March, 17, 2001 archives

i finally watched msnbc's silicon summit ii last night, which was fairly interesting. brokaw definitely let some of the panelists off the hook (and one of the questioners, who asserted that violence in schools is increasing without being soundly rebutted). aol and microsoft are clearly going to keep playing semantic games in justifying their walled gardens. i also found it interesting that jay walker didn't bring up his precious patents when talking about how microsoft had entered the name-your-price travel business (apparently with little success). jeff bezos has taken on the role of internet punching bag quite well, along with jerry yang (although with yahoo it is a little less deserved, since they are actually making money). the financial person they had on the panel (some woman with allen & co.) gave answers that were totally bizarre. the head of sony usa was quite funny. and it was entertaining to see michael powell (fcc chief) fend off one question by answering that the question was about something his agency didn't regulate (i think it had to do with child pornography and hate speech on the net).

i watched girl, interrupted last weekend, and something i took away from the film that i really appreciated was a new respect and understanding for the word ambivalence (and ambivalent): the coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, an object, or an idea. the root of the word (valere) means "to be strong".