Scott Barstow

In honor of the SOPA Blackout, I give you the Scorpions...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:05:01 -0500

In honor of the SOPA Blackout, I give you the Scorpions “Blackout”, which I will not be able to do if SOPA passes.

Join today’s blackout and protest SOPA. Find out more here

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:54:20 -0500

Join today’s blackout and protest SOPA.

Find out more here

MLK

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:05:20 -0500

I read this quote on Seth Godin’s blog today from Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s tremendous, and worth repeating, especially with the circus we are about to endure in an election year.

“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.”

May you live as a maladjusted nonconformist.

Would You Like Some Bland With That?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:00:05 -0500

I spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Tulsa, OK visiting family. On one of the days my wife and I decided to go get some coffee (or tea in my case). There were, of course, sixteen Starbucks within a five mile radius of where we were, but I wanted something different.

We stumbled upon a cool little, locally owned, coffee shop called Agora with the help of Google Maps. What I loved about this place was that they took the time to help us find a coffee and tea that were really perfect for the day and our mood. I actually ordered something, changed my mind, and got something different without the guy rolling his eyes and treating me like an idiot (or charging me for the first drink).

Later on that same day we went to Pepper’s Grill for dinner. If you are ever in Tulsa, this is really the only place I would characterize as a must-visit. They have some of the best tex-mex food on the planet. Not coincidentally, they are also locally owned.

I am getting to where I will drive a good bit out of the way to have an experience that I can’t get on every corner in every city in the US. I know people love Panera and Starbucks, but they are all so bland. Who wants bland?

How about you? Do you prefer convenience and consistency over quality and excellence? Do you look for local and unique over national and same?

The Number Two

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:53:06 -0500

A man with two clocks never knows the time.

A man cannot serve two masters.

These independent thoughts have in common the distraction of having two of something. In the case of business, this might be having two competing objectives, or to be more to the point not having one clear objective.

I think there is also something to the idea that trying to be something you are not (personally or professionally) creates two of you. The real you and the other you.

Lots of people think of the new year as a time to add to their lives those things that they think are missing. There is more value, I would submit, in ruthlessly getting rid of things that don’t belong.

Getting down to one is where I am headed each day. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.

How about you?

Books to Read - January 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:01:16 -0500

I usually pull most of the books I recommend each month from my current reading list. Last month, however, was a particularly bad month for reading for me. I seemed to get in a rut of books I didn’t like and had a hard time getting out of it. That is, until the last week and a half or so. I only have three books on this month’s list, but all of them are very much worth a read.

Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rarely do I read a book that so gets ahold of me that I have pages of notes after only being half way through it. Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are certainly two of them. Emerson’s essays on self reliance are simply brilliant and will push you into uncomfortable questions about yourself. This group of essays has been republished by Seth Godin’s Domino Project and I can’t recommend this reading any higher. It’s January’s must-read.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

This is my first time reading the classic by Orwell, and I have found it to be both very entertaining and creative as well as prescient to our modern age as well. Although the book was clearly focused on the gaping holes in Communist ideology (and practice), there are a remarkable number of practices in modern government that are played out in the drama on Animal Farm. The self-importance, privilege and self-proclaimed aristocracy practiced by Napoleon and the pigs of Animal Farm will sound entirely too familiar. This is a very easy read (I read it in about two or three hours), but well worth it.

The Litigators by John Grisham

I have been a fan of John Grisham from his first books. He always seems to release a new book around this time of the year, and I usually end up reading it not long after. The Litigators is an entertaining, easy-to-read story in the Grisham tradition of the small firm taking on the machine. In this case, it’s toy manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies that play the villain, but it’s still classic Grisham fare. If you are looking for something to read to relax, this is a good book to pick up.

Thanks as always for the feedback. I am reading a book this month recommended by one of the regular readers, and am looking forward to reviewing it next month. Until then, happy reading and happy new year!

