Pito’s Blog

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I haven’t seen anyone pointing to this article about TechCrunch and Professor Arrington, but it’s very interesting. I remember when it was first starting and how he would write an unbelievable number of interesting and useful reviews about new products. Mike Arrington was a machine! Say what you will about him, TechCrunch is the labor of some extremely hard work:

“Of course, Arrington’s success is about more than partying like a frat boy and schmoozing like a Hollywood agent at a cast party. With the exception of a three-week vacation (during which he worked half-time) at the end of 2006, he says he has worked every day for two years straight.

He gets up at about 10 or 11 am, is at his desk 10 seconds later, and tends to the business side of his operation until early evening, seeing entrepreneurs, doing phone interviews, tracking the news of the day, and writing posts. He’s often at parties or other events until 10. It’s typically not until 10 or 11 pm, when things quiet down, that he has time to think and write more thoughtful, analytical blog entries. “I’ve actually cut back,” he says. ” from TecCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz

Learn all about TechCrunch and Michael Arrington

Technorati Tags: techcrunch arrington

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A really interesting article for anyone interested in social networks and their role and impact in our society.

“… I want to take a moment to make a meta point here. I have been traipsing through the country talking to teens and I’ve been seeing this transition for the past 6-9 months but I’m having a hard time putting into words.

Americans aren’t so good at talking about class and I’m definitely feeling that discomfort. It’s sticky, it’s uncomfortable, and to top it off, we don’t have the language for marking class in a meaningful way. So this piece is intentionally descriptive, but in being so, it’s also hugely problematic.

I don’t have the language to get at what I want to say, but I decided it needed to be said anyhow. I wish I could just put numbers in front of it all and be done with it, but instead, I’m going to face the stickiness and see if I can get my thoughts across. Hopefully it works….” (from Danah Boyd, Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace)

Danah’s Boyd’s disclaimer alone is thought provoking enough to get me to read the whole article about Myspace and Facebook.

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From a few previous posts you know that I have a curiosity about congestion pricing as a way to allay traffic jams, while raising money to improve infrastructure and alternative transportation.

In a recent post in the Freakonomics Blog, which I recommend, there’s an interesting Q&A on that very topic that you may want to take a look at.

“Most people now recognize that congestion is a serious problem and that something can be done about it. There is also a growing movement nationally to charge drivers more directly for the use of the roads and technology. This will make charging easier and more sophisticated in the future by allowing for time-of-day, day-of-week, and level of congestion pricing.” (from What We Didn’t Know About Congestion Pricing)

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People wonder about Wikipdia and what it’s good for. This is an example from a while back, of Wikipedia at it’s best. Lots of details, edited and co-edited by many people giving you a feeling that there’s less bias: Wikipedia on the Virgina Tech Tragedy

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I found my way onto Robin Chase’s blog, Network Musings. She writes about lots of stuff I am interested in. Starting with the top post right now, “Should Casinos Subsidize Car Travel?” where she says:

“The Governor of Massachusetts has asked state legislators to seriously consider encouraging the building of several new large casinos in the state in order to raise revenues, the majority of which will be used for transportation shortfalls.” (from Network Musings)

In the Youtube video, which is short and worth a listen, the bon mot:

“Legalizing Casinos in Massachusetts […] is introducing a second addiction to pay for our first addiction: low cost driving”

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List of Lists is an entertaining blog. He doesn’t post that often but when he does it’s usually interesting. Check out this post from A List of Lists:

“[….]in keeping with A List of Lists factual theme I’ll try to shy away from United States government and The Bush Administration, and instead focus on George W Bush himself and so here are 25 facts about George W. Bush.[…snip]

[…snip] Fact #16. In the days immediately following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Bush denied having received warnings about the possibility of floodwaters breaching the levees protecting New Orleans. However, the presidential videoconference briefing of August 28 shows Max Mayfield warning the president that overflowing the levees was “obviously a very, very grave concern.”

(from: 25 George W. Bush Facts)

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Who said “your TSA don’t dance and your USPTO don’t rock and roll?” (One free copy of BlogBridge for all of you who get the reference without using Wikipedia)

Here are two cool examples. First up, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) now has a blog that seems to be much more than a bunch of pre-digested PR drivel, but instead posts from actual people with actual knowledge about TSA and their mission.

From their blurb:

“This blog is sponsored by the Transportation Security Administration to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process.” (from The Evolution of Security)

By the way, a plea: please name your blogs in a way that it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out what it is. How about calling it the TSA Blog? Duh.

But it is quite interesting, for example, from a few days ago:

“Saturday morning, a Transportation Security Officer working the x-ray machine saw two razor blades in what appeared to be a book in someone’s carry-on bag. During the bag check, the razor blades were found inside the pages of a Bible, and bag belonged to… a priest. Can’t make this stuff up.” (from Saturday Morning, Strange But True…”)

This blog and the way it is being written is a Very Good Idea. I just hope that the politicians don’t grab hold of it and turn it into another propaganda portal.

So that was the dance part, here’s the rock and roll.

The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has created a very cool site to allow peer input about patents that are being sought. From their blurb:

“Peer-to-Patent opens the patent examination process to public participation for the first time. Become part of this historic pilot program. Help the USPTO find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications. Become a community reviewer and improve the quality of patents.”

So this is kind of a social network to assist the patent office in filtering out bad patents more effectively, something that they have failed to do often and have been heavily criticized for.

The cool thing is that they seem to have thought this through quite well. Particularly the way peer input is used or not used as part of the patent review process seems to protect against competitors trying to somehow manipulate the process. And the site is attractive, sensible in its design, incorporates video and tutorials etc. A thoroughly modern effort. And a valuable service. Kudos!

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Came across this interesting article. You may agree or not, but it’s definitely interesting:

“So now the process can be fully diagrammed, and the cast of characters is stunning. The torture system involves the operations division of the CIA on the implementation side. They rely heavily on contractors, it seems, in torturing people. And a special role is apparently played by a couple of psychologists. (from Harper’s Magazine)

p.s. Happy Valentine’s Day

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People wring their hands about the possibility of having Bill Clinton back in the white house as the first ever First Spouse, working mano-a-mano with Hillary. I like Bill Clinton a lot - I did when he was president and I still do. Yet I can understand the misgivings.

In today’s New York times:

“Which raises an important matter. Do we really want a plural presidency?

This is not a new question. It was intensely debated in the convention that formulated our Constitution. The Virginia Plan for the new document submitted by Edmund Randolph and the New Jersey Plan submitted by William Paterson left open the number of officers to hold the executive power.” (from “Two Presidents are worse than one”)

But the section about Dick Cheney brought an even crazier scenario to mind.

What if Hillary is elected and picks Bill as ……………. VICE PRESIDENT?

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This is what a discontinuity in a graph looks like

That’s the stock market from yesterday to today.

The discontinuity is this morning before we heard of the Fed’s “Shock and Awe” move, lowering the prime rate by 3/4 percent.

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