Thursday, March 29, 2007

Bellagio at night


Bellagio at night
Originally uploaded by mojohand.
It was fun being in Vegas...up to a certain point. Winning almost $400 at roulette was a gas. Having to breathe my room neighbor's cigarette smoke and the gambers' smoke was not.

Still, Vegas is Vegas. The fact that they do what they do and do it well is great. American commerce at its most designed.

Oh, and the conference was great!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Social Economics  Sitting in McCarran Airport in Lo$t Wage$ after the IA Summit with Jason Hobbs and Andrea & Everett Wiggins, we got to talking about social network analysis (Andrea's field) and non-commercial Internet transactions (Jason's recent research topic). Andrea was talking about the interactions of people in Internet cafes in Ecuador. Jason was mentioning that, in South African Internet cafes, no banking or credit card transactions are occurring because of security concerns. They were coming close to a synchronicity of sorts, when I suddenly said, "Social economics."

Both of them kinda turned to me and said, "Hmmmm, yeah, you might have something there." Small smiles of growing recognition that, maybe, there's something there. What if there is a sense of an economy in social interactions that is not based on currency but rather on social costs and benefits? I think there might be something here worth pursuing.

One of the core things that's so cool about the conference is the web of connections that occur. so, grnted, I and Keane spent some chunk of change in my attending the conference. But think about it—I gained friendship, knowledge, and inspiration for my investment in time, extroversion, and, yes, even space invasion (that idea that I allow others to interfere with my sense of space).

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Content analysis


Content analysis
Originally uploaded by mojohand.
took a great pre-conference workshop from Indi Young on Friday. Matching content to task groups (and spaces!) is pretty mind-numbingly tedious.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Vegas Bound!  I'm leaving on Thursday for the Information Architecture Summit 2007 in Las Vegas. I'm definitely looking forward to it. It's the one conference I've attended since its inception. Indeed, I've been to almost every one that's occurred:

I missed only two summits (albeit in rather cool locations: Portland, OR and Austin, TX.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Back Home  After spending the past five months in almost non-stop travel, I'm home...for awhile.Other than VA Beach this coming weekend for the Shamrock Race and the following weekend for the IA Summit in Vegas, I'll be working outta the house. Nice! Good to be able to walk the dog, ride the bike, get clothes out of my own closet instead of a suitcase, and go to klatsch at Betsy's.

In other words, lead a normal life.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Yet More Hidden Costs  So it now comes out that the surge isn't just 21,000 troops. From the AP:
Gates said that the request for extra MPs is in addition to the 21,500 combat troops that President Bush is sending for the Baghdad security plan and 2,400 other troops designated to support them.

Gordon England, the deputy defense secretary, told Congress earlier this week that the number of required support troops could reach 7,000.


So, that means, 21,000 + 2,200 MPs + 2,400 other troops = 25,600 extra troops...which could be 29,000. Go figure.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Why Do Republicans Hate the Troops?  Endemic to the Repbulican party is the hollow flag-draping and bloody shirt-waving posturing of the party as being "tough on defense." Instead and indeed, the truth is that the GOP is the party of big pockets for defense contractors. The recent revelations of deplorable Abu Ghraib-like conditions in Walter Reed and other outpatient care facilities shows just how little the Republican-dominated Congress and Administration care for the broken cannon fodder it has been sending to an illegal, ill-conceived war in Iraq. So the next time a Repub sez he's voting for Cantor or McCain or Gilmore or Giuliani or even John Webb, remember that these guys belong to the party that has, for at least the last seven years, gutted veteran's care.
Never forget, just like an elephant never forgets.

Monday, March 05, 2007

VCU Wins!  'Nuff said! But sitting in Cambridge, Mass, watching my alma matter spank Geo. Mason. I think it's great—a come-from-behind victory that's as thrilling as any end of a game I've seen.