About time. And product. And being more deliberate.
The last week or so, I’ve noticed an odd squeaking coming from the driver-side front tire. Shows up a little over 20mph and it gets louder the faster I go. Not a good sign. Turn the wheel left or right at any speed and it completely disappears. Nothing.
I had to stop by Stinson Auto anyway to pay for the brake job and alignment they did prior to this noise appearing.
After driving a couple of blocks, Eric the Mechanic tightened the odd plastic, threaded nuts on the hubcaps. Yep, that was it.
I’m grabbing a late morning coffee at the Dunn Bros in downtown St. Paul. Like all Dunn Bros, this is a great place for eavesdropping (surpassed only by the Nicollet Mall location).
The gentlemen next to me are have a very in-depth political current events discussion. Considering the low number of good coffee shops between here and the Capital, I suspect politics is their day job.
The gentleman in a blue tie is going off on both parties and doing a fairly decent job of articulating the seeming contradictions in their respective positions. Though he completely misses the parenting-style analogy in George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of an Elephant. After this, Blue Tie declared the federal government should run the military, the post office, and that’s it.
I’m not comfortable with how short his list is, so I’m starting my own. My list makes 2 assumptions:
That being said, I believe the Federal Government is responsible for the following:
According to the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, this makes me a Liberal Libertarian. Probably because I answered ‘maybe’ to 40% of the questions and the quiz is published by Libertarians.
A while back, Fast Company published Keith Hammonds’ Why We Hate HR. Like myself, I’m sure you have some remarkable ‘Everything was going great, then HR…’ stories. Whether it’s ridiculous, time-wasting hoops (asking candidates to complete an application even though you have their resume) or just not doing a simple Google search on a candidate (Microsoft Recruits Eric S. Raymond). Both of these examples betray a dysfunctional disconnection between HR and the rest of the organization.
This excerpt from the letter ESR posted exemplifies HR arrogance (emphasis mine):
“Your name and contact info was brought to my attention as someone who could potentially be a contributor at Microsoft. I would love an opportunity to speak with you in detail about your interest in a career at Microsoft, along with your experience, background and qualifications.”
If this was a cover letter, the candidate wouldn’t have a chance. A complete boilerplate message without any thought or tangible specifics as to why it was sent. Yet, not only is the recruiter unfamiliar with candidate’s qualifications and background (otherwise this letter would not have been sent), they take for granted that the candidate wants to work at Microsoft. Plus, it’s exactly opposite how Google is recruiting.
With company benefits continually cut, employees having to supplement employer-based health insurance, and staff directories as fluid as football rosters, this assumption can’t be made.
Until organizations can again provide the stability and security they once promised, it’s a seller’s market or a Free Agent Nation
Here’s an example of a low-risk, mutually-respectful hiring process
A few years back, the company I worked for described their hiring process, similar to this, as “deliberate.” That description stuck with me. It was one also of the best places I’ve worked for.
This is what Seth Godin means when he talks about dating your prospects. Give the audio from Seth’s London Marketing Soiree a listen for more. Thanks Hugh
Newsweek’s How Bush Blew it is only the latest report that Bush’s public distant, giggly, good-buddy facade covers a cold, distant, shoot-the-messenger defensiveness.
Makes me wonder what it would take to get one of these rumored tirades recorded and distributed around the internets.
Watching the authentic, backstage Bush go off, unprotected by co-dependent Telephone Sanitizers, would be a refreshing change.
Update: Good stuff in Dan Froomkin’s Now They Tell Us. One-stop read on the political impact of Katrina.
I started ignoring the Star Tribune’s OpEx section almost immediately after we signed up for the Sunday home delivery. I was expecting well thought through logical arguments rather than the ‘look-a-shiny-thing-that-supports-my-position’ ignorance so popular on television “news”. But, like I said, I don’t read it.
Today, I started reading the headline. Half way into the article, I realized I read this before. Of course, it’s the Thomas Friedman piece I read 4 days ago online. Yeah, it’s a good piece. But um, this is the Minneapolis Star Tribune not the New York Times. If I wanted to read the New York Times, I’d read the New York Times. Christ. I’m looking to the Strib for a local take on events, not a repeat of what I’ve already read from East Coasters.
Here’s the rest of what I paid attention to this Sunday, September 11, 2005:
Looks like I missed this good article on Edina Rep. Ron Erhardt wanting to actually solve transportation problems. Thanks to the Minnesota Politics Guru for pointing it out. This bloggers-as-mass-media-filter seems to be working real well.
I’ve got a handful of password-protected PDF files. I can share those files with anyone, back them up on as many computers or discs as I’d like. If I want to actually read them, I need the password. The password cost me a $10 or $50 or what have you.
I’d like to see this model applied to TV shows and movies. If I want to watch my favorite TV shows for free – then I have to wait for a new episode each week and have it interrupted by commercials. If I’d rather watch on back-to-back episodes on my schedule, here’s $50 for the digital files and a password to open them. I’m far more comfortable paying for .movs than I am DVDs.
As a quick aside, this is what Doug Kaye talks about for IT Conversations in his conversation with Moira Gunn.
What about crackers writing patches to break this loose DRM? Yes, that’ll happen as it has and as it always will. They don’t really care about your stuff anyway, they’re just looking for something to break. If you’re real worried about that, just makes the files available for download and on BitTorrent and put a ‘Pay $50 to remove this message’ over the video. I’m confident a quick search at MacUpdate.com or VersionTracker.com will shake out more than a handful of software developers this model is working very well for.
TV and movie producers – if you’d still like a place in my daily life, I’m going to need your stuff in a format that fits my life. I’m not interested in filling my closets with DVDs or chaining myself to the sofa to purge the TiVo recordings. I’d much rather play your latest offering in the few moments I have in waiting rooms.
I’m weaning myself off public radio for this exact reason and I like them.
Aside from sounding cool, “podcasting” is a combination of ‘ipod’ and ‘broadcast’ To deflect the impression that ‘podcasting’ requires an iPod (it doesn’t). Doc Searls has recommended the name stands for;
Others have suggested
Both are fine backronyms, though I prefer CyborgName’s response:
I received my Evil Genius stuff package from Dave Slusher today. If you’re not familiar, Dave’s selling the Gentle Readers’ HiHoney and EGC t-shirts to support both his podcast and the band.
This month, he’s donating $25 of the $35 to the Red Cross. How could you not support that.
Opening up the package; yes, there’s a t-shirt and yes, there’s CD. Neatly tucked in the shirt are two pleasant surprises.
Thanks Dave and yes, there’s photo forthcominghere’s the photo:
Elvis Mitchell interviewing Hugh Laurie from Fox’s House – my favorite new show. It’s a great listen. I was completely taken aback by Hugh’s extremely British accent. I think that’s a mark of a fantastic actor – being able to remove yourself from the character completely.
On a slightly related note, Cayenne Chris‘ voice does a marathon of identities in the latest Teknikal Diffikulties.
This reminds me that in this week’s episode, where House admits he still loves his ex, he attempts to walk without his cane.
Honestly, if he would have succeeded in making that first step, I would have stopped watching. House is a great character because of the contrast of this most obvious weakness and his bitter, curt, authority. If he ever loses that weakness, the show will jump the shark.
You’re a fireman volunteering to New Orleans. Instead of using your expertise to save fellow Americans and save a city, you’re stuck in a chair going through sexual harassment training. Then, the president uses you in his latest photo op.
It’d be funny if it didn’t make me so so sad.