LOL!

“She loves to blow her nose!” - coedswithcolds.com

Now let’s be serious, the internet has been a battleground, but nothing more important is being fought over than freedom. Attempts to strip our freedoms under the guise of “protecting the children” have been happening for years. This morning a US Judge struck down a controversial 1998 porn law.

In the ruling, the judge said parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the rights of others to free speech.

Amen!

I’d have no problems with our teenagers visiting coedswithcolds.com for some “really hot” action. The problem with traditional filtering tools are spoof sites like this get caught in the combines.

Less than a year ago I ranted how fast Washington State made online a gambling a felony. Some of the excuses trotted out for making what was previous a misdemeanor a felony included using the “what about the children” cries, the unregulated industry and more. Nevermind that very few prosecutions for people gambling online were made when it was a misdemeanor nor that a number of contributions were made to senators and even our state governor from the indian tribes.

Since the law was enacted I’ve heard rumblings that people are trying to get this legislation reversed or reduced back down to a misdemeanor, but like tax increases, it’s very difficult to bring the horses back to the barn.

There was also a bill that I voted for that would have allowed non-tribal businesses to open casinos. That was struck down by popular vote.

So what does our state government do that doesn’t want to allow gambling anywhere but on tribal lands or through the state lottery? Approve further expansion on tribal lands.

Tribes now are allowed to operate 675 gambling machines, although the Muckleshoot, Tulalip and Puyallup tribes are allowed to lease or purchase as many as 3,000 terminals. The new compacts allow most tribes to have as many as 975 machines. The other three tribes will able to expand to 3,500 and, after three years, to 4,000.

Amazing.

It is politics like this that frustrate me. If the majority of the voting residents in Washington state don’t want gambling expanded, then why is the state government in Olympia signing off to expand gambling here further?

Just to be clear, I support a gambling expansion in the state and am a recreational gambler (heck, we were at a couple indian casinos last weekend). I would like this open to all businesses, not only the indian tribes, and would like it taxed accordingly. We can then use this tax money to improve schools, roads and reduce property and sales taxes. With a fraction of the $2 billion dollars going into indian casinos, taxes could easily put laptop computers in the hands of every student in the state.

Maybe I am missing something here but can’t we tack on some sort of rider for the expansion at least where the gambling revenues are taxed? If no indian casinos can ever pay taxes by federal mandate on tribal land, then we need to revisit expansion on non-tribal land incurring taxation.

The problem I have with too many politicians is it seems like they are sitting around trying to come up with more ways to make us tighten our belts while they spend more or allow businesses to expand that have less impact on the tax economy in the state.

Good for Verizon, Netbank and Sallie Mae for cancelling their advertising at Adbrite when their ads appeared on queen troll Ann Coulter. The good looking blonde with a bigger mouth than an unhinged boa constrictor is clearly reaching for attention by referring to Democratic presidential 2008 candidate John Edwards as a “faggot.” Rather than focus on Coulter’s intolerance, or the pitiful fact that she stood up for the Republican Mark Foley who resigned after allegations of inappropriate instant messages with male pages, this brings up a major downside of using ad brokerage services like Adbrite: control.

“Per our policy, the networked Web site ad purchases are supposed to be stripped of certain kinds of Web sites,” said a Verizon spokesperson. “This one could be considered an extreme political Web site, should be off the list, and now it is off the list.”

The same could be said for advertising in programs like Google Adwords. You hope through filtering that you can avoid having your ads show up on certain types of sites but it’s not an exact science. Also, who has time to go around and list all of the sites you don’t want to appear on?

Just refresh the US National Debt Clock and see the debt grow by more than 1.5 billion dollars every day. The debt-related news stopped updating on March 2006, but Google News and plenty of other RSS sources can fill that gap.

Google News led me to this Feb 11 story at MSNBC:

Currently the national debt is about 66 percent of GDP, which is about $14 trillion a year. That sounds like a lot. But it was nearly double that at the end of World War II (120 percent of GDP) and remained well above 60 percent for most of the prosperous 1950s.

One of the major topics presidential candidates will be pitching US voters is the national debt.

Getting out of Iraq is already positioned to be another major topic. One of the Democratic frontrunners Barack Obama, who went all social media for the geeks at my.barackobama.com, is out saying he was always against expanding the war into Iraq. Senator Hillary Clinton also making a run for the White House in 2008 is pounding this drum.

I wish the election was not so far away.

Arianna Huffington, one of the 2006 stars of political blogging through her Huffington Post site wants to organize a debate between the Democrats and Republicans Presidential candidates online. I looked around for a link to a specific post on that and didn’t see one to quote directly so just gave you the main URL. Perhaps there is no story on the site yet, as the article below does say they are “working” on it. I don’t see this working very well. It won’t scale. Yet.

