This should explain everything.

2012-12-21 20:12 | Reset

2009-10-19 09:21 | (no subject)

2009-02-12 09:04 | 1234567890 day

2009-02-04 17:03 | Glass sculpture by Rebecca Coote

2009-02-04 10:16 | Ponzi economy

The current financial debacle is really ... a crisis of overgrowth of financial assets relative to growth of real wealth [quoting Herman Daly]

Thirty years ago, the leverage of the investment banks was like 4-to-1, 5-to-1. Today, it's 30-to-1. This is not just a change of numbers. This is a change of fundamental thinking.

People, especially Americans, started believing that they can live on other people's money. And more and more so. First other people's money in your own country. And then the savings rate comes down, and you start living on other people's money from outside. At first it was the Japanese. Now the Chinese and the Middle Easterners.

We -- the Chinese, the Middle Easterners, the Japanese -- we can see this too. Okay, we'd love to support you guys -- if it's sustainable. But if it's not, why should we be doing this? After we are gone, you cannot just go to the moon to get more money. So, forget it. Let's change the way of living. [By which he meant: less debt, lower rewards for financial wizardry, more attention to the "real economy," etc.] [quoting Gao Xiqing]

2009-02-03 10:40 | Contrarianism in a recession

2009-01-25 16:26 | Power of two year

birthday roses
Originally uploaded by papertygre.

2009-01-24 19:05 | Oddly fascinating blog

When we finally got the boat launched and started going through the harbor, everything seemed like it was going pretty well. The anchor was rested in the front of the boat and we had to travel very slowly because the front end of the boat was practically in the water. Within about five minutes I was feeling very good about everything but then saw a boat screaming towards me with lights flashing. Since I had never captained a boat before in my life I could not imagine what was going on. I thought I might be about ready to go to prison due to the mooring sitting on the front of the boat.

Hillario, my helper, looked terrified. “Inmigracion!!” he told me with a terrified look in his eyes. It was the Harbor Patrol and they pulled us over and made us go to the side of the harbor. They asked me if I had flares, a whistle, life jackets, and all sorts of stuff you apparently are required to have in order to take a boat into the ocean. Incredibly, they said nothing about the giant mooring sitting in the boat. I had none of these things and they wrote me several tickets and told me I needed to take my boat over to a local store and purchase this stuff before I could venture into the ocean legally. I explained to Hillario in Spanish that he was not being deported and he was incredibly relieved. Thankfully the Harbor Master had not pursued it when I explained to him that Hillario had no identification. After spending a couple of hundred dollars on life jackets and other required supplies, we headed over the to Harbor Patrol office to show them what we had purchased and they were kind enough to cancel all the tickets. This whole episode must have taken us over two hours; however, we were now prepared to venture out into the Pacific Ocean towards Malibu.

We were soon out in the sea and the boat was handling very well. Despite the massive mooring, she was amazingly agile and picking up speed. I looked at Hillario and we could feel the wind in our face and the entire event was very nice and enjoyable. A couple of minutes into the journey I saw another boat rushing towards us. This boat was larger and looked very official. As it got closer, I realized it was the Coast Guard.

“Hi, we’ve already been pulled over and we’re all set!” I told the man who boarded our boat. This guy was serious. He had a gun and I thought Hillario was about ready to get deported for sure.

“That was the Harbor Master who is from the County of Ventura,” he told me. “I’m with the United States Coast Guard and we have jurisdiction over the ocean.”

“Oh, I’m sorry …”

“What the hell are you doing with that giant mooring in your boat? It is so big we saw it from over a half mile away.”

I had no idea what to say. If I told him I was about to launch an illegal mooring off the coast of Malibu, I was sure he would not like this. Actually, the more I thought about where I was planning on putting my mooring, the more I realized that it was probably an international shipping lane. Cruise ships, freighters, and all sorts of stuff went by daily. I wondered what they would make of my little jet boat if I ever made it out there. I hoped they would not run it over.

I had to think quickly on my feet. I started thinking about the past few minutes.

“This is a jet boat,” I told the man from the Coast Guard. As I was speaking, I realized I could see myself and Hillario perfectly in his sunglasses since they reflected directly toward me like mirrors. “This boat is incredibly fast and these waves are incredibly big. With this giant anchor here, I prevent the boat from flipping over in the waves. I am trying to be safe. You should see how fast this thing is.”

