The Influentials

This book is very interesting. Compelling arguements that roughly one in ten determine the course of most societies, businesses, and personal decisions. They are educated, socially active, and have an opinion that is listened to. They are on the leading edge for new technology updates and social trends. They demand autonomy and control over their own life. They demand positive experiences over convienience. They are, for want of a better word, the Influentials.
Heres how you utilize them:
1. Be where the information is
2. When the critics come knocking, invite them in
3. Get out into the community
4. Make it easier -- then make it easier still
5. Know the "exceptions" -- and keep up with them
6. Be a brand, tell the world.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743227298/qid=1072986155//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/103-7195468-2096645?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Blur: Think Tank

This cd blew me away. Freakin amazing and a total departure from the party-anthem/brit-pop sounds that I sensed Blur to be. Complex, moody, but not without its uplifting tunes. Check this one out for sure.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000931OG/qid=1072841050/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-7195468-2096645

Radiohead: Hail to the Thief

An introspective, sullen cd. Not quite as suicide inspiring as Amnesiac, but full of post-modern angst. You can feel 9-11 in this cd. Absolutely brilliant in a Cure - Disintigration kind of way. But doesnt cohere or inspire like OK Computer or Kid A. Still not bad.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000092ZYX/qid=1072840918/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-7195468-2096645

Sting: Sacred Love

I love this CD. Introspective, great lyrics, many suprises. Not just for Sting fans. Very good.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?N=36&R=1754347&act=A03&Item=60249860800&Section=music&Catalog=Music&Lang=en&mscssid=PTAHKLKXCFPR8JF1EPJND9FJS4HQ0FE6&WSID=1712177F407AAEE142AF8FEAA9B96D19659C4526

Groove Armada: Lovebox

Just got this. Very cool, slinky beats. Some tracks are like Massive Attack meets Jimi Hendrix. Others are like Portishead, Tricky, sometimes even Dee-lite. Must hear, especially Purple Haze and Groove is on.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?N=36&R=1746103&act=A03&Item=1241418302&Section=music&Catalog=Music&Lang=en&mscssid=PTAHKLKXCFPR8JF1EPJND9FJS4HQ0FE6&WSID=1712177F407AAEE142AF8FEAA9B96D19659C4526

The Art of Innovation

Very, very, cool. From the guys that brought us Contextual Design. All about keeping teams creative, innovative, and keeping work fun. Deconstructs many of the myths of innovation... and some good design tips too. Best quotes:

"Make simple things simple, complex things possible."

"Fail often to succeed sooner."

"The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas."

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?N=35&R=808660&act=A03&Item=978038549984&Section=books&Catalog=Books&Lang=en&mscssid=PTAHKLKXCFPR8JF1EPJND9FJS4HQ0FE6&WSID=1712885C6F6EF799408BB40DDB8F60C17E743426

Top 25 Songs On My iPod

The Scientist / Coldplay / A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Cactus / David Bowie / Heathen
Groove Is On / Groove Armada / Lovebox
My Favorite Game (GT2 Mix) / The Cardigans / Gran Turismo 2
Clocks / Coldplay / A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Love street / The Doors / Waiting for the Sun
Bring Me To Life / Evanescence / Daredevil Soundtrack
As Heaven Is Wide / Garbage / Garbage
99 Red Balloons / Goldfinger /
Purple Haze / Groove Armada / Lovebox
Inertia Creeps / Massive Attack / Mezzanine
Its My Life / No Doubt / The Singles 1992-2003
Achin To Be / The Replacements / Dont Tell A Soul
I Ran / A Flock Of Seagulls / A Flock Of Seagulls
Smooth Criminal / Alien Ant Farm /
Little Things Of Venom / Arid / Little Things Of Venom
Silent Sigh / Badly Drawn Boy / About a Boy
With A Little Help From My Friends / The Beatles / Blue Album 1967-1970 (Disc 1)
Dont You (Forget About Me) / Billy Idol / Greatest Hits
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face / Coldplay / A Rush of Blood to the Head
Yellow / Coldplay / Parachutes
In Between Days / The Cure / Staring At The Sea - The Singles
Doing The Unstuck / The Cure / Wish
Forgotten Sanity / Curve / Come Clean
Doppelganger / Curve / Doppelganger

http://www.apple.com/ipod

Current Read: How to Be a Star At Work

Absolutely great book with a terribly trite name. I found it to be very accurate -- both as a supervisor and a subordinate. There is a very good section on the misconceptions of workers and how people measure them.
https://catalogue.calgarypubliclibrary.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1071LD96768Q8.43573&profile=dial&uri=full=1100001@!797668@!1&ri=30&menu=search&source=203.139.1.145@!dial&ipp=20#focus

