c Every day should be raccoon appreciation day By boingboing.net Published On :: Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:14:48 +0000 October 1 was officially "International Raccoon Appreciation Day," for those of you who love to love the adorable trash panda. Around here, honestly, every day is raccoon appreciation day, so it's an "International Day" I can genuinely get behind. National Day Calendar explains the origins of the day: In 2002, a young girl in California wanted to highlight the good points about the raccoon instead of the bad ones. — Read the rest The post Every day should be raccoon appreciation day appeared first on Boing Boing. Full Article Post holidays that are most definitely made up International Days International Raccoon Appreciation Day National Days raccoons
c March Madness in High Def By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:39:00 +0000 Ryan Lawler notes in his Contentinople blog that CBS's high definition stream of the NCAA men's basketball tournament has been a great success.CBS Sports reported that traffic to its NCAA March Madness on Demand site on the first day of the tourney increased 56 percent year-over-year, to 2.7 million unique users yesterday from 1.75 million uniques a year ago. If there is a conclusion to be drawn, I do not think it is that internet video can or should compete with television. In this case, I believe the draw is a combination of the fact that watching television on Thursday afternoon is not an option for people with a day job, and that there are many games going on simultaneously and CBS television does not always cut to the game that the individual user wants to see.I think the focus should be on the success of delivering a high quality video experience to a large audience, many of whom were at work. This is just another step in the direction of enterprise video becoming an essential element of the workplace experience. Full Article
c President Obama Webcasts Press Conference By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:39:00 +0000 Last week President Obama held a press conference and took questions from a virtual audience in a video webcast.According to an article written by Chris Lefkow on Yahoo, 67,000 watched the webcast live. The White House website was open for questions for 36 hours before the press conference. 3,607,837 votes were cast for 104,129 submitted questions.The President answered seven of those questions. One of them was about the legalization of marijuana. Some groups banded together and used the opportunity of this process to submit a high number of questions about that topic, and the despite the fact that vetters tried to avoid that issue, President Obama weighed in with a firm no.My point has nothing to do with the politics of marijuana.If I can be so bold as to be self-referential, my first post on this blog was to equate the power of webcasting technology to that of the printing press. The printing press broke the monopoly of a relative few (for example, monks) who had the ability to publish the written word and decide which books were worthy of reproduction and distribution (most often, the bible). The printing press made publishing accessible to the masses. Regardless of one's politics regarding the issue, I think everyone would agree that those who favor legalizing marijuana are not in the "main stream" or among the more influential interest groups in this country. Yet the President of the United States specifically addressed their question.The Washington DC press corps is not going to ask that question - rightly or wrongly. But the webcast by-passed the traditional media filter and brought the concerns of this group of people to the attention of our country's chief executive.How does that translate to the corporate world? Well, what is the value of getting real feedback from the rank and file? What corporation would not benefit from taking their executives out of the bubble on the 40th floor and exposing them to the concerns of the people at the sharp end of the spear?What is the value of a corporate culture? Most companies do a poor job of communicating and maintaining a corporate culture from the top down. But the best companies leverage webcasting to enable communications from the bottom up and include that feedback in the corporate culture.There are perhaps a few hundred journalists with access to the President. These journalists are the only way 300,000,000 Americans can hold their leadership accountable between elections. That is, until last Thursday when webcasting allowed the people to submit questions to their President and their President decided to answer them. Full Article
c Webcasting versus Internet TV By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000 President Obama's recent press conference on March 26 was available for online viewing.According to an article written by Chris Lefkow on Yahoo, 67,000 watched the webcast live. Of course, millions if not tens of millions watched the press conference live on broadcast television so what is the big deal about another 60,000 or so watching on the web?I wrote about the democratizing effect of using the internet to bypass the Washington press corps and taking questions from the people in my last post.But there is at least one more point of interest. The Obama press conference exemplifies how video can be used to great effect in the enterprise.The internet will never supplant television's ability to broadcast to tens of millions of people. Why pay for the bandwidth to replicate the scale and quality of a broadcast platform that already works very well?But the internet does scale rather well to the needs of the enterprise: an audience of tens of thousands. And there are several "internet television" services that are emerging to deliver video across the corporate network to the employees.But this begs the question: why should a corporation or organization invest in a network able to deliver video across its enterprise and then settle for pre-recorded video with no interactivity?It was not the video feed that made the Obama press conference so noteworthy. It was the 104,129 questions that were submitted by the American people. Enterprise video is much more effective when it is combined with interactive rich media features like live questions and answers, live polling, surveys, testing and certification, synchronized PowerPoint, whiteboarding, registration and reporting, etc. Choosing to merely deliver the video - live or on-demand - is choosing to ignore the strengths of webcasting and get the least bang for your buck.Why invest in servers and hubs and routers and content engines and then settle for a video platform that does not enable interactivity?According to research done by Steve Vander Haar that he shared in a recent webcast, 68% of executives polled believe streaming video has measurable value only when it is combined with a registration system that enables reporting about who watched. Registration and reporting adds accountability to internal communications and adds measurable results and lead generation to external communications. Internet television gives that capability away when it simply loops pre-recorded video in a window on one's website. President Obama's press conference is a template for the effective use of internet video in the enterprise. Just as the televised Nixon vs. Kennedy debate serves as the defining example for understanding the difference between television and radio in politics, I believe this press conference will be regarded similarly for its effect on politics and on business communications.There are plenty of corporations out there who are already doing a great job with rich media. Some of them are my clients. But the nature of corporate communications is that much of the content is for an internal audience, so there is not an obvious opportunity for organizations to learn from the successes of others. But the Obama press conference lays the formula bare for all to see. Full Article
c IVT MediaPlatform 4.1 Sets New Standard for Enterprise Video Communications By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2009 20:22:00 +0000 IVT released its latest upgrades to its MediaPlatform software.Click to view the announcement. Full Article
c Online Event Services Industry Continues Evolution By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:40:00 +0000 Steve Vonder Haar recently released an outstanding research report about the online webcasting event services business. He states that consumers of webcasting services have been motivated by two priorities: 1) the desire to keep costs low; and 2) the desire to keep involvement of their own IT departments to a minimum. For this reason, major webcasting event service providers, like ON24, have enjoyed their greatest success at the ends of the market spectrum: low cost self-provisioning services and high touch premium webcasting services.The premium end of the market has been bolstered by the complexity of the client's needs, which has kept fees high and competition at bay. The low end of the market had become increasingly commoditized.He concludes that service providers are going to have to push more to the middle of that spectrum and identify more companies that require well-produced webcasts for the market to continue growing.He also mentions that the complexity of webcast events that has traditionally protected the major service providers is no longer a significant barrier to entry. Sophisticated webcasting software offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis allows any number of production companies, agencies, and event companies to compete on an equal footing with the ON24s and the OnStreams.According to Hoovers, the US marketing and services industry includes about 35,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $80 billion. The industry is fragmented because the top 50 companies generate less than 40 percent of that revenue. In other words, there are a large number of potential buyers of enterprise webcasting software that want to compete for online event services business at a time when traditional advertising revenues are falling and internet advertising revenues are growing. Internet communications are definitely going to become a greater point of emphasis for these companies.I am unable to attached the report, but you can request a copy at the Interactive Media Strategies website. Full Article
c Health Chief Sebelius Webcasting Today at 1:00 pm EDT By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:52:00 +0000 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is hosting a webcast at 1 pm EDT today, Friday August 7. Use the hashtag #HCRQ to ask a question via Twitter or email hhsstudio@hhs.gov. Full Article
c Enterprise Communications - Meet IVT By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:44:00 +0000 Here is a link to a recent post by Roger Courville on his "The Virtual Presenter" blog. It readsA VFAQ (VERY frequently asked question) I get is “what’s the difference between web conferencing, webinars, and webcasts?”The short answer, these days, is “not very much and a whole bunch.”Seriously, the lines have blurred from the days that “webcasting” was akin to broadcasting (using streaming media) with virtually no interactivity, whereas web conferencing was (and remains) live, totally realtime (you don’t want any delay when you’re talking on a phone conference, right? In many use cases, you don’t on the web either). Webinar is simply a portmanteau of web seminar – arguably a use case rather than a technology. That is brief, but it’s as deep as I’m going as I introduce IVT and their enterprise video communications.I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mitch, Hugh, Jim, and Ryan, all at the same time. In addition to the knowledge and passion and history (Hugh’s a fellow ex-Microsoftie with some common connections), what I’m most enthused by is their clarity of mission.Hello softwareFirst, IVT’s a software company. You can host the software, but for reasons I’ll not get into, you want to take advantage of the fact that they host the software for you. What’s interesting here isn’t a “right or wrong,” it’s a commitment to a business model. Many (if not most) companies who have solutions for webcasting also provide professional production/event management services. IVT is committed to their robust partner community who deliver value-added services atop the IVT platform. Again, this isn’t a right or wrong, but you have to appreciate focus.Hello production toolsIt’s hard to tell you how important the backend of a product is. It’s what economists call an “experience good” …you have to have been there to get it and appreciate it. As it just so happens I spent many years running organizations in the production business, let me say the two words that will bring any accountants to their needs and get the producers all excited: labor and labor. Labor is expensive. Technology, especially over time, often gets less expensive. If you’ve ever produced an event, let alone a bunch of them, you know that the project management time can create a big sucking sound in your budget. This is where producers get excited… not only will they find the flexibility on the back end of IVT’s platform a joy when meeting numerous and disparate client/stakeholder needs, but it’ll save them time.Hello customizationOkay, so many different solutions offer degrees of customization, but far fewer have down-to-the-pixel capabilities. When clients demand that, you’ve got to deliver. Further, there’s customization of user experiences, such as different tools you might make available to a presenter versus what the marketing department sees when they need to pull down a report. And then there are web services for the data integration geeks (I say that with love, mind you).Hello remote presenters – but wait, there’s moreA point of differentiation here is multiple presenters, each with different camera types. One can have a webcam in Sydney, one can be standing in front of a hi-def broadcast camera at a conference in a New York hotel…you get the idea. Need to switch back and forth like a television newscast? Can do.As is my style, my goal isn’t a vendor-by-vendor shootout, to talk about price, or make a recommendation. I’m excited and privileged to be independent, talk to great people with their own angle on the market, and share with you my own spin on it. It sounds like IVT has a solution if you need to reasonably reach 100 people and the horsepower to reach 20K if you need. If you need flexibility and reach and a commitment to knowing their core biz, IVT (or one of their partners) might be someone to add to your must-investigate list. Full Article
