Microsoft bids for Yahoo!

I often stumble on things on the internet that I find interesting but not quite enough to blog about. Today there were two such things: Microsoft's $44B offer to buy Yahoo! and the above snapshot of two men on the verge of giving in to exquisite carnal bliss. I decided the parallels between the two ran deeper than one might expect.

As both a nerd and a software professional, I've always found Microsoft to be distasteful and corrosive. They habitually behave in a way that restricts consumer choice and competition. They use their dominant position in one market to preempt competition in other markets despite producing low quality goods. There's nothing so annoying to an engineer than seeing manipulation get in the way of an optimal solution.

Given a long enough timeline, however, markets prevail. The growing technical superiority of Linux on one end and the design and polish of Apple on the other have started to bring back some good old competition. Microsoft is still giant, but mortal. Today MSFT trades at $30.45 which is the same price some people paid for it all the way back in 1998! Bill Gates is rich but not getting much richer.

The most pressing concern for Microsoft now is Google. On the Internet, Microsoft's dominance on the desktop counts for little and they are faced with competitors that actually want to serve their customers rather than treat them as captives. Money and power can't 'fix' that, especially when none of the nerds want to come work for you due to your track record.

Yahoo! was a plucky startup that made a lot of good choices as the internet was coming of age and then some not so good ones. Over time, they lost much of their spark, uniqueness and customer focus and fell behind Google despite a big head start. Given these problems, I find it implausible that joining with super-bland Microsoft will provide any benefit or even slow the decline.

As a libertarian and not being particularly gullible I've always found George Bush to be distasteful and corrosive. He trades in fear rather than reason and has no respect for civic debate or the rule of law. He completely disregards the half of the country that didn't vote for him and then went the extra step of disregarding many of the people who did vote for him, too. Over time his flaws caught up with him, leaving him politically weakened and discredited but still a viable force for his remaining year in office.

John McCain was a plucky politician at a time when people were growing tired of partisan politics. A maverick. Engineer of the Straight Talk Express. Respected for being above the fray. Over time he lost his independence. He became a cheerleader for the debacle that is the occupation of Iraq. Now he tells the public that the Surge is working and that he is prepared to dig into a hundred year war there. Yet even now our soldiers are dying at a rate of 'just' one a day. So expect another 350 deaths under Bush and 1500 under McCain were he to get four years in the White House. So much for the Straight Talk Express.

Well, it's late and I don't want to stretch this post's metaphor any further or invest time in the kind of tie-it-all-together concluding paragraph they teach you about in Composition 101. Plus my readers from the road trip posts are tired of me blabbing about politics by now. Peace out.

Charlie Wilson's War

I just saw Charlie Wilson's War. It tells the story of a congressman who guided the US military and CIA to arm the Afghani mujaheddin against the Soviets in the early 80's. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit despite some flaws. What little combat footage there was consisted of grainy footage from 25+ years ago interleaved with bad special effects; also I felt like I was watching Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts rather than Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring. The story was decent and had you rooting for the good guys even though you knew "good" would gradually lose all meaning.

The writing for the dialog, however, was spectacular. Aaron Sorkin was the writer for some of the best shows to ever grace network television (Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60) and he brought the same fast, witty, biting dialog he did to those shows. Hopefully we can get the whole writer's strike behind us and Sorkin can get back to plying his trade.

Two other writers who are way ahead of the pack are Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) and David Milch. (Deadwood)

Who are your favorite writers/directors/actors? Leave a comment!

Pics from SC

Haven't posted any pics in a while, but I liked a few I took in South Carolina.

The cemetery was really neat although these pics only partly capture it. Most of the tombstones had a last name of 'Venning' on them and the main street nearby was also 'Venning'. The area was a mix of really old, poor (but proud), dirt roads as well as swanky new subdivisions.

Also pictured are an aquarium at a sushi joint, a very young supporter of limited constitutional government, and Ron Paul himself.

Back from SC

Well, I'm back from South Carolina where, thanks to my help, Ron Paul had his poorest finish yet with only 4% of the vote. He did end up getting 2nd in Nevada with 14% on the same day, so it isn't all bad.

I went down to SC on the premise that there would be plenty of back office stuff to do. Something on the computer perhaps or even stuffing envelops. In the end I was 'encouraged' to do phone banking and door-to-door canvassing. Both go against my introverted and "live and let live" personality but I wanted to contribute and there weren't any alternatives on the horizon. There were some high points (getting to know the fellow canvassers, talking to a nice old man for 56 minutes, seeing a bit of Charleston) and low points (getting within a whisker of a very angry dog attacking me, being told I'm not welcome in this neighborhood). I don't necessarily regret going but I will never canvas/phone bank again. Not for peace in the Middle East, a billion dollars, or two chicks at the same time.

I came across this music video and it spoke to me about optimism, politics and community. Watch it...it will bring a smile to your face.

2nd in Nevada?

With 78% of the precincts reporting, Ron Paul is running second in Nevada. It will be great to have such a high finish. The polls in South Carolina don't close for another hour and a half so there are no results yet. We'll be leaving Charleston, SC shortly for Columbia where the Ron Paul victory party will be tonight. Hopefully our canvassing and phone banking have made a difference.

On the road again

I'm on I-95 barrelling South to Charleston, SC to canvas for Ron Paul. There are four of us from the Triangle Ron Paul Meetup group going and hope to get a few more later in the week. The South Carolina primary is this Saturday and we're hopeful we can improve the ~10% results Dr. Paul has gotten in the primaries so far. Today is Michigan primary and from what we hear Paul will get 4th ahead of Giuliani and Thompson.

When I say we're canvassing for Ron Paul I mean the others in the car are. I did canvassing for Kerry in 2004 and found it excruciating. (Especially since I knew I'd be voting third party anyway...I just hated Bush that much.) I often prefer not to talk to people I like so knocking on a complete stranger's door and initiating a conversation is just not something I'm built for. I will offer to do logistics or computer stuff or just about anything else for the campaign that doesn't involve ringing doorbells.

I didn't decide to go until today. I'm not sure what this week will hold, but it should be an adventure. Wish me luck!

"Once" and "Juno"

I saw Once tonight and really liked it. It's a very simple but well told story about a boy and a girl. They are both musicians so it borders on a musical at times but not in a way that would bug people who don't care for them.

Friday I saw Juno in a theater which was quite packed for a movie not involving wizards or pirates. I also really liked this one. A high school girl gets pregnant and is none to happy about it. Offbeat, irreverent and funny like Knocked Up but that's about as far as the similarities go. Juno explores adoption; I have no idea why this isn't a more pursued option in our society.

Not the most verbose reviews you will ever read, but oh well. For a real reviewer, check out the Filthy Critic. His Kung Fu is strong.