Slashdot is kind of a stinker.

So, I saw a cool looking new style of keyboard and submitted the story to Slashdot. It was almost immediately rejected.

<ericCartman> Well, screw you guys, I'm going home.</ericCartman>

Old News

So, I was up late tonight working on a presentation, and I happened across this headline on Yahoo:

Blockbuster to miss online DVD rental target

Very exciting to read. Gave me a little lift. We up our short term guidance and tell people we'll be at 20 MILLION members not far past the end of the decade, and BBI is having trouble getting to 10% of that figure in the next year or two.

I have to admit to a guilty... well... not pleasure, and not even an indulgence. It's best described as a bad habit. I occasionally read the NFLX board on Yahoo Finance. Look through to see what's being said. I see a lot of nonsense on both the long and the short sides, but what really doesn't make sense to me is the rabidity of some of the short-siders.

They harp on the same things over and over again. They say there are no barriers to entry. Well, Walmart and Blockbuster might beg to differ on that point, because they've certainly both had their share of problems getting traction in this market. They talk about how video on demand will eat our lunch. Well, VOD has been around for a while, and our lunch is still sitting on the plate in front of us. We deliver, on demand, millions of individually selected movies to millions of individuals, week in and week out. For the next several years, you would be hard pressed to build a network that can move millions of movies worth of bits a day; until then, the USPS carrying DVDs is the king-kong of bandwidth (admittedly a very fat pipe with hellishly long latency between packets -- I wouldn't want to browse the web that way).

They talk about how we can't sustain growth, that we churn off a bazillion customers a month. I can't fathom why they don't understand that even when we lose 5% of the customer base, we still have convinced 95% of our customers to keep giving us money. We've also convinced a bunch of new people to start giving us money, and 95% of them will give us money the next month, and the next and the next. Are we expected to keep every customer around forever? We can't. It's kind of a 'frictional churn,' much like there's a 'frictional unemployment.' You can't ever get to full employment. Economists say it would cause the economy to explode.

People take breaks from Netflix. People come back. A great many of the people who leave tell us that they wish they didn't have to leave, and they tell us that even though they're leaving, they still recommend us, because they loved their experience so much. I'm insanely proud of the fact that I work for a company where people love us. It's gratifying to know that I'm on a team that's making a difference in people's lives. Admittedly, it's not curing cancer or eliminating poverty or global warming, but it's making people's lives richer, or at the very least, bringing some entertainment to them.

As gratified as I am by the warm wishes and happy customers, I'm equally puzzled by those people out there who for some reason wish us to fail. So, I guess in the end, maybe I shouldn't have been so cheerful about Blockbuster floundering. They're just folks with jobs, trying to do them the best they can. However, in any confict, there are winners and losers. If it takes a little viciousness to help insure my team comes out the winners, I suppose I'll pay that price. I just have to keep remembering that it's only business -- nothing personal BBI.

Highlander Hybrid

So, I sent in this question to the folks at Toyota regarding my disappointment with the Highlander Hybrid's fuel economy figures:

I waited with great anticipation the release of the hybrid Highlander. My family could really use a vehicle with a third row of seating since the birth of my second daughter just over two years ago. The obstacle preventing us from getting an SUV or wagon in all that time has been gas consumption. In the light of recent increases in gas prices, that obstacle has gotten even higher. Based on the mileage performance of the Prius compared to conventional cars in its class, I expected that I'd be able to get a vehicle with more room and still get better mileage than with my current small sedan when the Highlander Hybrid came out. I was exceptionally disappointed when initial reports from the real world indicated that the actual gas consumption when driven by real people on real streets was on a par with other vehicles in the same class as the Highlander. The reports of the Highlander's excellent performance didn't do much for me. Not wanting to give up, I talked with a sales representative at a local dealership, and I asked him if there was an option to turn down the performance in exchange for better fuel economy. With the high degree of computer control in the vehicle, this seemed like a natural and relatively inexpensive feature to include. He told me that there was no such option. I'm writing you to ask whether such an option is actually available that maybe the sales rep didn't know about. I'd also like to request that an option such as this be made available. If it were possible to degrade the 0-60 time by 50% in exchange for 30% better gas mileage, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. I'd even pay extra for that feature. Thanks for your time.

I'll let y'all know what they say, if they say anything.

The No Tilt Poker Zone

So, look what I found while avoiding work and wandering aimlessly thorugh the halls of blogger.com in the wee hours... The No Tilt Poker Zone. Quite possibly someone I know/knew, but they're being anonymous.

