Monthly Archives: January 2012

2012 Calendar Photos

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Last year, I started a new tradition of utilizing photos I had taken through the year to make a calendar for family. This year Emily and I also gifted calendars to a larger group of friends, and I wanted to share the photos. Emily helped pick and layout the photos, and she was my companion when many of these were shot.

If you click the individual photos below, you can see a larger image and a bit of explanation as to where and when each image was shot. If you would like any prints, please contact me.

Apple Listened to the Interns

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Brian Lam on Apple’s textbooks discovery:

I find it fascinating that Apple’s upper ranks have a system in place for listening to the ideas of interns. This seems like a smart thing for an enormous company to do when they’re trying to keep start-up values. It’s a neat little hack to the innovator’s dilemma. Also, the idea only cost them a few Macbook Airs.

This is something I hope to remember when I am a manager: that interns have great ideas. Listen to them. Throw out the crazy ones. But try to see their viewpoint; it’s unclouded.

US Politics Status Quo

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Candidly, those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.

I would caution people don’t make the assumption that because the quote ‘Hollywood community’ has been historically supportive of Democrats, which they have, don’t make the false assumptions this year that because we did it in years past, we will do it this year.

MPAA CEO and former Senator Chris Dodd on FoxNews. This is why I support United Republic. Until we get the money out of politics, we cannot have an honest discussion of how issues impact the future of our county.

Hat tip techdirt.

PS – Here’s what Senator Chris Dodd thought about lobbyists in 2008:

“The lobbyists can’t get meetings with Chris,” Dodd’s campaign manager Jay Howser said in a recent e-mail to supporters. “He won’t return their phone calls … Chris just isn’t giving them the time of day.”

The videos even suggest Dodd has been so hard on lobbyists that he’s made them cry.

Imagine you couldn’t read Aristotle or Confucius because the DRM

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I find the situation nearly intolerable. It’s not just that I want to be able to choose my e-reader device and then have free and easy access to any book, it’s that what we’re discussing here are books, the very things that have created and sustained our culture over generations. To allow them to be encrypted and inaccessible without specific software is to limit the dissemination of human knowledge. Imagine if you couldn’t read Aristotle or Confucius because the DRM format their publishers chose wasn’t compatible with your iPad. It’s insanity.

The Verge’s Dieter Bohn. Imagine if Johannes Gutenberg patented the printing press and restricted the use of printed materials.

Snow Panoramas

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I shot this panorama tonight to try and give you all a look at the lights outside at night when there is snow on the ground. Off to the right the sky is very white; right in the middle, the sky is orange and red; and off to the left the sky is a green/blue. And you can’t see it, but over the mountains to the very far left, there was an orange haze over the foothills.

Also, I was trying out the panorama mode on Ice Cream Sandwich on my Android tablet.

Click the image for a larger view.

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Why the Olympics Social Media Ban for Volunteers is Idiotic

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Why the Olympics social media ban for volunteers is idiotic:

3. It’s based on an understanding of a world which no longer exists. Any PR firm who believe that they can carefully control brand messages are deluded and are going out of business – slowly but surely. The role of PR has changed from command and control to engaging in conversation, and encouraging positive debate.

It’s incredible that people still don’t see what social media means to the world. “The rules… say social media at London 2012 is managed by its communications team.” I’m terribly sorry, but this isn’t how social media works.

And for more, the BBC has a great article on the Olympics not allowing volunteers to use social media.

TSA’s Top 10 List of Good Catches

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Bruce Schneier on the TSA’s “Top 10 Good Catches of 2011” list:

That’s right; not a single terrorist on the list. Mostly forgetful, and entirely innocent, people. Note that they fail to point out that the firearms and knives would have been just as easily caught by pre-9/11 screening procedures. And that the C4 — their #1 “good catch” — was on the return flight; they missed it the first time. So only 1 for 2 on that one.

And if you didn’t read it, make sure to check out the Vanity Fair article about TSA that included Schneier.