Jackson Miller

On January 3rd I declared that 2008 would be the year of the editor. Around the same time Seth Godin was saying the same kind of thing. Turns out for once that I was right.

Today Gabe Riveria announced that Techmeme would start employing the use of editors to sort through the results of the automated algorithm. They have big hopes for the benefits of human editorial intelligence:

“The news will just get faster and more interesting. Obsolete stories will be eliminated sooner while breaking stories will be expedited. Related grouping will improve. Most of this will happen only on Techmeme, though other sites (like memeorandum and WeSmirch) will increasingly benefit from the direct human touch as well.”

I am hoping that an editor will increase the quality and timeliness of stories there. It may be asking too much to hope for a reduction in sensationalism since it is a business after all.

It has been a long time since one of my posts has been been linked to by Techmeme (that I know of). I don’t expect that to change (honestly, I want to read posts that are better quality than my own), but it will be interesting to see how human editors affect the variety of contributors to Techmeme. Will an algorithm or a human have a greater tendency to pick favorites?

BTW, I found out about the changes at Techmeme from a link at Hacker News. HN has become my goto source for tech / startup /etc news. One thing I prefer about Techmeme over HN is the related stories. If the quality goes up at Techmeme I could see myself preferring it.

Note: Techmeme is not the only example of 2008 being the year of the editor. I think Mahalo has proven itself to be a great resource during breaking news due to the process of editors (or curators).

Brad Feld has a post with some suggestions for the Obama Administration (man, I love saying that).

It is a good idea. It would be cool if we all put forth some suggestions, but in the mean time I like one of Brad’s suggestions so much that I want to repost it here:

“2. Veto The First Pork Laden Bill. I continue to be baffled by the dynamics around Pork in Congress. I want my politicians to become vegetarians and reject Pork. TARP is such a disgusting example of this – as far as I can tell, the only major difference between the TARP bill that failed the House and the one that came back from the Senate and passed was the addition of a bunch of Pork. Disgusting. When the first bill hits Obama’s desk that has one key issue in it that is covered with Pork, he should Veto it. He should then get on TV and explain the bill in clear English to the American population. He should describe the single issue in the bill, and then list the Pork – state by state, Congressman by Congressman. He should then insist that Congress revisit the bill, take all the Pork out, and send it back to him for approval.”

Can you imagine the look on the faces of the Congress?!? That would be great. It would destroy allegiances and force changes to the way things are done.

It won’t happen, but I am holding out hope that Obama will have a tactful way to accomplish the same end.

I have been saying this for a few days on Twitter, but I wanted to post it here in a little more depth.

The greatest thing to come out of the 2008 Presidential Election may very well be the subsequent redefining of the Republican Party.

I am pretty stoked that Obama is going to be our next President. Just stop and think how much better the election could have been if it was focused on philosophical differences in how to govern. Instead lots and lots of time was focused on associations, innuendo, and fear. The American people got cheated on that one (again).

My theory is that McCain was holding an indefensible position; he was defending neo-conservatism. To add to the difficulty, he was a late comer to the NeoCon party. There was no way he could fight the debate on ideas because the ideas are incredibly unpopular or have been disproved outright.

Now the Republican Party is going to have to redefine itself. I think there are two possible scenarios:

1. The traditional conservative wing of the party will either shun or just ignore the Religious Right.
2. The Religious Right will prove too formidable to be pushed aside and the Libertarian Party will gain in ranks and credibility (not to mention financing).

Unfortunately, neither of these guarantee an elevated level of discourse. It is up to the American voters to demand an elevated level of discourse, but before that can happen the Right is going to have to regain their footing. I assume the plan for the rebranding of the Right started some time last week.

Once again, good for America.

Ok, I am done with politics on here for a while. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Our Great Nation was founded on principles of equality, but the model of our actions has not lived up to those ideals. Granted, it is an immense goal, but the founding principles are what make this a Great Nation.

When my mom was a child the Declaration of Independence had an invisible asterisk with a footnote that it did not apply to people of color. When my great-grandmother was a child there was another asterisk that women were also excluded. Slowly, over the course of many decades we have eliminated the legal barriers, but the cultural barriers have been slower and more difficult to correct. We have taught our children one thing and modeled something less perfect.

For the past week my son has been telling me that with Obama we will be electing the first “dark skinned” president. Well, yes we did! With the election of Barack Hussein Obama the chasm between the ideals our Nation was founded upon and the model of our actions that inform the perception of future generations got a little smaller.

Don’t get me wrong; I in no way believe we have actually reached “equal opportunity” yet. Racism will continue to exist. The thing is, when my sons learn about the Declaration of Independence, there will be a little less disconnect between what he is taught and what he sees.

Now, I did not vote for Obama because of the pigment of his skin, and I did not vote for Obama in spite of the pigment of his skin. I voted for Barack Obama because I did not like the direction our country was headed. I felt that we had developed a pattern and system for power to be abused; I wanted a new direction for the longevity of our Nation.

