Random Thoughts from This Week

World Events

· Al-Qaeda attack - According to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta, al-Qaeda is planning to attack the U.S. in the next three to six months. Al-Qaeda planning to attack the U.S. is not earth shattering, but what was surprising is the definitive timeline for the attack. I've never seen that kind of prediction in an open forum. Let's see what develops in the coming months related to that prediction. If it's a CYA prediction, than we'll hear no more of it. But if it's legitimate, stuff within the government security apparatus will start to move into high gear. I suspect its CYA.

· "Don't ask, don't tell" debate - I was very surprised to hear the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (the senior military officer in the United States), Admiral Mike Mullen, support doing away with the "don't ask, don't tell policy." This debate is going to be interesting, and likely heated.

· Toyota - This is a classic example of "Bad news does not get better with time." I guess Toyota is experiencing what happens when you sell your soul the be the largest car manufacturer in the world - your core competency, which for Toyota was always its quality, suffers. This is a great opportunity for General Motors and Ford. Hopefully, they are savvy enough to take advantage of it...

Technology

· Charging for Internet content - The past couple weeks I've noticed a groundswell of reporting on companies exploring methods for monetizing content on the Internet. This has long been an issue with print media outlets, and some are beginning to take steps to monetize their content. The Wall Street Journal is leading the charge in this arena and the New York Times announced that they will introduce a new pay for content process in 2011. Additionally, the Internet based television and movie streaming web site Hulu announced Tuesday that they were looking into ways to charge viewers for some of their content. I'm on the fence with this because I enjoy the freedom of the Internet, but I do realize that companies have to figure a way to make money for producing their content. At this point, I would probably pay for New York Times content.

· iPad launch - From what I have scene and read, I'm not so sure the iPad is a "game changer." As far as I can tell, it's just a larger, more expensive version of the iPhone; but it doesn't make phone calls or take pictures.

Sports

· Superbowl - I like the Colts because they have Peyton Manning. Period.

· Michigan State Basketball - It's that time of year when Spartan Coach Tom Izzo starts steeling his team for an NCAA Tournament run. He'll start saying, "We're not playing as well as we should," "This team lacks a leader." Blah, blah, blah. The interesting thing about this year is the Spartans are playing good ball. With the exception of the beat down from Wisconsin Tuesday night.

Entertainment

· Lost - Okay, so this is the season we're supposed to get the answers to the Lost mysteries. I watched the two-hour season premier and the only thing I learned was that Locke was the smoke monster. I think the writers and producers of Lost have gotten over for the past, what, 5 years, just writing "stuff" every week. I don't think they have any idea how to tie it all together and wrap it up.