#16 Bill Simmons

Resume: 12 years, 8 quality, 8 All-Stars...

The case for Simmons as a Level 2 journalist is a long list:

He's the only journalist on the list to have a nickname, and that should count for something. He started posting his thoughts online as the Boston Sports Guy in 1997, when blog wasn't even a word yet. He's a pioneer of the "from a fan's point of view" style of writing. Biased and passionate, Simmons was unique among writers. His ability to reference pop culture was unparalleled. During his apex from 2002 to 2004, he routinely churned out a quality piece a week, sometimes two, and had readers checking his website every hour to see if a new article has popped up.

And then there's his contributions to fans: the immortal Ewing Theory, Level of Losing, the annual NBA Draft Diary, the Peyton Manning (among others) Face, in-game running diaries (since stolen by ESPN in-game chats), the Tyson/Artest Zone, the Annual NBA Trade Value column, the Atrocious GM Summit, Mailbags (actual emails from actual fans, baby!), Weekyl NFL picks (You know, if gambling were legal), Mount Rushmore of (Since stolen and popularized by other writers), and a fist fight with Isiah Thomas. As Simmons would always say, I made the last part up.

And those were only the ones that made it with fans (more on that later).

In only 12 years, he's already amassed millions of readers (some may even be fans, a rarity for sports journalists)... and counting. So why isn't the Boston Sports Guy ranked higher?

Well, you really have to put his career in perspective. From 1997 to 2001, Simmons wrote two to three columns a week on his own website. Sure, that's a lot of writing, but his readers were all die-hard Boston Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots/Bruins and wrestling fans. If you are evaluating him for the pyramid, you have to look at post 2001 numbers.

Did his rise as a sports columnist in 2001/2 coincide with the underdog New England Patriots winning the SuperBowl, with the Ewing Theory almost being changed to the Bledsoe Theory? You bet! What about the Red Sox, who were competitive enough to be an interesting topic to write and read about, but not enough to advance past the Yankees (in fact, the harder the Red Sox fell ('99, '01), the better the reaction of Simmon readers)? And then there's the Celtics, who were such an inept team even after they finally dropped the Rick "Larry Bird is not walking through that door, Kevin McHale is not walking through that door" Pitino. In 2001, they drafted Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and then Joe Forte (thanks, Red, ahead of Parker), then traded the only blue chip (Johnson). What about the Bruins... oh, who am I kidding, the Bruins did nothing to enhance Mr. Simmons' career.

Coincidences all in Simmons' favor? I say yes.

Speaking of coincidences, more things to put into perspective: his apex from 2002 to 2004 happened the same time where he moved to LA to work on Jimmy Kimmel's staff. Hollywood, where osmosis happens. Simmons benefited immensely from hanging out with other fellow writers much like players from the '86 Celtics benefited from the Bird/Walton osmosis.

And the drop off after 2004? Well, to put it simply, the Boston Sports Guy became the Sports Guy. He left Jimmy Kimmels show where his colleagues constantly challenged him to become better and then joined ESPN to work with the very people that he has always dispised - sports journalists who report in an unbiased way. Suddenly, there's self sensorship - Simmons lamented that "certain promises were not kept" by ESPN and that ESPN "won't let me be me" (cry me a river please), there's pod-casts, and, the worst, there're less columns. Isn't this Scott Templeton in The Wire where a news writer just wants to be on better media mediums such as radios and TVs? I'm not saying Simmons made anything up... but his aspiration is to eventually be in TV, even though he looks horrible on TV. Perhaps his role as executive producer for ESPN's 30 in 30 might finally reinvent his role with ESPN and propel him to a Level 1 guy.

When looking at Simmons' career, you also cannot ignore the fact that the entire period from 1997 to 2009 was where sports stopped being fun and started to commercialize. Sky rocketing ticket prices ($100 for Red Sox bleacher tickets!?) and unimaginable free agent signings (I don't even want to list examples here) turned the casual fan off. And many of them turned to the"from a fan's point of view" style of Bill Simmons, finding a comfort place where "someone still understood how they felt". Oh, and of course, there's this thing called the Internet that aided - understatement of the century - the popularizing of the Boston Sports Guy.

