From the monthly archives: May 2010
Communing with nature: Stingray City, Cayman Islands 2010
We’re about 1/6 of the way through the first draft of the script, so we’re on schedule. This is a brilliant work space, as you might imagine. Must get back to it. Lots more when I have time.
I have been saying for years that TV and the web will inevitably merge. People have been trying to figure out the formula for about as long. Google might be the guys to do it. This looks very very big. Netflix will be on this like lightning. And so will the console guys.
Wired’s Threat Level reveals that Lifelock CEO Todd Davis has had his identity stolen 13 times. And his own company failed utterly to help him in any way.
This makes me happy, because Lifelock is useless garbage, and they lie. In March they were fined 12 million dollars for deceptive advertising (another Threat Level story). Just a big fat con – like Enzyte. Perhaps most comically, their own network was practically unprotected, leaving subscribers’ data open to pilfering.
What’s interesting for me is the continuing reinforcement of the fact that you don’t need to have a proven, working product to make a fortune. You just need advertising and the awareness of the laws you’re skirting. Oh – and a very low tide-line of morality. If you move fast and know when to get out, the system actually applauds your success.
Yep, that’s sad. On the other hand, caveat emptor is a very old idea too.
The mighty Mazda 3 has found a new home.
Thanks to M, who handled all the (extensive) legwork in getting this 4-wheeled ball & chain off the bank book. This could not have happened without her and I will come up with something on an appropriate scale to show her how much I appreciate this.
I will miss that car. I loved her and she served me very very well when I needed her. I would definitely own one again. But I’d make it the six-speed, because she was easily game to go faster and she just didn’t have the reach. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with 170. We just both wanted more. Poor girl. I trust she is happy to have a new family that will actually be able to use her.
Now… how to properly thank M for her hard work? And let’s not forget Cara’s help back in the beginning. Must show her some appreciation as well.
It’s a good day, people.
The biggest ocean-borne oil catastrophe in history began on April 20, when safety measures failed miserably on the Deepwater Horizon, and an undersea explosion commenced spewing 5 to 25 thousand barrels of oil per day* into the Gulf of Mexico. Containment measures have also failed to date. Whose head should roll?
BP ran the well, leasing the rig from Transocean.
Transocean drilled the well.
Cameron International built the blowout prevention equipment.
Halliburton (no, really?) poured the cement jacket.
The Mineral Management Service is the federal department responsible for enforcing regulations.
Everybody dropped the ball. So why choose? I think this should be a bloodbath on the scale of the spill. Criminal negligence like this needs to be outside the realm of possibility.
*Edit: this may actually be closer to 70,000, or an Exxon Valdez every four days.
Time for another addition to the banner rotator. I like my town. And my life. Damn.
It was a great great week with M. I miss her. We Skype every night.
Did I mention the Chaos Complex Writers Summit? On the 23rd the three writers at the core of the Complex are headed to Grand Cayman for a week to hammer out the first complete draft of a pilot for a comedy series we’ve been tinkering with for… oh… a year or so. That sounds like a long time, but when you consider the work load and all the other projects we’re floating (not to mention, uh, living), this is timely. The super secret forum is bursting at the seams with ideas, so we dearly need to wrap a title cover around something or we’ll drown under the possibilities.
Meanwhile, when I’m not looking for an alternative to the capitalist date-rapists at Facebook, I have major website architecture to design. Major major major. Out of my league. Small bites, Taverner. Small bites. It will be a beautiful thing for thousands of people. Not directly related to Facebook, mind you. That’s for the clever nerds at Diaspora. My project is perhaps more niche, but just as super fantastic, imho. I should stop talking. Hope you are having a fabulous week, and your summer is imminent and awesome.
This thing keeps getting better and better. This time it was M’s turn to cross the continent and spend a few days in my neck of the woods. We did some exploring around the South Street Seaport, the High Line Park, and all the way up to the Cloisters. Manhattan, tip to tip. Just maybe I can convince her she likes it here. She looks pretty happy, yes? And me grinning like a loon.
For sale: body parts (negotiable)
Price: CS5 Design Premium
It magicks.
