new dog old trick

Mike Vick vs. Pacman

Quick - who is worse - Pacman Jones or Michael Vick?  What's your first reaction to that question?

It's kind of strange, but I can think about Pacman in a detached manner, without any real emotion.  Is he a first-class screw-up - sure.  Is it possible he's going to jail for inciting a Las Vegas shooting that left one person crippled for life - sure.  Is his being sufficiently screwed up to get suspended for the year (and quite possibly forever depending upon how the court cases go and how his behavior changes) and potentially messing up what was looking like a promising season for my home town Titans a bad thing - sure.  But you know, in our current culture, especially the sports culture, is it really that surprising or that different than 10 other stories you've heard in the past few months?

But Michael Vick?  Dog fighting?  Horrible allegations regarding the treatment of dogs, casual and cruel killing of dogs?  I can't even hear about it without feeling sick - and then immediately after feeling disgusted - and then immediately feeling very, very angry at someone, anyone, and everyone involved.  They need to try him in court and if he's guilty throw the freaking book at him.  In the meantime, the NFL needs to run the other way as fast as it can.  And Arthur Blank (the owner of the Atlanta Falcons) needs to demonstrate his values as a human being - soon and loudly and clearly. 

There's no way Michael Vick should be allowed to step onto an NFL playing field until this is resolved.  If Pacman can be suspended based on mostly allegations or incidents that have not yet gone through the court system, then the NFL can suspend Vick. 

And you know what - I think the general public will hold this all against Vick for longer and treat it more seriously than they will whatever Pacman has done up to this point.  You can do just about anything to another human, but don't be screwing around with our pets - we just won't tolerate that.  If even a portion of this is borne out in court, Vick is finished as a public figure. 

R.I.P. Paul deLay

I just heard the news that blues harmonica player Paul deLay passed away back in March.  He was only 55, so like William Clark a few years ago another still young harp player taken from us far too soon.  R.I.P. Paul.

If you don't know deLay's music, and you like the blues, you should really give him a listen.  His personal life was such that he had paid some dues, but there's a lot of joy in his brand of the blues.  He was a tremendous blues harp player - probably one of the two or three best of his generation.  He was also a good singer and fronted his band well. 

You might want to start with deLay's Nice & Strong for an introduction to his music.

Another good option is his Ocean of Tears CD. 

Goog's Enterprise Push

I still keep an eye on what's going on in the software industry so Google's Postini acquisition (announced yesterday) caught my eye.  The implications of this aren't new news - it's been pretty clear for a while that Google was going after parts of Microsoft's enterprise desktop fortress - but Postini fills a pretty major hole in Google's strategy. 

The best analysis of the deal I've seen today is Bill Burnham's post on the deal, found here.  Given the normal quality of Burnham's analysis, I doubt we'll get a better take on the deal from anyone else.

For my money, Google still has the challenge of providing a way to use their apps while the user is off the net.  The enterprise market is full of travellers who need access to their apps on their laptops while they are on airplanes or otherwise off the network.  Until Google addresses this hole, there are large parts of the enterprise market that will continue to be out of their reach.  I know that they are supposedly working on this with Google Gears, so we'll see how that evolves. 

A Math Problem Flashback...I Blame Al Gore

OK, so I get pointed to the YouTube video of Spinal Tap playing at the Live Earth non-event.  A massive cognitive seizure transpires, rocketing me back to junior year in high school.  Mr. Harpring is standing in the front of the class writing on the board...

Spinal Tap is to a real rock band as Al Gore is to X

Solve for X. 

Man, I haven't had a flashback like that since they took me off the morphine after my heart surgery.  Except this one was scarier (any hallucination involving Al Gore is scary). 

Summer Reading

I have added a couple of recent books to my reading list in the right-hand column.  I've finished two books in the last couple of weeks that I highly recommend.

