After 76 years to be suddenly called a "dwarf" and kicked out of the solar system doesn't seem fair. On Thursday the solar system was downsized from nine planets to eight and Pluto was redefined as a "dwarf planet."
The International Astronomical Union redefined the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered a planet -- and Pluto failed the test. Pluto was disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's orbit. Since the discovery of Pluto in 1930 two other objects have been spotted similar to Pluto and more are expected.
At last word Walt Disney was looking into the matter and declined to comment on the fate of it's Disney character. We asked a spokesman for Pluto and he said that Pluto was currently orbiting around Mickey and unavailable to comment at this time There are also rumors that the Seven Dwarfs are considering legal action for copyright infringement. Stay tuned ...
I'm guilty of it -- are you?
I'm talking about adding someone to your neighborhood -- someone you don't know but, may know of, or enjoy reading their blogs.
Vox is an interesting forum and I'm trying to get my arms around it and not seem rude. If you've been around Vox you know you can search tags; look into someone's book and music selection; read their comments; and even view their neighbors and friends. You can also do a reverse view and see who has someone in their neighborhood. When the neighborhood view and the reverse neighborhood view don't match -- we have our stalkers; groupies; or just rude people?
Having someone in your neighborhood lets you know when something changed on their blog -- you're connected. If that person has contact information you can send them a short note asking if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood. But what do you do when there is no contact information? You could leave a comment on one of their blogs but that seems out of place. I remember being on Yahoo IM years ago and they required you to authorize requests to be added to a buddy list. Maybe Vox needs that too.
It's good that Vox only allows members to leave comments so it would be nice to extend that and allow for a way to send a short (private) message to someone. That would allow you to ask if they mind if you add them to your neighborhood.
So, do you think it's rude to add someone to your neighborhood that you don't know and haven't asked in advance? I would like to think it's a compliment because you're interested in what they have to say. Let me know what you think.
Over the weekend I recorded another podcast where I talk about running the first half of the San Francisco Marathon and technology news. I'm up to episode 11 of my podcast which is about technology, running, and playing podsafe music. Check it out if you're interested. The Fogview Podcast
I'm reading "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?" and came across an interesting idea titled "The pressures of inside-the-bottle syndrome."
"... On a day-to-day basis, we are all wrapped up in the most pressing needs of our jobs or businesses. And the needs most pressing, unless we have direct contact with customers, are the ones right in front of us at that moment. Everyday pressures -- producing reports, helping the company realize an upwards-trending graph of net profits, make the perfect pot of coffee, cutting costs, and responding to changes made in other areas of the company -- affect the experience we are trying to communicate.
After hours, days, weeks, months, even years of so-called "real-life-perspective," it becomes easier and easier to slip into the abyss of the company bottle. You become trapped and have only a blurry vision of what's going on outside.
It's from deep inside this bottle that some of the most bloodletting business decisions are made -- giving airline passengers fewer peanuts to snack on or outsourcing telephone customer service to Asia. You can't trace the effects of actions like these back to profit-and-loss statements; they don't have immediate consequences to the bottom line, certainly nothing that can be measured on monthly or yearly basis. Inside the bottle, all systems are go."
I've worked in Engineering groups all my career and found I created the best product or added the best feature when I had contact with customers. Seeing and hearing how a customer used a product or what they wished the product would do was a great incentive to make it happen (or make it better).
It's been said that engineers design things around how they would use it instead of how the customer uses it. Sometimes that's true because the customer is outside the bottle, and inside the bottle is the "perfect pot of coffee."
I'm sure we all can come up with our own examples of where we see this being true but have you looked inside your company's bottle lately?
(For those following along at home, the quoted section from the book starts on page 30.)
This is what I encountered on my way to work this morning. I'm a boater so I feel this person's pain.
When I first went past the accident the truck that was pulling the boat was where the CHP officer is in the picture. The truck was facing oncoming traffic so it must have jackknifed causing the boat to slip completely off the trailer.. I figure the boat was about 28 feet long and I didn't see any other damage to the boat or the truck (except for what you see here). I would have loved to stick around and see how they picked it up and hauled it away.
The accident was on highway 680 (southbound) in Fremont, CA.
Sunday I awoke at 3:30 AM for a 5:55 AM run in the city. I arrived and parked just in time to wait in line for the bathroom; stretch; and join 15,000 other runners. The weather was nice (62 degrees F) with slightly cloudy skies. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and that was a good sign since it meant it wasn't totally fogged in.
I love running in San Francisco because of the beautiful views and weather. This was an almost perfect day to run and I felt strong (besides only getting 4 hours sleep the night before). The highlight of the race was running across the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge starts around mile 6 and there are a couple hills you have to overcome to get there. Running to Vista Point (end of the bridge) and back is a little over 2 miles and provides a nice view of the bay and San Francisco. After reaching Vista Point and heading back over the bridge I saw a sea of runners coming towards me and I wished I had my camera -- it was definally a "Kodak Moment." (I thought about running with my camera but I didn't want the added weight for such a long run.) I saw a number of runners stop and pull out their cameras to capture the moment. I even saw one runner stop and ask another runner to take a picture of her with the bridge in the background. No one seemed to mind and everyone seemed to be enjoying the experience.
After coming off the bridge everything was downhill; and uphill; and downhill; and ... There seemed to be a lot more hills this year than last and it really took a toll on my legs the last two miles. When I entered Golden Gate Park I was looking forward to coming around the turn and heading to the right for the final downhill race to the finish line. This year they changed the course and forced us to the left and up another hill. It was the final struggle before hitting the finish line. My time was 2:17 which was a little behind last years but I felt it was good time beause of what I felt to be a tougher course this year.
The buses took us back to the starting line and I grabbed my camera and took the pictures you see here. The finish line in these pictures is for the Marathoners (26.2 miles); the 2nd Half Marathoners, and the 5K runners/walkers. I have more race/San Francisco pictures on my Flickr site too.
Whenever I run a half marathon I think of those that continue on and finish a full marathon. Two years ago I completed the San Jose Marathon so I know how it feels to conquer that dream. I also know the toll it takes on your body ("hitting the wall") and the amount of time you need to devote to those "long runs" building up to race day. Someday I may do another marathon but I'm content on pushing myself 13.1 miles and cheering on the soles that see my run as only a halfway point.This was the best SF Marathon yet and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.
