January 2009
43 posts
“Secretary Geithner already had to pull back on one institution that had gone...”
– Obama Harshly Criticizes Wall St. Bonuses - NYTimes.com
This is just getting outrageous. I don’t know whether the bonuses are more troubling or the fact that the Secretary of Treasury has to involve himself in the travel purchasing decisions of CitiGroup. TARP itself has been shamefully...
We Live in Public (and the end of empathy) « The... →
A fascinating piece by Jason Calacanis. I’m sure many celebrities would read something like this and not think twice. But its worthwhile to think about how the Internet — with its multitudes of mini-communities — churns out mini-celebrities all the time and how that makes it increasingly likely that we will dehumanize, lust, love, and hate people we’ve never met.
“about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a...”
– A 40-Year Wish List - WSJ.com
It’s not quite clear to me the criterion that WSJ is using for what counts as “growth stimulus.” Just because something has a negative ROI (which for both mass transit & renewable energy is debatable when accounting for externalities)...
“If the government is to tell big business men how to run their business, then...”
– Woodrow Wilson quoted in “The Case for Small-Government Egalitarianism” by Ed Gleasar (NYTimes.com)
Anyone who’s looking for a brighter future for the right should be paying attention to Ed Glaesar. The “left libertarian” ideas he espouses in this post should be the...
Trey Kollmer - "On Intellectual Dishonesty"
Trey has joined the tumblr-sphere. His first post may eventually evolve into an entire discourse on the subject, “On Intellectual Dishonesty” -
It’s almost always beside the point. It muddles the initial argument by adding a second argument: “You’re argument A is wrong. AND on top of that, you are being like so intellectually dishonest right now.”
Welcome Trey!
“This is the chief justice’s version of a wardrobe malfunction.”
– Oath flub merits a do-over, scholars say
“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that...”
– Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address (via jdel) (via inauguration) (via bijan)
Initial reaction: the speech didn’t quite ‘hit.’ But short of arriving at the podium and parting the sea, I’m not sure Obama could have really done anything to live up to expectations. I get the sense...
“Hello America!”
– Barack Obama (via inauguration)
Brand Advertising Lift at Dogster →
As I noted in a comment to this great post, there is a significant lag in understanding among brand advertisers, which places an even greater burden on sales teams (and this can’t be easily outsourced) to make this pitch effectively.
Jeffrey Goldberg vs Reuel Gerecht on the Military...
Goldberg: There is a fixed idea among some Israeli leaders that Hamas can be bombed into moderation. This is a false and dangerous notion. It is true that Hamas can be deterred militarily for a time, but tanks cannot defeat deeply felt belief.
Gerecht: it is military defeat that produces the fatigue and the spiritual deflation that leads to acquiescence (and, sometimes, reflection)...decisive military defeat is history's great "moderator". (Just ask the Germans.)
Me: I imagine this is a question that Israeli politicians grapple with regularly. (also, Tumblr needs a way to add commentary to a dialogue)
Andrew Roberts says "History will show that George... →
This is an article worth reading as an alternative retrospective on the Bush presidency.
Though I tend to disagree with the piece’s final assessment that GWB was “right,” the jury is still out on the most historically important decisions Bush made (wars with Afghanistan and Iraq) and will be decided based on how the Iran question is ultimately resolved. We don’t know yet...
1 tag
Stanford Announces $100 Million Energy Institute -...
An “Energy Instititute” was somewhat of an inside joke on the Crimson editorial board. We loved the idea, and advocated for it in several staff editorials:
Given the profound impact the academy can have on defusing potentially cataclysmic situations involving the global use of energy, Harvard should bring these scholars under one roof by creating a center for energy studies. Once...
“Jim Brady washpo said they never had to take one video comment down on Seesmic....”
– Jeff Jarvis
William Spike Friedman chimes in on Light Rail
Spike was a classmate of mine for many years when we were little and has always been one of my most brilliant friends. Here, he gives me an education on rail projects. I’m officially starting a “Get Spike to Blog” movement so we can get more of this. I’m also honored that a comment of this quality got posted here.
UPDATE: Spike does blog. All Spike, all the time at the...
“companies who can build authentic, honest, open, collaborative relationships...”
– Why (Real) Relationships Matter - Umair Haque (via fred-wilson)
Some of the comments (one quoted below) and the link to the original Economist article are as interesting as the qutoe selected out here. I think the dichotomy laid out is a bit extreme. A company can certainly choose not to be...
“the lack of sufficient commuter rail and light rail is an enormous macroeconomic...”
– Adam Guren where are you when I need you to explain these things to me? I thought a lot of economic research showed that rail was rarely a worthwhile investment viz a viz improving bus lines. Anyone out there have any insight into this?
—
andy weissman twittered this great post and i just...
Time to stop tinkering with my tumblog for a while… two things left on my to do list for it: a genuine ‘About’ page and a section for more semi-substantial things I’ve actually written separated from the general noise in the rest of the Tumblog.
“Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as...”
– Revealed: the environmental impact of Google searches - Times Online
I wonder how far we could take this analysis. For example, searching for a pair of shoes on Google and ordering it from an online retailer probably is a net savings in energy vis-a-vis driving to the store. I’d bet that the...
Fascinating piece on the most important foreign... →
An interesting exchange between AK and Fred Wilson
Thanks for the mention AK.
adamkatz:
Fred - I think the point wasn’t to pull you into the debate on Gaza (I agree it’s a no win proposition) but rather to suggest that the conflict’s lack of clarity makes it all the more important to avoid the easy tropes “I’m not on either side,” etc. I think someone like Jeffrey Goldberg nails how, I imagine, many of us are feeling:
Gaza is where dreams of...
“Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around...”
– - Paul Graham
For years, I’ve been telling friends that when I’m in NYC, all I want to do is make money/”do deals,” and when I’m in Boston, all I want to do is a find a coffee shop and read. Most of friends thought I was nuts, now that Paul Graham said it - maybe it’s not so crazy after all…
(via...
WatchThis is a really neat video; great to see all these players having a conversation about this. The possibilities really are endless…
Google, Facebook, MySpace and More Meet to Talk Activity Streams - ReadWriteWeb
Lin powers Harvard to rare upset over No. 24 BC →
Would have loved for Crimson bball to be a real thing while I was there… Glad we’re finally starting to pick up
adamkatz:
(via steller)
“we have no doubt Karp will be able to sell thousands of pro accounts the day he...”
– Tumblr Raises Money, Touts “Really Sexy” Plus Accounts
This seems true to me… I want one of those gold bling Tumblr necklaces that Dave and Fred Wilson have on my Tumblr Dashboards :) …I wonder if Tumblr ‘notes’ will play nice with Disqus comments.
“It isn’t what your name is. It’s what you do with it.”
– Op-Ed Columnist - Sweet on Caroline - NYTimes.com
Maureen Dowd, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, pens a very nice one in defense of Caroline Kennedy.
“Imagine that products are mountains. To build a product, you will need to climb...”
– Paul Buchheit: Ideas vs Judgment and Execution: Climbing the Mountain
I found this quote via another Paul Buchheit article sent my way from AK - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2009/01/overnight-success-takes-long-time.html
“consider the strange story of Harry Markopolos. Mr. Markopolos is the former...”
– great piece in today’s NY Times from Michael Lewis and David Einhorn
Op-Ed Contributors - The End of the Financial World as We Know It - NYTimes.com
(via fred-wilson)
