A great post Robert. Speak to people about something they can aspire to, stop treating them like you think they are inbred sheep and jsut maybe Obama can get momentum back. - Soulhuntre
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I agree with you on the point of what has to change. But you are saying that Republicans are more liberal than Democrats are, which is stupid. So much of America is more conservative than the Republican Party is showing today. And what the government should do in the next 4 years? Nothing but repeal the idiotic laws and regulations causing so many problems like high health care costs. PS-Religion is not taking over our society/government, look at our social habits and all forms of media. - Randy
@Robert: Thanks for the thought provoking post. - imran
Weren't you smitten and totally tricked by the pretty guy who cheated on his wife? - Douglas Karr
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I wish one day KBR subcontracting awards/terms/prices are released/leaked. - imran
Douglas: yes, I was smitten and totally tricked by John McCain who cheated on his handicapped wife. Thanks for noticing. - Robert Scoble
The same cultural and intellectual arrogance that Democrats displayed in 2004 is back again in 2008. Point well made to get focused on things that matter before Democrats are left stunned on November 5th wondering what happened, empty threats to move to Canada, buying bumper stickers that say "don't blame me," etc... - Peter Kim
Haha - awesome Robert! I bow to your snarky rebute. :) - Douglas Karr
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Great post, Robert. I've been seeing the same actions from people around me, and it's sad to see Democrats take the easy way out and give up hope for the future. I feel like the nation is at a turning point and to pass up on this opportunity will just continue to further our slide from one of the greatest nations in the world. We don't want to just be "ok" as a country, we want to be "great" and that's not easy. (Also, don't be so quick to blame religion, we're not happy with the situ either.) - Sam Dodge
Or perhaps high tech jobs are leaving for the same reason low tech jobs are leaving...wages are higher here than in other countries. You can improve U.S. education and loosen immigration all you want, but if doing business in China improves your bottom line, companies will hire in China. - Ontario Emperor
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As much as I loved Robert's retort, McCain is not the least bit pretty. - MiɳiMagɘ (Sexy Scimitar)
Ontario: the CEOs tell me that it's not just the high wages here (which have gotten a lot lower due to the weak dollar, actually). They tell me they can't bring over here the smartest workers. They can't deal with the high medical costs. They can't deal with the uneducated workforce that's not ready for jobs in science and technology. They can't deal with the infrastructure here (bad transporation systems for moving their workers around, and bad broadband into the home so they are less able to work at home) - Robert Scoble
@Robert: I always wondered what if our government spent one trillion dollars on a new Global Marshall plan to develop the troubled areas after 2001 as a reaction, just imagine, where economy of the world would be today, remember oil barrel price was at mid 20s at start of war. - imran
Weren't we told by the Dems a while back that cheating on your wife in the Oval office was just fine and not a cause for concern? McCains history is not an issue for me - the guy is flawed but human. I can accept that about people. I am not a brittle moralist. - Soulhuntre
just posted this - http://tinyurl.com/yesman - needless to say i think there is a place for concentrating on the shortcomings of the incumbent administration, especially if a candidate is so obviously shaping up to perpetuate them. that said, i will answer Robert's call for something positive, and I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments behind it. important post. - Dan Light
Great post. I think the key to this election may very well be the economy. In middle America - where the Republicans dominated 4 years ago, people are tired of watching their retirement accounts shrink, as the price of day to day living: gas and groceries continues to rise. If the democrats can come up with a specific plan of attack, this may very well be the point that tips the election. - Lorraine Ball
Actually, Soulhuntre, I think the Dems said that having a consentual affair with one person wasn't evidence of illegally pressuring someone else to bestow favors. - MiɳiMagɘ (Sexy Scimitar)
Obama should propose temporarily lifting the costs for bringing money into the US. They did this after 9/11 and billions were brought back into the country by all sorts of corporations. Those dollars went into Domestic investment and really helped things out. He could win over a lot of business votes with that move. - Occasional Headbanger