Starting With @ - A Common Twitter Misunderstanding

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:01:38 -0500

If you use Twitter, there is a well-kept secret about starting your tweets with @. If the first character in your tweet is a Twitter address (e.g. @joeblow), only the people that follow both you and @joeblow will be able to see the tweet.

Here is how it works:

Tweet: I am good friends with @joeblow
Who Sees It: Anyone that follows me

Tweet: @joeblow and I are good friends
Who Sees It: Only people that follow BOTH @joeblow and me. This is handy if you are only wanting a known group to see it, but not real handy if you are expecting everyone to be able to see it.

Tweet: .@joeblow and I are good friends
Who Sees It: Everyone because I started the message with a period. The period can be any character other than the @ or D (D is syntax for direct message). I usually use the period because it’s unobtrusive.

This particular bit of fun bit a good friend of mine today, so I thought I would share it in case others also might have made this mistake.

Hope this helps someone!

Nothing is Fatal

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:00:21 -0500

Except, well, death.

When I am in periods like I am right now, where everything is going sideways, it’s a good reminder that there are very few things that are unrecoverable.

As a companion to this idea, Seth Godin’s post yesterday about failure and mistakes was another reminder that every decision made, while not fatal most of the time, does have consequences. Taking the time to think about “Have I been here before, and how did that go?” is a good thing.

On Liberty

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:16:00 -0500

I rarely delve into politics on this blog. The reason for this is that I aim primarily for this blog to be informative and interesting, and politics is usually neither.

There are times, however, when the laws being considered and passed by the United States government need to be talked about. Such is the case with two pieces of legislation that have received widespread notoriety in the past few weeks: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

SOPA is the latest bill being considered (currently by the house) to put an end to content theft. The bill gives authority to the government to unilaterally block or take down sites that are infringing on copyrighted content. Sounds OK right? Except that current copyright law already provides clear guidelines for displaying or posting copyrighted content. I am sure we have all seen that video on Youtube that used to be there, but was removed because it violated copyright law. So why do we need another law? When asked about the justification for the new law, Chris Dodd (former senator and now head of the Motion Picture Association of America) equated the rights granted the government to the same rights taken by the Chinese government in blocking “illegal” sites there. His quote: ”When the Chinese told Google that they had to block sites or they couldn’t do [business] in their country, they managed to figure out how to block sites.” We are now apparently patterning our laws after a country that has no concern for civil liberties at all. Furthermore, the current iteration of SOPA will hold companies liable for content posted by their users. That means, for instance, that Youtube would be legally liable if I post a bootlegged copy of Death Blow (obscure Seinfeld reference), or if I post a video of me singing “Don’t Stop Believing.” If that seems crazy to you, it’s because it is. The members of Congress feign ignorance and chuckle and chortle about “they aren’t nerds” and “don’t really understand the internet.” It does not seem to stop them from trying to pass asinine, overreaching laws about the subject, however. The reason for this law is clear: Content producers are shoveling money into the pockets of legislators as fast as they can. I think we can all agree that copyrighted content deserves protection, a protection that already exists. We have witnessed the witch hunt taking place by the RIAA, where anyone sharing music is a target of jail time and huge fines. The ambiguity in SOPA will allow the government to have wide-sweeping authority to define “illegal” sites and will cripple technical innovation on the internet. Thankfully yesterday the committee adjourned without a vote and has not scheduled a new date for the vote. We have a temporary victory.

The second, and potentially far worse, breach of liberty is the NDAA, which was passed yesterday by the Senate by a vote of 86-13. The NDAA is passed every year to fund the defense department of the United States. Included in this year’s bill were a few provisions that should scare the living daylights out of every US citizen. These provisions allow for the capture and indefinite detention without due process of American citizens who are suspected of terrorism. The language of these provisions was drafted by none other than John McCain, former Republican presidential candidate, and was drafted and passed in closed committee. I took the time this past week to write to one of the North Carolina senators, Kay Hagan, about her support of this bill. An excerpt of her response is below. The bolding highlights are mine.

