According to the nytimes.com,

“Despite billions upon billions of dollars in losses in the financial industry, there still appear to be some people on Wall Street who are optimistic about their year-end bonuses.

An online survey conducted last month by eFinancialCareers.com, a career Web site, found that more than a third of the 1,400 people who responded said they expected to receive larger bonuses this year than they did last year. A remarkable 10 percent thought their bonuses might rise 33 percent or more.”

Try not to think about this when you are opening your fourth quarter financial statements. Better yet, take note of any firms that do give out bonuses. If one of those firms are someone you do business with, take your business elsewhere and tell them why.

“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places.

….Found at Ernest Hemingway Quotes

A great song, about a great place: Cape Breton.

Nice guitar work by David Myles and Alan Jeffries.

Nicholas Carr can be counted on for thought provoking commentary with regards to technology. His latest that I’ve read is Who killed the blogosphere?

While I don’t disagree with his facts, I do disagree with his slant and the notion of “killed”. I think it is not a matter of death, but of transition. What the blogosphere is undergoing is a transformation that many amateur enthusiasms experience.

It’s not all that different from a few years ago, when lots of people first started creating “home pages” during the start of the World Wide Web, a trend that eventually transitioned into….blogging! This has happened in the past too, as Carr points out, with things such as amateur radio being pushed out by professional radio.

In fact, if a new media does take off, the “pros” tend to come in and take over with better content and quality. It happened with web sites. It happened with radio, recorded music, and now blogging. (Although not always: CB radio was very popular for a time in the 1970s, and then died down without professionals taking over since the medium didn’t lend itself to that.)

What happens with blogging now? The serious bloggers like josh Marshall and Andrew Sullivan have turned it into their profession and do it regularly, just like any other writer in a different medium. Indeed, many traditional journalists, while still doing their regular work, are also blogging regularly (e.g., Paul Krugman from the nytimes.com, Joe Klein from time.com.) Many more people, like myself, will continue to use it from time to time as a way of communicating and recording their ideas and experiences.

That said, I believe the overall numbers will decrease as people lose interest in blogging or find other social media to experiment with (e.g. twitter, twitpic, tumblr). Focusing just on that, and just on blogging, and I would agree that the blogosphere is dying.

But so what? What is not dying, I believe, and what will be increasing, is people creating social media and using social computing to tell their stories and listen to others. New technologies are developing, and more will come along, to capture their interest and provide people new ways to express themselves. New technologies that are cheap, easy, and good. The amateur enthusiasm for them will spring up all over again, and people will take to those new tools, just like they took to previous social media.

People have a need to connect, to communicate, to express themselves and to record their lives. The degree to which technology weaves into people’s lives will only increase. And so the use of social computing will continue to grow, regardless of what happens to the blogosphere, or the twitterati, or whatever is the hit of the month.

That’s my two cents worth. And that’s the powerful thing about the new social media. Nicholas Carr can write an article, I can write a rebuttal, and you can find both of them on the web (perhaps using the same Google search). From there you can make up your own mind. Better yet, you can add to the debate. Anyone can. I can’t see that going away, any more than I can see the desire for education or democracy going away.

Robert Parker is featuring Ten Italian Whites for Under $20 at BusinessWeek. I guess with the way the economy is now, there is more interest in lower cost wine. As someone who lives in Ontario, I check at lcbo.com to see if I can get them. Not all of these you can find there, but some you can.

What surprised me was that unlike the Californian wines I blogged about last time, these wines are closer in price to the American prices he lists. In fact, two wines are cheaper here than the U.S. I am not sure why that is, but it makes me think that not everything at the LCBO is more expensive than if it were purchased in the U.S. Perhaps it is just American wines and spirits.

The three you can get here in Ontario are:

• Masi Masianco $16 vs $14.95 at the LCBO.
• Zenato Lugana $15 vs $15.95
• Pieropan Soave Classico $20 vs $17.80 (and 2007 vs 2006)

I’ve tried the Masi: like Parker says, it is simple but refreshing. I am really interested in the one from Pieropan, which actually is aged in oak, giving it more complexity than I might expect from a Soave.

is this one….

It’s of me walking home at dusk in T.O. (on TwitPic)

“Love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.”

Interestingly, Roger Ebert (re)eviewed Moonstruck 16 years after it came out. Even now, it still holds up because of all the great talent involved. Not just the actors, but the director and especially the writer who wrote that great quote, John Patrick Shanley.

It’s good to read his review, but watching the film would be better. What could be better than to be moonstruck.

There are lots of cool images of Barack Obama out there. This may be the coolest (at least to my geeky heart. 🙂 )

It’s the microscopic version of Obama. Very high tech. Go see the images here and see how it is done:

nanobamas – a set on Flickr

Paul Krugman posted an interesting map today. It’s this:

I think this resizing is important. In elections, what is more important than geographical size is the number of electoral votes. This map reflects the votes, and it reflects Obama’s victory. For more info, see the post: The decadent left, in its enclaves on the coasts – Paul Krugman – Op-Ed Columnist – New York Times Blog

On a day like today, oliveloaf design has just the images you want, so check it out. Images like this:

Know hope….

