New School Synthesizers

The most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review examines 'breakthrough ideas' for 2006. At the top of the list is the notion of 'the synthesizing leader'.

A leader in possession of this trait can do the following: He or she can cull through vast amounts of information from different and potentially conflicting sources, intuit the essence of this information given varying levels of complexity (both detailed or abstract, interpretive or objective) and then perform the alchemy required to synthesize the information into a vision or some other communicative tool that simultaneously sets a direction, motivates an organization and provides clear criteria for decision making.

Did they nail it, or what? Think of all of the examples you can think of - from school to church to state - and you will find leadership problems often result from failure in this area. There's no shortage of truth spoken to power - but we are lacking in leaders who can see their way though to a course of action once they have pieced together the facts.

Blogs provide a reasonable example of this process at work on a smaller scale. The mediation of information is at play when bloggers decide what information to promote, ignore, or mix together. On one hand, thanks to the Internet, we’ve got the entire global media at our disposal; on the other we’ve got an empty web post waiting for what we write. Some of us are small players in the process, others wield influence, but we’re all plugged into the ecology and there is a momentum behind the issues and ideas that are endorsed.

Leaders have an obligation not only embrace this – indeed to swim deep through this firmament - but go even further. They must transform information into direction and decision-making for the benefit of their constituents while recognizing that transparency is in full effect. You can only hide for one election cycle, or perhaps a few financial reporting quarters, or until the media gets wind of a story. Everywhere we look we are filthy rich with information and transparency, but sorely lacking in savvy analysis and the combined impact of clear, visionary leadership.

Things to consider as we contemplate the state of our union.

Bright Green Terror Machine

Liberals have long predicted the most dire consequences from the Bush war on an abstract noun. Arms have been waved and hands wrung over suicide bombers in Manhattan, the return of the draft, or the natural failure of elections in Iraq. I even know a guy who swore left, right, and sideways that we would see martial law prior to the '04 election because it was the only way the Bush cabal could retain power. (He had forgotten this when I chided him gently after the fact - and was anxious to change the subject.)

Well one long-familiar prognostication from the dissenterati has come true in the past couple of days. The Palestinians have voted the Hamas contingent into power, proving in the minds of some that one eventual outcome of a democratic Middle East might be a notable lack of democracy. Based on the terror-happy militarism that animates Hamas - well, it's tough to imagine an orderly succession of power if their fortunes change. It's more likely we'll see Saddam-style 99% "majorities" in the electorate.

So a sheepish response on the part of the Bush administration is appropriate. Certainly there are some who think that Condi, Dick and the gang can do no wrong, and others who would like to see them imprisoned - but we can all agree that sending Hamas into peace negotiations is like letting John Wayne Gacy loose at clown camp for kids. The outcome could be gruesome, and probably not very funny.

Still, the Palestinians voted for these guys. Democracy in the most stable circumstances produces a variety of outcomes in different geographic places even within our own country. From Berkely, California to Baptist, Alabama we've got a plurality of voices, as the peaceheads would describe it. Sure, we don't celebrate our elections with machine guns and face masks, but there's always a bit of fun with the ACLU and Jesse Jackson. Power is usually exchanged every four to eight years, and life moves forward.

This is the part of the post where I draw some grand conclusion - but I ain't got bupkis. Things are still up in the air with the Israeli prime minister and that nutjob Holocaust-denier in Iran. Experts agree it could get ugly very quickly. But one undereported news item - a certain Frenchman may have grown a pair. Against a backdrop of banlieue flambé Jacque Chirac has started to make very stern noises about terrorism, and even threatened to nuke anybody who gets all up in their cheese.

Funny how things change.

Rocksongs And Other Concerns

I’m on the verge of turning thirty-five. I still love rock music and new music – but I am increasingly self-conscious of the ways and means by which it is acquired. Thanks to my little brother – who visited recently – I had a chance to replenish my supplies and re-introduce some music to a generation somewhat lacking in musical literacy. Among the titles exchanged between generations X and Y:

Devo – My brother had never heard of them at all. A CD of ‘Are We Not Men?’ was added to his stack at the nearby record shop, and hopefully another group of youngsters can groove to this spastic nerd-rock from the art-school lads from Cleveland, circa 1978.

Neutral Milk Hotel, “King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1” – This indispensable masterpiece from Jeff Magnum is a reminder that, with the right arrangement and delivery a heart-shattering, timeless song can still defy categorization. I’d heard tracks from NMH before, but my brother had the sense to add it to a mix.

Art Brut – There's always a place for funny, smart-alecky British punk.

Jose Gonzalez, “Heatbeats” – Seethe, if necessary, at the fact that this dreamlike folk song was included in an award-worthy commercial from a major corporation. (Requires Quicktime, and entirely worth the click.) But it’s still an unforgettable song.

The Kinks, “Village Green Preservation Society” – This title track song is both a sly definition of conservatism and a tune that sticks in your head. It’s a forgotten British invasion relic that now takes, surprisingly, an almost academic amount of cultural literacy to decode. Once upon a time it just probably played on the jukebox.

Another Amazing Shootout

Some sports rivalries are bitter grudge matches, where each team inherits some mutual hatred and the fans try to run each over in the parking lot. The raging hostility felt between Redskins and Eagles fans seems to fit this category; every new season brings a new atrocity, as D.C. fans - frequently the elderly - find themselves assaulted before, during, and after the game by the ex-convicts that apparently make up most of the population in "the city of brotherly love".

Other rivalries are almost built into the warp of geography, and seem to date back further than Arlo Guthrie America. I'm not from the Midwest, sure, so I'm not qualified to analyze - but perennial matchups like Ohio and Michigan seem to drive fans to the brink of gibbering insanity.

But the rivalry between Xavier and the University of Cincinnati - the fabled cross-town shootout' - is different altogether. Both teams almost always play their A-games no matter what kind of the season they are having that year. Both teams - in a good-natured way - seem to be made better by the occassion. Most Shootouts consist of heart-stopping, at-the-buzzer three pointers, reversals of fortune, and overtime. If a screenwriter turned in a sports movie written this way it would be dismissed as over-the-top. ESPN seems to understand the market value of a spectacular game of basketball no matter what city you come from - so the shootout has rightfully earned national attention.

Last night Xavier took it in overtime, 73 to 71. You can tell in the faces of the people downtown the whole city is tired from staying up to watch another gut-clenching, barn-burner game of college hoops.

Public Service Limited

It might be possible, in the near future, to use a software program to automatically produce articles like "Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area Schools", which appeared in yesterday's Washington Post. Double click an icon, enter a few real-life examples and out spits yet another expose filled with panicky effusions over privacy, parental oversight, and the shocking degree to which youngsters are exploiting a hot Internet technology.

And according to formula, the story always gets it a little wrong: Today's effort in the Post focuses on Xanga and Facebook, which are social networking websites, not traditional blogs. These sites let college kids and teens share pictures, calendars, and messages to each other that consist of shmaltz, slang, and unfathomable punctuation.

Can you guess what's next? No, not some heart-wrenching crime - although that's bound to happen, sooner or later. Instead the object of concern is the inevitable abusive remarks, binge drinking tales and the outright fabrications one would reasonably expect from hormone-addled kids. They are incapable of understanding that this may one day be seen by a potential employer. Teens having trouble taking the long view - stop the presses.

But one twist was not discussed - the fate of kids who might decide to serve in government. Thanks to the Sam Alito hearings, membership in any group at any time in history - even inactive, even in undergraduate years - is enough to smear any potential public servant with the most noxious views of any passing member. When people grow up with a entirely digital history and a life lived on social networks, the practice of guilt-by-association becomes a cinch. There's always an idiot nearby in the information-sphere - and if you don't "repudiate" them at every turn, everyone is easily implicated.

Kids eventually become middle-aged people with law degrees. Some will aspire to a high level of public service. Not all of them will agree with our ideology - but we have to share the same rules. Unless we apply some nonpartisan common sense to these proceedings we have no reason to expect anyone - or their digital histories - will survive the brutal interrogation that we have made the norm.

Monday Equals Terrorism

If they ever kill off Chloe O'Brian I will immediately turn off Fox's '24' and never watch the series again. I like Kiefer Sutherland quite a bit, but as far as I'm concerned he could be blown to scraps by rocket-propelled grenades and I'd remain a faithful viewer - just as long as everybody's favorite nerd-girl with the perpetually furrowed brow continues to slink onscreen and mutter things about "constraining the algorithm".

I'm all in favor of the unreasonable expectation put forth that young women should be able to fire a machine gun, hack their way into Linux/Unix root accounts and fashionably accessorize their wardrobes at the same time. God frickin' bless America and our famously oppressive ideals.

And the writers at 24 have it easy this season. What with all of the flapdoodle about domestic spying and the NSA they probably just keep Google News in one window and the screenwriting software in the other. Cut, paste, wait for the checks to roll in from Darth Murdoch.

If we're lucky they will actually portray the ludicrous situation at stake in this controversy - which is how the government should handle things when Terrorist A in the Pakistani hills dials up some dude in suburban New Jersey. Security experts have studied the situation and decided that, yup, it's quite reasonable in a 4th Amendmenty type of way to want to hear both sides of that little conversation. Properly dramatized in the '24' world this would mean Jack Bauer needs to fight his way though litigious ACLU attorneys and a whole boatload of congressional Democrats to be authorized to obtain a warrant - and for some reasons this also involves downloading a file to his PDA.

Each Others Shelter

My apologies to my national readers, who may not care about my favorite Irish tavern going kaput. Businesses come and go, restaurants close their doors, and neighborhoods change. But we had our wedding rehearsal dinner there. Yes the Guinness could be cheaper, but I'm just attached to the place.

The good news is - The Dubliner is supposed to re-open under new management before St. Patrick's Day. The owner of the property seems to have a genuine interest in keeping the brand name, and making sure this city neighborhood (so long in the balance) retains a strong commercial center. Tonight and tomorrow there will be one last hurrah for the Old Dubliner, and in the proudest (and completely fake) tradition we hope there will be many toasts and blessings offered by people with not a lick of Irish blood.

The bad news - well that's somebody's business - literally, and in the vernacular. A local family is facing difficult times, and people have lost their jobs. And this is where we hope - and many of us pray - that the community does what the community does best, which is simply reach out to help each other along. A neighborhood is a network, one which runs on information, commerce, and a measured compassion for the well-being of each other.

My conservative friends can berate me for being a starry-eyed hippie, but I think if we are more successful in creating that environment locally - it will continually build a stronger country in the aggregate. It's not a new idea, really - though we discuss it these days on weblogs and email.

The Dubliner - Forced To Close

One locally-owned Irish restaurant has been a landmark and focal point a small part of the Cincinnati community since the day it opened its doors. The Dubliner is literally unique at a time when corporate-owned chain restaurants are taking over the landscape. It's a gathering place for music, food, and a glass of beer – and host to everything from community council meetings to wedding receptions. And it has been the anchor business in the small commercial district at the heart of Pleasant Ridge neighborhood.

Now the commercial real estate company that owns the property plans to evict the Dubliner. The owner, Mike Kull, has negotiated for weeks to stay open, at least until St. Patrick’s Day. But unless a miracle takes place this cherished restaurant will go dark permanently on Friday January 20th.

Why is this happening? Certainly the restaurant business is unforgiving, and competition is fierce. Early last year The Dubliner was forced to begin closing on Sundays and Mondays to deal with a fall-off in business volume. And everyone in Cincinnati is familiar with the demographic trend of growth in the outer exurbs. Restaurants like the Dubliner are competing against Applebees and The Macaroni Grill in Westchester and Mason. These corporate-backed giants offer the same experience from coast to coast, and people are willing to wait for hours to get a table.

This is a case study in the balance between neighborhoods and the marketplace. The success or failure of a mega-chain restaurant will have an impact on the profitability and shareholder value of the commercial enterprise that owns the property. But the closing of the Dubliner impacts Kull's family, who live down the street, send their kids to school around the corner, and have played an indispensable role in contributing to the success of the neighborhood – including giving help to art centers, local churches, and other small businesses.

In spite of the apparent finality of the situation, people in Pleasant Ridge are doing everything possible to prevent this from happening. They are petitioning Dan Neyer, the real estate owner, to do whatever possible to help The Dubliner during this difficult time. We should be concerned about Mike Kull and his family. Unless our vision for America consists of nothing more than strip malls and sub-developments we desperately need good neighbors like these in our communities.

And at the very least please stop by The Dubliner this week for one hell of a party.

Note that this item has been cross-posted at The Cincinnati Beacon, a local indie media site.

