Monday, March 30, 2009
Make Work Pay Satan?
Next year, Obama's "Make Work Pay" tax credit will be evenly dispersed throughout the year. The cap for married filers is $800/year, or $800/12 per month. That is $666 x 10-1. Coincidence?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Google? Evil?
Well, google might not be evil, but apparently they have been pissing of web developers enough to get them to leave. That is, at least according to this article on CNN: Why Google Web Designers Keep Quitting In A Huff.
I found this section of the article particularly interesting:
I think they are right. The 1% of google that makes 99% of the profits is done. The only thing they need now is to keep sales up. This kind of squashes my desire to work at google one day. Of course, I wanted to work on the back end anyway...
I found this section of the article particularly interesting:
- Google doesn't really need web designers. Google search, which drives 99% of the company's revenue, is a design masterpiece because it's hardly designed at all. Competitors like to slag Google for relying on "10 blue links" but it works and Google won't need designers to change it anytime soon.
- Google is a sales-driven company that likes to call itself an engineering-driven company. So even if Google plans to change a product, it won't go to the Web designers first.
I think they are right. The 1% of google that makes 99% of the profits is done. The only thing they need now is to keep sales up. This kind of squashes my desire to work at google one day. Of course, I wanted to work on the back end anyway...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Thinking the Unthinkable
I came across an article on the downfall of the newspapers. The plight of the newspapers didn't really interest me, but the article had some interesting things to day about selectively _not_ thinking about the worst case scenario:
"When reality is labeled unthinkable, it creates a kind of sickness in an industry. Leadership becomes faith-based, while employees who have the temerity to suggest that what seems to be happening is in fact happening are herded into Innovation Departments, where they can be ignored en masse. This shunting aside of the realists in favor of the fabulists has different effects on different industries at different times. One of the effects on the newspapers is that many of their most passionate defenders are unable, even now, to plan for a world in which the industry they knew is visibly going away."
It reminded me a little bit of printing in general.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
In honor of Thomas Friedman's speech at PSU on Monday
this article about Friedman's style had me ROTFLOL and all that ... here's a quick glimpse of the prose ...
In The World is Flat, the key action scene of the book comes when Friedman experiences his pseudo-epiphany about the Flat world while talking with himself in front of InfoSys CEO Nandan Nilekani. In Hot, Flat and Crowded, the money shot comes when Friedman starts doodling on a napkin over lunch with Moisés Naím, editor of Foreign Policy magazine. The pre-lunching Friedman starts drawing, and the wisdom just comes pouring out:
I laid out my napkin and drew a graph showing how there seemed to be a rough correlation between the price of oil, between 1975 and 2005, and the pace of freedom in oil-producing states during those same years.
Friedman then draws his napkin-graph, and much to the pundit’s surprise, it turns out that there is almost an exact correlation between high oil prices and “unfreedom”! The graph contains two lines, one showing a rising and then descending slope of “freedom,” and one showing a descending and then rising course of oil prices. Friedman plots exactly four points on the graph over the course of those 30 years. In 1989, as oil prices are falling, Friedman writes, “Berlin Wall Torn Down.” In 1993, again as oil prices are low, he writes, “Nigeria Privatizes First Oil Field.” 1997, oil prices still low, “Iran Calls for Dialogue of Civilizations.” Then, finally, 2005, a year of high oil prices: “Iran calls for Israel’s destruction.”Take a look for yourself: I looked at this and thought: “Gosh, what a neat trick!” Then I sat down and drew up my own graph, called SIZE OF VALERIE BERTINELLI’S ASS, 1985-2008, vs. HAP- PINESS. It turns out that there is an almost exact correlation! Note the four points on the graph:
http://www.nypress.com/article-19271-flat-n-all-that.html
In The World is Flat, the key action scene of the book comes when Friedman experiences his pseudo-epiphany about the Flat world while talking with himself in front of InfoSys CEO Nandan Nilekani. In Hot, Flat and Crowded, the money shot comes when Friedman starts doodling on a napkin over lunch with Moisés Naím, editor of Foreign Policy magazine. The pre-lunching Friedman starts drawing, and the wisdom just comes pouring out:
I laid out my napkin and drew a graph showing how there seemed to be a rough correlation between the price of oil, between 1975 and 2005, and the pace of freedom in oil-producing states during those same years.
Friedman then draws his napkin-graph, and much to the pundit’s surprise, it turns out that there is almost an exact correlation between high oil prices and “unfreedom”! The graph contains two lines, one showing a rising and then descending slope of “freedom,” and one showing a descending and then rising course of oil prices. Friedman plots exactly four points on the graph over the course of those 30 years. In 1989, as oil prices are falling, Friedman writes, “Berlin Wall Torn Down.” In 1993, again as oil prices are low, he writes, “Nigeria Privatizes First Oil Field.” 1997, oil prices still low, “Iran Calls for Dialogue of Civilizations.” Then, finally, 2005, a year of high oil prices: “Iran calls for Israel’s destruction.”Take a look for yourself: I looked at this and thought: “Gosh, what a neat trick!” Then I sat down and drew up my own graph, called SIZE OF VALERIE BERTINELLI’S ASS, 1985-2008, vs. HAP- PINESS. It turns out that there is an almost exact correlation! Note the four points on the graph:
http://www.nypress.com/article-19271-flat-n-all-that.html
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