Techcrunch reports that a $3 million purchase of the domain Wiki.com appears to have fallen through — or something. The domain now redirects to Wikia.com. Well, at least for now, a page I set up there still works. Tick, tick, tick.

Here’s a great Malcolm Gladwell article with a controversial premise (he questions the level of criminality of convicted Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling) from the current New Yorker. [You may want to save a PDF of this print-friendly page as I don't know when it will scroll behind a cost-wall -- and it's 7,000 words.] After you read it, visit the weblog of its author where he engages with several readers who challenge his thesis and arguments (some intelligently, others inanely).

While Gladwell’s article will probably first bounce around the blogosphere being described as “a defense of Enron” (Gladwell should have been on Skilling’s defense team, for sure), by the time the book comes out — surely this will be a book — it will likely be a broader Gladwellian exploration of the difference between puzzles and mysteries.

Quote:

“The national-security expert Gregory Treverton has famously made a distinction between puzzles and mysteries. Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts are a puzzle. We can’t find him because we don’t have enough information. The key to the puzzle will probably come from someone close to bin Laden, and until we can find that source bin Laden will remain at large. The problem of what would happen in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein was, by contrast, a mystery. It wasn’t a question that had a simple, factual answer. Mysteries require judgments and the assessment of uncertainty, and the hard part is not that we have too little information but that we have too much….If things go wrong with a puzzle, identifying the culprit is easy: it’s the person who withheld information. Mysteries, though, are a lot murkier: sometimes the information we’ve been given is inadequate, and sometimes we aren’t very smart about making sense of what we’ve been given, and sometimes the question itself cannot be answered. Puzzles come to satisfying conclusions. Mysteries often don’t.”

My observation: What a concept. Some things we don’t know because we have too little information. Some things we don’t know because we have too much information. I think wise people are the ones who, when facing a new dilemma, at least know which of these challenges they are facing.

Sidenote: Gladwell’s blog is Exhibit A for why every reporter should blog.

Bonus: After you read Gladwell’s piece, try digging through this PDF of a law review journal article Gladwell says inspired him to develop his New Yorker piece.

Dave Barry suggests that sending a fresh whole rabbit from Amazon.com (NSFV – “not safe for vegans”) is a nice way to say ‘thank you’ to someone who sent you a holiday fruit cake.

Bonus: When looking at the Amazon.com “fresh whole rabbit” page, be sure to scroll down to read the customer comments and to note the other items bought by customers who buy things like fresh whole rabbits.

(Thanks, naturally, to Hudge.)

Vince Young named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Technorati Tags: titans

An art auction to benefit the family of James Kim started today. All proceeds go to the James Kim Memorial Fund. This link will take you to an eBay search of the items included in the auction.

(via: Susan Mernit)

Surely there’s a reality show in this — it’s too surreal to be merely reality. Pacman Jones is a neighbor of George Jones? Really. You can’t make this stuff up. George Jones mentoring Pacman Jones on the finer-points of bad boy antics could keep Williamson County authorities busy for years. Surely, CMT is knocking on their doors asking if video crews can move in.

Technorati Tags: george jones, nashville, pacman jones, titans

• Top 10 media & publishing business ideas in 2006 | Springwise
  I think Springwise is also a pretty good media and business idea.
  (tags: media web+culture)
• 2006: The worst year for hit albums since 1983 | Chris Anderson, The Long Tail Weblog
  Quote: “It’s January, so it’s time to start updating the death-of-the-blockbuster stats.”
  (tags: statistics music)
• Time Inc. sells Progressive Farmer magazine | AP
  I don’t usually link to magazine transaction stories, but couldn’t help myself: Progressive Farmer magazine, based in Birmingham and published for 120 years, has been sold to a Nebraska company by Time Inc.
  (tags: magazines)
• Everything you ever wanted in an Apple phone | Khoi Vinh
  Quote: “I mean, think about it: does it seem remotely possible that Steve Jobs would release a phone that’s a browser, an application platform, a camera, a PDA, an email client and an iPod?”
  (tags: apple)