jjtoothman

Author: J.J. Toothman

  • Remembering R.E.M.

    I was 15 years old the first time I can accurately recall hearing an R.E.M. song.  I used to listen to 105.9 WHCN in Hartford on this cheap Emerson brand AM/FM clock radio while I got dressed and ready for school in the morning.  And there it was – “Fall on Me.”  It had an…

  • Wilco in Boston

    Good show by Wilco at The Wang Theatre this past Tuesday night. Certainly not the best show I’ve seen them play ((Best show I’ve seen from them was at the Fillmore in San Francisco after they released A Ghost is Born. Among other things that night, they closed with a cover of “Don’t Fear the…

  • Mission Accomplished – Reflecting on moving cross country

    Complete.  The long transition that Keturah, Mason, Jude, and I began in Northern California this past April and took us through a summer in Connecticut, finally came to a conclusion in Sudbury, Massachusetts on September 1 when we closed and moved into our new house. Moving a family of four from one coast of the…

  • open.nasa.gov launches to the public

    Congratulations to NASA’s Open Government Team – Nick, Ali, Chris, and a few others I’m sure I’m forgetting – on getting their new website launched – http://open.nasa.gov.  The site uses the open source content management system WordPress ((Hey, just like this site does.  Those guys chose wisely.)) to publish and share success stories as well…

  • The day I discovered MTV

    It was 30 years ago today that MTV began broadcasting.  I was a 10 year old boy living in East Hartford, Connecticut – a typical suburban neighborhood where kids rode their bikes everywhere and played kickball in the streets while their parents did their best to shield them from the realities of life.  At the…

  • Now, where was I?

    Nothing can ruin your summer more than having the flu for a week. I’d rather be caught outside in the forest without any bug spray than go through another week like that. Here’s randomly assorted list of thoughts for this Tuesday morning. … There is no bigger lock for this Christmas than Santa bringing the…

  • NASA Open Source Summit Proceedings

    NASA’s approach to open source software is, as it with many things at NASA, disjointed. The meandering approaches didn’t find their common ground to the point that all issues were solved at the NASA Open Source Summit this past Spring, but they all were put on the table. In reading the official NASA Open Source…

  • While I had the flu

    The first sign of the flu came to me in the form of lower body aches last Thursday morning.  Bu that afternoon, it had become a full body ache and I was done for.  I would be completely bedridden for the next four days.  Then mostly bedridden for another one.  Only this morning did I…

  • The AT&T dropped iPhone calls problem. Definitely an SF thing.

    I’m sure that no one will be surprised by this, but my opinion of AT&T iPhone service has changed dramatically since I left San Francisco. My iPhone is even more of a workhorse than it was before.  And it’s performing like a champ. I’m doing numerous 60-90 minute conference calls on my iPhone on a…

  • Middle management is ground zero for government’s digital divide

    As I have mentioned in the past, the biggest hurdle to fulfilling the ambitions of Gov 2.0 and enabling government institutions with Open Government principles, has nothing to do with technology. Sadly, the biggest hurdles to achieving the promise of a new era of government enriched with technologies enabling access to and participation with government…