Hi Walt!
Happy New Year!
This is a pretty spectacular weekend for all of us. In part because the times demand a major change. In part because we worked so hard last year and it’s great to see the culmination of all of those efforts. There’s hope for solving some of the major problems facing the nation and the world. And, of course, there’s the historical significance.
The thing that gets to me emotionally is thinking about all the people I knew growing up — my mother and father, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, teachers, etc. — who are no longer with us. I never expected to see a black president but at least considered it a possibility. Those folks had struggles I’ve never faced and I wish I could share tomorrow’s inauguration with them. It’s all pretty deep!
Hope you and your family are doing well!
Bill
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Gotta love the NY tabloids. The Jets are finished, so someone’s gotta be shot in the head. Eric Mangini? You’re outta here! Brett Favre? You’re … OK until we see who we can get to replace you. But the people who created this debacle? The owner? The nice thing about being an owner is you can’t be fired until you run the business into the ground.
I’ve been rooting for Jets since they were the Titans. I remember Emerson Boozer, Matt Snell, Johnny Sample, Gerry Philbin and, of course, Joe Willy Namath. Of course, I remember all the other disappointments. But I’m a Jet fan. A Wayne Chrebet Jet fan. A Chad Pennington Jet fan.
This year I rooted for Chad and Chad won. I hope the Jets will get back to being Jets so I can root for them again. What do they have to do? Well, start by picking a quarterback who can be counted on to not throw interceptions in December (or January) when everything’s on the line. Chad’s not good enough? OK. But for chrissakes, go find someone who is actually better than Chad. You know, better than the guy who should, by all rights, be the NFL’s MVP this season.
Here’s something weird. I subscribe to the Signal vs. Noise RSS feed, and just read their post about the new Audi R8.
I clicked on the “Digg This” link at the bottom of the post as it appeared in NetNewsWire (shown below).
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at this spam page from referpals.com instead of Digg.com.
ReferPals.com seems not to exist:
Not sure how often people get this kind of message, but it isn’t good for 37signals or FeedBurner.
BTW, the car is simply gorgeous!
That’s it. Now back to work … and … Tetris...
Thanks to crunchnotes, tonight I came across LIne Rider, a monumental waste of time. My first effort:
After watching this effort by Nik Cubrilovic, well, I’ve got some work to do:
Today’s New York Times features an editorial about the Bush administration’s use of terror for political purposes:
“It comes like a punch to the gut, at times like these, when our leaders blatantly use the nation’s trauma for political gain. We never get used to this. It never feels like business as usual.“On Wednesday, when the administration already knew that British agents were rounding up suspects in what they believed was a plot to blow up planes en route to the United States, Vice President Dick Cheney had a telephone interview with reporters to discuss the defeat of Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut in a Democratic primary. Mr. Cheney went off on a rather rambling disquisition, but its main point was clear: In rejecting Mr. Lieberman, who supported the war in Iraq, the Democrats were encouraging ‘the Al Qaeda types.’ Within the Democratic ranks, the vice president added, ‘there’s a significant body of opinion that wants to go back — I guess the way I would describe it is sort of the pre-9/11 mind-set, in terms of how we deal with the world we live in.’
...
“Here is what we want to do in the wake of the arrests in Britain. We want to understand as much as possible about what terrorists were planning. To talk about airport security and how to make it better. To celebrate what worked in the British investigation and discuss how to push these efforts farther. It would be a blessed moment in modern American history if we could do that without turning this into a political game plan.”
Reminds me of President Andrew Shepherd’s speech in The American President, a 1995 film that led to NBC’s West Wing Shepard said:
“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it.“
Seems we could use a strong, straight-talking, authentic, incorruptible leader…
I shop at Amazon.com all the time. They’ve been using my purchases to suggest other things I might want to buy via email or when I visit “Bill’s Store,” made just for me. Every now and then there’s a suggestion that interests me, mostly a book or jazz I hadn’t heard of before.
Tonight I went to Amazon to order more Orville Reddenbacher’s Popcorn. After completing the purchase, I went to MY store and found a set of tags or categories. I click on a tag and it shows me the corresponding suggestions. Seems Ajaxian. Excellent!
I hover over a suggestion and shows me more info. I can purchase immediately. I can tell them I own it already and rate it.
All of this gives Amazon even more info about what I might like to buy. Given the news about AOL releasing customer search information, perhaps I should be worried. Instead, I’m really pleased:
Amazon is getting to know who I am and what I’m really interested in!
Do you have the right to sing the blues?
Well, I’m feeling kind a hongry,
There’s no food that I’ve ate,
Only one good thing about it,
Probably won’t be gainin’ weight…Yes, I’ve got the blues…
Well, I thought I had the blues. Apparently, even though you could call me Willie, I break too many of Lame Mango Washington’s rules.
How about you?
Thirty-eight years ago tonight, my family gathered to celebrate my brother’s tenth birthday. The party never happened. Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis earlier that day. Instead of celebrating, we sat quietly watching the news of his death and riots in some cities around the country.
I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking about change and change agents. Why change is so hard to achieve and what happens to change agents. In that context, these words of MLK have such great meaning:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! (MP3)
He spoke those words, without notes, less than 24 hours earlier in a speech he was not intending to give. He wasn’t feeling well, but his friend, Dr. Ralph Abernathy, asked him to speak just a few words to the crowd. I’m so glad he did!
MLK was a change agent. He took on a great struggle, gave his life in that struggle.
Thank you, Martin Luther King! — (full speech and narrative)
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