Green Pigs and Stardust

Two news items from the frontiers of science:

First, Taiwanese scientists have used the genetic material from jellyfish to create a type of pig that glows bright green in the dark. Apparently the whole animal, including the innards, is a luminous shade of emerald. The stated purpose for this endeavor is to broaden our understanding of genetics. But the possibilities for cuisine are intriguing. I prepared a nice ginger-chutney pork loin and broccoli rabe for Mrs. Spacetropic tonight as an intimate dinner. I guess one day soon we could snuff out the candles and dine by meatlight.

Second, on the cooler-than-cool news front, the NASA space probe Stardust is expected to blaze towards Earth on Sunday after a 3 billion mile excursion around the inner planets. It swooped though a tail of a comet and collected particles that should teach us about the composition of the primeval solar system. (Tell me, how freaking cool is that? You can suck on your complaints about America. We, as a civilization, are capable of this. But I digress.)

And, cooler still, you folks at home can help analyze the data. The Stardust@Home project is patterned after the pioneering SETI@Home - which allowed regular people like you and me to use the processing capacity of our computers in their "off hours" to churn though massive amounts of data on behalf of centralized computers on the Internet. I'm a nerd, I know, but I love it when networked democracy, Moore's Law, and blue yonder science all work together.

Consumer-Free Electronics

Two shadows hung over the CES show in Las Vegas last weekend. The first was a stylish silhouette wearing white ear buds - courtesy of the geniuses at Chiat/Day and Cupertino - and the second was a shock jock who trades on potty jokes.

Apple didn't attend. But the iPod has had such a tectonic impact on the consumer electronics industry that it's influence was felt with almost every vendor at CES, large or small. From the stalls of the tiny Asian importers to the over-the-top extravaganzas of Panasonic, XM, and Sony - everybody wants to be on the bandwagon of simplicity and style. But such clean elegance is elusive - they're always adding buttons, explanations, bridge and connector technologies to their consumer goods. Few technologies play nice with each other - and Joe and Sally Consumer don't want to fiddle around with card readers, network attached storage, and various kinds of bluetooth - not to mention the mother of all format battles between Blu-Ray and DVD-HD high quality video formats - a struggle that will make VHS - Betamax look like a girlie slap fight.

The average consumer was, in fact, nonexistent at CES. Most of these duffers were male and in their 30s and 40s, and juggling a laptop, mp3 player, portable, bluetooth ear-piece, and a PSP for the waiting moments. This slacker-meets-Borg demographic was everywhere, and if you looked closely you can see all of the reasons why new consumer electronics are a fetish to some but a curse to many. This was less true of the businessfolks ostensbly from Asia - who looked lean and exact. (Draw any conclusions you like, or none.)

But how does Howard Stern influence consumer electronics? Because he represents the notion that content is king, no matter what the media. XM satellite radio is slicker, simpler and better marketed, from what I could tell. They may eventually win out - but for now people want to hear more Stern. I suspect if his fans had to use a hand-cranked radio to tune in his broadcast they'd do it.

New technologies - the players, screens, readers and devices - are only useful if somebody has something entertaining or otherwise interesting to communicate through these new forms of media. The consumer isn't well served by thousands of channels of crap which contain high-definition infomercials. Do you want to wach re-runs of CHiPs on your $400 cell phone? This hit home when I was visiting the Intel "lounge", and they were demonstrating some supposedly glamorous new technology, AOL music on demand with the new Viiv chip or whatever - and this was running on a plasma TV. And do you know what they were showing? The Moody godamn Blues. On this fantastic, high-tech, super expensive flat-panel monitor they're showing a bunch of aging rockers and you can see every line on their Botoxed, grimacing mugs.

I'm a cold sucker for new technology. I'm the target demographic. But you profit-loving MBAs who steer the entertainment conglomerates need to quickly recognize that's it's important to offer as much originality with content as with the whizbang technology. And you need to make it clean and easy to use. Grandma doesn't want to download a codec or update the godamn firmware before she can watch that adorable Rachel Ray. And neither do I.

Viva Las Vegas

There are more things in heaven and earth,
Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
- William Shakespeare

This place runs on hard money, electricity, and the American breast - both the external organs that befuddle us and the yearning that thumps within for more, endlessly more. Women twirl from a giant chandelier that rides on a track on the ceiling while spine-shaking techno beats from the speakers. The casino air is thick with lights, electronic noises and the stench of Benson and Hedges. Behind the overweight and often-impoverished patrons a wall of flat-screen TVs undulates with the silhouette of a woman's torso engulfed in flames. That a nearby illuminated sign announces Carrot Top at the Luxor only adds more unhallowed menace to the proceedings.