Those are all circumstantial, of course. Coincidences that, looking back, may or may not have been a valid reason for Simmon's rise to #16. I say yes, and that's that. But there are also these out-right failures: discontinued cartoon series on ESPN, incomplete all-time sports movie rankings, etc.

The biggest failure ever: losing to the Sports Gal twice in picking NFL games (and possibly many more March Madness brackets) over two seasons. Look, either you never compete with your wife or you beat her soundly. There's no middle ground here.

The second biggest failuer: openly lobbied for being the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks and then losing to John Hammond. Actually, maybe that was a joke. I'm not sure.

And hence his ranking at #16 and on the verge of being a level 1 guy. Quick footnote: I concede that he's career is on-going and may head for higher if he does return to his roots as a writer. Perhaps 30-in-30 will put him back on the map.

I once was a huge fan of the Boston Sports Guy. TF and I still use his definition (The toothbrush rule) to mark the date when she became my girlfriend. I used to check his website all the time to see if a new article was posted. Now? Well, in 2008, his article came behind Season 2 of Lost (see entry). That should be telling, right?

So, #16 it is for now. He can still write. I just hope it will be a column instead of more pod-casts and shows.

I will say this tho: trying to write a ranking profile for Bill Simmons made me appreciate his Book of Basketball that much more. Amazing book for NBA fans. Highly recommended - again.

Naming the Child - from Freakenomics

There's a lot of controversy surrounding their new book Superfreakenomics regarding environment and global warming.

No controversy on Steve's heartfelt piece about losing his child though. I think I want to buy the book.

Although I can't speak for my father, I can speak for myself (compared to my mom). I think the pain is secondary. It is the loss of memory that is the saddest part. On some random day, I would try very hard to remember what he looked like and what we did together. I remember some signature moments before 1996... like the time our sword fight broke the ceiling lamp and we decided together that we'd admit it at the same time... or the time where we locked our little brother outside a room (sorry, James, we still love you)... or the times where we played the computer games while one of us played look out for my parents... or the few basketball games where we played pick and roll to perfection... the details are murky, but the memories are there somewhat.

From 1996 to 2003, he and I rarely spent extended time together as I went to the US to study; he soon followed, but we were always in different cities. I remember his ever-changing hair - from crew cut to shaved head to long hippie. I remember calling him after a break up. I remember his surprised face when he won the physics award at graduation - he was probably snoozing when they announced his name. I remember visiting him at CMU... and that our pick and roll deteriorated and he blamed himself after the game (truth is I couldn't defend a bigger faster kid). But beyond those, I don't remember much.

The fading memory is double edged.

It hurts when you remember. The one thing I do remember clearly is how the day of July 23 2003 unfolded. Every single detail is still so vivid. My journey from Boston to Hong Kong seems to happen repeatedly in my memory.

It hurts more when you don't. How can I only remember his face when I go to his grave? How can I forget all the things we did together as teenagers? Sometimes I think it's because I'm not that good a brother back then (James once called me Big Bother). Other times I don't think anything... and try to remember.

Photography class

Some of you already know that I'm taking photography classes in New York at the wonderful ICP. One week of intensive classes was very helpful to me. Here are two photos and the story:

Instructor: wow, what did you say to this girl? She has a really open smile.
Josekin: um... that's my girlfriend...
Instructor: ah, that makes sense (back hand compliment?)... since we're talking about portraits, what did you tell her to do before you snapped the picture?
Josekin: uh... she said "take a picture of me"....

Ah, but the lesson as usual, you can always tell some of the relationships between the photographer and his/ her subject from the face. It's that easy.

Classmate: wow, that's a nice picture. Who is that? He looks so majestic... is he a CEO or something?
Josekin: (smiling at his own photo-cropping skills) yeah, he is a CEO!

Later in the day...
Instructor: now this is a nice picture that conveys confidence and power. How did you ask the subject to pose?
Josekin: That's Warren Buffet... I don't think I asked him to pose... I just knelt down and took a picture.
Instructor: Class, some people, actors for example, are so comfortable and trained in appearing in public (back hand compliment 2? I can't decide)

Talking heads

"讲就天下无敌, 做就无能为力" Cantonese saying basically describing someone who talks the talk all the time but never walks the walk.

