Category Archives: Quote

Learnings from the Browser Wars

The question on Quora goes, What lessons can be learned from the first browser war between Microsoft and Netscape? I covered that war when it broke out, more than fifteen years ago. No magazine was interested in my writing then. … Continue reading

Posted in Business, history, Ideas, Journalism, Past, problems, Quote, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Geography forever

When I was walking to school in the second grade, I found myself behind a group of older kids, arguing about what subjects they hated most. The consensus was geography. At the time I didn’t know what geography was, but … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Berkman, Books, Fun, Geography, Geology, Life, Places, Quote, Research, Science | 9 Comments

Solved Science Theater 2010

This morning, while freezing my way down 8th Avenue to Piccolo on 40th to pick up a couple of cappuccinos, I paused outside the New York Times building to admire its stark modern lobby as KNX radio delivered the latest … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Blogging, Broadcasting, Events, Journalism, Links, music, problems, Quote, Technology, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Public radio still rocks

Lately, thanks to the inexcusably inept firing of Juan Williams by NPR brass, and the acceptance of a $1.8 million grant from George Soros, NPR has tarred its credentials as a genuinely fair and balanced news organization. Which it mostly … Continue reading

Posted in Business, infrastructure, Journalism, Politics, problems, Quote, radio, Technology, VRM | 5 Comments

IQ and Caste

Smart people SLEEP LATE yells the headline of this opinion piece in the Winnipeg Free Press. It begins, Sleep is a fundamental component of animal biology. New evidence confirms that, in humans, its timing reflects intelligence. People with higher IQs … Continue reading

Posted in Ideas, Journalism, Life, News, problems, Quote, School | 11 Comments

Montana in terms of North Dakota

Back in the 1920s my grandparents, Erick and Caroline Oman, took their four kids on the family’s one and only trip west from their home in Napoleon, North Dakota, which is about as far out in the prairrie as you … Continue reading

Posted in Past, Quote | 3 Comments

Sighs of the times

Several pieces worth noting. From back in February, The Smarter You Are, the Less You Click, in ReadWriteWeb. It begins, If the latest numbers from online ad network Chitika are anything to go by, then we may well be on our … Continue reading

Posted in Future, history, Ideas, infrastructure, Past, Quote | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Where did “Chinese Wall” come from?

The meaning of the term “Chinese wall” is clear. It’s a virtual partition meant to keep potentially conflicted interests apart: a private partition meant to keep interests apart, even if what’s happening on both sides is obvious to the other. … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Quote | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Talking social way too soon

Just ran across my first regular column for Linux Journal. It was published in in June, 1999, and written three months earlier, about when The Cluetrain Manifesto went up. Here’s a passage that stands out: We’re still less than halfway … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Past, Quote | 7 Comments

Beyond caveat emptor

First, three posts by JP Rangaswami: Does the Web make experts dumb? Does the Web make esperts dumb, Part 2: who is the teacher? Does the Web make experts dumb, Part 3: the issues His bottom line in the last … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Business, Events, Ideas, Photography, problems, Quote, Technology, VRM | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments