They say, we cannot effectively manage a single communication thread.
We say, they cannot manage the multiplicity of communication threads across which we need to operate.
They are holding the cookies.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
President Bush is Fun At Parties
The thing you have to love about President Bush is that he has insisted on having a good time as President, despite the state of the country. You have to give him that. At no time has he allowed actual problems to interfere with his clear intention to have a good-time on his turn at POTUS. You can see that he is having a good time. He wants you to see it. Credit for him. He has nailed it. I like that about him. I really do.
Influences
These are the influences I can think of right now.
My Immediate Nuclear Family - I will sacrifice myself to preserve them.
My Self and Realization - I must preserve myself to protect ...
My Family of Origin
My In Laws
My long term friends - over great times and distances, patiently
People I like to think of as friends, but perhaps have not known long enough to be sure
People I have worked with
People I know
People I know of
People I have met and have never thought of again
People I have met who never existed
People I have never met
The Environment
And History
In some order.
My Immediate Nuclear Family - I will sacrifice myself to preserve them.
My Self and Realization - I must preserve myself to protect ...
My Family of Origin
My In Laws
My long term friends - over great times and distances, patiently
People I like to think of as friends, but perhaps have not known long enough to be sure
People I have worked with
People I know
People I know of
People I have met and have never thought of again
People I have met who never existed
People I have never met
The Environment
And History
In some order.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
My Pet Rock
About a hundred years ago, I bought a router for my home network. It was either a D-Link or a NetGear. After several days of mis- and re-configuration of the settings of the router, the Windows NT Server, the laptop PC cards, the Windows work stations and my wife's expectations of when our internet access would be permanently back online, I returned it, and brought home a LinkSys.
The LinkSys router, though a little more expensive than the first one, was the same brand as my laptop PCMCIA cards. Hours and hours, spanning days, were required to get the all of the components correctly configured and the computers properly connected. Eventually, after a bit more mis- and re-configuration of the settings of the router, the Windows NT Server, the laptop PC cards, the Windows work stations and my wife's expectations, the network was finally properly configured, and I owed my friend Philip a lifelong debt of gratitude for his expertise and good natured guidance. The hardware needed to be reset every little while, but was maintainable.
I have replaced that original hardware a few times now. Network hardware lasts a surprising long time. Each generation is a bit simpler than the previous one; each new router seems to require a little less configuration than the previous.
Last week, my administrative assistant drove to Best Buy, bought a Belkin wireless router, and plugged it in. An entire conference of software engineers was connected in that instant. Zero Configuration: The total required time, including the drive to Best Buy, was but a tiny fraction of my first experience.
New computer components are getting easier to install and configure with each passing year. They sit virtually ignored for years.
Pet Rocks are much more functional than they used to be...
...but
they
require
the
same
level
of care.
The LinkSys router, though a little more expensive than the first one, was the same brand as my laptop PCMCIA cards. Hours and hours, spanning days, were required to get the all of the components correctly configured and the computers properly connected. Eventually, after a bit more mis- and re-configuration of the settings of the router, the Windows NT Server, the laptop PC cards, the Windows work stations and my wife's expectations, the network was finally properly configured, and I owed my friend Philip a lifelong debt of gratitude for his expertise and good natured guidance. The hardware needed to be reset every little while, but was maintainable.
I have replaced that original hardware a few times now. Network hardware lasts a surprising long time. Each generation is a bit simpler than the previous one; each new router seems to require a little less configuration than the previous.
Last week, my administrative assistant drove to Best Buy, bought a Belkin wireless router, and plugged it in. An entire conference of software engineers was connected in that instant. Zero Configuration: The total required time, including the drive to Best Buy, was but a tiny fraction of my first experience.
New computer components are getting easier to install and configure with each passing year. They sit virtually ignored for years.
Pet Rocks are much more functional than they used to be...
...but
they
require
the
same
level
of care.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Let begin the General Election Primary!
Democratic primary candidates should now campaign against the Republican Party turning this period into the General Election Primary. For the remainder of the Democratic primary campaign, starting right now, both Democratic candidates should turn and immediately train their fire on the presumptive Republican nominee.
