There has been too much noise over the past week or two to ignore this. Twitter’s abuzz with this topic, and just a few moments ago, kottke pointed me to tomorrow’s New Yorker piece by Seymour Hersh about Bush’s plan for Iran.
In a word, apalling.
The President’s position, and its corollary—that, if many of America’s problems in Iraq are the responsibility of Tehran, then the solution to them is to confront the Iranians—have taken firm hold in the Administration. This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants. The focus of the plans had been a broad bombing attack, with targets including Iran’s known and suspected nuclear facilities and other military and infrastructure sites. Now the emphasis is on “surgical” strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq.
The ideological shift from a broad bombing campaign to surgical strikes is simply a downward adjustment because internal US intelligence shows that the American people will have very limited patience with another full-scale entry into war with another country.
The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign.
Whatever nuances the administration needs to get the necessary buy-in will be used. The American public will be outraged, and whatever Bush waxes heroic about on TV will be window-dressing. I don’t think we fall for it this time. Then again, I didn’t think we’d fall for anything after Afghanistan.
This is a classic, but kottke referred to it in a recent post and I can’t help but appreciate it all over again. It’s hypnotic — design in motion skirting the boundaries of industrial art.
Section 2: Understand who or what you’re hiding from
You should consider the resources of the individual or organization which you’re hiding from as well as their degree of motivation for finding you. Always over-estimate the resolve of those seeking to find you yet keep your estimations reasonable. Greatly over-estimating your opposition can cause you to behave in predictable, patterned ways, however. It is the predictability of your actions based upon your opposition’s controlled stimulus which can get you caught.
If your opposition are police authorities, rest assured that they have decades of experience to back them up whereas to them, you’re nothing more than another faceless fugitive on the run. To them you’re no one special; it’s not usually personal (unless you’ve killed a cop in which case they will get you — and I hope you’ll have an “accident” on the way to the police station.) To you, however, being hunted down is quite personal. They know how you will feel and will use that against you.
If you’ve entered the United States illegally to start a new life, (or are planning to) you must contend with immigration officials which have historically been under-staffed, poorly-managed, and staffed by incompetent (though often voraciously brutal) thugs — high school dropouts — who only want to carry a gun but couldn’t make it in the police force. Unlike police officers, immigration officials didn’t get into their line of work to help people; they got into their line of work to keep you out of the country and to track you down and throw you out if you do get in. Their desire is to subject you to their control, feeding their power trips, making themselves feel manly. Unlike police officers, they aren’t out to help society, they’re out to inflict misery upon the hapless and the down-trodden.
YDA points me to an amazing series of information about how one could disappear in modern America. This is incredible reading, and if you’re the type who’s considering going to the ground, well, here you go. Thank me later when you decide to use a computer again.
Today is part one. I will post a new part daily to appease your renegade within. If you’re the impatient fugitive type who’s planning on deleting himself immediately and you can’t wait, you can read it all in one fell swoop right here.
Without further ado, here’s the first installment.
Section 1: What I’ll be discussing on this how-to essay
There are many good reasons to want to disappear from society. There are many bad reasons to want to. There are many good ways to disappear from society and there are many bad ways to disappear. While I won’t delve too deeply into the whys of disappearing, I will cover my opinions on how to disappear successfully.
This essay covers what I consider to be the most salient points on how to disappear and remain successfully hidden in American society. If you have further suggestions, please don’t hesitate to E-Mail me at the address provided at the bottom of this text so that I may include your ideas.
If you’re thinking of hiding from a moral responsibility — such as child support — I want you to stop reading this right now and shoot yourself. This web page isn’t for you. If you’re thinking about committing a crime and then trying to get away with it, don’t be an idiot: you will get caught — it’s just a matter of when — and nothing on this web page can possibly help you.
If you’re thinking of running from an abusive ex-husband or ex-boyfriend who wishes to do you harm, I wish you the very best and hope that some of these suggestions and contact references prove helpful though most of it, I’m afraid, is probably unworkable, silly suggestions that won’t help you one bit.