“No matter how fast your computer system runs, you will eventually come to think of it as slow.”

…was made in June, 2008. You can see it here.

I think it is a long shot, but not impossible. The 1964 election was a big event. So is this one.

Here at SmartPeopleIKnow, we …ok…I like to keep you up to date on how to best deal with zombies. Luckily, there is an entire site dedicated to fighting off that scourge. It’s the Zombie Combat Club, featuring combat techniques, weapons, and strategies to fight the living dead.

Did you know?

“During a zombie outbreak, 98% of individuals will have to kill an undead ghoul without the use of a firearm.”

I didn’t know that either. See? You need to check this out out ASAP.

No, not “old school”….foldschool. As their about page states,

“foldschool is a collection of free cardboard furniture for kids, handmade by you. The downloadable patterns can be printed out with any printer. Follow the instructions and assemble a stable piece of furniture.”

How awesome is that? You get to do something creative with your kids and you get to recycle. And if cardboard furniture is good enough for Frank Gehry, it’s good enough for me. 🙂

The designs are free, but they do accept Paypal. After having a blast making this stuff, consider sending them some paper (money) in return.

(Thanks to the always great GeekDad blog….which, by the way, is not just for dads…..moms, uncles, aunts…all are welcome. It does help to be a geek and a dad, but it isn’t essential.)

For each of these four sites Sentenc.es two, three, four and five,  the idea is the same: cut down on the number of sentences you use in email.

It’s not as hard as you think.

State your request in one sentence, provide some background in one or two sentences if necessary, and close the email politely in one more sentence.

People will appreciate it.

All told in five.sentenc.es 🙂

If you are like me, you fool yourself sometimes into thinking that sandwich you bought for lunch or that muffin you eat on the go for breakfast is not all that bad for you. Chances are, you are wrong. However, if you had better information about the calories you were ingesting, you might choose a lighter alternative, I think.

Health Official in New York City thought so, too.

“Since last May, chain restaurants in the city have been required to list the number of calories for every item on their menus. According to a recent survey, more than 80 percent of those who saw the calorie count were “surprised,” even shocked, that an innocent-looking bran muffin could contain 470 calories and a full-fledged Big Mac attack (with soda and fries, of course) more than 1,200.”

Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, not to everyone.

“Some restaurants are suing to overturn the requirement. Many restaurants also back the LEAN Act, recently introduced in Congress. This deceptively named bill would pre-empt New York’s law, and a similar law in California, allowing restaurants to tuck calorie information at the back of the menu or in a separate brochure.”

I think this is a case of an opportunity in disguise. Smart restaurants will take advantage of such requirements to market new products to clients that help them with calories, rather than try and fool them. Everyone will be better off.

For more information, see the Editorial – 2,000 Is Really Enough in the NYTimes.com

There’s a treasure of good jazz on YouTube. This one, of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie performing “Hot House” in 1952, is one of my favourites.

It’s ironic that there are so many great versions of U2’s “One”. I’ve seen at least four.

On this one, the boys wisely take a backseat as Mary J Blige comes in and takes over.

Someone posted it on YouTube and titled it, “Mary J Blige featuring U2”. That’s about right.

You can see Mary on fire here:

YouTube – Mary.J.Blige.(feat.U2).ONE

I’d like to find a chance to get to NYC soon, just to get one of these jackets

Sadly, New York is the only city with Muji stores in North America, and they have five!  Here’s hoping one lands in Toronto soon.

For more details, see the very useful blog post at The High Low on the  Muji Jacket (for $139.95!)

I think slow cookers are a great idea. Too often, though, I find the end result is boring.

This recipe, with the not so interesting name of Slow-Cooker Pot Roast from marthastewart.com, is anything but.

I think the secret is the scarce amount of liquid that goes in at first (a few tablespoons). Most of the final sauce comes from the carrots and the onions.

Not only do you not get too much sauce — in fact, it’s perfect — but you also get nicely glazed vegetables because they start off in so little liquid.

In the future I am going to try cutting back on how much water, stock, juice, etc. I put in my  slow cooker: I am thinking I will see better results.

I replaced some of the carrots with parsnips and served it along side mashed sweet potatoes. Perfect for busy fall weekends.

Oddee.com is my guilty pleasure. It is a contemporary “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” (another favourite of mine since I was a kid and they had small TV segments on during lunch.)

