I know this seems like a weird "techblog" post but I think the death of Michael Jackson warrants a post even if it's only partially tech related.

Michael Jackson's music defined the style by which all the music of my childhood was based on.  He was a talent beyond words.  Not only was he a singer, songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and a businessman but he was the best or near best at all of those vocations.

(anyone who doubts his "businessman" credential needs only look at his decision to purchase the Northern Songs Catalogue)

More importantly he was a true humanitarian. I don't know if he was a child molester or not.  We may never know.  But there's no question he worked tirelessly on many humanitarian causes and for that he deserves admiration.

As for the child molestation claims we'll never truly know.  Logically I tend to believe those claims were parents taking advantage of a man who was clearly stunted in his emotional growth.  I suspect his interactions with those children were perfectly innocent though still slightly inappropriate.

By all accounts he was simply someone who reverted to a child like state in adulthood and I suspect his indiscretions simply boil down to him not accepting the idea that an adult can't act like a child when interacting with other children.  On that note, Yes, he was one weird guy.  But when someone has given so much to the world I'm not sure they haven't earned the right to be a little weird.

To bring this back to tech I find it interesting that, as Techcrunch is reporting (with a lot of great screen shots), the web is almost collapsing under the weight of all the news seekers.  It's a reminder that the web still has a long way to go before it can replace one way venues such as television.

In fact I'd go further and say the technology industry needs to take serious note of this.  As the industry pushes more and more into programs and services that require greater bandwidth it's instructive to see how even people seeking simple text can bring the biggest sites to their knees.

We are living on borrowed time bandwidth wise and, as Robert X. Cringely is so fond of pointing out, a web where everyone is streaming in HD is not something our current bandwidth capabilities can support.  That's something we should all take notice of.

Addendum: This post's time has come and gone but I read an article today that had a very telling quote in it and I thought it was worth sharing.  It's from Ian Halperin of the U.K. an investigative journalist who did a piece on Jackson and who now famously claimed Jackson would be dead in 6 months.  What seemed like a shameless publicity stunt sadly came true as his prophecy was fulfilled 6 months and 1 day later with Michael Jackson's untimely death. 

In today's article he says this about the Child Molestation claims against Jackson...

Michael had not helped his case. Appearing in a documentary with British broadcaster Martin Bashir, he not only admitted that he liked to share a bed with teenagers, mainly boys, in pyjamas, but showed no sign of understanding why anyone might be legitimately concerned.

I had started my investigation convinced that Jackson was guilty. By the end, I no longer believed that.

I could not find a single shred of evidence suggesting that Jackson had molested a child. But I found significant evidence demonstrating that most, if not all, of his accusers lacked credibility and were motivated primarily by money.

Jackson also deserved much of the blame, of course. Continuing to share a bed with children even after the suspicions surfaced bordered on criminal stupidity

So anyone who claims Michael Jackson was a Child Molestor like it was a fact should probably do a little more research.   Again, I think anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows I've called people out for far lesser sins.  If I felt Jackson was guilty I'd do the same here, dead or not.  But  I've never seen any substantial proof of his guilt and given the huge finanacial incentive and the number of children Michael Jackson surrounded himself with I think 2 public claims aren't enough to indict the man (especially when one went to trial and he was acquitted of the charges)