Twas '07

2007 was, and that's the most important thing about it.

This will be the final post of 2007 (unless I feel a pressing need later today, but I doubt it). While I'm still not sure why I stuff these things out here, I continue to do it. If you do something without good reason, is that crazy? Maybe huh?

2008 is a Leap Year. I guess that means it's time to leap. Hopefully I have that right. We'll see.

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save".

Will Rogers

Peter, Peter, Peter...

What is the managers job? It is to direct the resources and the efforts of the business toward opportunities for economically significant results. This sounds trite -- and it is. But every analysis of actual allocation of resources and efforts in business that I have ever seen or made showed clearly that the bulk of time, work, attention, and money first goes to problems rather than to opportunities, and, secondly, to areas where even extraordinarily successful performance will have minimal impact on results.

What is the major problem? It is fundamentally the confusion between effectiveness and efficiency that stands between doing the right things and doing things right. There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all. Yet our tools especially our accounting concepts and detail focus on efficiency. What we need is (1) a way to identify the areas of effectiveness (of possible significant results), and (2) a method for concentrating on them.


Peter Drucker

Early rising

If you get up early, you have an edge.

You might not think this notion is worth the full ten bucks. Perhaps the idea is too simple? If you don't see the full value here, I shall agree to take less. If- on the other hand, you're measuring worth by volume, I would suggest you reconsider your system altogether. But of course - you'll still be in the rack.

Thanks for coming.

Hammer this!

No Say!

Ya but what if...

Hey - if I'm standing on the edge of a cliff, I might fall. If that happens, I'll be killed. Not only that, but the fall will be a horrifying experience. My concern is surely justified. If I'm at the same edge, but securely anchored to a structure and it's not possible for me to fall, why would I be afraid? In one case I have a rational fear (logic), but in the other I have an irrational fear (phobia). The difference between logic and phobia isn't always as clear as it is in this example.

Perceived consequences are what drive our concerns. Sure death is a pretty serious consequence, but there's a whole lot of thinking going on about subjects less damaging than death. What makes some people seem fearless?

Let's look here: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

The Christmas bird - ha!

Christmas Bird - Ha!

NBA's #1 draft choice for 2008 B.C.

The greatest basketball team ever would have been built around this guy. Unfortunately, he is apparently dead and a fake. Too bad. I would've liked to how they defended him in the low post.

Horn acoustics

Okay, so maybe I'm a little fascinated by the use of acoustic horns in this application. This set of speakers runs close to $20,000. Whaaaaat?

Cows

Home Audio - System of the week?

Just plug in your i-pod.

You want this huh?

No pain... None!

I'm not aware of a situation where making someone feel badly about their work or about themselves has ever enabled success. Guilt, ridicule, bullying, a condescending tone, doubt, hurtful criticism and anything that makes someone feel like they are not worthy of your confidence, we'll call "pain". I could call it anything, but pain seems appropriate. Pain and especially individually addressed personal pain has no upside.

If you have a relationship (personal or business) where you find that you need to deliver personal pain, you would be better off finding a way to end the relationship. Pain won't fix anything - it only destroys potential. I don't know of anyone who ever reached their potential without support and encouragement in the right places. Getting mad about something is one thing, but if the recipient takes your lack of confidence to heart, it's pretty much over.

What if no one is interested?

The reason why someone is selling seems like an extremely important thing to understand. We would guess that there are circumstances where someone needs to sell a piece of real estate. Maybe their job moved etc. There are also folks who would like to sell their house because they want to downsize or upsize - they want a different house. Maybe they bought that house to sell it (flip). Hmmm...?

What do you do if no one is interested? No offers. No traffic. Nothing.

You need to sell your house vs. You would like to sell your house.

Well, the truth is that there is a price where it would sell. You then become less wealthy by the amount of the loss. What if you can't be less wealthy because you have no money. You owe more than the "it will sell at this" amount to the bank. You just might have to stay there; or you could just leave - let the bank have it.

Some people make a deal with the bank; sell the property and then set up a new loan (unsecured) with the lender. These people might be back to fight another day.

Some decide it just isn't worth it and they punt. These people probably won't be back.

That's how this stuff happens.

So you purchased a pen...

