Surge, Purge and Leave

The whole country if not the world is debating the course of action Obama should take in the war in Afghanistan - whether to increase troop levels (and by how many) or simply get out.
I suggest a 3rd way: Surge the armed forces, pound the Taliban back into the Afghan dirt, then get the hell out quickly. The war on terror is not about Afghanistan. The war on al Qaeda should be fought with special ops, covert ops, and hard-handed influence on foreign governments. To paraphrase Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "Somebody in the Pakistan government knows where al Qaeda leadership is hiding". In addition to Pakistan, al Qaeda is known to be in Yemen, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and even Denver Colorado.
It is immoral to send American's best to die and be maimed in a country controlled by drug-corrupted tribal groups. There are morally corrupt regions on every continent but Antarctica. America does not have the resources or the obligation to fix all of them.
The Afghan run-off election will not change anything, and waiting for it to announce a decision is politically dumb. Obama should act now to satisfy the GOP, satisfy the military leadership and show some strength in a region that pounces on weakness. But just like Iraq, we have been 'over there' too long.

10 Musicians I have seen and outlived

1. Chubby Checker - early 60s, Odessa, Texas.
2. Dean Martin - never saw him sing, but I saw him strolling through the OCC in the mid 60's, during their annual golf tournament. Dino died on Christmas day 1995.
3. Jim Morrison - July 9, 1968. The Doors at Memorial Auditorium, Dallas Tx, in 1968.
4. Jimi Hendrix, Aug 3 1968, Moody Coliseum (basketball arena) on the SMU campus, Dallas Tx. One year before Woodstock. He set his guitar on fire, played it behind his back. He was the best.
5. Ike Turner - New Year's Eve 1970, Dallas Convention Center, with Tiny of course.
6. Richard Wright - founding member of Pink Floyd. Saw them live at McFarlin Auditorium (a 1600 seat venue), Dallas Texas. Circa 1970. He died last year of cancer.
7. Stan Getz - saw him at the Mountain Winery concert in Saratoga, CA in the 80s. Died of liver cancer in 1991.
8. Ricky Nelson - saw him at a Willie Nelson picnic at the Texas Motor Speedway, College Station, TX in the 70s. He died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1985.
9. David Carradine - yep Kung Fu, Kill Bill. He and then-wife Barbara Seagull Hershey showed up at the same Willie Nelson picnic with a band. They sucked. He choked himself chocking his chicken in 2009.
10. Walter Hyatt - founded Uncle Walt's Band with David Ball and Champ Hood. The best troubadour trio ever to play in Texas or anywhere. Thank goodness I kept their albums. Walt died on Value Jet Flight 592 in 1996.

Performers I wish I had seen live but never will:
Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Stevie Ray Vaughn

It took me 2 weeks to realize I typed Bill Ellis when I meant Bill Evans - that's why it's pseudo-suduko!

5 ways to save home newspaper delivery

1. Unify distribution
I live in a Townhome complex of fifty units. Every morning the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle delivery vehicles drive through the complex. Many of them are only delivering one paper to one unit. What a waste (and a racket since they all seem to drive cars with the same worn out muffler). If the delivery system supported a simple way for one delivery vehicle to pick up and distribute papers from different organizations, they could save a lot.

2. Unify printing
All of these papers have local print facilities, otherwise the NY Times and the Financial Times would come in the mail, like they used to.

3. Ala Carte delivery
Allow me to mix and match the papers I receive. I often buy the Monday NY Times for Media, the Monday Mercury for Silicon Valley business, the Tuesday NY Times for Science. The Wednesday WSJ for Technology. The Saturday Financial Times for Arts & Living. The Sunday Chronicle for the pink section. Over the years, I have had home delivery subscriptions to each of these papers. Today that would cost a few hundred dollars per month, which is absurd.

4. Integrate Content
Last friday the New York Times launched a San Francisco localized version. The WSJ is planning something similar. Integrated content can't be far behind. You can read NY Times science articles in the following Sunday Mercury News - so why doesn't the NYTimes sell that content to the Merc (and other papers) for immediate delivery. Better read than dead I say.

