Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Press finds spine, uses it It's heartening to read the transcript of yesterday's White House press conference, if only because it harks back to the good old days when the press corps actually asked questions and didn't cower when told they wouldn't get an answer: BlogCritics: "The White House Press Corps came roaring back today, discovering the Is Karl Rove Guilty of Leaking a CIA Operative's Name story -- just nine days after most other media began reporting it." [Scripting News] That said, I am under no illusions here. Karl Rove will skate, as will Robert Novak. Neither one of them will go to jail. It just won't happen, not under this administration. 3:48:27 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

The dangers of Google image search A month or so ago, my sister mentioned that she sometimes Googles family members, which is how she discovered my blog (not that I've kept it a deep dark secret or anything). So it occurred to me to see what appears if one does a Google image search for "Fred Sampson." Herewith, some results: This is not me, although the gray hair, glasses, and Hawaiian shirt might confuse you. Actually, I own a shirt exactly like the one Fred's wearing. But he doesn't have a moustache; I do. This is not me. Yes, there might be times when being known as "Bonecrusher" might be useful, but hey, it's really not my style. I did not design this guitar. I don't even play guitar. But I'm thinking of taking up ukulele. Yes, this is me, at CHI2005. Old, fat, out of focus. Sigh. And now you know. 2:16:52 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

See, they are out to get me! Laura found documented proof that a little nutiness goes with creativity, particularly with writing. creativity and madness. Its been well known throughout history that creative people tend to be, well, nuts, or at least it has always seemed there is a much greater incidence of nuthood amongst artists and other creatives than in the general population. There's a good book called Touched with Fire that explores this very link. Now Psychiatric Times confirms it with actual scientific... [limon :: by Laura Lemay] Check out the chart, and note that successfull writers (technical writers?) are a bit more neurotic than the average, and creative writers (like, say, marketing types?) are significantly more nutty. But not quite psychotic. Note, also the gap in paranoia between us writers and the average goof. We know the validity of that wonderful saying, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!" 12:54:21 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Good companies for leaders IBM's near the top of the list: FC Now: Lead Here. Hewitt, the global HR outsourcing and consulting company, has released its 2005 study of the top companies for leaders. What are the top 20 companies for leaders?... [Fast Company] 9:52:12 AM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

NPUC dos J.D.'s second post on the NPUC conference at Almaden yesterday is up. He's right, there was no mention of copyright issues. It just didn't seem to come up in context. Even though the iPod was mentioned in the context of cool design and a primarily single-purpose device, no one talked about media issues. Another thought I had: Jeff Pierce from Georgia Tech said that he thought there was a 5GB threshold for portable devices to be truly useful for carrying his everyday file needs around with him, and that no device was quite there yet. Well, I have a spare 15GB on my iPod that's not occupied by podcasts or (perfectly legal) music, and I can use that extra space for file storage. Works for me, anyway. 9:10:52 AM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

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