"Perhaps the next iPod will send telegraphs and teleport people."

Alison Southwick quoted in the LA Times: "Perhaps the next iPod will send telegraphs and teleport people." Ripples in technology, forward and back? Maybe the next iPod will feel like steampunk.

My friend Dan Rosenbaum, eyewitness to 9/11

My friend Dan Rosenbaum is a true friend. The kind you slug it out with, just to realize you can't live without them. We met in New York at FOLIO: Show 1999, so it is our tenth anniversary of friendship.

I learned a lot from Dan, about business and the Web world, where he's a true pioneer. One of the best nights of my pre-Web-crash life was at Jack Powers' Internet World LA party in 2000. Dan wore a suit, I wore a black vinyl ballgown, and we all exulted in the rush of the Web.

Dan is a devoted husband and father. On 9/11, when Olivia was pregnant with their twin sons, Dan had an eyewitness view of the maelstrom at Ground Zero. I will never be the writer Dan is, so I will let him tell you the story of what he saw on 9/11.

Always remember. Never forget. Happy birthday, Dan.

Top 1 Percent of Americans Reaped Two-Thirds of Income Gains in Last Economic Expansion

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports: "Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez." Why am I writing about this? Because the long-term implications for the digital divide in this country, and thus American competitiveness, are appalling.

"The incomes of the top one-tenth of 1 percent (0.1 percent) of U.S. households have grown more rapidly than the incomes of the top 1 percent of households as a whole, rising by 94 percent — or $3.5 million per household — since 2002." This surpasses 1928 data.

If people want to scream and cry at Town Halls, or about the President addressing schoolchildren, it seems to me that they should be screaming and crying about THIS. Who is addressing this grotesque inequity?

Even if those at the top of the economic food chain don't have the ethics to see this inequity as wrongheaded, they should at least have the pragmatism to understand they will lose the consumer class that fueled their success. Once people are too busy surviving, they won't be spending. Look around you and ask yourself if this is the state in which we should be living.

Bad Web Site of the Day: Trinity Railway Express

I literally keyboard-stumbled on to this Web site today and was frankly amazed to see something as outdated as Trinity Railway Express - check it out at http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/. Hard to believe that a company offering rail service between Fort Worth and Dallas can't afford a better Web site. The best thing about trinityrailwayexpress.org is that it links to Fort Worth Transportation Authority's the 21st-century Web site, http://www.the-t.com. Trinity, we can help.

Consequential strangers: An underpinning of social media?

While I don't like the title of the book (Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter - But Really Do), I was compelled by the argument. "The term 'consequential strangers' captures a fascinating paradox about casual relationships: They are as vital to our well-being, growth, and day-to-day existence as family and close friends." Author Melinda Blau, interviewed by NPR's Neal Conan, explained that we may be likelier to find validation in our relationships with relative strangers than within "close" relationships. People are even likelier to accept advice on serious topics like relationships and health issues from "strangers."

This makes perfect sense to me. This is a significant part of what fuels social media. Many consider social media to be an exercise in narcissism, and it certainly can be. For me, it has often provided a way of expressing myself when calling a friend and making the same statement seems like an intrusion. Perhaps the tree wants to be heard when it falls in the forest.

If Facebook were a country, it would have the world's fourth largest population

Interesting discussion on how the over-35 online audience has fueled the growth of social media. NPR Science Friday's Ira Flatow interviewed Sean Corcoran of Forrester Research last week. On Facebook: "If they were a country, population-wise at this point globally, they would be number four behind China, India and the United States." What can we do with this unchanneled power? Only 30% of usage is from the US. Follow this always-worthwhile show on Twitter @scifri, or better yet, join the Second Life meeting concurrent with the show. Great combination of intelligence and snarkiness. It's one of my favorite spots in Second Life.

But back to Facebook. What will all of us do, collectively, with the power of the network? It could be argued that we (social media users) are already a nation.

Southwest Airlines extends great customer service with call-backs

Once again Southwest Airlines proves they get customer service, and the way you think. If you are going to be on hold for more than three minutes, they allow you to leave your number and recorded name, and they tell you EXACTLY how long it will be before they call you back ("three to six minutes" in this case). When they call back, they use your voice recording to say, "when this person is on the phone please press 1" (which means they realize the caller may not be at their regular number). They called me back before I had a chance to finish this post, and I will continue to choose them first! Spiffy new site design, too: Makes you look forward to flying, instead of dreading it.