Steve Holden's Blog

Book Reviews: Dead Sea Scrolls, Google, Freemasonry

I finished reading several potentially interesting books during our recent family vacation trip to Vashon Island, WA:

• Weston W. Fields "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Short History"
• David A. Vise & Mark Malseed "The Google Story"
• S. Brent Morris "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry"

I really have to recommend the Fields book on the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It is very well documented and historically interesting - plus it has some great pictures.  Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display in San Diego (through December 2007) which is the main reason I picked up the book.

The Google book is also recommended for those interested in technology, Internet history, and business & organizational ideas.  I personally only had a minor understanding of the history, technologies, and personalities related to Google so I found this book very interesting.

The Freemasonry book was entertaining but nothing spectacular.  I enjoyed it because my father and his father were Masons, and I learned a lot about what they probably went through.  The background history was interesting and I enjoyed the humor of the author.

 

Suggestions On Having A Better Social Event Experience

Guy Kawasaki has a good list of items from Susan RoAnne to consider before you go out to a 'smoozing event'. 

I like the item '#2 Prepare For The Event' a lot.  I've had a very good recent experience doing something similar a couple of months back.

Another suggestion is to listen to Manager-Tool's podcast entitled "How to Politely Become Part of a Group." 

I have also used the recommendations in this podcast to have an overall better social experience where previously I would have felt out of place.

Privacy Thoughts - Google Vs. ISPs

There is a lot of good blogger analysis about Google's ability to drill down deep into the search world and possibly get  into trouble by not keeping personal privacy data private. 

Given Google's business model of matching people to ads, it is in their best interest to not blow this, and keep private data private.

However, there seems to be a small group of alarmists raising issue with Google's recent purchase of RSS service provider Feedburner.

I do have to disclose that I am a big fan and happy customer of Feedburner. Congrats to the team over there. 

Based on my above assertion that Google must, if they want to be successful, protect privacy, that this new found very rich data in Feedburner will get the same high-level of protection. 

Plus, I don't see any signs of Google behaving badly, and that can not be said about ISPs.

Wired recently published a piece that outlines one of my big privacy concern areas - the data ISPs can and will be collecting, and what they plan to do with it as it effects public disclosure (overt, covert, and stolen), and possible manipulation as it enters 'their' network and gets to your devices.

Another Interest Architectural Dual-Use Space Idea

There was an interesting article in the Sunday San Diego Union-Tribune about a company called GarageTown USA  that is offering a different type of storage space in some parts of the United States. 

First up, these are 'condo' units that you purchase to own.  They also include: climate control, better security, posh customization options, and community clubhouses. 

A couple of other companies in Florida are offering something similar with a heavy focus on vehicles: Park Place Car Condo and DreamCar Carriage House.

It sounds like a nice place to setup a 'group' audio/video production area.

Competition Turn Around - Starbucks vs. McDonalds

I thought it was interesting that McDonalds recently announced premium coffee to combat the growth of Starbucks and similar coffee stores. 

I noticed yesterday at Starbucks in Pt. Loma, CA that that Starbucks is now selling breakfast sandwiches (ala competing with the Egg McMuffin).

Careful what you decide to compete with ...

Dinner Recommendation - Romesco, Bonita, CA

Christy and I were very lucky to receive a $100 gift certificate in the mail a couple of weeks ago thanks to the fine folks at RSVP San Diego.

The gift certificate was for Romesco Baja Med Bistro in Bonita, CA. 

Other than Google maps giving is bad directions because of construction, the evening was fabulous.

The bistro is located in a shopping center right across the street from the municipal golf course, but once you get into Romesco you easily forget that.  The interior style is very much like a French bistro and the atmosphere was relaxing.

The following items are all highly recommended: Ajillo Gulf Shrimp, Savervos Baby Spanich Salad, Giuseppis Napolitana, and Lasagna.  We also had Creme Brulee for dessert, and the wine for dinner was a Gewurztraminer from the Russian River area in Northern California.

We highly recommend Romesco Baja Med Bistro!

Alternative Housing Designs For The Future?

A couple of related articles that I ripped out of  the print version of Wired several months back are pretty interesting if you spend any time thinking about alternative housing designs for the future.

The first is Andrew Blum's look at the Glassic Soho designed by Christopher Deam. 

The second is Asami Novack's one-pager on Richard Horden's m-ch.

I like the simple flexible designs, and the energy self-sustaining technologies.

Internet Radio / Streaming Issues

I haven't been following this story very closely but I just read this article at CNN because it had a picture of Rusty Hodge (Grove Salad) who does Soma.fm which I do enjoy from time from time.

It looks like some changes in the royalty business and regulatory oversight that makes doing future Internet radio/streaming very difficult. 

From a technical standpoint I think this is going to bleed over to podcasting, since a lot of listeners are effectively streaming from website links.

More info from the Pandora Blog also on this topic, that links to some resources to help fight these changes.

Stupid DRM Photos From JC Penny

I was shocked to learn that our 2006 family and kids Christmas pictures we took at JCPenny have digital rights management (DRM) features that makes it relatively impossible to scan into a visually usable graphics file using a recently purchased scanner.

When I scan them on my HP C3100 I end up with a grainy, very unattractive picture.  I was getting all mad at the scanner for sucking until I read the back of the pictures with the following warning: "Kodak Professional Endura Paper - Professional Images Are Copyright Protected - Do Not Copy."

Darn right frustrating! :-(

If there is a DIY hack, please let me know.  I'm off to investigate, and I'll keep you posted.

I Am Thankful For Less Email

Something in a recent David Allen and 43Folders podcast convinced me to execute on a "someday maybe item - unsusbscribe to 90% of all the email lists" I'm getting to my primary personal email address (I'll work on work email later - already on my someday maybe list). 

The truth of the matter is that I don't actually read most of these but spend about 1 second deciding to delete them or read them with 99% of the time being the delete decision.  Every delete though generates two unanswered questions: 'What did I just miss?' and 'What if it was important?'  Which is more thinking and worrying than I really need.

Here is the current list (in no particular order):

United Cruise, Wired, GoDaddy, Audible, InformIT, WalMart, Gryonix, MP3Motivators, Nancy's Recipe Newsletter, SPOW, iRobot, HIT, Crutchfield, Moutain Dew, HP, Dell, FilePlanet, Nuance, Oriental Trading Company, Symantec, Stratfor, Toyota, Punch Software, Maximum Impact News, KMWorld, Kodak, Nitewise, Nordstrom, Iomega, ARTISTdirect, CRI, LHM, Vons, Sony, Billy Graham, Forbes, OfficeMax, Truly Nolan, Classmates, Rick Warren, Atari, Verizon, PC Magazine, DiVX, Direct2Drive, and Yahoo Sports.

Only a couple asked why I was unsubscribing (I expected more questions), and a few were a complete pain and I'm still fighting with them via accounts/usernames/passwords that I don't have nor have managed to keep.

If my analysis is correct and each one was a second to delete, then I could see a maximum of ~60 seconds of more productivity on any given day if they all send me email on the same day.  My current guess that over a week, I'll have a net increase of 5-6 minutes productivity time, plus less distractions from more meaningful productivity and less worry in addition to no unanswered nagging questions.