Category: Storytelling

Web by Joe WilcoxJun 7, 201610:03 pm

Boo Hoo, Yahoo!

My oldest Internet ID, three letters, is vintage 1996. Yahoo’s impending demise, which could be to Verizon, almost certainly will mark the end of our long relationship. We mutually will abandon one another. I’m sorry that it comes to this.

Yahoo sealed its fate when cutting the deal to outsource search to Microsoft during summer 2009. The disaster I predicted then will soon end the iconic brand, what little remains of it. Many people will blame CEO Marissa Mayer, but she was but steward of the sinking ship. Doom was a certainty after Yahoo surrendered crown jewel search. That the company limped along for another 7 years is testimony to the brand and to the services infrastructure built around it.

That said, the decision to sell off Yahoo assets is far greater surrender; one from which Mayer supposedly will profit handsomely. She deserves no financial benefit for abandoning—suiciding—what salvageable remains. For example, Flickr and Tumblr, both acquisitions, are among the many Yahoo assets that could be sustainable, even profitable.

Living by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 201610:20 pm

My Two Losses

This week I pick up the pieces of early May and return to business as usual—eh, hopefully. I’ll recount events chronologically, offering context for near absence on my personal site and complete disappearance from BetaNews, where my last story, as of writing here, was April 27, 2016.

The following day, there was an unfortunate vehicular incident, involving our six-and-a-half old Toyota Yaris, which the insurer designated total loss. That wasn’t the outcome I had hoped for, despite extremely generous compensation for the car’s value. We paid for the Yaris in full and, as such, planned on running it for many more years yet.

Living by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 20165:01 pm

Reconsidering Facebook

I spent little time online the past week following the unexpected passing of my sister Annette exactly seven days ago. The reaction is strange, seeing how much Facebook, texting, and other connected activities and services enriched and changed her life during the last six months or so she walked this Earth. I was clueless.

Last year, I added Annette to my cellular account; she used Nokia Lumia Icon Windows Phone to start. This opened a new world of connection to children, other relatives, and friends by texting. In November, when switching the family to T-Mobile from Verizon and upgrading to Nexus 6P, I sent her my Nexus 6. Soon after, her fraternal twin, Nanette, helped set up Facebook. Annette’s first post was Nov. 22, 2015—a family photo with our brother-in-law Michael Bellerieve, before his death from cancer. 🙁

Living by Joe WilcoxMay 9, 20169:39 pm

For My Sister

Tonight I wanted to share something for Annette—eldest of my three siblings. I started to write a poem but couldn’t go beyond one stanza:

Giants walk among us, rarely do we perceive
The gifts they bear few of us receive
Gently they lift us, high enough to see
Together they take us to a better place to be

I had hoped to express my feelings this sad day, and perhaps you can catch where the sentiment would have gone. Annette was too easily taken for granted, and we all expected her to be longer among us. Rather, an atomic bomb exploded in our midsts today—a terrorist attack on our hearts. The shockwave spreads outward as each family member is informed, and the emotional equivalent of nuclear winter chills each heart.

Society by Joe WilcoxMay 3, 20167:11 pm

The Man on the Street

This afternoon, while walking along Adams Ave. in Normal Heights, I passed what appeared to be a homeless man sitting on a cement step inside an abandoned storefront doorway. He was grizzled but neat, with the leathery-brown skin hue common among people overexposed to the Southwestern Sun. His hair and beard bled gray all over what might have one time been black.

As I passed, he stopped over, arms resting on knees, alongside a small, black luggage bag with wheels and pulled-out handle. About 5 meters beyond him, my pace slowed. I rarely carry cash but today had a 10 dollar bill, which is more money than I usually give—and he had asked for none. I turned around and walked back, finding him up and moving. We passed. I hesitated once more then spun back and spoke.

Society by Joe WilcoxApr 23, 20166:46 pm

A Taste of Maine in San Diego

My wife and I walk around Liberty Station, in San Diego’s Point Loma neighborhood during some weekends, because the open pavilion with dirt paths around grassy center reminds us of the National Mall, Washington, D.C. The arts, entertainment, and shopping facility feels oddly constructed, for it is. The destination was once the Naval Training Center San Diego, and the architecture and vastness between buildings is homage to the heritage.

