“Every man has three characters – that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“The more things change, the more they are the same.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“We can invent only with memory.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
“Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 – 1890)
And, three not by Karr:
“The more things change, the more they remain… insane.” - Michael Fry and T. Lewis, Over the Hedge, 05-09-04
“The squeaking wheel doesn’t always get the grease. Sometimes it gets replaced.” – Vic Gold
“The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.” – Arthur Koestler (1905 – 1983)
The author J.D. Salinger died today. These are some of my favorite quotes from his books, and by him:
“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m not going to bed after all. Somebody around here hath murdered sleep. Good for him.
I can’t be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight.
– J. D. Salinger (1919 – 2010)
I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.
– J. D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), Franny and Zooey Pg. 30
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.
– J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
“I’m sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
- J.D. Salinger (1919 – 2010), The Catcher in the Rye
I’m not going to bed after all. Somebody around here hath murdered sleep. Good for him.
Since Monday was a federal holiday, I expected to Netflix to receive the returned DVD on Tuesday, then ship the next dvd in my queue to arrive on Wednesday.
But – no.
Netflix emailed me Monday morning they received the dvd I mailed them on Saturday.
Later that day my updated dvd queue noted the next dvd would ship on Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday.
Instead, it arrived TUESDAY.
Netflix gets a lot of things right – which is in line with its entertainment product offerings – but even better, sometimes its efficiency is magic, too. <G
… would be a killer app – and in more ways than one; streaming more than one movie would easily eat up most people’s iPhone minutes package on AT&T without making *any* calls… Today, from TechCrunch, via Hacking Netflix: Rumor: Netflix Streaming Coming To The iPhone by MG Siegler on August 3, 2009 One big story …
Via CNN.com today: Comcast rolled out a Web-based on-demand television and movie service on Tuesday that gives customers access to more than 2,000 hours of television and movies. – more – The service, named Fancast XFINITY TV (formerly TV Everywhere), is getting mixed reviews on Twitter, and is in beta, with limited …
I’ve been broadcast/cable tv free for about a month now, with only mild withdrawal symptoms (having really re-run episodes of NCIS makes great white noise for me when I work from home; so now I have to improvise….). Even so – the combination of watching/running Netflix offerings in the background is …
When I still had cable tv, I loved my Tivo, even though I never upgraded my Tivo 2 box the Tivo HD. Why not? Pricing. I had a lifetime (of the Tivo 2 box) subscription, so upgrading would have been very expensive for me – first because of Tivo’s high pricing …
Last week a “minority” of T-Mobile Sidekick users learned the “Rule of Data Redundancy” the long, slow, hard way – and through no fault of their own. Sidekick users who stored their data locally (on the device) or backed up their data on a PC through a sync still have their …
Not surprisingly <G>, Wired has an interesting follow up story on how the Netflix prize was won – and notes real progress was made in the contest’s goal to improve the Netflix movie recommendation algorithm by 10 percent only after the leaders joined forces with members of some of the also-ran teams. The …
According to Silicon Alley Insider, with data partly from Comscore, 38 million people watched Hulu at least once in July - a viewership which easily topped Time Warner Cable’s July viewership of 34 million. That same month, only DirecTV (47 million viewers) and Comcast (62 million) pulled larger audiences: While impressive, Hulu.com has a long way to go before reaching the cable companies’ …
As we are in the worst recession in 70 years, only three things are guaranteed: death, taxes, and a yearly 5% or more increase in cable subscription fees.
So – as a consumer, witnessing the on-g0ing scrimmishes between Broadcast TV providers and premium content (cable) providers is also entertainment.
Although this year’s skirmish between Fox and Time Warner was resolved at the 11th hour, Time Warner’s detailed instructions which show its customers how to watch Fox online, for free, with the suggestion viewers head to the likes of Hulu, Fancast, or any search engine–to find their favorite shows.
Time Warner Cable’s instructions on “How to Connect Your PC to Your TV” can be accessed by clicking on the image at the bottom of this post.
Still, no matter how this resolves, the danger for both sides is that consumers really do take up Time Warner Cable on its offer and start watching Fox stuff on the Web, since Fox definitely wants people keep paying for cable TV since Fox really covets subscription fees from cable TV providers.