Thanks to the financial crisis (or, in Hong Kong's case, dumb investors, entertainers masked as politicians, and inept government officials), we get to see a lot of talking heads these days. You know them: they sit in a round table and talk.

• They let you know that the world is collapsing in front of your very own eyes and the government isn't going to do a damn thing to save you.
  
• They also let you know that these problems are really easy to solve... only that there exists some invisible force (usually bureaucracy or rich people or big business) that prevents the problem from being solved
• They let you know who is on your side (the talking head himself or herself, of course)
• They let you know who is not (those who don't agree with them)
• Finally, they let you know since they bring up all these problems, they deserve your attention. Or your vote, if those are politicians

Oh, they let you know a lot of things... none of them are good news. And none of them are solutions to all the problems they bring up.

Now, I'm a fairly simple person. I'm lucky to have a very satisfactory life and, therefore, I don't have much to complain about. In these harsh times, it's a privilege to live well and not worry. I don't take it for granted. I imagine if things turn South, I'd be working my ass off to make it go back up. I might complain, but I'll do more.

Which makes these talking heads Josekin's public enemy #1. Criticizing is easy to do. Consider this logic:

1. Nothing in life is perfect
2. Things that aren't perfect can be criticized
3. Things that are criticized ought to be fixed and given a solution
4. The solution is a thing in life

Now, where would Darwin want to be? You don't want to be #1 and be imperfect. You don't want #3 either cus thinking of a solution may be challenging and, ultimately, as #4 and #1 show, the solution won't be perfect.

That leaves the easy way out: #2. Criticize. Complain. Talk the talk. And never walk the walk cus, God forbid, you'd be imperfect if you walk. Criticizing is an easy way with no real down side. And so our talking heads around the globe are really having a grand ol time these days.

Shopping in Hong Kong

Random links: ought to have been a banker... Tibet monastery reopens (finally - with spies, of course)... and the Aussies mimed during the Olympics too (Don't get confused... I'm not justifying the Chinese replacing the poor little girl cus she wasn't good looking enough - the Aussies did it for the sake of the event... the Chinese... I don't know what they were thinking)

Anyway, PNGF is in town and naturally, we go shopping.

• Target: mobile phone that can browse Internet
• Shops: all are fair game

Well, apparently, what they call a "Shopping Paradise" is not really. We spend half the day walking around Hong Kong and this is what transpired:

1. Fortress (Central): okay, so with my expertise in cell phones (laugh), I recommended the HTC Diamond, LG KS20, Samsung F488, Nokia E-66 and E-71. PNGF put all of them in her hand and ruled out LG KS20 immediately. Can we try browsing Internet please? NOPE. Is there any phone we can try? NOPE. Jeez.
   
2. 1010 Shop (Central): Nobody really helped us... Can I try some phones and brwose the Internet? You can try the Diamond over here. Is there one that can use English? Over there. It's not working... The Chinese one can work. Can you change the language menu? NOPE. Anyway, I got to the browser and tried to use the touch screen to type in www.cnn.com. Couldn't do it. PNGF is not liking it.
   
3. Elements (Kowloon): Hong Kong's hottest mall is also the biggest disappointment. A poorly design mall that felt more like a chamber than a nice stroll among stores. The five elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) hosted different types of store and blah blah blah. Frankly, bad mall with no reliable map to tell you where you are and what else there is. Given the success of other malls (Times Square, IFC), I can't believe a mall designer won't use an open space to show case shops on differnet floors and also create a sense of openness. And of course the two electronic stores that were there were completely useless (Fortress and Broadway). PNGF was able to test the F488 at Fortress a little bit. Saleperson had no idea how to type English though (nor teach us).
   
4. Nokia (Causeway Bay): Back in shopping mecca Causeway Bay, we finally were able to browse the Internet on an E-66 and E-71. Took the staff a while to change the phone to English and also activate the Internet though. Staff was very helpful and we got very good attention and was finally able to test browsing on a phone. PNGF liked the QWERTY keyboard very much. E-71 it is for now. She still wants to try a touch screen...
5. Fortress: This is truly frustrating. Can we try the F488? Here you go. Oh, can you switch the menu to English? No, this is my personal phone. PNGF: Forget it.
   