If you’re thinking about taking your children with you, DON’T! Bring yourself and your children to a shelter in another State but for no reason should you ever drag your children around with you while on the run or while hiding. They don’t deserve the abuse and you’re being selfish if you try to. If you need help caring for your children but need to run from a dangerous spouse, ex-spouse, girl/boy friend, or ex-girl/boy friend, dial 1-800-4ACHILD and ask about what your options are for your safety and the safety of your child or children. Call before you leave if possible but most certainly call someone if you and your children must flee. Also: The number of the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.
The authorities will be highly motivated into tracking you down if you bring your kids with you as well. Think about what’s best for those you leave behind and, as difficult as it will be leave them behind!
While there are many shelters for women, finding a shelter for yourself and your children if you are a man is going to be difficult. References provided toward the end of the essay should be helpful in this regard yet understand that if you’re a man fleeing spousal abuse, America just doesn’t care too much about you. A man still has many options, however, yet, in America, there are fewer than for a woman.Women who make allegations of child abuse against their husbands, ex-husbands, or ex-boyfriends are likely to be considered truthful in American society in far greater percentages than such claims made by men against their female counterparts. A man who must take himself and his children away from an abusive female is likely to be accused of child abuse and American society is likely to believe the allegations.
Because of this, whether you’re a man or a woman, protect yourself from such allegations by documenting abuses before you flee to a shelter with your children. Once at the shelter, make sure that a service worker at the shelter is given a copy of (or a chance to review) your documentation. It’s greatly unfortunate that you will have to face legal needs when you’re trying to escape from a criminally abusive person but legalities is something you must be prepared to face before you make your break. The fact that you took yourself to a children’s shelter or a battered-woman’s shelter goes a long way toward establishing your innocence in allegations likely to surface later.
Women are assigned priority status when it comes to such things. If you are a man fleeing an abusive woman, understand that whatever you tell the authorities (or organizations which provide assistance) will be greeted with undue skepticism. Check the references at the end of this essay for organizations which specifically assist men.
I’ve been as excited for this as I am for Skitch, even though Core Image-powered image editors are the new FTP app for OSX. Ahem.
Anyway, Pixelmator goes 1.0 and into general availability. It’s been a substantial beta and hopefully most of the bugs have been worked out. I hope that performance is up to snuff, especially on large image manipulations like rotate and flip.
Built from the ground up on a combination of open source and Mac OS X technologies, Pixelmator features powerful selection, painting, retouching, navigation, and color correction tools, and layers-based image editing, GPU-powered image processing, color management, automation, and transparent HUD user interface for work with images [...]
Pixelmator is based on Core Image and OpenGL technologies that use Mac’s video card for image processing. Core Image and OpenGL utilize the graphics card for image processing operations, freeing the CPU for other tasks. And if a high-performance card with increased video memory (VRAM) is present, the user will find real-time responsiveness across a wide variety of Pixelmator operations, including editing tools, color correction tools, and filters. Pixelmator is lightning-fast on the latest PowerPC and all Intel-based Macs. [...]
Other notable features: Pixelmator supports more than 100 different file formats, including Photoshop images with layers, and it comes with more than 15 color correction tools and 50 Core Image-powered filters, transform tools, fill and stroke, Gradients, QuickMask mode, full-screen editing mode, Automator support, ColorSync support, Spotlight support, and much more.
I’ve downloaded it just now and will be playing with it over the next few days. The most notable (recent) competition is Acorn, and these two apps will be trying to cannibalize one another for anyone interested in $40 - $60 Core Image-powered image editors. Right now, the general nod seems to go to Pixelmator, but you can find arguments for each in various community discussions.
If you have any experience with these two apps, let me hear your take.
As posted previously, I think Feist’s 1234 produced one of the best music videos to come along in many years. (Apple thought so too, that’s why it’s the new iPod nano promo song. Apple — or, more accurately, Apple’s ad agency — has such a knack for coolhunting it’s not even funny.)
