Independent bookstores are hoping to compete online by joining up with Booksense. The hope is that since even loyal independent customers will buy online when they can’t get to the bookstore, providing an online presence will eliminate that loss. According to the Wired article, the site will open for business by this fall. In considering how independents can stay in business, the only idea I’ve had is for them to partially convert to carrying used books. Quite a few CD stores are using that formula to help compete with biggies like Tower. But I have no idea of the financials behind this thought of mine; it may be a lame shot in the dark. I do know, however, that used bookstores do bring in regular customers, and often the same types of customers that frequent the independents anyway. Used book browsers will glance at the new books too, and may even find it nice that both are there in the same place. It’s how Powell’s does it: “Buy the book, read the book, enjoy the book, sell the book… Keep books in circulation. Keep ideas alive.”

When it’s this hot (how hot was it?), my cat doesn’t quickly follow me from room to room. She plods along when she feels like it, and, instead of gracefully positioning herself in a sitting or lying position, she plops heavily to the floor, spread out as flat as possible. I gave her a nice ice rub to thank her for still being a faithful follower, because I know it’s cooler on the bathroom tiles. (thanks to dumbmonkey for the article link)

I read Wellesley College’s commencement speeches every summer. It’s a way of reconnecting with my alma mater and also giving myself a kick in the butt. The following quotes moved me this time ’round:
“Don’t confuse your resume with your life. Over time, life itself is the achievement.” – Dean Pamela Daniels
“Don’t let your relentless search for meaning drive the meaning out.” – President Diana Chapman Walsh

Housekeeping note: I had not noticed until today that many of my archive pages have been missing for a while. I’ve updated my archives page, and everything since November 1999 is now up again.

While looking for tragedy/hubris resources, I came across this page: In Search Of The Poetry In Technology: An Amiable Debate between Paul Jones and Betty Adcock. In their dialog about the effect technology may have on our romantic view of the world, Adcock notes that science and technology are two different things. Understanding the reason for a rainbow’s existence may take the magic out of it, but that is not technology; it is understanding of nature. Technology develops tools, and we may manipulate nature with those. I often wonder about how less magical the world is when you start learning about it; I’ve written about that before. Oh, and here’s the hubris related quote that got me to that page: “Today’s tragedies aren’t very different, metaphorically, from the Greek idea: the most gifted and privileged among us, heroes whose eyes are only on speed, volume, innovation and profit, are bringing about vast losses we will someday see as tragic.” Hmmm…reminds me too much of recent tech news.

Alas one of the disadvantages of friends getting their own blogs
is that instead of sending you relevant links about your postings that
you can then use to fill up yours, they just put ’em in theirs. Pooh.
But, that doesn’t mean I can’t scam their links. Seth posted the following links relevant to previous postings of mine:
The C-Guard Cellular Firewall, which jams cellular phone transmissions. A ruder tactic than Q-Zone.
A genetic algorithm for scheduling when to catch chickens. Now all they need to do is program that into the John Deere catcher. Toni had a nice reminiscence about This Week In Baseball. Mel Allen was an amazing announcer. I dug up a tribute from his 1996 funeral.

I’d been wondering if Macintosh purchasers were still getting Apple stickers in their boxes. People usually put those on their cars. The answer, according to recent buyers, is that they are now getting white Apple logo stickers, not the previous rainbow ones. That matches the new designs, but I guess now the rainbow ones are vintage. Collectible? Or can you still buy ’em at the store?

You may have seen the sites collecting those swooshy logos. Grant has a set of spirals on splorp and Alice has a large number of swooshes. Prompted by an ex-co-worker’s comment, Landon decided to draw his own set of swooshies. I’d say they are more like swirlies. You’ll know what I mean when you see ’em. (I’d like to point out that he got his Wacom tablet after I got mine. Copycat.)

We were sitting on a bench on Windy Hill off of Skyline Boulevard, with an
uninterrupted view of Silicon Valley stretched out in front of us. It all looks
so peaceful from a distance, and yet we knew that although we were sitting
amongst the frenzied activity of hummingbirds, bees, and flies, the frantic
deal-making, bit-slinging, and traffic dodging going on down there was a
million times more stress inducing. A retired couple walked by and said
“You’ve got the world at your feet”. I felt a little guilty at not taking
advantage of it, and then I realized that at that very moment, I finally,
absolutely and truly was.

When is it OK for a computer company CEO to look worried at an all-hands meeting? While some employees felt queasy and confused or bolted for startups, Bill Gates grinned and cheerfully expressed his confidence in an appeal. Is he really that sure? Or is he putting on a happy face for his employees? For a huge company like Microsoft, that may be the best tactic. But in small startups and with typical cynical engineering environments, it can be the kiss of death for a company leader to express false confidence. The engineers will know when he or she is lying or, even worse, being an idiot for not seeing the writing on the wall. The truth is always the best in those cases, even if it seems everyone will pack up and head out the door. And if the employees actually believe the tinny bravado and stay, the company probably does not have the right people to keep afloat anyway.

At worst, a leader may be guilty of hubris, which, as many of us learned from the classic tragedies (Greek to Gothic and onwards), is the key characteristic that leads to downfall. When I read the NY Times special report summarizing how Judge Jackson went from being alarmed over a breakup to enforcing one, Bill turned into a classic tragic hero in my brain, except he as yet shows no hope of redemption. A little humility can go a long way. I wonder if the Japanese are appalled or impressed.