A One Man Iso Booth

Paul Carr over at TechCrunch just published this rant on unreliable sources. His point: If you lie to me off the record, and I find out, I'll consider it on the record and out you as a liar. Maybe that's a good idea if you have a lot of influence, so people want to go to you to the exclusion of others. I don't know Paul - perhaps he has this power. I know that if I did this, I'd simply be turning of the source spigot. That's bad, because from the source flows the information that becomes a scoop. Didn't we used to pay journalists to sniff out the BS? Oh, right. We used to pay journalists.

Vatican 3.0? Presbys...I guess not.

via: Flickr

Apple Tablet. Take $1.2B and call me in the morning.

Do you believe that the Apple Tablet is the next big thing? It is part of a budding segment of products, like Michael Arrington's CrunchPad, known as "Mobile Internet Devices" - MIDs. These are touch-based, keyboardless netbooks, whose main purpose is web surfing in all its glory. I for one already have a perfect MID - the Touch. It travels, it has internet, and I am happy. That said, could we see a revolution in home computing as the paper is replaced by the pad? Between the Kindle and other readers + the MIDs, it is a possibility. On the other hand, this has been tried before, recently by Nokia and in the receding past by Palm. Even the analysts see this more as a niche product, like Apple TV, so I'd dampen those hopes a bit.

Things You Already Knew Because You're Smarter Than Me

Here's Krugman's take on the mobs swarming the healthcare townhalls being held by the recently on-recess members of Congress. I don't cite the man much, but there were two items of note in the article:

"Astroturf organization" - A fake grass-roots organization.

and this bit:

There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Nearly all did. Then Representative Green asked how many of those present were on Medicare. Almost half raised their hands.

Healthcare is a complicated issue, made all the more so when it butts up against the other challenge we face as Americans - ignorance.

Just Gorgeous

This is a stepwell - a well in which access is had through the use of multiple staired tiers. I had never seen one before, and this one - Chand Baori in India - is among the world's deepest at over 100 feet. It is also eye-poppingly impressive.

See more photos here.

Sony Reader Might Best Kindle

As someone who unhooked from the ever-online world of BB to an iPod Touch and realized that I didn't need to be that connected, I think Kindle's whispernet is nice, but not a killer app. Gimme WiFi and we're cool.

With that as a premise, check out the new Sony Reader and Reader Touch ($200 and $300 this fall). With 1 million free books, the ability to read office docs (for FREE mind you), and Sony's tight hardware design, I don't know that its worth waiting around for Kindle or its DX big sister. Seriously.

[HT: Gizmodo]

Hammacher Schmammacher, This is Awful!

Hammecher Schlemmer is known for outlandish stuff, but it is supposed to be outlandish COOL stuff. Just watch the game-play video. The humans are stuck in little ravines with one, easily defended hole through which to put the ball.

Hammacher: So it's a trampoline?

Schlemmer: Yes.

Hammacher: But it is no fun at all?

Schlemmer: Exactly.

Hammacher: Novel. I like it!

Cash for Free

Politicos have had mostly plaudits for Cash for Clunkers - the magnanimous government subsidy plan that pays $4500 for your trade-in when you decide you want something newer and sitting-forever-in-inventorier. Car dealers were far more enthusiastic, taking orders and making sales on the plan well before it was fully implemented. Now, having racked up thousands of sales and fronted rebates in the millions, they are wondering why the government can't process their claims fast enough. Seems to me that the government reasonably expected a conveyor belt of claims and instead got an upturned dump truck. I sympathize with Uncle Sam to this point.

But Uncle Sam and I parted ways on this program from its inception. While this stimulus clearly stimulates buying, the sheer number of people to take advantage of it indicates to me not that it is wildly successful, but rather that it is too generous. If I gave out one dollar bills in Washington Square Park in NY at lunch, I might have maybe 10,000 show up from a few square blocks. But if I gave out $100, you can expect that many times that would show up. Same thing here. Clearly Americans needed a kick in the pants to show up and buy, but I think we may have kicked too hard. I think it is a good thing that dealer inventories are finally shrinking, but this is a blip. It doesn't mean that car sales next year or the year after will return from the current 6M/year level to the prior 10M/year level. It means that, for the next few weeks, there is a fire sale on cars.

