Tom's Journal
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Tom" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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08:58 am
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MySpace
Seeing that MySpace is basically dead, I started searching for old articles by people saying that Google should buy it. I found John Battelle in 2006 saying Google shouldn't do it but a few months earlier there were posts saying that they should buy MySpace, they would by MySpace, or Murdock saying ha ha ha, we bought it and Google didn't.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Social networking websites are like bars: popular for a while, then everyone runs to the next cool one. What makes Facebook smart is they are trying to become a platform so that so many other businesses plug in that everyone depends on them. They know that bars come and go cut everyone always needs a Shopping Mall.
Except, the shopping mall I worked at went under. It is now a shell of a building, with a few stores remaining. I don't think anyone goes there.
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05:34 am
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Gone for next 3 days
I'm going to Puerto Rico for 3 days. See ya!
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11:31 am
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Heathcare Reform rally in Bloomfield, Dec 8: Join me!
"Cost of Delay" Vigil
Venner Park (Bloomfield Ave and State Street)
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tuesday, 8 Dec 2009, 7:30 PM
To sign up for this event, click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/costofdelay/99750
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03:23 pm
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EmacsOS
If ChromeOS is “just enough Linux to run a web browser”, what would be needed to run Emacs?
http://www.informatimago.com/linux/emacs-on-user-mode-linux.html
I used to joke that some people run their SunOS workstations in /vmunix.el. Now, I fear it will be true.
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07:42 am
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Uh yup
http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11142009.shtml
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01:32 pm
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The Website is Down
If you haven’t seen this before, it is wonderful. This one has the real voices (there are copies with other voices).
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01:03 pm
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Food at Google
Yeah, it’s like this.
“I think David Chang is the guest chef today,” said one of my hosts.
And there was the chef himself, signing his cookbook and chatting up the Google engineers.
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10:16 am
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"The Brand"
Along with “synergy,” the most overused shibboleth in the vocabulary of business executives is “brand.” They prattle on about “extending the brand” and “building the brand.” In most cases, they don’t have a clue what brand really means. “As soon as someones extols ‘the brand’ it means they are out of ideas and on their haunches,” venture capitalist Moritz said. http://kenauletta.com/mediamaxims.html
When I read that I had a flashback to all those presentations at AT&T/Lucent/Bell Labs talking about how they were going to kill Cisco just because they had The Brand.
I laughed and laughed and laughed.... and prepared my resume.
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07:33 am
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The Complete Guide to Wave
http://completewaveguide.com/guide/The_Complete_Guide_to_Google_Wave
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08:32 pm
[Link] | Coworker A: Are you vegetarian?
Coworker B: Only half the week.
A: Are you bi-vegetarian?
B: More like vegitarian-curious.
A: I understand. I was vergetarian for a year in college.
(Not actually how it went, but close enough)
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11:11 pm
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"Worn down by racism," Former South Harrison Mayor steps down from council
http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/13442/worn-down-by-racism-former-south-harrison-mayor-steps-down-from-council
This isn't supposed to be what public service is about:A man who says he endured slashed tires and death threats just before he became rural South Harrison Township's first black mayor is stepping down.
Charles Tyson announced Monday that he would leave the township council today, in part, because he said he is worn down by racism.
Tyson had already given up his position as mayor of the town of 2,700.
It wasn't enough they got him to step down from running the town, they had to get him off council from making any decisions at all.
[Copied from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) bluejersey]
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08:02 pm
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Good bye to bad rubbish
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03:07 pm
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Cookie Monster Sang About Google 27 Years Ago
http://gizmodo.com/5397485/cookie-monster-sang-about-google-27-years-ago
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07:45 am
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Things make more sense as an adult
Today's "Classic Peanuts" involves Linus talking to a big brick wall and repeating a phrase about trying to get along since we are one big family.
It was published on Nov 11, 1962.
The Berlin Wall construction began a year earlier.
http://comics.com/peanuts/2009-11-08/
Current Music: Long As I Can See the Light-Creedence Clearwater Revival-Classic Rock - Creedence Clearwater Revival
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10:03 am
[Link] | http://xkcdexplained.com/
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09:37 am
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NYTIMES: Motorola's new CEO is saving a fucked up company but we'll be polite.