5. It can't be saved. Like telephone landlines, the consumer base is shrinking to a level that simply can't be served. Have you noticed how many self-service news-stands have been abandoned by their carrier? The machines don't have the mechanical quality to correctly count ten quarters. And who walks around a roll of quarters in their pocket? Soon we will all read newspapers online or on e-readers. I am waiting to see the Plastic Logic Que, with a letter sized form factor.

There's an app for that

In the not too distant future, the web will consist of a very small number of social media platforms (think iPhone, Facebook, Google) and a very large number of app-creating entities (think millions). Who do you think will make most of the money?

What is a digital legacy?

The blogosphere is full of questions about this. Some define it as saving passwords on the assumption that your demise will be too sudden or painful to allow an opportunity to pass them on. Others say it is everything you have ever typed, txt'd or spoken on a phone.

Passwords could be written down and secured in a safe place. Maybe you have too many passwords? Maybe you change them frequently (I'm not sure it matters much as long as they are strong. If quantum computing moves into the domain of hackers, your password will never be strong enough, or changed often enough to thwart them.

I have a small number of strong, but easy to remember passwords I use for billing accounts and critical email. I also have weak, easy to remember passwords I use for "fluff" accounts. (You know the free ones that only want your eyeballs (and proof that you have eyeballs so they can justify their CPM rates to advertisers.)

There is a growing list of password management tools. OpenID, Roboform, and KeePass to name a few. The concept is simple, a very strong generated-password using facts that only you would know for verification and recovery. If you bank or trade stocks online, you have probably encountered these without realizing it. Maybe your spouse or trustees should know what model your first car was, or the name of your favorite pet, teacher, etc.

I anticipate that this annoying password game will be obsoleted someday. Microsoft/Apple/Google/etc. will use AI, personal knowledge (that they can get from Facebook) and your DNA stored in the RFID in your septum.

A more serious question to consider is "what" you leave behind - digital legacy or digital detritus? Or your private memories, stories and personal messages to those you care about. Randy Pausch's, oft-quoted remark said it best. ... I could put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children...

Render unto Facebook the things which are Facebook's

Two countries, a few states, and numerous user groups have filed lawsuits against Facebook over privacy issues. In a nutshell everything you upload to Facebook belongs to Facebook. Everything you do on Facebook belongs to Facebook. And what does Facebook do to make money? They sell information and ads. Information you gladly provide in your profile, and through the "Facebook toys" scattered through out their system for your enjoyment. Information that makes the ads they sell more valuable to the advertisers and hence more lucrative for Facebook.

Facebook has become the de facto AOL of the 21st century. "You've got wall" has replaced the "you've got mail" mantra from the 90's. Of course it's easier and faster. Pictures and video are easy to upload and share with friends. And those virtual toys, what better way to spend a day then collecting and distributing two-dimensional kittens, fish, stars, etc.

And let's not forget those humorous quizzes and multi-player games. According to new research by the ACLU every quiz you take enriches Facebook's database on "you". say what???

To quote Rupert Murdock (CEO News Corp which owns MySpace), "Facebook is just a directory".
It is a great place to keep track of your friends. But is it the right place to store your personal legacy? When you die, your data reverts to the whims of Facebook. You won't be clicking any ads, so your space on their disks becomes dead space so to speak.

PermaSite is a place where your memories belong to you. You determine who views them, and who manages them after you are gone.

Idle Hands are the Devil's Playthings

If you were a cartoon character, which cartoon character would you be?
If you were a Dunkin donut, which Dunkin donut would you be?
If you were one of the Seven Seas, which Sea would you be?
If you were an disContinued Car, which disContinued Car would you be?
If you were a Failed Financial Firm which Failed Financial Firm would you be?
If all the brain cycles spun on these fantasies could be synchronized, what real problems could be solved?

This isn't an entirely whimsical question. Luis von Ahn, a professor at Carnegie Mellon invented the "captcha" used to separate humans from "bots" on web sites. He realized that the uniquely human ability to "fill in the gaps" could be used to solve real problems, like correcting OCR errors.

On the other hand, a friend recently suggested that Facebook quizzes may serve another purpose - collecting valuable profile information to sell to 3rd parties. After all, that which is rendered to Facebook, belongs to Facebook.