“2008 is going to be critical in terms of the coverage of the election,” Huffington said. “We are working to put together the first primary online debate among candidates and working out the logistics of how this is going to happen.”

I’ve been thinking about the reality of a debate online. A single large chatroom wouldn’t work. There exists no global chat software I’m aware of that’s been used for large attendance public events. Those who have been to an IRC event with more than a couple hundred people know how well that goes. Second Life? You’re joking, right? About the best hope for any sort of huge scaling interactive debate would be text messaging like they do on American Idol or perhaps email questions. These questions would still need to be vetted somehow. Unfortunately, any sort of non-moderated internet event is open to widescale abuse.

I think it’s a worthwhile idea to have some sort of TV to internet streaming but technology doesn’t yet have an answer to a true, interactive online component that scales. As far as myself having a chance of asking the 2008 Presidential candidates any questions and receiving direct responses? My best bet is probably doing it right here on this blog and hoping that somebody in the candidate’s camp replies or if I’m lucky to attend a geek event where a candidate is attending maybe getting some brief face time there. Or maybe the Google brains will be able to solve this problem so people like you and I can visit some live event online and feel like more than just another audience member listening.

Frankly, I’m tired of the political campaign game that has had little change over my voting life and would like to see something where the common voter has more direct input. Yes, I do realize our votes are our ultimate input, but I mean in terms of Q&A phases with candidates directly. How about some back and forth public blog commentary? With any luck in my life technology will overcome this barrier somehow. Yes, I realize it is impossible for one candidate to hold a personal dialogue with each and every voter, but there are public events where large numbers of people can attend like at football stadiums where there still isn’t an online equivalent. Heck, you can go to a concert with 150,000 people in attendance and be as close to the stage of the artist and slap their hand, but is that possible online? Not with current technology.

Blogs, podcasts and videoblogs have helped bridge some of this interactivity on a larger scale gap. They have made individuals like me feel a little more like my voice might or could be heard and answered. Leaving issues on subjects aside for a moment, candidates who embrace technology and give me the ability to reach them and ask direct questions and provide direct answers are admittedly more attractive than those who have some overpolished web site run by supporters. What do you think?

Is money the cure or disease?
Then there is the issue of money. In the current system if I was donating a lot of money I could get the access I’m talking about and that’s another part of the problem. The people with the most money, power and influence aren’t always the people with the best questions. All too often they use that money to leverage their own interests and agenda and do not speak for the masses.

Scoble, who was recently granted some limited access to the Edwards campaign, commented here recently that we wouldn’t get this type of access. That’s the problem for me. The people who would give me and other citizens that type of access I don’t believe will be viable candidates in 2008. In 2012 or 2016, who knows? Google, Google, do, where are you?

We can always dream. Answers? Solutions?

Download Hmmcast #32 (mp4)

Following a trackback on a post here earlier today I happened upon Routine Order pondering if Robert Scoble is the right choice for covering John Edward’s 2008 Presidential campaign (emphasis mine):

So why not hire someone who can do both things, or can at least advise on the technology behind it all? Scoble is old, let’s face it - he’s got family. Passion is what pulls readers. Give me a twenty-something with fire in his guts for what he’s bloggin about, anytime.

Since when is having “fire in his guts” limited to twenty-somethings? And if merely having family makes one “too old” than I was too old 17 years ago. Scoble is only a few years older than me, so if he’s too old for following Edward’s campaign I’m probably too old to start a daily vlog. There’s this WWII vet that was in his 90s who became sort of a cult celeb on YouTube, so I seriously doubt either Scoble or I need to turn in our vlogging license.

In fairness, the mysterious Routine Order blogger wasn’t asking the same question I’m asking in this post. The idea that a geek like Scoble might not be the best choice for Edwards bid to be the next President in 2008 was his take and Scoble’s age is one strike against him. Scoble has earned his video street cred with the Channel 9 stuff and if not him then who else?

If Edwards had invited me I would have been more interested in stuff they likely aren’t letting anybody cover. I want to know what Edwards is like out of all the lights, away from the cameras and his handlers. Somebody let Edwards loose and see if he’s got the Dean scream. I’ve seen his polished act already in the video from Gnomedex and he knows how to schmooze the crowd, but most politicians have that game down. Let’s see some behind the scenes Edwards action. Somebody. Anybody.

