Hi folks -- I read today that Google CEO Eric Schmidt makes $1 in annual salary, but has a personal security detail that runs $532,755 a year. (You can see the full SEC filing if you like that sort of thing.)
Between that and learning that CNN Center in Atlanta has armed security guards, I'm feeling slightly unprotected right now.
(Also, I learned that if someone says, "Get out my way, pimpin'," you'd best get out of their way, since they're probably packing.)
That is all. -- Joe
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Sierra & Wolf: A Follow-Up, Not a Bounty-Hunting Duo
Hi folks -- here are two followups from previous items I've mentioned. (Well, I never got around to blogging about the Wolf story, but it was in my slushpile of links, so it sort of counts):
* Video blogger Josh Wolf was freed after spending 226 days in jail for contempt of court. He had refused to turn over his unaired video footage of a violent 2005 G-8 Summit protest, claiming journalistic protections given under the First Amendment.
In a compromise deal, he agreed to post the unaired footage (also giving a copy to prosecutors), and answering two questions under oath (both answers being "No.")
In return, he won't be required to testify in front of a grand jury.
So, everyone gets to declare victory (for now), and he gets to go home after spending nearly 8 months in the pen.
* In another image of detente, bloggers Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke issued a coordinated (not joint) statement about the recent death threat dust-up I mentioned.
It's a pretty reasoned joint response -- death threats are bad, some people are mean to other people on the Web, some people are especially mean to women on the Web, and let's everyone calm down a little bit before the politicians try to get involved again.
I do still think it was an event that received a disproportionate amount of attention, simply because of the players and interested parties, but that doesn't make the underlying issues any less valid.
Thanks -- Joe
* Video blogger Josh Wolf was freed after spending 226 days in jail for contempt of court. He had refused to turn over his unaired video footage of a violent 2005 G-8 Summit protest, claiming journalistic protections given under the First Amendment.
In a compromise deal, he agreed to post the unaired footage (also giving a copy to prosecutors), and answering two questions under oath (both answers being "No.")
In return, he won't be required to testify in front of a grand jury.
So, everyone gets to declare victory (for now), and he gets to go home after spending nearly 8 months in the pen.
* In another image of detente, bloggers Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke issued a coordinated (not joint) statement about the recent death threat dust-up I mentioned.
It's a pretty reasoned joint response -- death threats are bad, some people are mean to other people on the Web, some people are especially mean to women on the Web, and let's everyone calm down a little bit before the politicians try to get involved again.
I do still think it was an event that received a disproportionate amount of attention, simply because of the players and interested parties, but that doesn't make the underlying issues any less valid.
Thanks -- Joe
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Cover Songs (or, Quit Looking at My Humps)
Hi folks -- since everyone in the entire blog world
is apparently featuring, linking, or otherwise talking about this, here
it is in quick fashion: Canadian singer Alanis Morissette (vanguard
of the mid-90s chick/grrl-rock revolution) did a down-tempo
piano cover of the Black
Eyed Peas song 'My
Humps', complete with parody video -- it can now be found on
YouTube:
(Link via too many sites to mention, though I did find the video of the original song and the link to the cover video in the AOL
Video Blog.)
The video is very obviously a parody; the song is less obviously so,
since it's done in something close to her stereotypical
style. On its own, I don't think it's a
particularly good song (nor is it meant to be).
However, one thing the
slow, solo-piano delivery does is show how painfully
stupid the original lyrics are. They're terrible, and they
hardly rhyme, but they're attached to an annoyingly catchy hook, it has
a good beat and you can dance to it. (Guess that's all it takes to win a Grammy Award these days.)
(See more overanalysis about the song in the Metafilter
discussion thread, especially where user solistrato
suggests something that could be used as their motto: "HI I'M ON
METAFILTER AND I COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS.")
This is another example of artists crossing genres to do covers, which
ranges from the ironically self-aware (say, Ben Folds doing gangsta
rap), to earnest (Johnny Cash singing Soundgarden), to weird (Pat Boone
covering Metallica).
Why the appeal? At they're core, it's about people doing things you
wouldn't expect them to do (say, presidential adviser and conspiracy theorist favorite Karl
Rove rapping and... dancing?).
