REM -- Reveal

They were my first concert, 1984 at Radio City.

These songs are from the album Reveal -- came out the same year as U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind, and while I liked that album, I loved this one. It didn't really get any play, though. Stipe never played the game in the same way as Bono. He has charisma, but nobody plays in Bono's league. And when I think of where REM started -- they are probably where they always wanted to be.

Poppy ska

Not sure how they chose this to open the concert . . .

but it was perfect.

Public Relations -- Knicks -- Marbury

Marbury is an odd duck, and has alienated every teammate and coach he has ever had. He's getting paid millions to do nothing, doesn't have an agent and has made poor decision after poor decision on and off the court. He is incapable of masking what he is thinking. It is this lack of guile, however, that serves him in this situation. His ability to say, do you really think they wanted me to be the starting shooting guard. I am sure D'Antoni offered it to him. I am sure Marbury sneered in response. That sneer was what the Knicks hoped for.

Yet, somehow, the Knicks have managed to be the villain in this. That is one talented PR team. They think they are smarter then they really are. And that the public is stupid. Sadly, I think that is what PR has become.

It is as we say it is, rather then what it really is. The problem is, when you lose credibility, you lose the ability to disseminate real information, thereby making your role the antithesis of what it was originally meant to be.

Singalong Junk

From the above album -- not a fun video, just a picture, but a beautiful melody. Paul does write some beautiful instrumentals.

Mike and the Mad Dog

Some good info on their breakup from Neil Best. He has about ten blog posts from a long interview he had with Francesa. Most people wouldn't read all ten blog posts, I am not most people.

I must say that I was very happy not to receive more then one or two calls about the break-up when it happened. It made me feel like my life had progressed.

Unitl mid-December

Franken -- Coleman

Tom Friedman - Energy Technology

I haven't read Friedman's book, Hot, Flat and Crowded. And I was annoyed by Friedman for a long time for his "suck on this" rhetoric in support of the Iraq war, and his consistent insistence that the next 6 months would tell the story in Iraq got old after 36 or 42 months of the same.

But I don't like to hold grudges, and cut off good ideas just because I have had issues with the person speaking them. He also warmed my heart after the Republican Convention by pointing out the absurdity of people chanting "Drill Baby, Drill." He made the analogy to someone in the late eighties chanting "IBM Selectric Typewriters" in the face of the internet revolution.

Friedman has some very good ideas about the United States moving into a Energy Technology revolution. I drove to Cape May yesterday and listened to a podcast of Friedman speaking at the London School of Economics. You can download or listen to the address at the site I linked to, the powerpoint he used is also available. In a way I think Friedman is trying to reform himself -- and knows how poorly he performed in the early 2000's. If this is his path to redemption, I welcome him.

Ph. D. programs

Instructional or Educational Technology

Southern Miss -- not clear if completely online