Soulhuntre - No one said it was fine for anyone to cheat on their wife. Just that it shouldn't be the subject of a congressional investigation and impeachment. - Occasional Headbanger
@MiniMage - some did. But many, many more went on and on about how character doesn't matter, only policies matter. They never really understood why folks might care about the core of a persons views. Am I thrilled McCain had an affair? Nope. Am I happy to take that flaw over a personality that lets someone cut a shady deal with a guy like Rezco and hag out will Bill Ayers? You bet. - Soulhuntre
Coastal elites want to talk about education, science and technology and infrastructure; hillbillies (like Soulhuntre) are fixated on extra-marital affairs. Exhibit A -- America is in major decline as the world's leading economic superpower. - Sean McBride
Great essay. The main problem -- declining education, declining literacy, declining science and technology, declining generation of intellectual capital vis-a-vis our competitors -- all the other problems flow from those core problems. And the current Republican Party is pandering to a fundamentalist base which seems to hate intellectual activity. We may well be at the end of our run as the world's leading economic superpower. - Sean McBride
@Andrew Burd - many, many dems here in the NYC area (since that is where I meet the most people) didn't care about it at all. They simply denied that it shoudl be a factor in how they saw the man at all. The impeachment stuff was a whole other deal I was not a big fan of. - Soulhuntre
Interesting how this started with me asking Democrats to avoid aiming at Republican groins, but now Republicans are aiming at our groins. Damn, can't we do better than this? I guess not. - Robert Scoble
Most of the problems you cite stem from cultural anti-intellectuallism. I'm not sure what any government or person can do to make America value intellectualism more - we're simply a nation that's become too complacent in our success, and hasn't been able to think for ourselves to solve a problem in a long, long time. Republicans exploit it, but they didn't create it. And I don't think the Democrats can do anything to change it. - Eric P
Scoble - love the post. One thing I'd like to ask. Why is that many republicans love to call anyone that is a Democrat a "liberal" or "socialist?" It's like their two year old only this is their new way of calling someone a "poopie head?" I'm always up for healthy debate over the good and bad of both parties but geesh, when the other party can't talk like an adult, it makes it awfully hard to have a productive conversation. - Aaron Strout
I'd vote for any candidate who built a platform around improving the US based on your 6.5 points. Democrat or Republican, these are all extremely important issues. The Reps have already picked which side they want to be on (http://bit.ly/17CClx). I'd like to see the Dems stake as a strong a position. - Chris
Robert - The one problem I had with the post was the lumping legal and illegal immigrants together. America is not mad at legal immigrants. It's the ones who intentional break our laws to get into the country. Come one, come all, but do it legally. Immigration is one of the things that makes our country great. - Raymond Phillips
while I agree 95% with your post, just a minor not: Reagan didn't ask German's to tear down the wall, he asked Gorbachev - but in the end, it was us Germans who tore it down with the tacit understanding that Gorbachev would let it happen - I don't think Reagan's speech had a lot of influence over the millions of protesters in Eastern Germany :) - Frederic
I think it's BOTH AND. I think we should both be talking about the issues dear to us AND pointing out the most newsworthy facts about Palin as President in Waiting because no one in her position has been as woefully prepared. That's not pot shots. That's fact. And too many would forget Keating Five in favor of focusing on the positive. In the end, humor and satire (i.e. wit and intellect) will take down the GOP, not blogging. Tina Fey and Sarah Benincasa, I love you. - jeneane sessum
On the show The Communicators on CSPAN rtsp://video1.c-span.org/project/de/com091308_mcdowell.rm The FCC speaks to the point of the US not really being 19th in the world for broadband. It's not as bad as people make it to be. Check it out. He speaks to net neutrality as well. - Lee Bautista
Wow, everyone has very good comments to Robert's great post. Robert, let me just say that while I'm a republican, I would echo your call to arms... While I do not necessarily agree the Democratic candidates are the correct recourse - a change in direction is most assuredly necessary. Unfortunately, the collective 'we' continue our in-fighting to such a degree we miss the important things such as horrendous medical costs and anti-immigrant sentiment (what happened to the great melting pot?). - ChangeForge | Ken Stewart
