“Give Me Liberty And Give Me Bugs” is a quote by Martin Owens, leader of Ubuntu Massachusetts and fellow BLU (Boston Linux and UNIX Group) member. You see, it all started innocently enough with a thread on the BLU list about the iPad. The flames hadn’t actually reached the second floor yet, so I decided to squirt some napalm on it by mentioning that (1) I just bought an iPhone to replace my dead-end Windows Mobile phone, and (2) I have given up on trying to sync music and PDA data with Linux, and am now using an old beater Windows XP laptop just for syncing and backing up my phone. You see, I’m a PDA geek. I track lots of metadata about my calendar events, contact data, tasks, etc. Since the PDA as a separate device is pretty much dead at this point (s0b) I rely on finding third party software for my phone.
But back to the argument. There were two dominant camps.
- Those that see any vendor lock-in techniques, DRM, planned obsolescence, and anything that prevent you from doing whatever you want with something you own, as an affront to nature, and should be illegal. They would rather have Open Source/unencumbered products that didn’t quite work right than locked-down commercial products that work very well, but only in the One True Way as determined by the vendor.
- Those that see companies as entities that will generally focus on their own goals, charging as much as they can get away with for as little as they can get away with, targeting their products towards the target audience they choose. They feel to expect otherwise is being idealistic. One should act accordingly, and not act shocked when Apple releases a new version five months after you buy one.
Read on…
Many problems have been caused throughout history due to lack of information flow from subordinates to superiors. This post discusses some examples. some reasons why this might be the case, and asks how we can move forward.
Disclaimers: This is not a new book, nor have I read it. I have read reviews of it, and am recommending its concept here, but can’t honestly recommend the book, not having read it. OK, that probably sounds awkward, but there you have it.
I found this review of the book The Art of War for Women: Sun Tzu’s Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work, which is a modern interpretation an application of the original The Ar Of War by Sun Tzu, now thousands of years old, yet still relevant. The reason I am promoting this book’s view of the original work is simple: It points out that The Art Of War is not just relevant to war. It is relevant in any situation where you are facing one or more parties with conflicting goals, or competing for the same resource. It could be at work, or dating, or politics, or even dealing with your relatives. It’s mostly about finding your strengths and the others’ weaknesses and using both to your advantage. It’s about looking for things in your environment that can help you. It’s about focus and balance.
Read on…
I read an article this week on Charles Baker entering the race for Governor against Deval Patrick here in MA. Whatever. But the fun part is that he’s running on a platform of not raising taxes, and trying to repeal the recent increase in the state sales tax. I know most people think we pay too much in taxes for what we get, and that it’s not fairly spread out, and not fairly apportioned, and an unfathomable amount of it is wasted on graft, corruption, and pet projects. Of course everyone’s idea of what those froms and tos should be is different, so it is by definition impossible to please everyone, but that’s not my point. Nor is it who is the better candidate.
My point is that if you have a government rife with waste and misappropriation, you cannot get it to “do the right thing” (even if everyone agreed on what that is) simply by reducing taxes, any more than you could make an overweight person healthy by simply reducing their calorie count. There has to be effort put into uncovering and fixing the waste and corruption, or the vital services will be the first to suffer. A politician that takes money is not going to suddenly become moralistic because there’s less money coming in. Just like the overweight person must start with lifestyle changes like more exercise and sleep, a government cleanup must start with eliminating the waste and removing those responsible for the corruption.
Of course, that’s the hard way. But the right way that leads to lasting success often is. Silver bullets are for dreamers and werewolves. So don’t listen to the quick fix people. You can’t reduce taxes without coordinated attacks on misspent money and other ways of saving money in a sustainable way. Other “simple solutions”, like the flat tax, are very regressive and have other problems (I’m willing to do a whole post on that if the comments go that way). No, this one will take actual thought and finger-pointing. The sheep need to open up their eyes and become critical thinkers and informed voters.
Yeah, that’ll happen.
Anyone who follows long-term technology progress will tell you that one of the biggest obstacles is power generation and storage. It affects everything from medical devices, to cars, to embedded hardware to space exploration. Generating electricity is often very inefficient, transmitting power over long distances is often very lossy (and that includes light and heat, as well as electricity). For vehicles, the problem is exponential, as the heavier your power store, the more power it takes to move it.
I was pleased to discover this post on Slashdot saying part of the stimulus money is going to this issue.
“Provisions in the Congressional stimulus bill could help jump-start a new, multibillion-dollar industry in the US for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles and for storing energy from the electrical grid to enable the widespread use of renewable energy. The nearly $790 billion economic stimulus legislation contains tens of billions of dollars in loans, grants, and tax incentives for advanced battery research and manufacturing, as well as incentives for plug-in hybrids and improvements to the electrical grid, which could help create a market for these batteries. Significant advances in battery materials, including the development of new lithium-ion batteries, have been made in the US in the past few years; but advanced battery manufacturing is almost entirely overseas, particularly in Asia.”
While I’m excited about this from a technology point of view, I fear it won’t do what the stimulus money’s primary job is; getting money and products happening now.
I heard of this article on the Howard Stern show today. It’s from the New York Post, and it’s called YOUR BOSS IS NOT LISTENING. Let me be the 824th to say DUH.
I find two things interesting about this article interesting:
- The author lists quite a few reasons for why that should be the case
- According to the URL, this is regional news. As if New York has the market for myopic managers all locked up.