“That’s so cool dude!” the guy from the Coast Guard said. “I totally understand. These jet boats are so kick ass! I so much want to get one but my wife would kill me!” I could not believe what I was witnessing. I thought the guy must be the biggest idiot I had ever encountered. Just like that he let us continue and gave me some sort of “hang loose” type surfer sign as we motored away.

2009-01-09 16:46 | Leadership in Software Development

2008-12-22 13:46 | Browser switcher app

2008-12-16 22:11 | Android dev phone 1

2008-12-10 18:55 | Adhesives for Velcro/Reflectix

2008-11-02 20:51 | Yurt and hiking in SB

2008-05-26 22:17 | Surfing

2008-05-03 19:16 | Flickr video

alacrity

2008-04-27 18:48 | Female leadership

Consider, for example, journalist Michael Sokolove's profile of Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the highly successful Duke University men's basketball team. As Sokolove put it, "So what is the secret to Krzyzewski's success? For starters, he coaches the way a woman would. Really."

To compare leadership skills, the researchers adopted a framework introduced by leadership scholar James MacGregor Burns that distinguishes between transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Transformational leaders establish themselves as role models by gaining followers' trust and confidence. They state future goals, develop plans to achieve those goals, and innovate, even when their organizations are generally successful. Such leaders mentor and empower followers, encouraging them to develop their full potential and thus to contribute more effectively to their organizations. By contrast, transactional leaders establish give-and-take relationships that appeal to subordinates' self-interest. Such leaders manage in the conventional manner of clarifying subordinates' responsibilities, rewarding them for meeting objectives, and correcting them for failing to meet objectives. Although transformational and transactional leadership styles are different, most leaders adopt at least some behaviors of both types. The researchers also allowed for a third category, called the laissez-faire style -- a sort of nonleadership that concerns itself with none of the above, despite rank authority.

The meta-analysis found that, in general, female leaders were somewhat more transformational than male leaders, especially when it came to giving support and encouragement to subordinates. They also engaged in more of the rewarding behaviors that are one aspect of transactional leadership. Meanwhile, men exceeded women on the aspects of transactional leadership involving corrective and disciplinary actions that are either active (timely) or passive (belated). Men were also more likely than women to be laissez-faire leaders, who take little responsibility for managing. ... The research tells us not only that men and women do have somewhat different leadership styles, but also that women's approaches are the more generally effective -- while men's often are only somewhat effective or actually hinder effectiveness.

In the language of psychologists, the clash is between two sets of associations: communal and agentic. Women are associated with communal qualities, which convey a concern for the compassionate treatment of others. They include being especially affectionate, helpful, friendly, kind, and sympathetic, as well as interpersonally sensitive, gentle, and soft-spoken. In contrast, men are associated with agentic qualities, which convey assertion and control. They include being especially aggressive, ambitious, dominant, self-confident, and forceful, as well as self-reliant and individualistic. The agentic traits are also associated in most people's minds with effective leadership -- perhaps because a long history of male domination of leadership roles has made it difficult to separate the leader associations from the male associations.

As a result, women leaders find themselves in a double bind. If they are highly communal, they may be criticized for not being agentic enough. But if they are highly agentic, they may be criticized for lacking communion. Either way, they may leave the impression that they don't have "the right stuff" for powerful jobs.

2008-01-18 00:31 | Speech-to-text utility idea

2007-12-09 22:19 | The drive down.

2007-12-09 21:43 | A quote about leadership

An amazing thing I’ve learned after presenting improv workshops for more than ten years is this: There is no such thing as a weak improv player. There are only skilled improv planers who are not skilled enough to make the weaker players look good. When a worker has substandard performance, the question is: Are YOU good enough to lead, motivate, and work with them. You are responsible. Make them look good. Bring out their best. This isn’t a gimmick. This is a reality of life. The responsibility and power lies with you. Lead by example. What would the world be like if everyone was present for you, if everyone listened to you, if everyone treated you like a genius, if everyone agreed with you, if everyone trusted you. What would it be like if each of your employees experienced that kind of world. It’s your job to be the "someone" who creates that experience for them. Every choice you make affects other people.

2007-12-02 22:25 | Too much of a good thing