A review of a BIC pen purchase on Amazon.com. This guy's toungue is cleverly planted in his cheek. There were some others attached to this product that were also pretty good.

How about the fact that 997 of 1,003 people found the review helpful:

Very good if you need to write on paper, 7 Mar 2007
By M. Williams "Matt Williams" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews

Since taking delivery of my pen I have been very happy with the quality of ink deposition on the various types of paper that I have used. On the first day when I excitedly unwrapped my pen (thanks for the high quality packaging Amazon!) I just couldn't contain my excitement and went around finding things to write on, like the shopping list on the notice board in our kitchen, the Post-it notes next to the phone, and on my favourite lined A4 pad at the side of my desk.

My pen is the transparent type with a blue lid. I selected this one in preference to the orange type because I like to be able to see how much ink I have left so that I can put in another order before I finally run out.

When the initial excitement of taking delivery of my new pen started to wear off I realised that I shouldn't just write for the fun of it, this should be a serious enterprise, so by the second day of ownership I started to take a little more care of what I wrote. I used it to sign three letters, and in each case was perfectly happy with the neatness of handwriting that I was able to achieve.

I have a helpful tip for you that you might not know about - if you let the ink dry for a few seconds you can avoid the smudging that sometimes happens if you rub the ink immediately after writing. Fortunately the ink used in this particular Bic pen seems to dry very quickly.

On the third day of ownership I went on a trip to London and took my pen carefully packed away in my brief case, but I needn't have worried, this isn't some temperamental ink pen that leaks when you store it at the wrong angle. I sat at my meeting and confidently removed the cap from my pen and it wrote flawlessly, almost immediately.

I notice that the barrel of the pen has been crafted very carefully to fit in the pen holder down the edge of my Filofax. It's not so grippy so that it is hard to remove when I want to make a quick note, and yet not so loose that it falls out too easily when I open my Filofax in a hurry. Maybe the choice of surface texture on the pen has some part to play here, because it seems that the inside of the leather grip on the pen holder in my Filofax has just the right level of adhesion that I can be confident when I need to reach in and get my pen it's going to be just where I left it!

Today is the fourth day of ownership of my pen, and I have to say I'm starting to treat it like an old friend. I walk around the office with it clipped in to my shirt pocket and someone in the accounts department actually asked to borrow it while we were both standing at the photocopier. Would you believe it, they actually tried to walk away with my pen! They were very embarrassed when I called after them as they walked down the corridor and asked for it back. You will be happy to know that it is now back, safe and sound in my top pocket, ready and waiting to start writing again.

In summary, I would happily recommend this pen to anyone who is planning on writing on paper. If you are considering a writing implement for some other surface such as writing on a CD, or other non-porous substances then another pen might be better suited, but if it's just plain old paper then I think you will probably be well served by this particular model.

Silver and Gold

Specific Gravity (SG) is the ratio of the density of a given substance, to the density of water (H2O). Substances with a specific gravity greater than 1 are heavier than water, and those with a specific gravity of less than 1 are lighter than water.

Gold has a specific gravity of 19.3, meaning it is 19.3 times heavier than an equal volume of water.

Silver's specific gravity is 10.5.

Philippe Starck - On Design

An interesting 17 minutes. Yes indeed.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/197

Holiday Wishes

I know I've tossed this up there before, but during the season it's surely worth ten bucks.

Steve Martin's Holiday Wish...

If I had one wish that I could wish this holiday season, it would be that all the children to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace.

If I had two wishes I could make this holiday season, the first would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing in the spirit of harmony and peace. And the second would be for 30 million dollars a month to be given to me, tax-free in a Swiss bank account.

You know, if I had three wishes I could make this holiday season, the first, of course, would be for all the children of the world to get together and sing, the second would be for the 30 million dollars every month to me, and the third would be for encompassing power over every living being in the entire universe.

And if I had four wishes that I could make this holiday season, the first would be the crap about the kids definitely, the second would be for the 30 million, the third would be for all the power, and the fourth would be to set aside one month each year to have an extended 31-day orgasm, to be brought out slowly by Rosanna Arquette and that model Paulina-somebody, I can't think of her name.

