NPR : U.S. Gold Medalist Donates Award to Darfur Refugees
This was very cool. I'm pretty jaded about the activism of celebrities (for example, the pet rescue squads led by celebs in New Orleans). This usually smacks of self-righteousness and public relations and flies in the face of multi-million dollar divorce settlements, sex-party yachting, and mansion-swapping that will often precede or follow such actions.
This guy managed to be incredibly genuine. In part, perhaps, because he is not a celebrity. In part because of his frank assessment of the relative importance of "people sliding around in a circle on ice wearing tights" vs. world hunger. Perhaps more than that because prior to his winning the gold, he was not even close to being a celebrity. And because he really could have used the money.
I look forward to seeing what happens to this guy. Does he become a celebrity himself, appearing on Wheaties boxes, guest roles on Real World-Road Rules Challenge IV, and endorsements? Nothing wrong with that but what kind of person will he become?
Something to Ponder.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
In Small Town, 'Grease' Ignites a Culture War - New York Times
Who gets to decide what is appropriate? People just don't seem to be able to think ahead, ever. We agree to the suspension of civil liberties and to censorship with the idea that it's the other guy's speech that will be limited or that we will be the censors.
We think "why would the government want to tap my phone? I'm not a terrorist?" and allow them to move forward.
But we live in an evolving society in which there is heterogeny of viewpoints, moral philosophies, political leanings, or ethnicity. What happens when the censors/speech restrictors/wiretappers don't share our viewpoint? Would the conservatives in our country be so comfortable with wiretapping (sans warrant) if Al Gore was the executive running the program?
I can just see a small town in the midwest having a population shift towards naturalized middle easterners and choosing to ban a play about King Arthur because of the way the crusaders ravaged the cities of the Ottomans that they went through.
Who gets to decide what is appropriate? People just don't seem to be able to think ahead, ever. We agree to the suspension of civil liberties and to censorship with the idea that it's the other guy's speech that will be limited or that we will be the censors.
We think "why would the government want to tap my phone? I'm not a terrorist?" and allow them to move forward.
But we live in an evolving society in which there is heterogeny of viewpoints, moral philosophies, political leanings, or ethnicity. What happens when the censors/speech restrictors/wiretappers don't share our viewpoint? Would the conservatives in our country be so comfortable with wiretapping (sans warrant) if Al Gore was the executive running the program?
I can just see a small town in the midwest having a population shift towards naturalized middle easterners and choosing to ban a play about King Arthur because of the way the crusaders ravaged the cities of the Ottomans that they went through.
Welcome to the Best of New Orleans! Cover Story 10 20 03
This article (click the title above) is worth reading again now that the storm waters have receded. How many of the folks on this list have left the city? How many of those since Katrina? I know that Scott Dawson is gone. He was the General Manager of the InterContinental New Orleans. Scott was a good GM, but I heard through the grapevine that managing a hotel full of FEMA-paid guests was markedly different than managing a hotel full of upper-upscale clientele. It took its toll on the staff and, apparently, on Mr. Dawson as well.
Of course the "multi-talented" leader profiled in this article who has decidedly NOT left is our very good friend, the President of the Power Courses. Thanks for staying around, Alex.
This article (click the title above) is worth reading again now that the storm waters have receded. How many of the folks on this list have left the city? How many of those since Katrina? I know that Scott Dawson is gone. He was the General Manager of the InterContinental New Orleans. Scott was a good GM, but I heard through the grapevine that managing a hotel full of FEMA-paid guests was markedly different than managing a hotel full of upper-upscale clientele. It took its toll on the staff and, apparently, on Mr. Dawson as well.
Of course the "multi-talented" leader profiled in this article who has decidedly NOT left is our very good friend, the President of the Power Courses. Thanks for staying around, Alex.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Technology stability - An Unattainable Goal?
Have you ever had to reboot your toaster? In the world of old-school electronics and gadgetry, the world is a binary equation - the thing either works or it doesn't. If it doesn't, if it is expensive you consider fixing it. If it is relatively cheap, you throw it away.
Today, Yahoo appears to be experiencing a service outage for its My Yahoo! customers. Yahoo is the most established online media outlet in the world. They serve more than 70% of Americas Internet users and a sizable chunk of the rest of the world's as well. Their entire business is their websites.
And they are broken this morning.
