Category: Commentary

The Daily: Right of the Dot

Today, I learned that the lords of the internet will be approving for sale new top-level domain names. For example, the following are common top-level domain names currently permitted: .com, .net, .org, .biz. Many of us are accustomed to the dot-com boom (and bust) and the colloquialized terms and references relating thereto.

What the introduction of new top-level domains means is that there will likely be many more different website addresses, some that will be specific to a business or type of business. Instead of visiting “Disney.com,” you may visit “Magic.Disney.” Dot-Disney displaces the dot-com. Or instead of going to “Macys.com” to shop online, you might type in “Macys.shop”.

Apparently it costs a lot to gain control of the content to the right of the dot. At least for the most obvious terms. Entire businesses have been built around and for acquiring the management rights thereto. I think we’ll pass on that for now. Instead, I’ll just brainstorm about what names would be right-domains for us: .law, .golf, .love, .yogi, .mich, .goblue, .yoga.

What would you grab if you could get a right-of-the-dot domain?

The Daily: Weekend 2

Another week of firsts in home ownership for us. This week we got the water softener up and running, which was as easy as adding salt to the bin. Now, in addition to shuffling 50-pound bags of sand and salt around the long driveway, I get to lug 40-pound bags of high-quality 98.5 percent pure salt cubes through the living-room to the basement. Fortunately, I’ll only have to do this every one-and-a-half years.

I finished John Grisham’s, The Litigators last night and found it to be better than his recent books. It was entertaining from start to end, as it depicts the evolution of its protagonist attorney David Zinc from “big law” grunt to small firm hero. Unlike some of Grisham’s early books, like the The Firm, there is less emphasis on physical chase and more legal and/or courtroom drama. I recommend the book.

More from the Grisham front, the TV show The Firm premiers tonight (Sunday) at 9PM on NBC. We’ll see if it’s a worthwhile watch.

It looks like a beautiful and sunny Sunday, which means I should run to work before I start chasing the dog and setting up the fire pit. Have a great week and you’ll hear from us soon enough!

Commentary on Connectedness

This morning I jotted down some thoughts about our state of connectedness, the improvements and advancements in technology (e.g., smartphones) and websites/applications (e.g., Facebook) that enable us to be more connected and in tune with one another and with available information, and the misconception that being more connected means we should be more available.

I posit that there isn’t a positive correlation between increased connectedness and increased availability, but rather a positive correlation between increased connectedness and the option to increase one’s availability.

For example, if I took a trip to Vail Colorado to ski in 1963, the year after the resort opened, and you wanted to call me, you’d have to call the lodge at which I was staying. If I was in the lodge, I might be able to take your call. However, if I was skiing, then I would be unavailable. That situation is, more or less, a binary situation: available or not available.

Today, I have an iPhone on me at most times. As before, you can try to reach me at anytime. However, unlike before, your expectation that I’m available, able, and willing to receive the call is greatly increased because even when I’m not in the lodge, I have the technically ability to receive a phone call (or text, etc.). Therein lies the misconception on the part of the caller (you) that the receiver (me) is more available now than in 1963. Instead, I now has the option to be more available, but also, to your frustration, the option to be less available.

***

In light of the above, the recent story that “in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet.” There is loss of internet and sms capability, apparently. That’s one way to quell the expectation of availability.

Bookends: Terror and Hope

Did 9-11 (2001) cause market crash, real estate crash, etc. If not immediately, did it change the approach/attitude of enough Americans one way or another, such that the collective “american dream” changed – perhaps to a focus on the short-term. E.g., I’m going to live now; spend now. (Creditor-side error was in allowing to help people live this out.)

Interesting tie-in to Obama’s campaign theme of “HOPE.” Really, it was hope that got us into the mess we are in now. What should have been the focus is fundamental values, contraction, living within means (as a country and as citizens), etc.

Social Uncertainty

I am not good at remembering names, and I’m only slightly better at remembering faces. Even in a world where I’ve got social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to help refresh my memory, I often find myself feeling somewhat awkward in group social situations because, while I may have met some of the participants before (multiple times), many of their names escape me. The result of this is a shyness in approaching a familiar face whose name I forget. Or, although more seldom, the resulting embarrassment of introducing myself to someone who knows my name (and whose name I “should” know).

There are any number of tricks to help remember names such as selecting a distinctive feature of the acquaintance and associating his/her name with it in some way. Or using his/her name frequently in conversation in hopes that it will improve your memory in the future. However, tricks only carry you so far.

The downside to being uncertain of names and faces is the resulting shyness in social situations. However, the solution is not necessarily a better memory, but, instead, increasing my risk tolerance. It’s freeing to realize that it’s impossible to go through life being certain of everything. Getting a name wrong is far better than not talking at all, hanging out by the wall, and feeling awkward.

So. Forget a name. Forget an occupation. But do it by acting.

Movie Review: Life As We Know It

Lindsey and I saw Life As We Know It last night, which stars Katherine Heigle and Josh Duhamel.

The basic plot is: married couple living a dream life dies suddenly leaving newborn baby. The couple had planned for their close friends (played by Heigle and Duhamel) to be named the guardians of the baby. The twist is that the close friends, while close to the deceased couple, and in a way to each other, couldn’t stand each other – fought like cats and dogs. Sadness, reality and hilarity ensue as the close friends try to sort things out with their new responsibility – and figure out how to live with one another.

The movie was slightly over-length, which may account for the bad reviews by critics, but heartwarming nonetheless. We would definitely recommend it!

More importantly, we skipped all movie snacks! Yikes! … because we had just eaten Moomers ice cream.

My Gillette Razor

Sometime during the August immediately prior to my 18th birthday, which falls, annually, on September 1st, I received via snail mail an unexpected brown box from Gillette. Inside was their new “Mach 3” razor, which consists of a handle and replaceable blades. I was impressed, not just by receiving a “free” gift, but also by the quality of the handle. As razors go, it was weighty and made of metal and tactile rubber. The razor unit worked well on my cherub-like cheeks, and I began to use it.

And I have continued to use it for the last 10 years! It is still in my Dopp kit* to this day. I have not misplaced the handle, nor has the mechanism that allows the blades to be changed worn out or broken.

Mailing out the handles was obviously a good move by Gillette, as I have spent hundreds of dollars on the replacement blades, which cost about $20.00 for five blades. However, thinking beyond that, I wonder how it is that I never questioned the effectiveness of my Mach 3 as compared to any of the other razors on the market (I can’t even name another brand). Gillette did well to deliver a sturdy product that stood the test of time both as far as wear and tear and from a usability standpoint.

How I can take the successful concept employed by Gillette on me and use it in my own endeavors?

  1. Make a durable and effective product.
  2. Give it away for free.
  3. Make users return for a small replacement part.
  4. Charge for the replacement part.

Is there a deeper concept here?

*The name “Dopp kit” derives from early 20th century leather craftsman Charles Doppelt, a German immigrant to the United States, who invented his toiletry case in 1919. (Link)