Corporate Death Penatly? HUH!?

Dave Winer, who I respect immensely, IMHO had a synapse short circuit couple days ago.

Who in their right mind would endorse a corporate death penalty!? I’m not rallying to anyone’s defense specifically… But, let’s take Exxon. Sure, the Valdez spilled a gob of raw oil product in the bay (which is a natural product of the earth and seeps freely to the surface in far more quantity annually than spilled by the Valdez). Sure that little accident killed a LOT of nature’s little critters. Noone liked it. Not the locals. Not the government. Hell, Exxon was mad as hell that it happened.

Now, think of Krakatoa. That one little beastie did more to wreck an entire eco system than the Exxon Valdez ever could have. How about Katrina? Mother Nature’s little displays of anger (lightning induced forest fires, F5 tornados, tsunamis, mud-slides, etc)? You gonna fire mother nature too!?

Corporations exist for many reasons. AT&T and Exxon (to name the few Dave cited) aren’t ‘rape and pillage’ outfits. Nature does far more to rearrange her bits than we ever will. We’re a speck in the sands of time. We have a responsibility to be the best stewards we can be toward this little blue marble we live on. I think free markets are strong enough to penalize themselves without nominating a death sentence.

So, Dave, don’t consume petro-based product any longer (that includes electricity gen’d by coal fired plants and all those plastic products embedded in your computers) and stop phoning people with AT&T service. That’ll teach those poor sods!

Technorati Tags: Krakatoa, puppy

Thomas Tank Engine Recall

Pay attention all you aunties, uncles, parents and grandparents… Recall Issued for Thomas the Tank Engine (aka Thomas the Train).

This isn’t an all encompassing recall. So, when Michelle woke me up last night and told me about it… All I could think of were ALL the little trains, cars and sheds that we’d have to tend to. NOT THE CASE: It’s an important recall due to RC2’s use of leaded paints on SOME (not all) of the product line since 2005.

Following are some helpful links to sort this stuff out:

Totally Thomas
PDF of the Recall Poster
PDF of Return Form

Looks like 6-8 weeks for replacement processing.

Technorati Tags: Thomas

Unverified bin Laden death report leaked

USATODAY.com – French officials want probe of unverified bin Laden death report leak

If true, gotta chalk a several Billion dollar IOU up to mother nature. How much have we spent in pursuit of this guy? Could just be bad intel (Say it ain’t so. I double dog dare ya!)

Calling In Rich!?

As opposed to calling in sick… Wouldn’t that be a fun call to make one day?

“Hey boss, not coming in ever again. I’m calling in rich.” click

Shel’s Going To Stink Without YOUR Help!

(Yes THAT Shel!)

Seems he and Paula need a new washer/dryer setup. He’s looking for folks who have opinions on the matter to help educate them on what to look for, what not to look for and any specifics on the San Carlos, CA appliance scene. Auditions are open for two weeks!

The only thing I can contribute to the matter is NEVER, EVER get the extended warranty and buy a front loading get up if you can: Saves water, cleans better and is easier to get stuff into and out of.

Mentos, Pepsi & A Redhead

OK, the video I’m linking to is disgusting. It’s totally opportunistic and will make you either spit the coffee in your mouth right out on your screen OR take it out the nose.

Unused Google Analytics Invitation Codes?

Anyone out there have an unused Google Analytics Invitation?

Some time back Google purchased a great little company called Urchin. We were all scratching our heads wondering where it would lead. It’s obvious now in the grand scheme of things Google is using the information for good, not evil 🙂

A Special Soul

A dear friend of my wife’s is passing away before our eyes.

Lorie Anaya, a wife and a mother of two small precious little ones has given so much to so many. If you’re a praying person… offer some prayers for her family. Lorie’s probably going to… die in the hospital.

Her life has served as an inspiration to so many… me, my wife Michelle and countless others.

Please, prayers and donations to the family (or to your favorite charity to honor someone who would have done it for you if she but could).

Seth Godin Wants You To Save Someone $100

Seth Godin’s tooling up for another invite only event going. This time a new twist… Any member who mentions another attendees blog gets that blog owner (who also happens to be attending) a $100 credit.

In the day/age of trackbacks I think Seth could be making a lot of $100 credits to a lot of people fishing for mentions. Of course, he could also be making a pile of dough (I hope).

I’d ask you to mention this site, but I might be applying my boss for one of the ten free not-for-profit slots. So, a mention, while nice, won’t help us out (unless Seth’s cutting checks).

Training Wheels Are Off!

OK, the BFD is unleashed on the world now and I’m happy to spill the beans.

For the longest time (has it really been two years in the making?) we’ve been working on pitching, justifying and building out a search engine for a nearly one million document large repository of data.

It’s hosted on Apple gear. Is built entirely in Java. Powered by Lucene. And runs in JBoss and is WICKED cool.

http://search.datapages.com/ is the subscriber address. In all liklihood you’ll be blocked unless you’ve paid for full-access (you’ll know if you did).

However, http://payperview.datapages.com/ is the open access site. This one will let you search about 70,000 or so articles dating back to 1917 and purchase any or all of them at $10 a pop.

Now, while this might be one of those GROOOOAANNNN kind of things to you I have to tell you I have a whole new appreciation for “search” as an application. IT AIN’T EASY SISTA! I evaluated a TON of solutions out there: Apple’s Spotlight; SearchBlox (which is still awesome); and a score of others… Lucene kept coming back as the one to beat (open source, platform agnostic, portable, scaleable…)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hats off to two EXTREMELY fine geniuses: Fred Toth and Jay Allen Hill. They are truly marvelous, dedicated, talented professionals who brought their creative problem solving skills to bear on some pretty funky stuff and pulled off programming miracles on a routine basis. We could not do this project without their involvement. There’s more to do and I hope they’ll stick with us through the next iterations. They’re both a pleasure to work with.

Michael McDonald of Pinehurst Technologies… Thanks for the introductions to Fred on election day 2004. Time has flown!

My bosses here at the AAPG and Datapages. I really appreciate the trust you’ve placed in me to get this deal launched.

The folks at Petris Technologies who have hosted the searchable archives for the past many years. These guys did a great job and we’ll be looking forward to the next business opportunity that bring us together.

My staff – Anne, Paula, Bev, Carol, Sandra and JingYao. Guys… there’s no way this thing would have come together without your can-do attitude. I know the availability’s been spotty for the past year (probably will be for another year). But, this deal is a testament to “hire people better than yourself” cliche. I have no worries because of each of you!

Last and MOST important – my family!
Michelle, Ian and Logan have put up with so much BS from me for the past two years I’m amazed I’m still married. I’m even more amazed there’s a little girl on the way! ((When did THAT happen!?)) I see authors pour doting praise on their families for putting up with their project/profession. NOW I appreciate what that all means. It sure helps to be blessed with a bride who’s understanding and encouraging. Also helps to have munchins who don’t know any better! 🙂