Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The iPad




I was shopping in New York yesterday for an iPad at the Apple store when some guy bumped into me and I dropped my wallet. I thought it was a pick-pocket but to my surprise the man stooped down and handed me my wallet back. He must have seen the distrust in my eyes or something. He took out his wallet and gave me $20. I was amazed!

Just before he put his wallet away, I saw his driver's license and realized it was Bill Murray! Before I could say anything he ran up the spiral staircase saying that one would believe my story. Weird experience!

Anyway, I finally got to the front of the line and was going to pay for my iPad. I pulled out the several hundred dollars that I normally carry in my wallet while in New York and the "Genius" looked at me and said that Apple had a policy of not accepting my proffered currency. I said that was crazy and pointed to my $20 and where it said "good for all debts public and private" and he just raised an eyebrow in that way only a 20-something Apple goateed hipster can and said, "sir", rolling his eyes, "your money has a picture of Marcus Geduld on it."

Friday, January 09, 2009

This Is My Milwaukee

Wow, I never realized how interesting Milwaukee really was. I hope I work in a Class K or great building!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Drawdio: Turn Almost Anything Into a Theremin

Yes, this would annoy people, but it is still pretty cool.

Monday, October 20, 2008

McCain: What Went Wrong?

McCain is suffering from a perfect storm. After a string of so-so Democratic candidates (Gore, Kerry) and a generally positive operating environment for the GOP the wheels fell off starting around 2005.

In 2006 the Republicans were thrown out as the party of corruption and incompetent management of the war in Iraq.

In 2007 they finally get some "good" news in Iraq, but the housing market falls apart.

From late 2007 through early 2008 the Democrats have TWO solid candidates that take it to the wire-- all the while building infrastructure in ALL the states (not just the early primary states like the Republicans) as well as MANY newly registered partisans. The other result is that most of the negatives of Obama are aired early and become "old news" by the time of the general elections. Further more due to the long campaign, Obama is able to refine his message and raise large sums before the conventions.

At the GOP convention McCain picks someone that helps with his base. But as the economy starts to teeter, people start to question the choice of someone with little experience and questionable judgment. In a healthier economic environment this might have been a good political pick, but as the economy falters, people start to worry about her being one 72-year-old heart beat from the presidency.

The only play left in the playbook is the distasteful but previously successful (2000 GOP primary/2004 Kerry) full-negative press. The problem is that the full negative press energizes the bases of both parties and probably at best splits the center. This works well when your base is larger, more organized, and/or more enthusiastic but in this cycle all three lean toward Obama.

When McCain figures this out, I hope he runs the rest of his campaign as the decent person he was previously thought to be. He was previously one of the better Republican senators and if he can end on a high-note I think there is some hope for reconciliation and working together for the people.

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Torch and Pitchfork Mob Starts to Scare McCain

After whipping up the mob with all sorts of bogus Bill Ayres non-sense McCain at least (no word on Paln) finally started to fear the monster they created.

Palin Found to Abuse Power (surprise! surprise!)

I wrote a long time ago that I'd lost a bit of respect when McCain went to Liberty University to cozy up to the "Crazy Base Land".

I lost quite a bit more when he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate-- is this the person we want in the White House during what may be the most difficult financial situation since the Great Depression? Is this someone that can break with the Bush/Cheney abuse of power culture? Well, apparently not: Panel: Palin abused power in trooper case.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Don't Wear the Ring!

Lately I've been watching Flight of the Conchords. This episode the band (Bret and Jermaine) end up making a music video as part of their "record deal". It helps to know that they are from New Zealand and that apparently the only thing anyone knows about New Zealand is that Lord of the Rings was filmed there. Oddly enough the actor that plays Bret was in the LotR movies (he played Figwit) and even got some speaking lines in Return of the King. Enjoy: