misunderestimation

In what has become another chapter in a bizarre election season, the Democratic Senator from South Dakota seems to be on the road to recovery:

Sen. Tim Johnson has been conscious at times since his emergency brain surgery last week, his spokeswoman said Monday. But he is currently being sedated so he can rest.

The South Dakota Democrat has made it through the first 72 hours since the Wednesday evening brain surgery, spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said, a benchmark that doctors consider a good sign for recovery. The senator remains in critical but stable condition, she added.

Brain surgery is interesting, but why is this one catching so many headlines? Because the balance of power in the Senate rests on Johnson’s recovery:

Johnson’s sudden illness, due to a congenital blood vessel defect, has raised questions about the Democratic Party’s one-vote majority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota’s Republican governor, Michael Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson’s seat were vacated by his death or resignation.

Talk about pressure to recover. Can you imagine the “get well” cards he is receiving?

• Your country needs you; I need you. I just received my new business cards. – Harry
• Enjoy your quite time. Washington can be such a pressure-cooker. – Bill
• Get well soon please, pretty-please, pretty-please with sugar on top. – Nancy
• At a time like this, a man thinks about spending time with his family. – W.

More misunderestimation

Professional athletes have it rough. They have to accept checks that no reasonably sane individual should have to receive. It simply must blow one’s mind to see a check written with so many zeros next to your name. I can only imagine what it would be like to earn more money in one day than most of us do in a year. Clearly, it makes professional athletes angry and ready to strike an anyone who “disrespects” them.

Case Number 1: Terrell Owens

Terrell Owens was already on shaky ground thanks to huge contracts from San Francisco and Philadelphia, but Dallas has only made things worse:

March 18, 2006, Jerry Jones announced that the Dallas Cowboys had signed Terrell Owens to a 3 year, $25 million deal, including a $5 million signing bonus, with a $5 million first year salary.

Oh the humanity! How does TO react to this type of contract? He gets spitting mad:

Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens was fined $35,000 by the NFL on Monday for spitting in the face of Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall during Saturday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Although it’s more than twice as much as the last fine for spitting, Dallas’ flamboyant receiver avoided a suspension. Owens wasn’t ejected at the time because officials didn’t see it.

Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said Monday “we don’t condone that kind of activity, that’s for sure,” and added the team may also punish Owens.

What does TO have to say:

“When it happened, we were jawing in each other’s face, so it wasn’t anything intentional,” he said. “He’s trying to make it seem like more than what it was by saying I hauled off and spit in his face. I feel like if I spit in his face, somebody would’ve seen it.”

The result of all this, TO gets a minor slap on the hand. A $35,000 fine for TO is about the same as a speeding ticket for there rest of us. The fine represents less than 1% of his salary for the year. Ouch.

Case Number 2: Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony recently signed a contract extension that will start next season and will make him very wealthy:

$79 million over five years. It’s the biggest contract ever handed out by the Nuggets in terms of average yearly salary.

What does a contract like that do to one’s psyche? Check out this video from ESPN: NBA Brawl

The game was out of hand and turned into a brawl. Why? Someone felt wronged! The result of this little demonstration of insanity:

Suspended 15 games Monday for his role during a brawl Saturday night with members of the New York Knicks, the 22-year-old Nuggets star faces perhaps his greatest public-relations nightmare in a brief career already filled with missteps that include a drug allegation, a nightclub scuffle and an underground video that encouraged urban youths not to aid police investigations.

Please, can we stop promoting this insanity? Clearly, the sums of money being paid are producing some terrible results.

More misunderestimation

Congratulations to my friend, John Little on winning the 2006 Weblog Award for his Blogs of War site. John is a pioneer in the blogging world and has helped many of us start our own blogs. He continues to experiment with techniques to improve the reach of his blog while also refining his writing style.

This award is very well deserved and long overdue!

Congratulations John!

More misunderestimation

Have you ever wanted to see those pictures taken from the moon visits or see the images from the Hubble telescope? How about a 3D virtual trip to Mars? Well, your wish may be coming to a browser near you thanks to a deal announced Monday between NASA and Google:

Google and NASA announced the signing of their Space Act Agreement, which calls for them to collaborate on making it easy for people to find weather visualization and forecasting data, see high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, and track, in real time, the international space station and the space shuttle.

In short, the partnership seeks to make NASA’s work “accessible to everyone,” Google and NASA said in a statement. Although NASA has collected massive amounts of information about the Earth and the universe, this information is scattered and hard to find and is difficult for the average person to understand, they said.

Why is this deal necessary for us?

“NASA has collected and processed more information about our planet and universe than any other entity in the history of humanity,” said Chris C. Kemp, director of strategic business development at Ames. “Even though this information was collected for the benefit of everyone, and much is in the public domain, the vast majority of this information is scattered and difficult for non-experts to access and to understand.”

This latest agreement is just the next step for NASA and Google:

The collaboration marks another step in a partnership announced 15 months ago when Google unveiled plans to build a 1 million-square-foot campus at the NASA center, located a few miles south of the company’s Mountain View headquarters.

Under the arrangement, Ames will feed Google with its weather forecasting information, three-dimensional maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle flights.

In the 1960s, this country was gripped by the “Space Race” and the desire to be the first to the moon. At that time, we wanted to be first to the moon more out of fear than anything else. Almost 50 years later, it looks like we are heading back; and this time for a much better purpose.

Other thoughts:

Blogs Of War:

Another sign of hope at NASA. I can’t imagine this kind of deal happening during my days in and around the space program. Hopefully, it’s just a start.

SFist:

According to a spokesman, all this will “soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars.” And yes, that sound pretty cool. And when the aliens come, this time we’ll totally be able to Google them. The truth can be Googled, after all.

Universe Today:

NASA definitely has a lot of data that needs organizing. They’ve tried working with third parties in the past, but the job was just too much for anyone else to take on. Good luck Google… you’ll need it.

PC Advisor:

Unlocking the access to NASA images and information and making them broadly available is consistent with its mission as a public entity, he said. Currently, many images and information remain stored in NASA databases.

Ogle Earth:

Ultimately, this announcement is not about the client, but about the content, and I for one am very excited about the prospects. The Earth is Square is right, albeit graceless, when it writes, “But let Google spend its millions.. they do the hard work and because the data has to be in the public domain.. it will be in World Wind in no time.” Indeed, and users will then get to decide if they want to view the data on a souped-up atlas with social software skills and high resolution imagery as context, or in a realistic-looking, open-source virtual globe. There’s room for both.

More misunderestimation

Newsday.com and an interesting Op-Ed piece on Sunday drawing analogies between MySpace and YouTube with the rise and and subsequent falls of Napster and Kazaa. Could music sharing on MySpace and Video sharing on YouTube be heading down the same road?

The two differ in fundamental ways from their file-sharing predecessors, but their popularity flows in part from the same source: a supply of free media contributed by users. On YouTube it is video clips; on My Space it is clips and music. In fact, the two sites each show more videos than any Web site except Yahoo.

And now, with both sites drawing flak from copyright holders, the question is whether they’ll follow their predecessors’ rapid path downward, too.

The descent of the file-sharing companies was fueled mainly by their inability to satisfy the demand for free downloads that they had stoked. When the courts ordered the original Napster to prevent users from downloading copyrighted songs, it lost more than 60 percent of its audience in five months. It never recovered.

Could we be on the verge of another attack from the RIAA or Hollywood? Stay tuned.

More misunderestimation

Speculation is growing that a very interesting deal may be in the works:

Google is on the move. The internet giant has held talks with Orange, the mobile phone operator, about a multi-billion-dollar partnership to create a ‘Google phone’ which makes it easy to search the web wherever you are.

According to GigaOM, there is additional evidence of the creation of a Google Phone:

Google Phone, if you think about it is a reasonable speculation. Google has been aggressive in developing location based services, has amp-ed up its local search and mapping services. In addition, it has also been mobilizing its applications such as GTalk and GMail. YouTube, the video arm of Google, is beginning to embrace the mobile ecosystem.

If true, this move may mark a change in the way we use and think about cell phones.

In November, Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, said for Reuters, that he thinks that in the future mobile phones should be free for the consumers. Not for everyone, but for those who will accept to watch targeted forms of advertising. According to Reuters, Schmidt said that the mobile phones are used eight to 10 hours a day for talking, texting or Web access.

“Your mobile phone should be free,” Schmidt told Reuters. “It just makes sense that subsidies should increase” as advertising rises on mobile phones.

What could this new phone look like? CrunchGear has some thoughts:

So essentially, if the report rings true, the pair are planning a relatively vanilla handset. I think, however, that holds some significance. While us tech nerds love devices that have gobs of features, regular consumers want simple, usable functionality—not oppressively complicated technology. It’s a model that has benefited Google immensely in its eight years of existence, and I don’t see why mobile technologies should be any different.

Buzzle.com thinks this move is the way of the future:

Manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola are working to make the mobile internet commonplace. Earlier this year Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice-president of Nokia, said at a product show in New York: ‘In the mid-Nineties I said that if you don’t have a mobile phone you will be making a declaration that you wanted to be outside organised society. People said I was crazy, but now everybody has a mobile phone. Today I’m saying that in 10 years’ time the same will be true if you don’t have the full internet in your pocket.

So, what is the buzz on this phone?

Real Tech News: We Say: The story says the phone would be manufactured by HTC, meaning it most likely would have Windows Mobile as an OS. But if the only differentiating factor will be searchability … I’m not sure. The primary function of even a smartphone or PDA phone is as a phone. Most users still underutilize their smartphones. Still, Google is a big name. We’ll have to wait and see when and if this shows up.

Engadget: Google CEO Eric Schmidt has even waxed rhapsodic about the possibilities of free handsets subsidized by (Google) ads. Even so, releasing a Googlephone would be a HUGE step for them, since ultimately Google’s goal shouldn’t be to have its own phone, but rather to be on every phone, right?

Naked Conversations: I’ve written a lot about phones and price recently, but we all have frustrations with performance. With entries from Apple with its history of product elegance and now Google with its internet software superiority, mobile computing may be headed a significant click up.

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: In an earlier post “Three moves that could topple Google” I suggested that mobile search is one of three search areas that has no dominant leader and could be a billion dollar opportunity for a smart start-up. Better move fast because Google is coming, and not alone. They have the brand and money to partner with their pick of the mobile phone leaders.

More misunderestimation

This video is amazing. Creative, fresh, and very well done.

More misunderestimation

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into restaurants, a new report is out about diners at an Indiana Olive Garden:

More than 300 people say they became ill, and at least three have been hospitalized, after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant last weekend, health officials said Friday.

The restaurant has been closed while health officials and the company investigate what caused customers to complain of nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhea, a company spokesman said.

Just yesterday, the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak was said to be over. Could the Olive Garden problem be related to E. coli?

Health officials have found no link to the E. coli outbreak that sickened dozens of people who ate at Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast recently, Althardt said.

The reports have been isolated to the one restaurant, appearing to indicate the problem is not linked to any products used in the food, Coe said. Food suppliers typically supply the same products to many restaurants.

If it’s not the food, maybe the employees may have a hand in the problem:

Six restaurant workers reported on Monday that they felt ill, said Marion County Health Department spokesman John Althardt.

With this outbreak, that makes three food chains being hit in the past two weeks. I guess it may be time to dust-off a cookbook again…

More misunderestimation

Arguably the greatest player to ever wear an Astros uniform has announced his retirement today:

After 15 seasons, Jeff Bagwell put an official end to his stellar career on Friday, confirming what has been considered as inevitable for several months. Bagwell, the greatest hitter in the 45-year history of the franchise, announced that he is retiring from baseball.

Thanks for the memories Jeff.

More misunderestimation

So far, I’ve carefully avoided politics on this blog for many reasons. However, with the state of our country and the importance of the upcoming presidential election season, it may be time to roll-out a new category.

This presidential election promises to be something special:

In new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, eight in 10 Americans would be comfortable or enthusiastic about an African-American or woman running for president. That apparent openness reflected across race, region and age groups is encouraging news for leading 2008 Democrats Clinton and Obama.

Could we see the first African-American or female president? How about both? It seems to me that this country is ready for change, but just how much change remains to be seen.

Barack Obama seems to be the first horse out of the gate and even though he has not “officially” started campaigning, he is getting incredible coverage. It seems everyone has a story or comment about Obama, but little information on just where he stands.

I decided to use the Internet for its intended purpose and see what I could find regarding his voting record. I started with Project Vote Smart and found something interesting under Issue Positions (NPAT):

SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2004 NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST

SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA REFUSED TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY:

Major News Organizations and key national leaders of both parties including,
John McCain, Republican Senator
Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman
Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor
Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman
Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President

That doesn’t sound good. On the other hand, he’s only been a Senator for less that 2 years and has clearly been groomed for a run at the Oval Office. Let’s face it, saying nothing can sometimes be better than saying the wrong thing. To get elected today, it seems all you have to do is listen to what the public wants to hear, then say what makes them happy. It would be refreshing to know where candidates stand before voting and perhaps see candidates that don’t stand so close together…

When it comes to Obama, the present theme on in the blogsphere is, “Where does he stand?”

Blogs Of War: A quick scan of Project Vote Smart’s Barack Obama data reveals a short (he doesn’t have much experience) but incredibly liberal voting record. His foreign policy record is particularly frightening with a history of strong support for organizations on the leftist fringe.

Legal Fiction: I’ve decided that I want Obama to be the nominee. I thought about writing a long piece outlining the pros and cons, but it’s unnecessary. That’s because there’s a very simple reason to support him — everyone else sucks.

Below the Beltway: Unless Bush makes an amazing turnaround in the next year and a half, which is unlikely, whoever the GOP nominee is will have a huge albatross around his or her neck. The public already made clear in November’s desire for change, and that is only going to become more pronounced as 2008 approaches.

Suitably Flip: In my opinion, his viability in 2008 hinges more immediately on his ability to avoid catastrophic overexposure. As much of a media darling as he may be, so too was Howard Dean (and much farther along in the election cycle) before his own implosion.

Tags: Obama

More misunderestimation

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• Barack Obama’s Cell Phone Records Breached by Verizon Employees
• Al-Qaida Uses Racial Slur Referring to Obama as “House Negro”
• Breaking News: Sun Times Reporting Obama Will Resign His Senate Seat on Sunday