6. Broadway: Again, there's only a demo for F488, and nobody can use it in English. The other phones didn't have any demo. Josekin: that's why Broadway will never be #1. I meant to say that about Fortress too... but they are #1 for no good reason.
   
7. Chung Yuen: The salesperson with a mask was very helpful. He showed us two Sony Ericssons (which I knew weren't very good) and had a good demo on how we can browse Internet. The only problem is that we need to use a keypad to enter the alphabets and it's slow. Oh, and the masked man was also very helpful in answering all our other questions about other handsets. No demo, but at least the answers are helpful. PNGF has narrowed it way down: HTC Diamond and Nokia E71.
   
8. 1010 Shop: SAM KWOK. Mr. Kwok was extremely helpful. We asked for a Diamond demo (We've only gotten a very unhelpful one in Central), and Mr. Kwok took one out. He showed us how to play with it, let PNGF handle it (I like the wow factor on this phone, she says), and answered all the little questions we had (like how do I find out about the weather in New York). Um, we got greedy... can we try the Blackberry Pearl and Bold too? Mr. Kwok: no problem. My colleague will assist you. 5 minutes later, PNGF decided the HTC Diamond was for her and I decided the Blackberry Bold will be my next phone. Finally, the shopping odyssey ended.

Lessons, as always: LET THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IT. And if it's good, they'll be sold in a second (okay, a few minutes).

Did The Joker Win?

Well, apparently, the Chinese government is going to play some Lucius Fox.

There was some debate on my last post as to who was the victor in The Dark Knight. I still contend that it is The Joker. Let's evaluate from his major victims:

• Bank robbers: Listening to The Joker's instructions to kill each other off, all were motivated by greed. Score one for The Joker.
• Black mob boss: Token black guy had to die somehow. One of his cronies probably killed his buddies to work for The Joker. Fear ruled. Score another for The Joker.
• Judge and Police Commissioner: They were unafraid of The Joker and die for it. Lady Justice stood up despite not prevailing. Score one for Batman.
• Edison Chan: Just kidding. He's the security guard in Hong Kong (1 second cameo with Morgan Freeman) who once broke all hell loose. The Joker would have scored here.
• SWOT team transporting Harvey: "This is not what I signed up for" sums up their cowardice... though they did try to complete the mission. No winner here.
• Rachel: Sweet girl working as prosecutor sacrificed because Batman thought Harvey, the righteous prosecutor, was worth saving more. Never gave in though. Score one for Batman
• Lau: money laundering business man gets burned alive on a pile of money. How's that for irony. No winner here since Batman would have done the same.
• Harvey Dent/Two-face: Poor Harvey was so betrayed by his so-called colleagues that he turned the other cheek and ignored the law and order that he fiercely defended some 30 minutes ago in the movie. Score one for The Joker.
• Batman, Alfred, Lucius: Score three for Batman.

So if you're keeping score, it's The Joker 4, Batman 4! It's a tied game (with some Jokerish rigging)!

Which brings me to... dun dun dun dun

Ferry of good people: the good citizens of Gothem voted ~400 to ~100 to blow up the criminals and save themselves. Score one for The Joker.

Oh, only they didn't pull the trigger! Why not, you ask? Because they were too hypocritical to do so. Their image of "good citizens of Gothem" would be tarnished. When it was an anonymous vote, good man wasn't afraid to show some evil (to save self, nonetheless, and I do have some sympathy here). When it was public display of evil, the good man was too hypocritical to actually do it (no sympathy here, sorry). You can't do it in public but you can vote behind a mask? Score two for The Joker.

And that is why The Joker won: 7 to 4...

Awards Ceremony for Indecent Photos...

Oscars will go on as usual thanks to the settlement reached by the Writer's Guild. Unfortunately, writers like myself (laugh...) don't get compensated at all. Nonetheless, I held my own award ceremony - by the way, this refers to the very indecent pictures of some top Hong Kong stars surfacing on the Internet, and the subsequent fallout where stars have fallen, people were arrested, police were embarrassed, media had a fieldweek, etc etc. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I guess Google can help you:

The "OJ Simpson" Award for getting away with murder: The same computer repairman. Why is nobody blaming this guy!? Didn't he steal? Why is Edison et al under the microscope for having sex? Would you rather deal with the Edisons, 阿娇s, Cecilia Cheungs, Bobos of the world, or a dishonest person who might steal from you any time? (and hey, if Edison is the one who leaked the pictures, we'll just substitute his name here. I have a strong feeling that isn't the case)

The "Not Guilty" award to the not so innocent but truly not guilty: Everybody, Edison included, who appeared in the indecent pictures. What did they do wrong? Nothing at all! Why are we condemning them?