“I understand your concerns regarding a number of provisions relating to the detention of terrorists captured by the United States government. I carefully considered these provisions while the legislation was debated on the floor. While I agree that the provisions in the bill are not perfect, I believe they represent a significant improvement over the original version passed by the Armed Services Committee in June. Furthermore, I supported three amendments offered by Senator Diane Feinstein to make reasonable modifications that would have clarified the applicability of the provisions in the bill. While two of those amendments failed by votes of 45-55, the Senate did adopt an amendment from Senator Feinstein to ensure that the bill does not affect existing U.S. law or authorities relating to the detention of U.S. citizens, lawful resident aliens, or any person captured or arrested in the United States. On December 1, 2011 the Senate passed the NDAA by a vote of 93-7.”

What is interesting about the above is that the Feinstein amendments mentioned above were not, so far as I can tell, included in the final version of the bill that passed yesterday. Also interesting is how, apparently, the standard of acceptable law is now that it must be better than the last version, not law that actually makes sense. President Obama had originally promised to veto this bill and has now backed away from that pledge. It appears that the bill will be signed in its current form.

The consideration and passage of these two bills has me deeply concerned. The government is usurping power at an alarming rate, and our ability to speak out is now threatened in real ways on two very important fronts.

I would urge you to get engaged. The cynical view is that there is nothing you can do. There is too much power, and too much money, coalescing in Washington. I know, because it’s a view I share often. However, the price of doing nothing is becoming higher and higher. Check out people like Buddy Roemer, Larry Lessig, and others that have real ideas on how things can be fixed, and get behind someone that values personal freedom. Don’t vote for anyone currently running for President. They are all cut from the same cloth. It will take nothing short of revolution by evolution to reverse our course.

With liberty and justice for all.

George Colony on the future of computing. Courtesy of Le Web...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:06 -0500

George Colony on the future of computing. Courtesy of Le Web ‘11 and Fred Wilson. I would love to hear your thoughts on the content, particularly the post-social and enterprise opportunities emerging.

You Never Know Who's in the Room

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:00:06 -0500

A few years back I went to see a Switchfoot concert at a college nearby. At the time I knew who they were, but would not have considered myself a fan. At the urging of my brother, I went to see them.

The concert venue was lousy, and there was almost no one there. Probably less than 500 people showed up. The warm up bands were awful. I was skeptical.

Next thing I knew Switchfoot was up on stage and giving it everything they had. They had an insane amount of energy and put on an amazing show. I became a fan that night. Fast forward three or four years to two weeks ago when I took my entire family up to Charlottesville, VA to see them perform again. It’s a four-hour drive from where we live, but I knew it would be worth it.

Sure enough, they killed it again. It was one of the best live shows I have seen.

The moral of the story for me has nothing to do with Switchfoot, but rather their commitment to giving it all every night they perform. They could have easily mailed it in the night I first saw them, or even given 75% of their usual effort. Instead, they made us feel like there was nowhere else they would rather be. As a result, they gained a whole family as devoted fans.

Something to think about when you don’t feel like doing your best work.

Books to Read - December 2011

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:09:11 -0500

As we wind down 2011, the following is my must-read list for December. These books are a combination of recently read and a classic that have a theme of great adversity and the triumph of the human soul. Seems fitting for the end of this year. I hope you enjoy all of them!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

From the author of Seabiscuit comes a book that you will simply not be able to put down. I have read a lot of books this year, and this one is at or near the top of the entire list. The story of Louis Zamperini is one of the most compelling accounts of human drama I have ever come across. From his early days as an Olympic runner to his harrowing experiences in the Pacific and in Japanese POW camps, it is simply amazing. It is on par with Touching the Void for courage in the face of incredible adversity. I am about 3/4 through this book and it is keeping me up every night till the wee hours. Buy it and read it.