What does this say about technology? Its future? How it should be used?
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can measure either the velocity of an object as it travels through space or its position, but never both at the same time. Is there a corollary for technology today? My thinking is this: stability requires static technology (no enhancements/changes); progress requires change. Therefore to remain competitive, compelling, and useful over time, you must adapt and change your technology. But this change creates instability (and is, by definition, instability) and with instability inevitably comes unreliability.
Given the competitive pressures of the world, I cannot foresee a static Yahoo. It would be marginalized in about a week. But who can trust a mission-critical function to something which may not be reliable? Would you fly a plane if every 10,000 seconds the engines cut off without warning? (that's 99.99% uptime) Would you use an oven if the voltage regulator managing the current flowing to the oven let massive bursts of energy flood your house every so often? Before you say no, consider the alternative - would you be happy cooking with the appliances used by your grandmother's grandmother? The pace of technological change (that has upped the ante for what is required in order to live) is such that this 4-generation gap occurs in about 1/10th the time now, so sticking with what you have right now will leave you obsolete within about 15 years.
This is a pretty rambly post, but my inability to access my My page today made me think of this.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Slashdot Last NTP Patent Tentatively Thrown Out
Ahhh, E-Commerce patents - the great debate. As a patent holder, I believe that they are, in principle, valid. There are some bad patents undoubtedly - the OpenMarket shopping cart patent perhaps. But there are some good ones.
My perspective - this is like what happened after the commercial viability of electricity became mainstream. Suddenly people were "electrifying" everything that had been manual before. Water pumps - add an electric motor. Toast-makers? Make 'em electric. Cars? Make them electric (and kind of slow, with a short battery life and no trunk space).
Water pumps were certainly not novel, but isn't the whole idea of patent law to incent the inventor to improve upon the original? E-Commerce certainly has its advantages over its analog predecessors, and even Luddites out there (who can't possibly be reading this) would agree that SOME people find the Internet useful for commerce purposes. Does it not make sense that patents will be written to cover inventions in this arena?
Ahhh, E-Commerce patents - the great debate. As a patent holder, I believe that they are, in principle, valid. There are some bad patents undoubtedly - the OpenMarket shopping cart patent perhaps. But there are some good ones.
My perspective - this is like what happened after the commercial viability of electricity became mainstream. Suddenly people were "electrifying" everything that had been manual before. Water pumps - add an electric motor. Toast-makers? Make 'em electric. Cars? Make them electric (and kind of slow, with a short battery life and no trunk space).
Water pumps were certainly not novel, but isn't the whole idea of patent law to incent the inventor to improve upon the original? E-Commerce certainly has its advantages over its analog predecessors, and even Luddites out there (who can't possibly be reading this) would agree that SOME people find the Internet useful for commerce purposes. Does it not make sense that patents will be written to cover inventions in this arena?
Monday, January 30, 2006
The Quiet Revolution in Email Marketing
Bill Nussey is the CEO of Silverpop, an email marketing services firm based in Atlanta. Very good guy, smart, with excellent dot-com and professional services management experience. If you are interested in learning about email marketing, there are worse places to turn to.
Not sure why I am blogging these seeming non sequiturs, but I saw the title of my blog and thought it was somehow appropriate.
Alex, if you read this, note that you can append comments to my posts. Do so. It will be a good way to ease into making your own blog.
Bill Nussey is the CEO of Silverpop, an email marketing services firm based in Atlanta. Very good guy, smart, with excellent dot-com and professional services management experience. If you are interested in learning about email marketing, there are worse places to turn to.
Not sure why I am blogging these seeming non sequiturs, but I saw the title of my blog and thought it was somehow appropriate.
Alex, if you read this, note that you can append comments to my posts. Do so. It will be a good way to ease into making your own blog.
The Straight Dope Front Page
For no particular reason, I thought of my old friend, Cecil Adams. I've never actually met Cecil, but he contributed a significant portion of my personal compendium of eclectic facts. Especially the ones that are true.
Worth a read, especially if you can bring your laptop to the bathroom.
For no particular reason, I thought of my old friend, Cecil Adams. I've never actually met Cecil, but he contributed a significant portion of my personal compendium of eclectic facts. Especially the ones that are true.
Worth a read, especially if you can bring your laptop to the bathroom.
