Friday, February 6, 2009
Stuff White People Like - Macs
My friend Dave pointed me to this blog and I had to rant on it! Especially the one about Macs. As a white person who uses a MacBook Pro (dual-booting with Vista 64 and Leopard, and drives a VW Jetta) I think this is totally hilarious and all to true! I have often thought the same thing. I see people hanging out in coffee shops, checking their emails, looking at their pictures and surfing the web. All on a machine that costs at least $500 more than a PC laptop that could do the exact same thing (especially when the email is gmail). I have come to the conclusion that having a Mac is a status symbol more than anything else. I bet that 90% of the people who own Macs use them for the three things I just mentioned and not a whole lot else. Steve Jobs is a genius in the fact that he has created a brand that sells based on the guise that it is 'more intuitive to use' and gets away with charging 50% more. Anyway, check out the blog...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Adoption Story
I ran across an interesting article today that caught my interest enough that I thought I would rant on it. Since adoption is near and dear to my heart any time I see a story like this I pause and read it. This is truely incredible what these people have done. A small church of 200 or so adopted 72 'of the most abused and neglected foster children in Texas'. Talk about walking the walk. Although they are having hardships, those kids are way better off than what they would have been, due to the sacrifice of a church. Amazing... Yet another confirmation of what I need to be focusing on. Quite simply 'not me'.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hurricane Video
I met a new guy at work last week. His name is Darren Howard and he entered this video in the 'Jimmy Needham Cover Contest'. I thought it was pretty cool and really enjoyed the fact that he did most of it by himself. Anway, check it out....
Oh yeah - he won....
Oh yeah - he won....
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Advent Conspiracy
Ran across this today from a friend on facebook. Not only did I think the message was appropriate, but it really appealed to me from a presentation (visualization) point of view. I think that Garr would like it also... Anyway, enjoy!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
StickySorter
Well, once again I ran across a cool little application that I think has some pretty cool potential. The app is from Microsoft Office Labs and it is called 'StickySorter'. Although I don't do this a lot, I do have times when I need to hold a brainstorming session for some larger groups. Typically, I have what I call a 'Post-it Party', the real name for the technique is called the 'Nominal Group Technique'. Using this technique, everyone in the meeting has a little stack of Post-it notes that they write down their ideas on. Once they have a few written down, everyone takes turns bringing them up to the front and reading them (one at a time) and then posting them on the appropriate 'theme' on the board. If there isn't a theme that matches their note, then they create a new theme. When the meeting is done, the organizer gets the daunting job of transcribing it all out.
What StickySorter does is all that only on your computer, with the ability to reorganize on the fly and then export it out when complete. Pretty plain and simple, but has the ability to bring in some real efficiency. Check it out if you ever have the job of leading a brainstorming session!
What StickySorter does is all that only on your computer, with the ability to reorganize on the fly and then export it out when complete. Pretty plain and simple, but has the ability to bring in some real efficiency. Check it out if you ever have the job of leading a brainstorming session!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Redistribution of Wealth - The Beer Analogy
Special thanks to my friend Andy O. for passing along this analogy created by David R. Kamerchen, Ph.D., (Professor of Economics, University of Georgia). Enjoy!
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could theydivide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So,
the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could theydivide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So,
the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
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