c IVT Raises $5.5 Million for Webcasting Software By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:34:00 +0000 As the article appeared in TechCrunch...IVT, a company that produces enterprise-friendly webcasting software, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding from Syncom Venture Partners with Barshop Ventures, Monitor Ventures and Tudor Ventures participating in the investment round. IVT raised $3 million in Series A funding in 2006.IVT’s SaaS offering not only helps power webcasts, but also converts multimedia files, such as slideshows, into viewable videos for the web. IVT also offers a YouTube-like hosting and social media site for companies to disseminate videos and webcasts. And the startup has a number of prominent companies that use its webcasting software including Oracle, Dow Chemical, IBM and NEC. Full Article
c IVT Takes Webcasting Software Platform to the Cloud By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 07 May 2010 21:02:00 +0000 IVT, Inc. has moved its industry-leading MediaPlatform webcasting software platform to the cloud. With MediaPlatform increasingly being used in large-scale webcasts by media producers, as well as Fortune 500 clients, the company is elevating its delivery capacity through a partnership with a tier-1 cloud infrastructure provider. “Our mission has always been to deliver the best quality of service and enable our clients to produce webcasts at literally any audience size without concern for infrastructure,” said Jim McGovern, Chief Executive Officer of IVT. “Now that cloud-based platforms are gaining widespread acceptance across the IT world, we can give our clients the benefit of switching capacity on and off when required.”This is not the first time IVT has been ahead of the technology curve in the webcasting industry. The company pioneered the concept of offering webcasting software on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis with MediaPlatform. With MediaPlatform in the cloud, IVT enables its clients to benefit from what is rapidly emerging as the new paradigm for corporate computing.In the cloud, MediaPlatform’s web services architecture can more readily serve diverse client needs by integrating with a range of enterprise systems, both cloud-based and on-premises.The cloud, an approach to computing that places servers and infrastructure in remote, abstracted datacenters, is ideal for webcasting, which is known for unpredictable spikes in system load. By working with a tier-1 cloud infrastructure provider, IVT gains virtually unlimited capacity and world-class security, reliability, redundancy, failover, and load management.IVT will continue to support the numerous on-premises installations of its software, including major deployments at global enterprises. IVT prides itself on offering its clients the choice between hosted and on-premises options. Full Article
c MediaPlatform Debuts WebCaster By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 12 May 2010 00:59:00 +0000 MediaPlatform Debuts WebCaster, a Fusion of Performance and UsabilityNew Addition to Webcasting Software Lineup Leverages Cloud Platform for Productivity and Connectivity NEW YORK - STREAMING MEDIA EAST - May 11, 2010 -MediaPlatform, Inc. (formerly IVT) today unveiled its latest product offering, MediaPlatform WebCaster, cloud-based webcasting software that packs leading edge event management, event customization, and production capabilities into a simple user experience. WebCaster has been built to serve the needs of demanding webcast production professionals as well as non-technical users"WebCaster is a heavyweight performer with a flyweight price and impact on corporate IT," said Jim McGovern, Chief Executive Officer of MediaPlatform. "Our team has worked hard for over a year to exceed client expectations in virtually every aspect of the webcasting experience."WebCaster offers a unique mix of best-in-class features, ranging from an intuitive, browser-based user interface and sophisticated reporting to multiple remote presenters and flexible producing teams. WebCaster also offers rich templates with options to customize, total operating system and browser independence, telephony to Flash® Audio input, and iPhone support."We went into the development process with a goal of enabling presentations from 'anywhere to anyone,'" said Greg Pulier, Founder and CTO of MediaPlatform, and head of WebCaster's development. "For every feature we considered, our constant question was, 'Will this provide the best possible experience for users at every step of the webcasting process? I am very proud of the work everyone has contributed to this outstanding offering."With WebCaster, MediaPlatform is further establishing itself as the preferred provider for digital media producers. As the business of producing webcasts for lead generation, training, and conferences continues to expand, MediaPlatform is serving a growing number of top tier digital media production firms. WebCaster is designed to provide producers with a webcasting toolset they can rely upon as they build their production businesses. WebCaster is the newest addition to MediaPlatform's growing portfolio of media production and management offerings.It complements the company's high-end webcasting product, now known as IVT MediaPlatform, as well as PrimeTime, MediaPlatform's video portal.About MediaPlatform, Inc. MediaPlatform, Inc. (formerly IVT) delivers best-in-class webcasting and media management technology to global enterprises and digital media producers. MediaPlatform's webcasting software enables high-impact presentations for lead generation, corporate communications and training. The company offers organizations the ability to take advantage of scalable cloud-based computing, as well as on-premises deployment, to present and manage rich media. With media management tools built on its platform, the company helps clients derive long term archive value from their investment in media content. Full Article
c Simply-Communicate By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:35:00 +0000 Join me tomorrow at 8:00 am EDT / 1:00 pm BST when I discuss the difference between Web Conferencing and Webcasting with the editors of simply-communicate.com.Click here to register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/176834728The Simply-communicate.com website says:We are the community for internal communication professionals. Westarted publishing in June 2005 and have since gradually grown to 15,000registered members. Since September 2009 the service is completely free touse.We have around 800 articles, toolkits and templates on the site and weare visited by 16,000 people who downloaded just under half a million articleslast year. Full Article
c Webcasting v. Web Conferencing By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:51:00 +0000 You can see the archive of my discussion with the editors of Simply-communicate about the difference between Web Conferencing and Webcasting by going to their site:http://www.simply-communicate.com/They also link to the MediaPlatform White Paper that discusses the same topic. Full Article
c WebCaster and Hybrid Flash Multicasting By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:17:00 +0000 MediaPlatform WebCaster and Adobe's Flash Media Enterprise Server 4 with Hybrid Flash Multicasting bring a game changing solution to the challenge of delivering video to the enterprise without requiring a seven figure hardware investment for multicasting. Up to now, solutions for managing streaming video bandwidth issues required networks of expensive hardware, ranging from Enterprise Content Delivery Networks to WAN Acceleration devices. And all of these solutions dictated Windows Media as your video format. Hybrid Flash Multicasting offers a better way; it works seamlessly with traditional IP multicast networks AND it also provides a Peer Assist multicast solution for the parts of your network that are not IP multicast enabled. Hybrid Flash Multicasting is an outstanding solution because it: 1) allows corporations to continue leveraging the hardware investments they have made and utilize traditional IP Multicasting with Flash instead of Windows Media. 2) allows corporations to reach bandwidth-challenged locations that are not on the multicast WAN or new locations whose networks are not multicast-enabled with a relatively low cost Peer Assist solution (because it does not require new routers and configuration of switches, etc.). This solution solves the challenge of allowing video to reach 100% of your desktops without requiring a million dollar investment in a new eCDN. And unlike other peering solutions, there is no proprietary agent that has to be propagated to every desktop. All your employees' computers need is the latest Flash player. Here is how MediaPlatform fits into the equation: Our WebCaster software is the only streaming video solution that integrates the multicast-enabled Flash player, as well as leveraging Flash's ability to create a cross platform viewing experience, switch between multiple live and pre-recorded video sources, switch bit rates and codecs on the fly, support mobile devices, support H.264 and VP6 to create higher quality video at lower bandwidths, etc. With our software you can take advantage of Flash to upgrade your streaming communications to a more functional format that will work behind the firewall and to the public internet, will work on any browser and operating system, and can deliver content to mobile devices. Full Article
c Hybrid Flash Multicasting Article in Flex Developers Journal By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:51:00 +0000 An article about Hybrid Flash Multicasting that features MediaPlatform's CTO, Greg Pulier, recently appeared in the Flex Developer's Journal. Click here to link to the article Here is the opening paragraph: Hybrid Flash multicasting is the second and decisive wave of innovation that will enable enterprises to stream video without overtaxing their network infrastructures. It eliminates the usual tradeoffs between video consumption and network investment, regardless of increased video traffic in budget-constrained corporate networks. Hybrid Flash multicasting also solves the cost and complexity challenges of IP multicasting. By combining a new form of multicasting, known as application multicasting, which leverages a peer-assisted model of video sharing with an IP multicast network, a video stream can reach virtually everyone on the network using existing bandwidth and infrastructure. Hybrid multicasting finally unlocks the full potential for video within the enterprise by combining IP and application multicasting to deliver streaming media using the most efficient algorithms within a dynamic self-optimizing topology. Full Article
c Amazon Enables MediaPlatform Migration to the Cloud By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:58:00 +0000 Here is a link to the case study Amazon prepared about MediaPlatform's use of the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Solution (S3). http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/mediaplatform/ MediaPlatform is the only streaming software solution that allows clients to access the obvious benefits of cloud computing while retaining the ability to maintain security, achieve integrations with Active Directory/LDAP, control remote encoders, etc. Combined with its groundbreaking approaches to multicasting Flash and leveraging the native caching abilities of WAN acceleration devices to stream HTTP, MediaPlatform's cloud offering represents the most innovative approach to enterprise webcasting available on the market today. Full Article