What is a Congress to do? This is populism at its best - giving the people bread and circus in the same bite. Having fed the masses and been lauded for it, Congress can't stop now. They can't lower the incentive or risk cries of "unfair!" On the other hand, they can't give away money forever. Representatives took one look at this and 2010 election and voted "Yea" for $2B more. Senators with a little breathing room are doing just that and asking, if they can't lower the amount, whether perhaps they tack on a few riders. $4500 requires a certain improvement in fuel efficiency. Under the plan, people are already trading down in fuel consumption by themselves - prompting Sen. Schumer to quip, "If it ain't broke..." But I say it is broke and we can't fix it because the backlash will be too great. Instead, let's tweak it to get what we can for our money. Let's restrict the rebate to cars achieving over a certain MPG and those with ULEV ratings (ultra low emission vehicles). That's your small cars, small SUVs, cross-overs and most Hybrids (I am looking at you Escalade). Perhaps we can salvage something from this program after all.

The Elusive Tablet

Bill Gates sees tablets as the next big thing in computing. Actually, he's seen it as the next big thing for about a decade. Steve jobs has seen it as the next best thing for longer - ever since the Apple Newton showed up, was amazing, and then totally bombed. Even with tablets well under $1000 and TechCruch's CrunchPad and Apple's Tablet coming out in the fall - offering pure tablets with less power for "couchtop computing -- I am still very skeptical. I have long looked for a tablet myself. Avid readers will know that I eventually settled on an iPod Touch and have never looked back. At best, I see them as a niche product. I don't know why users don't rush to these most natural of form factored devices, but the ample data shows they don't.

X-Games

So you get bike racing and action sports on this blog. Go figure.

X-Games 15 just wrapped up in LA and it proved to be a tad mediocre.
Mediocre even with 90 foot drop ramps to 70 foot skateboard jumps, no
handed back flips on dirt bikes, and gnarly landings in bmx vert.
Thing is, by now, a lot of this has been done, as evidenced by the
fact that best trick in moto x this year was just a repeat of the best
trick last year. What the audience wants to see is innovation, nit
execution. Missing the newest inverted 900 Ollie spin fakir nose
gainer and exploding in a hail of safety gear is always better than
perfecting that double back flip I have already seen 5 times today. I
know I am picky, but execution is what traditional sports are about.
This is entertainment through danger.

And speaking of danger, I was sad to see safety equipment disappearing
at X. Moto X, rally, and the huge air events have better safety
equipment then ever before. But on skate park, bmx park, and other
sports performed on an impressive array of concrete and metal helmets,
knee pads, etc. were markedly absent. These are precisely the sports
kids will emulate, so it's up to the worldwide leader in sports to
suit up thier atheletes as an example.

If you need an example, look at Andy Macdonald. A contemporary of Tony
Hawk's, he is still competing at 36, thanks to a helmet and some very
serious padding. Think, "Go big AND go home."

Some other thoughts
- The loss of sponsorship cash was obvious as helmets etc were
emblazened with energy drink logos and not much else. On the track,
the only logo in prominent position was Dell's.

- I like Rally. I don't know how extreme it is, but I like it.

- The female supercross champ is deaf and nobody cares. Awesome.

- Jam session format is a new addition to the games. You get 30
seconds, and they score you immediately as I immediately drop in for
my run. It's fast and awesome. The cameramen must be exhausted by the
end of the half hour.

Sent from my iPod

Favre

So Favre is not joining up with the Vikes. Fine. There's way too much coverage for me to add much, other than to ask: If he doesn't start for a team this year, is there any chance he would somehow reconsider next year? If so, would anyone take him? The real question is: Did Brett's call to Richard (Childress) effectively end his career?

