Captain Digital

Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.

You are here: Home / Archives for Legal

Legal

EUReKa!…I think they’re on to something.

I love creative things. In particular, I’ve always loved science fiction (which gives writers a way to violate reality to serve their story ideas) and humor (which requires both creativity and intelligence to do really well). So when the SciFi channel launched EUReKA, a show that combines sicence fiction with humor, I quickly became a fan. Then they did something that, at the time at least, was creative in a marketing sense. They created a website that was a “we’re going to pretend as if all this is real” kind of thing, that somehow made the show that much beter. It was cool. The show was cool. And they were doing some pioneering work in how to use the web to market a show.

Season Two just started, and they have pulled off yet again another innovative idea in marketing – they’ve blurred the lines between product placement and conventional advertising, and in the process have forged something new, different, and in many ways, pretty scary. [Read more…] about EUReKa!…I think they’re on to something.

My two cents.

The Captain is IN.I’ve been in the business of using computers, in one way or another, since 1982. I wrote my first college paper on an Apple III. I owned one of the original IBM PCs (Hercules Graphics Card! 512K RAM! Two full-height 5 1/4″ Floppy Drives! Dot Matrix Printer! DOS 2.0! Ashton-Tate Framework! All for the low, low price of $4,000!!!). I’ve worked as a software engineer, product manager, project manager, marketing manager, and user interface evangelist for software publishing companies. I was around for the birth of Windows 1.0, the life and death of COMDEX, the rise of the common user interface, the Year of the LAN, and a slew of other things, long consigned to the dust bin of computer history. I’ve been a user, author, coder, beta-tester, evangelist, designer, and planner. In short, I’ve held just about every job you can hold in the software industry.

Now I’m writing reviews. [Read more…] about My two cents.

Corruption Knows No Party.

Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" StevensI’m a conservative. So’s Sen. Ted Stevens (R, Alaska). I believe in drilling for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. So does Ted. I believe that conservatives principles should guide our government. Ted agrees. So why do I want to see Ted Stevens resign from office?

Here’s the deal: Corruption is corruption. It strikes Republicans and Democrats alike. No political party has the market cornered on kickbacks, under-the-table deals, favors-for-cash, and other financial hanky panky. For every Ted Stevens on the right, there’s a William Jefferson on the left. Don’t care. I want Congress cleaned up, and I want it done NOW.

If somebody gets in office, and then proceeds to use that office for personal gain, I want them gone. Conservative or Liberal, Republican or Democrat, that kind of thing has no place in our government. Period. So when a guy is exposed as a crook, I don’t care if I agree with him politically – he needs to go, and go quickly. [Read more…] about Corruption Knows No Party.

Banking on Intelligence.

My wife is a brilliant woman. One day I was casting about for a creative idea to use as the nucleus of a website demo, and I asked her for some ideas. (I was stumped.) Out of the blue, she said, “why don’t you create a bank for intelligence?”

Wow.

In a flash, the whole thing hit me. It was a “V-8 moment” if ever I had one. [side note: A friend once started to tell me about a sketch he’d seen the night before, watching “In Living Color” with two guys in a phone booth, as the “Homeboy Shopping Network.” He didn’t have to say anything else – I could see/hear the entire routine in my mind’s eye. This was the same kind of experience. [Read more…] about Banking on Intelligence.

The War – Here and Abroad.

The Eagle, Globe & Anchor
Got some news this morning. My Marine Reservist son is scheduled to ship out to Camp Pendleton in April, then out to Iraq in September.

A lot of people have wondered openly if my support for President Bush and the Iraq War would change if my son was involved. I’m happy to report that if it has, it’s only made me more resolute in my support.

What the mainstream media and the left fails to grasp are several fundamental truths. First, when someone wants to kill you (Al Qaeda) you have to choose: fight or flight. They carried the fight to our shores, so there is nowhere to run (even if we were so inclined). It’s far better to fight on their turf than ours. You’ll notice that a large number of fighters captured in Iraq are from parts beyond Iraq. Therefore, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (but evidently more braincells than Alec Baldwin posesses) to see that the terrorists have traveled to where the fight is (Iraq) to fight us.