The first is Amity Shlaes excellent history of the great depression, The Forgotten Man.  This is very well written economic history, which sounds almost oxymoronic but it isn't in this case.  It's definitely revisionist history - FDR does not come off as the insightful economic savior that he is commonly viewed as.  It's amazing how feckless the political leadership of both parties was in dealing with a 10 year long crisis - and how much worse their actions made the crisis.  Lots of information that I had not been aware of.  Whether you agree with all of Shlaes conclusions or not I highly recommend this important book.

The second book is Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein.  Handles the science well for the general reader but even more so integrates the discussion of the science - and the scientist - into the whole person.  And Einstein was more than just the prototype of the absent-minded scientist.  Quite a bit of interesting information that was new to me - for example, did you realize that Einstein's Nobel Prize in Physics was not for his work on relativity?  I certainly didn't. 

Message in a Bottle...

Message is a Bottle is a great article in the July issue of Fast Company magazine about the bottled water business.  It's by Charles Fishman, one of the best writers working the business magazine beat these days and also author of the excellent The Wal-Mart Effect.  I almost missed the article since I skipped my usual monthly acquisition at the bookstore when I saw Al Gore on the cover and just couldn't take another taste of the Goracle.

Fishman's article is well worth reading for anyone concerned about real "green" principles and sustainability.  One or two sample quotes...

We buy bottled water because we think it's healthy. Which it is, of course: Every 12-year-old who buys a bottle of water from a vending machine instead of a 16-ounce Coke is inarguably making a healthier choice. But bottled water isn't healthier, or safer, than tap water. Indeed, while the United States is the single biggest consumer in the world's $50 billion bottled-water market, it is the only one of the top four--the others are Brazil, China, and Mexico--that has universally reliable tap water. Tap water in this country, with rare exceptions, is impressively safe. It is monitored constantly, and the test results made public. Mineral water has a long association with medicinal benefits--and it can provide minerals that people need--but there are no scientific studies establishing that routinely consuming mineral water improves your health. The FDA, in fact, forbids mineral waters in the United States from making any health claims.

<snip>

In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another way, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.

It's worth a read.  Or, like the man says, read the whole thing.

Bluebird on the Mountain starts new season

Linda and I had a great evening last night at the first Bluebird on the Mountain concert for 2007.  For those not in Nashville, The Bluebird is the preeminent singer-songwriter club in Nashville (and hence, in the civilized world).  The Mountain is actually more of a big hill, but on the top of the big hill is Vanderbilt University's Dyer Observatory.  Bluebird on the Mountain is a concert series hosted outdoors on the grounds of the Dyer Observatory where the concert is held more or less in the same format as one of The Bluebird's three performer round-robin shows and the talent is booked by The Bluebird.  The audience tends to show up early with blankets, chairs, picnic baskets, coolers, etc. and settles in for some al fresco eating and drinking and then some music.  Imagine mixing a big outdoor picnic with a crowded singer-songwriter club, plus a big dome covering a telescope, and you have Bluebird on the Mountain. 

Last night was a beautiful night to be outside on the top of the mountain: warm but not humid, gentle cool breezes, and early enough in the season that there weren't any bugs to speak of.   The three performers were Kim Carnes, Greg Barnhill, and Dana Cooper.  They were backed by what I take to have been Kim Carnes back-up band.  We weren't familiar with any of the songwriters but the music was great and the evening was just about perfect. 

It was also a nice way to celebrate Mother's Day.  In a way, the night out was a gift from our son.  Linda's grandmother lives with us and needs constant monitoring, so we don't get out together very often.  Our son Lee has agreed to watch grandmother on one Saturday night a month so that we can go to each of the Bluebird on the Mountain events.  Thanks Lee!

The HP Board Mess in the New Yorker

The current (Feb. 19 & 26) issue of The New Yorker magazine has a James Stewart article on the Hewlett Packard Board of Director's leak/pretexting kerfuffle.  It's not available online so you'll have to grab a copy of the magazine to read the article. 

