Saturday, July 16, 2005

Pictures of random people at the Cambridge Common today. 

If you like movies of cute babies, then you'll like this one.  

Interesting NY Times piece says users are throwing out PCs rather than try to get rid of spyware. I have the same idea, but can't bring myself to do it. One of the contributing factors has to be the high price of Windows. I think it would be a good idea to "pave" my laptop to get rid of the spyware. That is, re-install the operating system. Only one problem, my laptop was delivered with the OS pre-installed, and no CDs. So if I want to re-install, I guess I have to buy a copy of Windows. Seems that costs about $350. Almost the cost of a new computer. This just doesn't make sense. I'm a legal licensee of the OS. I think I should be able to get a copy to re-install for the cost of the media. Am I missing something? 

Meanwhile Scoble is getting some grief from ZDNet's David Berlind. I've gotten this kind of grief myself, and it's based on a big misunderstanding. I'd rather make a mistake and have it corrected within a few minutes, than spend two weeks researching something and still get it wrong, as most reporters do. Further, I don't have the two weeks, so the choice is to take a chance or not get the information at all. I'll always err on the side of taking a chance, and always add a grain of salt to everything you read here (and everywhere else for that matter). Now I understand what Scoble was saying when Michael Gartenberg was criticizing him. Scoble is doing the right thing. They should try to understand how he works, because it produces much better results than the system Gartenberg and Berlind are advocating. Demonstrably much better.  

Expedia heard about the problem, and is working on it. Not sure if they read about it here, or if their internal systems uncovered the problem. I kind of hope it was the latter.  

Two years ago, UserLand transferred the copyright in the RSS 2.0 spec to Berkman Center where it was re-published using the Creative Commons for-attribution share-alike license. 

Jay Rosen: "The brutalizing of McClellan was no recovery of courage by a suddenly-awakened press.It was the Bush team’s bald assertiveness coming into conflict with truth collection in the criminal justice system, which has exposed a seamy story that journalists themselves would have kept hidden because it involves their confidential sources." 

7/18/03: "Not only do I make mistakes, but sometimes as I'm making them, I know I'm doing it." 

Going to lunch the other day in Lexington, as I was leaving my parked car, I passed a group of very young people, probably around 15, smoking. I recognized it. They were talking, but the real thing that was going on was the smoking. They held their cigarettes awkwardly, toked the butts tentatively, guarding against a cough, not quite liking the strange taste of the drug. As I passed, I wanted to say "You know it's going to be hard to quit that later, and it's likely to cause a lot of pain and unhappiness." But I didn't. I remember that didn't mean anything to me when I started smoking, at roughly their age, in roughly the same way. Either you're going to smoke or not, and either you're going to stop or not, and someone telling you something can make a difference, but not under those circumstances. So I didn't say anything.