There was no better proof of that than the jumble of chips, operating systems and other software used on the company’s phones. Companies like Nokia build phones around a handful of standard designs, but Motorola was starting fresh on nearly every handset. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/how-sanjay-jha-overhauled-motorolas-culture/
In the 1980s when AT&T was no longer a monopoly they realized that they were starting every new phone design from scratch. A friend of mine suggested that they make one chipset and reuse it in every phone. A phone without a redial button? No, worries, use the same chipset but don't include the redial button. Alas, they couldn't change the culture. Eventually they just started buying cheap plastic shit from China and put the AT&T logo on it. The management would say things like, "Our company's real value is in our name" and that lead to people thinking, "We can take any crap, put our name on it, and people will be dumb enough to buy it." That lasted for, oh, a few years until they couldn't make anything good any more. Soon they eliminated their "consumer products" division as the world shifted manufacturing overseas.
This is what you get when you let the fuckheads from marketing, sales, and accounting take over a company instead of making engineers front and center.
When I got to work for a company, I ask where the IT department reports to. If it reports to the CEO or CTO, then I know IT is considered something important, something to invest in to make the company strong and efficient. If IT reports to the CFO then I know IT is considered "overhead" and will be pushed around, minimized, and doom the company to being defeated by competition that recognizes and values innovation inside the company and out.
I also ask where was the CEO (and previous CEO) before they became CEO. If they were previously the head of finance or marketing I know the company is doomed. If the CEO came from engineering then I know the company has a future and will make products, and invent new products, and have a life for many years to come.
Lucent's CEO didn't come from engineering. He pressured every division to have double-digit revenue growth even when it wasn't possible. So the divisions cut engineering to make their sagging sales look like xx% growing sales. Eventually they had no new products in their pipeline. Eventually they had no products anyone would buy. Everyone at the CxO level was shocked, shocked, shocked, that their competition had new products (WTF? did they think the competition was standing still?)
There are three things the U.S. needs to do if they want to become a leader in manufacturing and things that build a real economy: Force the schools that teach marketing, sales, finance and law to cut their enrollment by 80% for the next 15 years. Re-train every school teacher from K-12 on how to encourage kids to love science and groom them for a career in creativity and engineering. Lastly, I'm sick and fucking tired of hearing women say that as a girl they were discouraged from being interested in math and science. The people that do this need to be eliminated. In fact, it is time we ban the dealth penalty in cases where an engineer or parent killed someone that actively and knowingly discouraged a girl from being interested in science or math. I'm not saying it should be open hunting season, but I promise to look the other way. (I realize this may be a shock to most of you, considering that I'm a peace activist, but this kind of thing gets me emotional.)
The New York Times recently reported on a study that said that there are too many students entering engineering schools. What the fuck? What fucking accounting major turned education researcher wrote that fucking study? What team of fuckhead CFOs and CMOs funded that fucking study?
Too many engineers? Give me a fucking break. Maybe the problem is not enough good engineers, too many bad engineering managers and executives, and not enough good schools to fix these problems.
I'll end with another quote from this excellent article about Motorla:Like many classic American industrial companies, Motorola used a hierarchical system that put a single executive in charge of each product or business area [...] This method gives executives no incentive to say their product line is on the decline and the technology used by a rival group will be the next big trend. Mr. Jha completely redesigned the Motorola organization chart using a model typical of technology companies. There are now central groups for engineering, marketing, product management and long-term product planning.
Wait... the new CEO redesigned the Motorola organization chart using a model typical of a technology company? Umm... Motorola wasn't thinking about itself as a technology company until 2008?
If a bakery got a new CEO who redesigned their org chart to be the model typical of a bakery wouldn't the journalist be allowed at least one sentence of sarcasm? If a book publisher got a new CEO who redesigned their org chart to be the model typical of a book publisher wouldn't the journalist be permitted at least one sarcastic "what the fuck???" line in the article?
My congrats to the New York Times for showing great restraint.
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08:53 am
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New Jersey LGBT and Allies: This is your weekend to make a difference!
