Archive: July 9, 2003

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People over 30 should be dead

Wednesday,  07/09/03  04:37 PM

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.  Horrors!

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.  We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.  After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.  No one was able to reach us all day.  No cell phones.  Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.  We had friends!  We went outside and found them.  We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.  They were accidents.  No one was to blame but us.  Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.  Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.  Horrors!  Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own.  Consequences were expected.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.  They actually sided with the law.  Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.  The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.  We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.  And you're one of them!

Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives for our own good....

Doesn't it kind of make you want to run through the house with scissors?

 

Wednesday,  07/09/03  10:07 PM

It's all happening, I'm 363 posts behind in SharpReader =(

Lawrence Lessig points out an extraordinary thing; the new movie the League of Extraordinary Gentleman uses only characters from the public domain.  Somehow the creators of this movie were able to combine these public domain things in a unique way to create something new!  Does this make you think maybe we don't need copyrights?  Would there be more or less of this kind of work if these characters were all "owned" by copyright holders?  [ via Ottmar Liebert ]

Cinque Terre
(click for photos)

Can you imagine a village without cars?  How about five of them?  How about Cinque Terre, a collection of Italian villages on the Mediterranean coast.  Besides being noted for their public transportation systems - and lack of private ones - they are also noted for food and wine.  I want to go there!

Wired: Being Invisible.  "Next-gen optical camouflage is busting out of defense labs and into the street.  This is technology you have to see to believe."  It's the invisibility cloak - for real - and it looks cool.

Razib gives a great example of Unnatural Selection...

Lance Armstrong is on his way as the postmen deliver.  ESPN has a great map of the tour stages.  Check out stage 8 - Sallanches to L'Alpe d'Huez - 136 miles with two massive climbs, including a finish up the famous L'Alpe d'Huez with its 21 switchbacks.  Even just finishing this stage is something only a well-trained athlete could do, let alone winning it...

This is amazing!  Check out this video of two guys playing ping-pong, Matrix-style.  I watched it three times running, it was so cool.  [ via Robert Scoble ]

Buzzword Bingo!  Check out Grand Central Communications' "solutions" page.  I challenge anyone to read this and tell me what this company does.  I always think it is a red flag when a company has "Solutions" instead of "Products" or "Services"; it means the marketing BS factory has taken control of the website.

My attention was called to Grand Central by a press release announcing they've hired Halsey Minor as CEO; he was the founder and CEO of CNet.  Halsey is a cool guy and a visionary, I wonder if he'll change the website?

Marc Cantor links photos from the Supernova conference, to which he's added his own captions :)  The guy in the foreground on the right is Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and an ex-colleague of mine at PayPal.

USA Today: Welcome to the blogosphere.  A big media story about blogs that doesn't suck.  Hey, you're welcome!

This week's carnival is up at Winds of Change.  I haven't checked it out yet, I've fallen too far behind, but please don't let me stop you.

Eric Sink: Marketing for Geeks - Act Your Age.  (This would be your age as in the stage your company is at...)

    • Early Adopters are risk takers who actually like to try new things.
    • Pragmatists might be willing to use new technology, if it's the only way to get their problem solved.
    • Conservatives dislike new technology and try to avoid it.
    • Laggards pride themselves on the fact that they are the last to try anything new.

Good stuff, like the "crossing the chasm" messages of Geoffrey Moore.

Canadian researchers think they've figured out the mystery of Stonehenge: it is a stone representation of female genitalia.  I am not making this up.

Whew, I made it.  Back down to zero posts in SharpReader.  Good night!

 
 

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