Of course my lovely wife can come too and she's behind me one hundred percent here, I guarantee it. Wait a minute, maybe the sex thing should be the first wish, so if I made that the first wish, because it could all go boom tomorrow, then what do you got, y'know?

No, no, the kids, the kids singing would be great, that would be nice. But wait a minute, who am I kidding? They're not going to be able to get all those kids together. I mean, the logistics of the thing is impossible, more trouble than it's worth! So -- we reorganize!

Here we go. First, the sex thing. We go with that. Second, the money. No, we go with the power second, then the money. And then the kids. Oh wait, oh jeez, I forgot about revenge against my enemies! Okay, I need revenge against all my enemies, they should die like pigs in hell! That would be my fourth wish. And, of course, my fifth wish would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace.

Thank you everybody and Merry Christmas.

Brand

A Brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.

A Brand is a promise. By defining the source of a product or service it's a pledge of satisfaction and quality.

A Brand is a set of qualities that add to or detract from perceived value.

A Brand speaks the truth - whatever that might be.

A Brand is an image burned into your ass (if you're cattle), or your mind if you are human.

Managing "what is" vs. "for more"

Let's consider two business situations. One where the business is looking for growth in order to become profitable. In need of "more" to survive, we have to accept more unknowns and take more risk. It's part of what we do. Another situation is where the business has done some healthy growing, is now profitable, seems sustainable at these levels, and looks to take some risk off the table by managing "what is" more effectively.

Managing "what is" effectively is a different skill than managing "for more". It's possible for one person to be capable in both situations, but the more likely scenario is that we lean one way or the other. Consider the case where you start out as a "more" person by necessity; it's what we do. Then - after a successful run of "more", you begin to protect "what is". Some might argue that once you've moved away from the clarity of the growth requirement, it becomes much more difficult to see where you are.

Can't swing a cat

I was looking around for a possible retail location and saw this place listed for $495,000. It's a single story older brick building that is approximately 20 x 20 ~ 400 square feet. We took a ride to take a fast look. It's not a wreck, but it's not in great shape either. At more than $1,200 per square foot, I can't figure this one out.

"There's not enough room to swing a cat."

Spin

Spin is a portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. It usually involves creative presentation of the facts. The ability to create clever spin can be considered an art. However, those who do it well and often are known as Spin Doctors.

Pound vs. US Dollar

Check out the value of the US Dollar vs. the Pound going back to 1925.
Today, the Pound buys you $2.07. The graph shows the period from 2001 - 2007, but look at it "back in the day". Go figure.

Year Rate
1925 $4.83
1926 $4.86
1927 $4.86
1928 $4.87
1929 $4.86
1930 $4.86
1931 $4.54
1932 $3.51
1933 $4.24
1934 $5.04
1935 $4.90
1936 $4.97
1937 $4.94
1938 $4.89
1939 $4.43
1940 $3.83
1941 $4.03
1942 $4.04
1943 $4.04
1944 $4.04
1945 $4.03
1946 $4.03
1947 $4.03
1948 $4.03
1949 $3.69
1950 $2.80
1951 $2.80
1952 $2.79
1953 $2.81
1954 $2.81
1955 $2.79
1956 $2.80
1957 $2.79
1958 $2.81
1959 $2.81
1960 $2.81
1961 $2.80
1962 $2.81
1963 $2.80
1964 $2.79
1965 $2.80
1966 $2.79
1967 $2.75
1968 $2.39
1969 $2.39
1970 $2.40
1971 $2.44
1972 $2.50
1973 $2.45
1974 $2.34
1975 $2.22
1976 $1.80
1977 $1.75
1978 $1.92
1979 $2.12
1980 $2.33
1981 $2.02
1982 $1.75
1983 $1.52
1984 $1.34
1985 $1.30
1986 $1.47
1987 $1.64
1988 $1.78
1989 $1.64
1990 $1.78
1991 $1.77
1992 $1.77
1993 $1.50
1994 $1.53
1995 $1.58
1996 $1.56
1997 $1.64
1998 $1.66
1999 $1.62
2000 $1.52
2001 $1.44
2002 $1.50
2003 $1.64
2004 $1.83
2005 $1.82
2006 $1.84
2007 $2.07