It's a good article that recaps the whole ugly mess of the HP Board's effort to plug leaks to the press from members of the board.  Stewart's a good writer and he does a nice job boiling the he said/she said in this story down so that you can find the main story lines.

This episode, although more or less independent of the whole Carly Fiorina drame at HP, seemed to cap off the Fiorina-era erosion of the HP culture that had helped to make HP such a respected company. 

I found the article believable at least partly because it seemed to reinforce some of the thoughts that I have had about this case since reading about as it was unfolding.  It seems clear to me that Patricia Dunn is getting a seriously raw deal in being up for multiple felony counts over this case while HP CEO Mark Hurd and the rest of her former colleagues on the HP Board get a pass.  Does she bear some responsibility for what went down, absolutely.  Should she be defending herself from multiple criminal charges, no freaking way. 

Thomas Perkins does not come off well in the article.  Nor does he deserve to.  The massive ego and "damn the governance rules" attitude that he brings to the table are ample evidence of too many years being worshiped and feared as one of the great powers of the Silicon Valley elite.  It's also indicative of what happens when you try to apply the rules and methods that work for private, smaller, earlier stage companies to a mature, massive, public entity like HP.  But it is also clear that Perkins, who was close to both Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett, and who was an important player inside HP during the founding days of its computer business, cares deeply for HP. 

Stewart's article make it clearer than anything else I've read how some of the internal politics of the HP Board helped drive this whole drama.  Some of the early leaks come across as clearly made to support positions that Perkins and his ally, George Keyworth, favored.  It's also clear that Perkins has a nasty habit of making personal issues out of disagreements over business issues. 

Anyway, it's worth seeking out and reading.  It also makes me wonder if Stewart is working on a book about HP, maybe pulling together the Fiorina story and this one.  Sort of a high tech industry version of his very good book on Disney. 

Why vision statements matter

Link: BeyondVC: Why vision statements matter.

A good post by Ed Sim about the importance of a shared vision in a start-up.  I am a big proponent of creating a broadly shared vision for a company (start-up or otherwise).  I think that a shared vision is a fundamental platform for creating a great leadership team and great company.  I don't particularly care what terminology you use - if you're into Guy Kawasaki's "mantra" instead of mission, that's great, or you can use Collins and Porras's terminology (see below). 

It has always bothered me that many executives can't seem to understand the value of good vision and the value of investing energy in defining and maintaining a corporate vision and a supporting corporate culture despite all of the evidence regarding the importance in doing so.  I especially like it when supposedly short-term oriented investors like Sim (who is a venture capitalist at Dawntreader Ventures) or Kawasaki (of Garage Ventures) are clearly supportive of making such investments.

A solid vision should includes a purpose, values, and the other things that the classic Collins and Porras paper "Building Your Company's Vision" talks about.  Those ideas are embedded in the subsequent Collins and Porras book, "Built to Last" and discussed on Jim Collins website here.   Or see Jeff Cornwall's weblog, The Entrepreneurial Mind,  for some thoughts about why values should be an integral part of a start-up's vision. 

Here are a few of the things that Sim has to say in his post - but please do read the whole thing:

Vision statements matter.  Sometimes we get too focused on the daily bump and grind, the next product release, and forget about the big picture and what we are trying to accomplish (see an earlier post on Vision). Trust me, the word vision became a dirty word during the bubble as many companies were long on vision and short on execution.  I am not advocating that we return to that environment, but I am strongly saying that companies do need a vision and that it can help them with their execution.

I went out to dinner a couple weeks ago with a few key executives at a portfolio company and as we started talking about future product direction, it seemed that we all had different ideas of where the company should go.  Seeing some confusion I tried to get us focused back on the basics when I asked the team what our vision was.  The first pitch was great and so were the others but unfortunately they were all different.  It is really hard to drive future product direction when your key executives can't agree on what the company should be when it grows up.  In addition, it is quite difficult to get your employees on the same page without a simple, succinct vision.  Furthermore, it is hard to build word of mouth marketing without boiling down who you are and what you do in a memorable and short manner.  Yes, it can be challenging to distill everything you are doing into a short pitch but great companies are able to do this. 

