Music and mood Mar 5, 2008
Scott Adams wrote a great post about music and mood a while ago, but it's since been removed and put in his book.  A cached copy says,
"Sometimes I wonder why music is legal. Music can alter your mood and your body chemistry just like any illegal drug. The fact that it goes into your body through your ear shouldn't make a difference. We take drugs via practically every other hole in our body -- mouth, butt, eyeballs, nose -- you name it. Ain't nothing special about an ear."
It's amazing how true this really is.  Music has a profound effect on mood, energy, creativity, etc.  It truly affects the body like a drug.  When certain songs come on the radio while I'm driving, I tend to drive faster or more aggressively.  Wendy says certain songs on her iPod make her run faster or work out harder.  Certain songs make you relax.  Certain songs make you think.  Certain songs make you feel like Superman.  It's undeniable (at least for me) that music has a direct effect on my mood. #entertainment
Corporate network obsolescence (4) Mar 5, 2008
I predict that in 5-10 years, corporate IT networks will be obsolete.  Sorry, all my IT readers.  You'll probably still have jobs because people's computers will keep breaking.  But you can forget about network cables and email servers.  With things like wireless broadband and web-based email, there's no need for a corporate-centric network.  Anything that can be done on one of those networks can be done on a wireless broadband network.  There's no need for corporate IT policies, internet filtering, or bandwidth throttling because it'll have nothing to do with the corporate network.  It's all in the hands of each individual user.  And corporate software policies like antivirus protection and the slew of standardized, cookie-cutter bloatware that IT departments ruin install on users' computers will become obsolete because, again, those things are network-centric.  Who cares if one of your users gets a virus on their machine?  It won't affect anyone else on the network because it's a different kind of network.  And I've mentioned before my opinion about web-based email:  It's infinitely better than corporate email.  It's more reliable.  It's easier to access.  There's more storage space.  Who cares about security because nobody does secure things through email anyway (though I have a hard time believing Gmail's https is any less secure than biometrics, a smart card, and a 10-character password).  With a $100 wireless broadband card and $60/month unlimited access, I don't need a corporate network. #technology