Some covers are funny (The Austin Lounge Lizards singing a bluegrass
version of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'); some of are them are
good (The Donnas covering Judas Priest's 'Living After Midnight'); some
of them are both (The Gourds doing Snoop Dogg's 'Gin & Juice'); and
some of them are neither (too many to mention).
(Incidentally, as I was writing this entry, I did some searching around
and found The Covers
Project, which is a Web site that catalogs cover songs. Not
sure if it's still current. My friend Pat likes making mix CDs of
cover songs -- I'll have to send him the link.)
Got a favorite cover song of your own that works (or doesn't work, but
in spectacular fashion)? Leave a comment and tell us. Better yet, if
you do a cover of your own, upload a video
and share it.
Thanks -- Joe
is apparently featuring, linking, or otherwise talking about this, here
it is in quick fashion: Canadian singer Alanis Morissette (vanguard
of the mid-90s chick/grrl-rock revolution) did a down-tempo
piano cover of the Black
Eyed Peas song 'My
Humps', complete with parody video -- it can now be found on
YouTube:
Viral,
much?
(Link via too many sites to mention, though I did find the video of the original song and the link to the cover video in the AOL
Video Blog.)
The video is very obviously a parody; the song is less obviously so,
since it's done in something close to her stereotypical
style. On its own, I don't think it's a
particularly good song (nor is it meant to be).
However, one thing the
slow, solo-piano delivery does is show how painfully
stupid the original lyrics are. They're terrible, and they
hardly rhyme, but they're attached to an annoyingly catchy hook, it has
a good beat and you can dance to it. (Guess that's all it takes to win a Grammy Award these days.)
(See more overanalysis about the song in the Metafilter
discussion thread, especially where user solistrato
suggests something that could be used as their motto: "HI I'M ON
METAFILTER AND I COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS.")
This is another example of artists crossing genres to do covers, which
ranges from the ironically self-aware (say, Ben Folds doing gangsta
rap), to earnest (Johnny Cash singing Soundgarden), to weird (Pat Boone
covering Metallica).
Why the appeal? At they're core, it's about people doing things you
wouldn't expect them to do (say, presidential adviser and conspiracy theorist favorite Karl
Rove rapping and... dancing?).
Some covers are funny (The Austin Lounge Lizards singing a bluegrass
version of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'); some of are them are
good (The Donnas covering Judas Priest's 'Living After Midnight'); some
of them are both (The Gourds doing Snoop Dogg's 'Gin & Juice'); and
some of them are neither (too many to mention).
(Incidentally, as I was writing this entry, I did some searching around
and found The Covers
Project, which is a Web site that catalogs cover songs. Not
sure if it's still current. My friend Pat likes making mix CDs of
cover songs -- I'll have to send him the link.)
Got a favorite cover song of your own that works (or doesn't work, but
in spectacular fashion)? Leave a comment and tell us. Better yet, if
you do a cover of your own, upload a video
and share it.
Thanks -- Joe
Monday, April 2, 2007
I Didn't Want a Raise, But Maybe I'll Keep It
So, our group's big office move happened over the weekend, and we're here in our new digs (one building over).
The first thing I noticed is that I now have a raised desk:
At first, I didn't want to keep the raised setup, but after trying it out for a little bit, I think I'll give it a shot. It's relatively easy to change (if you have a cordless drill driver on you).
This probably means I'll need an LCD monitor, since the big tube monitor is sitting waaaay too close to my face right now. LCDs are usually brighter than CRT screens, though, so if and when I get one, I'll have to make sure it's calibrated correctly, lest photos that look okay to me are too dark for everyone else.
That settled, I can now start the herculean task of unpacking my boxes:computer slaves knowledge workers, so it's got stuff that you wouldn't find in our old building, CC1 (which is a retrofitted airplane hangar).
Stuff like underfloor air and cable runs, with access ports that feel like gopher holes:
Incidentally, looking at the aerial photo view in MapQuest, I notice that the local post office processing facility has something on the roof:
Which is kind of a pity, since it might hit 80 today and it looks really nice out.
Thanks -- Joe
The first thing I noticed is that I now have a raised desk:
Yes, I'm in a highchair now.
At first, I didn't want to keep the raised setup, but after trying it out for a little bit, I think I'll give it a shot. It's relatively easy to change (if you have a cordless drill driver on you).
