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No use for this right now, but nice to have in pocket.
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Great article about Craigslist.
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"Some I don't hold out on. I let them know what's happening. You have to trust somebody. Well, not all the way ... Do you know how I make a friend?"
September 2007 Archives
(Check out my first post on arriving in Tokyo!)
What can really be said about nightlife in Toyko? It's absolutely ridiculous and like nothing you've ever experienced before!
First of all, it's huge. In Roppongi (the nightlife area frequented by foreigners...to mixed reviews) there are bars packed in every space possible. Tokyo builds out vertically, so plenty of bars and clubs are on the 7th, 8th, 9th floors of the buildings. It's a little unnerving when you don't speak much of the language, but great fun.
We went out in Roppongi our second night in Tokyo. Our first stop was a gem of a place that I *loved* - the Jazz Cafe London. It's right at the main intersection of the club district, which is an odd place because it's this 20-seat basement jazz bar. It's fantastic. Nice selection of scotch and great jazz - what more could a guy ask for?
From there the night descended into madness. We stopped at Paddy Foley's - also the scene of the crime about 3 weeks later. Nice enough bar, but some tough-guy rugby players wanted to beat us up at some point. And Adam insulted the bartender - both times we were there.
We made our way from Paddy's to some western-themed bar. Not sure why we went in there; it was 2:30am and I think we were comforted by the cowboy hats. Huh? Anyway, we were only half-welcome there, so the bartender just decided to start playing darts. Eventually we got the hint.
So we decided to go back to the hotel, but not before Adam met a new friend:
Well, she wasn't so much a friend as she was trying to sell us services that we were not especially interested in. So we went back to the hotel, but decided in the lobby that we wanted to go to McDonalds. This shouldn't have been hard, as it was no more than 100 yards away, but apparently we made the lobby staff draw us a map (found the next morning in our room) to McD's. (Don't we still have this map somewhere, guys?)
But thankfully we made it! I'm not sure if the map helped or not, but we did met some new friends in line at McD's. I tried to take a photo of them, but it turns out it's a movie, so enjoy:
Friends in Tokyo from Greg Palmer on Vimeo.
From there the night descended into madness. We stopped at Paddy Foley's - also the scene of the crime about 3 weeks later. Nice enough bar, but some tough-guy rugby players wanted to beat us up at some point. And Adam insulted the bartender - both times we were there.
We made our way from Paddy's to some western-themed bar. Not sure why we went in there; it was 2:30am and I think we were comforted by the cowboy hats. Huh? Anyway, we were only half-welcome there, so the bartender just decided to start playing darts. Eventually we got the hint.
So we decided to go back to the hotel, but not before Adam met a new friend:
Well, she wasn't so much a friend as she was trying to sell us services that we were not especially interested in. So we went back to the hotel, but decided in the lobby that we wanted to go to McDonalds. This shouldn't have been hard, as it was no more than 100 yards away, but apparently we made the lobby staff draw us a map (found the next morning in our room) to McD's. (Don't we still have this map somewhere, guys?)
But thankfully we made it! I'm not sure if the map helped or not, but we did met some new friends in line at McD's. I tried to take a photo of them, but it turns out it's a movie, so enjoy:
Friends in Tokyo from Greg Palmer on Vimeo.
Yup, Karl, I understand completely.
If I think about how things are at PF right now, it is full of unexplored and sometimes broken promise. It's taken all the free time I've had just to keep it running. It doesn't meet my personal standards for what I expect a great service to be. And I'm never satisfied simply running in place. So things there need to change.I don't have to much to say about it, or much advice, but I read this just before I left for adventures in Japan, so I never got a chance to say that I think it's a common feeling of entrepreneurs. And you're right, it's the little things that help re-center you and get you back on track.
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Finally, an intelligent column critical of Hillary! (Who, for the record, I like).
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Still, he said, that disabling someone’s phone, “instead of just relocking it and to wipe out the apps, it seems like Apple is going way too far; I’d call it uncharacteristically evil.” Yup, this is now getting ridiculous.
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"...it's a vast experiment concocted by mad political scientists who want to see what happens if a nation systematically ignores everything we've learned over the past few centuries about how to make a modern government work." Perfect.
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This is really cool, but I always wonder - shouldn't we get the basics right first? Because we don't, you know.
If after upgrading to Wordpress 2.3 you're getting database errors similar to
SELECT cat_ID AS ID, MAX(post_modified) AS last_mod FROM `posts` p LEFT JOIN `post2cat` pc ON..., it might be because you're using the Google Sitemaps Plugin. (That link wasn't the exact problem I was having, but I recognized the SQL statements as being similar.)