In addition to the essential brilliance of such a plan, the General Election Primary resolves a number of practical problems, and may provide a blueprint for future primary contests.
How would this work?
Starting immediately, both Clinton and Obama should begin to contest the general election. Each Democratic candidate will ignore the other Democratic candidate, and each will campaign solely against the Republican platform, that party's presumptive nominee, his positions and ideas, and his legislative and oratorical history.
There are scores of benefits for Democrats from a General Election Primary.
Democrats can stop the internecine struggles. The Democratic candidates will stop sniping at each other. This change alone will lift the entire party. New cause for compromise may even be birthed here. The growing ire between the two camps has caused one camp to question the other campaign's legitimacy, with reciprocity in the question the of fitness of the first. Both are false questions. Democrats can move on, so they must.
The two campaigns will cease to provide made to order sound bites for the opposition general election commercials. Enough snapshots have been produced already to be sure. I do not take this issue terribly seriously. Most pundits agree, however, that it is a pretty common practice, and this year will be no different. Democrats can do better, so they must.
The Republican nominee is currently basically getting a free ride. Many pundits think that candidate is fairly squandering an opportunity by closely linking himself with the evangelical right and the neo-cons. Maybe. But this period is equally an opportunity squandered for Democrats, inasmuch as the overwhelming majority of voters from all political stripes have rejected the approaches of both of those groups as guiding principles. Highlighting the policy linkages of the presumptive Republican nominee and keeping him off-balance would be an incalculably much better use of the Democratic candidates' time and money than a continued discussion of the nearly non-existent policy differences between them. Democrats can be more effective, so they must.
Very importantly, the General Election Primary provides the voracious and bored -- and thus dangerous - media with something more substantive and interesting to cover.
One of the main problems in the current Democratic primary -- illustrated on The Daily Show's nightly video collage -- is that the 24 hour media cycle is bored. NOTHING happens all day. The OReilly-Olberman Twins are more dangerous when they are bored, if that is possible. The O-Twins actively misinterpret everything and NOTHING when they are not bored. They fabricate outright about NOTHING when they are bored. I like Keith Olberman and his Miami Vice-style "news" production much better when he is not also engaged in his dramatic teary-eyed Sally Struthers "The Children!" imitation, or his hollow and hallowed "How Could You?" euro-indigation.
Currently, a bored but ambitious reporter somewhere gleans and actively strips from its context some trivial one-phrase quotation about NOTHING from the news-free black hole. The MSNBC-NYT-CNN-WP-FOX-LAT-NBC-ABC-PBS ©Newsglomerate then reports slash repeats that context-free NOTHING ad nauseum over the next 48 hours, or until the next too-clever columnist diverts their ferret-sized attention span to the next phrase. A General Election Primary will provide the media a surfeit of appropriate material. As an editorial note, I love watching talking heads. I do not find it productive for the Democrats right now. Democrats can provide more substance, so they must.
Most importantly, the entire electorate will get to experience and evaluate the strategies and approaches, the inventiveness, the creativeness, and the effectiveness each Democratic candidate can muster against the Republican candidate. What an invaluable bit of data to have! Consider the General Election Primary an internship, with real on-the-campaign-trail training for the general election. All hiring-managers would revel to review a potential employee's work for three months before hiring him, but the factors arrayed against that option in business are many. In this case, however, the candidates will be doing exactly the same job as they are now for the same pay, but facing a new, more salient, and more legitimate target. Consider further the fantastic positive impact of two big guns pounding incessantly on the opposing machine. Democrats can innovate, so they must.
It is my observation that Obama is a great speaker on great issues. He is relatively less effective with wonk-speak. Clinton, on the other hand, does not inspire in the same manner with grand themes of hope and inspiration, but she is very effective at wonk-speak. Democrats should look forward to an experience mixing these ingredients in a simultaneous general race with the presumptive Republican nominee. Democrats can evaluate, so they must.
Begin the General Election Primary!
Democrats
can
compete
with
the opposition,
so
they must.