I doubt Scoble or any of the other video bloggers, podcasters, etc are going to get much of that kind of content. That’s what the American people need to know. We need to know if this guy has a penchant for interns in blue dresses, likes to bet a little too much on the ponies, does drugs recreationally, like pron, and so on. If we get all this stuff on the table long before any elections, out in the open, we can then move to the important issues and not waste time tripping over personal choices and morality debates.

Hmmcast #32
I’m thinking about publishing the new Hmmcast episode every weekday here at 4:20pm PST / 7:20pm EST, just so folks know when to expect a new installment each day. Yes, I realize 420 has drug references, but it’s an easy time for people to remember. I would choose something like 6:66 AM or PM but neither of those are valid. If you have a better time suggestion for the daily show, please let me know below. For those who missed yesterday’s post, I wrote that my goal is to create at least one new video blog or podcast every weekday in 2007, save for holidays and vacation. Will I make it? How many of these will you catch? Two are now in the bag.

Personally I think I’ll be too old for video when my heart stops ticking, but as always am interested in your feedback as to whether age really matters in a video blog? Age matters for Dick Clark. Anybody see that New Year’s Meltdown? I heard audio this morning. Painful. Dick had his run, but that’s one case — where he can’t even do the countdown right — to call it a day.

The BBC takes viewers up the final moments of Saddam Hussein’s life on earth before being hanged. He was defiant to the end, refusing to wear a hood over his head, thus giving onlookers a chance to see his neck snapped in grim detail.

Liveblogging executions? Don’t laugh, it might actually happen someday. Whatever your personal position on capital punishment, I don’t think we’re that far off from seeing live televised executions. Must admit being a bit disappointed that Osama Bin Laden wasn’t the one wearing the noose. I thought it was him we were going after? Don’t be surprised if Bin Laden is captured near the 2008 elections. I won’t be.

Update 12/31/2006 9:40am PST: Somebody posted on Google Video a cameraphone video of the whole execution. It’s already going viral at other video sites.

Besides the two game systems launching over the weekend the other big story was a supposedly leaked internal Yahoo memo by Brad Garlinghouse and published by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required, sorry. Update: Paul Kedrosky reposts the memo that he said was being “forwarded all over the place.”).

Larry Dignan smells BS on the leakage aspect:

The Journal got the memo because it’s the business paper of record (and a damn good one at that). It’s called reporting and brand credibility that has taken decades to build. If you’re a CEO–or any exec–looking to float a memo you are going to the Journal. It’s your first stop to reach the folks that control your market cap. Sorry new media, old media has clout.

All I could do was shake my head after reading the memo and the various blog and media reactions. As a Yahoo shareholder, I’m embarassed by the company’s efforts in 2006. I was excited by what they did in 2005 and really thought they were on their way to doing some exciting things, but can’t voice my displeasure enough about what’s happened to date in 2006, beginning with the whole we don’t need to be #1 in search debacle.

At the present Yahoo seems like a very disjointed, disorganized, confused company. Sure, they have some smart people there but the disconnect between management and the workforce — at least to a complete outsider — seems to be almost incalculable. Outspoken employee insiders like Jeremy Zawodny seem to have gone quiet (last post over a week ago, maybe he’s on vacation?) regarding the substance of the memo which also calls for a reduction of the workforce and combining or eliminating competing products (Examples: MyWeb vs. Del.icio.us, Yahoo Photos vs. Flickr).

A bad case of Yahooitis has hit the Yahooligans. Let’s hope the holidays bring something other than coal in shareholder’s stockings. Draw a squiggly line at the top of paper toward the bottom and you’ll see what the performance has been like in 2006.

Update 10:47am PST: Greg Yardley offers some advice for Yahoo employees:

If you leave on your own, you can always take the high road and claim you were disgusted with the overall direction of the company. If you wait until you’re laid off, you’re going to get labeled as one of the employees who were “phoning it in, lacking the passion and commitment to be a part of the solution.” That’s one hell of a risk to take if you’re not sure if you’re staying or going.

Update 11/27/2006 7:52pm PST: Jeremy Zawodny stopped by to point out that he did post about the corrosive Peanut Butter memo on/about the same time that I posted this. You’ll see the link in comment #2 below, which sort of breaks his silence on the matter.

Remember the story back in July of the online gambling sportsbook BetOnSports CEO being detained by the US government and then fired? There has been some closure for the company, but not for the former CEO who still faces 22 counts of fraud and racketeering charges in a trial expected early next year. What deal did the feds cut BetOnSports? Basically, they pointed to the borders and said, “keep out.”

BetOnSports must also take out an advertisement in a major newspaper telling customers that Internet gambling is illegal in the United States and the company will no longer take their bets. It must post similar messages on its Web sites. The settlement isn’t likely to have a huge effect on the Internet gambling industry, said Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier College of Law and an expert on Internet gambling.

