Maybe getting Bambi to blog is not such a good idea…

I got fired from Bloomberg today because of this web site. I'll post more about it later but I need to start networking like mad now and find a job. – Chi-Chu Tschang (via Dan Gillmor)

I wonder if I have to wear a bikini to get my name into the Devil's Dictionary X?  With my stealth beer belly, it won't be a pretty sight.

Francisco, Bambi
a wall-eyed escapee from the Playboy Mansion who seems to have something to do with economics in a more specific way than how many $20s will fit in her bikini bottom. – Devil's Dictionary X

Korean men tend to swear a lot.  I have this friend who grew up in Pusan area.  Normally, he talks like others, but when he relaxes, he uses foul language that will make sailors pale.  In few occasions, I have heard him talk with a friend he grew up with in Pusan and their conversation was amazing enough for me to wonder it could be bottled and sold as paint remover.  It didn't last more than five minutes but whole lot of killing, raping, castrating, and even cannibalism was used in a weird ritual of male bonding.

This is not limited to Korea nor others.  There was this executive level guy who was in habit of using foul language in the office and made the mistake of directing four-letter words to me.  I knew he really meant to say "Nice to see ya again", but it came out like "How's the bloodsucking biz, c**ksucker."  So I responded in the same language, "I see that you didn't get fired yet, a**hole."  Then he and I both grinned and shook hands.  Of course, people standing around us were a bit shocked, but I think they understood that there was little prospect of a fist fight breaking out.

What is the lesson here?  Well, let's just say there are languages and then there are lingos.  It might be fun to designated one day out of a month as Foulmouth Day for bloggers.

"Dave" writes on friendship and what happens when friends are full of sh*t.  I consider Dave to be a friend and I am also one of those people who has a different definition of the word than Dave does.

I call friendly people with whom I have interacted with, in person or online, as friends.  Pretty loose indeed.  When a friend and I get to know each other well, I call him/her a close friend.  When friendship lasts over a long time, I call him/her an old friend.  Regardless of depth or time, I call friends with admirable soul, good friends.

Friends whom I know very well, had known for decades, and have good souls are called my best friends.  I have very few best friends but among them there are those who will give their life for me and me likewise.  I call them true friends.  I have two true friends.

Regardless of all this, I tend to be liberal with my advices to my friends and conservative with questions.  My advices are, often enough, full of sh*t.  It's not that they aren't good advices.  It's just that what works for me often doesn't work for others.

Still, I dislike being told that I am full of sh*t when all I am doing is trying to share.  There are some I-know-more-than-you going on, but not enough to sour the main intent or instinct behind the offering of advice.  To me, it's like a common reaction people have when they taste something great or awful: try this!  That is all.

My intention with this post is not to disagree with Dave nor tell him that he should change his definition of friendship and how he deals with his friends.  My intention is to show that words are containers into which each of us put our own meanings into them and that what we pour out of those containers to others may not be what they are tasting.

What do you mean my beer taste like piss?  That's my son's peepee jar!

One of the common cited RFID use is a customer walking by checkout stand with a shopping cart.  Items in the cart are automatically noted and payment is also made automatically.  Fat chance.

Once RFID becomes common place, people will find ways to kill or replace RFID tags.  If checkout is automated, one could walk out with a cartful of expensive goods and pay nothing.

Adding a weight machine at the counter could help since a cart full of expensive wine weighs more than a pack of gum: "Please push the cart onto the blue plate and step back."  What if you had half of a watermelon and a sack of potato?  How easy is it to add weight information into RFID tags?  Sure, throw more equipment at the problem.

When all done, supermarkets will turn into US Customs.  Idle blue line leading straight to the exit, crowded red line for inspectors, and an armed guard at the exit.  So much for great shopping experiences.

Beside amazing closeups from the Space Station via "Dave", here are some more photos and movies of Isabel.  Isabel is one of the most well-formed hurricane I have seen in a while.

Hearing on whether to keep the increased cap on yearly number of foreign visas for IT workers, H-1B, is going on.  I am for sliding back the number from 115,000 to original 65,000 and utilizing that number more effectively.

I have seen companies with large number of foreign workers doing mundane tasks that could easily have been done by US workers albeit at higher cost.  If you can afford the higher price, then find ways to do without, increasing productivity and encouraging innovation in the process.  If you have work that can be outsourced, by all means outsource the task where you can find cheaper labor.  If the local labor is too expensive, thanks to higher living cost, relocate your company.

I have also seen really good engineers from overseas waiting for ages to get H-1B visas.  Guess why?  The pipeline is filled with mediocre engineers and IT workers with mundane skills by greedy immigrant lawyers.

I believe that current paradox of increased unemployment and apparent lack of workers with unique and difficult-to-find skills is due to inefficiencies.  Increasing the number just hides the problem of cheap foreign workers with common skills keeping legitimate candidates of the H-1B program out and stealing jobs from US workers.

People with concerns about the rising unemployment or difficulties of finding workers with the right skills are actually on the same side and should work together.  Only real proponents of increasing H1-B numbers are immigrant lawyers and companies who wants to use cheaper workers shipped in from oversea to kill off those trying to preserve the original intent of the H-1B program.

The H-1B program needs to be overhauled instead of being expanded.

It's issues like this that makes me itch to get into politics.  Why can't politicians see straight?  Why can't they try earnestly to find a good solution instead of taking up positions and eyeballing halfway points to compromise on?  It must be the water.

I am thinking about starting up a blog-related business.  The idea feels right and there is even a *gasp* plausible business model.  My prospective partner and I will be sitting down next week to flesh out the details.  Of course, I'll be consulting still to keep bread on the table, but it feels good, blood thirsty good, to be heading into a giddy storm of hopes and chaos again.

Here is Bambi Francisco's article about the VLAB event: Friendster gets close to Benchmark.  Yours truly had the last words (oops, I overlooked AlwaysOn Perkins' quote).

What does it all mean?  Any one of us can whistle a song any time.  If several people whistled simultaneously, net effect is different in many ways.  Each of us will respond to the whole, changing octaves, filling in side melody, feelings enjoining with others', whatever.

Can you remember the last time you whistled?  I can't.  But you will remember when others whistled with you.  Impact is different when many people do something together.  Bubble was a good example.  It was just whole lot of people whistling the same tune and drowning in the song.

The question is, can it be tapped for sustainable profit?  I think so.  Friendster.com is in my mind a pretty silly business, but I can't wipe away my respect for the unknown, the network-effect.

Update:

Here are other posts on the event:

• Ross Mayfield
• Marc Canter
• Stewart Butterfield
• Mine