Monday, January 23, 2006
One of the unintended consequences of the evacuee housing benefit offered by FEMA is the impact to hotel tax revenues for the city of New Orleans. Municipalities cannot impose taxes on hotel stays of longer than 30 days. As you can imagine, this is an important revenue source for New Orleans, so they were already taking a big hit. Now that FEMA has again extended the funding of hotel stays, this tax hit is going to be exacerbated. Mardi Gras is a season of very high hotel rates and occupancy, so good tax revenues. Nagin is working hard to assure the world that Mardi Gras is still on for 2006. But where will they stay?
Here is my company's notice on the issue:
Here is my company's notice on the issue:
- ATLANTA – January 23, 2006 – Some of InterContinental Hotels Group brand hotels in the New Orleans area continue to house a large number of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have lost their homes. As a result of the FEMA evacuee housing extension to March 1, 2006, some of our New Orleans hotels may be overbooked during the Mardi Gras season and unable to accommodate incoming guests with confirmed reservations. Guests traveling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with reservations at IHG brand hotels are strongly urged to contact IHG’s dedicated travel advisory line at 1-800-334-3598, or call the hotel directly, to ensure that rooms are still available prior to travel. It is our intent to put evacuees as our top priority, and we have encouraged IHG hotels to give evacuees precedence in fulfilling room requests. It is our hope that guests who have previously booked rooms with those IHG hotels will understand our commitment to provide shelter to those evacuees with nowhere else to go. We will work with guests affected by this situation to help them find alternative accommodations.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
STI: ERsys - New Orleans, LA (Ethnicity)
This site has an interesting chart related to my last post. It does not view the ethnic makeup of the city the way the locals do, but it is interesting.
Most distinctly worth noting is the overall heavy concentration of 50-75 year olds in most parts of the city. This is clearly a town that has lost its appeal to my generation (no big surprise). Isn't that a big problem?
I'm proud of a friend of mine for recently (pre-Katrina) being named as one of the most influential New Orleaners under 40 - he would have been on the list in almost any city - but the honor is cheapened by the fact that there are so few in that population segment to choose from!
How can this cultural gem of the US turn this around? San Francisco shares the cultural appeal of New Orleans but is perceived as a virtual Mecca for my generation. What would it take to make this happen for New Orleans?
At this point, I would not be surprised to see the under-40 population of Savannah surpass that of New Orleans, especially among the middle class, before 2020. Ridiculous.
This site has an interesting chart related to my last post. It does not view the ethnic makeup of the city the way the locals do, but it is interesting.
Most distinctly worth noting is the overall heavy concentration of 50-75 year olds in most parts of the city. This is clearly a town that has lost its appeal to my generation (no big surprise). Isn't that a big problem?
I'm proud of a friend of mine for recently (pre-Katrina) being named as one of the most influential New Orleaners under 40 - he would have been on the list in almost any city - but the honor is cheapened by the fact that there are so few in that population segment to choose from!
How can this cultural gem of the US turn this around? San Francisco shares the cultural appeal of New Orleans but is perceived as a virtual Mecca for my generation. What would it take to make this happen for New Orleans?
At this point, I would not be surprised to see the under-40 population of Savannah surpass that of New Orleans, especially among the middle class, before 2020. Ridiculous.
New Orleans mayor sorry for 'chocolate' remark - Yahoo! News
Nagin needs a better handler. He is a compelling speaker but has done as much damage to the city's efforts to rebuild with comments like these as he has done good in raising awareness of the real scope and impact of the problems.
New Orleans was and will always be a "creole" city in the literal, not ethnic sense. A little of this and a little of that, mixed together with concentrations here or there but overall a nice mix.
From a wealth standpoint, caucasians will still dominate. From a population standpoint, black and Creole will maintain pluralities (or close to it), but assuredly Hispanic is on the rise and will be a major influence on city activities.
Do we need to quote Rodney King here? I'm not one to pretend that race and ethnicity is not a real issue and can be ignored, but to we have to fan the flames of polarization?
Nagin needs a better handler. He is a compelling speaker but has done as much damage to the city's efforts to rebuild with comments like these as he has done good in raising awareness of the real scope and impact of the problems.
New Orleans was and will always be a "creole" city in the literal, not ethnic sense. A little of this and a little of that, mixed together with concentrations here or there but overall a nice mix.