c Interactive Media Strategies believes Microsoft could win big with Skype By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 13 May 2011 22:01:00 +0000 Interactive Media Strategies (IMS) is a market research firm that follows streaming media. They discuss the news of Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype, and the prospects for Skype to emerge as a viable platform for business video communications. Their research compares usage levels for a range of social media and communications applications, including Skype, YouTube and Facebook. Here is a link to the video. They report that personal use of Facebook and YouTube is relatively high but that has not yet translated into comparable levels of corporate use. They believe this raises the question of whether YouTube and Facebook will be able to outgrow their focus on the consumer side of the business to compete in the enterprise market. Usage levels for Skype are significantly lower overall, but Skype’s penetration in business communications is higher than they see for other communications apps online among young users most likely to experiment with emerging technologies. IMS puts forth the opinion that if Microsoft could make it easier for technology laggards to embrace Skype - i.e. integrate Skype with the Microsoft Office suite - then Skype could achieve significant enterprise adoption. Full Article
c As Video Becomes More Ubiquitous, Decisions More De-Centralized By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:50:00 +0000 Interactive Media Strategies released data on July 14 showing that 62% of corporations that purchased video communications technology made the decision at the President/CEO level when there was no prior investment in this kind of technology. That number dropped to 58% when the prior year's spend was as much as $10,000. The same data shows that when an enterprise already spends $100,000 or more annually on video, the decision-making authority is almost evenly distributed between IT (35%), functional department heads (31%), and the President/CEO level (34%). I think the clear implication of this data is that when corporations are already committing resources to video communications and the value of video has already been established, and this kind of technology is no longer considered exotic, then decision-making authority becomes more broadly distributed to IT and the business units. This data is interesting when paired with data released in 2010 that shows 15% of executives surveyed that do not spend money on video and are thus not using video communications believe video communications are "very effective." 58% of executives surveyed that spend $100,000 or more annual on video technology indicated they believe video communications are "very effective." I am sure this great difference is due to several factors, including: executives who are predisposed to see value in video are those most likely to invest in it, and those that have already made a six figure investment in video will likely not be motivated to feel as if the investment was wasted. Nonetheless, video obviously wears well because executives who are heavily invested in video believe much more in its value than executives who do not employ the technology. Full Article
c Economic Turmoil Affects Investment in Video By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:17:00 +0000 Interactive Media Strategies released a quite timely study conducted in Q1 2011 that measured corporate executives' financial outlook and how their relative positivity or negativity affected their plans for spending on video. As one might imagine, only 6% of those with a negative outlook projected increased spending on video against 64% projecting less money spent on video. 39% of executives surveyed who were expecting their finances to improve projected increased spend on video, versus 29% who projected a decrease. Unfortunately, the study did not provide the percentage of respondents who were expecting finances to decline versus the percentage of respondents expecting finances to improve. The above results not all that unexpected, but they lay the foundation for this very interesting data: the study measured different types of executives and how their positions within the company influenced their outlook about whether macro-economic factors would impact spend on video. 46% of those in Accounting and Finance, 43% of those in Training, and 42% of Top Executives responded that macro-economic factors had "No Impact" in their decision to purchase video technology. Overall, 40% of non-IT personnel responded that the economic climate would have no impact. However, only 29% of IT executives responded that the economy would have no impact. I attribute this disparity to senior executives and heavy video users (like training executives) being more focused on the ROI and cost reductions that video brings to the enterprise, while IT executives are more focused on the cost of maintaining video delivery infrastructure and the impact on their budgets. I believe the path to bridging this gap is to leverage the cost savings of the cloud to free up IT resources and still deliver the benefits of video to the business users. For example, MediaPlatform's PrimeTime application for video asset management leverages public or private clouds to host our application and store all of the video assets. For example: for clients that have Riverbed, we use a cloud instance of the Riverbed Steelhead to reduce bandwidth usage between the cloud and the network by 80%. Full Article
c Independent Consultant Chooses WebCaster By communicationtransformation.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:13:00 +0000 Jan Ozer is a streaming media consultant and frequent contributor to industry magazines and websites on streaming related topics and the author of Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5. This year he reviewed both the MediaPlatform WebCaster platform and the Polycom Accordent Capture Station and Media management System for Streaming Media magazine. Here is a link to the Accordent review, which appeared in the August, 2011 edition of Streaming media magazine: Accordent Capture Station and Media Management System: Review Here is a link to the WebCaster review, which appeared in the June, 2011 edition of Streaming media magazine: MediaPlatform WebCaster Review: A Strong Option for Webcasts We think it is important to note that an independent consultant with recent and intimate knowledge of the two leading webcasting platforms is running his next webcast on the WebCaster platform. You can register to watch his webcast, titled Introduction to Live Event Streaming, which will be broadcast live on Tuesday, October 4, 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST. Click here to register Here is Ozer’s description of the event: “This seminar will introduce attendees to live event streaming. It will start by discussing the technologies underlying live event streaming, like codecs and formats, and how most live event platforms can reach both a desktop player (usually Flash) and Apple and Android devices.” Full Article
c Instant Reaction: CPI, August 14, 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Wed, 14 Aug 2024 13:27:58 +0000 Instant Reaction: CPI, August 14, 2024 Inflation is calmer, thereby setting the Fed Reserve up to start the rate-cutting process in September. By: Lawrence Yun Full Article
c Fresh Faces, New Perspectives: Diversity Among New REALTORS® in 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:57:57 +0000 Diversity Among New REALTORS® in 2024 A notable highlight of the findings in the 2024 NAR Member Profile is that new NAR members are more diverse than their experienced counterparts. By: Amethyst Marroquin Full Article
c Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, August 15, 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Thu, 15 Aug 2024 16:31:08 +0000 Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, August 15, 2024 The 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac remained essentially flat at 6.49% this week compared to 6.47% last week. By: Jessica Lautz Mortgages & Home Financing Full Article
c From Savings to Student Loans: The Financial Realities of Single Female Home Buyers By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Tue, 20 Aug 2024 13:30:10 +0000 Financial Realities for Single Female Home Buyers Examining the different ways single female home buyers approach buying a home and the challenges they face. By: Amethyst Marroquin Demographic Groups, Working With Buyers, Student Loan Debt Full Article
c Trends in Housing Affordability: Who Can Currently Afford to Buy a Home? By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:26:37 +0000 Who Can Currently Afford to Buy a Home? With mortgage rates recently falling below 6.5%, there has been an improvement in housing affordability. By: Nadia Evangelou Full Article
c Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, August 29, 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Thu, 29 Aug 2024 16:30:08 +0000 Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, August 29, 2024 The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac dropped to 6.35% this week from 6.46% last week. By: Jessica Lautz Mortgages & Home Financing Full Article
c Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, September 5, 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:37:05 +0000 Instant Reaction: Mortgage Rates, September 5, 2024 The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate from Freddie Mac remained unchanged at 6.35% this week from last week. By: Jessica Lautz Mortgages & Home Financing Full Article
c Instant Reaction: Jobs, September 6, 2024 By www.nar.realtor Published On :: Fri, 06 Sep 2024 13:27:31 +0000 Instant Reaction: Jobs, September 6, 2024 The softening job figures suggest that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in mid-September. By: Lawrence Yun Full Article
c Unhinged Liberal Women Cry On Social Media Over Trump’s Victory And Falsely Claim They’ve Lost All Their Rights By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 04:15:48 +0000 The following article, Unhinged Liberal Women Cry On Social Media Over Trump’s Victory And Falsely Claim They’ve Lost All Their Rights, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. (Natural News) Liberals have been working hard to portray Trump as a misogynist, and it worked on a lot of women – with some of them buying into the false narrative that he will work against women so wholeheartedly that they are now having very public meltdowns over his victory. Revolver put together some of the … Continue reading Unhinged Liberal Women Cry On Social Media Over Trump’s Victory And Falsely Claim They’ve Lost All Their Rights ... Full Article Politics democrats election liberals rights Trump unhinged victory women
c Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 16:15:37 +0000 The following article, Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. When the 2024 election dust settled early on Wednesday morning, it became clear that Donald Trump didn’t just win the election, he trounced Kamala Harris. It was so bad for the Democrats that nearly every state moved to the right. The GOP hasn’t seen so many votes move their way since Ronald Reagan in 1980. … Continue reading Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party ... Full Article Politics democrats Harris Republican Trump voters
c GOP Rep. Luna Says ‘Criminal Prosecutions Necessary’ For Anti-Trump Lawfare Schemers In Government (Video) By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 20:15:48 +0000 The following article, GOP Rep. Luna Says ‘Criminal Prosecutions Necessary’ For Anti-Trump Lawfare Schemers In Government (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. As President Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House after his landslide victory in Tuesday’s election, a U.S. congresswoman says “criminal prosecutions” are “necessary” for the government officials who have been promoting the massive lawfare campaign against the president-elect. On “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel, host Maria Bartiromo asked U.S. Rep. … Continue reading GOP Rep. Luna Says ‘Criminal Prosecutions Necessary’ For Anti-Trump Lawfare Schemers In Government (Video) ... Full Article Politics criminal Justice lawfare Luna prosecutions schemers Trump