The "Guilty" award to the people claiming innocence but quite guilty: Internet Citizens of Hong Kong, you shouldn't be judging Edison's character when you are passing around his private files around. If any, you are almost as guilty as the person who first stole it. In fact, one of the biggest lessons here is, as my friend said, Internet Citizens have thought of themselves as a media source, yet lack the (western, anyway) media ethics. Each one of them has become a Next Magazine and also self righteous about it!

The "Accomplice" award to the true accomplice of the whole incident: Media. You have targeted 阿娇 for being fake. You have targeted the HK Police for selective prosecution. You have targeted Edison for his lifestyle. You have ripped all the fake masks. Yet you fail to rip the true culprit the technician. Oh, I understand, ripping the technician doesn't sell newspapers, right? Okay then.

The "Supply and Demand" Award for a working commercial world: HK citizens and HK media. Hey, I want to see naked pictures. Oh, here, we'll publish it for you! Morals be damned. Public interest rules.

The "Apple Daily" Award for "报不平" (reporting the unfair - that's their slogan...): Apple Daily, who have self-righteously put the indecent picture incidence on their headlines for a whole week. Meanwhile, the world is happening.

The "Roger Clemens" Award for blaming everybody but himself: The so called Hong Kong Internet Citizen. Oh, so peeking at private photos is doing the right thing? And the Hong Kong Police trying to stop the spread is not? And people having sex in the bedroom is not?

The "Isiah Thomas" Award for this is going to end very badly: Bobo Chan. The only difference is that I feel very bad for Bobo, and not at all for Isiah.

The "Marion Jones" Award for lying and lying and lying, and finally admitting the truth: 阿娇.

The "Dick Chaney" Award for being incompetent but safe from trouble because the other people are even more incompetent: all the other ladies were spared the embarassment because the leads were so popular.

The "Michael Jackson" Award for needing plastic surgery: Congrats, Edison, you have multiple targets on your neck now. And that's if you are lucky. There are a few who would take your private parts away... before they go for the neck. Good luck, brother.

The "彭定康是千古罪人" Award for the true culprit: The computer repairman who stole all the information.

The "Jack Bauer" Award for saying trust me many many times: Edison, you win again. Also related is the "Prison Break" Award for trusting those that shouldn't be trusted: All the ladies involved.

The "Paris Hilton" Award for using sex tapes as a publicity stint: The Hong Kong Police. People in public office should either have very ambiguous things to say. I'm just saying.

The "What did I do to deserve this" Award for what did I do to deserve this: Twins' Ah Sa who will probably have to go solo... which means her lack of singing talent can no longer be hidden through a duet. A close second is Emperor Studios, who stand to lose a lot of money if Twins goes down. A close third is the poor Hong Kong Police, who have done everything to bring justice to those responsible, yet get chastised every bit of the way.

The "George W. Bush" Award for person who needs a lesson in public speaking: 黄福全, one of the higher ups in the Hong Kong Police force. His speech about "if you have 正野 and share with your friends, that is okay!" is priceless and should be course material.

The "Martin Lee" Award for being misquoted by leftists and then skewered by the leftists: Hong Kong Police Commissioner 邓竟成, who read out the law on distributing indecent pictures and was quoted only the part of "owning them might be illegal." Instead of leftists, those who misquote him are our democratic media. Hurray for "democratic" media who care about public interest.

The "Britney Spears" Award for the fallen star: 阿娇. She's (or the studio that desperately needs her dollars?) already plotting a come back...

The "Mariah Carrie" Aware for reviving a career: TBD. Personally, I don't think any of them have much of a chance. The public has judged.

The "Faye Wong" Award for I don't fucking care about what you fucking care: This hasn't emerged yet, but I have a strong feeling that Cheng Pak Chi is going to win this award. If she doesn't win, it will be the aforementioned 黄福全.

The "玉女掌门人" Award for ignorance: To all the people who think Twins are actually 玉女. Seriously, you believed them?

