Presidential Debate Tonight

So it looks like John McCain has decided to in fact join Barack Obama for the first presidential debate tonight at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I think that it’s good that McCain is going to go to the debate, because it is difficult to have a presidential debate unless both of the candidates are there.

Most Americans seem to agree with that assessment. An AP-Knowledge Network poll found that 60% of the respondents wanted the debate to go on as planned and 22% felt that it should not, with the rest undecided.

Someone who is an office assistant working on a particular project may be asked to suddenly shift priorities and schedule an itinerary for an account executive who has a couple of fires to tend to in his or her region. The office assistant may have to finish the original project before leaving work for the day to meet a deadline, then pick her kids up from school after work, feed them, take them to a soccer game, and tend to her ailing mom after that, checking if her WaMu saving are still there on the way. We have all experienced the need to multi-task, and it is challenging, but that is the way that it is in the modern world.

Being technologically savvy helps us to multi-task, and most busy people with demanding schedules would find it impossible to be productive and do our jobs if we did not know how to use mobile technologies to maximize our time, especially while we are traveling on business. Presidents hold a pretty important executive position as far as I can tell, and domestic and world affairs are very unpredictable and take place across many different time zones. Being able to juggle shifting priorities while maintaining your schedule is one of the demands placed upon the chief executive of the United States. I am glad to see that the debate will go on as scheduled, because we need a president that is capable of handling the challenges that confront us, aided by the utilization of the technologies that enable us to multi-task effectively.

Now that the candidates have both announced that they will show up in Mississippi tonight, the onus is on us to watch it and participate in the process. It will take place at 9:00 p.m. EST (6:00 here in the west). The election is just over a month away, and we need to make an intelligent and informed decision. Seeing the candidates respond to questioning side by side should give us a clearer picture of who appears more prepared to be the next president.

Jazz You May Not Have Heard

I have played guitar for a long time, and about nine years ago or thereabouts I got bored with the place where I was on the instrument, and I decided that I needed to get better, and the best way to do that was to learn to play jazz. So I taught myself some theory, and I came to understand how chords are constructed theoretically, and I learned about the history of jazz. I fell in love with it, and I traded in most of my rock CDs for credit and used it to buy jazz records.

I read a few books on jazz. I specifically remember reading the Mingus autobiography Beneath The Underdog, and the Miles Davis autobiography, as well as books on Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Dizzy, Louis Armstrong, and other things, books on the history of jazz in general. I also learned a lot by watching the Ken Burns Jazz series in its entirety three or four times.

Of course, I learned the most by actually listening to jazz. We are blessed here in Las Vegas with KUNV, which is 91.5 on your FM dial, a public radio station that plays an excellent array of jazz during the week, and very cool, eclectic music on the weekends.

I was originally going to offer my picks as the ten greatest jazz musicians of all time, but I thought I’d switch that up and recommend a few artists that everyone may not have heard of in the hope that I can perhaps turn an ear or two on to some interesting music that is new to them.

Check out these vids:

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Medeski, Martin, & Wood w/John Scofield

Brian Bromberg

Art Ensemble of Chicago

John Abercrombie & Greg Osby

Tal Farlow

Russell Gunn

Steve Coleman

Rory Stuart

Charlie Haden, Toots Thielmans, and Nick Cave

What Exactly is Time?

I have often wondered about the essence of time, and I have heard it defined as a number of different things when considered from different perspectives. Of course the most common phrase that comes to mind is “time is money,” but, with due deference to my financial minded friends, an economic system is a man made construct that could be changed in an instant if enough people agreed. If time is money, is “Euro time” more valuable than that of the United States? Is African time worth far less than Japanese time?

It is true that in our society, which is, after all, in its own right just a man made construct (and I do mean “man made” because unfortunately, women have had little say) we spend a lot of our time in the pursuit of money. We use the money to buy things like food, clothing and shelter. We used to spend our days obtaining food, maintaining and building shelter, and making our own clothes rather than spending our time making money and buying these things. We also used to make our own art, and our own music, both individually and communally, and everyone participated. Now we buy that stuff. Do we buy it with time?

