LiveJournal Down But Not Out
I was surprised but not shocked to learn that LiveJournal has cut back roughly 1/5 of its staffing levels. Although some blogs reported that “20 of 27″ employees were let go, the real number of heads chopped off is somewhere around 12, which works out to 20% of the company’s workforce. This is a news [...]
New York Times Still in the Game
The New York Times finally caved in and sold 2.5 inches of front page ad space to CBS (published in the Jan 05, 2008 edition). For years, the front page has been considered a kind of last bastion against corporate intrusion and the icy grip of advertising. I don’t see NYT’s move as a signal [...]
GM Hopes to Improve its Fortunes by Lowering its Lending Standards
In another disgusting development, GM has announced it will be pushing profits by selling financing for its SUVs to buyers whose credit scores would have previously been unacceptable to the company. Whereas before the minimum credit score of 700 was needed to be accepted for financing, the bar has now been lowered to 621 (620 [...]
Trust Has Limits
It’s hard to find good people you can trust. I have always favoured the alternative – put measures in place to prevent people from screwing you over. No one person should be so integral to a business that they can unmake the organization in a single fell swoop. Let the situation faced by JournalSpace be [...]
Culture of Mediocrity
Let’s talk about mediocrity. We are a society of followers (ever hear the phrase ‘Monkey see, monkey do’?) We are trained to do what the leader does and to act like the cool kids. We want flash, style, appeal, and success. There are phases we go through – when we follow, when we adapt, and [...]
Bailout Money Could Have Come From Executive Bonuses
What happened to the idea that “the captain goes down with the ship”? According to a post at Factesque, the Associated Press took a look into how much of the federal bailout money was spent on paying for the salaries of those. As it turns out, the money used for that purpose was relatively small [...]
Caffeine Withdrawal and the Working World
Almost everyone is familiar with caffeine in one form or another, whether through the cup of coffee in the morning, lunch, afternoon and evening, or be it a can of coke, it is rare to fiond someone who hasn’t felt the charge of caffeine in the morning or during a late-night study period. Bonus points [...]
2008 in Photographs
The Boston Globe has posted a series of over 100 amazing photographs detailing 2008 around the world. 2008 in Photographs – Part 1 2008 in Photographs – Part 2 2008 in Photographs – Part 3 Some of the content is violent and graphic, however the editors have blocked these by default. The squeamish types can [...]
New York City Switching to LED Street Lights
In a move sure to please the team of president-elect Obama, New York City is taking steps to promote its own green economy by switching to LED streetlamps. The program will provide the city with a few key benefits: Cheaper maintenance: LED lamps work twice as long as the currently used high pressure sodium bulbs. [...]
Automakers Get Bailout
This morning the White House announced $13.4 billion in loans to the Big Three automakers in Detroit, with an additional $4 billion handout waiting in the wings for February. In return the automakers will let the government inspect their books and promise not to fly their executives around in fancy jets. There is a satirical [...]
