Ontario Emperor

Jon Swift is on a roll. "Why can't we unequivocally state there should be different standards for liberals and conservatives? One of the problems with liberalism is that they believe everyone is the same and that all morality is relative. But if there is anything that conservatives reject it is the idea of moral equivalency. When America tortures a terrorist suspect that is not the same as when a terrorist tortures someone. Killing civilians in a war or accidentally executing the innocent is not the same as abortion." - Ontario Emperor

"Jason, I was hoping that you'd weigh in on this conversation, because your offer puts a possible monetary value on Twitter's "suggested users" feature. The question arises - if you don't allocate the spaces by buying them, is there a "fair" way to allocate them - especially when Twitter's base is converting from a tech-oriented community to a much more broader-based community? Is Jason "interesting"? Is Shaq "interesting"? From the perspective of the company, Twitter needs to choose suggested users that most benefit the company, either via revenue (as Jason proposes) or by choosing suggested users that will encourage people to stay on the service and not drop it (e.g. Ashton). The one thing that scares me about thinking of Twitter as a utility is that such a mindset could eventually lead to government intervention and regulation of the service, which would not be desirable." - Ontario Emperor

"Jason, I was hoping that you'd weigh in on this conversation, because your offer puts a possible monetary value on Twitter's "suggested users" feature. The question arises - if you don't allocate the spaces by buying them, is there a "fair" way to allocate them - especially when Twitter's base is converting from a tech-oriented community to a much more broader-based community? Is Jason "interesting"? Is Shaq "interesting"? From the perspective of the company, Twitter needs to choose suggested users that most benefit the company, either via revenue (as Jason proposes) or by choosing suggested users that will encourage people to stay on the service and not drop it (e.g. Ashton). The one thing that scares me about thinking of Twitter as a utility is that such a mindset could eventually lead to government intervention and regulation of the service, which would not be desirable." - Ontario Emperor

"I wonder if an AP photographer has visited Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art yet." - Ontario Emperor

The primary reason that I'm sharing this note is because I want to experiment with the commenting feature and see what it does. (Fragments conversations further, I think.) - Ontario Emperor

Quite the hour of musical spectrum there, OE - Michael W. May

A week or two ago, last.fm was recommending items by old blues masters. Lately, it's been recommending items by old country masters. (The Prodigy and Air resulted from a "similar artists to Moby" offering from last.fm.) - Ontario Emperor

Amit Yoran, former head of DHS's NCSC, says the U.S. government's national cybersecurity efforts would be in "grave peril" if they were dominated by the intelligence community - Ontario Emperor

Cyber security has to have a strong intelligence component or it will be little more than a weekly reminder to change your password. - Robert Hafer

Intelligence component yes, but should they be running the show? "Yoran said that although DHS, which currently oversees the government's cybersecurity efforts, has demonstrated 'inefficiency and leadership failure' in those efforts...[he] said a cyber program overseen by the NSA would be over-classified and lack adequate oversight and review, which is needed to gain the trust of the public and private-sector partners who will be needed to secure the nation's infrastructure." - Ontario Emperor

"I wonder if an AP photographer has visited Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art yet." - Ontario Emperor

"The native tongue can be confusing for some folks, as half of the United States thinks thinks that “nuculur” is a word. Some English soccer terms can still be difficult. No one in America would intuitively understand that the English pronounce Derby, “Dar-bee.” However is it really that hard to pronounce “Arsenal” correctly? Three syllables. Flows nicely. It means the same thing on both sides of the Atlantic. It requires no Latin flourish." - Ontario Emperor

I'm from Portsmouth and it annoys me (slightly) when I hear the American pronunciation to rhyme with sports-south. It's not pronounced that way. It's closer to ports-m'th. Mind you, I do pronounce it Jacksonville Jag-You-Ars instead of Ja-Gwars so fair's (almost) fair. - Mark H

In my neck of the woods (California), things get more complicated because we have so many Spanish words. Do you say them in the true Spanish way, in the true English way, or in some type of Spanglish way. The very large city in southern California is pronounced in at least two different ways. - Ontario Emperor

"Beckham told the Sun, “I have a right to own an MLS franchise, which I will action immediately after I have stopped playing football.” If this was part of the “unique circumstances” rendering the deal palatable to MLS, it could be the most valuable part of the agreement. If the loss of Beckham’s presence for five months is this shattering to MLS, then the value of a club under his shadow and direction for years to come is priceless." - Ontario Emperor

OE comment: includes hilarious embedded video. I hadn't seen Stewart's first response to Cramer, but this second response is excellent, including the face-off between the MTV and NBC families of networks. - Ontario Emperor

"The Dora the Explorer bit was hilarious. So will Disney get into the battle? Don't know if Kimmel is following this." - Ontario Emperor

"It's a perfectly legitimate strategy, of course... except for the fact that it makes the lie to every purported "principle" that unions claim to have. Local control becomes dashed and democracy summarily eliminate, yet local control and democratic process are the central themes of unionism." - Ontario Emperor

"These days, just having a blog isn’t enough to corner your own part of the market. You’ve got to have a multi-faceted strategy that not only helps to define you as a player in the market, but also allows your fans and readers to find you where they feel most comfortable." - Ontario Emperor

"The Muslim protesters were within their rights to behave in this despicable way. The police arrested a few from the pro-soldier crowd who were violating the protesters rights. And as someone who really does believe in free speech, I think it is a good thing that the police protected the small group of protesters from the crowd and arrested those who violated their rights. I just wish that the Muslim protesters had an ethic of reciprocity, so that they recognized the right to free speech of those who do not believe in God in the way Islam presents God or chose to leave Islam. In Islamic Law, the first is called blasphemy and is punishable by death." - Ontario Emperor

H/T Mark Trapp. Good survey of the progression of interface designs over the years. - Ontario Emperor