Its   1AM.  When I got home from tonight's Met loss, I found an NES emulator called Console Classix.

Of course, what was the first thing I did.

You guessed it.  I played a game of Tecmo Super Bowl.  I was the Raiders.  In this game, for some reason, Bo Jackson is a god among mere mortals.  I mean, he can't be touched.  Even when the other team picks the right defense and 11 guys pile on him, he breaks out of it and runs down the field.  I dominated the Houston Oilers 58-7.  Here's the final boxscore:

Things to note:

Bo only ran for an 27.7 yards per carry and only 8 of his 18 runs resulted in touchdowns.  At only 499 yards, this was a subpar game for Bo, but its been about 12 years since I've played the game.

I did attempt one pass with Jay Schroeder, whose scrubbiness in Tecmo was surpassed only by his real life ineptitude.  He got picked off in his one attempt.  That was the end of the Jay Schroeder experiment. 

Marcus Allen did not get the ball.

Do you think Bo has ever actually played this game?

This is interesting, because I find myself on the capitalistic (versus altruistic "teach a  man to fish vs. give him one) end of the how do you fight poverty argument.   Rob has an interesting take on how technology enabled participation in the global economy helps fight against the most extreme poverty.... and he's seen it firsthand.

Link: Software by Rob : Using Technology to Fight Poverty.

Link: Fordham University Welcomes Class of 2009.

“You will be challenged and nurtured to overcome limitations that you wrongly think you have,” Father McShane told a standing room-only crowd in the Leonard Theatre at Fordham Preparatory School on the Rose Hill campus. “Never be satisfied with mediocrity—be hungry for knowledge and bothered by injustice.”

There isn't much I can add to all the discussion over New Orleans, but I just watch a CNN video that is probably the saddest thing I've ever seen.  It annoys me that I can't link to it, but just go to CNN.com and look for the clip about the man who lost his house and his wife. 

Now if only we could divert some of the manpower and $191 billion being spent in Iraq right now to right here at home, perhaps we could actually help these people.

Link: How Long Will I Live? - Life Expectancy Calculator.

Amazingly, this calulator corroborates what the Death Clock told me, even though its a lot more detailed, within reason.  Both put me well into my 85th year. 

The interesting analysis with this one is that it lets you analyze your heath risks and tells you where you could improve your expectancy.  So, for example, if I never wanted to have sex again, I could extend my life 1.67 years.

Umm....   riiiiiight.  I don't see that as such a great tradeoff, especially considering where the years are being tacked on.  Two more years of bingo and tapioca?  No thanks. 

Nice post from Dave Cowan...   

Link: Who Has Time For This?: Consumer Investing (2).

That's why we believe that the formula for any successful consumer venture is to be as scrappy as possible until you see that exponential growth curve. Twist, tweak and test until you find the mark. Only then is it time to raise lots of money, hire expensive VP's, and "monetize" your users. (Be sure to read this excellent post from Brad Feld on finding the next killer app.) If Google taught the world anything, it's that you start with the customer experience, and then build the business only after you've got that one nailed.

Over the weekend, I did a lot of biking.  On Friday, I went up the west side to the George Washington Bridge and then had a little waterfront picnic.  I snapped off a few sunset pictures, too.  The sunset cloud cover over the Hudson in the city produces some really great skies and I've been having a ball taking pictures of them. 

The moss on these rocks seemed to glow in the sun.

I also biked in Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday.  This picture is from the lake.

You may have noticed I have a new little iKarma badge on the left column of my blog.  iKarma basically is PeopleTrust--a concept that I blogged about earlier this summer.  Its a distributed reputation system.  I'm curious to see the traction that it gets.

So, if you know me and want to leave a comment and rate me, click on the badge.  Tell everyone what you think of me.

I like this better than the rep system on eBay and LinkedIn because those are closed systems and I can't take my rep with me if I leave them or if I just want to maintain a consistant rep across all my digital identities.  I am concerned a bit that this might become another Y.A.F.P., but its hard to seperate out rep from network.  Anyway, it will be interesting to see who bothers to use this and how.