c Will These Deranged Celebrities Who Promised To End Their Lives Or Flee The Country If Trump Wins Actually Follow Through? By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 00:15:19 +0000 The following article, Will These Deranged Celebrities Who Promised To End Their Lives Or Flee The Country If Trump Wins Actually Follow Through?, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. (Natural News) Similar to what happened in 2016, a host of celebrities and influencers made wild claims that they would leave the country or even end their lives if Donald Trump won another term in the White House. Will any of them actually follow through? Take Rob Reiner, for instance. He promised to “set himself on … Continue reading Will These Deranged Celebrities Who Promised To End Their Lives Or Flee The Country If Trump Wins Actually Follow Through? ... Full Article Politics Bono celebrities Drano kill leave meltdown Midler suicide
c ‘Utterly Unacceptable’: After Helping Trump Win, Elon Musk Makes Crucial Endorsement For Senate Majority Leader By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 06:00:13 +0000 The following article, ‘Utterly Unacceptable’: After Helping Trump Win, Elon Musk Makes Crucial Endorsement For Senate Majority Leader, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Despite a landslide victory for Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” agenda last week, a ferocious battle has suddenly broken out in the U.S. Senate over who will be the chamber’s new leader, with some saying outgoing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to thwart the plans of the president-elect. “What the hell … Continue reading ‘Utterly Unacceptable’: After Helping Trump Win, Elon Musk Makes Crucial Endorsement For Senate Majority Leader ... Full Article Politics Cornyn McConnell Musk Scott Thune Trump
c Biden’s Corrupt FEMA Told Workers Not to Help Hurricane Victims Who Had Trump Signs By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:15:51 +0000 The following article, Biden’s Corrupt FEMA Told Workers Not to Help Hurricane Victims Who Had Trump Signs, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Joe Biden’s corrupt Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has been caught telling its on-the-ground operatives not to help anyone with a Donald Trump campaign sign in their yard. The news broke late last week when a whistleblower revealed agency messages that told workers to refuse to help Trump supporters in the wake of Hurricane Milton … Continue reading Biden’s Corrupt FEMA Told Workers Not to Help Hurricane Victims Who Had Trump Signs ... Full Article Politics aid FEMA fired Florida Helene North Carolina Trump signs
c The Poisoning of America By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:15:19 +0000 The following article, The Poisoning of America, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. America has spoken: Donald J. Trump won a landslide victory on November 5. However, the butthurt leftists are doing what they did last time: throwing a hissy fit. The difference this time is that the victory was so strong that all they have is to make ridiculous claims that are in fact, the poisoning of … Continue reading The Poisoning of America ... Full Article Opinion Politics 2024 election America Democrat talking points poisoning TDS Trump Derangement Syndrome
c Teacher at Chino Valley School District Goes Off the Rails over a Student With a Trump Hat By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 19:14:43 +0000 The following article, Teacher at Chino Valley School District Goes Off the Rails over a Student With a Trump Hat, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. A “teacher” at Chino Valley School District launched into an unhinged rant after a student entered his classroom wearing a Trump hat. His name is Clyde J Colinco, who is also the girls golf course, and unfortunately, he still appears to be employed at Chino High School. “Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing. If … Continue reading Teacher at Chino Valley School District Goes Off the Rails over a Student With a Trump Hat ... Full Article Opinion Politics C J Colinco Chino Valley golf coach teacher rant Trump hat
c ‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 07:13:23 +0000 The following article, ‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Republicans are calling for investigations, or are already launching their own, into charges that the federal government deliberately and willfully discriminated against supporters of President-elect Donald Trump following a hurricane disaster in Florida. It was the Daily Wire that initially documented how Marn’I Washington, a Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor, instructed employees under her authority … Continue reading ‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters ... Full Article Politics Biden DeSantis FEMA hurricane relief SIgns Trump
c Lunatic Democrat Murders Wife and Kids, Commits Suicide Over His Hate for Donald Trump By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:15:34 +0000 The following article, Lunatic Democrat Murders Wife and Kids, Commits Suicide Over His Hate for Donald Trump, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. This is how mentally deranged liberals are… a Democrat in Minnesota was so filled with rage that Donald Trump won the election last week that he murdered his own wife and kids and then committed suicide to prevent them all from having to live during the next Trump presidency. Notice how you never heard any … Continue reading Lunatic Democrat Murders Wife and Kids, Commits Suicide Over His Hate for Donald Trump ... Full Article Crime Politics Anthony Nephew Biden children garbage kill mental illness partner Trump wife
c Major Ruling In CNN Defamation Fight With James O’Keefe (Video) By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:15:00 +0000 The following article, Major Ruling In CNN Defamation Fight With James O’Keefe (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. A federal appeals court has ruled against CNN in its attempt to have dismissed a defamation complaint from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas. O’Keefe launched Project Veritas and worked years with the organization, doing undercover interviews to uncover political scandals. He later left and now works with O’Keefe Media Group. But the dispute arose during … Continue reading Major Ruling In CNN Defamation Fight With James O’Keefe (Video) ... Full Article Politics CNN defamation lawsuit O'Keefe Veritas
c Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video) By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:15:31 +0000 The following article, Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. (Natural News) Steve Bannon, one of Donald Trump’s most fired-up supporters and allies all throughout the former president’s tumultuous political career, delivered a powerful speech after Trump’s victory warning the deep state that justice is coming. Fresh out of federal prison for his involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Bannon took the stage to deliver … Continue reading Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video) ... Full Article Opinion Politics Bannon Cheney deep state January 6 Trump
c Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video) By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 22:15:17 +0000 The following article, Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Trump learned some hard lessons from his first kick at the can. This time, he’s not making the same mistakes. Personnel IS policy. Last time around DJT was hamstrung right out of the gate when the Alabama Senator he tapped to be his AG was stuck in purgatory under bogus Russia allegations. The Deep State … Continue reading Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video) ... Full Article Opinion Politics administration appointments Biden Harris Homan Miller Senate Trump
c INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:15:42 +0000 The following article, INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. A knock-off Chinese plane similar to the US F-35 was inadvertently posted by the F-35 JPO (Joint Program Office) on Veteran’s Day. Somebody needs to help this administration figure out some basics …oh wait, a new administration is coming in January. Good. The JPO Strike Force account had no clue what they did until an … Continue reading INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day ... Full Article Opinion Chinese plane F-35 Fighter jet Joint Program Office Joint Strike Force
c Lawfare Freeze: Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Sentencing By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:15:30 +0000 The following article, Lawfare Freeze: Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Sentencing, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. BREAKING: Justice Merchan has granted a request from prosecutions/defense to pause deadlines — including Trump's sentencing date — while they consider the effect of his election as president. https://t.co/LaeJlAyTDi pic.twitter.com/SAHVbo3HbG — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 12, 2024 Developing … * * * Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge … Continue reading Lawfare Freeze: Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Sentencing ... Full Article Politics case delay lawfare Merchan Trump
c Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 01:15:35 +0000 The following article, Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. I really wish that everyone would just calm down. Emotions always run high immediately after an election, but what we are witnessing this time around is truly frightening. We live at a time when people feel free to express their deepest, darkest emotions on social media, and right now “freak out video” after “freak out … Continue reading Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country ... Full Article Opinion Politics country Harris leave liberals Trump voters
c ‘Burn The System Down’: Democrats Now Face Charges They Are The Ones Trying To Destroy Democracy By conservativefiringline.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 06:39:47 +0000 The following article, ‘Burn The System Down’: Democrats Now Face Charges They Are The Ones Trying To Destroy Democracy, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Protecting democracy was a catch phrase that Democrats have used for years to explain their hatred of now President-elect Donald Trump. He was, after all, they said, a “Hitler.” He would be a dictator. He would use the military against his political opponents, jailing them and worse. The only salvation for America’s “democracy” would be … Continue reading ‘Burn The System Down’: Democrats Now Face Charges They Are The Ones Trying To Destroy Democracy ... Full Article Politics Biden burn Democracy democrats Trump Turley
c Watching the Corners: On Future-Proofing Your Passion By www.43folders.com Published On :: Tue, 18 May 2010 00:59:56 +0000 On May 16, 2010, at 10:02 AM, "Xx" wrote: You mentioned you gave a talk at Rutgers about future proofing your passion. Is this available as a podcast? I'd love to listen! This poor kid emailed me to ask a really simple question. And I went and saddled him with the world's most circuitously long-winded answer. Surprise, surprise. Hey, Xx, Thanks for the note, man. No I'm sorry its not up as audio AFAIK. FWIW, it's a talk I'm asked to do more often lately so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns up sooner or later. Since you were kind enough to ask, the talk—which comes out super different each time I do it— consists of a discursive mishmash of advice I wish I'd had the ears to hear in the year or five after graduating from college: primarily, that we never end up anywhere near where we'd expected, and that most of us would have been a lot happier a lot faster if we'd realized that we were often obsessing over the wrong things—starting with how much the world should care about our major. ("Liberal Arts," with a concentration in [ugh] "Cultural Studies," thanks.) The talk started as a way to encourage students to learn enough about what they care about that any temporary derails and side roads wouldn't scare their horses too badly. But, today, I see it as something a lot bigger that's demonstrably useful to anyone who hopes to survive, evolve, and thrive in this insane world. A handful of bits I'm (obviously) still synthesizing into something notionally cohesive: My Kingdom for Some Context! For myself, I wish I'd known the value of developing early expertise in interesting new skills around emerging technologies (rather than just iteratively pseudo-honing the 202-level skills I thought I "understood"). Alongside that, I wish I'd learned to embrace the non-douchier aspects of building awesome human relationships (as against "networking" in the service of landing some straight job that, as with most hungry young people, locked me into a carpeted prison of monkey work at the worst time possible). Also how I wish I'd paid more attention to events, contexts, relationships, and change that were happening outside my immediate world —rather than becoming, say, the undisputed master of fretting about status, salary, and whether I was "a success" who had "arrived". Hint: I was not a "success," and I had not, by any stretch, "arrived." To my mind, "success" in the real world is much more the equivalent of achieving a new personal best; it's not about whether you won the "Springtime in Springfield SunnyD®/Q105™ 5k FunRun for Entitilitus," and got a little ribbon with a gold crest on it. Truly, pretty much anyone who feels they've "arrived" anyplace is about to learn a) how much more they could be doing outside the narrowness of an often superficial ambition and b) the surprising number of things they had to give away through the opportunity costs and trade-offs that lead up to every theoretical milestone. It's a real goddamned thistle, and it's more than a little depressing. Do You Still Really Want to be a Fireman? [N.B.: I really hope you're taking bathroom breaks here, Xx] Related, I think this is about how being an adult is not only unbelievably complicated in ways that you can't begin to imagine—that it's frequently defined by impossible decisions and non-stop layers of "hypocrisy"—but that there's an invisible but entirely real risk to doggedly chasing the theoretically laudable notion of "following your dream." Especially if it's a dream you first had while sleeping on Star Wars sheets in a racecar bed. Not because it's a bad idea to want things or to have ambitions. Quite the opposite. More because, for a lot of us, the "dreams" of youth turn out to be half-finished blueprints for wax wings. And not particularly flattering ones at that. By starting adult life with an autistically explicit "goal" that's never been tested against any kind of real-world experience or reality-in-context, we can paradoxically miss a thousand more useful, lucrative, or organic opportunities that just…what?