Ready to lead...

I'm still still digesting the inaugural address. As I continue to think about it and review it, one phrase really jumps out:

"Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more."

"Ready to lead once more..." That short phrase says so much. It talks to our recent history of international relations, as well as our more distant past. It talks to the larger story of America's role in the world. And most significantly, it says a lot about what leadership really is.

What I think I hear the President saying is that leadership is a choice. America's position in the world is not a birthright. It is something we must prepare for, something we must decide to do. And by telling the world we are prepared to lead, I hear him inviting them to follow. It's not a demand or a declaration of what they must do. It's an announcement of our readiness to engage with the world in a different way than we've used in the past 8 years.

I like it.

Oh Crap!

There's never a good time for the sewer to back up and flood one's basement, but four days after installing new carpet has got to be at the top of the list of Really Bad Timing.

Here's what happened: After dinner on Tuesday, I walked down to the basement to change the kitty litter. Instead, I was met with sights and smells which I will not describe out of deference to your gentle sensitivites, dear reader. Also, I personally don't want to relive that moment (or any of the moments in the hours that followed). 

The next three hours were spent cleaning, going to the store to buy more cleaning supplies and to rent a Rug Doctor (tm), calling Roto Rooter, and doing more cleaning. After that, I washed my hands a dozen times or two.

The good new is it looks like our cleaning efforts were effective and the new carpet is going to survive. That's a relief. The other good news is that the Roto Rooter guy (named Adam) was able to come out within an hour of our call, and since they were just here in June, the work was covered under their 12 month guarantee. Also a relief!

But what I want to know is what kind of person designs a system such that, when it fails, you end up with a basement full of poo? Was that really necessary? I'm not a civil engineer or an architect, but I've got to think it's possible to design a waste removal system that does not involve that particular feature. 

Do You See What I See?

A recent study reported that caffeine can cause hallucinations. Usually that sort of experience requires either psychiatric problems or illegal substances. Kind of exciting to think it can be done with just a couple extra cups of java.

Opposites

Do you ever wonder what the opposite of a terrorist is?

I'd guess the opposite of a terrorist is a comfortist.

Maybe that's the key to winning the Global War on Terror (are we still using that term?). We could develop and deploy a Comfortist Brigade, running around the world bringing people comfy chairs, Mac & Cheese and soft, warm towels. 

Obama via Wii

Until this past Christmas, I'd never owned a game console (I don't count the used PS2 I bought on eBay for $30 last year, 'cause I only played with it maybe twice). I didn't have an Atari when I was a kid, I didn't get an Xbox when I was a bigger kid. It's just not something I ever got into.

So, when the Wii first came out, I remember being a little bit surprised by just how much I wanted one. It was an odd feeling. I'm not the type to lust after technology, but there was something about the Wii that really grabbed me. 

Long story short - we got one for Christmas last month. My lovely and amazing wife consistently trounces me in Mario Kart... and probably every other game we'll ever play (she's a way better gamer than I am).

But I mention all this to say that we also downloaded the Internet Channel for our Wii. The resolution for reading text is awful, but it works pretty well for videos (except for videos where we have to download Flash 8 or 9 - 'cause apparently the Wii can't do that). And the point of this whole thing is this: one of the first videos we watched was President Obama's first Weekly Address, via YouTube (you can also get it here).

I think it's fantastic that the President has made the jump from radio to YouTube. An educated electorate is such an important part of a healthy democracy, and anything that allows leaders to speak directly to citizens is a good thing in my book. The videos are worth watching, regardless of one's political persuasion.

And it cracks me up that I can watch the video in my living room, using my Wii. What a cool new world we live in.

Space Command Mystery Jobs

I saw an ad on Gmail for "SPACECOM" jobs, and clicked the link. It brought me to SpaceCommandCenter.com, a totally fake sci-fi website that, among other things, talks about the "Phoenix Space Elevator" being attacked by terrorist. 

That site has links to three more fake sites: GreaterAmericaNews.com, PresidentAndrewHarrison.com and SpaceElevatorClimb.com. They all make reference to the space elevator attack, by a group of terrorists calling themselves Autumn Rain. What they didn't mention was what they're advertising. I figured it must be selling a book, movie, tv show, video game or carbonated drink, and set about to find the truth.