Wrong Kong

A trail of thought that got lost somewhere... not that you would care. But I'll post it anyway.

Hong Kong has been consistently voted the "freest economy in the world." In other words, this means minimal intervention in the economy by the government, a move coined "positive nonintervention" that is so admired by the likes of Milton Friedman (and other U of C economists, I'm sure).

If you cared to read the above link, you will easily find the reason why Hong Kong is so successful: lots of big money merchants who fled from Shanghai to HK from communism being able to do whatever they want with their money and resources with minimal intervention. This is consistent with capitalism theories on the most efficient use of money leads to the best developments in the economy. Note that the key ingredient: big money people fleeing to Hong Kong.

Yet nowadays, when I read newspapers in Hong Kong, there are complaints about everything: more freedom in elections, social services not enough, support for low income families not enough, healthcare not enough, too much pay for civil servants, too much collusion among big businesses, more support on education, reduce monopoly prices on electricity and transportation, focus on urban development undermines cultural sites, etc etc.

Therein lies one of the biggest ironies of my home country... if you are keeping tab: freest economy, limited political freedom, a very free press, and too much freedom in certain sectors of the economy.

The aforementioned complaints breaks down into this:
1. More political freedom
2. Spend more to support lower class, health care, education, etc
3. Don't collude with big business

In other words...
1. Government give us more political freedom
2. Government spend more on lower class
3. Government to suppress big business

The Hong Kong government is the favorite target of Hong Kong people (media?). I cannot argue with point 1 and 2. Note that the same people asking for 1 have been asking for the last 10 years without much push (real push... everybody wants it mentally... but nobody is moving for it... such is the Chinese culture). Those who want 2 also oppose an increase in tax to pay for it. Hm.

The next favorite son to blame: greedy big businesses. This is where I get most confused. As I wrote above, the success of Hong Kong has been the result of government not interfering with big business. Now people want the reverse. Part of the reason is that big business equals Chinese government (think about THAT irony!!) due to all the money that is made in the mainland. Part of the reason is us consumers don't want to be screwed over. Big business (read: China) is taking over and making us give them all our money!

What about the reverse: big business also gives us a lot of employment and money to spend! In fact, many economists oppose tax brackets because it encourages (in US anyway) people to play with deductibles and miss the tax bracket. Also dangerous is that it discourages business from spending the additional income on its employees because they have to pay taxes.

I wonder what the solution is. Increased government intervention runs against what made Hong Kong. At the same time, no intervention will fuel more cries from the people (media?). I believe the HK government should focus on education and healthcare. All the commercial stuff leave it up to the people and the media - they seem to have enough free time to protest against businesses. And perhaps they ought to know: it is not because the government is useless and passive (it could be... I just don't know), but also should consider that their passivity has propelled Hong Kong to its current prosperity.

On the follies of email...

Once upon a time, email was the cure to homesickness.

12 years ago, I arrived in Kent, CT to attend boarding school. I remember having to (gasp!) write letters to my friends and families in Hong Kong. I also remember the joy of receiving mail (better yet, package!) from Hong Kong, providing all the spiritual support (i.e. Asian food and comics) I needed as a teeager alone in the US - okay, it wasn't that traumatic... but the packages were still great!

When Hotmail was introduced, it was like a gift from god.

• nobody needs to read my awful hand writing
• speed
• copy and paste
• backspace
• ctrl+A, del (trust me, this might have saved my life multiple times)
• cc
• bcc (very dangerous)
• archives (also very dangerous)
• ctrl+f, replace (college, job, and MBA applications!)
  

All that good stuff simplified communications. It made me feel closer to home and closer to friends. While it didn't replace phone calls (especially to gfs and such) immediately, emails eventually took over when everybody started either a hotmail or yahoo account. It was a great communication tool as I was kept up to date on what was going on in Hong Kong.

The prevelance of email literally flooded the inboxes of everybody because of ease of use. Sure, I can connect with my best friends around the world; but look, I can also connect with all these other people via a few keyboard strokes and a click of the mouse button (I still remember sending one letter back to my classmates in Hong Kong which had a sheet of paper that addressed everybody - 36 of them, I think - in class). Which of course was also done by many people "communicating" with me. People are actually turned OFF by receiving random emails from people they just met.

