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Naval Ravikant has a great post on interacting with attorneys:
Here’s the best one:
Watch out for the bait-and-switch - this is when you interview the gregarious, smart senior partner, who then swaps in the less popular, less experienced partner once you’ve signed them up. And the new person might be cheaper, but not much cheaper.
I included the iTunes exclusive, live version of Belle & Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister” recently on the “One Sentence..”thingy hoping that it would be released in time to include a quick blurb about it.
iTunes released the record a day late, but it was well worth the short delay. I have listened to it no less than 5 times since buying it. It’s that good. Maybe Matador’s best release of the year, next to releasing M.Ward’s “Transistor Radio” in Europe if that counts.
Proceeds from the sale of the record go to South Asian Earthquake Disaster relief. It’s commendable effort on part of a great label. Buy it here.
I was lucky enough to get an invite to play around with the alpha release of Riya. I am highly impressed with what they have been able to accomplish. It must be an engineering challenge on mutiple levels considering the level of technical experience required for facial recognition.
I’ll post more thoughts as I continue to upload large quantities of pictures, but all results point to something very impressive.
Sounds like a recent post, huh? This time it happened. 7 inches of snow on the day that I happen to have a meeting here — just my luck. It took about 45 minutes to go several miles on the highway.
A little late considering I was out of town all last week and am in Kansas City, MO tomorrow.
The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth
:: It has become all too popular to talk shit about the Strokes, probably because of their success considering their backgrounds, but half of this record is reason enough to believe that they were on a downward spiral since their debut release.
Belle And Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
:: It’s amazing that Scotland is the home to both Arab Strap and Belle And Sebastian, but as a complete non-sequitur this record strangely shows that Scots Heart Soul Music.
Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister (Live Version) iTunes Exclusive
:: Props to label management for donating album proceeds to South Asian earthquake disaster relief — but hell shall show no mercy on Apple for failing to release this before my flight tomorrow when it was indeed scheduled for a Dec 6 release — bastards!
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
:: Again, my sincere apology to the band for confusing them with The Magic Markers and the resulting hyperbole that came out of my mouth as they clearly do not deserve it.
Beck - Guerolito
:: Ghettochimp Malfunction reminds me of Beck’s contribution as a great singer and songwriter who demonstrates a broad musical talent. (whoa, that was deep)
The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun
:: Keeping your finger positioned over the “next track” button is never a good sign, but there are some scattered pieces on this record that require that you listen to the entire thing to discover them (much like life in general).
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
:: I don’t need to say any more than this quote from the band on AMG, “Our mission is to make you dance, and if you’re not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station.”
Agent Blue - A Stolen Honda Vision
:: I mentioned this record once already, but a second listen dismisses my original thought that Agent Blue will prosper solely on the heels of Art Brut’s popularity (regardless of an utterly stupid band name), but I correct myself in that they have some rockin’ ass songs and will do just fine on their own.
Dr. Dog - Easy Beat
:: I hear where they’re taking this, but am stuck in limbo determing whether to go along with them for the ride.
The Physics Of Meaning - The Physics Of Meaning
:: Now that I’ve heard enough songs about Jesus and shit, I need to spend an afternoon and deconstruct this entire record and decipher the meaning to determine whether “The Physics Of Meaning” gets put into the Sufjan pile where there is no return.
I just realized that I have been confusing two bands that deserve no confusion at all. The Magic Numbers are NOT The Magic Markers. The Magic Numbers I can listen to and really enjoy.
Of the thousands of flights that I have taken in my life, last night was one of the worst flights ever. It was on Delta from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. I was ready to throw some ‘bows after an excruciatingly painful 2 1/2 hours on a flight next to someone who should have been charged for two seats.
Larger humans beings (I’m being polite) should pay for two seats (or more) if they plan on violating my personal sovereignty in an already confined space. I was remanded to sitting in a completely awkard position for more than two hours in order to allow for his protruding parts to meld into the cramped space that eventually overflowed into my area.
