Daring Fireball: Microsoft's Long, Slow Decline

Daring Fireball: Microsoft's Long, Slow Decline: "They’re a software company whose primary platform no longer appeals to people who like computers the most. Their executives are either in denial of, or do not perceive, that there has emerged a consensus — not just among nerds but among a growing number of regular just-plain users — that Windows PCs are second-rate. They still dominate in terms of unit-sale market share, yes, but not because people don’t recognize Windows as second-rate, but because they don’t care, in the same way millions of people buy metric tons of second-rate products from Wal-Mart every hour of every day.

That’s the business Wal-Mart wants to be in — selling a zillion cheap low-margin items and turning a profit on volume. That’s not the business Microsoft is in."

Poor Microsoft, they aren't in the business they believe they are in. That is probably the most dangerous place to be. This is a classic mis-management by mis-measuring problem.

The Way We Live Now - Kindergarten Cram - NYTimes.com

The Way We Live Now - Kindergarten Cram - NYTimes.com: "I wonder how far I’m willing to go in my commitment to the cause: would I embrace the example of Finland — whose students consistently come out on top in international assessments — and delay formal reading instruction until age 7? Could I stick with that position when other second graders were gobbling up “War and Peace” — or at least the third Harry Potter book?"

Interesting.

Speechless: Dilbert Creator's Struggle to Regain His Voice

Speechless: Dilbert Creator's Struggle to Regain His Voice: "After a few more searches, Adams arrived at his own diagnosis: spasmodic dysphonia. It was another neurological disorder, one that causes the throat muscles to clamp down erratically on the vocal cords, strangling speech. In all of Adams' meetings with physicians, no one had even mentioned SD; the disorder is so rare that few doctors have heard of it. Adams tracked down a throat specialist, who confirmed Adams' findings and told him that SD had no known cure. He'd never regain his normal speaking voice."

Interesting. I wonder if there is any relation to Target Panic.

Until this malady struck, I was a bad MoFo Robin Hood with the bow and arrow. I had shot naturally since I was a small child, and was rather cocky about my accuracy, even under extreme conditions. Squirrels running along powerlines or hugging stratospheric oaktop limbs, I almost never missed with my Osage longbow and cedar arrows. It was wonderful. Then the mind kicked in at the tender age of 28, and blew the whole shootin match. Once asked what he thought about when he stood in the batter's box before the pitch, the great Babe Ruth said, "Hell, if I tried to think, I couldn't hit the damn ball!" Aha! Don't confuse simple function with superfluous mindgames. Zen. Mind over matter. Second nature. Subconsciousness. The physics of spirituality. Nike got it right. Just do it!

They sound so simliar, both are related to over work of a neural pathway.

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule: "For someone on the maker's schedule, having a meeting is like throwing an exception. It doesn't merely cause you to switch from one task to another; it changes the mode in which you work."

This is a good one to remember. It goes back to flow and you can even see it in The Wealth of Nations, while people have seen the existence of the problem for hundreds of years no one has done a good job quantifying it until recently. We have been fooled in school to think that anything can be done in the 50 minutes between bells. They're wrong.

From a cold start it will take 15 minutes or more to get into flow if you are working at it. Most people don't really understand how they do it so it takes even longer. Of course, since most people are interrupted more often then that so they never get there in the first place. If you are in flow and you are interrupted by a short question you can often get back in in a few minutes but a meeting is a total context switch which will drive you back to square 1.

I've been in meetings that were a total waste of time. The worst was a 14 hour meeting that made ZERO (0) decisions. That wasted tens of thousands of dollars and it didn't faze them in the slightest. The first time a manager should do is figure out who needs to be there and how much they cost per hour (all meetings are in hourly increments) and calculate how much the meeting will cost. Then decide if the meeting will generate more value then letting your makers actually make stuff.

Never Before Seen Image of Neil Armstrong's First Moonwalk Shows His face - apollo 11 - Gizmodo

Never Before Seen Image of Neil Armstrong's First Moonwalk Shows His face - apollo 11 - Gizmodo: "This weird and never-before-seen photo was taken by the top camera of the Eagle. As Armstrong walked his first steps across the surface of the Sea of Tranquility, on that little dusty ball of cheese we like to call the Moon."

Cool image.

Facilitation - Evaluation - Beyond the Edge - Viv McWaters

Facilitation - Evaluation - Beyond the Edge - Viv McWaters: "“Giving it all you’ve got commonly backfires. There is a paradox that when we are trying hard the result is often disappointing. A healthier climate is one in which we tell ourselves to just be average. Take the pressure off. Avoid the mindset that says “This one better be good!” or “Be original.”�When you try to do your best the effect on your performance is often to jinx it. In all cases there is something to lose. This can provoke tension and easily lead to anxiety.”"

You know I think some of this comes from school. We are trained, demanded to be different yet exactly the same. I had a friend in my high school programming class that did each assignment in a way that was not what the teacher expected so he almost failed the class, even though they all worked. Or on the opposite side of the spectrum you have a teacher that praises an essay that is finally different from the same old-same old even if it is repulsive.
Then there are a all the groups, how many can you identify just by the clothes they wear? Does it really matter if they are a clique in a high school or the consulting group in a major corp?

