Graeme is heralding a meet-up at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center at 11:30 am this Friday, January 19th. Later this day we’ll be having the MN is Aaron-Free Celebration (otherwise known as the ding-dong-that-prick-is-gone), more on this in a moment. Anyhow, let’s get the Guy Kawasaki talk early and, as Graeme puts it: schmooooze!!! He’s blogged earlier about this event (It starts at 1:00 pm), but the event is sold-out. Just for shits and giggles I’m going to crash it. Read more about this at Graeme’s blog. Anyone up for crashing the place in a mob of MindTouch tshirts? Spread the word to your lists and communities!

So, right. I’m gone. Tara, Ashby, and I are moving to San Diego, CA in less than two weeks. MindTouch is centralizing our offices. I’m sure you all know this by now. We’re having a small gathering for drinks and maybe appetizers after the Guy Kawasaki thing (4-ish). The location TBD. Somewhere near campus or dowtown though. Spread the word.

I was listening to On the Media on the way back from Duluth this morning. It mentioned the incident last year where Bill O’Reilly threatened a caller to his radio program with FOX Security and asserted that he was a “gone guy”. Here is an excerpt:

Mike is a gone guy. We have your phone numbers, by the way, so if you’re listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we’re going to turn it over to FOX Security, and you’ll be getting a little visit. . . . When you call us, ladies and gentlemen, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, FOX Security then will contact the local authorities, and you will be held accountable. . . . Believe it. — Bill O’Reilly

I had forgotten about this. Then this evening I saw on memeorandum that Tucker Carlson has behaved similarly recently when he allegedly threatened some lowly video rental clerk who was then promptly terminated from his employer as a result of legal threats from Carlson’s lawyer. Read the whole story here. You know Tucker Carlson, he is that bow-tie wearing chump that gets paid to be witty and quick on his feet, but managed to get verbally lashed by John Stewart on that silly show of his that was canceled (Crossfire). If you haven’t seen this, you really must, it’s hysterical:

And then Stewart’s recap later:

Have you watched the CNN podcast In Case You Missed It? You need to check this out if you haven’t. It’s obscenely B-A-D. I guess this is CNN’s attempt to be cool and hip. They’ve got video with a crappy techno-beat layered over it and minimal commentary. Then each transition has one of those brilliant swish noises. Maybe this works with the under 25 demographic. I watched one episode, was awed by how bad it was, and watched parts of a couple other episodes just to see if maybe it was some sick joke. Turns out they actually produce that crap.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Democracy Now!, which offers audio and video podcasts. This is without a doubt the best news source I’ve found. I recommend it highly. Another personal favorite is On the Media, which is a weekly program.

I bumped into GrandCentral back at DEMOFall, but I didn’t check them out until recently. I registered a phone number a couple weeks ago and just now got back to it. It’s a really cool product. You register a phone number, people call this number, all the phones you setup ring. Cool and useful. There is also several features such as voicemails can be emailed to you, call forwarding, etc. Oh, and you can change the ring people hear when the call you. You can even add an MP3 for your ring.

Why would you want this? One number is easier to remember than three (or more). All your voicemails can be in one place. You can forward, reply, download, etc. You can configure it so each caller is treated differently. Add greetings, music, phones, etc…And lastly, you can keep your real numbers to yourself.

Here are a couple things that are a tad lame. First: I wanted to setup an account for Tara too. This way I would never again have to dial home, then her mobile. However, for some strange reason you can only have a phone number set up in one account. So, I couldn’t use my home phone in my account and her account. Why? Secondly, everyone knows I’m usually up until 1 or 2 AM, but Tara is in bed early and if they want to ring me they can call me on my mobile because this won’t wake Tara or Ashby. With GrandCentral I can configure my new number so my home is rung during work hours, but I can’t configure it so my home phone isn’t rung late. This would be really useful. They should give me an interface I can tweak when specific phone numbers are rung.

Anyhow, give me a call at my new number: (619) 931-2314, dig the ringer.

Stop Big Media – Tell the FCC to Stop Big Media
The FCC wants to lift media ownership rules and open the floodgates to wholesale consolidation of local newspaper, radio and television outlets. The FCC needs to hear from you before they hand over local media to concentrated giants like News Corp., General Electric and Clear Channel. Big Media’s drive to control local outlets stifles the competition and diversity that are the lifeblood of a democratic media system.

The FCC under the present administration, more so than ever before, has been facilitating the consolidation of media under the umbrella of only a handful of large corporations. This kind of monopoly is detrimental to our democracy. Local media outlets are quickly fading away. Aside from this stifling democracy, do you really want to hear the same friggin’ Daniel Powter song about his bad day over and over, even as you travel 2500 miles across county?!