We trade our time, our lives, in fact, for currency, and the value of that currency is diminishing almost daily. Then you have to consider that many of the things that we buy with our time are bought “on time,” meaning we pay for these things, like our cars and homes and even our clothes and computers and televisions and washers and dryers, on credit. We pay interest that accrues over time, meaning we always pay much more for these things than they are worth. So, if you pay a $1500 mortgage, and you make $4500 a month, you give away a third of your time but you own practically nothing in the first years of your mortgage. By the time you pay interest on your credit cards and your vehicles (which depreciate daily), your time becomes practically worthless.

I think that the way that the earth spins and revolves around the sun is the closest thing we have to an accurate barometer of time, coupled with our position as a planet relevant to other celestial bodies that pass through space on cyclical paths. But you have to remember the precession of the equinoxes when you consider this, because the earth wobbles on its axis. The precession takes about 25,765 years, a period of “time” that is referred to as a Great Year, or Platonic Year. During any one of these earthly cycles of time, many different economic systems and forms of money have come and gone.

So I think that to actually answer the question, what is time, you have to know where the earth is in terms of the various cycles that we are embedded in. The ancient Mayans, Egyptians, and others seemed to have done this, and there is much that we can learn from them, though many of their sacred texts have been destroyed, perhaps because somebody wanted us to come to believe that time is in fact money.

I have heard it said that time is art. I like that philosophy, because back in the day, when we made our own clothes and homes and utensils, musical instruments, etc., all of our time was externalized as an expression of personal and cultural creativity. I don’t know that this is what time is, but it is interesting to consider.

Time is thought of at present as being linear, but I have heard suggestions that time is in fact radial. Space-time may have six dimensions.

I guess I will keep pondering the nature of time, and as more people join in, I think that we will all experience time in a different way. There is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Will this new understanding make time travel possible? Here’s what Michio Kaku says about it:

10 Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tips

10.) If you are visiting Las Vegas, realize that the competition will be much stiffer than it is at your weekly home game.

9.) You will rarely win if you never bluff.

8.) You will rarely win if you bluff too much.

7.) You have no business bemoaning poor play at low limit tables–you should expect people to take you to the river in a $3 - $6 game with just a gut shot straight draw, or people looking at the flop with 3-7 off suit.

6.) Learn to play Omaha Hi/Lo and Hold ‘Em strategy will seem easy, but most of all, you learn to know what the nuts are.

5.) Don’t assume that the dealer can never make a mistake.

4.) Switch up your play from rock to aggressive. Lay out with marginal hands you might be able to play at times when you have become too visible.

3.) Don’t go on tilt. Leave the table if necessary.

2.) Don’t be afraid of losing, scared money goes quickly.

1.) Never, ever play against Scotty Nguyen!

The Origins of Dick

Wikipedia defines intelligent design as the assertion that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process. . .”

On Wall Street, nothing is an undirected process. Everything is by design. In fact, if Wall Street were a business—let’s call it Wall Street, Inc. —then its C.E.O. would be a guy named Dick.

Dick is the unmoved mover , the puppeteer, and the intelligent agent. He’s the guy we despise and the guy we aspire to be. In life, there is always a prick named Dick.

Dick has always been the C.E.O. of Wall Street. If you’re a Wall Street historian, then you may be surprised to learn that Dick is the father of modern finance. If you’re not a Wall Street historian, then I’m going to save you the trouble of reading a history book.

Here’s what you need to know: when Dick created the first investment banker, he saw that the investment banker was good. Since the investment banker was alone, Dick gave him company. Back then, companies were good too . Dick showed the investment banker a tree on which money grew plentiful, and he told him that he was forbidden to pick from it.

Within days, the banker was wearing a Hermes tie and driving a Maserati. The Company wrapped itself in a $10,000 shower curtain . And they both swore they were innocent like a hot date who walks out of the bathroom with toilet paper hanging out of her skirt claiming she just touched up her eyeshadow.

Dick saw that this was good.

Web 4.0

As I was considering the possibility of writing about politics, the events of the day, and the zeitgeist of our times on a company blog, the idea led me to envisioning a shift in the way that people find products and get their information, and the way that the two feed one another.

Traditionally, brands and broadcast networks partner to marry sports, entertainment, and news programming with advertising. This leads to advertisers having undue influence on the news, which shapes public opinion and the very paradigm within which we live. Television, print media, and radio are all influenced by advertisers, and corporate consolidation has narrowed the possibility of truly “fair and balanced” reporting even more.