So the next development was a natural one. Senders consolidated their emails into facebook, friendster, blogs, etc and posted on those. Receivers leave their inboxes flooded (yours truly clears his all the time, drawing awe from many people) and check only those that are important. Result? Less emails!

Instead of emails, you communicate by putting a status on your IM... "need furniture" is mine right now, signaling I just moved in to everybody. A blog entry (oh the irony) is used to communicate. Oh wait, but there's more! Enter Google Reader and Email Reminders (banks, photo albums, friend's websites, and so on). These little gadgets tell you when something is updated!

Thumbs up: no need to go to friends page anymore; everything is fed
Thumbs down: no need to go to friends page anymore
Thumbs waaaaaay down: no more emailing
Thumbs waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down: no more communication

And that, my friends, is the follie of emails.

Life Events

I sit in the car, and tears are coming to my eyes
I am driving alone on a quiet highway
I start the car
I get resume reviews from a classmate
We leave the restaurant
I say "Well, on the bright side, I did finish my homework today"
Someone tells the story of acquaintances catching planes of doom
Someone tells the story of acquaintances missing planes of doom
Someone tells the story of surviving the Asian Tsunami ordeal
Someone tells the story of going to work and therefore not surviving 911
Someone tells the story of missing work and therefore surviving 911
Wow
Someone tells the story of fleeing the World Trade Center
Someone tells the story of seeing people leap from the World Trade Center
We agree that 911 was one of the strangest days in our lives
Someone tells the story of selling a dot com business the day before 911
Someone tells the story of loosing a lot of money... by lack of luck
Someone tells the story of making a huge profit just in time... by luck
Someone tells the story of choosing the wrong telecommunication stock
Someone tells the story of losing $8K on a telecommunication stock
Someone tells the story of reading a "How to play Options" book and costing him big time
Food is finished
I do not tell my most traumatic life experience
I say my most traumatic life experience must be around 12
Someone says the most traumatic life experience happened between 28 and 30
Someone says the most traumatic life experience happened around early 30s
Food comes
Someone tells the story of living off credit cards because of debt
Someone tells the story of gambling on margins and losing his life savings
Someone tells the story of gambling on margins and losing $25K
Someone says that when recruiting season dies down, we will all become day traders
Someone says scandals will be prevalent by the end of the winter quarter.
More scandal stories. In all business schools.
Someone tells the story of relationship scandals in school. Gets everybody's attention.
We sit down at the table and make small talk.
I arrive at the restaurant..

Crazy Dude vs Stupid Dude

So. I was on the T (Boston's MTR, only about 50 years older, 20 times slower, 10 times less efficient, 3 times more dirty, 2 times as expensive, and 1.5 times ruder) on my way to work late morning. About 10 am, I'd say, so it wasn't very crowded. A big black man comes into the cabin and starts to talk to himself. Just a crazy dude that I've grown accustomed to seeing on the T. He talked about how he is a slave with money, and he can't use it because he is a slave, the world is fucked up, and whites discriminate against him. Crazy dude. Nobody cared. Nobody responded. He kept talking.

In comes a white dude on the next stop. He listens to this crazy dude and then starts to reason with him. I refer to this white dude as stupid dude. Anyway, the stupid dude starts reasoning with the crazy dude about how he is not a slave and he enjoys freedom as he speaks. Valid points, certainly. Bra-fucking-vo. But not to a crazy dude. Remember, he's crazy! Reasoning quickly a shouting match. A shouting match becomes a yelling match. A yelling match quickly escalates to agun fight. Nah, just wanted to see if you were paying attention. It became a profanity-laced screaming in your face type of thing.

At this point, every passenger on the T were dead silent and closely monitoring the situation. In case someone pulls out a gun or gets into a fight, we all know where to duck. Or how to grab the gun, for American cowboys. "This is Park Street, please transfer to the green line here." I got off as soon as possible and transfered to, what else, the green line.And so I ask, what is the moral of the story? It is this: the world can have a crazy dude. It can have a stupid dude. It cannot have both. That is, we can either have Saddam or Bush. Not both. You put them together, disaster ensues and people get scared and leave the arena.

Just thought it was funny how I immediately thought of those two.