Current Read: Leadership Aikido

Not bad book -- an attempt to merge the philosophies and ethics of Aikido with business. Sometimes works, sometimes not, but the 6 practices are good. For an Aikidoka, these map roughly to O-Senseis 6 pillars. They are: Self-knowledge, Planning, Habits of Language, Values, Resiliency (dealing with failure), and Control (or lack thereof).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0517705753/qid=1072478580//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-7195468-2096645?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Current Listen: Love Is The Killer App

Bitchin audio book. Importance of networks, social contacts, ethics, and individuals. Everything that was devalued and rubbed me the wrong way at my last job. Everybody should read this... just get past the "feel the love" message and dig into the meat. A must read.
https://catalogue.calgarypubliclibrary.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1071LD96768Q8.43573&profile=dial&uri=full=1100001@!986462@!4&ri=26&menu=search&source=203.139.1.145@!dial&ipp=20#focus

Current Read: Simplify Your Work Life

Very simple book, a few good ideas however: use voice mail to your advantage, same for email. Schedule time out to focus and recharge. Keep your work life uncluttered.
https://catalogue.calgarypubliclibrary.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1071LD96768Q8.43573&profile=dial&uri=full=1100001@!939040@!2&ri=24&menu=search&source=203.139.1.145@!dial&ipp=20#focus

Current Scotch: Glendronach 15 yr

This is a simple, clean, if understated scotch. Elegant with more than a hint of sherry. Got it on a good deal from Willow Park Liquor Store on recommendation from the owner.
http://swwwl.homepage.dk/malts/glendronach.htm

Nother Supposedly Hack Proof DRM Unveiled

Philips Electronics said on Tuesday it was six months away from launching a system against illegal copying that will allow consumers to play digital video and music on any digital media player. Philips hopes the so-called digital rights management (DRM) system being developed by Intertrust, which it jointly owns with Sony, will replace a confusing array of proprietary systems. Digital music stores which have opened on the Internet this year use different DRM methods to protect songs against unlimited copying. But consumers can then only play the music on computers, CD and MP3 players which support the same DRM system. "Consumers want an open system, and the electronics industry wants it too," Ruud Peters, chief executive of Philipss intellectual property and standards unit, told Reuters.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61625,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7

New StrongBad Email

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail91.html

Lookin for Life in Jovian System

Scientists envision sending a huge, 300-foot-long, nuclear-powered craft -- called JIMO, for Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter -- on a voyage to the Jovian neighborhood to spend up to five years circling the ice-encrusted moon called Europa, plus two others, Callisto and Ganymede, which also are covered with ice but are less likely to have inhabitable oceans. Even though landing the spacecraft on Europas surface would be extraordinarily difficult, mission scientists have not ruled it out. Europa is JIMOs principal target. Images from the Galileo mission nearly seven years ago revealed its surface as studded with icebergs, frozen ridges and dark streaks that seemed to indicate organic molecules rising through gigantic cracks from a deep ocean beneath.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/12/09/MNGON3J5RN1.DTL

Goin Back to the Moon?

When President Bush delivers a speech recognizing the centenary of heavier-than-air-powered flight December 17, it is expected that he will proffer a bold vision of renewed space flight, with at its center a return to the moon, perhaps even establishment of a permanent presence there. If he does, it will mean that he has decided the United States should once again become a space-faring nation. For more than 30 years Americas manned space program has limited itself to low Earth orbit; indeed, everyone under the age of 31 ? more than 125 million Americans ? was born since an American last set foot on the moon. The speech will come at a time when events are converging to force some important decisions about the future of American efforts in space. China has put a man in orbit, plans a launch of three Sinonauts together, and has announced its own lunar program. The space shuttle is grounded, and its smaller sibling, the "orbital space plane," may not be built. The International Space Station, behind schedule, over budget, and of limited utility, has been scaled back post-Columbia.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/powell200312030858.asp

Sexy Cylons?

 

 

"We realized the only way we could improve on the original is if the Cylons could have sex," quipped co-executive producer David Eick at Tuesday nights Los Angeles premiere. The chrome-domed "walking toasters" from the original TV series are succeeded by -- well, really hot blond chicks, who infiltrate human society to engineer its doom. One of the newly humanized enemy androids, Number Six, is played by former Victorias Secret model Tricia Helfer (so thats Victorias big secret! -- we always knew there was a sinister purpose behind those ubiquitous catalogs). While in the throes of sex, her spine glows a luminescent, otherworldly, X-ray crimson.

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,61436,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Jaron Lanier: Something Wrong In Computer Science

Ive had a suspicion for a while that despite the astonishing success of the first generation of computer scientists like Shannon, Turing, von Neumann, and Wiener, somehow they didnt get a few important starting points quite right, and some things in the foundations of computer science are fundamentally askew. In a way I have no right to say this and it would be more appropriate to say it once Ive actually got something to take its place, so let me just emphasize that this is speculative. But where might things have gone wrong?
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/lanier03/lanier_index.html