From a wealth standpoint, caucasians will still dominate. From a population standpoint, black and Creole will maintain pluralities (or close to it), but assuredly Hispanic is on the rise and will be a major influence on city activities.
Do we need to quote Rodney King here? I'm not one to pretend that race and ethnicity is not a real issue and can be ignored, but to we have to fan the flames of polarization?
Brown Accepts More Blame on Katrina - Yahoo! News
Ya think?
Look, scapegoats are useful. They present a solid target at whom we can vent frustration, anger, grief, or any other negative emotion. Brown was the wrong man for the job when he was appointed and did a lousy job when this first huge-scale disaster came along. But his qualifications were no secret BEFORE his appointment. And disasters happen ALL THE TIME.
We need to step up as citizens and take a more active role in the leadership of our country. If we don't like a proposed candidate for a federal appointment, speak up! Write your congressman, senator, favorite lobbyist, in-law's 3rd cousin who used to be a legislative aide on the Hill, whatever.
At some point, we have to recognize that this truly is a government "of the people" - meaning us. My grandfather used to challenge his daughters whenever they would complain about an unflattering photo that had been taken of them. He'd say, "it's you, isn't it?"
Well, we don't like this particular picture of the government, and with very good reason, but this government did not happen to us - we made it.
By the way, I voted for W. Twice. Didn't particularly like him either time but had my own, non-zealous reasons for giving him the nod. Brown, therefore, is partially my fault.
And yours.
Ya think?
Look, scapegoats are useful. They present a solid target at whom we can vent frustration, anger, grief, or any other negative emotion. Brown was the wrong man for the job when he was appointed and did a lousy job when this first huge-scale disaster came along. But his qualifications were no secret BEFORE his appointment. And disasters happen ALL THE TIME.
We need to step up as citizens and take a more active role in the leadership of our country. If we don't like a proposed candidate for a federal appointment, speak up! Write your congressman, senator, favorite lobbyist, in-law's 3rd cousin who used to be a legislative aide on the Hill, whatever.
At some point, we have to recognize that this truly is a government "of the people" - meaning us. My grandfather used to challenge his daughters whenever they would complain about an unflattering photo that had been taken of them. He'd say, "it's you, isn't it?"
Well, we don't like this particular picture of the government, and with very good reason, but this government did not happen to us - we made it.
By the way, I voted for W. Twice. Didn't particularly like him either time but had my own, non-zealous reasons for giving him the nod. Brown, therefore, is partially my fault.
And yours.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
This one is just about perfect:
(by Boysie Bollinger)
There's not a working clock in this entire city. This morning I went on my walk and the big clock by St. Patrick's Church on Camp said it was 2:30; as I walked on, the Whitney clock said it was 11:15, and by the time I hit the French Quarter a clock there told me quite firmly that it was 6:00 o'clock.
I'm not really surprised at this - New Orleans has always had a problem with time. Time is not linear here; this is a city where people live in two hundred year old houses, have wireless Internet and use 600-year-old recipes while singing 60's songs to their newborns. Time is more of a mental game in New Orleans...you can pick the year you liked the best and stay in that year for the rest of your life here and no one says a thing. You can talk about your great great grandparents as if they were still alive and talk about your neighbors as if they were dead, and we all understand.
Time marches to it's own drunk drummer here. This morning as I walked into the Quarter on Chartres, a woman ran out of a cafe to greet me, "Hey dahlin" she yelled as she hugged me, "Where ya been?" I looked at her and realized it was one of the exotic dancers from one of the smaller establishments on Chartres; over the years I'd become friendly with several of the dancers as I would take my morning walk. We'd smile, wave, and exchange pleasantries. This morning I realized that even though I had said hello to this woman three times a week for four years, I didn't know her name. I smiled, hugged her back and told her how badly I felt that I never knew her name and she laughed "Dahlin, you know my name, it's Baby!" Time to laugh out loud.
Twenty minutes later as I walked up Royal from Esplanade on my way out of the Quarter, a dark sedan stopped in the street right by the Cathedral and all four doors opened at once. I was twittering with curiosity when the driver hopped out, ran to the other side and escorted a smiling [former Ambassador[ Lindy Boggs out of the car. Before I could stop myself I'd yelled out, "Hey Lindy, good to see ya!" Mrs. Boggs, accustomed to such raffish behavior smiled and yelled out "Hey yourself" as she waved, laughed and headed to church, surely thinking it's time to pray for better manners for the likes of me.