Some of you may have read about Flickr's proposed integration with the Yahoo! network that will require users to sign in to Flickr via a Yahoo! account.  Well, at this moment, 800 Flickr users have banded together in a FlickOff group that is threatening to leave Flickr because of the integration.

I'm sure I'll get some flack for this, but to all you FlickOff protesters:

Quit whining!

One user writes:   "I don't want to join with Yahoo, if I'd have known this was going to happen I would have never joined Flickr in the first place."

Gag.

Because you know what will happen?  If you have to sign into Flickr with a Yahoo! ID, men in black suits from Yahoo! will come to your house and implant Y! chips in your head.  They may eat your babies, too...

I think people have taken this a little too far.  Flickr is a great service made even better by the Yahoo acquisition if for no other reason than it now has a place to live where I don't have to worry about the darn thing going out of business.  Now, perhaps the integration and communication could have been a bit smoother, but changing the way you sign in to get your photos is no different than the bank giving you a new banking card when it merges with another bank... and I'm sure this has happened to most of these people before.  You never hear anyone go, "Had I known that North Fork Bank was going to give me a North Fork banking card when they bought Hamilton Federal Savings, I never would have put my money here in the first place."  At most, its a minor inconvenience with the tradeoff being a more permanent service.  As an independent company, there was nothing guaranteeing Flickr staying around or a plan B if Caterina and Stewart got hit by a bus. 

Remember way back when we used to get messages saying that AOL was going to start charging extra for IM?  Even recently, forwards went around Friendster that said that Friendster was going to turn people's profiles off if they didn't log in everyday or some ridiculous thing like that.

No, I believe that Yahoo! has some smart people there and that they didn't build a userbase of 200 million people accidently.  They're not going to shut Flickr off, hold my photos for ransom, or implant chips in my head.  This is just a minor step in the integration of two systems (Flickr is a BETA, remember??) and I'm fine with it.  Its a fantastic service--so far out ahead of anything else that the occasional hiccup won't bother me.

Where is everybody??, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Its only 8pm... Everyone must be in the Hamptons.

No, this isn't a reference to Mike Tyson's Punchout, the Nintendo Game, but extra points to anyone who can, off the top of their head, name all of the opponents in the game in order.

No, I just got a copy of the latest NYSSA newsletter and there's a picture of Ralph Acampora in it.

He looks a little different now and a lot better:

Before

After

Bald:  Leave home without it.

I have a feeling no one will top this for the week.   This guy exposed himself to a girl on the subway and she snapped a photo of it, posting it on flickr.  Do you know this guy?

Link: pervert081805 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

We've been thinking and talking a lot about working with entrepreneurs who bootstrap their companies to some pretty incredible accomplishments.  We love to work with companies who not only don't need our money, but will go ahead and build whatever it is they're building or go to that next step whether or not we fund the company.  The "give us money and then we'll build this" proposition is becoming less and less attractive in the face of entrepreneurs who say, "This is what we're doing and going to do next, do you want to be a part of it?"

Its kind of like dating.  For me, I'm very wary of women who need guys.  First off, any woman who actually needs a guy is probably grossly overestimating our value--and we'll probably just be a major disappointment to her if she gets one of us.  Second, independence and motivation are two of the most important characteristics of the woman I am looking for.  That, of course, begs the question of why the hell she needs me at all.

You should date and/or take on VC money for strategic, not financial reasons.  If all your VC brings to the table is money, then its probably going to be an unsuccessful relationship--the same way that dating someone just to fill an emotional hole in your life won't provide the happiness you're looking for.  You should partner up in either situation because the person you're dealing with brings a fresh perspective, exposure to a new set of opportunities to improve yourself--be it an interest in art or a relationship with Google, and an interesting experience that you find valuable and want around as you face the unknown future.  No one knows what tomorrow will be like--all you can do is decide who you want on your side of the table when it comes and brings new challenges.

PS...  If anyone knows any single women, I am happy to provide a business plan and executive summary of myself.

Since a good chunk of you are new, I thought I would add some links to what I consider to be some of my better posts, so now I have a new linkroll down the left sidebar.

Also, I just posted a couple of new pictures to my photo section on the blog. 

