The Sam Whitmore Sampler

Aloha For Now

This is the last post until the first weekend in August. They say that RSS subscriptions and site visits will plummet if a blogger doesn't post for two weeks. I hope that proves untrue. In the interim, please suggest blogs we should add to our blogroll. We don't have a blogroll yet, but we'll be adding one next month. Please add a suggestion as a comment. Thanks!

SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast: GreenOptions.com is Growing Like a Weed

Traffic is skyrocketing at GreenOptions.com, a clean tech blog network overseen by CEO David Anderson, who's our guest this week on the latest SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (7:39). David also has news related to Planetsave.com.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

http://slapcast.com/users/SWMS

To receive our podcast automatically each week, paste the following link into iTunes or whatever podcast receiver you use:

http://slapcast.com/rss/SWMS/index.xml

Today's Oakland Earthquake

We were sleeping less than a mile from the epicenter of an earthquake that struck the East Bay this morning. It was 4.2 on the Richter scale. Here's a Google Map of the affected area.

There was no damage here at the house and we didn't lose power, though thousands did nearby. At first I thought someone had fallen out of bed and thumped the floor. Then I realized no one in the house weighed enough to make that sort of a thump.

It was the first earthquake I ever experienced so I'm no expert, but it seemed like more of a one-time jolt than a sustained "roller." That probably explains why we could be so close to the epicenter and be so unaffected.

Jesus — and The Apostle

Times have changed. The image on the right is from a flyer being distributed these days by Jehovah's Witnesses. I guess Jesus is on my mind lately. Last night I watched The Apostle, to my mind a truly great film written and produced by Robert Duvall. Here's the trailer. Ten years old, the movie made only $20 million at the box office. By contrast, the latest Harry Potter movie made $77 million in the US last weekend alone.

On your next visit to Blockbuster, consider renting The Apostle. This review excerpt may persuade you:

To fully appreciate the depth of Duvall’s work in The Apostle, you need to know the story behind its making. You need to know that Duvall not only stars in it, but that he also wrote and directed it, and that after 13 years of trying to secure studio financing, he finally put up its five million dollar budget himself. Duvall believed in this film the way Sonny believes in the power of the Holy Ghost. In doing research he visited many a church and spoke with many a real-life evangelist; this preparation allows him to view Sonny's world from the inside out. He then cast the film largely with non-actors, who inhabit it so authentically that it appears as if he just stopped by one Sunday with a film crew and made up the picture on the spot.

The Boston Red Sox IT Guy

Steve Conley, the Red Sox IT guy, recently shared his trials and tribulations in an interview with Mass High Tech's Catherine Williams. Here are excerpts:

MHT: What kinds of ballpark technology are you planning for Red Sox fans?

CONLEY: What's coming from Major League Baseball is texted-ticketing on your phones. I'm not sure when we're going to embrace it. It's still new technology. There are a couple of teams that are already trying it (Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland Athletics), but there are a number of hurdles to overcome.

MHT: What are the biggest challenges when you're installing new technology into the oldest ballpark and smallest stadium in Major League Baseball?

CONLEY: Every winter we're working in a construction zone. There is a lot of dust and whatnot so it's a tougher environment for gear. Two years ago, 80 percent of all our cables were cut. But opening day is not going to move because my cables aren't in. As we start to add more services, we need to find space to put this equipment. Space is at a premium. Closets become a premium. You need to fight for all the space that you can.

MHT: Do you have a favorite pet technology project?

CONLEY: Actually, it's the one that drives me the craziest at the same time: wireless. We put in a pretty high-scale wireless infrastructure, and last year it was just completely bulletproof. This year, starting opening day, we had nothing but problems from the press box. It can be related 100 percent back to the signing of Dice-K (Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka) and the additional TV trucks that run on the same frequency as the wi-fi. (Some TV stations) beam their signals over right field and in the middle of the new bleachers, where they are reflected back into the stadium. It will take out (two of the three) wireless channels completely.

MHT: How did you figure that out?

CONLEY: I had to go back to my high school geometry.

Michael Moore Blasts CNN's Wolf Blitzer

Did you see this? I missed it. This is why people either love or hate Michael Moore. Wolf Blitzer did an amazing job of keeping his composure, as did CNN's producers, who surely whispered into Blitzer's ear not to cut Moore off.

And the Sicko filmmaker was right: Dr. Sanjay Gupta did mess up his facts, and apologized on the air for it.

SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast: No Softball Questions Allowed

Fortune Magazine senior editor David Kirkpatrick did a fine job organizing this year's iMeme conference, held last week in San Francisco. The moderators were especially tough on their guests -- but not unfairly so.

Hear all about it on this week's SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (7:26), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

http://slapcast.com/users/SWMS

To receive our podcast automatically each week, paste the following link into iTunes or whatever podcast receiver you use:

http://slapcast.com/rss/SWMS/index.xml

Old Newspapers, Vol. 5

Aug. 11, 1974 editions of the Oakland Tribune carried an interview with motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, who was three weeks away from jumping 1,765 feet across the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, ID.

Why was he doing it? "I'm going to jump it because I said I would, and if a man is a liar he is nothing," Evel said. Evel's wife, Linda, backed him up. "Just think what it would do to him as a man if he backed out. He'd just as soon want to be dead as not go through with it."

I never realized George W. Bush and Evel Knievel had so much in common.

David Kirkpatrick

Fortune senior editor David Kirkpatrick reaps what he sows. He bared his soul this morning in a breakfast workshop at iMeme, a symposium held yesterday and today in San Francisco. He says that next year's conference probably won't be called "iMeme" because Fortune edit boss Andy Serwer doesn't like the term. Also, David said, at least one invited speaker teased him about the trendy and hard-to-pronounce iMeme name.

Another factor: several Time Inc. insiders say they regret walking away from their conference brand called "Brainstorm." Until this year held each summer in Aspen, Colo., Brainstorm addressed tech topics through the prisms of global politics, society and the environment. In 2007 Fortune chose to move the conference to the Bay Area, making it easier for its target market to attend. It also focused the conference more sharply on tech trends, such as platforms, identity and enterprise software.

In today's 7:30 AM session, attended by about 50 early-risers, Kirkpatrick asked for feedback and got it. People said they like this year's iMeme event, but they like David even more and so brought candor and creativity to help him develop his franchise. David listened carefully to each suggestion, non-defensively. His guests felt appreciated. In business, such a dynamic is rare indeed.

Insurance, Hurricanes and the AARP

OK, I admit it -- I'll be 51 next month and am a faithful reader of the AARP Bulletin. In part I make the time because I'm curious about the ideas fed to "old people" by such a powerful lobbyist. But who knew the AARP published good journalism?

This article -- on the lack of affordable insurance along hurricane-threatened areas of the U.S. coastline -- was worthy of the NYT or WSJ. Insurance companies have put the squeeze on homeowners in Florida, along the Gulf Coast and even as far north as Cape Cod, Mass. Why aren't we seeing this being reported by more prominent national media?