Here’s a clue for you liberals out there. This is a good thing. [Read more…] about The War – Here and Abroad.

Patently Ridiculous.

Can we stop for a moment and talk about patents? I’m a creative guy. Over the years I’ve come up with any number of creative ideas. Some of them could/should be protected, intellectual property. Some were just great ideas. As a creative guy, I’m generally in favor of some kind of protection for those who come up with some useful new invention. On the other hand, I’m for the immediate dissolution of the U. S. Patent Office, and the creation of a new agency that understands what in the HELL they are doing.

Here’s the deal. Let’s say you invent something. Nobody ever thought of it before. It’s useful. It’s cool. You don’t want somebody to steal your idea, so you apply for a patent. Your product takes off. You make millions. At some point, your patent runs out, and everybody and their cat decides to market a me-too product, turning your product from a unique gadget into a commodity. You resign yourself to make less money.

This is how patents are supposed to work. [Read more…] about Patently Ridiculous.

Connecting the Dots.

No, this isn’t a post about the Global War on Terror. It’s a post about logic, reasoning, belief systems, and how they affect us all.
<p>Did you ever have the experience where you can almost put disperate data together in some semblence of order, but can’t quite make all the pieces fit? It’s as if you have one or two missing pieces of the puzzle, and just can’t see the entire picture. It’s like when you know there’s a word you want to use, but you can’t get it in your head – it’s on the “tip of your tongue,” but you just can’t think of it.</p> [Read more…] about Connecting the Dots.

Junk Science and the MSM.

Yesterday was one of the most historic days in recent memory. A new Supreme Court Justice took the bench and the court swung decidedly to the right. The President gave a forceful and well-reasoned State of the Union address. Civil Rights figurehead Coretta Scott King died in her sleep. Oh, and the mainstream media overlooked all that to promote their own far-left, environmentalist-wacko, junk science agenda. Don’t believe me? How about this headline from ABC News reporter Bill Blakemore: President Bush Forgets About Global Warming. The subhead’s even better: Bush Raised Eyebrows With His Reference to Oil Addiction, but He Failed to Break New Ground.

Pause with me for a nanosecond.

[Read more…] about Junk Science and the MSM.

The 109th Senator.

Today was an historic day. Samuel Alito was confirmed by the Senate (and immediately sworn-in, I suspect so that Messrs. Kennedy and Kerry couldn’t rally the troops to somehow rescind the approval). I predict that this event will go down in history as the day that the Supreme Court began an inexorable swing back to the right, and traditional values of God and Country.

For the last fifty years or so, the court has moved more and more to the left. Even the man I credit as our greatest president, Ronald Regan had little luck in swinging the court to the right – his pick, retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, became the court’s most famous mugwump (look it up). President Regan called her “my biggest mistake.” I can’t disagree. Thanks to her waffling, she became known as a “swing vote,” a clever liberal turn of phrase that essential means “conservative turncoat.” Today, a solidly conservative judge has taken her place, and President Bush has promised that, should another opening come along, he’ll again nominate someone cut from the same bolt of good conservative cloth as is Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Alito, Thomas, and Scalia.

[Read more…] about The 109th Senator.

Charity.

I just finished reading an opinion piece on Wired News, entitled Jobs vs. Gates: Who’s the Star? It was…interesting. Before we begin our little discourse, a few disclaimers are in order: I’m not a “Windows” guy. I’m not a “Mac” guy. (I think both platforms are equally annoying.) My ideal computer would look, feel, and work far different from either of them. (And not any closer to Linux, thank you very much.) I own no stock in Microsoft, Apple, or Pixar. I have met Mr. Bill (once, a long time ago) but we never really spoke. I’ve not met Jobs. I’ve owned both Macs and PCs. In short, I’m about as platform-neutral and unbiased an observer as you could hope for.

I should also reveal that I consider myself to be a Christian (Episcopalian, if you must know), a church-goer (to a non-denominational church in Amarillo), a Conservative, a Capitalist (with a capital “C”), and a big fan of Ayn Rand’s philosophy (except as it applies to religion).

Having said that, let me know offer that Leander Kahney’s article misses the point. Completely. Utterly. Totally.

[Read more…] about Charity.