As a result of an unnatural, constant seated position for hours on end, I was left with tremendous pain in my lower back that seemed to only get better with mid-section stretches and profane words hurled at the world at large.
When America’s health crisis begins to violate my personal space, I take serious issue.
The concept and discussion of holding and declaring an American citizen (or anyone for that matter) as an enemy combatant is beyond the scope of a quick blog post. But a quick thought gets one started:
Is Padilla guilty? It’s doesn’t really matter in this argument. He has rights like everyone else. Otherwise, we slowly morph into the Taliban.
We should have known something was up when the Taliban destroyed two of the world’s largest, centuries old statues of Buddha in March of 2001 in a show of religious intolerance to the Hazara people.
In other words, when a government begins to reduce the rights of citizens and openly characterizes them as lesser human beings, we should begin to be suspicious.
I choked up a little when I read about Nguyen Tuong Van and his gov’t sponsored execution.
For the love of God: can’t a mother give her soon to be executed son one last hug? She can touch his face, touch his hands, but can’t give a person convicted of a drug offence a simple hug?
Singapore is an extremely interesting place. A psuedo-democacy, but a city-state where the PM has autocratic powers, censorship of the press is nothing new, hanging for drug offences okay, Russian hookers-a-plenty, and the cheap beers are $12 a pop. Oh, and Muslims, Hindus, and Christians co-exist rather harmoniously with every nationality in East Asia that one could imagine.
But my respect for Singapore’s government sunk today. In a place where it’s illegal to chew gum, a crime to smoke en queue, fines for failing to flush a latrine — I don’t think I’ll visit unless there’s some compelling reason to return. I’ve been there 3-4 times and was always fascinated by their history.
Japanese imperialism is a subject that will stir the elderly in Singapore. Dependency on water (of all things) from neighboring countries is a fascinating subject and discussed thoroughly.
Fascinating or not — capital punishment, especially on the grounds of being part of the drug trade, is barbaric. It happens in Texas and China, but not in places that where people profess to be forward-thinkers who realize that the system is imperfect and therefore unjust.
I’m currently writing from Corvallis, Oregon which is about 2 hrs. south of Portland. I might get stuck in Corvallis tomorrow on my way back to California where I’ll spend a couple of more days. Corvallis is expecting a relatively sizeable snowstorm that might prevent me from getting back to the Portland airport.
I did manage to find this great restaurant here called Nearly Normal’s. The food was great and the people were uber friendly.
I was in the San Francisco Bay area yesterday. Portland/Corvallis today. Sacramento tomorrow night — hopefully. And then Sonoma/Napa this weekend for a little wine tour.
I made reservations at Bouchon on Friday night. The menu looks awesome.
The Happy Bullets - The Vice And Virtue Ministry
:: The lead track can be misleading (imagine that!) so do yourself a favor and start with the second track and enjoy the occassional falsetto combined with the semi-predictable vocal and percussion stops and starts.
Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins - Rabbit Furcoat
:: Insanity I know, but this is what I was hoping to get from Annie Hayden’s “The Enemy of Love,” but was sadly dissapointed.
Various Artists - So Young But So Cold Underground French Music 1977-1983
:: Shout out to: Freedom Fries, Chateau D’Yquem (Sauternes), stinky cheese, classified growths, and Tigersushi France for putting out a very neat record. (I know it’s a 2004 release, but it’s new to me!)
Great Lake Swimmers - Bodies And Minds
:: I can’t help it, but I want artists and governments to be agnostic when it comes to race and religion (amongst other things) as an issue of trust and my worst current nightmare would be to find out that the GLS were some sort of Christian folkies parading around the independent music scene like Sufjan Stevens.
50 Cent - Bulletproof
:: Dear Fiddy (apostrophe beech!), I guess having a video game makes you a true playa! (Playa play!)
Love Is All - 9 Times That Same Song
:: I got pieces and parts of this record at once, but I find myself needing to spend more time with it before falling off the fence on one side or another.