I, for one, think Favre did tremendous damage to his legacy by returning to the Jets, despite the massive windfall in jersey sales. Imagine if he had walked away, tear-filled, as the golden boy of Lambeu two years ago and never looked back. He'd be the golden boy forever. Everything since then has served to tarnish that image. Even his ability to rally the lackluster Jets to a near-playoff run. I, mean, it was near the playoffs. It wasn't the playoffs. And did you think he could lead them to a Superbowl? I don't know anyone who did. At Green Bay, he didn't need to - and that's really the point.

Now Favre leaves as the injured and indecisive former golden boy who held out for a bit on an offer to play for his one-time greatest rival, the Vikes. And, of course, there will be speculation all this year and next about his possible impending likely rumored return. That is something quite a bit less than golden.

MySpace Isn't Dead. Actually Maybe Evite is Dead?

Myspace just surpassed evite as the top invitation service. Wierd. I thought MySpace had started to go the way of the Republican party (zing!), but I guess I was wrong (maybe about both, d'oh!).

Evite has recently partnered with FaceBook to bridge invites across platforms. I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon, but perhaps that will help it regain its dominance.

Tour de Classe

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/090727

Lance didn't win, yet he emerged the better for it. At 37, he did something the Lance of 27 would not have done: He made sure his teammate won. He kept to the party line amidst the constant stream of media attention. He kept his cool. And when his teammate was secure in yellow, he put on some of the most impressive shows of cycling I have seen in a long time. Covering a 2 minute gap up a mountainside, not once, but twice, borders on the heroic.

Contador, Schleck, Hushovd, and Pellizotti are all champions. (Yellow, Youngest, Most Consistent - e.g. sprint, and King of the Mountains). Perhaps it is not fair that Lance get so much attention when he didn't win. Still, he really did emerge looking like a champion and a gentleman. What more could you ask for?

Palin

Palin steps down today. I know 75% of conservative Republicans still like her, which means we'll likely be seeing a lot of her for a long time to come. Still, I can't keep the "Hi, ho! The Wicked Witch is dead!" refrain out of my head.

Before I get flamed out here - I like that she's gone not because her ideas are bad or shouldn't be aired. I like that she's gone because she practices the sort of vapid politics of distraction that lowers the level of discourse in this country. If you need a reminder of the incoherent buzz word babbling that exemplifies her style, just look up her resignation speech.

Well Aren't You A Class Act

I encountered this wireless network this morning:

C#ntyMcSh!tb@lls

You do know your wireless network name is transmitted far and wide, right?

Walking with Dinosaurs

http://www.dinosaurlive.com/index.php/about-the-show/the-story/

There are few things that make me stop and stare. The video preview on
the Verizon Center jumbotron made me do just that. Pictures of 20 and
30 foot tall dinos walking around the arena smoothly and majestically
were mezmerising.

Now, I am pretty sure my impression of this show is better than the
reality. I imagine a serious, sciency talk - like a zookeeper talk or
something. The actual show is likely more like The Land Before Time.

Oh well. For that moment it was pretty cool.

If You Just Noticed, You Deserve It

Behold, another brilliant report:

The Drawbacks of 'Owning' Digital Books

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124830307703373747.html

It says that those who own kindle books have fewer powers than do people who own, y'know, books. Worse yet, they are surprised. At least the few thousand that had bought 1984 were when they woke up and discovered it was no longer on their machine one morning. Amazon had agreed with the publisher to take it down and remove it from the machines. 

You can tell just how much sympathy I have. You own a proprietary format work on a proprietary machine. You therefore don't control anything. Think of it like Tivo. You buy the unit but they retain a lot of lattitude. You are ok with that because of the convenience of the service. Sure it's annoying if the company takes something back or changes the terms on you, but that was always the deal and you knew that. 

If you wanted an ebook to keep, buy  a sony reader ir similar product that requires that you download a full version of the book and sync it. Or buy a paperback. What did you think was happening when Amazon was selling you whole books at 30% the price? Seriously. The pissing and moaning you hear is just that.

  

Death of a Salesman

Congress has refused to continue funding the F22. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124821970259970233.html). To this I say congratulations.  

This is the right move even though it is tough politically. Lockheed, which builds the now decade old next generation fighter, is the nation's largest defense contractor by a long shot. More importantly, lockheed has the political savvy that comes with owning over 30% market share of the huge defense contract spending budget. 