We're dealing with a lot of time issues these days, time to meet the insurance specialist, time to call FEMA, time to put out the refrigerator, time to get a new refrigerator, time to decide whether to stay in New Orleans or head elsewhere, time to register the kids for school, time to sell the house, time to buy the house, time to find a job, time to leave a job, time to figure out the rest of your life.
Could we maybe, while dealing with all those time issues, take a minute and remember? Remember that there was a time when all of this was different, there was a time when slaves were sold in the Napoleon House, a time when Mid-City was considered the country, a time when people staged sit ins downtown, a time when there was no McDonald's or Wendy's or even Popeye's, a time when the Quarter burned, a time when people spoke French or Spanish, a time when the Opera House was open, a time when this was all uninhabited, a time when your refrigerator worked, your house was whole, your neighborhood wasn't flooded and your city wasn't defined by a Hurricane.
More than any other city in this country, this is a city defined by the quality of the times people have had here. Maybe it's because it's a port city, maybe it's because of the food, maybe it's because of the heat, but this city remembers everyone who has ever lived, loved and laughed here. People visit us because they can feel the difference as soon as they get here, they can feel how time is honored here, in the time to craft our houses and the time to make a roux. They can feel that the city holds all of our memories, our joys, our sorrows and our triumphs. That any time spent in New Orleans is kept in the breath, air, water and sky of New Orleans. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in New Orleans changes the city and its people, minute-by-minute, day-by-day, year-by-year, so that we can't help but live in the past, present and future.
Time will tell what we will end up looking like, how strong the levees will be, how many houses will be repaired, but we will tell time how strong the people of New Orleans are, how deep our commitments to each other are, and that sometimes the best stories are the ones we write for ourselves.
Once upon a time in a city called New Orleans......
Worth passing along, I think. I received this via email from one of my uncles.
(by Boysie Bollinger)
There's not a working clock in this entire city. This morning I went on my walk and the big clock by St. Patrick's Church on Camp said it was 2:30; as I walked on, the Whitney clock said it was 11:15, and by the time I hit the French Quarter a clock there told me quite firmly that it was 6:00 o'clock.
I'm not really surprised at this - New Orleans has always had a problem with time. Time is not linear here; this is a city where people live in two hundred year old houses, have wireless Internet and use 600-year-old recipes while singing 60's songs to their newborns. Time is more of a mental game in New Orleans...you can pick the year you liked the best and stay in that year for the rest of your life here and no one says a thing. You can talk about your great great grandparents as if they were still alive and talk about your neighbors as if they were dead, and we all understand.
Time marches to it's own drunk drummer here. This morning as I walked into the Quarter on Chartres, a woman ran out of a cafe to greet me, "Hey dahlin" she yelled as she hugged me, "Where ya been?" I looked at her and realized it was one of the exotic dancers from one of the smaller establishments on Chartres; over the years I'd become friendly with several of the dancers as I would take my morning walk. We'd smile, wave, and exchange pleasantries. This morning I realized that even though I had said hello to this woman three times a week for four years, I didn't know her name. I smiled, hugged her back and told her how badly I felt that I never knew her name and she laughed "Dahlin, you know my name, it's Baby!" Time to laugh out loud.
Twenty minutes later as I walked up Royal from Esplanade on my way out of the Quarter, a dark sedan stopped in the street right by the Cathedral and all four doors opened at once. I was twittering with curiosity when the driver hopped out, ran to the other side and escorted a smiling [former Ambassador[ Lindy Boggs out of the car. Before I could stop myself I'd yelled out, "Hey Lindy, good to see ya!" Mrs. Boggs, accustomed to such raffish behavior smiled and yelled out "Hey yourself" as she waved, laughed and headed to church, surely thinking it's time to pray for better manners for the likes of me.
We're dealing with a lot of time issues these days, time to meet the insurance specialist, time to call FEMA, time to put out the refrigerator, time to get a new refrigerator, time to decide whether to stay in New Orleans or head elsewhere, time to register the kids for school, time to sell the house, time to buy the house, time to find a job, time to leave a job, time to figure out the rest of your life.
