New parent iPhoto syndrome

Scroll thorugh my iPhoto Browser and this is what you’ll see, page after page after page. Digital photography makes baby photography irresistable.

Crosby gets 100. Big deal.

Not to take anything away from the little tyke. Great rookie season and great for an 18 year old. He had some help with the obstruction crack-down. Only Hawerchuk did it as a rookie before him. But one thing is missing from the gushing analysis. Gretzky scored 104 points as a 17/18 yr old in the WHA, and 137 points as an 18/19 year old in the NHL. Gretzky does not hold any rookie records in the NHL because he was not a rookie in his first NHL season, even though he was only eighteen when his first NHL goal was scored. TGO’s birthday is January 24th, and Crosby’s is in August. I give it to Crosby that he was the first to score 100 points at his age, but Gretzky scored his 100th NHL point in 61 games, just 28 days after his 19th birthday. So, yes, let’s celebrate Crosby’s achievement. But let’s also keep it in proper perspective. There is and will be only one Great One. Crosby had a great year, but is also the beneficiary of being born at a different point in hockey’s cycle.

Decorating the Bower: the web 2.0 goldrush

The Bowerbird collects a sometimes incredibly beautiful array of objects to decorate the bower it builds. It builds this bower for mating purposes, in the hopes that its grandeur and aesthetic mastery will attract a female. When a female arrives, the Bowerbird will do a dance [rm|wmv]. If all goes well, the two will procreate. Nature is beautiful and fun, though sometimes heartbreaking as well.

This reminds me of the growing inventory of Web 2.0 applications. Every day a collection of newly minted companies trot out another mashup or social software application that leverages a new (or sometimes not so new) aggregation of data from the growing list of open APIs. Then, not unlike the original dotcom bubble, they hope to get laid (attract an investor).

This is not a bad thing. Sex is good. Money is good. I like both, and the dance of investor and start-up is very much like courtship and seduction.

The thing I find funny is the way these start-ups are just like Bowerbirds. APIs are the shiny objects, the bower is the application or mashup, and the dance is, well, the dance - the beautiful swirl of data intermingling and synthesizing to make something meaningful and useful. Gyrations that amuse and excite.

Good luck to you all. I honor you.

ProgrammableWeb: Web 2.0 Mashup Matrix

Is there a better place to quickly see what people are up to in the world of mashups than ProgrammableWeb: Web 2.0 Mashup Matrix? This thing is truly amazing.

If you want to see what the beginnings of fluid information synthesis (the holy grail) looks like, check out what is really the equivalent of the open prairie in the time of homesteader. These little plots are going to grow into something quite incredible and life-altering.

A Political Hurricane

The unforseen consequence of the disasterous response to Katrina may be an emboldening of the mass media in the US. Long cowed by successful and relentless accusations of bias, chronic underfunding of investigative activities, and wider and wider syndication of thinner and thinner content, the US media has suddenly found a voice. They are speaking out repeatedly and forcefully on the subject of Katrina and its aftermath.

The US media has found a voice because of two main factors. The first rests on the utter irrefutability of the culpability of government in the disasterous handling of the Katrina’s approach and aftermath. To quote George Tennent, “its a slam dunk” for every reporter covering the tragedy.

The second factor is more subtle. US media outlets have shied away from commentary on political topics for years, preferring instead to stage mock debates between practised and polished spin-meisters from the two main parties. This saves them from any accusation of bias while allowing them to say they still broadcast opinion. It is a shallow and meaningless way to debate politics in the US, and it fosters a culture of dueling talking points. Not a conversation at all but dual soliloquays, never actually meeting. The shudder-inducing horror of New Orleans has shaken on-the-ground reporters to the point where their tolerance for these mock debates and talking points has snapped.

Washington - “For God’s sake, are you blind?,” a woman shouts at the head of the federal emergency management agency (FEMA), Michael Brown.

“You’re patting each other on the back, while people here are dying.”

The woman is not a victim of Hurricane Katrina. She is a reporter with US television network MSNBC who is so affected by the misery she has witnessed she can hold back no longer.

We hope these same reporters will retain their nose for bullshit and begin to gain back some of ground the lost by the fourth estate in the last decade. If this well-founded sense of indignance were applied to politicians’ empty posturing around other burning issues, the people would be much better served.

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