www.MarkTAW.com/blog/index.html (printable version)

What would it take for money to be "no object?"
06/30/05
You know the game. "What would you do if you could do anything? If money was no object and you had all the time in the world." Well, it sucks, and I'll tell you why.

Random Happy Gibberish
06/28/05
I got a forum full of pessimistic, negative curmudgeons to tell me the words that made them happiest. Then I stuck the words in a script so they'd form something resembling sentences.

Prof. Miller's In-class Assignment for Wednesday.
03/19/05
Remember the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"? "Well, today we will experiment with a new form called the 'tandem story'. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

Numb3rs "Structural Corruption" - The Real Story
02/12/05
I saw the "hit" TV show Numb3rs for the first time today, and the plot was very familiar to me. I'd read about this exact problem (minus the murders, suicides and intrigue) several times in the past.

A Simple Solution To Spam (And Phishing)
02/01/05
A high level overview of a method that I think can be used to create trust relationships between people using email to reduce the amount of spam that gets to us. Feedback & loopholes welcome.

Global Oil Production and Consumption
01/31/05
Oil. Who has it. Who makes it. And who needs it.

Why Your Pointy Haired Boss Is A Mathematical Certainty
01/26/05
We've all had one. That annoying boss who just doesn't have a clue. A useless middle manager that can't lead, can't manage yet somehow manages to keep his job. Well, know you'll know why he exists.

Cascading Next Actions (Getting Things Done)
01/22/05
Explaining the idea of Next Actions to my girlfriend, I thought of something that could help make Next Actions even more helpful.

Social Networking IM Client
01/19/05
I love Stan! Stan loves ham... ham I am!

More Things That Should Exist
01/19/05
Another braindump of creative ideas about random household things.

Getting Back To Work: A Personal Productivity Toolkit
01/18/05
I procrastinate. You procrastinate. We all procrastinate. Let's get back to work.

Anonymous Communication With Waste
01/17/05
Waste is a decentralized, encrypted chat & file sharing protocol that lets you talk to your friends without anyone listening in. It is not, however, a tool for anonymous communications... or is it?

Mac mini = iMac + no monitor
01/14/05
Duh. I should've realized this... um, hours ago.

Steve Jobs is a Fucking Genius
01/12/05
Seriously.

The Triangle Problem or What's Wrong with the Obvious Truth
01/09/05
They say seeing is believing, but what happens when the most obvious answer deceives you?

More Brainfarts
01/04/05
Latest in an ongoing series of creative ideas.

The Year The Internet Tipped
12/31/04
How small changes to the Internet have changed the way we talk.

Market Segmentation That Works
12/17/04
Joel Spolsky wrote an excellent article on pricing, what works and what doesn't work (apparently nothing works). So here's my rebuttal.

Even More Things I Thought Of
12/15/04
Part of an ongoing series of ideas I have.

Yet Another Interesting Map of the Vote
11/11/04
Some people will find this humorous, others... not so humorous.

The Definitive Map of the Vote
11/06/04
This is the map of the vote I wanted. A county-by-county look at how they voted. Putting to end forever the misconception of "red states vs. blue states." All counties are a shade of purple, though a surprising number of counties really are blue or red.

Leaving So Soon?
11/05/04
So, you want to leave the country? A (hopefully humorous) guide to expatriating.

The National Budget, Debt & Deficit
11/04/04
"Clinton balanced the budget." "The national debt is at an all time high" (and so is the deficit). What does this all mean? I found some historical information and plugged the numbers into Excel and generated these charts.

The Osama bin Laden interviews
11/02/04
If you read the full transcript of the tape, you'll know that he talks of some interviews he gave. Well, here are a few I found. You can judge for yourself whether or not his message has been consistent.

Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech
11/02/04
"And it all shows that the real loser is ... you. It is the American people and their economy."

You can do anything - but not everything
10/31/04
Everyone's favorite personal productivity guru David Allen has some tips how to keep up the pace -- without wearing yourself out.

A Tale of Two Osamas
10/31/04
There are some interesting differences between the CNN & Aljazeera translations of the Osama bin Laden speech...

Canada Vs. America: Reactions to the Patriot Act
10/30/04
The Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia is recommending an immediate freeze of all outsourcing of public information to US-connected firms because of the Patriot Act...

National Novel Writing Month
10/16/04
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). 50,000 words in 30 days. Are you ready?

Other Things I Thought Up
09/30/04
Some more of my ideas that I've run across recently.

Leave The Rat Race Forever
09/23/04
"I would come to believe that expansive houses and standard nuclear families served to isolate the human soul and that tight tribal communities were infinitely more suited to our natures." Jerri Nielsen, Ice Bound

The Merchants of Meme
09/21/04
Drop a pebble in just the right spot and you can start marketing Avalanche. Or "What Webloggers and MTV have in common."

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown Deluxe Edition
09/21/04
30 years after the last Detroit Motown album, this massive 43 track tribute to the unsung musicians sets the record straight.

$19.99 vs. $20 or Pricing 202
09/15/04
Someone asked about the perceived difference between $19.99 and $20, and here's my answer.

Amazing Inventions That Were
09/13/04
Some things I dreamed up that were later turned in to products.

The (New) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
09/12/04
YAY! ALL NEW episode of the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Radio Show!

The Justice Department Strikes Back
08/26/04
The FBI seized computers, software and equipment as part of an investigation into illegal sharing of copyrighted movies...

A Complete Waste Of Time WARNING: Do Not Read This If You Have Work To Do!!!!!!!!!
08/25/04
Why do people insist on torturing me so?

US Government: P2P Companies Don't Violate Copyright Laws
08/20/04
"Affirming a lower court decision, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday that the distributors of software used by millions of people to exchange music files over the Internet cannot be held liable for aiding copyright infringement."

This Is Hilarious.
07/09/04
(Really) Short one about a billboard, Google, a forum, ZDNet & me.

Getting Things Done!
06/10/04
A new contract where I work 6 hours a day has me thinking about productivity.

Things to do on Earth When You're Bored (or Depressed).
02/15/04
Stephanie: "You need to write an intro for your post, and put it on your webpage. Then I can send it off to people."

The Complete Pettycoat Recordings
04/09/03
High quality mp3's of my old band along with a somewhat biased history.

Decision Theory
04/06/03
Decision theory was always something that interested me, and it's something I used when figuring out what to buy for my home studio. Here are a few models to help confuse your further.

Radio Dramas, an Appreciation
01/15/03
For most of my life I've loved Radio Dramas, and I've recently rediscovered this love.

My November Experiment or Finances 101 or How to Retire in 10 years.
12/01/02
In late October I set before myself the task of not spending any extra money in November in order to see what my actual living expenses were. Here are the results. By saving more and spending less, I can retire earlier. But how much earlier?

Long Distance Driving Tips
09/24/02
I recently took a long road trip - 3,000 miles - and did all the driving. Here are a few tips that occured to me in the Carolinas.

An Open Letter To Musicians Everywhere
07/29/02
An Open Letter to Musicians Everywhere, or How to take down the Music Industry

Russians? In Brooklyn?
07/11/02
Funny the things that people feel they should e-mail you about.

Left Wing Propaganda
02/27/02
Why are all of my friends so obsessed with Left Wing Propaganda? Another long rant on the state of human affairs, and an attempt to have my website flagged by the FBI by putting as many key words as I could think of into one article.

Message Board: http://www.marktaw.com/forum/list.php?f=1

page first created on 11/16/02

this site and it's contents copyright Mark Wieczorek