Monday, June 17, 2002

Americans Reach World Cup Quarterfinals. The United States beat favored Mexico to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1930. By Jere Longman. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 5:25:13 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

Wired.  George Gilder is bankrupt.  Good article.  George was right about the technology, but wrong about the time to roll it out.  The problem he didn't anticipate?  That the baby bells and the cable companies wouldn't install fiber.  That meant that the rapid technological innovation in bandwidth that was going on at the core of the Internet wouldn't benefit most Americans (fiber bandwidth price/performance doubles ever 9-12 months -- coaxial and twisted pair do not).   The decision of these last mile players not to adopt the right technology was a monsterous blunder based on greed, a lack of vision, and a cozy oligopoly.  This would the be equivalent in the PC world of having 2 GHz processors doubling every 12-18 months in price/performance in combination with 320x200 screens with 10 Mb of hard-drives doubling every 5 years .  Of course, that couldn't happen because there is real competition in the magnetic storage and display world.  Once fiber is installed into the home, doubling rates for home bandwidth could be fierce.  What will it take to get this done?  [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 11:28:19 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

Microsoft at Heart of Calls for Software Liability. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O), a company known for its popular software and its very deep pockets -- but also glitches in some products -- is a liability lawyer's dream: the big game target that always gets away. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology] 10:52:04 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

Recognizing the Book That Needs to Be Written. Writing is problem solving; whether in fiction, biography or memoir, certain basic questions have to be resolved. By Dorothy Gallagher. [New York Times: Books] 10:45:44 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

Even with the help of the referee Brazil suffers to beat Belgium... They are going to need a lot of help to beat England, the way they are playing, but don't worry they will get it. This is their cup and small things like goals against should not stand in their way. Talking about the sad performance of Portugal, and particularly about the players attitudes, my friend Rui Zink wrote a poem in which he says that Portugal is a sad country that puts the cart in front of the horse. I think this phrase applies to Brazil, and also to Venezuela, but in a less worldly stage. I would be ashamed, if I were Brazilian, of winning this way... 9:24:57 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

Belgium scores!... Hmmm, no. It seems scoring against Brazil isn't legal. They disallow the goal. Mr. Blatter didn't stop the cheating! 8:09:11 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []

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