Obama Will Be President

It’s a sad day.

I Just Took the “Issues” Quiz…

… and it looks like I support McCain (no surprise). Take it for yourself at Revision3.

Where I stand on the issues.

Happy Patriot Day

Let us not forget about those who lost their lives on September 11th. May they rest in peace.

God Bless America

Regarding George Bush and War (i.e. Why I support Bush)

Our Commander in Chief

On a recent post I made regarding Obama, one commenter (Ted) mentioned how he doesn’t feel he can support McCain because of his stance on the war. I began to reply to his comment, but realized I had a lot more to say than I anticipated. So into a post it goes.

To all Bush-haters, what the heck are you talking about? Do you really think the Iraqis would be safer without us there? Do you honestly believe we just showed up in order to kill some people?

Yes, war is horrible, but sometimes it’s better than the alternative. I would love to not have to be fighting a war. But if we simply pulled out now, we would be allowing many more atrocities to occur.

What makes you so sure this war was predicated on lies and deceptions? Do you think Bush likes being at war and spending millions upon millions of dollars? Do you think he likes having really low approval ratings? He’s clearly not doing this for the popularity or to have his name go down in the history books. 

Oh I see… you’ve seen on the news all the stupid things Bush has said/done and you don’t think he’s fit to be leading this country. NEWSFLASH – the news isn’t unbiased. Very much the opposite in fact. So I beg you to consider the following:

• Have you been to Iraq? 
• Have you received intelligence reports about terrorist activities? 
• Are you completely personally familiar with what’s going on over there so you don’t have to rely on the media for information? 
• Did you go to Yale? (Bush did)
• Did you attend Harvard? (Bush did)
• Have you served in the military? (Bush did)

The guy is no slacker, the Wall Street Journal just reported that Bush actually has a good economic record. He’s accomplished some great things while the rest of America whines about how inconvenient war is and how much it’s costing us and how long it takes to get through airport security.

So he sticks to his guns and doesn’t give in to every whim of the American people. Big deal. If he had, you’d call him a flip-flopper. So again to all you Bush bashers, please, shut up. I’m tired of hearing it. Personally, I’m going to continue to support him.

Jaiku is Open?

I just read over at TechCrunch that Jaiku is open (kind of). Apparently any current Jaiku users have unlimited invites to share. Anybody want to send one my way?

Video Weekend #2: Angry Erotic Sheep

I really try to keep my blog really clean. It should be safe for all audiences. But I just had to share this video. Is it weird? Absolutely. Is it inappropriate? I don’t think so. Just weird.

Enjoy.

How to Get PR for your Startup

If you’ve ever started your own business (or even worked for a small company) you know how difficult it can be to get the media’s attention. Sometimes it seems like they’ll write about everyone and everything except your company. Well have no fear, I just stumbled across a video at Omnisio (an awesome site in and of itself) starring Michael Arrington. In it, Arrington explains how entrepreneurs can get the media’s attention and get your business’ name out there in front of the public.

In a nutshell? Share what you least want shared. Yep. That PR catastrophe you had last month? Share it. Or even better… leak it… to just the right blogger.

Think about it, if it’s something you’re embarrased about… it’s that much more interesting for the rest of us. And if you “leak” it to just the right persons, they’ll feel like they’re getting an exclusive scoop.

New Obama Campaign Posters

I know I’m going to make a lot of people angry over this post, but I’m truly concerned about where we’re headed in this country. Come on people, we’re voting for a president, not the next American Idol. These rallies fit for a rockstar remind me of another very charismatic leader (I won’t mention any names).

Here are the posters Obama’s campaign should be using.

UPDATE: After much thought, I decided to remove some of the more controversial posters. While my position-on/opinion-of Obama remains the same, I recognize that Hitler is a very sensitive topic and not something to take lightly. My apologies to anyone who was offended (especially my good friend Uli).

Obama: NOPE

Obama: Elitist Snob

Hilarious Job Posting

Evidently, some dude is looking to hire a freelancer to build a website that clones the functionality of Mozy. Apparently he thinks it would be an easy task.

Check it out. http://www.freelance-projects.info/msql/mozy-website-clone/.

Where the Heck is Matt?

At first I thought this video was kind of dumb, but it really grew on me. I can’t believe all the places this guy has been. I wish I’d been to a fraction of the countries this guy’s been. (Sigh… someday.)

Anyway here’s Where the Heck [sic] is Matt?

Who is this guy?

Okay now I’m sure you’re wondering “Who is this guy?” Well I’ll tell you. He’s a normal kid. He’s not rich or famous. His name is Matt Harding. He’s a left-handed “deadbeat from Connecticut”. Apparently his friend filmed him one time doing his silly little dance. He posted the video to his blog and it got kinda popular. This made him “quasi-famous”. Eventually it caught the attention of one of the awesome marketing guys at Stride Gum who suggested that Stride sponsor Matt to go do his dance all over the world. And the rest is history.

Matt took a six-month trip and visited 39 counties doing his silly little dance. Not surprisingly, that video got watched a lot too. Now he was “semi-famous”. After Matt’s return he got thousands of emails from people all over the world inviting him to come back and dance with them. In 2007 Matt approached Stride Gumand suggested the idea. They thought that would be cool too so off Matt went. This time he took 14 months and visited 42 countries.

All I have to say is, Stride is awesome.

Read more about Matt on his website.

360desktop Is Available… Whoopty Doo

I just heard (via) that 360desktop is now available in public beta. DON’T USE IT!

Okay fine, use it if you want to, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be uninstalling pretty quickly. Why? Because it’s lame.

First of all, who wants to scroll sideways anywhere, let alone on their desktop? Every time you want to switch to a different section, you’ve got to grab your mouse and go find it. (That’ll get old quick.) Second of all, why in heaven’s name would I want banner ads on my desktop? Isn’t the desktop supposed to be one of our safe havens away from advertising?

Here’s a better idea… use a multiple desktop program. You’ll be able to use quick keyboard shortcuts to jump directly to where you want. And there aren’t any ads. If you’re really dying for something new for your desktop, try one of these:

• Virtual Desktop Manager (see bonus item)
• Bumptop

Because 360desktop sucks.

Some People Don’t Get It

I just read a blog post about a user’s experience with Mozy. He had great user experience. No problems installing it, configuring it, etc. Then he read the terms-of-service (TOS) and got scared.

C’mon people, do you actually think a company would just hand over your data to anyone with a badge that walks in the door? I don’t care what company it is. I don’t care what country its in. NO company would want the P.R. nightmare that would accompany giving up their customers’ data.

Of course Mozy’s TOS says that they will comply with a court order to hand over your data if subpoenaed. That’s the law. But here’s the thing… if you’re concerned about it… use the dang private key. Mozy offers it for a reason: IT REMOVES THE COMPANY’S ABILITY TO DECRYPT YOUR DATA.

So supposing a federal official did come along and ask for your data; and suppose he did have a valid warrant; and suppose Mozy’s lawyers were unable to contest the subpoena and had to had over your data… guess what that federal official would get… that’s right… a bunch of ones and zeros. It would be completely meaningless information and impossible to decrypt.

So go ahead and try Mozy. And if you’re still not satisfied… wait until the data center is open in Europe.

(Disclosure: Yes, I work for Mozy. No, this isn’t an official company blog.)