Enjoy the weekend.  I'm off to take a ride on my new pre-owned bike from Craigslist.  I bought a Trek 7100 yesterday.

I've been a bit quiet about this baseball season, but I've been watching, not to worry.

Here's my update:

I say a little prayer to David Wright every night that he will watch over this franchise and deliver us a championship.  This guy, at 22, is amazing.  No question about it--he's the best position player the Mets have developed since Strawberry.  Jeez... that's 20 years ago.  Its ironic, too, that he plays third, because historically thirdbase has been a black hole for this team forever.  Something like 150 different people have played third for the Mets in their 43 year history.

I believed in Jae Seo.  Always have. 

Tom Glavine still sucks.

Mike Piazza is the new Jake Taylor.  You watch...  they tie for the wildcard and Piazza lays down a bunt while Jose Reyes scores from second.

I've never seen an infield so divided.  Could Reyes and Wright be more exciting?   Could Matsui and Mienkczewitz be any worse?  Maybe this Mike Jacobs kid will play out. 

Cliff Floyd.  We knew what we got there.  Healthy=good.  He's healthy this year.

Carlos Beltran?  Jeez...    what a bust he's been.  At least he's finally started running.  It would be useful if he could turn it up a notch in September like he did in last year's playoffs.  Apparently, he seems to be better with some broken bones in his face.  Now all the disappointments are trying it.  Randy Johnson.  Adrian Beltre.  Jason Schmidt.  Players from all around the league are smashing their faces against their teammates. 

I don't know how this season will turn out, but I will say that Philly and Houston are pretty beatable and I'm not particularly scared of them.  And... can the Braves stop winning?  BTW... Did anyone else notice that Julio Franco turned 47 this week?

You have no idea how hard I want the Indians to nab the wildcard in the American League.  Can someone tell Jhonny Peralta that he spells his name wrong?

I hope Red Sox-Cards is more exciting this year.  The Cards really didn't put up much of a fight last time. 

Yup.. I'm blogging., originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Who isn't?

Not only is this hilarious, but its also a good use of distribution...   the website gives let's me create HTML to blog their t-shirt with. Good tradeoff.  They give me funny I give them traffic.

GM Building, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

I worked here for 8 years.

Almost lose.  Stop.  Look back.  Reexamine.  Appreciate.  Save or renew.

That's Eternal Sunshine.  Oh yeah, there's a big of intrusive memory zapping, too.  What lengths we'll go through to forget people we want to remember.

In ESSM, Jim Carrey has to bring every single item that reminds him of his ex into an office to help get rid of her memories.  What does that bag look like for you?  Do you keep anything you should probably get rid of?  When I had my wallet stolen, I had a ten year old Winterfresh gum wrapper in it.  What's your item?  In the spirit of forgetting, and maybe, in turn, appreciating, that's the topic of today's call for comments back.  Name the item you keep from a past love that you should probably get rid of. 

Jim's bag is full of stuff.  Drawings, a snow globe...   and his head is full of stuff, too.  We know that because we get to walk through it and it results in a visually creative, fun, and thoughtful take on how much love depends on our own screwed up heads.  He's great in this movie and I really think he does a great job in most of his pseudo-straight man roles... he's a good actor.

I sweat Kate Winslet in this movie, too.  I've always loved crazy chics with Crayola hair, especially when they have a sensitive, vulnerable side they only show to a select few... always made me feel special. 

The movie is made by Focus Features which also did Lost in Translation.  Its the "specialty" unit of Universal... both movies are indeed very special.

Do you want to make money in your own home?

Forget real estate scams, tupperware, or becoming a spammer.

Create your own Web 2.0 company NOW!!

Its easy.  Just follow these 10 simple steps and you, too, can be seen in fine dining establishments like Jamba Juice and speaking on panels for conferences like Distribucate 2.0, Fred, Bloggerstock and Elfdex.

1. Solve the smallest possible problem (that is still big enough to matter) for the user and know exactly what problem you're trying to solve. Google's first and primary job was very simple:  Help people find stuff.  They didn't start layering on everything else until much later.  Brad calls this the "narrow point of the wedge."  Its the easiest, simplest version of what you're trying to do... the smallest bite your users will ever have to chew--small enough to get hooked on very easily.