Easy fix - just download the new version (zip file).
Cenk Uygur has an interesting but misguided post on the declining value of nightly news anchors:
We're not interested in someone regurgitating the news to us and taking a half hour to do it. We don't need a professional news anchor to tell us what the news is. This isn't 1955. I've got all the news in the world at my fingertips, what do I need this guy to tell me what he thinks is important? Who cares what Brian Williams thinks is important? In the old days, you needed these authority figures to sort out the news for you and tell you what was important and weed out the riff-raff. But these aren't the old days. I have a mind of my own. I don't need to borrow a news anchor's. And if I were to borrow one, that's not the first place I would look.He goes on to say that between the AP, Google News, and Keith Olbermann, nobody needs Brian, Katie, and Charlie anymore. Wrong. Dead wrong. Yes, the "big three" nightly news broadcasts are stumbling right now, trying to find their place in the new world of instant gratification news. But the truth is, they play a more valuable role than ever. In a world that values instant gratification and "perspective reinforcement" in their news (ahem, Keith Olbermann, DailyKos, etc), nightly news provides a more balanced and longterm perspective on the day. The editorial, voice-of-God function that the nightly news plays is exactly why it's valuable; in a world with too much information, much of it now tailored to our interests and prejudices, there is a stabilizing function that the nightly news plays. Basically, it's saying "no matter what you read all day, here are the most important things you *should* be paying attention to." That's not to say I watch it (unless I'm still at the office, which is often enough). Of course, I'm often immersed in the very news they'll be broadcasting, so I'm probably the exception rather than the rule. Like it or not Cenk...Katie, Brian, and Charlie still set the agenda for a lot of other news outlets and for the discussions and actions in Washington and on Wall Street. Maybe for that reason alone, it's worth paying attention.
Just a short note to congratulate my friend Ann on her new studio! Don't worry, she's still in the Banana Factory but now has a bigger, brighter place to paint. I can't wait to visit!
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"...tell all sides of the story with equal weight until everything gets washed out. You never find out what’s really going on or what they actually know." Very nice assessment of US journalists. What can we do to change that?
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I think I'd like one of these.
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Fantastic.
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I'm not really sure what to say about this, and in any case I'm not allowed to say it publicly.
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"In short, you lose. While this type of thing happens in many lines of work, it is especially common, and especially downing, in government." Yeah, that's true.
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Hey America, grow up. No one meant to make these buildings shaped like that.
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I have yet to use Vista. (OSX here, obvi). What's wrong with it?
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I'll be watching this story very closely.
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Do many people order off of Amazon's best seller list? I don't, but I generally constitute an exception rather than a rule.
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Sounds awesome. Probably more useful than CCK/related stories.
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Great post from Nancy.
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"You can build a brand in a year or two — just look at MySpace and Facebook. Years ago, something like this would take a decade at least."
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A great American hero.
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How to remedy this?
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Hahahahahahaha
You know, I never wondered about this until I saw it on Ricky's blog:
If you've ever wondered if Rupert Murdoch has a MySpace account, here's your answer. Anderson has his own Rupert stories: "He called me once and couldn't log in for some reason. I was trying to help him over the phone, saying, 'Type this. Type that. What do you see on your screen?' And he says, 'It says, 'Welcome John.' And I'm like, 'John? Why does it say John?' and he says [affecting his own version of the deep, slightly cranky voice], 'I don't use my real name on MySpace.'"I'm loving the idea that Rupert Murdoch is out there trolling around MySpace under a fake name.
And thus, like Khoi, I don't sleep much.
Mostly, I think it just comes from wanting to do so much; I’ve got a to-do list brimming with projects I want to tackle. And, again setting aside modesty, it comes from having what amounts to a pretty good life. I’m excited by everything going on in my life. Why would I want to sleep through it? I’m a lucky, lucky bastard. I just wish I wasn’t so tired all the time.
"Hi, we're Amazon and we just changed the entire marketplace." Again. I'm super-excited about this.
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Echoing Jake Tapper...wow.
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I'm not sure if this is deserved or not, but it's one of Greenwald's most impassioned posts.
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YAY Glenn!
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"Peter Chernin, the president of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, promised the media giant will "crush" the Financial Times after acquiring its big rival in America."
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"In interviews with 30,000 Americans, the study found that residents of more diverse communities “tend to withdraw from collective life,” voting less and volunteering less..." Fascinating...and evangelicals are a huge exception.
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As George Will has rightly argued, if deviancy can be defined down to "signaling an interest in sex," then deviancy is what "goes on in 10,000 bars every Saturday night in our country."
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More on how Wall Street is raiding society for the benefit of the *very* few.