Could we maybe, while dealing with all those time issues, take a minute and remember? Remember that there was a time when all of this was different, there was a time when slaves were sold in the Napoleon House, a time when Mid-City was considered the country, a time when people staged sit ins downtown, a time when there was no McDonald's or Wendy's or even Popeye's, a time when the Quarter burned, a time when people spoke French or Spanish, a time when the Opera House was open, a time when this was all uninhabited, a time when your refrigerator worked, your house was whole, your neighborhood wasn't flooded and your city wasn't defined by a Hurricane.
More than any other city in this country, this is a city defined by the quality of the times people have had here. Maybe it's because it's a port city, maybe it's because of the food, maybe it's because of the heat, but this city remembers everyone who has ever lived, loved and laughed here. People visit us because they can feel the difference as soon as they get here, they can feel how time is honored here, in the time to craft our houses and the time to make a roux. They can feel that the city holds all of our memories, our joys, our sorrows and our triumphs. That any time spent in New Orleans is kept in the breath, air, water and sky of New Orleans. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in New Orleans changes the city and its people, minute-by-minute, day-by-day, year-by-year, so that we can't help but live in the past, present and future.
Time will tell what we will end up looking like, how strong the levees will be, how many houses will be repaired, but we will tell time how strong the people of New Orleans are, how deep our commitments to each other are, and that sometimes the best stories are the ones we write for ourselves.
Once upon a time in a city called New Orleans......
Worth passing along, I think. I received this via email from one of my uncles.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Good to see that some folks have a sense of humor. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_holiday_display
Not sure if the announcement this week about the opening of Ben Franklin school will be good or bad. It is good if it shows the world (and diaspora of residents) that the city is coming back. Bad if it aggravates Katrina Fatigue that would be bad. I'm a little concerned that some folks might take this as a sign that the crisis has passed. This is FAR from true. Only about 100,000 people have returned to their homes in the city, and among these folks, some long-time residents are deciding to pack it in and move out, according to my old friend Mr. Gershanik.
Thanksgiving has passed, and I, for one, felt I had more to be thankful for than ever.
Not sure if the announcement this week about the opening of Ben Franklin school will be good or bad. It is good if it shows the world (and diaspora of residents) that the city is coming back. Bad if it aggravates Katrina Fatigue that would be bad. I'm a little concerned that some folks might take this as a sign that the crisis has passed. This is FAR from true. Only about 100,000 people have returned to their homes in the city, and among these folks, some long-time residents are deciding to pack it in and move out, according to my old friend Mr. Gershanik.
Thanksgiving has passed, and I, for one, felt I had more to be thankful for than ever.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Great story on "mainstream" media outlet - NPR's Morning Edition. NPR : Government to Redistribute Katrina Contracts
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Article on Louisiana Unemployment
Here is an example of the problem. This report stats important information but does not link the information with other obvious questions, such as "How much of the federal government's $60 billion will be spent helping people who have been unemployed as a result of the storm find employment?" or even better "Is the government making use of available Louisiana labor a priority in FEMA contractor selection?"
Now this article: New Orleans seeks federal aid for courts, jail starts to scratch the surface a little, but will it get picked up by the major media outlets (it is a Reuters service piece).
In another story (with positive implications), some evidence that the recommended model is being adopted in some cases - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and MWH Help Put New Orleans Area Utilities and Local Contractors Back to Work
Here is an example of the problem. This report stats important information but does not link the information with other obvious questions, such as "How much of the federal government's $60 billion will be spent helping people who have been unemployed as a result of the storm find employment?" or even better "Is the government making use of available Louisiana labor a priority in FEMA contractor selection?"
Now this article: New Orleans seeks federal aid for courts, jail starts to scratch the surface a little, but will it get picked up by the major media outlets (it is a Reuters service piece).
In another story (with positive implications), some evidence that the recommended model is being adopted in some cases - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and MWH Help Put New Orleans Area Utilities and Local Contractors Back to Work
New Orleans, Katrina, FEMA, and the aftermath
My friend Alex has just returned to his home in uptown New Orleans. They have power and water, but the city is far from returned to normal. Alex is a very intelligent and well-informed citizen and his role as an officer of the local United Way chapter has given him unique access to the situation on the ground. Unfortunately, the news is not good.
