January 30, 2005

They say the darnedest things!

Check it out at overheard in New York.

The brightest pages of history

Via Jeff Jarvis, a post from Iraqi brothers Mohammed and omar that will bring tears to your eyes:

The people have won.
We would love to share what we did this morning with the whole world, we can't describe the feelings we've been through but we'll try to share as much as we can with you.
We woke up this morning one hour before the alarm clock was supposed to ring. As a matter of fact, we barely slept at all last night out of excitement and anxiety.

The first thing we saw this morning on our way to the voting center was a convoy of the Iraqi army vehicles patrolling the street, the soldiers were cheering the people marching towards their voting centers then one of the soldiers chanted "vote for Allawi" less than a hundred meters, the convoy stopped and the captain in charge yelled at the soldier who did that and said:
"You're a member of the military institution and you have absolutely no right to support any political entity or interfere with the people's choice. This is Iraq's army, not Allawi's".
This was a good sign indeed and the young officer's statement was met by applause from the people on the street.
The streets were completely empty except for the Iraqi and the coalition forces ' patrols, and of course kids seizing the chance to play soccer!

We had all kinds of feelings in our minds while we were on our way to the ballot box except one feeling that never came to us, that was fear.
We could smell pride in the atmosphere this morning; everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the center.

I couldn't think of a scene more beautiful than that.
From the early hours of the morning, People filled the street to the voting center in my neighborhood; youths, elders, women and men. Women's turn out was higher by the way. And by 11 am the boxes where I live were almost full!
Anyone watching that scene cannot but have tears of happiness, hope, pride and triumph.

The sounds of explosions and gunfire were clearly heard, some were far away but some were close enough to make the windows of the center shake but no one seemed to care about them as if the people weren't hearing these sounds at all.
I saw an old woman that I thought would get startled by the loud sound of a close explosion but she didn't seem to care, instead she was busy verifying her voting station's location as she found out that her name wasn't listed in this center.

How can I describe it!? Take my eyes and look through them my friends, you have supported the day of Iraq's freedom and today, Iraqis have proven that they're not going to disappoint their country or their friends.

Is there a bigger victory than this? I believe not.

I still recall the first group of comments that came to this blog 14 months ago when many of the readers asked "The Model?"… "Model for what?"
Take a look today to meet the model of courage and human desire to achieve freedom; people walking across the fire to cast their votes.

Could any model match this one!? Could any bravery match the Iraqis'!?
Let the remaining tyrants of the world learn the lesson from this day.

The media is reporting only explosions and suicide attacks that killed and injured many Iraqis s far but this hasn't stopped the Iraqis from marching towards their voting stations with more determination. Iraqis have truly raced the sun.

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.
I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

Yes brothers, proceed and fill the box!
These are stories that will be written on the brightest pages of history.

It was hard for us to leave the center but we were happy because we were sure that we will stand here in front of the box again and again and again.
Today, there's no voice louder than that of freedom.

No more confusion about what the people want, they have said their word and they said it loud and the world has got to respct and support the people's will.

God bless your brave steps sons of Iraq and God bless the defenders of freedom.

Aasha Al-Iraq….Aasha Al-Iraq….Aasha Al-Iraq.

Mohammed and Omar.

A Great Day for Freedom

When even the New York Times has to concede:

If the insurgents wanted to stop people from voting, they failed. If they wanted to cause chaos, they failed. The voters were completely defiant, and although there was never the sense that the insurgency was over, there was a feeling that the people of Baghdad, showing a new, positive attitude, had turned a corner.

Just Fantastic. And CNN is reporting 72% (!!!!!) voter turnout.

The only gray lining to this silver cloud is that it is a bit depressing that Iraqis will face down guns, thugs, and bombs to participate in democracy in greater proportion than my own countrymen.

January 29, 2005

The Man on YOUR Street

Is named Greg Packer.

January 28, 2005

Social Networking

The best quote on social netowrking thus far, from the sometimes irascible John Sumser:

We're of the opinion that social networking software is essentially a screwdriver in search of something to screw.

That gave me quite a chuckle.

January 27, 2005

Sgt. Pepper's

I've listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band twice tonight.

What a beautiful album, if you've forgotten. Put it on and listen to Ringo's drumming on "A Day in the Life" -- syncopated, sweet, rolling. He's the most under-rated of drummers.

And if you listen to "Lovely Rita" all by itself, you'll be pleasantly shocked by the complexity and engaging hooks in this little 3-minute ditty (not to mention the chicken-squawk-turned-guitar-lick finale).

January 21, 2005

NYC 1833

Whereas 50 years later, the city has sprouted!

New York in 1776

Development hadn't even made it to Houston yet!

January 19, 2005

iPodShuffle Autopsy

Knifes up!

Sell Your Chametz Online

You know you want to.

A Segregated Post

Lots of "Whites Only" and "Colored Only" signs in this look back. Pretty awful. Can you imagine living in a society like that?

January 17, 2005

It Was 10 Years Ago Today

That I started Forbes Pacifica Trading Company, LLC -- my little import-export firm specialized in the export of U.S.-made pet foods to Japan.