Mythbusting E85 Fuel

Link: One Hand Clapping - Blog Archive - Mythbusting E85.

Nice post by Donald Sensing regarding the likelihood (his take - not very) that the E85 ethanol/gasoline mix will replace pure gasoline as a transportation fuel.  I've been reading a bit about alternative energy sources for transportation and other uses recently.  I'm not an expert but Sensing's arguments make sense in the context of what I have read.

One thing you figure out very quickly is that a lot of the material about how one fuel or another is going to replace gasoline is actually only thinly disguised advocacy (or attack) material funded by one of the industrial parties to either the current system or the new system they are trying to achieve in the future.  Hydrogen good or bad?  Electrical cars - good or bad?  Different types of hybrids - good or bad?  Ethanol - good or bad?  All good questions but you need to be very careful of the sources for the information behind what you read and understand their agenda. 

For me, ethanol just doesn't seem to make sense as a short or long-term fix.  Hydrogen also seems to have too many problems, many related to totally replacing our current infrastructure and also the need for additional technological breakthroughs, to be anything but a very long-term solution.  In the shorter term, improved hybrid systems of various sorts seem promising.  In the short to mid-term, it's entirely possible that a new generation of electric car technology will provide a solution to gasoline - but not without raising equally challenging issues regarding the source of the electricity. 

If you don't believe in the short term potential of electric cars - and who wouldn't have doubts if all you've read about is the aborted GM EV1 effort - just read a couple of the articles on the Tesla Roadster...0-60 mph in 4 seconds, a torque curve you won't believe, a range of 250 miles on a charge and fuel economy equivalent to something like 135 mpg, all on a platform derived from the Lotus Elise. 

John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely and Guy Clark in concert: Louisville, KY

My brother Jim and I went to the Kentucky Center in Louisville two weeks ago to see John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, and Guy Clark in concert.  The first three are great favorites of mine.  I have most of their CDs and listen to their music constantly on one playlist or another on my iPod.  I know less about Guy Clark although I'm familiar with some of his songs that others have performed.  The four have been performing together in this format for a number of years in between their own personal projects and tours. 

The concert was excellent.  The four performers come onstage and sit in a line, each with their own guitar.  Mostly they alternate playing their own songs solo, although on some songs one of the others will provide some backup guitar licks or vocal support.  They also played two or three songs together.  The round-robin format is one practiced all the time at songwriter-oriented venues like the Bluebird here in Nashville and gives each performer a chance to showcase and control the delivery of their own songs.  No fancy pyrotechnics, no glitz, just four "old guys" and their guitars on stage with their songs.  In the hands of great songwriters like these, what else do you need?

A Pulitzer for KC Johnson?

I have been reading KC Johnson's indispensable blog, Durham-in-Wonderland, ever since the early days of the Duke lacrosse (not) rape case.  If anyone needs concrete evidence that a blog can be everything that mainstream, professional newspaper or other media outlets aspire or profess to be, Durham-in-Wonderland provides it. 

In a case where the majority of the mainstream media have looked to be clueless and inept captives of political correctness and a rush to judgement, Durham-in-Wonderland has provided insightful analysis, broad perspective, and a helpful guide to the actors and their roles in this complex and confusing epic.  With the notable exceptions of the News & Observer and the Duke Chronicle (a student newspaper!) the mainstream media, especially the print media, have disgraced themselves in their coverage of this case. 

I've been wondering recently if there was a way to recognize KC Johnson's contribution to the profession of journalism.  Like maybe a Pulitzer Prize.  Yeah, I know he's not a "professional" journalist, whatever that is these days.  He's a college professor.  But from what little I recall at this distance from my 100 level college journalism class, KC Johnson is the best real journalist working this beat (ok, maybe along with Joseph Neff of the N & O). 