There is some debate, both here in GF’s comments as well as the YouTube comment thread, about whether or not the video was shot in one contiguous shoot or if the final piece was edited in post.
Here’s a fun Japanese gameshow where contestants are forced to run on a treadmill (that looks to be running at somewhere between 5 - 6 MPH) while trying to jump hurdles. If you cross the finish line, you win. If you trip, fall or quit, you’re ushered rather violently to the end of the conveyor belt where a sandbox full of shame and fail awaits.
The fitness nerd in me tells me this requires nothing more than (a) the ability to run a relatively constant rate for about 60-90 seconds, and (b) enough fast-twitch anaerobic power to accelerate from the constant pace to approach, jump, and clear the hurdles. I think it’d be fun to try.
This weekend I’m going to Gull Lake View on my annual fall golf trip, so things will be quiet here. This weekend boasts just an insane amount of golf: 27 holes Friday, 36 Saturday, and 18 Sunday. By Sunday, when it’s time to come home, it’s time to come home. It’s a great trip. Maybe this year I’ll actually have a shot at winning.
If you’re looking for something to read, you can browse the archives (see right-hand column, sorted by month) to see if there’s anything you missed. Or, alternatively, you can leave a comment describing just how badly you want me to write a full-on rant about my piece of shit American car (a Dodge Charger R/T Hemi) and the mind-boggling problems I’ve had with it. Want to hear it? Say so in the comments.
Every switcher story is somewhat interesting, just to hear real people talk about how much better computing can be. But every now and again we get a switcher of some visibility, which is exactly what Mark Cuban is.
What’s interesting about Windows –> Mac switchers is that they typically feel a need to vocalize their experience in one way or another. That’s pretty remarkable, because it means that somehow Apple knows how to make evangelists out of users. I’m not sure any other company on earth does it as effectively. Apple’s installed base isn’t just an installed base: it’s a field marketing department.
People switch brands and allegiances every day, but I can’t think of another product that carries the consumer word-of-mouth momentum as Apple.
I had gotten to the point where I was embarrassed to be a PC owner. The thought of someone calling me and asking me to go to my computer to find something was paralyzing (ok, not that bad, but it sounded cool writing it).
This wasnt just a problem on my Desktop, it was a problem on my laptop with Vista as well.
So a few months ago I made the executive decision to buy a MacBook to replace my laptop.
I haven’t looked back.
Everyone I know who has moved to the Mac has not looked back. As I’ve said countless times before, if you need Windows, then run Boot Camp and/or Parallels/Fusion to get the best of both worlds. No need to strand yourself on Windows exclusively unless you have a good reason.
Aside from very specialized computing tasks, there is literally very little reason to own a dedicated Windows machine anymore. I’d proffer that for the great majority of users, a Mac would work just fine if they do a modicum of research and go into the move with an open mind and the understanding that the Mac != Windows and there will be a learning curve. After that, it’s all good.
The WNBA. Can we please just admit that it has failed and cut it loose? There are decent infomercials that would be more interesting being bumped out of reasonable timeslots because of this.
Starbucks’ gourmet, connoisseur image. Starbucks is the new McDonalds, nothing more. Yes, its coffee is good (but not as good as Peet’s), but nobody escapes the commoditization curve given enough scale and time.
Bumper stickers. Whatever is funny enough to put on an ugly bumper sticker that will, in turn, ugly up an entire automobile should be best left to t-shirts.
The ridiculous, delusional notion that Linux on the desktop will ever be a MAINSTREAM, POPULAR, AVERAGE-USER operating system. I use all caps because invariably I get some freetards (Terry, I’m looking at you) emailing me telling me how wrong I am because they use Loonix every day and it works just fine. It doesn’t work just fine. As a desktop experience to anyone but hardened nerds, it sucks. Even Walt Mossberg agrees, so enough. There’s nothing left to argue anymore.
Sun’s insane gyrations as it tries hopelessly to reinvent itself.
80% of American cars. The battle is all but lost.
