Thawing

I just wrote down a second book idea in as many weeks, I’m investigating how to bring some older projects back from hiatus, and accelerate the timeline on some new projects.

Feels good.

ISPrivate

“In an age when so many people flipped out about Google’s WiFi sniffing, you would think that these same people would celebrate ISPs that automatically encrypt traffic, as that would solve such problems. Yet, instead, it seems like the very same people are suggesting that such encryption is only for bad purposes.” – Mike Masnick

That traffic-encrypting ISPs are an exception is like admitting we expect the USPS and FedEx to go through our mail.

Paulson Real Estate Recovery Fund

Brilliant strategy. Just brilliant.

“One of the fund’s main strategies is to buy undeveloped tracts of land that already have environmental and building permits. Roads, sewers and electricity may also be in place, but not homes, according to one of the people familiar with the fund. If the real-estate market recovers enough for developers to start building more new houses, this may be the type of land they buy first. That’s because a lot of the costly, time-consuming preparation work already has been done, the person explained.” – Alistair Barr, MarketWatch

Control Yourself

“In short, the marketing is the message, and the message is the service. We knowingly go to Facebook or Google now much as we go to the mall or the public square – to see and be seen, to have our intent responded to, whether those wishes be commercial or public expression.” – John Batelle

John continues…

“I think it’s worth defining a portion of the web as a place where one can visit and be part of a conversation without the data created by that conversation being presumptively sucked into a sophisticated response platform – whether that platform is Google, Blue Kai, Doubleclick, Twitter, or any other scaled web service. Now, I’m all for engaging with that platform, to be sure, but I’m also interested in the parts of society where one can wander about free of identity presumption, a place where one can chose to engage knowing that you are in control of how your identity is presented, and when it is revealed.”

Gold Foil

“But if the best that gold can do over time is to match the increase in stock prices, while delivering enormous extra volatility along the way, then gold is not a particularly attractive asset from an investment perspective, especially since it pays not a penny of income and in fact costs money to store. And it’s particularly unattractive today, unless you are convinced that the Fed is on the verge of committing a major monetary mistake and/or the U.S. is going to default on its debt obligations.” – Scott Grannis