The military base closed with many others, as part of vast downsizing two decades ago, during Bill Clinton’s presidency (I wonder if his wife won’t wield the closure hatchet yet again, should she be elected later this year). The complex shuttered in 1997, and like many others underwent redevelopment. Something similar happened to Loring Air Force Base, located about 16 km (10 miles) from my hometown in Northern Maine. Loring’s redevelopment was nowhere nearly as successful as the San Diego training center. Location. Location. Location.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 20, 201610:42 pm

Bubba’s Gallery

Ten weeks ago I revisted the sad story of Bubba—baby bunny who died less than 24 hours in our care. He came to us on June 3, 2006, quite unexpectedly. A cat brought the furball home to his owners, who sought someone to take over responsibility. My daughter, wife, and I did but too briefly. Infection from bite or scratch doomed the little duffer. For years, I had but the two photos of Bubba that accompanied the original post. Today I discovered the others.

Earlier this month, I bought a LaCie Rugged Mini 4TB external drive. While I often store valuables in the cloud, I have nearly 20 years of photos and other files spread out on smaller discs and dozens of DVDs going back to 2000; all will consolidate on the large-capacity drive. I spent today searching the old discs, where I found some gems, including the Bubba NEF RAW originals shot with the Nikon D200.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 19, 20169:48 pm

The Lawn Mower

A few blocks down the street from the “Butterfly House” is a University Heights resident whose origins I know nothing about. But she is a fixture for anyone riding, running, or walking by. The tortoise makes old-timer Fess the cat look like a kitten. A dino-era relic doesn’t get this big without a whole lot of years behind it.

Unsurprisingly, the big fellow follows the sun throughout the day and keeps the owner’s lawn nice and trim. I am surprised by the creature’s speed—not stereotypically slow but surprisingly spry. Hehe, which is why I shot a short video of tortoise eating grass in slow motion. It makes me laugh. And you?

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 18, 20169:45 am

Monarch Caterpillar

Down the backstreet (Maryland Ave.) in our neighborhood is a mini-wildlife refuge that I call the Butterfly House. Few front yards offer as much foliage, and variety of it, for bugs and birds. But mainstay […]

Critters by Joe WilcoxMar 16, 20164:42 pm

Little Lulu

About a week ago, I moseyed into the Mission Valley PetSmart wanting some supplies and stopped to look at the cats up for adoption. We have two, Cali and Neko, and don’t need another; I meant to briefly window shop only. But the story of one beastie just ruptured my heart. According to her info card, she had been in a shelter for a year. A year! What could possibly be wrong with the little furball that no one would want her?

The woman tending the cats couldn’t answer. She fetched the kitty, which she named Lulu, from a Long Beach shelter, that could keep the kitty no longer. The adoption outfit working out of this PetSmart, and two others in the San Diego area, often rescues rescues (that’s not a type but verb and noun). Meaning: Adoptable animals that might otherwise be put down.

Apple by Joe WilcoxFeb 24, 201612:21 am

Bill Gates’ Backdoor Policy

I see something disingenuous about Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates supporting the government’s demands that Apple selectively unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif. shooters. The former CEO turned philanthropist spoke to the Financial times in an interview posted today. The implications for Microsoft cannot be overstated, and the company’s current chief executive should state corporate policy.

Gates’ position aligns with the government’s: That this case is specific, and isolated, and that the demand would merely provide “access to information”. Here’s the thing: The interviewer asks Gates if he supports tech companies providing backdoors to their smartphones. The technologist deflects: “Nobody’s talking about a backdoor”. Media consultants teach publicly-facing officials to offer non-answers exactly like this one. The answer defines the narrative, not the interviewer’s question.

Society by Joe WilcoxFeb 17, 20166:30 pm

Tim Cook’s Defining Moment

Some documents are historically significant. They mark moments, comment on them, in manner demanding future citation and even use in courts or classrooms. That’s how I read Apple CEO Tim Cook’s “Open Letter to Our Customers“, about breaking iPhone encryption His exposition spotlights seminal moment in the United States of America: Government’s further expansion of powers encroaching indiviuals’ rights to privacy and one company standing up and saying “No”.

Some people will scoff at my comparison, but it truly is what I see. Cook is like Rosa Parks, refusing to take a seat at the back of the bus—or in this instance behind one court judge and the FBI. Cook and Apple stand up for us all. I applaud law enforcement’s efforts to protect us from terrorism but tyranny shouldn’t be the means; taking away Constitutionally-given freedoms to protect them. Tim Cook is right.