This probably means I'll need an LCD monitor, since the big tube monitor is sitting waaaay too close to my face right now. LCDs are usually brighter than CRT screens, though, so if and when I get one, I'll have to make sure it's calibrated correctly, lest photos that look okay to me are too dark for everyone else.
That settled, I can now start the herculean task of unpacking my boxes:
Only eight boxes this time.
This could get really annoying.
Stuff like underfloor air and cable runs, with access ports that feel like gopher holes:
Macro shot of a floor vent.
We're already hard at work de-beiging it.
That's not an executive, that's a plant.
Incidentally, looking at the aerial photo view in MapQuest, I notice that the local post office processing facility has something on the roof:
I hope it's a forever-rate stamp -- it would be a hassle to repaint.
Which is kind of a pity, since it might hit 80 today and it looks really nice out.
Thanks -- Joe
Friday, March 30, 2007
Friday Blogplugs
Hi folks -- here's are a few more blogplugs, which are entries that people want to get in front of other people by labeling them with the tag blogplugs:
* Paul blogplugs another edition of CarnivAOL (where you show off an entry of yours that you want to show off); you've got until Sunday to get your submissions in, and they'll be featured on Tuesday over at Carpe Diem.
* Guido had an entry about a politician sacked by blog, but he unplugged it.
* Val over at There Is a Season blogplugs an entry from Krissy that will make you cry.
* Lastly, over Our Beloved Angels, check out a poem on pet loss and more.
If you've got entries of your own or other peoples' that you want to blogplug, just send it to me or use the tag blogplugs.
Thanks -- Joe
* Paul blogplugs another edition of CarnivAOL (where you show off an entry of yours that you want to show off); you've got until Sunday to get your submissions in, and they'll be featured on Tuesday over at Carpe Diem.
* Guido had an entry about a politician sacked by blog, but he unplugged it.
* Val over at There Is a Season blogplugs an entry from Krissy that will make you cry.
* Lastly, over Our Beloved Angels, check out a poem on pet loss and more.
If you've got entries of your own or other peoples' that you want to blogplug, just send it to me or use the tag blogplugs.
Thanks -- Joe
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Getting Out Just in Time?
Hi folks -- I'm back in the office; looks like I got out of Colorado just in time. ("Heavy snow falls overnight.")
It was apparently part of the same storm that spawned tornadoes across the Plains, killing 3 -- my flight had to divert around it.
I have a lot of great stuff I need to write up about the ICWSM conference I've been mentioning, but unfortunately, it will have to wait a bit -- we have to pack for our office move by 5pm today, which means I have less than 4 hours left to box up 11 years worth of accumulated stuff.
I think I'm going to need some more boxes.
Anyway, today I'm just going to be banging out a few immediate things I need to take care of -- the rest will have to wait until later. Today is just packing day -- tomorrow is the actual move day, so we'll all be working off-site -- that is, at home, squatting in empty cubicles, or in any other Internet-connected workspace.
Thanks -- Joe
It was apparently part of the same storm that spawned tornadoes across the Plains, killing 3 -- my flight had to divert around it.
I have a lot of great stuff I need to write up about the ICWSM conference I've been mentioning, but unfortunately, it will have to wait a bit -- we have to pack for our office move by 5pm today, which means I have less than 4 hours left to box up 11 years worth of accumulated stuff.
I think I'm going to need some more boxes.
Anyway, today I'm just going to be banging out a few immediate things I need to take care of -- the rest will have to wait until later. Today is just packing day -- tomorrow is the actual move day, so we'll all be working off-site -- that is, at home, squatting in empty cubicles, or in any other Internet-connected workspace.
Thanks -- Joe
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Blog High School: Death Threats Amongst the A-List
Hi folks -- John Panzer blogged this, and it's come up in conversation a couple of times here at the ICWSM conference, so I thought I'd mention it:
Kathy Sierra, who blogs over at Creating Passionate Users, canceled a conference appearance this week after receiving death threats on her blog and perceived death threats on other people's blogs [content warning], in anonymously posted entries and comments.
Since I'm supposed to be listening to presentations right now, I haven't been able to take an in-depth look at this, but, honestly, from my outside view, it looks like a battle of high school cliques (the freaks and geeks battling the cool kids), except it's taking place amongst the A-List bloggers, with some bits of disturbing imagery and threats of bodily harm.
Oh, and the police have been called.
(It could also be the revolution eating its own. I'm not sure.)