…pop up. Often these are one-time chances to do amazing and even unique things—opportunities that many of us continue to reject out of hand because it's "not what we do." It took me a full decade to learn to embrace the unfamiliar gifts that kismet loves to deliver on our busiest and most stressful days, and which gifts might (maybe/maybe not) even end up bringing the real-life, non-racecar-bed, now me a big step closer to something that's 1000 times more interesting than a hollow, ten-year-old caricature of "what I wanna be when I grow up." Finding Your "Old Butcher" Also related, it strikes me that the indisputable wealth of information and options that are provided by the web often comes with a harrowing hidden tradeoff. While we can certainly learn a lot on our own and become (what feels like) an instant expert on any topic in an afternoon, we usually do so in the absence of a mentor and outside the context of applying expertise to solve actual problems. In my opinion, a cadet should have to survive more than a few Kobayashi Maru scenarios before he gets to declare himself, "Captain." Call it a guru, a wizard, an old butcher, or what have you, the mad echo chamber of a young mind often benefits from the dampening influence of an experienced grownup who can help you understand things that raw data, wikipedia entries, and lists of tips and tricks can't and wont ever do. We benefit from a hand on the back and a gentle voice, reminding us: "Try not to obsess over implementation until you really understand the problem," or "Worry more about relationships than org charts or follower counts," or "Don't quit looking after you've found that first data point," or—my favorite— "Spend less time fantasizing about 'success' and way more time making really cool mistakes." Conversely, though, I think this means that everything we think we know, as well as all the fancy advice that gets thrown around—absolutely including the material you're reading now—is the product of what one person knows and what another person has the ears to hear. For us. For now. For who really knows what. But it is a transaction that takes place in a very specific time and within the bounds of a set of "known" "facts." So, fair warning, doing your own due diligence never hurts. What's Almost Not Impossible? [N.B.: I swear to God this ends at some point, Xx] One big pattern for "future-proofing" your passion? Keep your eyes open and your heart even "opener." And, be more than simply tolerant of the notion of change—sure, take it as read that nothing is ever fixed in place for more than a little while. But, to the extent that your sanity can bear it, always keep an eye on the corners, the edges, and especially learn to watch for those infinitesimally tiny figures starting to shuffle around near the horizon. Because a lot of the things that seem ridiculously small and inconsequential right now will eventually cast a shadow that people will be chasing for decades. It's just that we're never sure which tiny figure that will turn out to be. So, yeah. It really is true that no one but you cares about your major. But, trust me: everybody is interested in the person who repeatedly notices the things that are about to stop being impossible. Be the curious one who soaks in all that "irrelevant" stuff. And, even as you stay heads-down on the "now" projects that keep the lights on, remember that the guy who invented those lights made hundreds of "failed" lightbulbs before fundamentally upending the way we think about time, family, industry, and the role of technology in how we live and work. But, yes, first he "failed" a lot a lot at something which more than a few of his contemporaries thought was pointless in the first place. Ask: What's out there right now that's about to stop being impossible? Where will it happen first? Who will (most loudly and erroneously) declare it's total bullshit? Who will mostly get it right—but possibly too early? Who will figure out what it means to our grandkids? Who will figure out how to put it in everyone's front pocket for a quarter? Y'know who? I'll tell you who: practically anybody BUT that guy in the racecar bed who wants to talk about his major. Important: Merlin's Advice is Only Future-Proof to 10 Meters A few years back, most watch manufacturers decided to come clean and stop categorically declaring that their timepieces were "waterproof." Instead, today, the more credible vendors admit their product is merely "water-resistant"—and, even then, they'll only guarantee the underwater functionality at so many meters, and for so long, and under thus and such conditions. Truthfully, the same applies here. Nothing can actually "future-proof" anything. Anyone who claims to know the future is either a madman, a charlatan, or, often as not, both. Thing is, regardless of the passions (or goals or values or priorities or whatever) that we hope to protect or defend, we'd all do well to remember that it is still ultimately OUR passion that's at stake. That means we're the only one responsible for seeing that its functional components survive and adapt in a world in which each one of us has just north of zero control. If we embrace the fact that no one can or should ever care about the health of our passions as much as we do, the practical decisions that help ensure Our Good Thing stays alive can become as "simple" as a handful of proven patterns—work hard, stay awake, fail well, hang with smart people, shed bullshit, say "maybe," focus on action, and always always commit yourself to a bracing daily mixture of all the courage, honesty, and information you need to do something awesome—discover whatever it'll take to keep your nose on the side of the ocean where the fresh air lives. This is huge. Anything else? Yeah. Drink lots of water, play with your kid every chance you get, and quit Facebook today. No, really, do it. Thanks again for the note, Xx, and sorry for the novella. I'll ping you if the audio ever turns up. Til then, forget your major, and break a leg! yr internet pal, /m ”Watching the Corners: On Future-Proofing Your Passion” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on May 18, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article Careers Knowledge Workers world of work
c My Faith in Nerds: Stronger Than Any Gelatinous Cube By www.43folders.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:01:57 +0000 dConstruct 2010: Merlin Mann - "Kerning, Orgasms & Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks" (NSFW) ME - Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Let's be honest. I don't go...mmmm...places very often. I sit in this chair. I go to the Safeway with my daughter. Sometimes, I take the train downtown to get a haircut. I check the mail. But, by and large, like most nerds, I'm without question, a bit of a shut-in. Which makes it more than a little ironic that my first trip off the North American continent brought me all the way to Brighton, England's wonderful dConstruct Conference. Which wonderful conference placed me inside a very royal complex, alone on a very large stage, 90 seconds after being informed I'd better be entertaining, because I'd be conducting my oration on the same spot where, a scant 36 years earlier, ABBA had become international stars by singing an up-tempo number about giving up. So, y'know. No pressure. Commanded to this location by two of my web heroes, I was told I could speak about whatever I wanted. So, wow, to quote the ladies of ABBA, how could I ever refuse? Thus, I stood on that stage for over 35 minutes, rambling to 800 talented, creative people about Dungeons & Dragons, japanese toothpicks, torrenting Photoshop, as well as what I used to find myself doing after a long evening of shooting mutants in Stargate.1 But, mostly? Yes. Mostly, I stood on a stage thousands of miles from the chair from which I barely move, and I told a lot of really smart people that they were nerds. I also told them they should get out more. I swear: it made sense at the time. Some Serious Talent My talk about the challenges and opportunities of being a giant nerd seemed well received. Honestly, I'm very happy with how it turned out. But--oh, brother--was I ever up against some heavy hitters. Serious Lou Gehrig shit. I'll leave it to other, more eloquent folks to tell you what a wonderful day this was. But I will very much suggest you learn this for yourself by listening to the audio of the fantastic talks. Because every one of them is a corker. Additionally, like I said, Tom Coates put on one of the loveliest slide decks it's ever been my pleasure to see (56MB PDF). Great speakers, great hosts, wonderful attendees (who aren't above buying a yank a pint [thanks, everybody]). And, Thanks, dConstruct I have to admit, I'm kind of over conferences as a thing, which makes it even more crazy when I go to one, and it blows me out of the water with the care and quality of the event, the speakers, and the attendees. dConstruct was absolutely one of those blown-out-of-the-water events. (photo: happy.apple) As I learned over and over again--yes, like me--these folks are nerds. But, brother are they ever talented nerds who care and care. Which I just love so much. I'll take a nerdy bunch of fontdorks and cellists over a splashy mega-conference full of VC pitches and skanks pushing free Red Bull anytime. Anytime. dConstruct was simply a top-notch operation from end-to-end, and I'm insanely grateful that I was invited to participate. Thanks, Clearleft. And, you, the reader? If you get the chance next time, go. Heck, I might even leave this chair and go there, myself. Maybe. I suppose when Dr. Who's over, I could just let these 20-sided dice decide for me. Lemme see...what's my Armor Class and Hit Points...? Listen for Yourself2 dConstruct Podcast MARTY NEUMEIER - The Designful Company The Designful Company on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it BRENDAN DAWES - Boil, Simmer, Reduce Boil, Simmer, Reduce on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it DAVID MCCANDLESS - Information Is Beautiful Information Is Beautiful on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it SAMANTHA WARREN - The Power and Beauty of Typography The Power and Beauty of Typography on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it JOHN GRUBER - The Auteur Theory Of Design The Auteur Theory Of Design on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it HANNAH DONOVAN - Jam Session: What Improvisation Can Teach Us About Design Jam Session: What Improvisation Can Teach Us About Design on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it JAMES BRIDLE - The Value Of Ruins The Value Of Ruins on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it TOM COATES - Everything The Network Touches Everything The Network Touches on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks ME - Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Hint: Number Three. ↩ Code for these was stolen wholesale from the dConstruct site. Jeremy, et al - don't hesitate to tell me if that's a problem.Srsly. ↩ ”My Faith in Nerds: Stronger Than Any Gelatinous Cube” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on September 10, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article dConstruct Geeks Knowledge Workers Nerds Speaking
