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It Is Winter In Boston, But #YouGottaBeKiddin

We had a dust of snow this morning. Which didn't stop someone claiming dibs on a "pahkin" spot they seemed to have cleared out themselves. By "pahkin theyah cah" on the spot.

From Twitter, via @UniversalHub via @DaveAhern, who wrote, "It's officially winter in Dorchester." He used the hashtag #yougottabekiddin.

I think the American flag guarding the hard-won spot is an especially fine sight. Maybe the flag is -- um -- on the fence (get it?) about the whole pahkin thing.

Why 'Wired' Seems to Have It Wrong About Amazon and Apple

The December 2011 issue of Wired is out, with a photo of the left half of Jeff Bezos' face on the cover.  I was excited about this issue, because I wanted to read about the moves Amazon.com [and my Amazon WishList] is making to be a cloud content provider in addition to seller of books and anything else you can find in a supermarket or shopping mall.

Instead, I was disappointed.

The article by longtime tech writer Stephen Levy repeated some tiresome comparisons between Amazon and Apple. Amazon is content company, right? Because it makes most of its money selling more content things, both real (like books, shoes, and DVDs) and electronic (like ebooks and streaming movies). Yep, it's not a hardware company, though its big news right now is hardware in the form of the Kindle Fire.

And Apple isn't a content company, right?
Because it makes most of its money selling hardware things, like computers and mobile tablets and smartphones. Yes, it's not a content company, even though its current big news is user content management in the form of launching iCloud.

The article also disappointed because all too soon it descends into a Q&A dialog that doesn't grab me. It doesn't talk enough about the Amazon consumer experience and what might be coming down the pike. The most I learn about consumer experiences at Amazon is that Amazon really doesn't like to talk to me on the phone, really is not proud of being a profit-making enterprise, would offer single pricing for movie streaming if, gosh, only the movie content providers would agree, and seems more head-in-the-clouds than futuristic.

There's an ethereal quality to Bezos that bothers me, and I'm trying to put my finger on why.

Fun with Steve Jobs and Robert Reich (and Conan O'Brien)

In the past twelve hours, I've had way too many laughs watching these two videos.

• Steve Jobs introducing the iPad in — ahem — "superlative" style, cut down from 90 minutes to 3 minutes. (Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a.k.a TUAW.)
• Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in tandem with Conan O'Brien. (Via Reich's blog.)

Have fun!

Architecture of My Youth

A quick reference to a post I just put up on the blog about my father concerning architecture in my hometown of Westport, Connecticut.

Must See: AFL-CIO President Trumka, on Economic Aspirations for America

After such a disastrous year in 2009 and a heart-stopping month politically in January 2010, it looks like the last few days of this month are closing out on an upbeat for President Obama and the country.

Economic activity is up, even if job growth is lagging. Then again, jobs almost always lag, much as that hurts in the real world of working families.

The State of the Union and, perhaps even more surprisingly, the President's appearance at the Republican House retreat in Baltimore, were spectacular performances in politics and rhetoric by Barack Obama.

But even the President and the people need a reminder from outside of what we're fighting for. In the YouTube clip below, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka — speaking earlier in the month — provides a great aspirational message. In my opinion, he earns a year's salary in the final two minutes.

Danny Ernstes, a UAW leader and Democratic Party activist in Indianapolis, pointed out this clip. Thanks, Danny!

Ringing In Marta's Installation

Last Sunday, I was honored to ring the parish bell at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington for Marta's installation as the 18th senior settled minister of the church. 

The bell of the church survived the disastrous fire of 1975 that destroyed the century-old elegant fourth meeting house of the church. Now the bell sits protected in the back of the sanctuary of the fifth meeting house, the modern structure where the church worships today. Still, for the bell, it's a comedown. It used to sit in the Arlington spire at the center of the town in what was thought to be the second-highest church spire in the Commonwealth.

I rang the bell 20 times, one for each of the 18 settled senior ministers and twice for the two settled associate ministers who have served the church. That was fun, but it was also a reminder to me of the living tradition of Unitarian Universalist ministry spanning all or part of five centuries in America.

Lida Junghans, a member of the church, took pictures. I'm in my Dad's old wheelchair for the ceremony because I was recovering from foot surgery. Wheeling me around: David Whitford. (Thanks, David!) This was only my second trip outside the house since returning from my surgery on January 14.

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Everyone's Right to Vote, Especially in Massachusetts on Tuesday

My political mentor, Robin Winston of Indiana, sent out this great King Day e-card:

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And I received this video from U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, via the Democratic National Committee:

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A very happy King Day to all. And a reminder to people in the Bay State to vote on Tuesday, and to vote for Martha Coakley for the U.S. Senate to defend and expand access to voting in our democracy.

  

Texting a Donation to Haiti

At the invitation of President Bill Clinton, who's been all over the media, I did something new: texted a donation to the Clinton Foundation for its Haiti relief programs. Easy to do.

Remake Your Netflix Queue with NYT's Data Graphic

The New York Times did a cultural service for the rest of us with its guide to the most-rented Netflix movies of 2009, in various zip codes in a number of major metropolitan areas. The Flowing Data blog has its own take.

Stopping By An Entire Country on a Snowy Evening

Upon seeing this photo and a story from The Telegraph of London, courtesy of a friend, I was moved to write the ugly mash below, with apologies to Robert Frost (Stopping By a Woods on a Snowy Evening) and William Shakespeare (King Richard II, 2:1).

It's not every day — indeed, this has been Britain's heaviest snowfall in 50 years — that one can see a satellite photo of Great Britain covered with snow from end to end.

Whose sceptered isle this is I think I know
This royal throne of kings, though
Does not see NASA's satellite stopping here
To watch this other Eden filled up with snow

The demi-Paradise must think it queer
This fortress built by nature is where the snow did veer
Including all the woods and frozen lake
In the darkest evenings of the year

This little world must want to shake
And ask if there is some mistake
For this precious stone set in the silver sea
The seat of Mars covered with downy flake

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England is covered dark and deep
This happy breed of men has promises to keep
To shovel a country full of snow before they sleep
And shovels full of snow before they sleep

(A far larger and more detailed version of the same photo is here, from NASA, my friend points out. In it, you can practically see individual snowflakes!)