Monday, March 24, 2008

Freedom Never Cries

Freedom Never Cries:
"Though you might after watching this video. I am not a huge fan of Five For Fighting (though it’s a great name) but John Ondrasik just gets it. He knows who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and isn’t afraid to stay it. Sadly, that’s not a very common trait among today’s purveyors of pop culture."

Friday, March 21, 2008

Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot - New York Times

Camcorder Brings Zen to the Shoot - New York Times

Interesting little video camera that focuses on simplicity and few features.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Major Brian Shul: "I loved that jet" - Maggie's Farm

Major Brian Shul: "I loved that jet" - Maggie's Farm: "One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was 'Dusty 52, we show you at 525 on the ground,' ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter's mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, 'Aspen 20, I show you at 1,742 knots on the ground.' We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast."

Friday, March 07, 2008

Freedom Means Responsibility - George McGovern

Freedom Means Responsibility - WSJ.com:
"Nearly 16 years ago in these very pages, I wrote that ''one-size-fits all' rules for business ignore the reality of the market place.' Today I'm watching some broad rules evolve on individual decisions that are even worse.

Under the guise of protecting us from ourselves, the right and the left are becoming ever more aggressive in regulating behavior. Much paternalist scrutiny has recently centered on personal economics, including calls to regulate subprime mortgages."

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Interesting commentary on what people pay for in a "free" (as in information) society


Kevin Kelly -- The Technium
There are a number of other qualities similar to trust that are difficult to copy, and thus become valuable in this network economy. I think the best way to examine them is not from the eye of the producer, manufacturer, or creator, but from the eye of the user. We can start with a simple user question: why would we ever pay for anything that we could get for free? When anyone buys a version of something they could get for free, what are they purchasing?