Monthly Archives: May 2012
Barefoot Shoes Comparison
Minimalist Shoes / Barefoot Shoes Review
Following is my comparison and review of three pairs of minimalist shoes / barefoot shoes – the Vibram FiveFingers KSO, New Balance Minimus MT10 and the Zem Ninja Split Toe Lo. If you’re considering purchasing these, or any minimalist footwear, I’d urge you to read on.
Hiking Smugglers Notch – Sterling Pond Loop
Sterling Pond Offers Beautiful Views
I had such a good time hiking Mount Hor last week, I decided to schedule a longer hike. After looking at a number of options, I selected the loop around Sterling Pond at the top of Smugglers Notch in Cambridge,Vermont. This hike clocked in at 6.5 miles, making it more than twice the length of my most recent hike. I wasn’t sure how my knees would hold up, but I was willing to find out.
The Best Way to Win a Fight is to Avoid it
Avoiding a Fight is the Only Way to Win
There is a lot of information that you can read, watch and listen to on how to win a fight. However, I believe the only true way to win a fight is to avoid the fight altogether. I don’t mean this in some deep, philosophical way. Not even in a pacifistic way. I mean that, truly, an avoided fight is far better than a “won” fight. These are methods I’ve developed over the years.
WCAX Appearance #1 – Email Safety
Email Safety Chat on WCAX
WCAX found out about my piece on email safety and asked if I’d come on their pre-news magazine show, The :30, to discuss it. Of course, I obliged. Here’s the video. It was my first television appearance, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My second one went far better.
WCAX Appearance #2 – Pinterest
Facebook IPO – What the Future Will Hold
The Financial Gamble that was the Facebook IPO
You’re probably aware of the recent Facebook IPO. I sit writing this midway through the second day of trading. It’s down nearly 10% from the IPO price. Yikes!
I’ve been very public about my feeling that Facebook was overvalued. $100+ billion for a business that has such small (proportional) revenue doesn’t make sense. This is the internet, and assuming that Facebook has time to grow into a behemoth that will justify that valuation ignores the history of the internet. The internet is still new, and there’s always something better around the corner. After all, Facebook dethroned MySpace, which everyone assumed was the be-all, end-all of social. It will happen to Facebook, someday.
We’re in a time when Facebook is facing backlash, in part due to its’ size. There’s always a curse associated with being the big player in an industry. It seems that human beings always want to root for the underdog, and Facebook is certainly not an underdog. Now that they’re public, it will be interesting to see if they can react as quickly as they have in the past. Sure, Mark Zuckerberg maintains a controlling stake in the company, but he now has investors and a board of directors to answer to.
Some have speculated that we’re in another “bubble” of overvalued tech stocks, much as in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, I’m one of them. I’m afraid that things will change dramatically as of Facebook’s first earnings report. At such a large valuation, Facebook will be under great pressure – and great expectations – to start making money. A public company of their size won’t be able to ramp up the revenue as quickly as a small, private one could. I’m afraid this will leave many investors disappointed. This disappointment may drag down the whole sector. It could hurt the entire economy.
If there’s anything rosy in this it’s that I’m not a licensed or accredited anything when it comes to investing. I might be wrong, and part of me hopes I am. Either way, it will be exciting to watch what happens with Facebook over the next three to six months.
Mount Hor Hike (Sutton, VT)
Hiking Mount Hor
I took off on a whim today looking for a reasonably short hike and ended up at Mount Hor. It’s in Sutton, VT, near Lake Willoughby and Lyndonville. I took a number of pictures and certainly enjoyed myself. The bugs weren’t too bad and the three outlooks offered some beautiful vantage points. The 3.5 miles of trails I traveled took me about 2.5 hours, with breaks. I’ll confess I was hiking pretty quickly.
CyanogenMod 7.2 Droid 2 – Installing CM7.2 for Your Motorola Droid 2
CyanogenMod 7.2 Breathes New Life Into the Motorola Droid 2
I had left my Droid 2 sitting in a drawer since I got my Droid X a few months ago. When CyanogenMod 7.2 RC1 came out, I started playing around with getting it loaded up on the Droid 2, not wanting to risk my “production” phone. The first few attempts went awry, so I’ve documented the process that worked for me. I am very happy with the results and feel that CyanogenMod 7.2 is a big step forward from 7.1. Please read this entire post before following the directions. As you might expect, I’m not responsible for anything – so proceed at your own risk.
Why the Staff is the First Martial Arts Weapon
Staff is Often Underrated
If you’ve ever been trained in the use of a martial arts staff, it was likely the first weapon you encountered. You likely also found it boring, secretly wishing you could work with a sword, spear or nunchaku. I remember these feelings when I first learned the staff (bo, in japanese) but have come to understand not only how complex it can be but how pivotal that experience is for learning future weapons.
Don’t Believe Everything You Read
Yes, There are Lies on the Internet
You might have read recently about the fate of hundreds of thousands of computers that are infected with something being called “DNSChanger.” This infection isn’t a virus but a spyware infection. As the stories go (yes, I am choosing that word carefully) these computers will stop working on July 9th, 2012, when the FBI shuts off the control system that these infected computers are communicating through.