Tales of Hoffman

I'm not dead...yet

Just on Holiday Hiatus. Was hoping to ignore the blog for two weeks or so to "recharge" for the new year, while I spend copious quality time with the kids. That worked until I checked today and saw 25 or so comment spams. Ugh. These guys are the lowest. Anyway, if anyone from TypePad is listening, I could use a way to delete all comments from a single IP address with one click. That would save a ton of time...

I'll be back...Happy New Year.

It's a Hoffman Blitz

Today's Op-Ed Page in the New York Times features not one, but TWO, different opinion pieces written by two different guys whose last name happens to be Hoffman. Neither one is any relation to me (that I know of), but how weird is that!

Bruce Hoffman is a terrorism expert with the RAND Corporation.

Paul Hoffman is author of "Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight."

Steve Hoffman doesn't get his opinions in the New York Times, but posts them on the Web anyway. ;-)

The Flu Scare

Sydney notes and analyzes the current Flu Scare. Not saying that we should not be cognizant of the flu and get shots to those who need it, but I think the media is complicit in ratcheting up some irrational fears.

The Bully Pulpit

Tog points out the importance of REAL QA testing by ranting about the bugs in his Dish PVR. Sounds like a real mess to me.

Of course, he could be using a TIVO, but he buys into the "privacy paranoia crowd." I don't understand these folks....Does Tivo know what I watch? In some sense, yes. do they really care about what I, Steve Hoffman, watch on a daily basis. Of course not! Am I so self centered as to think that they are tracking my personal viewing habits on an individual basis? No. And if they were, would I care? Not a lick. Really, folks. Let's get over ourselves. If you think it's better to use a buggy (or broken!) product because the far better alternative reports back some of your usage to a database that's probably too large and complicated for anyone to make sense of (let alone recognize you personally in...), you need to step back re-evaluate your priorities.

By the way, last night, we watched Rudolph, then 24, then Queer Eye. If anyone wants to track my viewing on a daily basis, let me know. I'll be happy to keep you posted.

It'll be a Long Journey

As you can see from the "Current Reads" sidebar to the left, I've started Neal Stephenson's latest, Quicksilver. At 944 pages, this will NOT be a quick read. I hope it's as good as his other, Cryptonomicon, which I enjoyed immensely. Just finished the first chapter, so I'm about 2.1% done. ;-)

Enoch goes Panther

Enoch is installing OSX Panther...So, Enoch, how did it work out? Tell us all the nasty details. Should I wait any longer before putting it on my TiBook?

Making RSS Easier

Dave Winer refers to the fact that many folks are talking about the user experience problem in the whole RSS subscription model. I spoke up about this at BloggerCon, and I'm happy to see that the discussion is continuing. I agree with Dave that we really need the OS entities (Microsoft, Apple, Linux) to build in support for this. My guess is that it's already done somewhere in Microsoft, but it's just waiting for the right time to come out (will we really have to wait until Longhorn? that's TOO LONG).

Lookin' for Women? Try Med School

ABC News: Female Med School Applicants Surpass Men

Rumsfeld Wins Foot in Mouth Award

Each year the Plain English Campaign gives out it's annual awards that both applaud and razz the best and worst examples of using clear and accurate language in the media. The "Foot in Mouth" award goes to a public figure who uttered the most baffling words during the year. This year's award went to -- the envelope please.....Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for this stunning piece of elocution:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know."

Wow! Don't you just love it? It sounds like the way I talk to my kids to test if they are paying attention. Usually, my daughter just comes back with, "Now you're just confusing me, Dad." Next time she says that, I'll try Rummy's paragraph on for size.

AIDS: Link and Think

This Link and Think project is very interesting. In order to raise awareness for World AIDS Day, they are asking bloggers to write entries or link so interesting AIDS resources. Well, as you may know, there's no better resource for physicians than Medscape, particularly in the AIDS arena. So here's my "donation":

Medscape HIV/AIDS Homepage
The last seven days of HIV-AIDS Content on Medscape
(And for all you bloggers out there, here's the same page, but as a convenient RSS Feed)
Medscape Antiretroviral Therapies Resource Center
Medscape Pregnancy and Vertical HIV Transmission Resource Center