In addition to the essential brilliance of such a plan, the General Election Primary resolves a number of practical problems, and may provide a blueprint for future primary contests.
How would this work?
Starting immediately, both Clinton and Obama should begin to contest the general election. Each Democratic candidate will ignore the other Democratic candidate, and each will campaign solely against the Republican platform, that party's presumptive nominee, his positions and ideas, and his legislative and oratorical history.
There are scores of benefits for Democrats from a General Election Primary.
Democrats can stop the internecine struggles. The Democratic candidates will stop sniping at each other. This change alone will lift the entire party. New cause for compromise may even be birthed here. The growing ire between the two camps has caused one camp to question the other campaign's legitimacy, with reciprocity in the question the of fitness of the first. Both are false questions. Democrats can move on, so they must.
The two campaigns will cease to provide made to order sound bites for the opposition general election commercials. Enough snapshots have been produced already to be sure. I do not take this issue terribly seriously. Most pundits agree, however, that it is a pretty common practice, and this year will be no different. Democrats can do better, so they must.
The Republican nominee is currently basically getting a free ride. Many pundits think that candidate is fairly squandering an opportunity by closely linking himself with the evangelical right and the neo-cons. Maybe. But this period is equally an opportunity squandered for Democrats, inasmuch as the overwhelming majority of voters from all political stripes have rejected the approaches of both of those groups as guiding principles. Highlighting the policy linkages of the presumptive Republican nominee and keeping him off-balance would be an incalculably much better use of the Democratic candidates' time and money than a continued discussion of the nearly non-existent policy differences between them. Democrats can be more effective, so they must.
Very importantly, the General Election Primary provides the voracious and bored -- and thus dangerous - media with something more substantive and interesting to cover.
One of the main problems in the current Democratic primary -- illustrated on The Daily Show's nightly video collage -- is that the 24 hour media cycle is bored. NOTHING happens all day. The OReilly-Olberman Twins are more dangerous when they are bored, if that is possible. The O-Twins actively misinterpret everything and NOTHING when they are not bored. They fabricate outright about NOTHING when they are bored. I like Keith Olberman and his Miami Vice-style "news" production much better when he is not also engaged in his dramatic teary-eyed Sally Struthers "The Children!" imitation, or his hollow and hallowed "How Could You?" euro-indigation.
Currently, a bored but ambitious reporter somewhere gleans and actively strips from its context some trivial one-phrase quotation about NOTHING from the news-free black hole. The MSNBC-NYT-CNN-WP-FOX-LAT-NBC-ABC-PBS ©Newsglomerate then reports slash repeats that context-free NOTHING ad nauseum over the next 48 hours, or until the next too-clever columnist diverts their ferret-sized attention span to the next phrase. A General Election Primary will provide the media a surfeit of appropriate material. As an editorial note, I love watching talking heads. I do not find it productive for the Democrats right now. Democrats can provide more substance, so they must.
Most importantly, the entire electorate will get to experience and evaluate the strategies and approaches, the inventiveness, the creativeness, and the effectiveness each Democratic candidate can muster against the Republican candidate. What an invaluable bit of data to have! Consider the General Election Primary an internship, with real on-the-campaign-trail training for the general election. All hiring-managers would revel to review a potential employee's work for three months before hiring him, but the factors arrayed against that option in business are many. In this case, however, the candidates will be doing exactly the same job as they are now for the same pay, but facing a new, more salient, and more legitimate target. Consider further the fantastic positive impact of two big guns pounding incessantly on the opposing machine. Democrats can innovate, so they must.
It is my observation that Obama is a great speaker on great issues. He is relatively less effective with wonk-speak. Clinton, on the other hand, does not inspire in the same manner with grand themes of hope and inspiration, but she is very effective at wonk-speak. Democrats should look forward to an experience mixing these ingredients in a simultaneous general race with the presumptive Republican nominee. Democrats can evaluate, so they must.
Begin the General Election Primary!
Democrats
can
compete
with
the opposition,
so
they must.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Questions of Loyalty
Is loyalty over-rated? George W. Bush has certainly abused the concept.