Survivor. The next season is somewhere in China. That has fun written all over it. And by fun I mean yawns.
Mitt Romney. Is this guy for real? The last thing we need is another Max Headroom-looking clown who comes from his father’s money. Sound familiar?
Cats. Any pet that plainly chews electric cords while their owner watches needs to be re-evaluated as a pet.
Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Two trainwrecks that don’t deserve another millisecond of airtime.
Michael Moore. Yeah, Cuban health care sounds great. You go first. Good luck.
Corporate blogs that try to be radically transparent. Look at your business card. Does it say Apple? No? Then give it up.
Dr. Phil. He had a good run despite his puzzling choice to wear a mustache. And I mean, come on: Isn’t he just an upscale Jerry Springer with nicer suits and a PhD?
Celebrities and their designer charities. Knock it off, Angelina.
Wannabe greenies. By this I mean those who see An Inconvenient Truth and decide to buy a Prius that they park every night in one of their four garages that adjoin their 11,000 sq. ft. home.
Greenie retards. E.g. people who buy an Escape hybrid when all of their driving is on the highway. Nice research, captain.
Economics professors have a standard game they use to demonstrate how apparently rational decisions can create a disastrous result. They call it a “dollar auction.” The rules are simple. The professor offers a dollar for sale to the highest bidder, with only one wrinkle: the second-highest bidder has to pay up on their losing bid as well. Several students almost always get sucked in. The first bids a penny, looking to make 99 cents. The second bids 2 cents, the third 3 cents, and so on, each feeling they have a chance at something good on the cheap. The early stages are fun, and the bidders wonder what possessed the professor to be willing to lose some money.
The problem surfaces when the bidders get up close to a dollar. After 99 cents the last vestige of profitability disappears, but the bidding continues between the two highest players. They now realize that they stand to lose no matter what, but that they can still buffer their losses by winning the dollar. They just have to outlast the other player. Following this strategy, the two hapless students usually run the bid up several dollars, turning the apparent shot at easy money into a ghastly battle of spiraling disaster.
Theoretically, there is no stable outcome once the dynamic gets going. The only clear limit is the exhaustion of one of the player’s total funds. In the classroom, the auction generally ends with the grudging decision of one player to “irrationally” accept the larger loss and get out of the terrible spiral. Economists call the dollar auction pattern an irrational escalation of commitment. We might also call it the war in Iraq.
I was going to write a post about 9/11, given that today marks the sixth anniversary of that jarring, terrible, galvanizing day. But the words didn’t come easily, and like in years past, I found myself putting to paper an electric jumble of thoughts and emotions that made little sense. Maybe I didn’t think things through enough. Maybe I’m still angry about what happened here on our shores. Maybe I’m frustrated and disappointed at how our own government used the event as a springboard to compound the problem.
I don’t know.
So instead of writing a lot without saying anything, I hereby offer you Anil Dash’s remembrance post, which is eloquent and touching. He laments the passing of clarity and the loss of the sense of hopefulness. 9/11 still happened — in that sense we can never forget — but the oddly-magic energy that came as a result of the world’s sudden galvanization has indeed been lost. It’s time to let that go. Perhaps that’s the nature of time and the human condition.
Anil says it best:
It’s the first year that the anniversary didn’t hang over everything I do. I’m still aware of it, I’ll always be aware of it, but time and distance and some amount of willful disbelief have dimmed the sharpness of the remembrance.
On the afternoon of September 11th, 2001, and especially on September 12th, I wasn’t only sad. I was also hopeful. I wanted to believe that we wouldn’t just Never Forget that we would also Always Remember. People were already insisting that we’d put aside our differences and come together, and maybe the part that I’m most bittersweet and wistful about was that I really believed it. I’d turned 26 years old just a few days before the attacks, and I realize in retrospect that maybe that moment, as I eased from my mid-twenties to my late twenties, was the last time I’d be unabashedly optimistic about something, even amidst all the sorrow.
