Connected Conversations Politics, technology, et cetera

For my dad

He doesn’t understand why I write this blog. Although this won’t necessarily answer that question, I think he will enjoy this amazing sports video.

The day the music died - oink (2004-2007)

Imagine a site where you could download any album, old, new and even pre-released!, for free and in just seconds. Until last week, an invitation-only site called Oink was such a site. Oink was shut down last week by police in both the UK and Amsterdam. What was oink? Was it […]

Super Poke on facebook

What is the most common form of communication? A greeting! Think of how many times you ask someone “How are you?” even though you know that the only socially acceptable response is, “Good. How are you?” On facebook, the poke has become the virtual equivalent of a greeting. And like […]

Funny “high school” video

I used KeepVid.com to capture this youtube video, and then winFF to convert it to a .wmv file that I edited with Windows Movie Maker. And then I published just the highlights of this viral classic for you here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MetI9UJ7cI4

Ning vs facebook for membership organizations — follow up

Someone in South Africa found my video on youtube about facebook that I previously posted here. Here’s his question to compare Ning vs facebook and then my response. Isn’t it cool how sharing works on the net?

Hey,
I saw your video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzAG9wGF2QA
I want to find out, you listed a whole bunch of […]

Hall of “shame” on e-thepeople.org

Wow, people can really post mean/vile/nonsensical things on e-thepeople. The good news is that the collaborative rating system ensures that this stuff is mostly buried, and that everyone who reads it at least knows that there is no need to respond to this junk. But after 6+ years, it is kinda funny that […]

Barney, Berenstein Bears & “Pseudo-gemeinschaft”

My 3 year old daughter was watching the Berenstein Bears today and I remarked at the crazy verse of its theme song:

They’re kind furry around the torso
They’re a lot like people, only more so!

More like people than real people themselves?! Holy cow. But the show that my 18 mo old son […]

Dice stacking

This is real! If you don’t think you have time to spend a few minutes watching this video, just think how much time this dude has spent practicing these crazy tricks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIayUEi_KGo

#756*

The news for non-sports fans: “The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame.” Some eccentric rich guy named Ecko buys the Bonds’ ball for $700k, and then runs an online poll to decide what to do: (1) […]

Can you run a membership organization on facebook?

In my facebook class, we are responsible for forming three person teams: a marketer, a technologist and a manager. I’d like to manage a team that creates something useful for e-thePeople and other membership organizations, so I put together this video to solicit interest. I am pleased with the results. Check it […]

Favorite cookbooks

Right now, my wife Maria cooks us delicious meals with recipes from three books from our moms. We are into simple (e.g,. very few) and fresh ingredients. I was inspired to post this by a link “Top 10 Food Books Every Chef Should Own“. First our short list:

Great Grilling (Louise Pickford) - we’ve eaten […]

iRobot and X-Men: quick reviews

iRobot: Will Smith stars in Isaac Isamov’s sci fi thriller. Original story develops several interesting themes about cloning, scientific progress, paternalism and anthropomorphism. Also, a prescient warning of the danger of automatic updates (think: Microsoft). The robot “sonny” is surprisingly convincing; Will smith is good but not great.

X-Men: Growing up, I […]

Recall economics

I am in the market for a wooden train set for my son as a Christmas present. In my opinion, this item is perfectly suited to be purchased used. Unfortunately, RC2 recently recalled about 1.5 million trains due to excessive levels of lead paint. The primary economic impact is quite bad for […]

Why don’t NFL teams encrypt their signals better?

Football fans know that the Patriots got busted stealing signals from the Jets the other week. My initial reaction was: why just fine the Patriots rather than a meaningful penalty, like forfeiting the game? But I think Ed Felten, a computer professor at Princeton, asks an even better question, “why don’t NFL teams […]