This quote that I read from this blog entry really got me to thinking.

So many products are built this way. Ask people what they want, build it, and then give it to them months or years later. Times change, however. In today’s world so much can change in a year.

“Pioneering” is a completely different mindset. People that see a future clearly and are able to deliver that will either win or lose. If you lose, you’re out of business. But isn’t that a risk everyone with an idea and passion should take? If I have an idea and I think it’s great and I execute on the idea and then nobody else likes it as I envisioned, doesn’t that make me wrong? I’m saying that’s a good thing. I should learn from that and move on.

Some just aren’t willing to assume that risk and are happy to deliver things that are already outdated when they’re released. Others wrongly assume the risk, because they’re just too stubborn to see certain things. Then there are those who take calculated risks and have tremendous vision. Those are the people that change the world.

I can’t help but notice how Verizon is not going head-to-head with feature and / or usability comparisons.

The ninja were real. Their techniques worked. The shuriken was one of their effective weapons.

The sale ends on Saturday – two days from now.

Today I get a brand new ATM card in the mail.

You read that correctly: An ATM card. Not a debit card with a MasterCard or Visa logo, but a card that can only be used at ATM machines.

That struck me as a very interesting way for a financial institution to spend money these days. Does anybody reading this have a card that ONLY works in an ATM machine? How much do you think it would have cost Chase to send out debit cards that can be used at millions and millions of ATMs, restaurants, and stores all over the world?

The Chopping Block is one of the most boring shows I’ve seen in years. Not only does Marco have absolutely no personality at all, but the show is filled with people who have a clearly-apparent lack of skill. I don’t really care about any of them. That’s not Marco’s issue (unless you break it down to the fact that it’s HIS show), but it seems that the editors would have done a much better job to get the audience to give a damn about SOMEBODY on the show.

My point is that Marco Pierre White may just be the classic example of a teacher who has been completely overshadowed by his students. He seems to regret his decision to retire and is now attempting to jump back in at the top by capitalizing on the success of Gordon Ramsay and Mario Batali. Whether that’s true or not, Marco seems like a man who is desperately grasping at straws to regain a name for himself and become relevant in the restaurant business again. Based on “The Chopping Block”, it doesn’t appear that will happen any time soon. Let’s see what happens over the next year or two. One thing is certain: he’ll have to do a lot more than he’s doing on “The Chopping Block”.

I remember reading a quote where Marco said Gordon Ramsay’s motivation was money. While Ramsay’s restaurants are expensive, all one has to do is eat there to realize that while money may be a motivation, it certainly is no stronger than his motivation for absolutely incredible food.

“Find myself anxious to tune in to Fox News to see the inevitable idiocy that will ensue after Obama’s speech.”

I was only able to watch maybe 20 minutes or so before giving up. Here are just a handful of lies, spins, and idiotic comments that I saw in just that short time.

“Do you find his explanation that he went to this church 20 years and didn’t know this was going on or being said?” -Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity either didn’t listen to or read Obama’s speech from this morning (Tuesday, March 18th, 2008), or he did and is doing what he always does – lying and just reporting whatever he wants to report instead of what actually happened. This fool just disgusts me.

“Seemed like a politician trying to rescue his career here today.” -Sean Hannity

Hmm. Unless I’m mistaken, Obama is in the lead (by three figures) in delegates for the democratic nomination. What was there to be rescued? 

“A president who isn’t willing to be ruthless at the crucial moment is a terrible president.” -Dick Morris (former Clinton advisor)

Ruthless is defined as follows: “Having or showing no pity or compassion for others.” The president of the United States should have and show no pity or compassion for others? That sounds much closer to a dictatorship than a democracy, and it sure as hell doesn’t sound like the United States of America to me.

Sean Hannity: “Michigan and Florida apparently not going to have a re-do.”

Dick Morris: “Michigan not?”

Sean Hannity: “Well, it’s looking more and more likely that they’re not going to have one.”

Do people actually buy-in to Sean Hannity? A guy that represents his opinion as fact, and re-phrases things to mean something completely different only when someone presses him?

Frank Luntz: “When [Obama] equates his own grandmother with his pastor, it’s very powerful, and I don’t think it was done quite well.”

Anybody who actually heard, saw, or read the speech knows quite well that’s not what he did. And, by the way, Frank Luntz is just a moron. Watch the video about him from Penn & Teller on YouTube.

All of this is just as I predicted in my Twitter post before I started to watch Fox News tonight: Idiocy. But what I didn’t expect was that it would be so downright disgusting. But that’s probably just because I haven’t watched Fox News in quite a while, not because it was any different tonight.

I refuse to watch any more of this sensationalist crap.

Call me radical, but Manning’s head just isn’t in this game (yet). He needs some time to calm down and get back to basics.