Supposed to be my Last Day and Podcasting

How's that for two disparate topics. Later this afternoon the boys are going to have pizza and cake for my last day at Yahoo. Turns out I will be working tomorrow as well and some into the future but as the last day of the month it is kind of a line of demarcation. I loaded the iTunes podcasting software on my Powerbook and iPod. iTunes doesn't support BitTorrent so some of the podcasts that look the most interesting I can't get but I am sure that will change soon because these are some of the most advertised podcasts. It's interesting when you look at the Top Ten podcasts, Al Franken is in there and his deal is Bit Torrent I think. So what I guess this means is there are a bunch of pissed off people trying to download Franken's shows, failing, but still driving his show into the top ten. What's wrong with this picture? J

Neighborhood Watering Holes Not a Good Idea

When I lived in Menlo Park I was riding my bike to work at Yahoo in Sunnyvale. Along the route on Old Middlefield road I saw a classic old bar near San Antonio road - called Fred's Bar. It is set back a bit from the street and has a classic neon sign, come-on-in-after work look to it and it made me think about taking up drinking again. There were people in there who would be interesting. Today in the newspaper, the following: "About 2:15 AM Friday, a patron of Fred's Bar on Old Middlefield Road was arrested on the 2500 block of Alvin Street after allegedly standing in the middle of the road with his pants down and scratching five vehicles with a knife." Reminding me that there is a damn good reason for both my abstinence and the lack of as many "colorful neighborhood bars" as there used to be. A

Friday and going home

Well, here I am finishing up another week. Detroit lost last night but it was a good series and things could be worse. I have been thinking about people's overall complacency regarding the war in Iraq (and the acceptance of this administration's completely implausible and sometimes outright false explanations for things) and what the real reasons for creating this hell in Baghdad are and I am afraid of the answer. I go back to the Vietnam war. I think at the time if one had taken a reasonably intelligent 12 year-old child, shown her a map of Southeast Asia and explained to her the "Domino Theory" of the spread of communism, she would have looked at you as if you were insane. The argument on its face just made no sense. Taking another equally intelligent 12 year-old today, show her a map of the world, explain to her how a country like Iraq possesses Weapons of Mass Destruction which can be used against the United States a half a world away and this is somehow a threat to us ??? (I am going to forget about trying to get her to buy off on the, "Terrorists from Saudi Arabia, by way of Afganistan, trained in Iraq, blew up a couple of buildings in New York" argument) ...... Anyway, I think you get the picture. Collectively, we Americans are stupid and easily led around by our noses. I will scream in anguish against the war if my son or daughter comes home in a "transport tube" (they don't call them "body bags" any longer) but am then forced to rationalize the loss by accepting the Bush Administration's specious argument because if I don't -- then I am guilty of sacrificing my child to my own unquestioning lack of critical thought. I don't think it's completely blood for oil -- later on this topic and apologies for being so bleak. I take comfort in Cheney's learned assessment that the insurgency in Iraq is in its, "last throes"...... A A

Off the Back Deck

Might be hard to tell but this is what I can look out on when I am at home....

Kinda Back

Well, I am soon to complete my stint at Yahoo and am leaving a front row seat for their mobile initiatives but for probably a good reason. That being to move to La Jolla where my family already is. I had tried to warm to the Yahoo360 blog product but, although in beta, it is nothing near as robust as the Google blogger so I am going to stay here I think. Today across from my cube I had a chance to talk to Russell Beattie (just search for him and you'll find his blog) who sits right across from me. I am sorry I leave next week because Russ is a real interesting guy and I could spend a lot of time talking with him about a lot of things which mostly would educate me. He is a very interesting guy. Today is the first aniversary of my friend Don Cochrane's death as well as my daughter's 10th birthday, so a lot of mixed thoughts run through my mind. A