The Great Bridge by David McCullough

I have talked about this book before on my reading list, but I saw it on the shelf a few days ago and thought about it again. The story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is simply unbelievable. McCullough does his usual stellar job of storytelling and keeps the story interesting throughout. This is a great selection for those days off at Christmas.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

We are reading this classic for our family reading time. Our kids are really enjoying it, and it is a great book to raise discussion questions about intense subjects. I first read this book in high school and have read it again at least once since then. Lee’s classic tale of race relations in the mid-century south is a great one to put on your list and read again. The story-telling is so good.

That’s it for this month! I wish everyone a great December and will see you in the new year with a brand new list!

Observations from a Rural Outpost

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:05:06 -0500

I am spending this week with family in upstate NY. My parents have lived in the same house for close to 45 years, and I love getting up here a couple of times a year to enjoy a change of scenery.

A few things have jumped out at me since we have been up here.

Americans watch a ton of television. I guess I don’t notice it as much where we live for whatever reason, but as we have been out at night enjoying the brisk winter air it seems that every house has their TV on. Some of it is no doubt generational. Many of the people living here are older, and there is but so much that one can do in 30 degree weather. None-the-less, it’s been eye-opening, and a touch depressing.
The migration away from small towns feels very real here. As I drive down the road, I often try to figure out what the people that live here are doing for a living. As the factories that powered this area have closed down, it gets harder and harder to find real industry or job-producing engines. More and more homes stand empty each time we visit. Living in North Carolina, I know where a lot of them are going. Charlotte and Raleigh are top destinations for people leaving New York.
I realize why many people crave the small town living experience. There is something about living in a town of less than 2,000 people that you can’t get in a suburban neighborhood. I don’t know that the opposite is true.
Somehow Uggs boots manage to find their way into every crevasse in America. It’s one of life’s profound mysteries.

Below are some scenes from here in Franklin.

My parent’s house

The Franklin Postmaster

The hallowed halls of Franklin Central School

The local houses of worship

The village hall

The Technology Adoption Debt

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:06:05 -0500

I am guilty many times of rushing to judgement about how widespread technology adoption is among the general population in the US. I often presume that because I know about and use great technology every day that most everyone else is doing the same.

It’s simply not true. There is a significant portion of the population that doesn’t know anything about Dropbox or GMail or dozens of the other time-saving, productivity boosting applications that I take for granted.

The amount of time spent on doing things the hard way, simply because the better way is not known, is overwhelming. The good news is that the opportunity to make a difference is equally large.

Backupify - A Service To Back Up Your Gmail and Social Accounts

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:31:17 -0500

I have been a customer of Gmail since 2004. Since that time, nearly all of my email has been stored with Google. It’s something I fret about from time to time when I think about the cost of losing my mail to either an error at Google, a hack of my account, or human error.

This week I came across a great service called Backupify. It does a nightly backup of your mail, calendar, and Google Docs. In addition, the service will back up your Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as any Facebook Fan Pages that you administer. There are a number of other services such as Flickr, Picasa and Zoho that are also included.

The service has three levels: Personal, MyCloud 100 and MyCloud 500. The prices are Free, $4.99/mo and $19.99/mo respectively. The details on what is included with each plan can be found here.

I also use Apple Mail to back up my mail periodically to my local machine, but Backupify gives me an additional measure of peace of mind.

Check it out!

It's What We Have

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:05:06 -0500

I was listening to an interview with REM the other night on NPR. Michael Stipe and Mike Miles were in studio, talking about closing out three decades of amazing music. I must disclose I don’t care for REM at all, but can acknowledge that their contribution to music is worthy of high praise.

Toward the end of the interview, each was asked what was next for them individually. As the voices for most all REM songs, the two talked about how different it would be in the future not singing with each other.

Mike Miles said “It won’t be what we had, but it will be what we have.” I thought that was a great quote.

The Privilege of Protest

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:05:05 -0500

I witnessed two events in the past week that could not have presented a more different view the world.

