Random Thoughts From This Week (20-26 Feb)

World Events

• Detroit Relocation Plan - Being from Michigan, I'm always interested in the welfare of the state; especially Detroit, because Detroit is what people think of first when they think of Michigan - and it's usually not positive thoughts. Detroit mayor Dave Bing looks to be moving forward with an interesting idea: He is going to try to "downsize" the city by moving city residents from blighted areas to more sustainable areas. The idea is to conserve city resources and focus them on fewer areas. A recent study of the city suggests that thirty-six percent of city property is occupied by vacant homes or empty lots. I'm not exactly sure what that statistic means, but it sounds like a lot to me. Bing's idea is interesting. If nothing else, it's thinking outside the box. In other Detroit news, here's an AP article on a guy who helped further run the city into the ground.
• Global Warming/Climate Change - Record cold weather in Europe. Record snowfall in Washington, D.C. Pummeling snow storms in the Northeast, and snow fall across the Southern United States. Large chunks of ice breaking off the polar ice caps and the shrinking of the polar ice caps. SOMEBODY GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE!

Technology

• Chatroulette - I read about Chatroulette in a venture capital blog I follow. I gave Chatroulette a whirl and was intrigued by the simplicity of the idea, and could see a bunch of potential. Thought I would pass it along to you all. One of the intriguing things about Chatroulette was nobody seemed to know who created and manged the site. Well, the New York Times figured it out. Give the article a read. It's very interesting. WARNING: Chatroulette does not have any "moral police" control measures, so there can be explicit material.

Sports

• Nothing Significant to Report (NSTR) - I know, people will say, "What about the Olympics?" I'm just not into the Olympics. I follow the headlines, but don't feel inspired to go out of my way to watch any of the events. For me, the months after the Superbowl until the NCAA Tournament are the sports doldrums. I'm mildly interested in the NHL, but really only the playoffs and finals. I have no interest in the NBA. And I only get excited about NCAA basketball for the Tournament.

Entertainment

• iTunes Sells 10 billionth Song - That's mind boggling to me. 10 billion songs!? iTunes, which was introduced in 2003, is the top music retailer in the U.S.

Wednesday Art: A Bloody Mess

Form Follows Function: Teaching Kids to Succeed in Life, Not Pass a Test

This is a great Op-Ed from NYT's Bob Herbert on a successful charter school developer in NYC. Deborah Kenny has developed three charter schools in Harlem - two middle schools and one high school. Her formula is pretty simple: Hire passionate teachers. Give them the ability to be flexible and creative. And demand excellence from teachers and students alike. “We’ve created a culture that brings out the passion of the teachers and they bring out the passion of the kids.”

Kenny raised her kids with the below core principles, and she uses them as principles for her schools.

- Be wholesome in character

- Be compassionate and see life as a responsibility to give something to the world

- Have a sophisticated intellect

- Be avid readers, the kind of person who always has trouble putting a book down

- Be independent thinkers, to lead reflective and meaningful lives

I want my daughter to go to a school like this, and I'm not sure public schools offer this kind of option. Everyone preaches that education is the path to success in life, but we don't practice what we preach.

Kenny's principles offer every parent and teacher a recipe for success. Her five principles are the function. The form that follows is a child that grows into an adult who is a contributing member of society.

Wednesday Art: Mickey Mouse

Random Thoughts From This Week (6-12 Feb)

World Events

• Iran - What Iran is doing is seriously getting scary. Whether they have enriched uranium to weapons grade is not the point. The point is what the Israeli's think. If Israel thinks Iran is getting close to a bomb, have no doubt they will strike. Then what happens...?

Technology

• Google Buzz - I'm not sure Buzz is going to succeed where Google wants it to: create an entry into the social media realm / challenge Facebook. Buzz's key, scalable feature is that it uses existing contacts within Gmail for your network, but I don't think enough users have Gmail accounts to make it truly a tool for the masses like Facebook. Also, I'm not sure users want their online presence to be consolidated in one place. I think people like checking email in one place and going somewhere else for their social networking experience. It's kind of like when speaker technology started to miniaturize. You could get equivalent sound from smaller speakers, but people were loathe to give up their big speakers because they just felt right.

Sports

• Danica Patrick and NASCAR - Honestly, I don't know much about car racing, but I know Danica Patrick has won exactly one IndyCar race. So I'm not sure what all the hub-bub is regarding her joining the NASCAR circuit; other than she's hot.
• Winter Olympics - Shamefully, I really have not taken note of the Winter Olympics until today. And the reason I did today was because a luger from Georgia was killed in a practice run. I don't think I can name a half-dozen winter Olympic athletes. Is that sad?
• Cincinnati Bengals - Okay, we'll file this one under "some people/teams just don't learn." The Bengals are signing wide receiver Matt Jones, who has a cocaine problem AND they worked out Adam "Pacman" Jones, who can't stay out of jail, or away from strip clubs. This is the same team, who a couple years ago, couldn't keep their players out of jail. Do they really need either one of these guys.

Entertainment

• Captain Phil - RIP Captain Phil.
• Alec Baldwin - How many times will the fifty-one year old Alec Baldwin torment his fourteen year old daughter? I've seen this guy in interviews, and people applaud him for his political savvy and acting, but have you listened to the audio of the voicemail where he berated his daughter. And now this incident. Whew!

Wednesday Art: Untitled 20100209

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.

Wednesday Art: Swimmers

Random Great Things

A few random, great things

- Digging a hand into a jacket pocket, or the pocket of a pair of pants you haven't worn in a while, and finding money. It doesn't matter if it's only a dollar. It's the surprise of finding it there that's great.

- Perusing your music library and finding a hidden gem song you missed when you first purchased the CD, or rediscovering a great song from the past. I'll find one of these songs and wear it out for a couple months.

- Riding the train. I don't care if it's an Amtrac train or a light rail subway-type train, riding the train is great.

- People watching at the airport. Watching the mass of humanity that flows through an airport on any given day is a study in human nature, and great fun.

- Reconnecting with an old friend. A friend is a friend. When life's path takes you in different directions and you can reconnect, it's great thing.

- The tired feeling after a good day’s work, or a great workout. It's not an exhausted feeling. It's a feeling of comfortable accomplishment.

- Football Saturday in the Fall. You don't even have to go to the game; just the events of a football Saturday are great.

- Relaxing with the Sunday New York Times. It used to be the paper version, now it's a digital version on my phone. Either way, it's great exercise for the brain.