Categories
quotes

Thoughtless optimism

What kind of organizational dysfunction does it take to completely ignore the changed circumstances and keep at a money-losing business?

What’s even funnier is that [they] could probably have been profitable if they had just skipped the one unnecessarily stupid part of their business model…

Nobody at Clear did any thinking. They had a business model, the business model wasn’t actually possible, everybody knew it, and they still plugged away at it. Thoughtless optimism. I don’t know whether to salute ‘em or laugh.

Joel Spolsky, in The eternal optimism of the Clear mind [joelonsoftware.com]

In the eternal words of the Mountain Dew ‘dudes’: “Been there. Done that. Doin’ it tomorrow.”

Categories
ranting

We choose to go to the moon …, not because [it is] easy, but because…

Man must be in space —that is what we are destined for. There is nothing else that we can do.

Majel Barrett
Categories
photography

The face in the tree

IMG_5015
Categories
quotes

Chastity and Impotence

“It’s always important to distinguish between chastity and impotence.”

Mae Jemison [wikipedia.org], quoting Sydney Brenner [wikipedia.org] in her TED Talk on teaching arts and sciences together [ted.com].
Categories
ranting

Resetting the Rhetoric

A lot has been said about the hostile rhetoric of the Bush years—something that is thankfully behind us. President Obama’s speech in Cairo [whitehouse.gov] yesterday was a good example of a new rhetoric. Continuing a recent string of improved rhetoric including verbal pressure on Israel to stop the settlement building and calling on China to acknowledge the dead from the Tienanmen Square massacre. Improving the rhetoric of the United States is a good first step, and while Noam Chompsky [chompsky.info] might not be happy [alternet.org] (then again he wouldn’t be very Chompsky if he was would he?) I welcome the change in rhetoric. No one can change the vast workings of the US government overnight —nor indeed in 100 nights. It will take a long sustained effort. Changing the rhetoric is the first and possibly the easiest step. Now the Obama administration needs to continue the backup rhetoric with reality. If Obama and his team can do that, then they will go down in history as one of the best administrations.