Adsense Is Very Strange

So I write a post earlier about Statler & Waldorf, two Muppets. Then, I go look at my blog today and see four ads for "Hotel Waldorf" and "Waldorf Hotel Rome".

Pretty useless, I think. Maybe I'll take all the whoring off the page.

Supreme Court Nominee -- Harriet Miers

I was a little taken aback and discouraged when I did a little sniffing for info on Ms. Miers this morning. I saw this page on answers.com:



note the ads on the right:



Doesn't give me a warm fuzzy that Google's AdSense thinks that Intelligent Design is a good matchup for people interested in this particular person.

Uncle Frank Broke My Heart

I read an article in the Metro about Uncle Frank's BBQ last week, and planned a trip for Friday to go get a slice of smoked heaven. Unfortunately, I planned this trip to include my family. One critical point not mentioned in the article was that Francesca's, the dive bar in which Frank's is housed, is 21-and-over. The only way into Frank's is through Francesca's.

When I walked in with my wife and my two daughters (4 and 2 years old), we were greeted by a woman screeching, "You're not allowed in here with them. Get on out." This was as she made a shoo-ing gesture with her arm. I peered in to look behind the bar for someone tending, and said, "But we're here for the restaurant, not for the bar."

I had hopes that the rules might be like in Nevada, where children are allowed to pass through the casino on the way to somewhere else in the hotel. I was encouraged by a man also sitting at the bar who told the woman to be quiet, and beckoned us towards the back. Encouraged, the four of us walked through to the back, and I asked the man at the register if we could eat here with the kids.

He was really apologetic and kind about it as he told me "No." I told him that there was no mention of the age restriction in the article. He said that they had strongly emphasized with the reporter that they're 21-and-over for now, but they're working on the patio and a permit to allow underage eaters. I wish that fact had made it into the article. As it was, I could see the food. I could smell the food. I just had to resign myself that I wouldn't be eating any of the food.

As we retreated, we endured the looks from the restaurant and bar patrons. They were looking at us like we were from another planet. We weren't. We're from Los Altos. Maybe that was the reason the woman was rude. Maybe Francesca's is her place. Her and her drinking buddies have been getting together for years, and now the sweet scent of barbeque will be bringing people (families, for heaven's sake!) from across the tracks to her dive. Perhaps she resents that invasion the same way you resent an invasion of yellowjackets at a backyard barbeque.

Maybe someday I'll get to taste that brisket, but not today.

Anyone out there help me with this?

One literary turn of phrase that has stuck with me (unfortunately) is "necrotizing hemorrhoids." Was it used by Hunter Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Was it used by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash? I just can't seem to recall. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

Almost free books

If you've got an interest in an inexpensive source of books to read, you may want to check out FrugalReader.com. This is a service that aggregates listings of the libraries of it's members, and then allows members to request books from each other. All that's paid is postage. No membership fees. I can't see where they're making their money, but, the about page indicates an altruistic mission:

Why We're Here
FrugalReader.com exists to help you and avid readers everywhere enjoy the satisfaction and convenience of reading the books you want, when you want them, at the lowest possible cost.

Seems pretty cool.

Update: Upon further examination, it may be that part of the revenue model is click through links to Amazon to buy books that aren't available for borrowing. I certainly don't begrudge them the opportunity to make a little cash, since they appear to be charging nothing at all for the service.

Totally useless, but totally cool

While looking for an image of a balloon for use in a presentation, I wandered down this particular rathole. It's fascinating to watch, and makes the idea of inexpensive space access even more exciting. Sadly, the NASA home page that contains this presentation is kind of boring, and doesn't give any easy way to find this cool series of images and movies.

Need a Lift?

Looks like a new article on space elevator technology has been published at IEEE Spectrum. Pretty exciting stuff. It just seems that in this world of billions of dollars being spent on wars and bad stuff that we should be able to cough up a measly billion a year or so for the next ten or fifteen years, and have something to show for it.

Flash from the past

So, I was looking at HackingNetflix, and there was a link to "Statler & Waldorf -- From the Balcony." A series of movie reviews & previews done by Statler & Waldorf, the two old guys from The Muppet Show who sat up in the balcony and heckled the rest of the Muppets. There were a few bits in the three segments I watched that were chuckle-out-loud moments.

Fished in.

So, I have to admit to being fished in by the FullTiltPoker.com sponsored tournament that was on some random cable channel the other night. I didn't get to see Phil Gordon bust out, but I was somewhat pleasantly surprised that they were playing it out live, and showing every hand instead of just the dramatic highlights.