Wow! Does that seem like a lifetime ago. The night before I launched the company (also a Monday January 17th) a double rainbow appeared outside my window.

When I opened the doors, we didnt have an e-mail address and many of our old-timer customers over in Japan were greatly amused that I had never seen a Telex machine.

I checked the web today to see if any footprint of Forbes Pacifica remains; and there's not much:

Just this lawyer's notice of representation of United American Exports, Inc. in its sale to Forbes Pacifica Trading Co. LLC.

So in any event -- Happy 10th Anniversary Forbes Pacifica!

January 16, 2005

What to do in New York

"A non-snarky answer"

The Trip of a Lifetime

B-school buddy Dev Khare is on a 6-mont worldtour and is blogging it. Great photos.

As I'm itching to go to India, I'll plan on reading Dev's posts in detail over the next few weeks.

Good lcuk Dev!

January 15, 2005

Hello Kitty Ferrari

Hello Kitty Ferrari.

Cenedella mentions on Snopes

The Urban Legends Reference Pages "Snopes.com" mentions cousin Bob's Santa Cross painting.

Cheezy Lies

ContractsProf Blog has this interesting post on a court's finding that state governments and agencies can lie to you.

January 14, 2005

Brad and Jen are available!

Read their Match.com profiles here.

January 12, 2005

Bush League Management at Google

I am not a big fan of Eric Schmidt ("Fire Eric Schmidt Now").

The guy walked onto a gravy train with a 5% stake (what? they couldn't persuade him to take the job at 4%? He said no at 3%? He didnt want to leave Novell(!!!!) for anything less than 2%??) and has proceeded to fluxx up everything critical executive decision he has been involved in.

And now, while he is buying expensive homes in LA, his suffering rank and file has to pay up for his incompetence: "Google IPO Goof Leaves Employees In Paper Chase".

There is no justice.

January 11, 2005

Luna Dies, Stone Cries

Luna, my favorite tune joint, is being booted.

The U.S. makes you fat

That's depressing.

January 10, 2005

Hey! I made the Washington Post!

In this article Socializing With the Boss Can Open Career Doors at washingtonpost.com I discuss TheLadders.com's findings that by a 2-1 margin high-end executives think schmoozing with the boss is good for the career.

January 09, 2005

Perhaps Osama is hiding in the Lahore Wal-Mart?

Fugitive hid since June in North Carolina Toys 'R' Us.

Cameramail

A camera,
A country,
Accomplices:
uh, CameraMail.

January 07, 2005

TheLadders.com Claims Majority Market Share in High-End Job Search Space

My other company, $100K+ job website TheLadders.com "Claims Majority Market Share in High-End Job Search Space".

That's pretty exciting after only being in business 18 months!!

I love this chart:

So if you're looking for a $100K+ job, head on over to TheLadders.com -- we've got over 15,000 new jobs each month now...

January 06, 2005

Who wants a Gmail invite?

I've got 'em.

January 05, 2005

JungleScan

JungleScan.com is a blast. here are the lowest ranked sales items on Amazon.com according to Junglescan:

Lowest ranked on JungleScan
2000 Ncaa Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations (N C A A Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations, 2000)
Cream of Wheat Advertising Art
The Brachiopod Antiquatonia Coloradoensis (Girty) from the Upper Morrowan and Atokan (Lower Middle Pennsylvanian) of the United States (U.S. Geologica
Systematics of Cerion on New Providence Island : A Radical Revision (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol 182, Article 4)
Brachiopods of the Onondaga Limestone in Central and Southeastern New York (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol 179, Article 3)
Silurian Radiolarian Zonation for the Caballos Novaculite, Marathon Basin, West Texas (Bulletins of American Paleontology, Vol 106, No 345)

Naughty Tees

Busted Tees : Jokes you can wear! Hilarious T-Shirts!

PowerPizza

Disguise your laptop.

January 04, 2005

Language Lab

This is a great story: learning German via The Sims!

Cenedella Catalan?

Interesting comments from a subscriber to TheLadders.com, my $100K+ job website:

Hi Marc,

When I saw your name, I was convinced it was Catalan--both first and last names--I've been living about 1 hour up the coast from Barcelona for several years and the Catalan last names have a characteristic sound. Yours seemed so. I asked my Catalan wife and even though she hadn't heard it before, she was pretty certain it was Catalan.

I'm not sure if Lago di Garda is near Lago di Como, but we were there a few years ago in a small town and overheard two older men talking and their dialect (Comesco) was so close to Catalan that we were able to have a conversation with them. My father was born in Carrara Italy where they spoke a totally different dialect.

Anyway, thanks for getting back to me and have a great new year.

Interesting... is Cenedella a Catalan name?

The Dead

Thanks to Shaft, here's a cool article on David Lemieux.

January 03, 2005

Photo Highlights From Guatemala

Here at the highlights of our trip to Guatemala! I'm especially excited about the double rainbow appearing on the last day of the year.

Happy New Year Everybody!