Speaking out about this will take you two minutes. Click the link above, complete the form, VOILA! You’ll have been heard by the FCC. Do this immediately, Comments are due January 16

I have been reading about microlenders for a while now. I’ve thought a couple times: man, I wish I could help these lenders, or better yet, be a microlender and finance entrepreneurs myself. I just found Kiva, which allows me to exactly this. It’s amazing. Become a loaner now! You can donate as little as $25 and you select the entrepreneurs you wish to lend to. Tara and I have just lent to two entrepreneurs. The details follow.

Vasil Mindov

Location: Bourgas, Bulgaria
Activity: Food Production and Sales
Loan Use: To buy a packing machine
Loan Repayment Term Range: 14-18 months

Vasil Mindov has special engineering education but he was not able to find an engineering job so after his graduation he started to work as a restaurant manager. In 1990 he decided to start an own business and opened one of the first grocery stores in the city. Later when the big food chain stores opened their stores in Bourgas Vasil had to close his grocery. Then two years ago he opened a small manufacture for cereal and cornflakes. He has no serious competition and the products he makes are very attractive. Now Vasil Mindov needs a packing machine for his manufacture. The loan amount is $ 2000.

Maria de los Angeles Castellon
Hamburguesas Mary

Location: Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
Activity: Restaurant
Loan Use: Buy ingredients and equipment
Loan Repayment Term Range: 12-18 months

Maria Castellón began her business a year ago; she has a Snack store in which she sells hamburgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, and sodas. She has great season which has allowed her to stay in the market and get more clients, that is why she has planned to buy more ingredients and equipment for her commercial space, so she is soliciting a loan of $1,500.00 that she expects to pay in 1 year.

So, you may think: yah right, you’re never getting this money back! Actually, Kiva to data has a 94% repayment rate. Also, from what I’ve read about microlenders the repayment is typically in the 90 percentile. For the recipients of these loans this could mean entry to middle class and could potentially benefit their families for generations to come.

The following explanation is taken from Kiva’s one-pager explaining itself.

What is Kiva.org?

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through loans for the sake of alleviating global poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Kiva lets you lend as little as $25 to help fund small businesses run by low-income entrepreneurs around the world.

How does it work?

Kiva’s model is similar to eBay. Microfinance institutions around the world post up profiles of qualified local entrepreneurs online. Lenders can then browse and choose an entrepreneur they wish to fund. Kiva aggregates loan capital from individual lenders and transfers it to MFI partners to disburse and administer. As loan repayments are made by the entrepreneur, the MFI remits funds back to Kiva. Once the loan is fully repaid, Kiva lenders can withdraw their principal or re-loan it to another entrepreneur.

Social Impact

Most of the poor in the developing world are self employed entrepreneurs. A small amount of affordable capital can dramatically change the life of an entrepreneur and their family. Despite
the fact that over 10,000 MFIs exist worldwide, less than 10% of the global poor have access to affordable capital. Kiva connects MFIs to a new source of low cost, flexible capital – individuals. This additional capital helps MFIs reach more clients in their local community.

Early Progress

Since concluding an initial beta round in Uganda in October 2005, Kiva has expanded to MFI partners 11 countries (see map). Kiva has also established key relationships with PayPal (free transactions) and Microsoft (research grant to enhance Kiva’s web interface with MFIs). Kiva has also received significant early coverage in the blogosphere and press. Kiva is on track to raise over $1M from +10,000 internet lenders and expand to 25 countries by the end of 2006.

: I have to point out I discovered Kiva through Mike’s Blog. Also, Mike has offered to match lending for each person that notifies him. He kindly matched my lending for Vasil and Maria. I’ve mentioned Mike here previously, a wonderful fellow.

That’s free like speech, not like beer. I received a link to this article in Minnesota Technology magazine today. It has a short piece about wikis and MindTouch. I wonder where my free knowledge shirt went. I love that shirt! This is what my focus has always been. Knowledge should be open and free (within reason). Obviously I’m not talking about publishing the recipe to saren gas, but I am talking about, among other things, opening up how we manufacture and engineer. Imagine if all our engineering were open and accessible to anyone who had the desire to review and contribute. I’m talking about chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, software, aeronautical, whatever engineering. People could review, contribute, and assist in improving. What if, for example, an electric car’s design, manufacturing, parts purchasing, etc was completely open? Think about how quickly this could improve. Surely there is more overhead in manufacturing than in software, but the process would certainly be improved were it open. Sticking with the electric car idea, perhaps all the laid off auto-workers could even start their own boutique car company. It’s not impossible or unrealistic. The costs of goods sold are significantly lower than what they used to be in car manufacturing. What’s the business model? The same that exist for open source software. Let’s say for the electric car it could support and services.

: I should have known. I mentioned this to Brian, the electric car example that is, and sure enough there is a post at MAKEzine about an open source car, which is really just a bunch of useful links on the topic. I would really like to explore this further. Especially since it would actually be practical for me now that I’m moving somewhere other than Minnesota, which simply wouldn’t be conducive to an electric car with my commute.