The city of New Orleans is nearly bankrupt. The absence of commerce, the exodus of its tax base, and some ironic aspects of even the good stuff that is happening means that the city's revenues have ground to a halt. Few people realize that of the $60 billion approved for relief by the federal government, the city of New Orleans (i.e., government) receives almost none of this. 3,000 city workers (about half of the staff) has been laid off in the past couple of weeks, and the city's ability to pay the remaining workers is seriously threatened. Recently, Congress allocated $750 million of the $60 billion to be shared with affected municipalities across the gulf region, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to what is really needed.
The situation was not helped by the asinine proposal by the state's two senators to grant the state of Louisiana an astronomical $250 billion in federal aid IN ADDITION TO the $60 billion. This proposal would be equal to nearly 10% of the entire federal budget and was ridiculous. The resulting loss of credibility in congress means effectively that the state is unlikely to receive any material aid from the feds.
So where is the money going? FEMA is hiring contract services firms, like Haliburton, to clean up the city. These firms are subcontracting out the work to firms around the country. For example, the removal of stranded, ruined cars from throughout the city is being conducted by a firm based in California. This firm did not use local labor and trucks, but instead drove its own trucks from California and hired migrant labor for some of the more menial tasks. This example highlights a pattern for the city.
The mainstream news media is divided into two camps - those outlets who operate as a political engine (conservative talk radio, Fox News, etc.) are propogating spin - New Orleans is suffering because of a bad mayor and a bad governor but the federal government is doing wonders. The more liberal or independent media outlets are focusing on human interest stories - the tragic circumstances of evacuee families, the plight of an unemployed New Orleans worker, etc. NO ONE is covering the story of how the federal money is being spent and the realities of the city's economic situation.
Is Nagin the best mayor? Probably not. But is the situation his fault? No, not by any reasonable measure. You cannot ask a government to operate effectively with no money and no means to earn revenues.
New Orleans will eventually recover much of the magic that the world has known for centuries. But the process is abominable and appears to be done entirely the wrong way. Any ideas about how to escalate the visibility of this?
Ugh.
My friend Alex has just returned to his home in uptown New Orleans. They have power and water, but the city is far from returned to normal. Alex is a very intelligent and well-informed citizen and his role as an officer of the local United Way chapter has given him unique access to the situation on the ground. Unfortunately, the news is not good.
The city of New Orleans is nearly bankrupt. The absence of commerce, the exodus of its tax base, and some ironic aspects of even the good stuff that is happening means that the city's revenues have ground to a halt. Few people realize that of the $60 billion approved for relief by the federal government, the city of New Orleans (i.e., government) receives almost none of this. 3,000 city workers (about half of the staff) has been laid off in the past couple of weeks, and the city's ability to pay the remaining workers is seriously threatened. Recently, Congress allocated $750 million of the $60 billion to be shared with affected municipalities across the gulf region, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to what is really needed.
The situation was not helped by the asinine proposal by the state's two senators to grant the state of Louisiana an astronomical $250 billion in federal aid IN ADDITION TO the $60 billion. This proposal would be equal to nearly 10% of the entire federal budget and was ridiculous. The resulting loss of credibility in congress means effectively that the state is unlikely to receive any material aid from the feds.
So where is the money going? FEMA is hiring contract services firms, like Haliburton, to clean up the city. These firms are subcontracting out the work to firms around the country. For example, the removal of stranded, ruined cars from throughout the city is being conducted by a firm based in California. This firm did not use local labor and trucks, but instead drove its own trucks from California and hired migrant labor for some of the more menial tasks. This example highlights a pattern for the city.
The mainstream news media is divided into two camps - those outlets who operate as a political engine (conservative talk radio, Fox News, etc.) are propogating spin - New Orleans is suffering because of a bad mayor and a bad governor but the federal government is doing wonders. The more liberal or independent media outlets are focusing on human interest stories - the tragic circumstances of evacuee families, the plight of an unemployed New Orleans worker, etc. NO ONE is covering the story of how the federal money is being spent and the realities of the city's economic situation.
Is Nagin the best mayor? Probably not. But is the situation his fault? No, not by any reasonable measure. You cannot ask a government to operate effectively with no money and no means to earn revenues.
New Orleans will eventually recover much of the magic that the world has known for centuries. But the process is abominable and appears to be done entirely the wrong way. Any ideas about how to escalate the visibility of this?
Ugh.