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I am going to get addicted to this blog.
Asked if he would settle for money: "Absolutely not. Not. No. Absolutely not." More: "For me, it's not about the money. It is about this principle of what we're going to do with our democracy. ... If the time comes that there's money as a settlement, a substantial part of that will go to such outfits as ... Reporters and Investigative Editors Association, The Committee To Protect Journalists, because I would like the legacy of this lawsuit to be not that I made tons of money out of it, but that we kept the little flame, the flickering flame of hard-nose investigative reporting alive."
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"When the cloture votes failed this week, the Democrats should have let the Republicans filibuster. Democratic leaders think that’s too risky, since Congress could look like it’s not doing anything. But it’s not doing a lot now." YES YES YES
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One of my guilty pleasures is the fantastic music selection on Cold Case.
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This, to me, looks like a way to process THOMAS data.
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"since he took office that month, the government has conducted electronic surveillance only after seeking court-approved warrants." Well that's good news.
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Interesting notes on cuisine and the environment.
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Ann got a new studio! I can't wait to visit.
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Some IT departments are going to have a problem with this, but the progressive ones who view themselves as extensions of the business will embrace it.
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The answer is in this thread and involved php safe_mode
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"I've literally never heard someone say, 'Hey, did you read Bob Herbert today?' Never in my entire life,"
I promised that I'd blog to share some experiences from Japan, and since next week it will be a whole month since we returned, it's past time!
Land Ho!
After 13 hours on the plane (direct Newark to Tokyo = super long!), I was dead tired of flight attendants and confined spaces, so land was a welcome sight. I had an aisle seat, so no photos from the plane, but looking down on the countryside around Narita Airport you can see the difference immediately. No sprawl and lots of open green space surrounding clustered settlements.
Once we got through customs (everyone is so polite and efficient!), we made our way down to the train station under the terminal where a helpful Japan Railways (JR) woman helped us buy tickets for the train to Tokyo. As we're waiting for the train to leave, we see a crew coming through to clean and sanitize the train. Just like New York, right??
Into the Abyss
By the time we found our hotel (Shiba Park Hotel...pretty nice!), showered, and napped, it was time for dinner. Rather than stick to our neighborhood, we decided to venture out into Ginza, which is Tokyo's swank 5th-Avenue-like shopping district. All three of us immediately knew we were in the right area when we found Brooks Brothers:
After reveling in the glow of BB for a few minutes, we found a decent all-you-can-eat Shabu Shabu joint down a side street. They had an English menu but no English speakers, which turned out to work just fine. We could say "biru" (beer!) well enough to get by. We ate more than our fill of beef and pork (no fish just yet!), then headed back to a bar we spotted across the street from Shiba Park.
Simply called "Standing," it was a tiny joint that catered to the salarymen who worked in the Shiba Park neighborhood. The patrons didn't really welcome three Americans in their joint, but the bartender and waitress were super-nice to us (I can't believe we didn't get a picture with/of them!). We ordered a round of beers and of course...a round of sake.
With what little Japanese we know (ummm, none), we tried to buy the waitstaff a round, which eventually they understood (but, being so polite, never charged us for their drinks!). Here's the weird thing - the bartender placed sake glasses into small wooden boxes, then filled both the glass and the box. You drank the glass, then the box. Not sure if they were just messing with our heads there, but I'm thinking it was some variation of masu-sake.
Anyway, Shabu-Shabu + 4 or 5 beers + masu-sake + jetlag = TERRIBLE hangover the next morning. But I'll save that for later. In the meantime, check out this cool fire hydrant!
Into the Abyss
By the time we found our hotel (Shiba Park Hotel...pretty nice!), showered, and napped, it was time for dinner. Rather than stick to our neighborhood, we decided to venture out into Ginza, which is Tokyo's swank 5th-Avenue-like shopping district. All three of us immediately knew we were in the right area when we found Brooks Brothers:
After reveling in the glow of BB for a few minutes, we found a decent all-you-can-eat Shabu Shabu joint down a side street. They had an English menu but no English speakers, which turned out to work just fine. We could say "biru" (beer!) well enough to get by. We ate more than our fill of beef and pork (no fish just yet!), then headed back to a bar we spotted across the street from Shiba Park.
Simply called "Standing," it was a tiny joint that catered to the salarymen who worked in the Shiba Park neighborhood. The patrons didn't really welcome three Americans in their joint, but the bartender and waitress were super-nice to us (I can't believe we didn't get a picture with/of them!). We ordered a round of beers and of course...a round of sake.
