Imagine how easy it would be for marketing departments to have a list of everything you do and like. The social networking site Facebook is constructing an advertising system that would do just that. According to a Wall Street Journal article, the website plans to market to its 30 million users based on what they define as important in their profiles.

These ads would show up differently than the banner ads and boxed flyers that appear on the borders of Facebook pages, say people familiar with the plan. Instead, they would be interspersed with items on the “news feed,” which is a running list of short updates on the activities of a user’s Facebook friends. In addition, the ads would show up on Facebook pages that feature services provided by other companies, one person says….

Eventually, it hopes to refine the system to allow it to predict what products and services users might be interested in even before they have specifically mentioned an area.

Read the entire WSJ article.

Like to download?  Stay away from Comcast.

What do you do in an overpopulated country?  Build a skyscraper that is bigger then Mt Fuji.

You can’t keep a good torrent site down.  Welcome back, Supernova!

Ok, maybe Comcast isn’t so bad.  At least they aren’t offering to spy on their customers, like AT&T.

Is HD DVD beating Blu-ray in the nextgen format war?  All signs point to yes.

Will the video game market be twice as big as music by 2011?

Amazon to launch DRM-free music store in September.

Math used to solve the worlds greatest question – what makes women beautiful.

My goals were simple when I was young.  Be a starting defender on the soccer team.  Save up the money to buy a cool car.  Talk to women in hopes of a date.  Most goals were relatively short term, and easily achieved or forgotten.

As we get older, setting goals becomes more important in shaping our lives.  We each have a set of goals or a list of things in our mind we want to do in life.  About five years ago, a friend sent me a link about writing goals and discussing with friends.  The objective of the exercise was to vocalize goals, allowing friends to help you achieve them.  Not surprisingly I was the only one in my group to make the list.

I was reminded of this Sunday, as the New York Times had an article about life lists.  These goal lists are the new fad among baby boomers and Generation X’ers alike. It had been a while since I examined mine, so I decided to pull it out.

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Censorship. As a writer, I have strong opinions about it in any form. We as individuals have a choice to read or ignore what is presented to us. News outlets that prevent individuals from seeing something that is topical or controversial are a danger and threat to our country.

This weekend, the Washington Post along with 25 other newspapers became a danger and a threat to our country.

What story could be so controversial that the Washington Post; a bastion of news and opinion would refuse to publish it? Alas, it was not a story that tarnished the Post’s reputation, rather the weekly comic strip Opus.
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My mind races to my childhood, and my grandmother’s farm.  During the summer, I would often help with chores.  As a reward she would make dinner, or at least offer a treat.  A glass canister shaped like an oversized perfume bottle contained my favorite.  The name Orange Slices implies these sugar-covered candies shaped like an orange segment had some redeeming characteristics to them.

“You realize there are no natural ingredients in those things,” a classmate pointed out as we sampled various foods, including my beloved Orange Slices.

Like a child that knew in the back of his mind that Santa didn’t exist, I was probably aware that these fixtures of my youth were a creation of chemicals melded together.  Like a child, I was not ready to believe it.

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Before it even hit shelves, 12 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were shipped to retailers. It was the most anticipated book in years, and the end of the epic quest that kept children and adults alike enthralled for a decade. People lined up at local bookstores hours before its midnight release to assure their copy (except in Madison), and be one of the first to know the outcome of their favorite characters. However, some of us decided to wait and borrow it from a friend rather then give in to the insanity.

I finally secured the book and the time required to flip though its roughly 800 pages of story. The main question is was it worthy of the hype? The answer is a resounding…
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The CD celebrates its 25th birthday today, and over 200 BILLION have been sold. I thought my collection was big…

Was Einstein’s theory of relativity wrong? If these scientists are correct, it could make time travel possible.

What is cooler then watching a $1.5 million yacht fall into the water? Not much really, unless you’re on the boat.

A win for video game fiends in California.

UW named “Hottest Big State School.” by Newsweek.

Free Speech hater sues Imus. 

The cover story of the NY Times today discusses how in Silicon Valley, a couple million dollars just isn’t enough for some people.

“A few million doesn’t go as far as it used to.” states Hal Steger, a marketing executive worth $3.5 million.

Excuse me if I don’t shed a tear for these whiny millionaires that are in the top 1% income bracket of Americans.

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“It’s not that I don’t like you; ok, it is that I don’t like you.” A normal conversation I had with a stranger during a night out.

I call it being blunt or overly honest. Most people call it being an asshole.  Rather than fight over terminology with these bastards, I simply smile and say, “Yea, that’s me.”  I embrace my inner asshole, because I enjoy it, and well, I’m good at it.

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Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert has a wonderful post on his blog explaing his formula for success:

If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:

1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try.

The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people.

The more you can be good at, the more marketable you are. Read the entire article.

BBC News is reporting that laser printers can emit particles into the air similar to second hand smoke. From the article:

Almost one-third were found to emit ultra-tiny particles of toner-like material, so small that they can infiltrate the lungs and cause a range of health problems from respiratory irritation to more chronic illnesses.

While this is the first study of its kind, it should not surprise anyone that has worked in an office. When printing using a laser printer, there is often a sandy substance left by the printer on the print dock (more so when there are a lot og graphics/blackspace involved . It would not be difficult for that to get into the air and your lungs.

Read the article.