You are here: Home / 2010 / Archives for January 2010
Jan 24

Why I Never Want to Buy a Non-Hybrid Car Again

January 24, 2010 • View Comments • Politics and Current Events

I recently got a great deal on Toyota Prius from Motorphilia. I have never been so pleased purchasing a car. Not even when I bought a BMW 328 brand new.

Why do I love my car?
1.) I like the fact that my car contributes significantly less CO2 in the air than my other car did. Why? Because I as well as other people I like breathe air, and I’d just assume keep it clean.
2.) I am saddened by the political landscape in the Middle East and other regions dominated by oil. Oil is a capital-rich, labor poor industry, which often presents a ripe breeding ground for corruption. By driving a car that gets 45 miles to the gallon average, I am helping reduce the demand for oil. America should be free of this addiction once and for all.
3.) It’s very cheap to fill up. $20 can fill the tank.
4.) It drives well and has a very nice fit and finish.

Toyota puts a meter on the dash that shows how many miles you are getting per gallon. It feels like a video game when you try to reduce it, and I like the notion that they reward drivers for responsible behavior.

Joshua Baer claims he’ll never drive another gas powered vehicle again. I don’t blame him one bit. Once you realize how enjoyable it is to drive a battery powered car, you’ll wonder why more vehicles don’t use one.

Anyway, not trying to be a smug hippie here. I just really dig my new (to me) car.

View Comments
Jan 20

Mr. Shirky, Why Don’t You Act More Like a Woman?

January 20, 2010 • View Comments • Meet People in Austin

I was a bit dismayed reading Clay Shirky’s A Rant About Women. It’s a long post, but in sum, he feels women do not advance because we aren’t willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get to the top. We don’t overinflate our abilities. And we need to because we have no role models to stick up for us.

Really? Should I want that? As a consumer, do you like dealing with people like that? Do you like bosses like that?

Would you rather this post be some self-fellating post about why I’m right and you are wrong, or would you rather just let my arguments speak for themselves?

I like that many women admit what they know and what they don’t know. I like that most whistle-blowers are women. My favorite co-workers tend to be women who can set aside ego for a mission. There are certainly men like this as well, and I dig them too. They get things done.

I’m not sure why you are going off on a rant about this. If you don’t think your male student deserves the glowing recommendation he has the gumption to ask of you, don’t give it to him. If you stop rewarding this behavior, your students stop behaving this way. It’s a pretty simple equation. By doing so, you will be protecting that student from going out in the real world and getting creamed by someone who will tear them to shreds for being all puff and no substance, or wreaking serious havoc on a company because of incompetence.

I don’t want to be a huge self-promoter. I want to impact positive change and find satisfaction in my work. I promote myself only in that it helps me achieve this. You can find my work here and here. It speaks for itself.

Maybe your rant should be about how people reward shameless self-promoters who tend to be men instead of people who would rather focus on doing a good job than lying, cheating and stealing our way to the top. It could be about how the promotion of self-promoters is dangerous and that we should stop it. You want a solution to your rant–do these solutions work well enough for you?

Love your work. Just trying to help.

View Comments
Jan 18

What if Disaster Relief Were Run Like an Open Source Project?

January 18, 2010 • View Comments • Open Source, Politics and Current Events

Today I watched two hours of Haiti news coverage. It breaks my heart to see the devastation in the area. I’m also a bit concerned that government bureaucracy could slow down crucial relief efforts.

If you check whitehouse.gov, we can give money and pay attention to what’s happening. But what if I have a big company and I can actually implement solutions much faster than a government organization can? Should I want to passively observe the devastation?

What if Obama used his massive power with the media to crowd source relief? I would imagine the first line of order would be to get communication in the area and relief workers to give out food and water. One of the telcos could step forth and various water and food companies could come forward. UPS actually does logistical work and could help coordinate some of the shipping to a Haiti port.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies could offer their services. Airlines could fly them there.

After this, there would need to be security to keep the peace as well as efforts to offer shelter. I’m not sure the military could get crowd sourced, but Architecture for Humanity allows architects to contribute ideas for sustainable housing in developing nations. Obama could use the winning designs and then the fledgling building supply companies could offer up housing.

Why would these companies offer these services for nothing or next to nothing? The same reason why developers contribute to open source: for fulfillment and credibility.
1.) If Obama comes out and says, “We could count on American Airlines to deliver our thought leadership teams to Haiti on time,” it’s worth more than any add they could put on TV. If he says “Southwestern Bell really dropped the ball with our communication strategy”, the opposite rules apply. Obama and his staff can hold parts of the puzzle accountable, which keeps them honest regardless of payment.
2.) One backlink/dedicated page from the biggest crowdsourced project to date (Haiti relief from whitehouse.gov) is worth more than just about any backlink an SEO expert could buy you. You’d also want to consider all of the residual backlinks you’d get from people discussing specific parts of the project.
3.) It’s the right thing to do and giving product away is often cheaper than advertising.

This would obviously require “architects” familiar with this type of work to coordinate. But given how long government contracts can take to get through and the bureaucracy and expense involved, isn’t it the right thing to do? Shouldn’t that be what “Yes We Can” means?

View Comments
Jan 09

How to Actually Make Twitter Interesting Again

January 9, 2010 • View Comments • Twitter

I get bummed out when I find interesting people who simply don’t get Twitter. They sign up, follow a bunch of people, and then say, “It was just a bunch of people saying they like ice cream or going to work that day.”

Remember: social media tools like Twitter are like cell phones. You don’t get a cell phone and say, “Let me find numbers to plug into my phone to justify the use of this object”. You think of WHOM you would actually want to call and THEN you plug their number in. It’s the conversations that make the medium interesting.

Do you like certain blogs? Find out if the blog and the actually bloggers are on Twitter simply by Googling their name and “Twitter”. You can do the same for potential business partners, employees, celebrities, and anyone else. If they are boring, unfollow them or filter them out with tools like Seesmic or Tweetdeck. Putting the people ahead of the medium ensures you are actually making the most of a very useful communication tool.

View Comments