RickRolling the Baby

To think some of my friends didn't understand my mock-love of Rick Astley in the 80s. Vindication is mine! Rick is now the centerpiece of the Anti-Scientology movement. Why are the protesters in masks, btw? Are they really fearful of retribution for RickRolling? Weird stuff, but this particular video is quite persuasive of the power of RickRolling.

Obama speaks on Race in America

Obama speech on Race in America, will it go down as an important moment in American politics? Was he ready with this speech to embrace the racism and fear his opponents have been mongering? There is not a lot of background noise, but the message is clear.

Marley enjoys sipping at the Colonel's

Marley enjoys sipping at the Colonel's
Originally uploaded by kangham

Ok, it was a special occasion, an afternoon with Daddy. Of course we had to stop at the Colonel's to keep tabs on the triumverate (the secret oligarchy mike myers alluded to in So... I Married an Axe Murderer). Anyway, he's the oldest and growing up too fast.

Zander is happy and he knows it

Zander is happy and he knows it
Originally uploaded by kangham

Here's my youngest at the park on a cool, blustery day. Unfortunately, we lost that orange jacket.

Hardware as a Service

This is a concept I've been noodling on while reading Bruce Sterling's Shaping Things.
He describes the current transition of our produced world from one of gizmos to one of spimes. His assertion that gizmos represent the period between 1989 and 2004, where we purchased products that had a relatively short lifespan of utility. How many cellphones have you bought in your lifetime? Why did you replace them? It is not hard to argue that humanity needs to work at sustainable technology. The epoch of spimes starts at 2004 with the transition to RFID. Now, at first, I was concerned about the privacy losses and exploitation that this technology enables. But, Mr. Sterling has seemed to embrace its inevibility and suggest that we utilize its tracking capabilities to create devices that not only determine space but also time (thus the word invention). I am fully committed to helping make this dream into our reality. Design products to be reclaimed as their usefulness wanes, hence, hardware as a service.

Expanding my Twitterverse
So, now that Twitter is having problems keeping up with the massive updates, I'm beginning to understand that the critical mass they are building is inevitable. Sadly, after handing over my gmail goodies, I had less than 20 hits. Clearly, my last two years of communique does not contain the Twitterverse. But, how do you go about adding more followers? I thought the Public Timeline seemed as good as place as any to follow interesting tweets. Also, the ratio seems to be more friendly and conducive to social network relationship-building.

MLK speech, Beyond Vietnam, exactly one year before his death.

American Express to the rescue. Can Vonage and American Express's customer strategy be any different? Vonage has a tough road to hoe. Patent infringement lawsuits, open source and free competitors, and sketchy American broadband are too much to overcome. They did finally make it easy to port your number. But, at a cost. They'll make you purchase a new number first, and then charge you to cancel it. Luckily, I filed a complaint with Amex, and I was surprised to find out Vonage relented 80% of the overcharges. I can now consider case closed with them and feel loyalty to Amex and their customer service.

Vonage is shockingly obtuse to deal with. I'm liveblogging right now on a now 23 minute call trying to disconnect service. Actually, "Veronica" has put me on hold for the last 10 minutes just to see if I'll hang up and thus not completing the cancellation. Really scummy, if you ask me. They are without a doubt, the most dishonest company I've ever used. More details on my 2 year oddesey to follow.

What the Luck?

Today, I am concerned with luck. Well, because it is the ultimate over-simplification of a complex phenomenon. I lack the brain power to abstractly visualize the nodal points of my social network and calculate the probability matrices to intelligently plan out how I spend my day. Today, I found out about this guy... Scott Ginsburg who wears a name tag all the time...


There's always a lot of talk about luck on my favorite sports blog, Athletics Nation. I've even chimed in about the Chinese Proverb, I've always remembered, that "Luck is where opportunity and preparation converge"

Album Cover Wars

Memory Lane is being repaved.

Hello World