Governor Corzine and his running mate, Senator Loretta Weinberg, are champions of marriage equality and every other LGBT civil right. They have improved our lives forever - and they want to keep improving our lives by winning full marriage equality.
Chris Christie vows to overturn any marriage equality victory through a constitutional ban. And in recent weeks, he has gone beyond opposing marriage equality. He has not passed up any opportunity to bash the LGBT community. He is a mean bully who will decimate our recent achievements.
Listed below are the 30 Democratic offices across the state. They're open day and night through election day. Stop by and help out. Just 1 hour of phone banking or running for coffee will make a difference.
Atlantic County – Egg Harbor Township: 6716 Blackhorse Pike, (609) 272-1119
Bergen County – Hackensack: 50 Main Street (201) 487-0001
Bergen County – Wood-Ridge: 269 Valley Boulevard, (201) 487-0001
Bergen County – Teaneck: 545 Cedar Lane, (201) 487-0001
Burlington County – Mount Laurel: 700 Atrium Way, Suite 7, (609) 531-1892
Burlington County – Willingboro: 400 JFK Way, (609) 531-1892
Camden County – Cherry Hill: 2240-15 Route 70 West, Cherry Hill, (856) 424-5757
Camden County – Camden: 118 N. Third Street, Camden, (856) 424-5757
Cape May County – Dennis: 927 Courthouse South Dennis Road, (609) 861-0177
Cumberland County – Vineland: 950 W. Landis Avenue, (609) 272-1119
Essex County – West Orange: 235 Prospect Avenue, (973) 676-0592
Essex County – East Orange: 600 Central Avenue, (973) 676-0592
Essex County – Newark: 308 1/2 Bloomfield Avenue, (973) 676-0592
Gloucester County – Woodbury: 27 South Broad Street, (856) 845-9006
Hudson County – Bayonne: 761 Broadway, (201) 455-8420
Hudson County – Jersey City: 1181 Kennedy Boulevard, (201) 455-8420
Hudson County – Jersey City: 74 Oakland Avenue, (201) 455-8420
Mercer County – Trenton (Corzine-Weinberg statewide headquarters): 15 West Front Street, (609) 392-2071
Mercer County – Trenton: 101 North Warren Street, (609) 838-1825
Middlesex County – New Brunswick: 10 Kirkpatrick Street (848) 260-0500
Middlesex County – Perth Amboy: 345 State Street, (848) 260-0500
Monmouth County – Freehold: 64 East Main Street, (732) 333-0739
Morris County – Morristown: 11 Washington Street, (973) 984-8080
Ocean County – Toms River: 26 Main Street, Suite 102, (732) 244-6742
Passaic County – Paterson: 249 Market Street, (973) 279-4647
Passaic County – Woodland Park: 668 MacBride Avenue, (973) 279-4647
Passaic County – Passaic: 380 Monroe Street, (973) 279-4647
Somerset County – Somerville: 14 Division Street, Somerville, (908) 450-7150
Union County – Plainfield: 19 Watchung Avenue, (908) 245-1006
Union County – Roselle Park: 122 East Westfield Avenue, (908) 245-1006
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07:39 am
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Starbucks
To be honest, when Starbucks coffee began I couldn't take it seriously because I had watched Battlestar Galactica as a child and the main charactor's name was Starbuck.
By the time the new Battlestar Galactica came out, I couldn't take it seriously because by then the term "Starbuck" made me think of the coffee.
Thank you, PvPonline, for bringing it full circle:
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08:46 am
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Google Navigation announced
Voice-acivated GPS for your car. Software available on any Android phone, starting with the Verizon Droid.
Check out the demo: He says, "Navigate to the museum with the king tut exhibit in san francisco" and Google figures out what he means and plans the route.
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08:33 pm
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What was in my office?
What was the thing that, in all these years, I was surprised to realize had never been in my office before?
A 4-port KVM switch.
While installing it I thought, "gosh, I can't believe I've never had one of those in my office before" and then instantly thought, "...and if I said that to my friends, I wonder what wonderfully perverted things people would say I must be talking about".
Thanks for proving me right.
(Well, sort of... a lot of the guesses were like "a scanner". No, I've had a scanner of one kind or another years. :-) )
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