Johnnie Moore's Weblog: Avoiding presentations

Johnnie Moore's Weblog: Avoiding presentations: "My own hunch is that our education system has a huge amount to answer for. School was an extraordinarily rigorous drilling in the idea we should sit in serried ranks, at the behest of others. Any interaction was to be at the whim, and following the instructions, of the leader."

Need to remember this.

Annals of Education: Most Likely to Succeed: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Annals of Education: Most Likely to Succeed: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "A group of researchers—...—have investigated whether it helps to have a teacher who has earned a teaching certification or a master’s degree. Both are expensive, time-consuming credentials that almost every district expects teachers to acquire; neither makes a difference in the classroom. Test scores, graduate degrees, and certifications—as much as they appear related to teaching prowess—turn out to be about as useful in predicting success as having a quarterback throw footballs into a bunch of garbage cans."

I keep seeing things like this, mismanagement because of mis-measurement. When you spend a lot of time and effort not getting what you really want you have wonder what is causing these perverse effects.
The funny thing is is how different Collage and the NFL is, it makes sense that the one can't predict the other, they have relatively little in common. They may both be called football but are as different as a Trebant and a Porsche.

One interesting segment is that it takes a few years to find out if a person is good at something. That is about the half the time it takes master a subject (~10,000 hours) which is about what you would expect if someone is doing the same thing as they studied in college.

I know plenty of teachers and they all have complained about not learning enough about how to handle classrooms It is odd that isn't it.

***

Now on to the actually content of the video that was presented by Dr. Tae. from MeFi
1. School Sucks.
2. Make it meaningful.
3. Don't rely on fixed time periods for subject mastery.
4. Distributed teaching. e.g. get good teachers from anywhere.

Congratulations, Dr. Tae you have just derived from first principles what homeschoolers have known since the 1980's.

I agree with him that sharing knowledge is a good thing, right now do it for free because soon an ecosystem of distributed education will develop and someone will monetize it somewhere, somehow, but get your practice in now.

The Pleasures of Rereading | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com

The Pleasures of Rereading | Newsweek Books | Newsweek.com: "Most of the 'joys of rereading' pieces you come across tuck in an obligatory apology for indulging in the 'childish' pleasure—this is a bad thing?—of 'obsessive' repetition. You often hear a distinction made between strictly literary rereading, the kind of close study scholars and writers undertake, and the 'comfort' reading relegated to the beach, the bathroom, and the bedroom."

I'll tell you now, that I like rereading. Many people will listen to their music over and over again, and movies will be re-watched time and again.
Some people need the new, and can't stand to go back to something they've done before, fine, enjoy it. That is not me.

We read very quickly and you know what there are not a lot of works out there that are engaging for us. We like going back to the Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, Harry Potter and the like because they are actually long enough to be satisfying. Short one-off stories are fine but they are like an appetizer good enough for starters but not a meal on its own.

For some people the problem may be their reading speed, The Harry Potter audiobooks run around 24 hours long. Most people can read about twice as fast as a person can talk so that still takes up a huge amount of time for them.

You go back to a restaurant that you like, re-reading is much the same.

Seth's Blog: Direct and useful project feedback

Seth's Blog: Direct and useful project feedback: "In my experience, there are three different ways to structure the project. Each leads to a very different feedback loop.

1. The goal of the team is to please you.

2. The goal of the team is to make a product that they love and are proud of building.

3. The goal of the team is to build a great product."

Actually I think Pixar is in #3. Their films are so often filled to the brim with amazing detail that you are sure that the whole team is adding and tweaking and doing their darndest to make the best film possible.

The Long Tail - Wired Blogs

The Long Tail - Wired Blogs: "The pricing of Nyhedsavisen was simple: it was free. And, as something entirely new: it was going to be delivered to the homes of all Danes – at no cost. Not only the newspaper itself was free, delivery was free as well. It was in effect “double-free”."

This looks sane on the surface, it is essentially the exact same business model as the yellow pages. But newspapers have been dying for some time not just the last year so why this was considered a good idea, I don't know. People still read a lot for news but mostly it is online now and it is so much faster it is practically real-time. They lost so much money it would have been cheaper to give away one of the early ebook readers and sell ad space on that.

Practically killing an industry because you are too proud to see you are wrong is stupid beyond reason.

The courage of D-Day

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Feng Shui On Steroids: Design Your Space to Achieve Your Goals | Zen Habits

Feng Shui On Steroids: Design Your Space to Achieve Your Goals | Zen Habits: "Our inner world — emotional, mental space — helps determine our outer world, right? But the space we spend the majority of our time in also plays a huge role in our lives. It can influence our actions, our mood, and it can determine whether we remain stuck or achieve our dreams."

I just redid my desk, since it is just a corner of the bedroom I am not going to call it an office and I worked at making it more ergonomic. And that part works great. There are some holes in the design. The bookshelf is a little too far way but then I wouldn't be able to move the screen as much. There are always tradeoffs.

I think I am going to change the desktop theme to help too.