After that, things were more often cloudy than clear. That day, I knew who the bad guys were, but wanted to know that all of us who were the good guys were on the same side. I miss the clarity.
But I’ve let it go. There won’t be another moment when people aren’t picking sides. Maybe it’s just human nature, but we’re unwilling to accept nuance and tolerate each other despite our differences, except for a very brief window when we’re still in shock. Today “Never Forget” only exists as a marketing slogan for various political advocacy efforts. And it’s not as if I can forget — just last week I was listening to a random playlist and the tune that came up was the one I’d used as my solace on the day of the attacks, and my heart still lept into my throat, my chest still got tight. That part will probably never go away. But that’s hardly the same as Never Forgetting.
I don’t mean to sound bitter; Maybe there’s something great about the fact that we are so rambunctious and willful and stubborn that even our greatest tragedies ultimately can’t force us to stop being so ornery and human. Maybe staying in that moment too long means never living in the now.
Somehow, though, I still miss the idealism and hope that were the best things that came out of the worst days. I’m hoping that’s the part I’ll never forget.
But that’s not why I like it. (For the record, the song is 1234 by Feist.)
I mean, just listen to this song. It’s so fun. You can listen to it over and over. It’s got such a unique sound, and the video…my God, the video.
This is a live shoot, kids. This is all choreographed, which means they probably had to nail everything in one take — that or the editors were incredible. The cinematography is flawless. It’s just a great song video in an age where song videos are all but dead.
74 days to sell 1,000,000 iPhones. That’s a little something we call amazing. The only thing about this is the odd perception that Apple should have sold one million phones even faster, because it said previously that it aims to sell 10M phones by the close of 2008. And clearly, if it has only sold 1M in the first 74 days, then Apple is by no means on pace to sell 10M by the close of the next calendar year.
Since when did sales curves become exercises in linear extrapolation? Sales curves tend to accelerate as new models are introduced (diversification), prices fall from premium territory (commoditization) and more geographies can sell the device (globalization). Yes, there was the kickoff explosion where Apple sold 270K phones during launch weekend, but then it took another 72 days to sell the remaining 730K.
So what? This is how it works. Anyone who actually believes that the launch weekend’s sales rate could realistically be sustained needs to go back and review some economics texts. And, historically speaking, I’m thinking this run rate is unprecedented: what other $500 or $600 phone sold as many units so quickly? Frankly, I think the iPhone’s saturation curve is impressive as hell.
I’ll second John Gruber’s bet: anyone who wants to wager me that Apple will not hit its 10M goal by the end of 2008 let me know. I’ll take that bet. Like Gruber, I’ll also remind you that Apple has yet to introduce new iPhone models and functionality refreshes, and that as of right now, you can only get the iPhone in the United States on one carrier.
Let me know in the comments. I have my boys Tony and Vinny taking names and doing lookups on Google Maps.
I was going to come at you with a phenomenal post. I was going to come at with you a sequence of words never before bestowed upon mankind; a true literary breakthrough. A post that you’d print up and take to your colleagues and spend the first 15 minutes of your next meeting talking about. A post that you could, quite literally, print out and frame and put it above your fireplace or pictures of your kids. A post that would honestly bring more light into the world. A post that would singlehandedly dominate Digg, Techmeme and Netscape.
Instead, I got to messing with this, which is something of magic itself.
So did you get a post? Yes. Was it the Jesus Post? No. Did you get an addictive strategy game that will suck hours out of your day if you let it? Yes.
You still win. I don’t want to hear any complaints.
While I can’t say I agree with his elitist take on Bioshock — which is, make no mistake, an amazing experience, proving that modern gaming can be every bit as immersive an experience as conventional media — his staccato, machine-gun narration and clever accompanying animation is absolute genius. I watched this twice back-to-back and laughed at different things each time.
See here. I’ll have to subscribe to ZP’s RSS feed just so I can catch more of this sort of thing. He’s like Ze Frank on games, only with more snarliness.