To paraphrase Douglas Adams: Corporations, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
… would be a killer app – and in more ways than one; streaming more than one movie would easily eat up most people’s iPhone minutes package on AT&T without making *any* calls… Today, from TechCrunch, via Hacking Netflix: Rumor: Netflix Streaming Coming To The iPhone by MG Siegler on August 3, 2009 One big story …
Via CNN.com today: Comcast rolled out a Web-based on-demand television and movie service on Tuesday that gives customers access to more than 2,000 hours of television and movies. – more – The service, named Fancast XFINITY TV (formerly TV Everywhere), is getting mixed reviews on Twitter, and is in beta, with limited …
I’ve been broadcast/cable tv free for about a month now, with only mild withdrawal symptoms (having really re-run episodes of NCIS makes great white noise for me when I work from home; so now I have to improvise….). Even so – the combination of watching/running Netflix offerings in the background is …
When I still had cable tv, I loved my Tivo, even though I never upgraded my Tivo 2 box the Tivo HD. Why not? Pricing. I had a lifetime (of the Tivo 2 box) subscription, so upgrading would have been very expensive for me – first because of Tivo’s high pricing …
I seem to be thinking mostly in images these days, when not thinking in terms of databases… Related content: Help Wanted: Zookeeper with a Good Attitude. Most job postings are dry. Really dry. And – they usually include “must haves” which require skills and/or experience with everything but being able to both plumb AND …
According to Silicon Alley Insider, with data partly from Comscore, 38 million people watched Hulu at least once in July - a viewership which easily topped Time Warner Cable’s July viewership of 34 million. That same month, only DirecTV (47 million viewers) and Comcast (62 million) pulled larger audiences: While impressive, Hulu.com has a long way to go before reaching the cable companies’ …
From Techcrunch, last week: At first this announcement appeared to be a good candidate for “News of the Weird:” Microsoft Officially Retires Soapbox, The Poor Man’s YouTube by Leena Rao on July 21, 2009 Microsoft’s YouTube clone Soapbox is officially shutting its doors, according to reports today. Soapbox, which was launched in 2006 as a hub for downloading …
So – the featured speaker at the July 2009 Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s speaker at this month’s “Author Speaker Breakfast” is Chris Anderson, author of FREE: The Future of a Radical Price: FREE: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson the bestselling author of the The Long Tail In his revolutionary …
Free is Sometimes Free: The Future of a Radical Price
For those not able to make the Seattle Chamber of Commerce breakfast tomorrow, featuring Chris Anderson talking about his book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, his presentation at Wired’s “Disruptive Business Conference” is available online, for free: Related content: Free is Not Always Free. So – the featured speaker at …
Free: The Future of a Radical New Price is now…Free!
Late last month, Chris Anderson released a free downloadable unabridged podcast/audiobook version of his book, Free: The Future of a Radical New Price as zipped mp3 files, and via iTunes. It chapter is an individual podcast; all of which are narrated by Chris. [caption id=”attachment_1506″ align=”aligncenter” width=”162″ caption=”Free: The Future of a Radical …
Douglas Adams, that is … and re-reading – and re-thinking – his wit and wisdom is one of my favorite ways to start each new year.
His quotes are in no particular order; and all of them are worth thinking about. Enjoy!
“Anything that happens happens, anything that in happening causes something else to happen causes something else to happen, and anything that in happening causes itself to happen again, happens again. Although not necessarily in chronological order.”
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.”
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”
“Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into something even more incomprehensible. And then there are those who say that this has already happened.
“We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying.”
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.”
“You live and learn. At any rate, you live.”
“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. ”
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”
“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity the merely improbable lacks.”
“Once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.”
“Let the past hold on to itself and let the present move forward into the future.”
“Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else becomes eerily easy.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“Anything that thinks logically can be fooled by something else that thinks at least as logically as it does.”
“See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.”
“There’s always a moment when you start to fall out of love, whether it’s with a person or an idea or a cause, even if it’s one you only narrate to yourself years after the event: a tiny thing, a wrong word, a false note, which means that things can never be quite the same again.”
“Life is wasted on the living.”
“The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis.”
“The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.”
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.”
“It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.”
For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.
The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa’s whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide Christmas Eve updates on Santa’s journey.
“I have the greatest admiration for Col. Shoup and found delight in his remarkable humor with taking the first-ever call regarding Santa’s whereabouts back in 1955. His kind and thoughtful gesture will forever be a legacy at NORAD, and with the millions of people around the world who follow the NORAD Tracks Santa program each year. Truly, forever in the minds of millions he will be fondly remembered as the “Santa Colonel” and his legend will live on forever.”
General Victor E. Renaurt, Jr., USAF
Commander, NORAD
Commander, USNORTHCOM
Some folks may be familiar with several charity websites, which offer netizens an opportunity to contribute to different causes by “clicking to give,” with the actual donation coming from the site owner (CharityUSA.com) donating its revenue from sponsors.
Since donating via one of these sites really only requires a minute of or two of my time, I’ve worked hard to build a habit of visiting each once a day to ”click to give.”
By doing this, I’ve discovered netizens seem to favor feeding stray animals over feeding starving people; since more people click to donate food to animals via CharityUSA.com’s sites than click to donate food to starving people.
Wow. I believe in helping people and animals; I hope you do too. If so – be the change you wish to see in this world, and ”click to give” to one or more of these sites each day, and on a generous day, maybe buy something via one of your chose charity site’s stores, too.