The Simple Dollar Building Your Career, One Brick at a Time

The Simple Dollar Building Your Career, One Brick at a Time: "A career is like a brick wall. If it’s built well, from a collection of bricks that fit well together and are thoughtfully put in place, it can be a very strong foundation for whatever dreams you may want to reach for. A great collection of bricks, well assembled, will build a platform for you that allows you to stand tall in your profession."

It isn't enough to build up a pile of bricks they need to be set together in proper order.
I am expanding my wall with a more classical education. I am big on American history now to make up for my public schooling. I am also learning iPhone programming. I learned quite a bit about programming in school and did a lot of embedded programming at work but iPhone programming is a lot different and more fun.

Fantasy master David Eddings dies aged 77 |

Fantasy master David Eddings dies aged 77: "Eddings was always delighted, he said, to hear that he'd turned non-readers into readers. 'I look upon this as perhaps my purpose in life,' he said in 1997. 'I am here to teach a generation or two how to read. After they've finished with me and I don't challenge them any more, they can move on to somebody important like Homer or Milton.'"

Oh no, another great author has died. I really enjoyed the Belgariad and the Mellorean they were the great for heavy readers wanting something on the light side. My wife and I can read very quickly ~2000 wpm on good days and it there are not a whole lot of books or series out there that can match that.
We'd be closing the back cover and be revved up for something longer. A 5 book series was long enough to really develop the characters and background to the point it would really come alive.

Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia: Million Dollar Ideas...

Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia: Million Dollar Ideas...: "Million dollar ideas are a dime a dozen. For immediate results, focus on ideas that can be developed on a shoestring or a credit card. Ideas you can finance yourself and test on a small scale are more likely to bring you income and job satisfaction"

Hmm.

Wal-Mart's Weight Effect - Forbes.com

Wal-Mart's Weight Effect - Forbes.com: "Our data suggest that we buy healthier food when our purchasing power increases. There is a small increase in consumption of fruit and vegetables in places where Wal-Mart does a lot of business and a decrease--or smaller increase--in fatty food consumption relative to places where Wal-Mart doesn't do business. That is, people might consume more fatty foods, but consumption of those unhealthy goods increases more slowly than it does for the rest of the population."

This goes against prevailing "wisdom" and this is why doing science the right way is so important. Sure, there are lots of studies that confirm the obvious, and we laugh at the scientists. But when the counter-intuitive happens then you have something really important.

Coding Horror: I Stopped Reading Your Blog Years Ago

Coding Horror: I Stopped Reading Your Blog Years Ago: "there was a strange punishment the parents doled out to their children when they seriously misbehaved. For a period of a week, or longer -- depending on the severity of the misbehavior -- nobody in the family would talk to, acknowledge, or address in any way, that particular boy. It was called 'The Silent Treatment'. This didn't seem like much of a punishment to me. In fact, as an introverted kid who loved solitary activities like computers and reading more than anything, it seemed kind of like a .. reward"

And that is the biggest difference between an extrovert and an introvert. For extroverts that more they are around people the more energized they get. They live on the outside of their skin flitting from topic to topic and group to group fast and easily.
An introvert on the other hand does need social interaction but on a completely different level. They need to go deep on something. I would much rather spend an afternoon talking, discussing, and arguing some major idea. Small talk will drive an introvert insane fairly quickly. We live inside our heads slightly to one side and we like it.
We are more like Spock while extroverts are more like McCoy.

The Case for Working With Your Hands - NYTimes.com

The Case for Working With Your Hands - NYTimes.com: "One shop teacher suggested to me that “in schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement."

This is the thing. It is really rather hard to put much effort into something you know has little to no value. This also is obvious to pretty much everyone, but for some reason things don't change. There is something the matter here and so everything is distorted. I wonder what is causing it?

Amazon fails Marketing 101

Amazon losing money on $9.99 e-books | TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home: "Amazon has to pay the same wholesale price to the publishers for e-books as for print editions of those books—more or less half of the print edition price. (So do other e-book vendors; this is why even Fictionwise must charge excessive rates for books from publishers such as Random House, though they do they best they can to bring the prices down with discounts.)"

Wait the idea is to give away the razor and sell them the blades, not the other way around. I think someone just failed their Marketing 101 class. Not that they should give away Kindles but they could drop the price way down. The loss-leader is supposed to be the hardware not the content. I still think that idea of the newspapers offering a free Kindle with a year's subscription would at least forestall the end of the newspaper. I saw that the New York Times is working on a ereader of their own but they don't have a lot of time left, just use the Kindle to stop the bleeding.

Amazon also just announced that they are going to be publishing books on their own under AmazonEncore. Actually what they should do is offer an Apple App Store split with authors who sign up for that for the Kindle version, a dead-tree version would be different of course. They would be flooded with authors and books and that is fine Sturgeon's Law holds in any case, most of it will be junk but so is what we have now. But Amazon makes it a lot easier to find in their store compared to the App Store so they have the advantage.

Sure the other publishers and the Author's Guild won't like it but when you realize that you can't win the game you are playing you just have to change the game that is being played.