The first was a fundraiser last Saturday night for an organization based here in Raleigh called Jobs for Life. Jobs for Life equips people for the workforce who have had little or no experience in getting or holding a job. The curriculum teaches how to interview, how to fill out applications, and why showing up for work every day matters. The organization also works with businesses in the cities where the programs are held to assist with placement where possible. The most memorable parts of the evening were listening to people stand up and tell their stories of success in the program. Each of the participants gushed with pride as they talked about the change in their lives brought about by the dignity of work and opportunity.

The second event was the shutting down of the campground in Zucotti Park, NYC, the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement. As stories of rampant drug use, the spread of TB, and other issues became more prevalent, Mayor Bloomberg of New York decided that enough was enough. I can’t say that I get the point of view of the whole OWS movement. In fact, I don’t get it at all.

Setting my personal viewpoint aside for a moment, however, the contrast between these two events could not have been more stark. On the one hand, I saw a group of people that had been given almost nothing, and in many cases had had everything taken away, working hard to change their lives. Jail time, extreme poverty and hardship had been replaced by hope and the promise of a better life. On the other hand, I witnessed a group of primarily well-educated, privileged people spending their days and nights railing against societal ills in the name of the “other 99%.”

To be sure the protests have their place, and there is truth in some of the issues. However, it seems that perhaps a little less whinging might be the order of the day. In the end this is not an “Arab spring” moment. The relative injustice is incomparable, and we all know it.

Question: Where does the OWS movement go from here, after the shut downs?

Building a Company

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:06:05 -0500

I realized this past week that I have been guilty of not trying to build a company, but rather building something that might sell someday. It’s not that selling your company is a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind if it happened.

However, the focus is not the same. I was finishing up Steve Jobs biography last week and there is a great section in the very last chapter. It is essentially his goodbye. He says “My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary.”

The decisions that are made every day are heavily influenced by the targets set. What has dawned on me is that by not being committed to making something great I have reduced any chance of doing something worthwhile to nearly zero.

There are the occasional companies that zoom to the top, get sold, and then evaporate. However, the great companies, the ones that truly make a difference, seem to have a greater purpose than just the pursuit of wealth.

Question: What are your motivations for the work that you are doing?

Worth Watching - November 2011

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:19:03 -0500

Recently there have been several videos that have captured (or recaptured) my interest. As I have done with books for a while,

Objectified is a really interesting documentary on industrial design. From BMW to Braun to Apple, the best in design is explored in this 1.5 hour film. Available for streaming on Netflix or Amazon, or for purchase on iTunes.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - All Things D Conference

Having just finished the Steve Jobs biography, I went looking for this video on the recommendation from a good friend. From the very earliest relationships up to the present day, Jobs and Gates recount their friendship, competition, and often times reliance upon one another for their success. While both took vastly different approaches to solving the problem of personal computing, their paths intersected at most every turn. Really interesting video, and worth the time.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

If you are a fan of the book series, you are no doubt eagerly awaiting the release of the Hollywood version of this film at Christmas time. However, a few weeks ago we watched the Swedish version on Netflix and it is very, very good. After watching it, I am having a hard time believing the American release will be any better. The characters in this film are spot on with the book, making it a very enjoyable film. Available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

There you have it. The first set of Worth Watching. I hope you enjoy these films as much as I have over the last few weeks.

Thank You, Veterans

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:57:46 -0500

On this Veterans Day, thank you to all of the people who risk their lives every day in service to the USA. There is simply no way to repay the families of those who have lost their lives. Every citizen owes you a tremendous debt.

Some statistics to consider:

There have been over 6,200 men and women killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 10 years since the wars started. The Washington Post has a tribute to each one at this link. It is sobering, and worth a look.
The United States spends almost 2x the next six countries combined on national defense. Of those next six countries, only two are non-NATO countries (Russia and China).
In its prime, the British empire spent 2x the next closest country to maintain it’s naval superiority
US defense spending in 2010 was $698 billion. The US budget deficit in 2010 was $1.2 trillion.
China spent $114 billion in 2010. Russia spent $53 billion.

Take a moment out of your day today and remember the fallen.