The sites were very nicely done, so I figured somebody out there would be talking about them (and the book/movie/game they're advertising). Much to my surprise, Google searches for President Andrew Harrison, Greater America News and Space Command Center turned up nada. Huh...

So, I tried using some of my newly acquired cyber-recon skills. I read the source code for each website, but found no hidden author information. I did a whois search on the addresses, thinking I'd find out who registered the sites (I was expecting Sprite). Nope. All the sites are registered through DomainsByProxy.com, effectively masking the owner. Dang! All I found out was they were registered on 22 Jan 09, so I knew I wasn't dealing with an old site, ala I Love Bees, which was an ad for Halo 2 (back in 2004)

This just made me even more determined, and since I'm on day 3 of being snowed in, I had some time on my hands. So, back to Google and some more focused searches. I eventually found my way over to a site for sci-fi author David Williams, and his latest book The Mirrored Heavens. It's about a terrorist group called Autumn Rain and a thing called The Phoenix Space Elevator. The mass-market edition was released on Jan 27th, 2009.

Mystery solved! (but I've got to wonder - why advertise on Gmail and not have any link to the book from the fake sites?)

Big Business = Big Government

John Medaille over at The Distributist Review hit another home run on Saturday, with a post titled "Buy it up, break it up, fund it right." He argues quite convincingly that all these corporate entities which get described as "too big to fail" are actually too big to succeed. Specifically, he writes "everybody has found out what the distributists always knew: they are too big to succeed without the help of big government." 

If these companies can't survive without government bailouts, as huge as they are, why do they thing getting bigger is going to help? Is the problem with CitiBank that it wasn't big enough? Is GM just too small? It blows my mind that people are seriously talking about a merger between GM and Chrysler. It seems clear to me the answer to our current economic woes isn't consolidation, but diversification.

Medaille writes: The same plan holds true for other enterprises that need bailouts, such as the Big Three automakers. The obvious problem with these companies is that they are too big and there are only three of them. Japan, a much smaller nation, supports nine auto companies... there is no reason we couldn't have nine automakers, or 19. Choices would go up, prices would go down, and local manufacturing would increase..

I would love to see our Big Three automakers divide up into the Appropriately Sized 19. Isn't that consistent with the basic principles of capitalism? Capitalism says economic diversity is good. Competition is good. Monopolies are bad.

It would be nice if the Big Three would do it on their own, selling off pieces that could/should be independent entities. Or, Uncle Sam could buy the whole shebang and then sell off the pieces. If things continue to go downhill, that possibility just might come to pass.

The point? Some people believe in big business and distrust big government. Others like big government and distrust big business. I hope both groups will come to see that Big is Big (and Big is Bad), and the line between big business and big government isn't nearly as solid as many seemed to think.

Microloan #1

As promised, here's the scoop on my first loan through Kiva.org. 

I picked a lady from Nigeria, named Margaret Adedeyinbo. She runs a food market and asked for a loan of $950, to be paid back over a period of 8 months. My $25 will be combined with funds from a bunch of other people, then sent to her so she can buy frozen foods to sell in her shop. Once she repays the loan, I'll get that $25 back and loan it to someone else.

Kiva's "field partner" on this loan is a group named Lift Above Poverty Organization (their official site: LAPO). They've loaned nearly $2M to over 3,000 people... and have a 0% default rate. That's hard to imagine, but it's what the site says (and yes, I poked around online a bit before clicking "pay").

So, I'm excited to see how this turns out!

The Inaugural Speech

I'm still digesting President Obama's inaugural speech. Man, that was my kind of speech.

I was surprised to hear some critics say it wasn't "soaring" enough, or that it was muted, subdued or somber. I didn't think so at all. I found it challenging and fascinating. There didn't seem to be many soundbites there - which was probably deliberate. Actually, the lack of obvious soundbites is probably one of the reasons I liked it so much. See, it was a grown-up speech. It was intelligent. It respected and expected the audience's intelligence.

I remember reading a speech by President Eisenhower and being impressed with the way he spoke. I thought "Wow, I'd love to have a president that talked to the American people that way." And now, I think we do. I like that.

My favorite line in the speech has got to be this bit:

"...there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

All I can say to that is "Yes, I will."