Maybe when I wake up the world will realize it made a mistake...

The counting kind, not the voting kind...

Longtime readers will remember that I led the web development for Petstore.com which, a mere 8 months after launch, was sold lock, stock, and barrel to Amazon-backed rival Pets.com. Just a few weeks ago Petopia laid off 60% of its workforce, and now it turns out that Pets.com is going out of business. They couldn't find a backer willing to gamble that even an uncontested pet supply company could become profitable on the web.

Also, though even fewer people know it, A good frined of mine, Ray, and I made a stab at an online meta-wish list registry a year and a half ago called Wishbank. After meeting a few delays, we saw the market become saturated both with dedicated wish lists (Amazon and the like) and VC funded meta-lists, like Wishclick. Well, I just saw my first Wishclick commercial, so more power to them!

Now if I start seeing any of my fellow bloggers with commercials I'll start feeling inadequate.

vote.It's a democracy. Thank's for playing!

Taking a break from studying, I read two stories on SF Gate. The first was on the rising popularity of Orienteering in the San Francisco Bay area. Orienteering is basically competitive reading of maps and hunting for items in the field based on the maps provided.

The second article was on the upswing in scuba divers in the area, due in part to new, safer equipment, and more training programs. It mentioned that among other things, every diver should have an underwater compass.

So hit me over the head with the 'obvious stick' but I'd love to know if folks have tried underwater orienteering. It sounds like it would be a real blast, and a real challenge, although the nature of the competition would have to be changed somewhat, because the last thing you want to do while scuba diving is to try and rush things. Still, exploring reefs and other underwater formations, looking for planted relics could be very cool.

Another thing that goes hand in hand with both of these is Geocaching, or planting of boxes with rubber stams and lists inside, and advertising the location of the boxes via precise Latitude and Lognitude coordinates, or by waypoints and clues. Sounds like maybe the three of these could be combined somehow.

Anyone know if GPS devices work underwater?

Okay, I've done a good job of not talking about politics ever since starting this weblog, and though I could rant about so many thought going through my head, like Nader helping Bush win, comparisons between this race and the 1988 race, and how Reagan helped Bush get elected but Bush Jr is condemning Clinton for campaigning for Gore, even though he's done it far less, blah blah blah.

What really gets me is the DUI thing. I'll keep it short, but sweet, and I only bring it up because my own concern isn't one I've seen spread in the media yet.

With the whole Lewinsky scandal, several defendants of the President tried to downplay the importance of the infidelity by citing statistics of how common infidelity is, and exposing members of congress, gingrich, Hyde, and others, who had continuing problems with infidelity. The Republican response to this was, 'Sure Clinton's bad because he cheated on his wife, but we impeached him because he lied about it, which is far, far worse.'

Okay, fast-forwarding to last week, when the DUI news came out, Bush is calling it all irresponsible, dirty politics, because it happened 24 years ago, and he's since quit drinking. That's fine, I buy that, but if that's the case, he shouldn't have hidden it. Unfortunately, his spin-doctors are spinning in opposite directions, and this is evidenced by his own statements after the disclosure. On one hand, he's said again and again that he's learned from his mistakes. To quote:

"I'm proud to tell you, I've learned from those mistakes. And that's the role of a leader: to share wisdom, to share experience with people."
--George W Bush, Thursday, November 2

At the same time, he's said time and time again that he didn't disclose the DUI arrest because he didn't want to tell his daughters. to quote again:

"I'm not trying to get away with anything. I didn't want to talk about this in front of my daughters. I've been very candid about my past."

My question is, if he's going to protect his daughters by not telling him about his own mistakes, and consequently won't share those mistakes with anyone else, how is he sharing wisdom and experience? It seems to be just the opposite. If he was serious about sharing his own wisdom, he would be up-front about how he learned it. I would be more convinced about the evils of cocaine, for example, if I was preached to from a recovered addict than someone who took a pharmacology class.

Okay, I'm ranting. The point is, I don't think that much less of Bush because of a DUI he got 24 years ago, but I do think less of him for the daily decision he made to hide it by dodging questions about his past agan and again, saying, "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible," and refusing to elaborate.