In case you’re wondering what games are shown where across various parts of the country, wonder no more. This site and its data is managed by a single (Patriots) football fan, so props to him for going to such great lengths. Nice work.
In my case, it’s very interesting to see how much of the country will be afflicted and punished and plagued by Detroit Lions football on TV. It makes me feel not so alone in the futility. I honor the place where I and my Lions brothers become one. Peace.
(Until the first interception, then it’s right back to Fire Millen!)
One of the best ads I’ve seen in a long time — great concept, design and execution. It’s visual poetry, especially the final scene that dramatically delivers the ad’s core message. This is worth watching over and over, because really, who doesn’t like slo-mo videos of exploding things?
This spot was done in the UK by the ad agency AMV BBDO and Therapy Films. Great stuff.
I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.
First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone ‘tent’. We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.
Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple’s website next week. Stay tuned.
We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.
Steve Jobs
Apple CEO
Sure, you might say that if Jobs hadn’t agreed to the iPhone price drop a mere 60 days after it launched (at bleeding-edge prices), this measure might not be necessary. But decisions are made with the best available data at the time, and consequences can’t always be predicted, especially if you’re the one inside the swirling winds of the decision itself.
Grace lies in the ability to admit mistakes, take accountability and make them right. That’s what Jobs is doing here — his original call was myopic, the consequences were greater than anticipated and he saw a need for a correction. You’d think that a company like Apple could stick to their guns and just keep the screws in place, but Apple has learned from its past mistakes. It knows it’s onto something huge, and is willing to be (appear?) contrite to keep customers happy and public perception positive.
It’s staggering other companies can’t learn such an easy — and powerful — lesson.
Then again, the easiest things are the hardest to execute, and that’s why so many who try to be simple and clean and easy ultimately fail. The gods most certainly do live in the details.
I would say welcome back Kottke, but John Gruber already did. That’s first-mover advantage for you.
Anyway, Kottke’s back from paternity leave and working on kottke.org, and if you don’t read it, you should. He’s one of my favorites, a definite A-lister and one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place.
To everyone at my former employer who’s come across this blog (I tried to keep it quiet while I was there), I appreciate your massive support. Like I said before, I already miss the people the most. I met some of the smartest, funniest and altogether best people there. People make experiences at first, and later, on a more individual level, the experience makes the person.
I’m a better person having met you all. Thank you.
Ever get totally invested in and excited about something only to have the interest die midstream? Ever jump from hobby to hobby, passion to passion, only to find the chase more exciting than arriving?
Yeah?
Then enjoy.
There’s a certain virtue to seeing things through to completion, especially in this information- and distraction-soaked age. I think we could all use this reminder more frequently than we’d like to admit.
I don’t like to get too personal here on GF, but I am going to indulge myself for a few moments, and maybe in the process find some catharsis.
I got laid off from my job yesterday. It was a ‘reduction in force,’ or a RIF as they’ve come to be known. It’s a cost containment measure, and it’s been happening around the company for the better part of a year now.
It came as a surprise to some extent, and to other extents it didn’t. I’m not prepared to say where I worked just yet, but I will proffer that it was a large company filled with very, very good people and run haphazardly by hail Mary, desperation management. Were it not for the people, a great many of whom I can call bona fide friends, I would have left the company a long time ago. At the risk of throwing the sour grapes alarm (and I’m not trying to), I will predict that the current executive management direction will come up empty and within 24 months the company will be acquired and divested by a private equity firm. Or, alternatively, the company could be acquired by a competitor, the relevant technology absorbed, the chaff jettisoned or sold to interested parties (again, perhaps an equity firm). This fate has been oft-discussed in local circles and considering what I see that’s happening to avoid it, I don’t see an escape. And perhaps that’s why I’m no longer there.
But whatever. As I move forward, it’s more important where I go, not where I’ve been. I’ve learned many things, most of them good, and I’ve met some fantastic people with whom I will keep in touch. I do not regret my time there at all. Everything has a lesson and purpose.
Absorb what is useful. Discard the rest.