Ashby turned one year old on Saturday, January 6. It is hard to believe she’s already one. I think back to those first three months…man…that was scary. Things are much more stable now. We’ve had so many milestones already. She got her harness off for her hip dysplasia and report that her hips are normal at about three months, which was a huge relief. Then at eight months my fears of SIDS ended because research shows SIDS drops way off at that age and is no longer an issue at one year. She crawled. She signed for the first time. She’s spoken her first word: ‘dadadada’. She led us on a wild goose chase to determine why she’s anemic. She’s walked (with the aid of a walker toy). And more. I’m glad she’s sturdier now. She’s a lot more fun now that I can ‘rastle’ with her.

For Ashby’s birthday weekend the wonderful and very talented Jj Killins (our neighbor we will surely miss after we move) took photos of Ashby again. She’s amazing. For the full photo set click “Ashby’s One Year Set” below. Tara and Brenda also took Ashby to Target to get more photos taken. I can’t stand these places though because you don’t get the digital copies. What’s the point? I want nothing to do with that; although, the photographer took some surprisingly nice shots. I prefer Jj’s though photos though. I know most photographers aren’t like Jj (meaning they don’t provide digital copies), but it’s just nonsense.

On Ashby’s birthday she also went to the playground, one of her most favorite things to do. I stayed at home and work. Partially because I have so much crap to do, but also because I knew if I went I would steal the show from Brenda (Tara’s mom) who doesn’t have much time left before we move. When Ashby went down for her nap Tara and Brenda did a great job decorating the kitchen. After Ashby got up we sang her happy birthday, took a ton of photos, and let her taste cake for the first time. Tara got a cake from Byerlys, this awesome grocery store chain they have in Minnesota. It’s got a great meats and cheese section. This is where I got the four different sashimi grade fish for our New Years’ Eve sushi night. Around Christmas time they have a pianist. The place is all carpeted. And they give a free cake for first birthdays! The place rules. Anyhow, Ashby stuck her finger in the cake, didn’t know what to do, I put it in her mouth, and she jerked her head back as if her finger had an electriccharge. She paused, stuck her finger in again, tasted, and concluded this was some good stuff.

Tara and I plan on getting Ashby an aquarium once we move to San Diego; so, we didn’t really get her much for Christmas. However the in-laws gave her a hippo-walker/ride-on toy that Ashby promptly stood behind and charged about the house with. Also, she received a Leap Frog console that communicates with the DVD player. She checked it out for the first time today and seemed to understand she was manipulating the TV. I’m not yet sure how successful that one will be.

• Ashby’s Birthday Photo Set
• Ashby’s One Year Photo Set

So, I’ve talked long and hard about how in this Web 2.0 world we should stop trying to replace desktop apps with crappier web based ones. This has been reinforced at every conference when watching a demo blow up in the face of the presenter (hell, it’s happened to me) because the application is entirely in the browser. Today I installed Microsoft Office 2007. I know I just slammed Outlook and I will continue to do so, but Outlook 2007 has some much improved handling of IMAP and as previously mentioned I’m stuck with Outlook so, what the hell, I installed the whole application suite. Allow me to segue: I don’t really use Microsoft Office opting instead for TextPad, OpenOffice, DekiWiki, or just an HTML editor. Anyway, I’m writing a paper for work and I launched Word for shits and giggles to check out this ‘ribbon’ interface. To my surprise what do I find? In the new Word you can configure it to post directly to one of many different blog engines. Brilliant! This could be a really nice interface for blogging! You can open existing posts, embed categories, add new categories, publish as a draft…I’m impressed. The only piece missing is the ability to browse your Flickr photo share by date, tags, set, whatever, and drag and drop the photo in pre-defined sizes into Word and have them linked to the full size image on Flickr. At the very least, let me browse all my Flickr photos. This would be the missing piece that would easily make this the de-facto standard for posting to one’s blog. OpenOffice needs to do this.

: So, I’ve tried to use Word as a blogging interface. Worthless. You can’t view or edit the source HTML, which is a must because it doesn’t have an interface for photo sharing sites or a means of easily floating images, setting alt tags, etc. This post to blog feature has less than half the functionality it needs to be useful. I still think the concept is a great idea though, but it’s like my dad used to say: ‘if you’re going to do it half-assed, don’t bother doing it."

I found this quiz on memorandum that allegedly gauges your political persuasion on a scale of 0 to 40, where 0 is as liberal as it gets and 40 uber-conservative or whatever. Clearly this is as scientific as 25 question survey can be. I scored a 14 out of 40. I surely don’t think myself this liberal because I’m very conservative fiscally (just not socially). Not that liberal is a bad thing. I suppose my Civil Libertarian views slide me toward the left on a survey like this. Some of the indicators are rather silly and stereotypical. Really, is want for more prisons a hallmark of conservatism? Is disdain for immigrants and homosexuals? Maybe it is. I guess this makes me liberal.