Dr. Marc Seigel (Cancer Chief) was on Fox & Friends this morning talking about the potential link between cell phone use and increased chances of cancer. The link actually exists between radio frequencies and cancer, but most people get high levels of radio frequencies from their cell phones. Very interesting to see how this develops.
Well, I just saw the official PR release, so I guess the cat’s out of the bag! My employer, Catapult Systems, is opening a new office in Denver. This is really exciting, and not just because of the (remote) possibility of working on a job up there. It’s terrific when you enjoy your company and can feel a sense of pride when they do well.
I have been receiving calls from 407-532-3791 for the last few weeks. I have usually received the call once a day, and I finally got tired of it. I usually don’t answer unknown or non-local numbers, and I usually don’t receive a follow-up. So yesterday, I tried to answer, thinking finally, that it may be important; however, I missed the call again. Finally, I looked it up on Google this morning and found 800Notes, which posted a listing for 407-532-3791. (more…)
I recently heard about an online organization that was enabling entrepreneurs in developing nations through loans from developed nations. That organization is Kiva, and while I don’t know much, all I’ve heard are good things. I’ll hopefully be able to post more later. Until then, please visit their site and see for yourself (or see the Kiva panel in the sidebar).
Today, I received what I thought was a strange package. Inside, I found a book called Wikinomics. I had attended a webinar a few weeks ago and requested the presentation, which was also included in the package.
The concept presented in this book is quite fascinating: businesses are likely to gain significantly by becoming more transparent and sharing their once prized possession–their intellectual property–and implementing the technologies commonly referred to as web2.0–blogs, wikis, RSS, and other collaborative technologies. In fact, you can help complete the authors’ effort to finish their book! Just go to www.wikinomics.com and volunteer your time to research and help write the The Wikinomics Playbook. For those who don’t know, collaborative technologies are here defined as “open source” projects or technologies that allow multiple users to add and use information to the betterment of the collaborators.
How accurate the authors are in assessing the impact of web2.0 technologies remains to be seen. However, early signs indicate that they are at least partially right. Many companies have and are moving to more collaborative online environments. I don’t see a majority of companies ever moving to such a collaborative environment, even if such environments are proven to be the absolute best way to do business. Some will always hold on to more traditional business models, whether it be for lack of understanding or fear of change. Nevertheless, I am interested to see how everything shakes out. I keep thinking that someday, we’ll all start screaming about how globalization kills unique identities and radically shift the other way. Only time will tell.
If you have listened to the news recently, you will probably have heard of In Mortal Danger by Tom Tancredo and Godless: The Church of Liberalism by Ann Coulter. Both of these raise interesting points and, though possibly over-the-top, could be worthy of discussion.
8 aBe sober-minded; bbe watchful. Your cadversary the devil dprowls around elike a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 fResist him, gfirm in your faith, knowing that hthe same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And iafter you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, jwho has called you to his keternal glory in Christ, will himself lrestore, confirm, strengthen, and mestablish you. 11 nTo him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
This weekend, the 2006 Houston Auto Show hits town. I am something of a closet car enthusiast. I confess that I don’t really know a lot about them, but I like to drive, and I like to know that I could drive fast if I wanted. It’s probably just a guy thing.
Anyway, I was happy to see two really cool concept cars would be there: the Camaro and the Ford Super Chief. I already mentioned the Camaro. The Super Chief is an F-250 with a V-10 engine that will run on hydrogen, E85 or gasoline and produce 400 lb-ft. of torque all while going the distance of 500 miles on one tank.
In reading about the auto show, I was sad to learn that the Dodge Challenger Concept would not be there. The article in the Chronicle didn’t say that explicitly, but in not saying anything, I assume the worst. Ah well. It would just drive me even more nuts that I couldn’t drive off in one.
More on my dilemma with buying one of those later. (I think I might have commented on that in a post about the Charger or Mustang back in the summer.)
I think that should be the title of the next XYZ for Dummies book. I’m not really against politicians, just the way most politicians behave. I suppose I side with Obi-Wan on that. Anyway, I thought this article by Arthur Levitt, Jr. was pretty good, and as it relates to my own profession–kind of–I figured I would be best to pass it along.
I thought this excerpt by the author especially key:
I’ve come to think that our federal government is plagued by some of the same problems that have been hurting corporate America, primarily a lack of transparency, accountability and independence. As with many of the disgraced corporations of the past few years — Adelphia, Tyco and WorldCom, for example — so it is with Congress: Conflicts of interest abound, oversight has been myopic and those given the public’s trust have used it to enrich themselves.
Sounds like another company with which we Houstonians are more familiar, doesn’t it? As to the author’s resolution, I think a push to clean up Congress is a great idea, but I wonder how much it would cost and who should oversee the job. We could potentially double our national debt on such an endeavor with the seriousness of the problems in Congress. Most publicly traded companies have spent in the hundreds of millions on Sarbanes-Oxley, and there were already several means of oversight previously.
There is the further problem of who will perform the clean-up. With all the controversy related to the judiciary creating and enforcing law, there is obviosly a conflict of interest with the executive and judiciary branches doing this, though it really falls into the executive branch’s scope first and the judiciary’s second in terms of the constitutional set up of our government.
It remains to be seen what will happen here. Congressional clean-up is and has been a great idea; however, I can’t help but think about how quickly my room gets dirty after I clean it up. Even if we do it, will it last, and for how long? Look at our outlook related to the hurricanes this past fall. What about the NYC tragedy of 9/11/2001? How many people think about those affected by such disasters, let alone Congressional scandal, which has become so common that no one really pays much attention anymore. I have a feeling this will turn out to be a “vote for me” issue and never see a lasting resolution.
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