Hollywood and the Music Industry have both stepped away from their true calling.

They used to take a “new idea” and do something wonderful with it.

Take Citizen Kane.

Not like anything before it. Compelling, immersive, because the story drags you along.

Now compare the movie Transformers. A remake of a kids cartoon show, from our childhood.

Basically, any of us who grew up with the cartoon, already new the basic story, the only real hook was the mind-blowing Computer Generated Imaging (CGI). And yes, it was mind blowing.

But derivative.

Nothing new.

Retelling old stories is why people don’t go to the movie theatre and plunk down $10 a seat. When there are new, good ideas, they come from places where the organization is new.

The iPhone 3G

Ok, I’ll admit it. I like Apple products. There is something to be said for a product that you can pull out of the box and have it work right with out having to read pages of manuals or spend hours trying to figure out.

When Apple first released the original version of the iPhone I thought it was a neat concept, but the iPhone 3G is a serious expansion of an already cool product.

The iPhone 3G comes out of the box with Bluetooth, WiFi, Edge, 3G and GPS transceivers, making it an extremely connected device.

I had someone ask me how serious I thought the current fiscal crisis is, yesterday.  I said, “it depends. How big is your garden?  How full is your freezer?  Did you pick up that backup generator?”  And his answer was “Why? Do those things matter?”

Here’s the thing.  The last time the economy was in this kind of shape, around 70 years ago, we were a mostly rural population, with small family farms.  That meant that when there were no jobs, you still had your crops, and your livestock.  You may or may not have had electricity, but you probably had a fireplace, and a acre or two of firewood growing.  Your farm equipment mostly could be pulled by a horse, or a mule.

Updated: 9/29/2008:

Petroleum Pipelines

The news headlines are full of the current gasoline shortage, here in Middle Tennessee, with pictures of gas stations desolate, and barren, or with lines stretching off into the distance.  Why is this crisis striking Middle Tennessee, but not Birmingham, or Huntsville, or Atlanta? 

Update: 9/29/2008:

This website shows the ongoing conversation in the oil trading industry, concerning this the fuel shortage, and may provide some insights on why the shortage is spreading.

How Oil Gets to Nashville

Oil gets to Nashville via the Colonial Pipeline, which as you can see by the map is a direct run through the heart of the southeastern United States.  You might also notice that while the pipeline runs through the southeast, it doesn’t run through Tennessee.   That would of course, be due to the Appalacian Mountains.  Thus, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville are all fed on branches of the main pipeline, as shown above.

Better Commuting?

The recent road trip reminded me of this recurring thought I’ve been having for the past twenty years.

I’ve been talking about the need for high speed rail, to help eliminate highway congestion, and decrease the number of “regional” commuter flights.

Lets take the second problem first. Regional commuter flights are flights that start and end within 1 hour of travel. They are typically routes that are flown partiallly full most of the time, sometimes even flying empty, just so that the planes will be pre-positioned for their next flight.

These are usually flown with older planes, which require more maintenance, and are usually less fuel efficient.

There are too many corporations out there today, who expect their Intellectual Properties to be treated like Real Property.

Real Property is something that exists, that you can deed, that has a value.

Intellectual Property is a vague term that lumps together several different intangibles, Copyright, Patents, and Trademarks, even though they do not have anything like similar or comparable rules.

Perhaps we, the rest of the world have been ignoring the Property side of Intellectual Properties, for far too long.

Perhaps the best thing to do is simply treat Intellectual Properties like real properties, and tax them.

[MasterMind and I are trying to do some collaborative writing, and this is the first article he and I have penned, together.]

Introducing the MacBook Air

It’s stylish, it’s shiny, and it’s thin.

I’ll give you one guess as to what it is….

Apple’s innovation has triumphed again, but for some, this triumph may be tainted by one critical design flaw.

For the others, the sheer coolness of this new product will be the Macbook Air’s most powerful draw.

In just about every state, taxes on fuels pay for highway and road maintenance.  In some states, there are also toll roads, created by law, and funded by the tolls collected on them.  These toll roads are supposed to be maintained by the tolls, as well.  In many cases, those funds are being used in the manner intended, but in some cases, we have to wonder.

There’s a new creative solution from the Federal Highway administration and the Department of Transportation called to “Public-Private Partnerships“, where states are leasing out, or selling off infrastructure, like freeways, highways, toll roads, bridges, and if they have their way, even public utilities to the highest bidder.