Turns out I'm not the only one.  Jim Lindgren, who posts on the Volokh Conspiracy, has been noodling this too.  In a post from January 29 (you may have to scroll down a ways to find the post) he answers my question about a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for KC - turns out bloggers are not eligible unless their blog is hosted on a newspaper site. 

Well KC, looks like no Pulitzer in Journalism.  But you deserve recognition and thanks for shining a very bright light in some very dark corners.  Let's hope your book (there is a book coming, right?) achieves blockbuster status.  Thank you for your great work. 

This is very cool...

This was my birthday present from a couple of weeks ago...it just arrived today...thanks Linda!

And the meek shall inherit...

Weird weekend here on planet bizarro.  The foolball teams from Indiana U. and Vanderbilt both knocked off ranked opponents (IU beating Iowa and Vandy knocking off Georgia at Georgia).  I wonder when, if ever, IU and Vandy last both beat ranked opponents on the same Saturday?  Heck, even in the same season.  IU is where my two brothers and I all were undergrads and Vandy is my "local" major college school. 

And today the Titans (my hometown pro football team) got its first win of the season, handily controlling the Redskins.  This on the same day that several other pro teams with no wins got their first victories of the season (Tampa Bay and Detroit). 

And of course this is the weekend that the Detroit Tigers, only a couple of years away from historic levels of putrid play, finished a sweep of the Oakland A's to win the American League and head to the World Series. 

Must be a full moon on planet bizarro this weekend.  Also, I wonder if it is too late to get a bet down on the winless Raiders for tonight's game? 

Testing Windows Live Writer

This is a test post using Windows Live Writer.  I just downloaded it based on reading a recommendation on Brad Feld's weblog.  I've been looking for a good offline posting tool but haven't cared for the ones I have tried in the past.  We will see how this one works for me. 

How did they know?

So I see posts on several weblogs about this sports car quiz and I take it.  My last sports car (traded it a couple of years ago) was a ...

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win.  Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

 

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Carnival of the Capitalists 12/19/2005

Only one Carnival of the Capitalists remaining before Christmas...and it's up at Coyote Blog. 

Link: Coyote Blog: Carnival of the Capitalists 12/19/2005.

Instapundit says - Colonoscopy? Indeed!

Glenn Reynolds blogs about his colonoscopy and gets a little pushback.  Glenn's right - the colonoscopy should be on your regular schedule of medical tests once you reach a certain age (the exact age either 50 or earlier depending upon your family medical history).  It is a bit uncomfortable, and the drugs stay with you a bit, but given the benefits, anyone who doesn't get scoped when they should is an idiot.  Sorry for being so blunt, but it's true.

One thing you might mention to your doc - see if your doc pokes through and takes a look at the terminal ileum (the last bit of the small intestine) during the colonoscopy.  My gastroenterologist now does on all colonoscopies as a matter of routine after his experience with me.  We would have found my lymphoma a couple of months earlier had he done this routinely before.  The odds that this will matter to you - very small.  But, since since they're in there poking and scanning anyway, might as well take a peek.  That's my totally unmedical opinion.  Your mileage may vary. 

Fighting Procrastination...

I can be a world-class procrastinator when the planets and moods align correctly...particularly when I'm suffering from what Churchill called "the black dog".  I picked up on this interesting procrastination fighting technique over at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog a couple of weeks ago - and Randy picked it up from someone who picked it up from someone - ain't the blogosphere great!

Link: Ethos : Procrastination hack: “(10 2)*5”....

If you have a minute, please go browse Randy's weblog.  I met Randy briefly at BlogNashville earlier this year.  He's an interesting guy with a diverse range of interests and his weblog reflects that fact. 

Busted

It's bad when it has been so long between posts that I start to get flack from my mother-in-law.  That's bad.  So bad it will shame me into writing more instead of just bookmarking things to write about "later"?  Well, we will have to see, won't we Norma.