People talk about Web 3.0 as being an expansion of the capabilities of search engines. Perhaps they will become more like a personal assistant, making suggestions based on your trends and preferences in things like movies, dining, other forms of entertainment and even purchases (kind of like Pandora). Mobile micro-blogging has been suggested to me as well, but that is already happening, though not totally ubiquitously and as a matter of course, so maybe we should call that Web 2.5ish.

Since blogging has become a way to keep abreast of the news without commercial influence (for the most part), it is a better way to get unfiltered information from a variety of sources, both biased and unbiased. I think that the more people depend on blogs to get their information, the better and more balanced the Blogosphere will become.

So, assuming that the modest changes suggested would be Web 3.0, I have two thoughts concerning what may come about as Web 4.0. The first would be a shift toward blogs being more trusted than traditional commercial media for unfiltered information among so many people that a tipping point is reached and a new paradigm emerges. This would force substance to supplant spin, science to supplant myth, and truth to supplant fiction. It would transform our political system, our economy, our educational system, and in fact, our reality as we know it.

Instead of companies buying ad space, their blogs would attract readership through the quality of the content, and that would be a way that people find the company, via the depth of their thinking, not through Madison Avenue bells and whistles. Partnerships would emerge, networks of like-minded businesses who respect one another’s views and the manner in which they are being presented. Your reputation as a company would have something to do with your sense of social responsibility and your commitment to the truth.

The second thought that I have is a transition away from television altogether and every living room having a computer with a large screen and interactive capabilities. You have as many choices as there are web locations, and you can multi-task in terms of the consumption of entertainment and information. So many more choices would arise via the implementation of this innovation (which is obviously quite doable in terms of technology) that the thin pickins’ that we see today on commercial television would lose their value. If you make an indie film, you have the same ability to compete for viewership as any high budget Hollywood production. If you have a nightly news webcast, you have the same distribution outlet as any major network. This would level the playing field and transform humanity, replacing today’s stream of plodding, linear garbage with a radial simultaneity of nearly infinite possibilities.

Those are some thoughts on the future of the Internet and the impact that it can have on society. Please leave a comment if you would like to share your own vision, and do remember to think big, because we have no limitations except those that we impose upon ourselves.


Treadmill Desk

I am a big fan of efficiency and multi-tasking, and of course as a Fit Fueler I exercise every day and it is somewhat time consuming, though I enjoy it. It has occurred to me that exercising while you are working would be a good way to maximize your time. There are ergonomic exercises that you can do at your desk, you can have some hand weights nearby, and there are even some yoga poses that you can execute while sitting in your chair at work, and those are efficient ways to get some exercise while you are at your desk.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow get in our aerobic exercise while we were working? Well there are people who are doing just that with treadmill desks. Yesterday I saw a story about it on Yahoo! and it really looks like a great idea.

The treadmill desk is the brainchild of Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic. He learned through his research that average subjects burned about 100 calories more per hour when walking very slowly, about one mile per hour, on a treadmill that was built into their work station than they would if they were sitting in a chair. Dr. Levine did the math, and he claims that if an individual was to spend eight hours a day at their treadmill desk rather than in a chair, they would lose 57 pounds per year.

So that means that a 171 pound person would disappear completely in three years!

Check out this Good Morning America piece featuring Dr. Levine.

Politics and Company Blogs

Everybody wants their blog to build readership, and naturally, our company wants this blog to gain a large following. This is a presidential election year, and a rather important and historic one at that, and people are very interested in the race. If you want people to read your blog, you need to address timely topics and be willing to discuss controversial issues.

I recently had a conversation with our CEO about the possibility of writing about politics on this blog from time to time, and of course he had reservations about it, as I did. But I ask myself, if I wanted to buy something and I knew that the people behind the store had different politics than me, would I do business with them? The answer is clearly yes; I do it all the time. Most of the stores that I go to are held by people who contribute large sums of money to politicians in various ways. I have economic constraints that force me to buy things based on their price/value. I don’t have the luxury of paying more to support a business that I deem to be “conscious” in most instances. I can do it to some extent some of the time, but my budget is finite and I have to live with that reality.