c “Distraction,” Simplicity, and Running Toward Shitstorms By www.43folders.com Published On :: Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:49:56 +0000 It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. —Albert Einstein, “On the Method of Theoretical Physics” (1934) Context: Last week, I pinched off one of my typically woolly emails in response to an acquaintance whom I admire. He’s a swell guy who makes things I love, and he'd written, in part, to express concern that my recent Swift impersonation had been directed explicitly at something he'd made. Which, of course, it hadn’t—but which, as I'll try to discuss here, strikes me as irrelevant. To paraphrase Bogie, I played it for him, so now I suppose I might as well play it for you. (n.b.: Excerpted, redacted, munged, and heavily expanded from my original email) There are at least a couple things that mean a lot to me that I'm still just not very good at. Make nuanced points in whatever way they need to be made; even if that ends up seeming “un-nuanced” Never explain yourself. I want to break both these self-imposed rules privately with you here. [Editor’s Note: Um.] Because, I hope to nuance the shit out of some fairly un-nuanced points. And, to do that, I'll also (reluctantly) need to explain myself. But, here goes. First [regarding my goofing on “distraction-free writing environments”] I think there are some GIANT distinctions at play here that a lot of folks may not find nearly as obvious as I do: Tool Mastery vs. Productivity Pr0n – Finding and learning the right tools for your work vs solely dicking around with the options for those tools is just so important, but also so different. And, admittedly, it’s almost impossible to contrast those differences in terms of hard & fast rules that could be true for all people in all situations. But, that doesn’t make the difference any less qualitatively special or real. Similarly… Self-Help Vs. “Self”–“Help” – Solving the problem that caused the problem that caused the problem that caused the symptom we eventually noticed. Huge. Arguably, peerless. Viz.: How many of us ignore the actual cause of our problem in favor of just reading dozens of blog posts about how to “turbocharge” its most superficial symptoms? Sick. Focus & Play – Yes, focusing on important work is, as Ford used to say, Job 1. But, that focus benefits when we maintain the durable and unapologetic sense of play that affords true creativity and fosters an emergence of context and connection that’s usually killed by stress. BUT. Again, what conceivable “rule” could ever serve to immutably declare that “THIS goofing-off is critical for hippocampal plasticity” vs. “THAT goofing-off is just dumb, distracting bullshit?” Impossible. Because drawing those kinds of distinctions is one of our most important day-to-day responsibilities. Decisions are hard, and there’s no app or alarm gadget that can change that. Although, they certainly can help mask the depth of the underlying problem that made them seem so—what’s the parlance?—“indispensable”. Think: Elmo Band-Aids for that unsightly pancreatic tumor. Reducing Distraction through Care (Rather than braces, armatures, and puppet strings). Removing interruptions and external distractions that harm your work or life? Great. Counting on your distraction-removal tool to supplement your non-existent motivation to do work that will never get done anyway? Pathetic. Frankly, this is a big reason I'm so galled when anyone touts their tool/product/service as being the poor, misunderstood artist’s new miracle medicine—rather than just admitting they've made a slightly different spoon. Because, let’s be honest: although most of us have plenty of perfectly serviceable spoons, everybody knows collecting cutlery is way more fun than using it to swallow yucky medicine. Using a System Vs. Becoming a System. Having a system or process for getting work done vs. making the iteration of that system or process a replacement for the work. This is just…wow…big. But, maybe most importantly to me… Embracing the Impossibles. Getting past these or any other intellectual koans by simply accepting life’s innumerable and unresolvable paradoxes, hypocrisies, and impossibilities as God-given gifts of creative constraint. Rather than, say, a mimeographed page of long division problems that must be solved for a whole number, n. I just can’t ever get away from this one. For me, it’s what everything inevitably comes back to. The very definition of our jobs is to solve the right problem at the right level for the right reason—based on a combination of the best info we have for now and a clear-eyed dedication to never pushing an unnecessary rock up an avoidable hill. YET, we keep force-feeding the monster that tells us to fiddle and fart and blame the Big Cruel World whenever we face work that might threaten our fragile personal mythology. “Sigh. I wish I could finally start writing My Novel….Ooooooh, if only I had a slightly nicer pen…and Zeus loved me more….” All that stuff? That there’s a complex set of ideas to talk about for many complex reasons—not least of which being how many people either despise or (try to) deny the unavoidable impact of ol' number six. But, here’s the thing: as much as saying so pisses anybody off, I think the topics we're NOT talking about whenever we disappear into Talmudic scholarship about “full-screen mode” or “minimalist desks” or whatever constitutes a “zen habit”—those shunned topics are precisely the things that I believe are most mind-blowingly critical to our real-world happiness as humans. In fact, I believe that to such a degree that helping provide a voice for those unpopular topics that can be heard over the din is now (what passes for) my career. I really believe these deeper ideas are worth socializing on any number of levels and in many media. Even when it’s inconvenient and slightly disrespectful of someone’s business model. So, that’s what I try to do. I talk about these things. Seldom by careful design. Often poorly. But, always because they each mean an awful lot to me. […] But, no matter how I end up saying whatever the hell I say, I believe in saying it not simply to be liked or followed or revered as a “nice guy” who pushes out shit-tons of whatever to “help people.” Because, believe me, friend, a great many of those apparently “nice guys” swarming around the web “helping people” these days are ass-fucking their audience for nickels and calling it a complimentary colonoscopy. And, while I absolutely think that in itself is empirically wrong, I also think it’s just as important to say that it’s wrong. Sometimes, True Things need to be said. Which in this instance amounts to saying, a) selling people a prettier way to kinda almost but not really write is not, in the canonical sense, “nice”—but, far worse, b) leaving your starry-eyed customers with the nauseatingly misguided impression that their “distraction” originates from anyplace but their own busted-ass brain is really not “helping.” Not on any level. It is, literally, harmful. “Helping” a junkie become more efficient at keeping his syringe loaded is hardly “nice.” It’s the opposite of nice. And, it’s the opposite of helpful. These are my True Things. And, to me, saying your True Things also means not watering down the message you care about in order to render it incapable of even conceivably hurting someone’s feelings—or of even conceivably losing you even one teeny-tiny slice of that precious “market share.” Well, that’s the price, and I'm fine paying it—best money I've ever spent. But, it also means trusting your audience by letting each of them decide to add water only as they choose to—by never corrupting the actual concentrate in a way that might make it less useful to the smartest or most eager 5% of people who'd like to try using it undiluted. Because, at that point, you're not only abandoning the coolest people you have the honor of serving—you risk becoming a charlatan. And, that’s precisely what you become when you start to iteratively inbreed the kind of fucktard audience for whom daily buffets of weak swill and beige assurance are life’s most gratifying reward. Sure. Those poor bastards may never end up using any of that watery information to do anything more ambitious than turbocharging their most regrettable symptoms. But, who’s the last person in the universe who’s going to grab them by the ears and tell them to get back to work? Exactly—that same “nice guy” whose livelihood now depends on keeping infantalized strangers addicted to his “help.” Holy shit—no way could I ever live with that. It’s so wrong, it’s not even right. ESC, ESC, ESC! […] Okay. So anyhow, there’s a really long-winded, overly generous, and extremely pompous way of trying to say I don’t know how to do what I do except how I do it. But, I do genuinely feel awful when innocent people feel they have been publicly humiliated or berated simply because I'm some dick who hates people. Which has to be my favorite irony of all. When I was a kid, I thought my Mom was “mean” not to let me play in traffic on busy Galbraith Road. Today, I'm not simply grateful that she had the strength and resolve to be so “mean”—I actually can’t imagine how sad it would be to not have people in your life who care enough about your long-term welfare to tell you to stop fucking around in traffic. To where you eventually might start even seeking 12x-daily safety hacks from some of the very same drivers whose recklessness may eventually kill you. Wow. […] Admitting when life is complicated or things aren’t shiny and happy all the time strikes me as a wonderfully sane and adult way to conduct one’s life. That there are so many folks offended by even the existence of this anarchic idea is not a problem I can solve. No more than I can wish useless email away or pray hard enough that it never rains on anyone’s leaky roof. All out of scope. And, then, I jizzed on at length about how much I admire the recipient’s work. Which I do. Good work doesn’t need a cookie I may admire your work, too. Especially if you care a lot about that work and don’t overly sweat peoples' opinions of it. Most definitely including my own. For these purposes, it doesn’t really matter whether we're friends and, honestly, it doesn’t even matter whether I love, use, or agree with everything you do, say, or make in a given day. It doesn’t matter because good work doesn’t need me to love it. Like tornadoes and cold sores, good work happens with total disregard to whether I'm “into it.” But, conversely, let’s stipulate that the points-of-view undergirding our opinions—again, including mine—will and should survive either agreement or lack of agreement with equivalently effortless ease. Because, like really good work, a really good point-of-view doesn’t require another person’s benediction. Guess we'll have to disagree to agree Now, to be only vaguely clearer here, I'm not posting this circuitous ego dump in the service of altering your opinion of either me, my friend, his work, or practically anything else for that matter. But, I would love it if we could all be more okay with the fact that real life means that we do each have a different, sometimes incongruous, and often totally incompatible point-of-view. Yes. Even you have a point-of-view that someone despises. Ready to change it now? Jesus, I sure hope not. Then, to be only slightly more clear, I'm also not advocating for that fakey brand of web-based kum ba ya that gets trotted out alternately as “tolerance” or “inclusion” or some styrofoam miniature of “civility.” I'm absolutely not against all of those things when authentically practiced, but I'm also really skeptical of the well-branded peacemakers who are forever appointing themselves the Internet’s “Now-Now-Let’s-All-Pretend-We're-Just-Saying-the-Same-Useless-Thing-Here” den mothers. Because we're not all saying the same things. Not at all. And, it infantalizes some important conversations when we tacitly demand that any instance of honest disagreement be immediately horseshat into a photo opp where some thought leader gets to hoist everyone’s hands in the air like he’s fucking Jimmy Carter. Nope. Not saying that. Who will you really rely on? What I AM saying is that alllllll this seemingly unrelated stuff is absolutely related—that the pattern of not relying on other people for anything you really care about is arguably the great-grandaddy of every useful productivity, creativity, or self-help pattern. Where’s this matter? Pretty much everywhere you have any sort of stake: Don’t rely on other people to remove your totally fake “distractions.” Don’t rely on other people to pat your beret, re-tie your cravat, and make you a nice cocoa whenever that mean man on the internet points out that your “distractions” are totally fake. (Which they are) Don’t rely on other people to tell you when or whether you have enough information. Don’t rely on other people to define your job. Don’t rely on other people to “design your