And, since it's among A-Listers (who love talking about themselves), it's the top item on Techmeme right now and has hit BBC News.
Sides are being taken, accusations are being hurled and rebutted, and a lot of folks are making self-righteous hay.
I'm not going to lay out a full chronology (since I don't know it), but there was a group blog, meankids (it's been taken down), followed by unclebobism (now suspended), which is associated with Chris Locke (who responded to the allegations), one of the principals of The Cluetrain Manifesto.
A certain groups were pitted against another group. Nasty things were said. Now this.
Father of blogs Dave Winer has weighed in, as has Doc Searls; ValleyWag has a contrarian opinion; here's BlogHer's Lisa Stone -- basically, anyone who's anyone in the blogging world is taking the opportunity to weigh in.
Now, the thing that gets me is that, as many of us know, this kind of crap happens all the time. In my role as Journals editor, I've heard many stories of people who went private or deleted their blogs because of aberrant behavior by people (both known and anonymous).
But all of a sudden, it hits the so-called A-List, and suddenly people are falling over themselves railing against anonymity, calling for boycotts and codes of conduct, and throwing "the solution for hate speech is more speech" out the window because it's one of their own.
All because of some poster, who may or may not be sociopathic and who may or may not be associated with other A-List bloggers.
Obviously, if there's a crime here, it should be investigated and prosecuted. But this is not new (have these people not ready any red/blue blog battles lately?), and just because it's occurring in a prominent and insular community doesn't mean it's more important and more deserving of attention than if it happens to the rest of us.
I don't have a stake in this battle (though I'm pretty solidly in the "anti-death threats" camp), but I think some folks need to take a deep breath here.
If you've had your own run-in with anti-social blog behavior (as either victim or aggressor), please feel free to leave a comment -- however, if you try to use my blog as a platform for personal attacks on someone, your comment will be deleted. I'm just saying.
Thanks -- Joe
Kathy Sierra, who blogs over at Creating Passionate Users, canceled a conference appearance this week after receiving death threats on her blog and perceived death threats on other people's blogs [content warning], in anonymously posted entries and comments.
Since I'm supposed to be listening to presentations right now, I haven't been able to take an in-depth look at this, but, honestly, from my outside view, it looks like a battle of high school cliques (the freaks and geeks battling the cool kids), except it's taking place amongst the A-List bloggers, with some bits of disturbing imagery and threats of bodily harm.
Oh, and the police have been called.
(It could also be the revolution eating its own. I'm not sure.)
And, since it's among A-Listers (who love talking about themselves), it's the top item on Techmeme right now and has hit BBC News.
Sides are being taken, accusations are being hurled and rebutted, and a lot of folks are making self-righteous hay.
I'm not going to lay out a full chronology (since I don't know it), but there was a group blog, meankids (it's been taken down), followed by unclebobism (now suspended), which is associated with Chris Locke (who responded to the allegations), one of the principals of The Cluetrain Manifesto.
A certain groups were pitted against another group. Nasty things were said. Now this.
Father of blogs Dave Winer has weighed in, as has Doc Searls; ValleyWag has a contrarian opinion; here's BlogHer's Lisa Stone -- basically, anyone who's anyone in the blogging world is taking the opportunity to weigh in.
Now, the thing that gets me is that, as many of us know, this kind of crap happens all the time. In my role as Journals editor, I've heard many stories of people who went private or deleted their blogs because of aberrant behavior by people (both known and anonymous).
But all of a sudden, it hits the so-called A-List, and suddenly people are falling over themselves railing against anonymity, calling for boycotts and codes of conduct, and throwing "the solution for hate speech is more speech" out the window because it's one of their own.
All because of some poster, who may or may not be sociopathic and who may or may not be associated with other A-List bloggers.
Obviously, if there's a crime here, it should be investigated and prosecuted. But this is not new (have these people not ready any red/blue blog battles lately?), and just because it's occurring in a prominent and insular community doesn't mean it's more important and more deserving of attention than if it happens to the rest of us.
I don't have a stake in this battle (though I'm pretty solidly in the "anti-death threats" camp), but I think some folks need to take a deep breath here.
If you've had your own run-in with anti-social blog behavior (as either victim or aggressor), please feel free to leave a comment -- however, if you try to use my blog as a platform for personal attacks on someone, your comment will be deleted. I'm just saying.
Thanks -- Joe
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