Kindness (Ugh!) of Strangers
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These days, who doesn't have to face the easy, breezy invasiveness of strangers in service positions?
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Guess what? The people in control of passes to the event don't take kindly to pranking.
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Scored a gift card for Christmas? Maybe cool, maybe not.
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I just figured something out, and it's the kind of thing that's best said publicly, even though it's likely to: 1. Be misunderstood and 2. Upset some people. But since it's all about this blog it really is best to air it here. First what triggered the epiphany. I was over at Loic Le Meur's house in San Francisco yesterday having lunch with his family and friends. We were all drinking wine (very good wine of course), enjoying the view, and talking about this and that, when the subject turned to Mike Arrington. Loic said that Mike told him that we used to be best friends. I couldn't figure out what that meant, because our friendship was the business kind of friendship not the personal kind. What does it mean to best friends in that way? And how does that relate to having a blog? It never occurred to me that friendship meant that (here's the epiphany) that I would only say positive things about Mike's business. It didn't occur to me until I heard Loic's side of a blog-fight that I saw happen from a distance, with Sam Sethi, Mike and Loic.  Complicated? You bet. Too complicated. An unspoken deal that I never agreed to. When Mike was starting TechCrunch, I pointed to his blog all the time, with glowing phrases. Because I was truly impressed with what he was doing and because I wanted to encourage other people to do it too. I wanted people to write about technology products based on how they used them, not based on alliances, investment, posturing of execs, the crappy stuff that means almost nothing to users, and imho is just a substitute for actually understanding the technology. Mike was approaching products the way I felt they should be approached. Hence the praise. Fact is, my opinion of Mike, as a person, hasn't changed much in the last couple of years. He has a personal charm and charisma that not everyone finds appealing, but I do. I like hanging out with the guy. However, that doesn't mean that if my opinion of TechCrunch, his business, isn't uniformly positive (and of course these days it is actually fairly negative) that I will withhold it. But it's also part of Mike's way of dealing with people that he sees criticism as betrayal. I just don't see it that way. I've had the shit kicked out of me so many times, and as a programmer I understand that criticism is necessary to perfect a user interface, even to get the damned thing working, that even when it hurts, I have to push the hurt aside and listen to what people are saying, and try to respond to it. Professionalism demands it.  Anyway, one of the reasons I want to write this now is that I've written about Loic's business here a couple of times in very positive terms. I don't want anyone, esp Loic, to assume that this will always be so. If they get in the way of other creative people, or otherwise act as a poor example of entrepreneurship in technology, of course I will write about it, and will say what I think. I would expect Loic and people at his company to take what I write to heart, and consider it. My feelings won't be hurt if they don't do what I say.  Same as when I said Facebook sucks. Or when I criticize Techmeme. This isn't in any way meant to reflect on the quality of the people at Facebook (some of whom I know to be outstanding people of high principle) or Gabe Rivera who I know to be a very smart and competent and honorable person. It's possible to critcize someone's work and still admire the person. My epiphany is that a lot of people who thought were my friends, didn't understand this very basic thing about me.
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Not everyone is so desperate to be a part of the action on   Wisteria Lane, it seems.
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Take a deep breath. Some of us haven't even started shopping yet!
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Feeling blue? Unloved? As if nobody appreciates you? Maybe no one can see your inner wonderfulness. Or maybe you deserve to be forsaken. Maybe you are unloved because you're such a jerk, simply unlovable. Maybe you're a victim of the old maxim: "If you can't say anything nice . . . "
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By Tim Ellis, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson  Sep. 10--: This story is part of a monthly Sunday Neighbors series introducing newcomers to different aspects of Tucson.
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I heard the Salvation Army in Arizona is arming its bell ringers with credit card machines. That&#39;s a good thing because I am feeling awfully, and unintentionally, Scroogy this holiday season.
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Blog: A San Francisco Craigslist posting offers to divert peoples' attention so others can cut in front of them in line.
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Tycho:  It is often the case that we are jumped by four or five horde ten levels higher than us.  This is often because we've jumped a friend of theirs, ten levels lower than us, as retribution for some earlier act of aggression, in slavish iteration of a behavior that has - as its culmination - the end of all life, everywhere.  Kara marveled that Gabriel and I were able to escape these confrontations with such regularity.  What was our secret?  "Fear," I said, bending the microphone closer.  "Fear, and selfishness."
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WASHINGTON -- Why is the subject of giving such a difficult thing to discuss? Some folks would rather ask someone for a kidney than for a donation to a charitable cause.
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This story of a father trying to help his son is supposed to be heartwarming, but feels a bit cold-blooded.
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Forget altruism. Think about yourself first.
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After reading about laws around the country banning panhandling, I think it is a wonderful idea for our state.  It would be great to make it retroactive to when Dave Checketts came begging.  Jeff Ayers  Kaysville  (c) 2007 Deseret News (Salt Lake City).
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See the selfless gameplay in this new batch of altruistic games.
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Emrys Westacott of Alfred University tries to find hidden virtues in human rudeness.