2. Get a responsive and chatty audience using the product.  The del.icio.us community eats new features like piranhas.  They pour over the service, discuss it, promote it, and complain when they don't like stuff.  You couldn't have hired a better, more thorough, or more passionate group of alpha testers.  Don't rush to get the service so easy that my dad can use it, because he's not going to really be helpful to you in the early days when you need really hardcore Beta testing.

3.  Launch.  Now.  Tomorrow.  Every day.   Don't wait until its perfect to put it out in the open.  No more closed invite-only betas.  Your idea of perfect may not jive with your users' ideas of perfect.  Put whatever you can out there and get people using it as soon as possible.  Feed them daily with new features to keep them interested and coming back.  No one likes waiting six years for new releases.

4.  Distribute.  Distribute.  Distribute.    Don't force your users to play on your site in a walled garden.  Let them take the service and use it wherever they want.  (See Flickr badges, Google Ads, Amazon affiliates, Indeed jobrolls, del.icio.us linkrolls, moblogging, RSS, e-mail alerts, etc., etc....)  Instead of building it so they will come, go out and get them by placing little bits of your service everywhere on the web.  Be where they are.

5.  Don't hold users against their will.  If they want to leave, let them pick up with all of the content they created while they were on your site and leave... for free.  Charging $0.29 to get back each of the hi rez photos you uploaded to the site (See my upcoming Snapfish post) is thievery.  You have to let the barn door open and focus on keeping your customers fed, so they want to come back, instead of coming back because they're stuck.

6.  Be mindnumbingly simple.  Extra clicks are deadly.  People just won't do it.  Indeed:  One search, all jobs.  Two boxes:  What job and where.  You can't get any easier than that and all it takes is for someone to put one search in for people to go, "Wait...what's this... links to Monster AND Careerbuilder??" 

7.  Get people hooked on free.  Craigslist wouldn't have become Craigslist if it wasn't free for so much for so long.  Even now, they're very profitable and they're only charging for just a few small pieces of their service in just a handful of their 120 markets.  The world is changing.  Service is cheaper to provide now than ever and users are expecting to get more for free than ever before.  Its hard for a lot of big companies to accept that.  I just had lunch recently with a couple of friends from a music publisher.  They were signing some bands to "incubator" deals for just a couple of songs to test the market with them.  I said, "And you're giving those songs away for free, right?"  They nearly choked on their food.  :)    Well, why the heck wouldn't they?  Give a few songs away for free, generate buzz, get lots more people to buy future albums.  Seth Godin did that with his books, releasing e-books that generated buzz around hardcover sales.  Free sells.  Do you think the Facebook would be the Facebook if you had to pay for your smooches  like you do on Match?

8. Don't waste any money on marketing.   Word of mouth has never ever been easier or less expensive in the history of human communication.  Things go viral in a hurry... when they're good.  Ever see a Skype superbowl commercial?  No, but they've had 146 million people download it.  If you don't have the service and the quality to back it up, no amount of fancy marketing is going to help... and people are so quick to share cool stuff, because they want to be the person "in the know".  When they're satisfied, they'll blog about it and e-mail everyone they know.  And they'll tag it furiously on del.icio.us, too.

9.  Don't overfund.  Do you know how many times a day I see companies get funded on Private Equity Week and I'm like, "What the heck are they going to do with all that money??"  Underfunding a company can be a problem, too, but thinking that more money makes you better is a fallacy.  It probably makes you a bit sloppy and fuzzies your focus.  When you raise $2 million, you're much more likely to have a clear sense of exactly where that money is going to go than if you raised $20 million.

10.  No one sucks.  I hate it when someone says that a whole service sucks.  Now, I say it myself, I'll admit, but what that does is it teaches you to discount and generalize, and probably miss a lot of small opportunities that add up.  Now, I think Ofoto sucks versus Flickr, but people still use it.  Why?  There's got to be something there.  AOL sucks... or does it?  They still have 20 million users, so it can't entirely suck.  You should look at every competitor and take the best of what they do right and do it yourself, even if that's only one thing and the rest of their service sucks.