This piece, from a post called 10 Amazing Contemporary Sculptures is a scuplture of the King from 50,000 matchsticks!
All ten sculptures are truly amazing, and the Oddee site is truly fantastic. Go see! You won’t believe your eyes. 🙂

Bruce Nussbaum is onto something he terms ZipCar Capitalism at BusinessWeek. He is…

“…off to the World Economic Forum conference in Dubai on Tuesday night after I vote. Some 700 folks, including Jeff Jarvis at Buzzmachine, are going to brainstorm about making post-crisis world a much better place. I spent time on the subway this morning thinking about what a new economic model might look like and what might have any chance of succeeding and came up with ZipCar Capitalism. Treehugger calls it Rentalism but that doesn’t ring well in my ears. Actually it’s Tamara Giltsoff in Treehugger who did the fantastic article.”

I think it is a great idea, but I wonder if it is “new”. The use of the Commons, of communities banding together to accomplish something, and many more cooperative ideas, aren’t necessarily new. But it may be a new time to revisit these ideas. More sharing and cooperation wouldn’t be a bad way to tackle the many economic and environmental issues we face.

And to go with the day, here is David Bowie singing: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) live

Amanda Jones is 109 years old. Her father was a slave.

This U.S. election, she gets to vote for Barack Obama for president.

She embodies alot of history, right up to this week. See: Daughter of slave votes for Obama

According to this, there has been a Coordinated Denial-of-Service Attacks on “No on 8” and “No on 2” (FLA) sites

My first response, on hearing someone say there has been a DoS attack on their site is: check again. Lots of problems could have occurred to affect your site. DoS is not usually the first probable cause.

However, when two sites like this are affected like this, the probability of it go way up. And the timing, just as No on 8 is pushing for a big fundraising drive, make it even more likely (and more serious).

I hope they catch who did it and the parties responsible go to jail for a signifigant period of time. DoS attacks may not be as dangerous as physical attacks on people or property, but what they are trying to achieve is the same. And what they are trying to achieve is removing people’s freedom of speech and association.

It’s time for lawmakers and law enforcement to get serious about computer crimes like this.

It’s depressing how many of these alerts I get in my RSS feed reader. Alerts like this:

HEALTH HAZARD ALERT – DELI ROAST BEEF AND SANDWICHES SOLD AT CERTAIN STORES IN ATLANTIC CANADA MAY CONTAIN LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES

Still, it is better to know than not.

One misconception people should also know about is that store sliced meats are not necessarily safer than packaged meats. It appears many of these alerts are for packaged meats, but this alert also warns about “clerk-served sliced roast beef”.

Caveat emptor.

Normally, patronage in the political arena is seen as a bad thing. Here’s a chance where it can be a good thing.

Ana Marie Cox is one of the bright lights of U.S. journalism currently. She could use your support.

It’s easy! Just click on her name and go from there. As they say on infomercials, act now! 🙂

I am hoping that she meets her funding challenge.

I also would like to request that she take a portion of my money and use it to buy Joe Klein a drink when this is all over. He deserves a drink because (a) he’s written some great posts lately at Time’s Swampland (b) he’s had to put up with alot of unfair abuse from other writers (c) no one can mock Bill Kristol with the finesse that Joe can (he deserves a drink for that alone).

hat’s right: Microsoft Word hits 25 this year. ITBusiness.ca has a good rundown on the history — good and bad — of this software giant. I used to use Word 5 on an old Mac SE 30 and I thought it was just perfect for what I wanted. (Bonus: no $#%&* Clippy!) But Word rolls on, and new features roll along with (and into) it.

Take a walk down memory lane here: Microsoft Word Turns 25

Awhile back, I explained Bernie’s Rule of Wearing Red. You may have thought it funny, but according to CNN.com, Wearing red may boost your sex appeal. At least, men find women who wear red more attractive and sexier than women who wear blue or green. The article tries to explain why.

I am guessing that men who wear red well will also get the attention of women. Regardless, more reasons to wear red (especially as the weather in this part of the world turns gray).

(Photo by MontyLov on Unsplash )

Penguin has always been a great publisher. But good books aren’t everything. You want to be able to talk about them, too. Why not talk to somewhere you can potentially hookup with? Wouldn’t that be great? Well, Penguin thought so, too! They decided to provide this. Now you can be smart and meet hot people, too! Life is good.

According to globeandmail.com there is a new source of X-rays: scotch tape!

Now, before you go and throw all your adhesive tape in the garbage, there is something to consider. For X rays to be produced from tape you need a vacuum. So while there is little to worry about, it is something to be interested in.

There are a number of sites mentioning that Alex Rivera, Photojournalist of Civil Rights Movement died today. Sadly, few of them do much more than edit and print the press release.

This is sad because he took some incredible photographs that are particularly relevant with the pending U.S. election.

Fortunately you can see an exhibit of them here and read about the exhibit here.

For example, in one, taken only 60 years ago, of Sallie Nixon and her family. It says her husband was taken from his jail cell by white men and lynched in 1948. His “crime” was that he had voted.

Go see the site and share it.