Kate Bush - Aerial
:: I don’t get Kate Bush like I don’t get British food —- ah, lucky for the Brits that they colonized wisely and inherited (stole) Indian food (amongst other things) or else they would be SOL.
The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell And Back
:: Hmmmm — how long before these guys are playing the State Fair circuit —- plus, a trip to hell and back is technically a return ticket.
Agent Blue - A Stolen Honda Vision
:: On the heels of Art Brut’s “Bang, Bang, Rock And Roll,” Fierce Panda could even make The Darkness sell some records to the indie kids and I bet they will be able to do the same after “A Stolen Honda Vision.”
Aids Wolf - The Lovvers
:: Someone please make it stop.
I’ve been a long-time and heavy user of Gallery, the open source photo management software. I take around 3K photographs a year and needed an efficient way to manage large, high-quality images. Flickr is great, but I’m way too deep into using something I love just to move off of it.
I spent the last couple of days off and on upgrading to G2. It has some very compelling features for people like me who need robust management and printing capabilities. That’s the thing that I’ve always hated about some of the other online offerings. They limit the resolution, size, etc. whereas I can store 10MB pictures and have Gallery render a smaller size image for users.
Anyway, hats off the community supporting Gallery with the 2.0 release. It’s one of the finest open-source products available.
Check out my gallery if you’d like.
No, no, no — I’m not referencing the uber popular band of bearded brethren from Boise. I’m talking about the purpose built and crafted companies building web services that are banking on being acquired by the big boys. It’s bad business and screams of too much tactical foreplay rather than strategic long-term growth. Don’t get me wrong — the money’s hot in acquisitions these days since IPOs are not, but long-term value comes from building great technology companies over a period time. David Hornik seems to agree, not that a guy like David agreeing with a medicine show like me means squat —- I’m just sayin.’
Who the hell am I, but it seems like a company built specifically for quick liquidation event can’t have technology so compelling and unique that Google couldn’t have their army of engineers build it themselves. Unless you’re doing something off the charts like facial recognition and if you’re smart enough to do that anyway, well then good for you and I hope the quick flipper brings you (and the investors) a hefty multiple.
There’s always the bravado argument that “you can’t stop innovating just because Google might eat your lunch.” That’s not my real point. Del.icio.us is unstoppable — all in the light of competition with the big boys. But they have real value that everyone can potentially use. And they were the first. Never underestimate market position over technical superiority.
That’s why I’ve never been completely impressed with the likes of Odeo and Podshow. What real technology are they creating? Develop para-virtualization techniques using the x86 architecture like XenSource and of course VMWare. That’s rocket science in terms of technology and value created from long-term growth.
The Georgia Aquarium was fantastic. Some might argue that the cost of admission is literally a barrier to entry for the working class. Some might argue that taking animals from their existing environment and caging them for humans to study is cruel. I mean hell — Hitler caged humans and observed them, right?
The high cost of admission could be a barrier. A “program” to allow admission at a lower cost is an insult and slap in the face to the working poor. I think the cost of admission to the aquarium needs to be revisited to make it equal to the price of admission to the movies. How? I guess I’m full of suggestions today with no real execution. Corporate sponsorships seem to be plentiful at the GA Aquarium. Maybe ticket prices can be subsidized with the soft drinks selling for $4 each.
I am a vegetarian. Some would even call me a staunch vegetarian. I’m a hypocrite at times as well though. I have leather seats in my car and occassionally wear leather shoes. There. I said it.
But to oppose the Georgia Aquarium on the grounds that it is cruel to cage animals like the Beluga whales is shortsighted. They were rescued from an otherwise terrible situation where they weren’t getting the proper care for ailments that would have eventually killed them.
Notice the school of fish swimming around the grouper. Notice the massive amounts of diverse groups of people that are attracted to something other than sports and the state fair.
Bring education (obfuscated as it might be) to the masses and they will come. And they’ll bring their children. And grandparents. Promote it using simplistic terms. “See some big fish.”
This is how close one can get to the Beluga whales. The kids (I don’t have any) were going crazy.
More of my pics here.