You know what I hate? I hate that Robert felt he had to say "My fellow Democrats" rather than "My fellow Americans". Personally, I don't identify with either party, but I can promise you there are Republicans who care about these issues too and even are on the same side as Robert is on some/most of them. The far right pollutes the Repulican name, just as the far left pollutes the Democrats - but Americans are mostly bunched up around the center - and it's only by working together we'll make real changes. - Don MacAskill
good post robert. unfortunately, most americans tend to vote with their heart, not with their head. karl rove has a much better sense of what gets votes than the dems, altho i hope that obama can ris above. still, i agree the issues you selected are pretty much the ones i care about too (particularly: education, immigation, infrastructure... healthcare too, but that needs a hell of a lot more work) - dave mcclure
Other countries always did a good job in many fields, the difference is now Americans are paying attention to that. Big world out there. - Adriano Gonçalves
Really good post. For a moment, I actually thought we'd have a policy debate this election, but we're back to celebrities, moose burgers & lipstick. I'd love to see a push to discuss these issues. (Of course, I also think the Democrats have better answers, but I'd still like to hear the debate anyway.) - Paul Rodriguez
Education will never change under any Democrat. The Teachers Unions will see to that. Obama has already had to back off from any talk of vouchers, merit pay, and allowing capable people to teach whether or not they have a four-year education degree. Teachers Unions have crippled our educational system for decades and Democrats are the cause of that, not the solution. - Dawn
Very well said. I immigrated to the US with the impression that this country is home to socially broad minded citizens who lead the world by breaking new frontiers. However the last few years of extreme social conservatism has disappointed me. We as a country seem less tolerent, race is still a major factor in almost everything, education is put down by using such words as "elite" etc. I hope we come out of this social nose dive and once again be world leaders we once were. - Balakrishnan Satyamurti
Balakrishnan: "last few years of extreme social conservatism"??!! Are you kidding me? There are over 1 MILLION babies being aborted every year in the U.S. Gays and Lesbians are starting to marry. Animal rights are going up. Property rights are going down. Genetic engineering is increasing. What the country is most less tolerant of is religion. Yes, race is still a factor, but we've got an African American candidate running for President. That leaves being called "elite" your only remaining barometer for your absurd assertion. And being "elite" isn't even about education, it's about attitude. - Dawn
jeremiah don't feel bad - one of the bigtime vc's called me "alan" yesterday - so i feel your pain - of course i've never heard of an "analist" either - you are so talented you make up new job titles! - Allen Stern
"Would you like to talk to your Twitter friends or set up a spontaneous conference call? Normally you’d have to agree to hook up over Skype or something else. But soon you could be making calls via Twitter." - Mack D. Male
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"From 3 megawatt offshore monsters to zero energy windmill skyscrapers, kite flown turbines and giant seabed anchored super-turbines, held aloft by blimps. Here is our list of the most futuristic and quixotic designs for wind turbines. By far the most beautiful way to harness energy." - Jason Wehmhoener
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I also wonder how much capturing a significant percentage of land-based wind might affect the world's weather... - Tad, Fool
Seeing these makes it seem so obvious, beautiful and clean on how we should get our energy. There is one thing missing and that is they don't consume something that will continuously make someone else rich. So they'll never be adopted in those markets until the fossil fuel business dies. In most states in the USA electric power has been recently deregulated into a for profit competitive business. Instead of a not for profit public utility. One can only hope though. - Adam Turetzky
@Tad, I also worry about "unintended consequences" of widespread adoption. - asiriusgeek
You know, everything you do ultimately contributes to the inevitable heat death of the universe. - Jason Wehmhoener
That shot on the right gives me the freak-out something fierce. - Akiva Moskovitz