With what little Japanese we know (ummm, none), we tried to buy the waitstaff a round, which eventually they understood (but, being so polite, never charged us for their drinks!). Here's the weird thing - the bartender placed sake glasses into small wooden boxes, then filled both the glass and the box. You drank the glass, then the box. Not sure if they were just messing with our heads there, but I'm thinking it was some variation of masu-sake.
Anyway, Shabu-Shabu + 4 or 5 beers + masu-sake + jetlag = TERRIBLE hangover the next morning. But I'll save that for later. In the meantime, check out this cool fire hydrant!
"Not everyone can vacation in Italy some of you have to vacation in Martha's Vineyard. That's the way the world is."
In The Know: Are America's Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?
In The Know: Are America's Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?
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Ah, fantastic and so true.
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YAY! One of the best posts about the blogosphere EVER.
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Very cool.
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I really like this diagram. It seems to me like the way TPM and HuffPo already operate.
As usual, Barry Ritholtz is right on the money when it comes to the credit crisis:
- From 2003 to 2006, Real Estate was driving the economy; - Housing wasn't a "true" bubble; Rather, credit was a massive bubble; - Inventory has continued to build throughout the downturn, delaying any housing bottom; - High quality homes in good locations priced appropriately are still good sellers; - As Mortgage Equity Withdrawal (MEW) slowed, consumer spending would also slow; - A 35% correction in prices, from the highs, was possible.
...but I like this clean, colorful look for my site. I'm going to add some flourish at some point, but I'm pretty satisfied.
(Oh, and as promised, it uses YUI Grids.)
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Billy Blanks helps fight "anabolic syndrome" in Japan. Billy!
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Interesting article on Mark Penn.
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This is very cool - I need to read this when I have more time.
I've had two tabs open all morning because I know they deserve to be written about, but I can't figure out what I want to say. So here goes.
Matt at 37 signals cherry picks some great tips from a more comprehensive list of Amazon.com's strategies for scaling and managing a web business. I'll distill it even more into a few of my very favorites:
Work from the customer backward. Focus on value you want to deliver for the customer. Force developers to focus on value delivered to the customer instead of building technology first and then figuring how to use it. Use measurement and objective debate to separate the good from the bad. I’ve been to several presentations by ex-Amazoners and this is the aspect of Amazon that strikes me as uniquely different and interesting from other companies. Their deep seated ethic is to expose real customers to a choice and see which one works best and to make decisions based on those tests. (favorite!!)In any case, check out Matt's favorites and the original list itself, which contains more details about Amazon's specific architecture and implementation.
I finally found a few hours this weekend to play with YUI's CSS component, and boy does it rock. Like a lot of folks in this business, I hesitated to "outsource" some of what I consider to be my work to an external entity, but I finally realized I don't have the time or energy to neglect any tools that are already out there.
If you haven't tried YUI already, you must. It handles the basics of CSS reset, layout, and positioning and lets you jump right into the project itself. YUI means less frustration and more time focusing on what's important about your site, not perfecting the basics. It took a bit of time to get used to, but once I got it down it saved me oodles of time and frustration.
That said, I'll be using YUI *a lot* more in future projects and as I move forward with some ongoing work. I'm also going to evaluate using it on the official website, but that might take a bit more time and work than I've got right now. I'm also going to consider using other YUI components, but I'm a big fan of jQuery.
(Hadn't had my morning coffee yet and called jQuery Prototype...I like them both, but jQuery's what I use most often.)
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I'm not sure why Republicans think DC citizens shouldn't have representation...other than the obvious point that they'd elect Democrats.
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Several interesting points here.
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Some of these just seem like attempts to use regulation to squash competitors.
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Utterly fascinating.
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Ummm isn't the violence the real problem here?
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Hmmm this is an interesting storage idea in general.
I saw this on Buzzfeed, which is always always always right. This case is no exception. Lars and the Real Girl looks like a fantastic movie. Watch the trailer and find out for yourself.
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This is absolutely fascinating. I *love* this systems design/process stuff.
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Cool!
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"Three bucks for a 30-second snippet that lasts a year—when you can buy the entire song online for $1 and own it forever? ... Does this not enter the heads of the people who are paying $5 billion a year?" Pogue hits it on the head.
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Oh this is good.
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$94 billion.
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Rummy: "I sleep fine.... You get up and do what you do. And when it's over, it's over.... You know? If you asked me when was the last time I looked back, I don't do much of it."
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One of these sounds like what EI is doing at Lehigh.
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Love this post from Jeff Jarvis
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"An Englishman is self-assured, as being a citizen of the best-organized state in the world, and therefore as an Englishman always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly correct."
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Fantastic move by the Bank.
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This rings true.