Will Groupon last?

I confess, I don't understand Groupon. I mean, I understand how it works. But I don't understand how people will use Groupons much more than regular coupons. I don't understand why Groupon is worth so much, while competing sites that do the same thing are not. And in many cases, I don't understand why businesses sign up for it.

Consider this case, from Posies Cafe:
"Groupon in Retrospect"
http://posiescafe.com/wp/?p=316

This doesn't mean that Groupon is bad. I just think it will be interesting to see how this business model plays out over the years. I wonder if in a few years we'll be looking back and saying "remember Groupon?" and reminiscing about this crazy fad.

Life without Google?

I ran across this article in IEEE Spectrum recently and it really made me think. It posed the question of whether one could quit Google cold turkey. Think about it, given all of Google's services, could you do it? Don't answer until you take a moment to think about all of Google's services you might use.

From IEEE Spectrum:
"How I Learned to Live Google-free" by Joshua J. Romero
http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/how-i-learned-to-live-google-free/0


Google Dashboard (find out how much YOU rely on Google):
http://www.google.com/aclk?
http://www.google.com/dashboard
I might not be the typical user, but I was shocked at how many Google services I use. And that's not even counting all the t-shirts and phones and chocolate! :)

Other key links:
Google's Data Liberation Front
http://www.dataliberation.org/
This is a site that shows you how to extract data from various Google services.

And the announcement of the Data Liberation Front, from Google's Public Policy Blog:
"Introducing DataLiberation.org: Liberate your data!" by by Brian Fitzpatrick
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/09/introducing-dataliberationorg-liberate.html


One final note. Even if you CAN quit Google, that doesn't mean that you should. :)

Song of the Day: Xenia Martinez - Price Tag (The Voice Live Performance)

I saw this on The Voice on NBC (yes, I sometimes watch this). There is some real talent there. In particular, I LOVED this performance.

"Xenia | Price Tag | The Voice Live Performance Team Blake Shelton"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij9CbUUsnJE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Here is a version with better audio quality but no video.
"Xenia - Price Tag The Voice"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVWqrQsKpEs&feature=related


Who is Xenia Martinez? From PopCrush:
"Xenia Takes a ‘Break’ From her High School Classroom to Perform The Script on ‘The Voice’" by Spencer Kaufman
http://popcrush.com/xenia-the-voice/
Scroll down to see a very early performance on the show by Xenia. I think she keeps getting better and better.


FWIW, I like Xenia's version way better than the original:
"Jessie J - Price Tag ft. B.o.B."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI

How to Land Your Kid (and Yourself!) in Therapy

Interesting article today, from The Atlantic:
"How to Land Your Kid in Therapy" by Lori Gottlieb
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/how-to-land-your-kid-in-therapy/8555/1/

This is a story about how we shouldn't try to shield our kids from everything, that it's counterproductive. And I think it's safe to say that I don't coddle my kids like that. So no problem there.

But the thing that really strikes me about the story is that I find myself, as an adult, relating to it from the point of view of the children in the story. Initially, "Lizzie" reminded me of ... me. I have nothing to be unhappy about. Yet I feel adrift and afraid to trust my instincts in my personal life.

Check out this line of the article: "How happy should she be?" I've wondered this same thing. Except replace "she" with "I." And this line: "Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy."

No great conclusion here, sorry. This article left me with only questions, no answers.

I take that back. There is one good lesson, at least one good lesson that I was able to extract from the article. It is this quote: "Happiness as a byproduct of living your life is a great thing. But happiness as a goal is a recipe for disaster." - Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory at Swarthmore College.

Making the Movies Jealous

File this under "innovative uses of technology" or "romance." Either one, or both. I found this to be extremely clever and touching. You know exactly how the video is going to end, but you don't care.

Making the Movies Jealous, by Matt & Ginny
http://www.youtube.com/mattandginny#p/a/u/1/pnVAE91E7kM

They also have a website, if you're curious.
http://www.mattandginny.com/

Song of the Day: Tracy Chapman - She's Got Her Ticket

A couple days ago I posted a song by Tracy Chapman. It reminded me of another song of hers, one that leads to greatly mixed feelings on my part. First, the song:

Tracy Chapman - She's Got Her Ticket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCwpeyM_FGs

Beautiful song. So why do I have mixed feelings? Well, it stems from the fact that while some people are great artists, they are not necessarily the world's greatest thinkers.

I saw Tracy Chapman live in concert a while back, in Minneapolis. This was during the Elian Gonzalez affair. She said that Elian Gonzalez should be returned to Cuba, which is an issue that separates the men from the boys, so to speak, even though it is one of the very few issues where there is an obvious right and wrong answer. Then she played "She's Got Her Ticket" later in the concert. I don't believe she got the irony there. Great singers are not always great thinkers. Or even thinkers of any kind.

All of that song, every damn word, could apply to Elian's mother. She gave her life to get her son to freedom. And this is what we do to her memory.

"Give your life and invariably they leave you with nothing."

Song of the Day: Dire Straits - So Far Away (Wembley Arena)

Here's an oldie but a goodie, as they say. I must be getting old to be posting stuff as old as this. Hey, I remember when Dire Straits was HOT, by the way. Money for Nothing, Walk of Life, Brothers in Arms, and all that. But this is one of my favorites of theirs.

Dire Straits - So Far Away (Wembley Arena)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hVKG9wFelk