Misc. Ramblings

You Have Spam. Silicon Valley columnist Dan Gillmor has set his sites on e-mail and finds it wanting (see it here). According to Gillmor, from spam to viruses, the vital role e-mail has served is rapidly coming to a close.

While there are solutions, the probability that any will be implemented is next to zero. The reasons for this are many. Some are economic. Some are social. All make easy solutions unlikely.

Hence, he seems to be abandoning e-mail as a failed experiment and is moving to instant messaging and RSS feads. I wish him luck because it is but a matter of time before both is co-opted by businesses just trying to make a buck.

Missed It By THAT Much. Hurricane Jimena brushed past the Big Island yesterday morning causing, thank God, only minimal damage. When you live on an island in the middle of the Pacific you take these threats seriously.

While I'm no weather forecaster, it appears there was a strong upper level high pressure region North of the islands that forced the hurricane South and eventually split the storm up into three cells. This avoided what could have been a Very Bad Thing - the direct impact of a Category 2 storm over a populated area. Had that occurred, power would have been out for months, thousands would have lost their homes, and many could have died.

Instead, surfers got a treat and farmers got some much needed rain.

Aloha!