Lockheed builds the F22 in 44 states and several allied countries, so the jobs argument is spread far and wide. Far enough that 15 dems voted against the budget cut. That, despite the fact that the F22 never flew in Iraq or Afghanistan.   

Of course, thirty percent market share  means that Lockheed builds both the F22, which lives in the dreams of grown boys like me, who still long to go to work at the crack of dawn, strap on several thousand pounds of thrust and blaze into the dawn sky, and also the UAVs that made the F22 obsolete. Why send a man at all if dogfighting is done over the horizon by missile. The atmospheric controls, ejection seat, and control consoles have moved out to make way for more ordnance.  Not to mention the fact that even dogfighting - were it ever necessary - would be best off in a UAV, which can pull g forces no human could sustain. Oh, and they are a fraction of the price and the pilots have breakfast with their families before heading to their remote piloting centers and they always come home. 

And before I get a lot if comments on bloated budgets or the lack of dem military support, know that Chambliss tried to keep this program alive with $850m from the defense maintenance account. That the bread and butter account, sending parts, armor and fuel to the troops currently in harms way. Folks on both sides of the aisle and nipped it in the bud. It was gross behavior and I am glad congress rose above it. 

Sent from my iPod

Who Are You And Where Is Lance?

Warning - this is a post about cycling; the Sick Man of Europe of sports.

Alberto Contador of team Astana took the overall lead in the Tour after today's stage. The other pillar of Astana - the New York Yankees of the TdF - Lance is second, but lagging by over a minute and a half. Given the hills and dales to come, that lead could prove insurmountable for another rider unless Contador was going to collapse. But this is Lance Armstrong. Seven time winner. International superstar. Surely, Astana is his team. Let's get his reaction.

The interviews boil down to this: I was not the best man out there today. I will ride the rest of the Tour as Contador's lieutenant (In French - "domestique" - the term for all the rest of the guys on a team who attack to tire out the field, ride in front to give you a draft, etc.).

This is the equivalent of having Peyton Manning sit after a lousy first quarter and say, "You know, I just didn't have it out there today. I'll review the photos during the first half, throw my support behind our backup QB, and hope we can win as a team today." Ain't gonna happen.

And yet, it did. More impressively, it happened after a blow out on Team Astana in stage 7, when Contador broke from the team at the end of the stage to accelerate on to personal victory. Reporters clamored around a meeting on the team bus at the end of the day. Riders emerged stone-faced. Now, Lance, famous for years for his style, equal parts ice and vitriol, has not only bowed his head to become a domestique to his domestique, but did so after that self-same domestique showed him up a week before. Depending on who you are, this is either a sign of maturity or the golden boy has lost some of that competitive lustre.

I, for one, couldn't tell you which it is.

It's New to Me, OK?

Heard on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me from June 27, 2009:

Michael Bay is to movies what Hurricane Katrina was to urban planning.

I couldn't agree more. Ooh, look! A Megan Fox. Ooh, a shiny object! Ooh, explosions. Wait, wait, this still sucks martian balls.

You Just Have To See This

This is not a fake. Seriously. Enjoy!

I'm Too Sexy for My Own Good

"The Frisky" at CNN (God, is this even a news outlet any more?) asks, "Is narcissism keeping you single?" and cites a report that nearly one in 10 younger Americans is a narcissist. We can't be in good relationships because we think we're too good to need to compromise. The culprit is our 'feel good' culture having succeeded so well in raising our self image. I'm not worried. After all, it's just one in 10. I'm probably better than those people anyway.

When Ads Go Bad

Papa Johns has an radio ad in the DC area touting "cheese made from
one hundred percent mozzarella." Guys, you make pizza. Should we have
to point out that mozarella is the product and milk the ingredient?
Unless, you 100% mozarella is indeed just an ingredient and "cheese"
has become something of a fuzzy concept for you. In which case, "Ew."
And stop touting it!