Loyalty is but a carpenter's hammer for Machiavelli, most politicians, and many business associates. It is required for framing a house, but dispensable once you move in.
What about the lack of loyalty? If loyalty itself is problematic, then betraying loyalty should have no meaning beyond the span of short-term memory, no tangible or intangible benefit in public life, no impact on the collective conscience, and no inherent individual moral or spiritual value - positive or negative.
Maybe it is a form of poison. Perhaps loyalty is only reverse revenge.
Something inside me is greatly disturbed by this interpretation. It would not please me to wake up and determine my allegiances anew each day. Success built on such a fault-line ridden foundation would not be success at all.
Maybe I should grow up.
Maybe
I
do not
want to.
Loyalty is but a carpenter's hammer for Machiavelli, most politicians, and many business associates. It is required for framing a house, but dispensable once you move in.
What about the lack of loyalty? If loyalty itself is problematic, then betraying loyalty should have no meaning beyond the span of short-term memory, no tangible or intangible benefit in public life, no impact on the collective conscience, and no inherent individual moral or spiritual value - positive or negative.
Maybe it is a form of poison. Perhaps loyalty is only reverse revenge.
Something inside me is greatly disturbed by this interpretation. It would not please me to wake up and determine my allegiances anew each day. Success built on such a fault-line ridden foundation would not be success at all.
Maybe I should grow up.
Maybe
I
do not
want to.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Do the Michigan and Florida Primaries...
merely constitute those bumps in the road one so often encounters?
Is the absence of action in Michigan and Florida in fact paralysis? Is it simply doing nothing when doing almost anything would be better? Or is it some sort of strategy?
Is this situation an illness to which one randomly succumbs the day before vacation? Or self-sabotage?
Obama has not favored any particular resolution; pundits suggest he may enjoy at least short term benefit from the status quo. Clinton would appear to benefit from a re-vote, and seems to favors one.
It is hard to believe that this lapse will be consequence free for either candidate.
Democrats have to wonder why Howard Dean is the chair of anything. He either favors Obama or has no stature. Certainly the latter is true. Maybe both. What happened to his "fifty state" strategy? Democrats should hope they do not pay dearly in the general election for his many glaring inadequacies.
The argument in favor of a required "democratic" distribution of super delegates has proved to be specious and hollow. There can be no mandate for super delegates to adhere to the popular vote if Democrats cannot craft a solution to allow a popular vote in Michigan and Florida.
The Democratic Party would benefit greatly from a rapid resolution to the stalemate inherent in this primary: The stalemate that is become this primary. Near-term closure would be widely welcomed, regardless of the candidate chosen. This episode does not bring closure any closer.
Democrats will not benefit from the status quo in Michigan and Florida. They should try not to post their own eviction notice in those states before the general election.
Is the absence of action in Michigan and Florida in fact paralysis? Is it simply doing nothing when doing almost anything would be better? Or is it some sort of strategy?
Is this situation an illness to which one randomly succumbs the day before vacation? Or self-sabotage?
Obama has not favored any particular resolution; pundits suggest he may enjoy at least short term benefit from the status quo. Clinton would appear to benefit from a re-vote, and seems to favors one.
It is hard to believe that this lapse will be consequence free for either candidate.
Democrats have to wonder why Howard Dean is the chair of anything. He either favors Obama or has no stature. Certainly the latter is true. Maybe both. What happened to his "fifty state" strategy? Democrats should hope they do not pay dearly in the general election for his many glaring inadequacies.
The argument in favor of a required "democratic" distribution of super delegates has proved to be specious and hollow. There can be no mandate for super delegates to adhere to the popular vote if Democrats cannot craft a solution to allow a popular vote in Michigan and Florida.
The Democratic Party would benefit greatly from a rapid resolution to the stalemate inherent in this primary: The stalemate that is become this primary. Near-term closure would be widely welcomed, regardless of the candidate chosen. This episode does not bring closure any closer.
Democrats will not benefit from the status quo in Michigan and Florida. They should try not to post their own eviction notice in those states before the general election.
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