Katie Vita, BFFF

Kate popped into town about a week ago,
and we hit the beach for a bit of Frisbee.
Allow me to introduce you...
Katie Vita is so much more than
the assemblage of her many unique talents.
The world knows her as actress and artist.
I know her as one of my best friends forever.
I discovered Frisbee on the beach with Katie,
so long ago that it just doesn't seem possible.
She grew up, married, and moved far away,
but through it all, our paths would cross many times,
each time we marveled at how close we stayed,
and each time we usually found a Frisbee and a beach.

Katie is the author of that most memorable
summation of The Meaning of Life:
"To Fris is to Be".
(Click here for the painting she did for me)

In Defense of Women

I have come across an author who could be British, but isn't.
He is quite American, born in, of all places, Baltimore,
yet he became a most extraordinary writer,
so much so that one might automatically assume that he is British.

As exhibit A-1, may I present
H.L. Mencken's "In Defense of Women"
which is available in the public domain at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/ndwmn11.txt

When you get to this link,
scroll down a bit past the legal mumbo-jumbo
to get to the beginning of the text.

Enjoy!

Del Mar Oceanfront Sunset video

Sunset from a few days ago.
I was doing a video test.

Something Wonderful Is Going to Happen

With the enormous amount of stuff floating around in the internet,
the sheer quantity of data (websites, videos, documents, photos, yadda, yadda, yadda), it just boggles my mind that Google (and other search engines) go and get it, and bring it back on their own computers, so that now they know everything, and they know who else knows anything, and everybody who wants to know anything.

If you're a search engine, it's the most extraordinary business model: it costs next to nothing to take what others are giving away (data bits) and to turn around and give it away (over and over with no limit) for free to anyone who wants it, which is everybody on the planet, and then the search engines sell advertising on the wrapper of the information! It's like selling advertising on the napkin that you get with your meal at a restaurant. In this case, even the meal is free because the advertiser pays for it.

What enormous power to have instantaneous access to all of human knowledge, and all other human beings, businesses, organizations, governments, etc.

We have access to all History, everything that ever was, and the entire Present, everything that is, for free. And not only access, we have an almost unimaginable power in the form of free resources to communicate, analyze, edit, store, broadcast, republish, and in general, take what is free and create some value out of it with our own thinking, and to resell it ourselves!

I believe that the world is at the precipice of a magnificent transformation in civilization. It is a magical moment, and I feel so lucky to be alive to watch it develop and to be able to play along with it, and maybe even to help it along just a little.

In the words from the movie 2001:

"Something's going to happen... Something wonderful."

Christmas Wish List

Just in time for Christmas:

Amazon.com wish list

Thanks!