Month: May 2006

Miscellany

Johnny Cash’s Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways is scheduled for release in July. This album comprises the absolute last recordings Cash made before his death, part of his collaboration with Rick Rubin.
[Wave of the phin to Prosthesis.]

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Now all of my fellow Star Wars fans can decorate their walls with their favorite images from the movies.
[Wave of the phin to Firewheel Design.]

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Professional baseball is coming to Israel, with plans to apply to be in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The history of baseball in the land of the Bible is astounding.
[Via Newsvine.]

A pair of Apple miscellany

“Apple simplifies .Mac Web access”. So common sensical, I wonder why they didn’t think of this sooner.

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“Apple actively courting the Beatles”. I like the Beatles, but I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to download any of their music from anywhere. For the sake of Apple, I would love for the iTunes Music Store to carry their full catalog; I believe, as one online commentator wrote, that the Beatles could make up any lawsuit-related losses easily through iTMS sales. Unlike myself, there are lots of people, including TUAW’s Dave Caolo, who want individual Beatles albums.
Personally, I have all the Beatles’ songs I could want on my iPod already. It’s called “1”.

Headliners

“Spain Raids Stamp-Collecting Firms”
Pursuing terrorists who murder our citizens, not that high a priority. But those stamp collectors have got to be stopped.
“Asian Currencies Soar on U.S. Criticism”
Just think of what they could do with some positive reinforcement!
“Zombie master sentenced to 5 years in prison”
It’s only five years, though, so stock up on shotgun shells, and remember to always aim for the head.
“Will Film Spell Success for Starbucks?”
Is this what education has come to in America? Listen up, Starbucks, it’s “S, u, c, c…”

Beleagured Dell Warns of Earnings Shortfall

Dell Warns of Earnings Shortfall: “Dell warned it would miss its earnings and revenue forecasts, blaming pricing actions aimed at reviving sales growth.”
Sorry, I just had to do it again.

The Cat in the Hat as business-lesson book

Stanley Bing:

This little tale, which appears to be a book for children, is actually a clever evocation of what happens to a corporation when a management consultant is hired by absent, clueless senior management to evaluate its organizational structure and to effect change. Beginning slowly, the Cat proceeds to take everything apart, make a total mess and get everybody in potentially the worst trouble in the world–all at no personal cost to itself. By the time the Cat leaves, it has frightened everybody, and very little has changed except the mind-set of the protagonists, which has been forever disrupted and rattled.

Weblogs, Pamphlets and Public Citizens: Changing Modern Media

Speaking of Tom, he’s authored a great paper as part of the Master’s program he’s enrolled in. Titled “Weblogs, Pamphlets and Public Citizens: Changing Modern Media“, in which he compares the citizen journalists of today’s blogosphere to the pamphleteers of pre-Revolutionary War America. I got a sneak peek during the drafting and editing phase, and I think it’s really good.
Some choice quotes:

The effects of blogs in a new media environment are twofold: Weblogs cover stories that their mainstream media counterparts, for editorial reasons or other gatekeeping practices common in modern professional media, omit or miss entirely; and weblogs also bring to bear an ever-vigilant group of diverse problem solvers that fact-check the work of many reporters and journalists in the mass-media arena. This makes the blogosphere an excellent addendum to mass media, operating as both appendix and errata to the main compendium of stories that the mass media puts into the public sphere using trained reporters and journalists.
and
As technology had advanced further, producing Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a distribution method that allows for easy and automatic syndication of new additions to weblogs, it has become possible for a consumer of media to add weblogs to their daily news diet. This allows for readers to mix and match their media, creating a new media outlet that is personally tailored to their interests and to their pursuits. Using an RSS-reader application on a personal computer, a sports fan can have a forty-page sports section and a one page local section, or a political junkie can have page after page of differing commentary from a variety of sources. The reader becomes their own editor and gatekeeper, combining multiple weblogs and conventional media sources, which have also adopted RSS, into their own personal fountain of news and commentary.
If you’ve read Dan Gillmor’s We The Media and/or Hugh Hewitt’s Blog, some of Tom’s piece will sound familiar, especially in that he cites the former as a source, but I say the familiarity makes Tom’s arguments stronger. Good work, my friend!

But I like being a member of the Cingular Nation

Consumerist:

AT&T is torching their Cingular brand like a gang of boychiks igniting a hobo on their way home from the milk bar. From the ashes, phoenix-like, a new brand is to emerge: AT&T Wireless.
I used to be an AT&T Wireless customer. Not good memories. Cingular is such a distinguishable brand name, for good or ill, whereas for everyone I know and speak to on this issue, AT&T Wireless offers nothing but ill will. Unlike Consumerist’s Ben, I’ve had nothing but good customer service from Cingular. Yes, I realize the “new” AT&T isn’t really anything like the “old” AT&T, corporate-wise, but the bad connotations with the AT&T brand are apparently so bad, we all fear it is. Or will be.
[Wave of the phin to Tom, via IM.]

What an adorable little girl

James Taranto:

The Stephen Colbert kerfuffle, intrinsically uninteresting though it is, leads Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen to an excellent insight:

Why are you wasting my time with Colbert, I hear you ask. Because he is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders–and they are all over the blogosphere–will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences–maybe even death in some countries. When you spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite you, toss you into a dungeon or–if you’re at work–take away your office.

But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all. He knew that going in.

This, it seems to us, explains several conceits of the Angry Left:

  • The notion that criticism–whether of the Dixie Chicks or of Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer–amounts to censorship.

  • Claims by Democratic politicians that Republicans are “questioning” their “patriotism.”

  • Fears of incipient fascism.

What these have in common, aside from being totally fantastical, is that they all reinforce the image of the Angry Leftist as courageous dissenter. In truth, this country is so tolerant, indeed downright indulgent, of this sort of “dissent” that it affords no opportunity to be courageous.

Speak “truth to power” in America, and power will pat you on the head and say, “What an adorable little girl.” Some on the Angry Left could actually have the courage to stand up if they were faced with real consequences–but they are unlikely ever to get that chance. America’s almost boundless tolerance thus reduces them to the level of petulant children. No wonder they’re so angry.

Beleaguered Dell defends stock decline

I just really wanted to use the words “beleaguered” and “Dell” in the same sentence.
How do you like them apples, Mr. Dell?

Miscellany

I know Lee will be interested in Anil’s observations on web site comments.

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Stop wandering aimlessly through that phone tree, and get a human on the line.

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“This is hot.” New fan-created Firefox ad that’s really good.

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Love coffee? Love cafes, but don’t want to support the corporate monstrosity? Then use Delocator to find local shops near you. And please, if you know of a local cafe that’s not listed on Delocator, add it!

[Waves of the phin to John, Paul, and John at FD.]