The mania sweeping the US - and parts of the world — is rather akin to what my folks told me it was like with Kennedy and Trudeau in the 60s. And he is a very good orator, something that’s been sorely lacking in US politics for quite a while.

What I’m most looking for is a nice, civil election for a change. I can’t see either McCain nor Obama getting nasty. In fact, from what I’ve seen, they both seem extremely passionate so it should be an election of ideas. Also from what I’ve read, it seems they both have similar concerns. And McCain has already asked for 10 debates/town halls with Obama. I think that’s a great idea.

So here’s to hoping for a civilized election in the US based on passionate and reasoned debate on ideas and ideals. If the US has such an election, it’ll not only be good for the US but for the rest of the world. Here’s to hope and may the best man win.

This is the full video. It’s worth the one hour to watch this and be amazed at what was available back then and the vision of what would be, and then be saddened to realize it’s 40 years on and we’ve only accomplished some of what Engelbart envisioned.

My belief is that Microsoft could own a new era, but it requires such a radical departure from what they are that they can’t. A private company probably could, but not a public one. They have to protect what they have, so they come up with half-hearted attempts. What we keep seeing emerge from Microsoft is just that, half-hearted attempts that keep things tied to the existing crown jewels. For MS to compete with Google effectively — or any Internet-based firm — they have to compete against themselves. And to do that means a loss of profits, which will drive down the stock, which will drive away some employees. To say nothing of what shareholders will do once that starts happening.

But there is a way out: the solution is not focusing on the current era — The Internet Era — but focusing on the next one. That type of strategy will work, but it requires a lot of research and understanding what the problems are. Web 3.0, if you will, is anyone’s game. And Microsoft is well positioned to own that era, but not if they fixate on Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 crap.

The ultimate problems are simple:

• accessibility of information wherever
• data portability
• applications as data
• universality of information

It’s the information that’s the future, and no one has a hook into that future yet. And yet, a huge quantity of information has been and is being created using Microsoft software. That gives Microsoft a huge leg up on everyone else. That is if Microsoft would focus more on the information being created and less on new features and eye-candy. In fact, my biggest disappointment with Microsoft of late has been WinFS — or more accurately, the lack of WinFS. Such a great idea, but it’s dead. They had the right idea, but tied it to NTFS. They overburdened something that should have been new and wonderful and it died. The innovator’s dilemma.

Unfortunately, public companies focus on the here and now regardless of what any smart folks in their firms may state. If that wasn’t the case the computer I’d be using would say Xerox and not Apple.

It’s got a definite entrepreneurial bent but also has some interesting opinions on various technologies. Well worth reading and after reading his articles repeatedly for the past few months via linkage I figured I’d just go to the source straight away.

For those interested check out Hank Williams’ blog. With a name like that I wonder if he’s into country music?

For the lazy type unwilling to wander through his site to find the gems, here are some of my favourte posts of his:

• Who Takes More Risk, The VC or The Entrepreneur?
• Paul Graham Says VCs Not Bold Enough. I Say None of Us Are.
• Chris Anderson’s Voodoo Economics of Free. A favourite whipping post for Mr. Williams.
• Free Is Killing Us. Blame the VCs.
• Why I Hate VCs.
• Most of the Data We Save Won’t Be Useful Again.
• The Death of the Relational Database.

His blog seems to only have been up since the start of the year, with one lonely post in 2007. Somehow, it looks like it was simply misarchived.

No matter. His posts are fascinating.

Many times folks ask me how to keep people motivated and I’m typically at a loss. I don’t know how I do it. Maybe I’m just super charismatic. Or maybe I spin a good yarn. I really don’t know. But I seem to do something since folks follow me about and many have said they’d still like to work with me — and some still do, even two or three jobs/companies later.

But what is it that folks most enjoy? Often I’m told it’s the notion of “fostering innovation” or of “not suffering fools” or being “brutally honest”. Perhaps. I’m just too enmeshed to notice. However, Brad Bird of Pixar was interviewed by The McKinsey Quarterly and had some deeply insightful things to say that echo many of the things I’ve said. Of course, Bird says them so much better than I ever have so read his interview here. For those too lazy, here is a list of his Ten Lessons, all of which are nothing short of brilliantly explained in the linked article.

1. Herd Your Black Sheep
2. Perfect is the Enemy of Innovation
3. Look for Intensity
4. Innovation Doesn’t happen in a Vacuum
5. High Morale Makes Creativity Cheap
6. Dont Try To “Protect your success”
7. Steve Jobs Says ‘Interaction = Innovation’
8. Encourage Inter-disciplinary Learning
9. Get Rid of Weak Links
10. Making $$ Can’t Be Your Focus

Rumour has it that Primer McGuinty will announce that Ontarians can dry their clothes outside. Finally. A bit of sanity. And why did it take this long? You’d think one of the first things the green types would have demanded would have been the elimination on the ban on drying clothes outside. It’s an easy way to save money for families and environmentally friendly to boot, especially in the summer when it’s hot outside and the electricity would be better spent cooling us down as opposed to heating up our clothes — something the sun can do for free.

So a hearty thanks to the Premier for doing something sane and long overdue.

But Heston helped bring SF films to the masses, allowing it to be respectable instead of just B rate fare as it was before Planet of the Apes.

And Heston uttered one of my favourite quotes:

“I’ve played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses - and that’s probably enough for any man”

Both are amazing books complete with a DVD of Bertinet making dough for bread. Unlike how I was taught, Bertinet’s method does not use a lot of flour and instead makes the dough elastic through kneading alone. I spoke with a friend of mine who was trained as a pastry chef and she said that Bertinet’s method is very French and the way you make many French doughs, be they pastry or bread.

I’ve tried a few of the recipes and they’re simply awesome. It’s money well spent.

Plus, within his book he describes a variety of starters, including those started with spelt flour instead of regular flour. I tried this recently and it was a great success.

In this latest recipe I opted for a variation on what I’ve been experimenting with of late with starters. Instead of a regular starter I made a sourdough starter from spelt. I then created a dough that was 40% spelt and 50% white flour and 10% semolina. The bread was fantastic. The crumb was very fine, most probably due to the spelt. The colour of the crust was totally different than my usual breads, too. The bread had an excellent chew and the taste was similar to potato bread but with a hint of nuttiness. Totally awesome. I’ll be making it again.

I’ve also discovered this book by Jeff Hertzberg: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Simply amazing what can be done with that simple method for bread making highlighted in the New York Times’ article on Jim Lahey’s no knead method.

Hertzberg shows how to make everything from bread to brioche and cinnamon rolls. Well worth the investment, especially as the results are truly amazing. There can simply be no further excuses that one doesn’t have the time to bake fresh bread or pastries.

Man may not live by bread alone, but with good bread it makes the living easier!

Tons of Snow Test a Place Where Cold is No Stranger (registration, free, required)

To enjoy a shot of our neighbourhood, here’s what it looks like after the recent melt off! Those banks are about 10ft high, they used to be about 14′ high but it’s been raining today and reasonably mild the last couple of weeks.

And during that storm in early March — this was halfway through, with another 20+cm on its way.