The fumbling of the button back and forth when it got to heads-up was so genuine it was almost endearing. I experienced that frisson of seeing something honest and real. More than once a furtive smile on the two players' faces when coming back from a commercial break made me feel their feelings of just wanting to get the thing played out.

Official Trip Around The Moon Lottery

According to The Guardian the Russian federal space authorities are offering a trip around the moon for $100MM. I've decided that I'm going to start a lottery to try and fund just such a trip for one lucky winner.

Send me a paypal payment for $10.01US to my email address, and I'll toss your name in the drum. If I don't get to 10 million entries by July 31, 2006, or if Roskosmos cancels the trip, or if they change the price significantly, then I'll send you your money back. No interest or anything, just a refund of your $10. I'll keep the penny for the time and effort of organizing the lottery.

You know, thinking about it, I'll even promise to forward any ticket-equivalents on to a larger lottery, if one comes up. I'm just an aggregating agent, in one way or another.

Mountains, Washing Machines and Winged Punkettes

I just finished reading Cory Doctorow's "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" and was mightily entertained and provoked into thought. I was thinking about writing a review for Slashdot, but instead came across this review that said everything I could want to say about the novel. I highly recommend getting a copy and reading it, if not for the sci-fi/fantasy elements for the pure literary skill displayed. After all, you can get it for free.

Hello? The Eighties are Calling, They Want Their Lightcycles Back

As if I didn't have other better things to do with my time, I unfortunately found a really good racing game. It's free, it's pretty well done, and it's based on the lightcycle sequence from the 1982 movie Tron. You can find the relevant scoop and links to the downloads on SourceForge under Armagetron.

Nicely done guys. Good UI. Nice graphics.

Interactive Fiction: Short Circuit Edition

So, I found out about Facade, a new interactive fiction program. There's a blog about it. It provides an interactive environment where you play a dinner guest at a couple's apartment. They have issues. One of the kind of neat things is that it keeps a script of your session. I believe I've found the shortest possible one:

------------------------------------------------------
FACADE STAGEPLAY
Thu Jul 07 09 52 10 2005

(ROB quietly approaches the front door.)

GRACE
Trip, when are you going to get rid of this?

TRIP
What, Grace... this?

GRACE
Yes, you know how I feel about it --

TRIP
I know I know I'll do it right now, alright?!

GRACE
You know I've had to ask you about this several --

TRIP
Get off my back!  I'll get rid of it in just a minute!

GRACE
Fine, Trip... fine...

(Trip opens the front door.)

TRIP
Rob!!

TRIP
Hey!  I thought I heard someone out here! God 
it's been so long since we've seen you!    How
are you doing, man?

ROB
Are you two having a fight?

(Trip closes the front door.)

(ROB knocks on the front door.)

(ROB knocks on the front door.)

(ROB knocks on the front door.)

------------------------------------------------------

Not a lot of drama there. Still, a very interesting experience. I walked through it a few times, and while non-sequitors abound, I was actually somewhat emotionally moved when the couple reconciled. There's a bittorrent for the download (800Mb).

Ahhh. A truly horrendous pun.

I apologize for the following pun unleashed on Slashdot this afternoon. My comment is the reply.

Let Freedom Ring

I found (through Slashdot) a story about someone wanting to give SC Justice Souter a taste of his own medicine. I think it's brilliant. "Lost Liberty Hotel" along with the "Just Desserts Cafe." Now that the Fifth Amendment isn't everything it used to be, it seems appropriate to apply its new nature to the property of one of the architects of its decline.

The Pledge of Allegiance

I was listening to Terry Gross on Fresh Air, and the guest was Richard J. Ellis discussing his recent book about the Pledge of Allegiance, To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance. He had several interesting points, including the fact that the original pledge was:

• I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

No God. In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. No "United States of America". Ellis posits that this change in the early 1920's was a reaction to the flood of immigrants that weren't WASPs. These immigrants might be thinking about the flag of Croatia when saying "my flag" instead of the US flag.

He also wonders at the fervent adoption and defense of a practice that institutionalizes state worship for the people of the most individualist country in the world. I wonder about this as well. How can we foster a sense of freedom and responsibility for one's own actions when every day children are pledging themselves to unquestionably "follow the leader." These are leaders that have proven themselves time and again to be more concerned with re-election and the protection of business than with the true needs of the American populous.

So, I propose a new pledge:

• I pledge allegiance to the constitution, and to the principles contained within: one people for the common good, with liberty and justice for all.