I often sing the praises of the New York Times, so it was disheartening to read Steve Wozniak’s tale of how they asked him to write an op-ed piece about Microsoft, which he did, but they turned it around, trying to get him to spin it into good PR for Microsoft. He refused to let them print a reworked version. Woz states “one of the key Microsoft executives writes a column for the New York Times”. Hmmm I know Bill Gates used to write a New York Times column. Does he still? Well, I know unbiased media is next to impossible, but I will continue to appreciate the Times’ high caliber writing.

Heard on the radio this morning that American Express is having trouble keeping up with the demand for their new Blue card. This new card has a smart chip that works with a reader attached to your computer. I was attracted to it solely because the ads showed it was see-through (very cool), but the radio story also mentioned that because of production problems they’re not manufacturing it out of clear plastic. Bummer. Researching this, I found an item at CardTechnology news that says “sensors in automated teller machines could not pick up the see-through cards as originally designed”, so they’re shipping opaque right now. Redesigned translucent cards “will have a reflective material that can be picked up by ATM sensors.”

Never wear suede shoes in a bar — or anywhere else where people could spill beer on ’em.

Has one technology concept removed barriers in your life? Driving home last night I was thinking about how I can pretty reliably reach most of my friends at any time from anywhere since we all carry cell phones or email pagers. I no longer have to plan around being near a phone or computer to reach people and plan logistics. It also facilitates spur of the moment activities. The concept of instant communication has greatly enhanced my quality of life! My wish now is for all the traffic hassles to go away. If I don’t have to worry about how long it’ll take to get anywhere, I can be rid of an ever present annoyance. I’m not asking for teleporters, just reliable transportation. (Yes I know I could move elsewhere, but I don’t wanna!)

I can’t remember where I got this quote (I’ve been sorting tons of old email) but I like it:
“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Amusing: TheGoodNamesWereTaken.com (another Feed find). Check out the Chia Pet Crop Circles.

As I made my way to the ATM, kvetching all the way about the need for cash since not everyone takes cards, I wondered what panhandlers will do when we become a cashless society? This will depend on how we end up carrying our money. Will we give them our (untraceable cash) cards with spare change on them? On a related note, someone did market research on panhandlers (found via Feed). There’s a survey where you can select how much money you’d give in response to different panhandling techniques.

Got a nickname? My alumnae magazine (yes, that’s the proper Latin; I went to a women’s college) printed an interesting article on nicknames (which I will now shamelessly quote from since I can’t link to it). “In a community with a commonality of aspirations, languages, social behavior, rules, etc, nicknames are used to foster a sense of belonging and solidarity. A group facing an external threat will especially prize solidarity and use nicknames extensively.” (I also learned a new word: an onomastician studies the origins and forms of names.) This got me thinking about the proliferation of Internet related nicknames. We’ve got domain names, email addresses, hacker aliases, and chatroom handles. Sometimes popular systems like Instant Messenger force us to choose new aliases since our preferred ones are already taken. And some people create independent indentities for themselves online, with accompanying aliases. How many names do you have? And how many identities?

Is it just me or does everyone have their own unique and strange (to everyone else) filing system? I run into mine when I look at my Netscape bookmarks, where I put things in the kitchen, how I organize my clothes, what’s on my desk at work. It’s not really a product of disorganization, I actually had some original reason for putting something somewhere. But some days I wonder: “Who keeps coming in and rearranging all my stuff??”

One day there will be computer software archeologists who will prospect their way through ancient CD-ROMs, hard drives, and, uh, punch cards(??) reconstructing the lost software of our society. And as more and more stuff goes digital (art, movies, etc), the storage (and potential recovery) of our culture will be completely dependent on those ones and zeros sitting on something that can withstand the ravages of time. And even then, we may have lost the software to recreate, run and view the files. Will the restoration of a web browser be the Rosetta Stone of our future?