I’m ages behind in noting my reading and movies (pending: 11 books, 2 films), but before we head out to catch a Memorial Day parade in the Presidio, worth capturing some links in un-related paragraphs. Obama’s Wesleyan commencement speech, via Jim Fallows. Richard Feyman and the Connection Machine is an essay I plan to read,…

Read on →

People wonder whether social network advertising will prove as lucrative as the search ads which have driven Google to its current throne. I don’t have the answer. But this morning I saw an ad on Facebook that was relevant and interesting to me, and I clicked on it. It was a text ad, “Core Perform…

Read on →

Two weeks ago in Phoenix, we went to see The Counterfeiters. Winning the Oscar for best foreign language film does help bring a movie some attention, and some needed distribution. My German is non-existent, so when the film started with the subtitles half off the screen, annoyance started to rise. But the projection corrected, and…

Read on →

A month ago, Vin sent me a box full of books, including several Robert Sawyer novels. I’ve enjoyed earlier reads, and Flashforward was a quick romp. Courtesy of a supercollider experiment, the world gets a glimpse of its future 21 years out. Sawyer takes a swing at the mundane (patent office is overwhelmed with applications…

Read on →

Pirillo Starts Large Scale Community CMS Project is TechCrunch coverage of Chris Pirillo’s announcement of Gnomepal. I’m trying to think of a company where its content management system is a sustainable competitive advantage. I’ve been involved in the building (and rebuilding) of several, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where you wouldn’t start with…

Read on →

My friends Vin and Chris found time for favorite10 this year. f10 is for music lovers who are constantly on the lookout for new music. Honestly, I am not the target audience. Hard to remember the last time I looked for new music, whether online or off. But Vin was kind enough to invite me…

Read on →

Khoi Vinh watches another generation fall under Tintin’s spell. Been there, and also waiting for the movie. Some of the language in these comic albums isn’t PC anymore (e.g., “dirty gypsies”), but Tintin is never one to stand for injustice. Google News finally answers some of publishers’ questions, and promises more information in the future.…

Read on →

My sister Mary sits in with The Loose Marbles, a New Orleans street band. That’s her on the accordion, on the right. Original location, if the embed causes any problems. More about the Loose Marbles in The New Yorker from May 2007.

Read on →

I found the final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, a bit loose. No untidy loose ends, but Philip Pullman uses more words to describe less action as the climax approaches. I do appreciate the bittersweet ending, though. You don’t get to save the world and live happily ever after. Think…

Read on →