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Last night, the American people performed their duty. In a beautiful display of a country founded on Democratic principles we were able to “throw off” an abusive Government peacefully. The checks and balances of our Democracy worked last night. We did not need to have an armed revolution, we did not need to assassinate or persecute our governing authorities. We were able to participate in the system as it was designed and overthrow a governing party that a majority of Americans no longer wanted in power. With participation at it’s highest level in recent history I am proud of the structure of our Nation and I am proud of “We the People”.

We have a long hard road ahead of us as we have to tackle some massive challenges. We are going to have to conclude two wars in a way that will be in the long-term interest of our Country first and foremost while also considering the interest of the rest of the world. We are going to make a cultural shift away from a Nation of debtors to a Nation that creates value other than consumption and builds wealth instead of amenities. We are going to have to restore the precedence of individual liberty over national security. We are going to have to deal with the largest exit of the workforce ever in our history and the care of an aging population.

This is not going to be easy. But after re-reading The Declaration of Independence this morning I am keenly aware that these are not the greatest challenges we have ever faced. We can do this. President Barack Obama has the opportunity and the talents to help us help ourselves. He cannot fix this for us, but he has the talents and respect needed to help us facilitate the tough situations and navigate the obstacles in our path.

As much as I am tempted to draw parallels between the condemnations of King George in the Declaration and the actions of President Bush, that has no place in today’s world. The American People’s vote was a condemnation of the Neo-Conservative way of doing things. That chapter of our Nation’s history is coming to a close. I cannot predict the future to know that this next chapter will be better than the last, but it sure seems like it to me. I have immense gratitude for the record numbers of voters who came out and voiced their preference. I am glad people voted for John McCain; I am glad that a majority (no matter how you slice it) voted for Barack Obama.

I am incredibly proud to be an American today. That is something I have not felt in a long time.

Today is more monumental than words can express.

It is late, I am tired, we have lots of hard work ahead of us, and I am so ready for it.

WE won tonight.

By “we” I mean the United States of America.

I am so proud of my country tonight.

UPDATE: My dad’s post is better than mine.

First off, let me say that Letterman’s flogging of John McCain has been hilarious! It seems full of genuine emotion. I am sure Letterman was not making a larger political statement about the lack of transparency in the McCain campaign, it sure has been a perfect example of the frustration the press seem to be feeling.

What amazes me is exactly how much power Letterman has.

“If we had done something like that to him, someone around here would end up getting fired,” one said.

The world has changed in the past few years. It is now acceptable to call someone out for being less than upfront. I think we are seeing this because we all are sick and tired of feeling like we are being lied to. The importance of honesty seems to be growing in our culture and I love it.

So kudos to you, David Letterman. Maybe the news department doesn’t have the clout to call bullshit when they see it, but apparently you do. Thanks for letting us all know that John McCain called you up personally and bold face lied to you. Thank you for making it abundantly clear that we can’t trust John McCain. I mean, if he would lie to a comedian in order to get out of an obligation, what tougher situations would he lie about?

There is a new video from Obama that I hope everyone gets to see

I spent the vast majority of the day working.

Then again, this is creeping up awfully fast.

The only problem was that both my office and the vast majority of coffee shops were closed today. You would think I might take a hint, but I don’t have time for hints.

This morning I stopped by the neighborhood coffee joint to get a couple of iced coffees for Sabrina and myself. While I was there I ran into a friend who has been a Hillary supporter. He and I have talked many times about this election and I know his fears have been that Obama would come under heavy attack in the general election.

So today we had a brief conversation about the election. “Obama had a good night last night…” yada yada. At the end of the conversation I said something to the effect of “I am confident the Dems will come together and give this all we’ve got. I think we can do it.”

As he replied “Yes we will” a look of recognition came over his face. A smile came across his face as he repeated the now iconic refrain “yes we will”. It appeared to me as if at that very moment he became an Obama supporter.

The battle cry has changed. We are now not only assured and convinced that we “can”; we know that we “will”.

Let’s do this!

I watched last night’s debate with some friends. The whole time we were wondering why they were focusing on such non-issues. Obama was clearly annoyed with it too. As I browse the internet this morning I can see that there is a large percentage of people who feel the same way.

According to ABC, Flag Pins are more important that Gas Prices, Mortgage Crisis, Iraq, Iran, etc. That is pathetic.

What really gets me is that I keep having this interview with Charlie Gibson playing over and over in my head. A few days before the debate someone was asking him about his preparations for the debate. He said two things that really bugged me:

1) He was not really nervous and not really preparing b/c George Stephanopoulos was going to be there. (His lack of preparation and lackadaisical attitude were clearly visible).

2) He made a comment that while they were accepting questions from viewers in PA, they were not sure if they were going to use them b/c they had a better understanding of what the issues really were.

That second comment has me bitter boiling mad. If I was in PA and submitted a question I would be irate that our questions were tossed aside so that ABC could create the least issues focused debate that I can remember ever seeing.