Month: March 2005

A novel, a history, and a bottle of wine

The novel “A Carnivore’s Inquiry” is an acceptable mystery with a dirty, violent bent. The twsit ending isn’t one I saw coming, but should have.

“The Great Mortality,” a history of the black plague, occasionally repeats itself– but then, the plague repeated itself several times. The book is readable and informative, while providing macabre entertainment and a reminder than none of my troubles are really all that bad.

“Veritas” 2003 Claret, Monticello Vineyards: Like many high-end Virginia wines, this is quite good, but probably not an excellent value. Not aggressive or tannic, but much deeper and more complex than I’m used to. It was better after being left out for half an hour while I packed.

Science Man!

We’ve been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture,” said pastor Ray Mummert, who is apparently neither intelligent nor educated. He seems to have the same definitions of words as the Heritage Foundation, where “an increasing number” can still be 0 and “evidence” may or may not imply the word “fabricated.” Yes, we are under attack by the intelligent and educated. We need to defend our freedom, our freedom from reality.

… and bust

Know how on roller coasters, you get closer and closer to the top of that first hill, and you think, here it comes! Here it comes! Closer! Closer! A little bit more! And you anticipate the feeling in your gut, and it seems endless?

I’m watching people do this who think that drop isn’t coming at all. And it might not come any time soon. But I think it’s soon.

Even the normally cheery New York Times sounds gloomy, and this week I read an article in the Wall Street Journal which pointed out that influential investors such as CALPERS (the California state retirement fund, one of the country’s largest institutional investors) are selling off significant amounts of stock in REITs and home-builders, as well as dumping a lot of their direct real estate holdings.

Closer! Closer! Here we go! Not quite yet! Almost!

Cultural Referent

The gold standard of authenticity has mentioned Bookdwarf in an article about meta-criticism and reviews of book reviews (the dwarf has been doing a rundown of the Globe book reviews recently). The article seems to imply that this is getting a little bit too meta, but I think that if the book reviews have enough weight, they’re worthy of criticism. Besides, I haven’t got time to read them all– much less the books– so I can at least keep up by reading summaries of reviews of books I might want to argue about at cocktail parties.

On a vaguely related note, I heard a great bossa-nova version of Love will Tear us Apart last week, but now that I’ve looked up the review, and found that Pitchfork is ambivalent about it, I’m not so sure I should follow up. Still, bossa-nova Joy Division! This will go great with my collection of Blue Monday covers.

I’m Back

I’m back from SLC. My brother just moved to Bolivia. I’m moving to Park Avenue 02144 this week. Expect few posts, as I will be busy.

No, I Will Not Fix Your Computer

No posts lately because I’ve been at Brainshare. But here’s my recap: best giveaway of show: The case stickers that replace your Windows sticker. Surprise hit: we only printed a couple thousand, but people went apeshit for them and we’ve had to resort to rationing. I should note that they say it’s “Optional” to remove your Windows sticker because apparently removing the “Made for Windows” sticker can invalidate your warranty.

Most common question of show: will you help me with my wireless card? Most wireless cards are supported. Many are not supported. This is unfortunate.

Second most common question: When can I get a Novell Netware Client for Linux? A: Closed beta now, open beta early summer, release late summer. Sorry for the delay, but they insisted on testing it before release.

Best lifesaving participant: Brian Coons from IS&T. Not only did he save my butt on numerous customer questions, but he seems to have galvanized all the developers and product managers to implement a good plan for wireless support. Why this man isn’t in charge, I do not know. He’s apparently also a wonderful father. People like him make me jealous.

Highest-calorie meal: The Melting Pot. Four courses, three fondue and one salad. Yeah, they throw in a salad. Whoo. It’s still cheese, oil, and chocolate for the better part of two hours. I walked back to the hotel slowly.

March: The Bubble Inflates Some More

I found these two articles from SFGate and the LA Times on how real estate is even more insane, via Dan Gillmor, courtesy of John Fleck.

My favorite comment: “Everyone who looks at the market says the price acceleration can’t last, but real estate agents and other experts said they expect a gradual leveling rather than a bubble bursting.” This is the ultimate last justification for people when they knowingly pay for an over valued asset. “Yeah, I don’t expect those returns anymore, but it will probably just level off.”

Oooh, Ethics!

Ari Fleischer claims that government shouldn’t solve problems, that examples are bad illustrations of statistical trends, and that the unemployment rate isn’t a good measure of the economy. Wow, that’s brilliant maneuvering there, buddy. Let’s see who believes you… Oh, wait, you’re talking to lapdogs. Everyone.

EDS claims the Linux environment lacks securifying. And ZDNet publishes the press release as an article. Yay, that’s easy. If you say it enough, maybe it will become true. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my environment does lack both securification and stetic.

People were shocked when the government started releasing B-Roll press releases as news, but to me it’s just part of the “corporate presidency.” That means you get corporate-style PR, which of course includes prepackaged news stories given to the local news channels that can’t afford to produce their own real news, so they run this as filler. It goes hand in hand with corporate-style ethics.