You cannot be more jaded than Las Vegas. The bald sexuality and unapologetic love of money deny you any smart sophistication. You can make all of the comments you like about the monument to human vanity that has erected itself in this Nevada valley - and the response is the same indifference that can be seen on the faces of the casino girls that serve you your drink at the $25 minimum table while knowing where your eyes are bound to fall.

Only America could have invented this place, and only in the West. For all of the shimmering sin there is a queer innocence to the place, as if "family fun" quite normally involves a woman clad in peacock feathers dancing above your table while you eat your burgers and fries. The dry southwest heat seems to have sucked the irony clear out of the place, and the jaw-dropping scale of the artifice in the casinos makes mockery irrelevant. No other country on earth has the money, power, and audacity to keep tearing it down and building it bigger. If you’re Green it’s a slur against nature, and if you are fundamentally religious it’s an affront to God of all varieties. Every Puritan sawhorse that we associate with founding America (“Waste not want not.” And “A fool and his money part ways.”) – These are answered by Vegas with sick, bloodshot laughter.

More updates as time permits. I’ve got a stakes game in a few minutes.

Traveler Sloganeer

While availing myself of this nation’s proud airline industry in lounges and planes today I passed time inventing some potential improvements on Las Vegas’ famous promotional catchphrase “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” (As noted previously I am on my way to CES.) This list may grow over the next few days:

1. What happens in Vegas shows up at your door in 18 years and asks for help with art school tuition.
2. What happens in Vegas clears up with prescription medicine.
3. What happens in Vegas wears shiny black stiletto heels and has an Adam’s apple.
4. What happens in Vegas was supposed to be the down payment for a house.
5. What happens in Vegas keeps getting brought up during arguments and used as an example of why it's going to be hard to re-establish trust.

And observations about airline security are pretty trite, but as someone who flies only a few times a year I’ve noticed they’re doing a slightly better job. There were quite a few lanes open at Greater Cincinnati this morning, and one of the stout, mannish TSA agents even mustered a “good morning”. But it's still impossible to correctly juggle boarding passes, luggage, and photo ID in the correct order for the bewildering gauntlet of checkpoints and twisting, roped-off lanes. When you stand back and watch it’s like a complicated line dance invented by awkward white people – except with that faint whiff of futility and intrusiveness.

More updates as time permits. I am in Vegas now and it’s slightly overwhelming. I could write several posts simply about overheard conversations.

Sick Puppy

One of the Midwest headquarters for the Center for Disease Control is located nary half a mile from my house, and it's been some comfort to know that in an outbreak of Ebola or the Avian Death Shake I can be one of the first to press up against the barbed wire begging for one of the doses of Tamilflu which are in short supply because government as an institution is inept and categorically incapable of disaster preparedness despite our naive assumptions.

Visions of Outbreak and The Hot Zone were flooding my delirious brain a few days ago as I lay on the floor of the bathroom. Readers will be spared the unspeakable details, except to say that even a little ice chip was capable of producing violent convulsions, and the blogger's wife (faithful maid) had the family sedan ready to serve as transport to the emergency room in the event of the dehydration which seemed immanent.

During my moments of lucidity I wondered if my life insurance was adequate. It was probably some ugly new variation of the flu - but for all I knew it could have been some deadly new disease vector that began when the gentleman who coughed next to me at Macy's had a tawdry encounter a few weeks ago on vacation with a Taiwanese street mime who had recently ended a relationship with a spider monkey that shot heroin and looked like Tom Waits.

It has taken almost four days to recover. I have done very little besides rake a few leaves and read a biography of Lewis Carroll. We stayed and home on New Years and the sight and sound of Dick Clark on TV reminded me of my overall luck. And as a Catholic living the Midwest I complied with applicable local law and watched most of the Notre Dame - Ohio State matchup in the Frito Lay's Tostitos Nachos Fiesta Salsa Bowl. I can't say the outcome was surprising or disappointing.

A side note - regular readers know I categorically do not discuss work on this weblog. However, I do work in one of the ten zillion industries related tangentially to consumer technology, and as such I will be traveling to Las Vegas for the CES show later this week. Blog entries will not include anything directly or indirectly related to my employers, clients, etc. - but observations about Vegas or CES in the most general sense might be appearing in this space.