golden.
Which is to say, I’ve stopped reading magazines, effectively ending my project to read 52 different periodicals over the course of this year. The project ended a couple of months ago actually, but my guilt was such that I only just accepted it. Deep down, I always knew I wouldn’t make it. The decision of which magazine to read, the procuring of said material, budgeting the time to read, keeping track of what I’d read so far…it was all too much work, more like a second job than a fun way to spend my time.
David is doing much better with his resolution to read 52 books in 52 weeks; 24 down, 28 to go. I am ashamed.
“A Wal-Mart Supercenter opens in America approximately every 1.65 days”
“A Wal-Mart Supercenter opens in America approximately every 1.65 days”. That’s an astonishing rate.
Photo from the recently held Persian Weblog Festival in Tehran
Photo from the recently held Persian Weblog Festival in Tehran. Looks a lot like any other gathering of bloggers, although they’re clearly not in the US due to the complete absence of logos on their clothes.
Working draft of Alcoholic Anonymous book by “
Working draft of Alcoholic Anonymous book by “Bill W.” up for auction by Sotheby’s. Value estimated at $300-500,000.
Box office economics
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban topped the American box office this past weekend, but fell off 63% from its opening weekend gross of $93.6 million. Studios usually aim for less than a 50% drop weekend-to-weekend, so that was obviously disappointing news for Warner Bros. The odd thing is that from the outside, Potter looked poised to do well after opening weekend. Critical response was positive (Azkaban was a much better movie than either of the first two films), word of mouth was good (I liked it more than the first two and everyone I talked to enjoyed it), and it was up against no major new movies this weekend (Chronicles of Riddick didn’t open well at all…although Garfield and Stepford Wives did better than I expected).
So what gives? Is the movie too adult? Is it getting bad word of mouth among the tween/teen crowd? Has Hollywood well and truly shot itself in the foot in emphasizing the opening weekend of their blockbuster movies at the possible expense of post-opening returns? (But Shrek is still doing really well…) Instead of seeing the movie again in the theatre, are net-savvy teens downloading the movie from the Internet for a second viewing? Did the diversity of new offerings (Garfield, Stepford, Riddick, continuing strong performance by Shrek, wider opening for Saved!) not leave any audience for Potter? Are people losing interest in Harry Potter in general?
Unfortunately, the media outlets that cover the movie business (many of which are owned by companies that make/produce/distribute movies) tend, for whatever reason, not to ask or answer any of these questions. Which is understandable, I guess. Not as many people are interested in the economics of movies as in multi-millionaires throwing pajama parties on jumbo jets.
Reagan’s hot Cold War rhetoric made for
Reagan’s hot Cold War rhetoric made for lucrative careers in pro wrestling for faux Russkies.
Check this out kid!!!
A new virus is on the loose and it’s hammering my email account. Meg first noticed it a few days ago; she was getting 800+ messages every few hours. I’m not getting quite that many, but my email volume is nearly double what it was last week. W32/Zafi.b@MM or a close variant seems to be the culprit. The good thing is that Mail.app’s junk mail filter is handling the virus-generated spam like a champ…almost none of the new messages is reaching my inbox.
More photos of the new Seattle Public Library
More photos of the new Seattle Public Library. These are from the library’s Web site.
2nd Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party
We went and checked out the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party on Sunday. We sampled five or six of the ‘cue vendors. The baby back ribs from pitmaster Mike Mills were my favorite, although the brisket and sausage from The Salt Lick was pretty fine too. The North Carolinian BBQ, flavored with a thin vinegar-based sauce, was not to my personal liking — give me Memphis or Kansas City style any day — but others enjoyed it.
On the way out, we sat for a second to listen to a panel on America’s “barbeculture”. Listening to folks argue about BBQ is right up there with listening to people argue about blogging, but panelist Lolis Eric Elie’s use of the phrase “barbecue diaspora” made our short time in the audience worthwhile.
More on the BABBP: NYC Eats finds a hardcore BBQ fan and eGullet prepared an extensive report, going in-depth on Ed Mitchell.
Congrats to Andy and his wife on
Congrats to Andy and his wife on the birth of baby Eliot. Finally, the kid has a permalink.
Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi
Back in November, Meg and I went to the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum to check out the Design Triennial. Of course, I meant to write more about what I saw, but never got around it. Yusuke Obuchi’s project popped into my head this morning, probably my favorite piece from the show. Obuchi’s Wave Garden is a prototype for an ocean-powered power plant. The motion of the ocean causes flexible tiles to bend, the mechanical stress of the bending generates electricity (via the piezoelectric effect), and the electricity is collected to run blenders for making Californians’ beloved smoothies.
And that would be fantastic by itself, but if Californians wisely use energy during the week, the power plant becomes a floating public park on the weekends:
Demand for the energy the Wave Garden produces on weekdays determines its function on the weekend, when energy consumption declines. If Californians have consumed little energy, they are rewarded: the tiles rise to the surface to form recreational platforms and swimming ponds. But if weekday demand is too high, the garden remains strictly a power plant. Acting as a barometer of energy use, the Wave Garden makes invisible power visible.
New York Times architectural critic Herbert Muschamp called it Best in Show:
No contest, really. This is the kind of work critics dream of finding. Even as pure sculpture, the project is stunning. But it is also a fine example of green design. Conceived as a power plant to replace a nuclear reactor in Southern California, this floating marine installation would harvest energy from Pacific waves. On weekends, it would surface above the waves to create a public beach and park roughly half the size of Central Park.
Yusuke and his work were also mentioned in a review of the Triennial for Metropolis. Here are some photos of the Wave Garden (another photo from the Metropolis piece).
How Web sites might learn
How Web sites might learn. Lessons of Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn applied to Web design and development
Photo gallery of the Koolhaas-designed Seattle Public Library
Photo gallery of the Koolhaas-designed Seattle Public Library.
Playing the Two Things game
Playing the Two Things game. “For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know.”
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