Sent from my iPod

Those Shoes You've Seen Me Wearing

If you've seen me walking around any time in the last month, you've likely seen (and commented on) the above. They are Vibram Five Fingers classics, a pair of so-called barefooting shoes. This all started about two summers ago when I broke my right foot for the second time. Going in to the Orthopaedist, I learned that, in addition to the break, I had bone spurs. I have still have the x-rays here. Then five months later, I had pain near my hip flexor. Another visit to the doc, another relatively clean bill of health, but this time with a warning that the spurs would worsen with time and more running.

Now, I don't run that much. Maybe 15-18 miles a week. On top of that, in the summers, I play Basketball once a week and Frisbee once or twice a week. Nothing too serious. I don't get shin splints or achy knees. Instead, the nerves in my right leg feel like they are tightening and pulling my lower back causing my gait to go off-center. That assumes, of course, that my form was right to begin with - something I cannot confirm having never been coached or analyzed by video or even watched by someone with a critical eye for this stuff.

Which brings us back to the orthopaedist. Now there on my third visit, I was following up on my hip and took the opportunity to ask about my shoe choices. Rockport - his favorite kind. Soft and -- good for an orthopaedist -- with removable insoles. The doc recommended inserts. Not custom, at $300+, but still $95 a pair. For 4 pairs of regular use shoes, I bought 3 pair, turning every $50 pair of New Balance into the equivalent of a top-of-the-line running shoe. And I'll need to start replacing them soon, along with the new Size 10 shoes that I needed to buy to accommodate them. My old 9.5s just couldn't contain all that cushioning.

Perhaps you are starting to feel the same sense of bafflement that I did at this point. Why is this so complicated? How much equipment do I need just to walk? Worse yet, if I need this much now, what will I need at 40 and 50 and 60 to ambulate?

So I started looking into other options. I had seen the Vibrams on the Frisbee fields the previous year and asked about them. How could I not? I learned they were basically a rubber sole on a bare foot and very comfortable despite that. Digging a bit further, I found a community of barefooters. These folks are hard core and a little quirky. Not a lot of credibility there. Still, they loved the Vibram. And they linked to a Runners World article on barefooting: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html. Great runners run barefoot. More importantly, amateur runners who run without shoes see no ill effects of going barefoot. Then I read Born to Run, which is more fun than fact intensive, but still contains about 2 chapters of the science of barefooting. I was sold, at least to try a pair of shoes that cost less than one of my orthopaedic inserts, with the promise that I might be able to one day do without the inserts altogether.

The results so far are as promised. The shoes take a bit of getting used to. It took me 3 hours. Not because of the shoes, but because I don't walk barefoot very much. It is amazing how different the gait is. Much more forward without nearly as tough a heel strike. I find myself using the rise of my foot when I strike the ball as a shock absorber. The movement uses a different set of muscles than do shoes, making the first few weeks a workout, but now I walk 2-3 miles in them without noticing. I spend all day in the now on paternity leave and feel better at the end of the day than I did in shoes. No more hot feet, squished toes, blisters, or the more serious and important leg and hip strains.

While they may not replace my running shoes, I have seen improvements there as well, where a forward tilted step is the ideal. That, and going out for a run without having the leg and hip pains to work out in stretching or warm up is a real boon.

Safeway's Useless Affinity Card

Safeway issues an affinity card, like just about every other retailer in America. The card permits you to take a few cents off a few items in the store. Thing is, the register attendant always has a spare card to scan if you - like me - constantly "forget" your card. The thing is, I don't get anything for the information I give Safeway about my shopping and eating habits. Give me reward dollars, better deals, special circulars, ...something for all that information. Instead I get nothing.

So I found out how to get around the card without losing the benefits...or having to schnorr someone else's number at every transaction. Safeway permits customers to enter their phone number instead of swipe their card. This is what really got my goat, since the market is most likely selling this phone number + the detailed customer metrics to third parties for a pretty penny. That means they are making more while I still get nothing. I entered my number, which I know does not work, only to hear the klangon that tells the teller the same thing. I asked, as I do, if she has a spare card, and she just entered a number on her keypad. So I watched.

To get all the savings on a bogus number, just enter 617.555.1212 in a Safeway keypad next time you're in the store. Voila! Worth reading to the end of the post, wasn't it?