I'm simply amazed that no reporter has, in the last three days, directly asked Bush: "Have you been arrested for anything else aside from the three incidents previously reported?" He hasn't said "Okay, you got me, you found my secret." and he's still just as evasive about his past. If I were thinking of voting for him, I'd certainly want to know his answer to that simple question before going into the booth.

Conclusion, as we learned from the Clinton impeachment trial: Doing something bad is bad, but lying about it to cover your ass is worse. Shouldn't this be a bipartisan lesson?

Funny, I'm registered Green (though I'm not voting for Nader) and I still get emails several times a week from both the GOP and the DNC thanking me for being a loyal [insert party affiliation here], and asking me to help get out the vote for their party.

I guess it fits. My unsolicited email comes in a few flavors:

• Make money fast
• Free XXX porn
• Spy on anyone

and

• Vote for our candidate

When I got my first political spam it seemed out of keeping with the other spam I get, but the more I think about it, politics is just a superset of moneymaking schemes, sex, and surveillance. Now I understand why anti-spam legislation is so slow in coming!

It's so funny how we all talk about wireless this and wireless that. I'm too young to remember, but I'm sure a lot of people giggle to themselves, remembering the 20s, when 'the wireless' was the big box in the corner that all the sounds of the world came from.

The more things change, and all that...

Last Monday I went into the city for an interview at Quidnunc and stuck around to have lunch with my friend Karen. After that it was off to the Metreon to take a look at the latest Vaios and test drive a Playstation 2, then as I was walking back to the parking lot, I passed Moscone Hall and saw that Web2000 was going on. I dipped in just to see what it was all about, didn't have a badge, didn't feel like getting a badge to see demos of Flash 5 and GoLive, so I just walked through the crowd for a minute and picked up a free chocolate chip cookie (Cookies are free, but 500ml of water costs $3.50?).

Anyhow, yesterday I realized that a lot of 'etherfriends', fellow bloggers who I've spoken to and linked to, but never met in person, have come in from places distant to go to Web2000 and I was too dim to even realize.

Most of them aren't even reading their email while they're out of town (rahter, in my town) so I can't reach them. Anyhow, if Metagrrl, Ian Whitney, Kottke, or any other bloggers who I link to or read this are (duh) reading this, I'll be at the Midnight Matrix at the Metreon tonight (Midnight IMAX screening of the Matrix. Keanu-fu, only 5 stories tall!). You probably have no idea what I look like. Hmm.. There are pcis on the site somewhere. I'll be in a dark wool overcoat, and can be paged at damn pacbell says paging isn't working. grubmle scratch that bit about paging. Ah well, I'll see ya if I see ya.

An interesting observation from Slashdot: With the launch of one astronaut and two cosmonauts to be the first crew on the new Space Station, it's entirely possible that yesterday was the last time that every member of the human race will be on Planet Earth.

Current schedules plan for continuous occupation of the space station for the next 10 years, and by that time, it's entirely possible, even probable, that the space station will continue to be used, or something will take its place. Eventually there will be manned missions to Mars and other destinations (Moon base in 50 years?).

Anyhow, though space exploration has slowed dramatically since the 60's, today it is steady, with regular, small steps forward (think the turtle, not the hare). In short, there may never again be another day without someone in space.

Centuries from now, when colonies exist on other planets, in space, or even other systems, mankind may mark yesterday, October 31st, 2000, as the day mankind truly left the cradle for good.

Spooky, but cool.

(Everything I need to know I learned from Daria)

I have an appointment to get contact lenses today! I had an eye exam last week and the lenses came in on Monday (They said 2-3 weeks, and it turned out to be 2-3 days. Surprise!) I've been thinking about getting contacts for a while, and of course the Daria episode on the subject was thought-provoking (Are contacts a concession to vanity, or common sense?). I guess while I like glasses, they are constructs of metal and glass you're putting in front of your most expressive aspect. Contacts just seem to be more of a natural corrective solution (aside from keratotomy, but I'm not interested in beta-testing irreversible techniques on my eyeballs thankyouverymuch).

It remains to be seen [npi] if I can bring myself to poke myself in the eye...

And no, they're not any special color, though I am curious to see if I can get them in green or, even better, purple.