I refuse to acknowledge the so-called "inevitable" heat death of the universe. We (sentient life) are a tool of the universe to awaken it to prevent that very scenario. :) - Tad, Fool
Teasing us with hints of the esoteric extropian mystery... tsk tsk - Jason Wehmhoener
Just reading from the good book of Kurzweil - Tad, Fool
I like the idea of turbines constructed in locations that don't take up land that could be used for something else (or simply be used to look beautiful). - MiɳiMagɘ (Sexy Scimitar)
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if the ones over freeways were low enough they could destroy SUVs too - Amit Patel
I question if Gehry should get the credit for these buildings. it really is an engineers issue... am I wrong? - ⓃⓄⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂⓄⓃ
@Noah - only if the engineer can come up with the idea first. While the "reality" of the building lies with the engineer, it's Gehry and team who create the form and space. - JA Castillo
I see Gehry as a lucky guy to come along at a time when the technology enables him to do these things. I see far more creative stuff coming from modern sculpture in the 50's ...these buildings in my opinion do not excite me as much as the technology behind it. there is no reason this technology could not be used to create "figurative" large works. I see this stuff being made today as a complete creative waste. Look at the cubist work of Jacques Lipchitz http://www.jacqueslipchitz.com... - ⓃⓄⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂⓄⓃ
I commented on that blog - but here's something I've been thinking. Ther term "property" is too prejudicial. I'd be happier calling them "Intellectual Rights" or something like that -- explicitly removing the concept of property since once someone likens a patent to (for example), real property, then all real policy discussion seems to end. Which is a problem... - Gabe Wachob
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"Protocol buffers are Google's language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible mechanism for serializing structured data – think XML, but smaller, faster, and simpler. You define how you want your data to be structured once, then you can use special generated source code to easily write and read your structured data to and from a variety of data streams and using a variety of languages – Java, C++, or Python." - DeWitt Clinton
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And for ex-Googlers, come check out the version that we open sourced. All the awesome from before, but cleaned up and even tighter (see the Java apis now). - DeWitt Clinton
Of all the things to go open source since I've been at Google, this ranks near or at the very top of my list of favorites. A huge congrats to Kenton and everybody involved for pulling it off. May your data serialize efficiently and extensibly forevermore! - DeWitt Clinton
Thrift includes a whole RPC framework (including thread managers and so on). Protocol buffers are just a serialization mechanism. Otherwise, the differences are mostly in the details of the way things like versioning are handled. - ⓞnor
Interesting guidelines. On a related note, I'm not sure if it's acknowledged or not, but most modern webapps use a lot of queuing. Dopplr does it heavily, for instance, and I do it increasingly in Expectnation. Obvious to somebody like you, but I wonder if it's accepted best practice yet? - Edd Dumbill
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I thought something like this was becoming increasingly obvious, but it's even occasionally controversial in my experience. Queues are hard (they can be); or the processing can be made fast enough with a bit more work (it won't be); or simultaneity and consistency are paramount (not usually true). - l.m.orchard
This is cool... it's obvious to me when it becomes a problem. I've never worked on twitter-sized issues, but the idea of queuing writes makes sense and can be done elegantly. Flickr does a nice job, I think wrt tag renames - Dave Dash
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My friends who work in banking IT are always amused as web2.0/LAMP gradually rediscover the various tools they've been using for enterprise integration. I eagerly await the point when people re-discover topics and tuple spaces. - Adewale Oshineye
Also, green-screen 3270 terminals. Those are going to hit the web in a big way any day now. - ⓞnor
I think it shows how *non* mainstream queuing is that Google's AppEngine has no ability to run background processes. It's all request/response with a maximum of 9 seconds. If this sort of thinking was even somewhat the norm, there would have been screams from people missing such a vital feature. :-) - Russell Beattie
That's an ActiveX plugin? A pure JS 3270 emulator would be just too awesome. - ⓞnor