Sometimes life gives you a little push. Other times, a large push. Yesterday was a large push. But out of every crisis comes opportunity if you’re willing to keep your eyes open.
As you might imagine, I am now in the market for a new career. And when I say new career, I don’t necessarily mean more of the same. I might mean something totally different. I might mean something similar if I believe in the company/product/service enough. I might mean starting my own business.
I might mean a lot of things. One thing is for sure, though: I will do something I enjoy. My days of dying a fluorescent death in a large company, stumbling over its own weight and politics and in-fighting and back-climbing, are over. I did that, learned what I needed to learn, and most importantly realized what I didn’t want. That’s a strange contrast mechanism: through understanding what you didn’t like about an experience, you’re more attuned to what you would. It seems simple on paper, but in reality that retrospective is hard to get: you need to walk some miles in shoes that aren’t exactly comfortable to be able to articulate it.
I suppose, in the end, that’s what wisdom is.
So, here I am, for better or worse. I’m either remarkably calm for such a drastic change or still in shock. I suspect a little of both.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the next step, to do something sincere, to make good on my own conviction. Right, Mike Lee?
I used to love The Macalope, but since he’s moved to CNet blogs (which could have been a fantastic move for him), a few things have made him a fraction of what he was originally. I know this won’t be popular with the Mac faithful, and I’ve tried to give the ‘new’ Macalope a fair shake, but here are my issues in case anyone’s wondering. If he read this, he should know that it’s with a certain degree of sadness and irritation that I write this post. He used to be one of my top A-listers; now, I barely read him.
He’s (been forced) back to partial-text feeds. There is NOTHING more annoying than partial-text feeds. NOTHING. I mean, fucking NOTHING. For the longest time, The Macalope had partial-text feeds on his original site. Eventually, though, he caved-in and went full-text, which was fantastic. For a brief period of time, birds sang and oceans were bluer. Now that he’s joined the CNet borg, though, (I presume) they’ve forced him back to partial-text feeds because they’re hit whores and want every lousy pagehit they can get. It sucks. At least The Macalope’s real site was interesting enough to click over to from time-to-time, but his CNet home is awful. It’s ugly, there’s no design to it, the typography blows, it’s distracting, it has a ‘Compare Prices’ tab at the top — even his logo looks out of place. It’s insult to injury to the reader to have to move from a shitty, partial-text feed over to the CNet page, which looks like it was designed as an afterthought by a retarded intern. It’s just not worth it. And before you tell me that it’s probably CNet’s fault for the partial feed and frigtarded design, I know that — but I do think The Macalope could have bargained harder for more firsthand control of his reader’s experience. In business, you should always know what makes you successful so you don’t inadvertently destroy it.
His content just isn’t the same. This is harder to put my finger on. It’s almost as if he’s become conscious of his writing style, and that his audience has changed and become larger. I attribute it to the literary equivalent of the Observer Effect: the fact that he’s being observed on a larger, more public scale changes him just-so-subtly. Or maybe it’s CNet again: maybe he’s playing under editorial standards that take the edge off his writing because they’re a big mainstream tech media outlet and nothing’s allowed to shine too brightly lest it rub some political grain the wrong way. Whatever it is, here’s the exercise: go read a bunch of stuff from the old Macalope, then from the CNet Macalope. Then come back here and try to tell me something hasn’t changed. In the meantime, perhaps the ‘Lope should hop on over to Mike Lee and read his Sincerity Theory post.
As of today, I have unsubscribed from The Macalope’s CNet RSS feed. I have been unsubbing from feeds lately with a fair degree of prejudice, because I suddenly found that I didn’t touch a good 30% of my subscriptions. When I realized that I wasn’t reading The Macalope, I stopped to think about why, and the result of that thought exercise led me to this post.
I miss the old Macalope. I wish CNet would let him come back. Or, even better, I wish he would partner with someone more his style and leave the CNet opportunity to the more wonkishly-inclined. The Macalope isn’t a borg wonk: never has been, never will be.