lifestyle.” Don’t rely on other people to decide when your opinions are acceptable. Don’t rely on other people to tell you when you're allowed to be awesome. Don’t rely on other people to make you care. Don’t even rely on other people to tell you what you should or shouldn’t rely on. Yes. I went there. Because that’s the point. These hypocrisies, paradoxes, and ambiguities that people get so wound up about—that many of us are constantly (impotently) trying to resolve—cannot be resolved. Because, yeah: all of these harrowingly unsolvable problems are immune to new notebooks and less-distracting applications and shinier systems and “nicer” self-“help” and pretty much anything else that is not, specifically, you walking straight into the angriest and least convenient shitstorm you can find and getting your ass kicked until the storm gets bored with kicking it. Then, you find an even angrier storm. Then, another. And, so on. “Get the fuck off of my obstacle, Private Pyle!” Doing that annoying hard stuff is how you grow, get better, and learn what real help looks like. Even if that’s not the answer you wanted to hear. You get better by getting your ass out of your RSS reader and fucking making things until they suck less. Not by buying apps. You don’t whine about distractions, or derail yourself over needing a nicer pencil sharpener, or aggravate your chronic creative diabetes by starting another desperate waddle to the self-help buffet. No. You work. And, for what it’s worth, just like you can’t get to the moon by eating cheese, you'll also never leave boot camp with your original scrote intact by telling your drill sergeant to try using more honey than vinegar. No. That sergeant’s job is to make you miserable. It’s his job to break down your callow conceits about what’s supposed to be easy and fair. It’s his job to emotionally pummel you into giving up and becoming a Marine. You? You're not there to give the sergeant notes; you're there to sleep two hours a night, then not mind getting beaten for 20 hours until a decent Marine starts to fall out. Who knows? He may even surprise you by introducing a surprisingly effective “distraction-free learning environment.” “Tee ell dee ahr, Professor Brainiac.” Like most humans, I like things I can understand. Like most readers, I love specificity. Like most thinkers, I love clarity. Like most students, I love relevance and practicality. And, like most busy people, believe it or not, I actually do really like it when someone gets straight to the point. But, here’s the problem. If my 2-year-old daughter asks me about time travel, and I blithely announce, “E=mc2”, I will have said something that is entirely specific, clear, relevant, practical, and/or straight-to-the-point. For somebody. But, not so much for my daughter. And, to be honest, not even to any useful degree for me. She'd probably either laugh derisively at me (which she’s great at), or she'd pause and ask, “Whuh dat?” (which she’s even better at). Thing is, her understanding that jumble of characters less than me—and my understanding it WAY less than Professor Al—has zero impact on the profundity, truth, beauty, or impact of the man’s theory. Sure. You could quite accurately fault me for being a smartass and a poseur, and you could even berate my toddler for her unaccountably shallow understanding of Modern Physics. But, in any case, you can’t really blame either Albert or his theory. You're turbocharging nothing Specifically, Albert can’t begin to tell us what he really knows if we don’t understand math. So, let’s say this theory you've been hearing about really interests you. And, let’s also pretend, just for the sake of the analogy, that you haven’t completed Calculus III (212) or Quantum Mechanics (403) or even something as elementary as, say, Advanced Astrophysics II (537). I know you have. Obviously. But, let’s pretend. Where do you start? Well, you could read some tips about learning math. You could find a list of 500 indispensable resources for indispensable math resources. You could buy a new “distraction-free math environment.” Heck, there’s actually nothing to stop you from just declaring yourself a “math expert.” Congratulations, Professor. Thing is: you still don’t know math. Which means you still can’t really understand the theory—no more than a pathetic Liberal Arts refugee like me or a dullard Physics ignoramus like my kid can really grok relativity. Difference is, you will have blown a lot of time hoping that actual expertise follows non-existent effort—while my daughter and I get to remain total novices without charge. Only, we don’t get all mad at the theory as a result; a staggering number of fake math experts do. I mean, be honest—after all that recreational non-work and make-believe dedication almost trying to kinda learn math sorta—you might actually get frustrated at how brazenly Al defies your fondness for shortcuts by continuing to rely on so many terms and proofs and blah-blah-blah that you still just don’t understand. So annoying. You may simply decide that Albert Einstein’s a huge dick for never saying things that can be completely understood solely by scanning a headline. EPIC EINSTEIN FAIL, amirite? You never really know what you didn’t know until you know it But, Al just told the truth. Problem is, Al’s truth not only requires fancy things in order to be truly understood—the more of those fancy things you take away from his truth, the less true it gets. And, by the time it’s been diluted to the point where you're comfortable that you understand it? You'd be understanding the wrong thing. Even I can understand that. But, not one bit of any of this is Al’s fault. Al doesn’t get to control who uses, abuses, gets, or doesn’t get what he said or why it matters. Especially since he’s been dead for over fifty years. All I know is, regardless of who has ears to hear it on a given day, it would be to Al’s credit never to mangle something important in order to get it into terms everybody’s ready to handle without actually trying. And God bless him for never agreeing that your “distractions” to learning math are his problem. So, yeah, if you only need to hand in a crappy 5-page paper, you could certainly Cliff’s Notes your way through Borges, Eliot, or Joyce in an afternoon, and feel like you haven’t missed a thing. Trouble is, if you did care even a little, it’s impossible to even say how much you're missing since you can’t be bothered to soldier through the source text. The text itself is the entire point. Even the wonderfully cogent and readable layman’s explanations Einstein himself provided don’t really get to the nut, the application, and the implications of his real theory. That all takes real math. That “single datum of experience” matters Sometimes, complex or difficult things stop being true when you try to make them too simple. Sometimes, you have to actually get laid to understand why people think sex is such a thing. Sometimes, you need to learn some Greek if you really want to understand The Gospel of John. And, yeah, sometimes, you're going to have to just work unbelievably hard at whatever you claim to care about before anyone can begin to help you get any better—or less “distracted”—at it. The part I really know is what doesn’t work. Reading Penthouse Forum won’t help you CLEP out of Vaginal Intercourse 101. Watching a Rankin-Bass cartoon about the Easter Bunny will teach you very little about the intricacies of transubstantiation. And, if you can’t be troubled to care so much about your work that you reflexively force distractions away, dicking around with yet another writing application will merely aggravate the problem. Ironic, huh? These quantum mechanics of personal productivity are rife with such frustrating “paradoxes.” These are True Things. Achieving expertise and doing creative work is all horribly complicated and difficult and paradoxical and frustrating and recursive and James Joyce-y—and any guide, blog, binary, guru, or “nice guy” that tries to suggest otherwise is probably giving you a complimentary colonoscopy. Do the math. Want a new syllabus? Sure: Run straight into your shitstorm, my friends. Reject the impulse to think about work, rather than finishing it. And, open your heart to the remote possibility that any mythology of personal failure that involves messiahs periodically arriving to make everything “easy” for you might not really be helping your work or your mental health or your long-standing addiction to using tools solely to ship new excuses. Learn your real math, and any slide rule will suffice. Try, make, and do until you quit noticing the tools, and if you still think you need new tools, go try, make, and do more. If you can pull off this deceptively simple and millennia-old pattern, you'll eventually find that—god by dying god—any partial truth that’s supported your treasured excuses for not working will be replaced by a no-faith-required knowledge that you're really, actually, finally getting better at something you care about. Which is just sublimely un-distracting. Dedication This article is dedicated to my friend, Greg Knauss. No, he’s not the app guy–he’s just a good man who does good work, who accidentally/unintentionally helped me write this rant. He also happens to be a fella who could teach anyone a thing or two about writing with distractions. Thanks, Greg. ”“Distraction,” Simplicity, and Running Toward Shitstorms” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 05, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article Creative Work Distractions Features
c A Sandwich, A Wallet, and Elizabeth Taylor's Cousin By www.43folders.com Published On :: Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:31:36 +0000 Being a Parable for the Edification of Independents Seeking Independence THE PARABLE THE OSTENSIBLE CUSTOMER enters a deli and saunters up to the counter. The deli is tended by its rakishly handsome owner, THE SANDWICH GUY. "Hi," says The Sandwich Guy. "What looks good to you today?" "Slow down," says The Ostensible Customer, as THE LUNCH RUSH starts trickling in. "Lots of delis want my business, so, first I need to really understand what you can do for me." "Well," says The Sandwich Guy, "I guess I can try to do what I do for everybody here and make you a customized version of any of the 15 awesome sandwiches you see on my menu. What're you hungry for?" "Easy, easy, Ricky Roma! Before I make any decisions here I'm going to need to know a lot more about my options. Why are you so obsessed with 'what I want?'" "Okay, sorry," says The Sandwich Guy, uneasily eyeing the growing queue of The Lunch Rush now piling up behind The Ostensible Customer. "What else can I do to help here?" "That's better," says The Ostensible Customer. "Let's start by sitting down for a couple hours and going over all the ingredients you have back there." The Sandwich Guy laughs congenially and hands The Ostensible Customer a menu. "Friend, I can make you whatever you want, but, if it helps, the 15 sandwiches listed here show all the ingredients--right there between the name and the price..." "Whoa, whoa, whoa! The price?!? Already you're reaching for my wallet? Jeez, I barely just arrived." The Lunch Rush is getting restless and grumbling audibly. "Well. You know. I do sell sandwiches for a living," says The Sandwich Guy. "Did you have a certain budget in mind for your lunch?" "Oh, God, no. I'm nowhere near that point yet. I still need to learn a lot more about how you work, and so, obviously, I have no idea what I want to pay. Obviously." "Okay," says The Sandwich Guy, "but...I can't do much for you here without knowing either what you want to eat or how much money you want to spend. You get that, right?" The Ostensible Customer is miffed. "Listen, here. What I 'get,' so-called Sandwich Guy, is that you're not going to rush me into some tricky lifetime sandwich commitment until I understand precisely who I'm working with. And, so far, I do not like what I see. Still. I intend to find out more. So, meet me in Canada tomorrow to talk about this for an hour." The Lunch Rush begins waving their wallets as they lob their completed order forms at The Sandwich Guy's face. "Sorry," says The Sandwich Guy. "I can't do that. How about I just make you a Reuben. It's really good, it's our most popular sandwich, and it only costs eight bucks." "WHAT! EIGHT DOLLARS! 'Dollars' with a 'd?' That's way too much!" "I thought you didn't have a budget," says The Sandwich Guy. "Well, I don't. And, besides, I don't really 'need' a sandwich at all. Now, kindly fly to Canada." "That's not going to happen, sir." "Also," says The Ostensible Customer, "if I do decide to get a sandwich from you--and it's looking increasingly less likely that I will--I'll absolutely expect your deeply discounted price to reflect the fact that I'm not particularly hungry right now." The Lunch Rush begins lighting torches and chanting a guttural chant, not unlike the haunting overtone singing of Tuvan herdsmen. "Look," sighs The Sandwich Guy, "it sounds like you need a little more time. Here's a free Coke and a complimentary bowl of pickles. Please have a seat, take all the time you need, then just come on up whenever you're ready to order, okay?" "‘READY?!?’ TO...‘ORDER?!?’ Are you out of your mind?" "Mmmm...apparently." Presently, The Ostensible Customer turns beet-red. "This is an outrage! I can't even imagine how you stay in business when you treat your customers like this." The Lunch Rush grows silent as The Sandwich Guy slowly leans over the counter and smiles--his nose one slice of corned beef from The Ostensible Customer's nose. "Sir. First off: you aren't my customer yet. Right now, you're just some dude holding a bowl of free pickles." "Buh?" fumbled The Ostensible Customer. "And, second, the way I 'stay in business' is by making great sandwiches and having as few conversations like the one we're having as possible," The Sandwich Guy coos. "Because, the truth is, my real customers are actually all those nice people standing behind you. They're the people who buy my sandwiches with real money over and over again. I really like them, and so I give them almost all of my attention." The Sandwich Guy waves at The Lunch Rush. The Lunch Rush waves back. The Ostensible Customer looks stunned. "Sir," says The Sandwich Guy "enjoy your Coke and your pickles with my compliments. But, please step aside. Because right now, there's a whole bunch of hungry people trying to buy sandwiches that won't require me flying to Canada. Next, please!" The Lunch Rush roars approval. The Ostensible Customer is still stunned. Which is unfortunate. Because, several men from the back of the line spontaneously rush forward to drag The Ostensible Customer, screaming and grasping, onto the busy sidewalk outside, where they proceed to devour his flesh like those street urchins who eat Elizabeth Taylor's cousin in Suddenly, Last Summer. Meanwhile, The Sandwich Guy goes back to making sandwiches. And, The Lunch Rush goes back to eating them. THE MORAL(S)? The Sandwich Guy can't do much for you until you're hungry enough to really want a sandwich. Once you're hungry enough, you still have to pay money for the sandwich. This won't not come up. Few people become "a good customer" without understanding both 1 and 2. Few companies become "a smart business" without understanding 1, 2, and 3. Basing his business on an understanding of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 doesn't make The Sandwich Guy a dick; it makes him a smart business. If you vacation with Elizabeth Taylor? Seriously. Avoid provoking the cannibalistic rent boys. THE HOPE Me? I just very much hope it takes you far less than 15 years to see and accept these sorts of things. Both as a customer and as a business. Guys, avoid working for anyone who's not hungry enough to compensate you for your sandwich. It literally doesn't pay. THE RESERVE READING Bloodhounding Budgets - Cognition: The blog of web design & development firm Happy Cog Tell them nicely that your price is a sucky $200K. The key here is to do so candidly, like you’re sitting on their side of the table and have to approve the budget with them. Admit that you’re way over the mark, and essentially apologize for it. I’ve said, “If you want to tell us to get lost, we understand”. Basement.org: Negotiation And Speculation: The Risk Of Selling Low All those variables can change except your worth. That can’t change. It’s an undeniable fact beyond subjectivity and beyond the reality-bending rhetoric of your client-to-be. You are worth what you are worth and unless you’re feeling charitable something else has to give. Project Budgets and Secrets (thedesigncubicle.com) Within the first few minutes of contact — in my effort to be as open and detailed on how I work as possible — the client counteracted by lying about not having a budget to clearly having a budget. Mule Design Studio’s Blog: Presenting Design Like You Get Paid For It Unspoken expectations unmet lead to seething unspoken frustration which ultimately bursts forth in an ugly mess when you’ve run out of budget. Don’t Be Afraid of the S-Word :: Tips :: The 99 Percent Remember that client who said that we were “pretty expensive” for them? A qualifying question in the first phone call could have saved us many hours of working on this deal. If you decide that the deal is unqualified, you just save it under another bucket: the unqualified deals bucket. ”A Sandwich, A Wallet, and Elizabeth Taylor's Cousin” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on November 04, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article Business Freelancers Independence Money
c Resolved: Stop Blaming the Pancake By www.43folders.com Published On :: Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:22:44 +0000 In a classic bit from an early Seinfeld, Jerry and Elaine are at the airport, trying to pick up the rental car that Jerry had reserved. As usual, things go poorly and get awkward fast: Seinfeld - "Reservations" JERRY: I don't understand...I made a reservation. Do you have my reservation? AGENT: Yes, we do. Unfortunately, we ran out of cars. JERRY: But, the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation. AGENT: I know why we have reservations. JERRY: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation--you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And, that's really the most important part of the reservation...the holding. Anybody can just TAKE them. [grabs chaotically at air] And, how weirdly similar is that to our conflicted relationship with New Year's resolutions? In Seinfeldspeak? See, you know how to make the resolution, you just don't know how to keep the resolution. And, that's really the most important part of the resolution...the keeping. Anybody can just MAKE them! Oversimplified? Probably. But, ask yourself. Why this? And, why now? Or, why again? Welcome to Resolvers Anonymous: I'm 'Merlin M.' A few years ago, I shared a handful of stories on the failures that have led to my own cynicism about the usefulness of life-inverting resolutions. Because, yeah, I've historically been a big resolver. Here's what I said when I first suggested favoring "Fresh Starts and Modest Changes" over reinventions: Download MP3 of "Fresh Starts & Modest Changes" Five years on, I think I probably feel even more strongly about this. Partly because I've watched and read and heard the cyclical lamentations of folks who decided to use superficial totems (like new calendars) as an ad hoc coach and prime mover. And, partly because, in my capacity as a makebelieve productivity expert, I continue to see how self-defeating it is to pretend that past can ever be less than prologue--that we can each ignore yesterday's weather if we really wish hard enough for a sun-drenched day at the beach. It simply doesn't work. Companies that think they'll be Google for buying bagels. Writers who think they'll get published if they order a new pen. Obese people who think they'll become marathon runners if they pick up some new running shoes. And, regular old people with good hearts who continue to confuse new lives with new clothes. Has this worked before? Can you look back on a proud legacy of successful New Year's resolutions that would suggest you're making serious progress by repeatedly making a list about fundamental life changes while slamming prosecco and wearing a pointy paper hat? My bet is that most people who are seeing the kind of change and growth and improvement that sticks tend to avoid these sorts of dramatic, geometric attempts to leap blindly toward the mountain of perfection. I'll go further and say that the repeated compulsion to resolve and resolve and resolve is actually a terrific marker that you're not really ready to change anything in a grownup and sustainable way. You probably just want another magic wand. Otherwise you'd already be doing the things you've resolved to do. You'd already be living those changes. And, you'd already be seeing actual improvements rather than repeatedly making lists of all the ways you hope your annual hajj to the self-improvement genie will fix you. Then, of course, we make things way worse by blaming everything on our pancakes. Regarding "The First Pancake Problem" Anyone who's ever made America's favorite round and flat breakfast food is familiar with the phenomenon of The First Pancake. No matter how good a cook you are, and no matter how hard you try, the first pancake of the batch always sucks. It comes out burnt or undercooked or weirdly shaped or just oddly inedible and aesthetically displeasing. Just ask your kids. At least compared to your normal pancake--and definitely compared to the far superior second and subsequent pancakes that make the cut and get promoted to the pile destined for the breakfast table--the first one's always a disaster. I'll leave it to the physicists and foodies in the gallery to develop a unified field theory on exactly why our pancake problem crops up with such unerring dependability. But I will share an orthogonal theory: you will be a way happier and more successful cook if you just accept that your first pancake is and always will be a universally flukey mess. But, that shouldn't mean you never make another pancake. So Loud. Then, So Quiet. I offer all of this because today is January 7th, gang. And, for the past week, all over the web, legions of well-intentioned and seemingly strong-willed humans have been declaring their resolved intention to make this a year of more and better metaphorical pancakes. And, like clockwork--usually around today or maybe tomorrow--a huge cohort of those cooks will begin to abandon their resolve and go back to thinking all their pancakes have to suck. Just because that first one failed. And, as is the case every year, online and off, there won't be nearly as many breathless updates to properly bookend how poorly our annual ritual of aspirational change has fared. Which is instructive. Not because new year's resolutions are a universally bad idea. And, not because Change is Bad. And, not because we should be embarrassed about occasionally falling short of our own (frequently unreasonable) aspirations. I suspect we tout the resolution, but whisper the failure because we blame the cook. Or, worse, fingers point toward the pancake. Instead of just admitting that the resolution itself was simply unrealistic or fundamentally foreign. And, that's a shame. Remember, there's no "I" in "unreasonable" Granted, I'm merely re-repeating a point I've struggled to make (to both others and myself) for years now. But, it will bear repeating every January in perpetuity. Resist the urge to pin the fate of things you really care about to anything that's not truly yourself. The "yourself" who has a real life with complicated demands. The "yourself" who's going to face a hard slog trying to fold a new life out of a fresh calendar. Calendars are just paper and staples. They can't make you care. And they can't help you spin around like Diana Prince, and instantly turn into Wonder Woman. Especially, if you're not already a hot and magical Amazon princess. First, be reasonable. Don't set yourself up for failure by demanding things that you've never come close to achieving before. I realize this is antithetical to most self-improvement bullshit, but that's exactly the point. If you were already a viking, you wouldn't need to build a big boat. Start with where you are right now. Not with where you wish you'd been. Also, accept that the first pancake will always suck. Hell, if you've never picked up a spatula before, be cool with the fact that your first hundred pancakes might suck. This is, as I've said, huge. Failure is the sound of beginning to suck a little less. And, finally, also be clear about the sanity of the motivations underlying your expectations--step back to observe what's truly broken, derive a picture of incremental success that seems do-able, and really resolve to do whatever you can realistically do to actually get better. Rather than "something something I suddenly become all different." At this point, you have logistical options for both execution and troubleshooting: Make a modest plan that you can envision actually doing without upending your real life; Build more sturdy scaffolding for sticking with whatever plan you've chosen; Make a practice of learning to not mind the duds--including those messed-up first pancakes; Or--seriously?--just accept that you never really cared that much about making breakfast in the first place. Care is not optional. Otherwise, really, you'd never need to resolve to do anything. You'd already just be cooking a lot. Instead of being all mad and depressed about not cooking. But, please. All I really ask of you. Don't blame the pancake. It's not really the pancake's fault. Like me, the pancake just wants you to be happy. This and every other new year. ”Resolved: Stop Blaming the Pancake” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 07, 2011. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article change is hard resolutions self-improvement