So we have to take pause politically because of being concerned that customers won’t shop with us if they disagree with something that we write on the blog. We are a small, privately held company. However, the biggest publicly held corporations in the world routinely impact and in fact shape the political landscape here in America.

I have the tongue-in-cheek title of “Chief Blogging Officer” for Fit Fuel. I am a dude with opinions, like everybody else. Blogging is supposed to be a way for everyday people to speak their peace without being concerned about advertisers who have traditionally shaped the boundaries of commercial media. Since blogging is finding its way into the corporate landscape, we are at a crossroads. Do we dilute the whole purpose of blogging, which is free expression, when we write for a company blog? Or do we trust our customers and readers to accept the reality that aware people form opinions, and blogs are a means of expressing those opinions.

Personally, I don’t mind reading someone’s opinion when it differs from mine, as long as it is intelligently presented. “Spin” and uninformed drivel are a different matter.

I think that this is an interesting question and I would love to hear people’s opinions about it. Is it alright to write about politics on a company blog? Why or why not?

Is it O.K. to discuss politics on a company blog?
Yes
No
Only if you agree with me

  
pollcode.com free polls

Phils Surge, Deja Vu For Mets?

The baseball season is reaching its conclusion, and things are starting to come into focus concerning the postseason. In the American League, the Angels have the West sewed up, leading the second place Rangers by 18 games. The Devil Rays are clinging to a one game lead over the Red Sox in the East, and the White Sox hold a 2.5 game advantage over the Minnesota Twins in the Central. The Red Sox have a seven game edge in the Wild Card race over the Twins.

In the National League, things are a little bit more interesting. In the West, it looks like Joe Torre’s postseason streak will remain intact while the Yankees will be watching his charges play on television. Torre’s Dodgers lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by 4.5 games, and their front office deserves a lot of credit for making the Manny move before the trading deadline.

In the Central, the Cubs have been steadily putting distance between themselves and the Brewers, who have fallen on hard times, losing four in a row in Philadelphia and then dropping the opener of their big series with the Cubs last night behind CC Sabathia. Milwaukee went to Philadelphia last weekend with a four game lead in the Wild Card chase over the Phils, but they were swept away by good Phillies pitching and the red hot Ryan Howard and left tied for the Wild Card and without their manager, Ned Yost, who was fired and replaced by Dale Sveum. The Brewers are nine games behind the Cubs in the Central, and a half game behind in the hunt for a Wild Card berth.

The team that the Brew Crew trails by a half game for a Wild Card slot is not the Phillies. It is the New York Mets, who are trying to avoid their second consecutive shocking late season collapse. The New Yorkers have lost three in a row while the Phillies have enjoyed a five game winning streak when it really matters, and they now find themselves in second place, a half game behind the resurgent Phils. Philadelphia has 11 games remaining. They won in Atlanta last night and play two more on the road against the Braves, and then they will travel down to Florida to play three against the Marlins, who have won six in a row in their own right and are presently 5.5 games behind the Phillies. Charlie Manuel’s charges will then head back to the City of Brotherly Love to conclude their regular season with three more versus the Braves followed by a three game series with last place Washington.

The Mets have a tougher road. They will play two more in Washington after losing last night 1-0, then play three in Atlanta. But when they return home they will be greeted by the best team in the National League, the Cubs, for a four game series, followed by three with the Marlins.

After last season’s historic collapse, Mets fans must be feeling that Yogi Berra thing coming on, “Deja vu all over again.” As a Phillie fan, I have little sympathy.

Top 10 Reasons Not To Worry About The Economy

what me worry
10.) Alfred E. Neuman isn’t worried.

9.) Money can’t buy happiness.

8.) The oil companies are doing well, and their profits will surely trickle down.

7.) Foreclosures are stimulating the extended stay motel industry.

6.) We can certainly trust those who have broken things to fix them, can’t we?

5.) Park benches are more comfortable than they look.

4.) Since you can’t get credit, you’ll stay out of debt.

3.) You have a valuable baseball card collection somewhere, right?

2.) Money is the root of all evil, so your lack of it is spiritually enriching.

1.) President Bush and others have assured us that the economy is fundamentally sound.

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