Interesting how this professor and so called expert thinks this won’t have a “huge effect on internet gambling industry” when some are saying over 50% of online gambling activity occurs with bettors in the US is beyond me. When Bush signed off on adding anti-online gambling laws to a terrorist bill, this pretty much sealed the fate of online gambling sites doing business here — at least in the current climate. Add to that the fact that in some states like this one (Washington) they’ve made it a class C felony and you end up with a bunch of political muscle thrown at something this writer chalks up to personal choice. This is supposed to be the land of the free, not the land of the protected by the big, bad offshore online casinos.

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of online gambling. Watch what happens in Nevada very closely, because it’s likely to break there first. In fact, bookmark this post and come back in a few years. I think we’ll be looking at some sort of major change. I’m no fortune teller, but this attack on online gambling doesn’t make much sense when the government could regulate and tax and use that money to help our country get out of the financial hole we continue to dig. Somebody has to start thinking about paying the bill for the war on Iraq.

This also doesn’t help people like my friend from Sweden, Forser, who unfortunately lost his job working as a programmer for an online poker site. I don’t see what terrorists and online gambling have in common. Anybody care to connect the dots?

The last post on identity got me thinking about branding online. Perhaps this experience will be useful to other webmasters and online entrepreneurs. It’s been useful and profitable for our business over the years. Ooo, a trade secret. No hands, ma!

One potential downside — perhaps the only one depending on your political persuasion — of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigning and having a man who also has the last name of Gates poised to replace him is that anybody subscribing to “Gates” by keyword will now have to resort to shoehorning in ‘Bill’ to the query. Bill Gates is resigning in a couple years and plans to spend time giving away his vast fortunes to good causes through his foundation. Perhaps this politics-technology keyword confusion will be good for the Microsoft’s chief.

This is similar to shock jock Howard Stern being confused programatically by Anna Nicole Smith’s attorney and boyfriend Howard K. Stern. Don’t forget the ‘K’ part, Howard reminds on his Sirius talk radio show, clearly a little perturbed.

Check out Google News for “Gates” pictured above. Now see the query for “Bill Gates”/ Adjust your RSS feeds by keyword now, if you haven’t already.

Better to focus on one keyword when branding?
This raises a question about using full names for queries versus multiple names as part of an overall brand and identity? I’ve tried to limit this potential query quagmire by using one name. This is also why I try to refer to this website as Hmm, even though I don’t own hmm.com (wish I did) or MakeYouGoHmm instead of “make you go hmm.”

The answer to Apple’s pod obsession
On the last Webtalk Radio show we got into a discussion about the whole Apple wanting to own the ‘pod’ name dispute. My suggestion for those with podcasts to brand their podcast to their site name like we do here with Hmmcast. I suggested Rob and Dana called their show Webtalkcast or WebtalkRadiocast. ‘pod’ reminds me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers more than Apple and that’s a less than pleasant image.

How have the search engines treated Hmmcast?
Speaking of our currently bi-monthly podcast Hmmcast — expect #28 next Friday on schedule — I put some thought into the name of the podcast long before Apple started complaining. I made sure the domain for the name we would call it was available and registered Hmmcast.com (which leads to the Hmmcast page). Another important step in the road to making something easier to be found on the web.

Google: Hmmcast #1 result leads to Hmmcast category page which lists all Hmmcasts
Yahoo: Hmmcast #1 result leads to Feedburner RSS feed for the Hmmcast. That’s ok, I’ll still take that one.
Live: Hmmcast #1 result leads to Hmmcast #13 recap page here. Not sure why that page ranks so high over the category page, but the fact that it leads to a Hmmcast page is promising.
Ask: Hmmcast #1 result leads to the Hmmcast #15 recap page here.

A query for a unique word like Hmmcast should reach our category page or the Hmmcast RSS feed. Fortunately the major engines all led to something related.

Now you see why we didn’t call this Make You Go Hmm Podcast.

The shorter the better
When choosing a name or brand try to keep it short, memorable and whenever possible spelled correctly. Easy to remember Flickr, but how many people have tried to visit flicker.com which is not owned by Yahoo (and is one of those keyword laced domain landing pages)? Also double words like “for/4″ or “you/u” in a domain can be a type-in landmine as I’ve learned, so we bought the variation “u” domain and pointed to this site early on. I have trouble spelling sometimes and I know I’m not alone in this challenge, so make it easy — much easier than the domain abomination but conversely compelling service del.icio.us — for prospective and return visitors.

A few business things to hopefully make you think this morning, especially if you are starting a new project. What’s in a name? Everything, if you want to be found.