Greenhouse in Holland

Spending a great afternoon in Amsterdam experiencing their excellent coffee. The Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory. Thank goodness for java!!

 Posted by glenn at 06:21 AM | Comments (0)

There Was a House in New Orleans

Otis Redding will have to change the title of his signature tune to the "House of the Rising Flood." New Orleans Faces New Threat from Breaches in Levees. After hurricane Katrina, 80% of New Orleans is under water, some by as much as 20 feet. Basically, the entire city is flooded, and until the dikes are rebuilt the work of pumping the water out cannot even start.

This is a disaster of the first order. The scope is just unbelievable. But the sad part, really, is that it is a man-made disaster. That's because for 300 years New Orleans -- like most of Holland -- lies below sea level, and has been protected by an intricate series of levees holding the ocean and Lake Ponchetrain away. That, in turn, means that the Mississippi River can no longer flood into the delta and deposit sediments and nutrients. So over the years, New Orleans is also sinking further down as the old alluivial sedimentation compacts.

As Mike Tidwell explained Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast --

Civilzation did not make the hurricane. But it is the urbanization and engineered river flow that allowed New Orleans to exist in the first place that has produced its current devastation.

 Posted by glenn at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

Get Real

It's late, I'm tired and I just finished watching an incredibly well done and riveting documentary on al Qaeda and 9/11 by National Geographic. And then I read this:

Bush Calls Iraq War Moral Equivalent Of Allies' WWII Fight Against the Axis. Of all the gall. Comparing the bunch of rag-tag guerillas that has the U.S. paralyzed in Iraq to the fascists and authoritarians of 1940s Germany, Japan and Italy is sophistry. "The Greatest Generation" knew what they were fighting for and knew it was right. Today, we don't know who we are fighting and we are "right" only in that we are acting as a pseudo-benevolent occupation force.

Remember that Bush vowed on 9/11 that he would hunt down those responsible and kill them. Osama bin Laden is still out there, and since 9/11 we've witnessed Madrid, London and scores of other major al Qaeda terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is growing more opium than ever before and Iraq has become a new rallying call for Islamic jihad against Western "infidels."

If Bush had any real courage, he would have nuked Islamabad when he had the chance. But then, throughout American history, it's been Democrats who fight wars, and Republicans who talk but don't walk. Get real, George; you cannot make history by wishing this were World War II. It's a different time, and a different war. The problem is, Iraq is the wrong war. We should be fighting terrorists, but instead we are just sowing the seeds for inevitably more terrorism against all of Western civilization.

 Posted by glenn at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

Up Your Ass

Saturday's New York Times detailed the rising battle between Apple Computer and the recording industry over pricing of digital music downloads. Apple, Digital Music's Angel, Earns Record Industry's Scorn [New York Times]. Apparently, the music industry dislikes the $0.99 fixed per-song price pioneered by Apple as part of its iTunes Music Store.

Now that's quite a metaphor. Seems that Lack is saying that his revenue stream is someplace where the sun doesn't shine. Perhaps the record labels need a proctologist? I represent these guys (at the FCC), but I still can't understand their business strategy. Before iTunes, they were nowehere in the digital domain. But I guess for content in today's information economy, it's acceptable behavior to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or even some other part of the anatomy.

 Posted by glenn at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

Java Man

According to an academic study released at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society, coffee is really good for you. As PhysOrg.com described,

Well, that either means that Americans have no other real antioxidants (and lots of free radicals) or that coffee is hardly the evil toxin that the media have in most cases made it out to be. So drink up, America. At $6 a cup for a Starbucks-type double latte, at least you're putting something healthy into those stomachs of yours.

 Posted by glenn at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)

GoogleTalk

Our friends at Google have decided to enter the instant messaging (IM) market with a product called "GoogleTalk." Google Talk Launch Sends Clear Message to Rivals [The Guardian]. That's an interesting move, but they still have to contend with the incompatibilities among the various different IM standards. And it raises the old dot.com bubble question of whether search sites provide services (which Google has done better than anyone) or want to leverage search into more "stickiness" and expand into "portals."

See, the issues never change, just the acronyms.

 Posted by glenn at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)

Flying to Alaska

Not really, but I am flying to Seattle on Alaska Airlines, rated dead last in on-time arrivals. Nice people, although we are indeed more than an hour late.

 Posted by glenn at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

Bloggers Do It Daily

Having just returned from a nice 3-day break in lovely Aspen, Colorado, I am constrained to write a bit about the discipline of blogging. Here I do not mean "discipline" as in genre, but rather discipline as in what is needed to maintain a blog.

As readers will note, I've basically been absent for several months. Well, surprising to me, there are some people out there who actually read what I write!! Two of them -- an erstwhile "cousin" whose genealogical connection I've yet to trace in detail, and a business associate who specializes in wireless Internet networks -- have reached out to say they miss my posts. I was astounded about that in two respects. First, as is obvious that surfers actually bookmark or RSS this blog. Second, that there are readers who know and regret the recent lapse in posts.

All of that reinforces the aphorism that "Bloggers Do It Daily." See, it's not that blogging requires daliy updates. It's just that, like excercise, if the author is not sufficiently disciplined to write every day, then it's VERY easy to get out of shape.

That's what's happened to me. But I'm back and will strive to write every day. Hopefully, there'll be a flash of insight once in a while. It seems like the least I can do in light of the fact that some folks in cyberspace actually care about what I think.

 Posted by glenn at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)

Pay the Man, Shirley

Even after his acquittal on child molestation charges, Michael Jackson gets no rest. Now he has been sued for $48 million by the financial firm that helped him refinance his debt to pay for Neverland and legal fees. No tickee, no washee, Jacko. Pay the man!

 Posted by glenn at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

I'm Still Here

Hey, loyal readers. I am still here. Recently work has been extremely hectic, and I've gotten into a new passion -- bonsai. But I've been saving up a bunch of "draft" posts that will be uploaded soon. For now, check out this photo of the July 4th fireworks at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (click to enlarge). Have patience!

 Posted by glenn at 08:53 AM | Comments (1)

ET Phone Home

Microsoft's Bill Gates says the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player is "unsustainable." Gates Sees Mobile Phones Overtaking iPods [Reuters.com].

Yeah, right. Just like the "Tablet PC" was going to make laptops extinct and Microsoft's "Media PC" is going to take over the family room entertainment centers of the world. Can I have some of what he's smoking?

 Posted by glenn at 10:01 AM | Comments (2)

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Michael Jackson's ranch manager conceded on Tuesday that he lied when he told police that the singer never slept with children. Jackson Defense Witness Admits Lying to Police [Reuters.com]. He also testified that Jackson had a collection of bondage dolls, after first denying that he had ever seen Jackson with "adult materials." And this was a defense witness! Reuters reported that:

Lawyers can't always control their own witnesses on cross-examination, but this is stupidity at its worst. Calling as a defense witness a person who lied to the police about the central witness in the case is really inexcusable. Of course, this may be all that Tom Meserau and his team have to work with. Not much.

 Posted by glenn at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)