Author: Carl Setzer

An Evening With A Weary Mind

Carl Setzer1 Comment

Often I have evenings where my mind is simply muddy, overheated, I guess, from the mad dash through the day. Days like today, when I’m peppered with work. Last minute stuff; urgent, weird executive requests of high priority because of the position of said requester. Strangest to me is how un-tired my body is in relation to my whipped mind. And now my weary 5-year-old (who would deny tiredness) is calling for my attention. Two cranky people, weary of mind and patience. Should be joyous…

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Statistics and Studies

Carl Setzer

I often see headlines such as this, “Travelers not too satisfied with Sea-Tac airport: study”. It seems rather damning at first glance. However, I’m left to wonder. What does this really mean? Does this mean that Seatac has a problem? I’m not too sure. As I read the study (at least the little bit reported here), one of the first things I notice is the small range of scores (top: 690, Seatac: 656, bottom: 647 range: 43 points). Being last is not that much worse than being first. Also, this seems to be, in its sum, a customer satisfaction survey. It isn’t a sample of the same group of people experiencing all 19 of the airports. There’s a huge amount of subjectivity to this.

 

Of course, I’m one of those folks who distrusts the “wisdom of the masses”, which (I’m sure) colors my perspective on surveys such as this. I also tend to work hard to find logical inconsistencies and other “issues”. Perhaps I’m more cynical than I thought.

 

Anyway, I find this sort of stuff more annoying than informative. It’s not like the airports in question really need to modify any of their offending behaviors. It’s not like there are other options. Well, not without serious aggravation.

 

Flock

Carl Setzer

Ok, folks, here’s a new (to me, at least) toy for the socially networked: Flock. This is a browser built on the Gecko engine (same as the framework for Firefox). It integrates such sites as Facebook, Blogger, Flickr, and the like. I’ve only had a bit of time to mess with this tonight, but it’s pretty handy so far. This post was written with a built in blog editor. If you spend much time in the social network space, and it’s hard not too any more, this looks like it’ll be a great tool.

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Pownce

Carl Setzer2 Comments

I’ve been messing around with Powne lately. It has some interesting elements, particularly the ability to file share. I also like how it ties different services, but Friendfeed does that way better. It seems to be a slightly expanded Twitter, and I am trying to figure out how I can use this. Anyone else using this heavily? What do you think?

 

I guess Scoble’s comment sums it up: “I can’t take many more social networks.”

 

 

Google and Friend Connect

Carl Setzer

From our friends at CNET: ” Google to launch Friend Connect for the social Web”

It’s good to see Facebook getting onboard this train. When Dave quotes Mike Arrington, I need to disagree. “The reason these companies are are rushing to get products out the door is because whoever is a player in this space is likely to control user data over the long run.” Not quite, or I at least hope that’s not THE reason. It needs to be about having access to data; businesses need to give up the idea of owning it. The People, or at least This Person, are saying that WE own our data, and we’re providing YOU (the business in question) access.

Another piece of this equation needs to be ensuring we have the ability to remove access to those who abuse their responsibilities. More on that latter.

Microsoft, Yahoo!, and other Tech fun

Carl Setzer

Apparently, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, Microsoft is looking at Facebook now that the Microhoo deal is dead. (For the record, I thought the Microhoo concept was flawed. Different systems, different cultures…a painful M&A with the best execution) It’s probably not any better an idea, from Microsoft’s angle, though. Facebook is built on many of the same principles as Yahoo: a commitment to Open Source, Apache vs. Microsoft IIS, PHP vs. ASP, blah blah. Integrating Facebook would be just as clunky, just not as big a mouthful as Yahoo!.  Well, it’s really speculation at this point; we’ll see what comes.

 

Banana Splits – I Love Being a Boy

Carl Setzer3 Comments

Thanks to Casetta for the video. Oh, the Banana Splits, and other the other cheesy kid’s shows of the 1970’s. ‘Twas a much simpler time, I guess. Or dumber, I’m not really sure.

Border Patrol “spot checks” on ferries provoke outrage in San Juan Islands

Carl Setzer

Border Patrol "spot checks" on ferries provoke outrage in San Juan Islands

 

It’s a shame that, since the Border Patrol can’t fulfill it’s obligations under the Constitution, they’ve just chucked the thing. All those checks and balances were just a nuisance, anyways. Why do the terrorists hate us again? Oh yes, that “freedom” thing. I guess the best way to get that under control is to get rid of the freedom.