Monday, January 30, 2006

Essay: What is friendship? 

I had brunch yesterday in Berkeley with Lisa Williams. She gave me a really cool gift, an embeddable mechanical music box. They sell for $2 in a bin at a hobby shop in Boston (or somewhere nearby). Here's a demo of my box playing Row Row Row Your Boat. Isn't it cool? She says the little thing is rugged. Her two-year-old throws his around everywhere. 

Kottke: Blogs versus the NY Times in Google. 

Anne 2.0: Why Venture Capitalists are Doomed.  

We've got a date: Berkeley Bloggers Dinner #2. 

Doc Searls shares a story of friendship. It's great to have this be a topic of discussion in the tech blogosphere. Long overdue. I wasn't sure we could do it without an overwhelming number of flames, but there have been none.  

Postscript: "In a court of law you're entitled to cross-examine your accusers. Same in the court of friendship." 

Frank Paynter did something friendly by relating friendship and XML formats and protocols. Now, my article about friendship is on Memeorandum, an unexpected surprise. Part of this thread is about language, as Frank explains, he uses the term friend in a different way than I do. Now that I've written this piece, which is based on a lifetime of learning, I can probably loosen up a little. Even though others may not know what I mean by "friend," at least now I do. A tricky subject, to say the least.