Friday, October 14, 2005
In 1996, I started writing about advertising price equilibrium on the Internet. (Yep, this is a yawner, folks.) 9 years later, I'm still talking about it, but more than that we are leveraging this within IHG E-Commerce. My theory revolves around the premise that advertising costs are a function of risk and timing combined with the value of the advertiser's desired outcome plus any branding value. Here is my first attempt to express this function mathematically:
Risk describes which party - the advertiser or the publisher - is bearing the risks of the advertisement. If the advertiser is required to pay irrespective of performance metrics, his risk is greater. If the publisher is not paid unless a sale (or equivalent desired outcome) is achieved, she bears the risk. For the advertiser's cost model
Timing refers to when payment is made for the ad. This value ranges from prepayment to payment in arrears, with a lower value for payment terms similar to prepayment and a higher value for payment in arrears (inverted for the publisher's pricing model).
Uncertainty takes into account asymmetry of information between the advertiser and publisher. For the advertiser, this factor is highest in the first instance where a particular ad placement is purchased by an advertiser (so it would have a value between 0.0 and 1.0, with a lower value indicating greater uncertainty). For the publisher, this risk continues as long as they are not able to access income about the success rate in achieving the advertiser's desired outcome and the value placed on that outcome by the advertiser. Publisher's tend to deal with this uncertainty by under-pricing ads, so values here would be greater than 1.0. An absence of uncertainty (perfect information) would yield a value of exactly 1.0.
Value of desired outcome is entirely determined by the advertiser. This needs to be a real, fixed value in order for this theoretical model to actually be useful in pricing. For some firms, it may mean reaching an arbitrary value by consensus until a more mature and robust valuation model can be built.
Branding value, also determined largely by the advertiser, attempts to quantify what an impression is worth irrespective of the specific, trackable outcome that might otherwise be desired. (This one gets tricky not because in some cases the impression is the desirable outcome, but because most advertisers do not have this metric defined and this would vary from publisher to publisher or even placement to placement.)
I have a powerpoint chart which expresses this function graphically, and at some point I'll publish it to this forum in some way.
Increasingly, I find myself thinking that there might be a book in this somewhere. My friend Bill Nussey, author of The Quiet Revolution in Email Marketing advises me that this is a minimum 1,000 hour effort even with a professional writer.
Price of Advertisement = [(Risk/Uncertainty) X Timing] X Value of desired outcome + Branding value.
Risk describes which party - the advertiser or the publisher - is bearing the risks of the advertisement. If the advertiser is required to pay irrespective of performance metrics, his risk is greater. If the publisher is not paid unless a sale (or equivalent desired outcome) is achieved, she bears the risk. For the advertiser's cost model
Timing refers to when payment is made for the ad. This value ranges from prepayment to payment in arrears, with a lower value for payment terms similar to prepayment and a higher value for payment in arrears (inverted for the publisher's pricing model).
Uncertainty takes into account asymmetry of information between the advertiser and publisher. For the advertiser, this factor is highest in the first instance where a particular ad placement is purchased by an advertiser (so it would have a value between 0.0 and 1.0, with a lower value indicating greater uncertainty). For the publisher, this risk continues as long as they are not able to access income about the success rate in achieving the advertiser's desired outcome and the value placed on that outcome by the advertiser. Publisher's tend to deal with this uncertainty by under-pricing ads, so values here would be greater than 1.0. An absence of uncertainty (perfect information) would yield a value of exactly 1.0.
Value of desired outcome is entirely determined by the advertiser. This needs to be a real, fixed value in order for this theoretical model to actually be useful in pricing. For some firms, it may mean reaching an arbitrary value by consensus until a more mature and robust valuation model can be built.
Branding value, also determined largely by the advertiser, attempts to quantify what an impression is worth irrespective of the specific, trackable outcome that might otherwise be desired. (This one gets tricky not because in some cases the impression is the desirable outcome, but because most advertisers do not have this metric defined and this would vary from publisher to publisher or even placement to placement.)
I have a powerpoint chart which expresses this function graphically, and at some point I'll publish it to this forum in some way.
Increasingly, I find myself thinking that there might be a book in this somewhere. My friend Bill Nussey, author of The Quiet Revolution in Email Marketing advises me that this is a minimum 1,000 hour effort even with a professional writer.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Find out how some of the world’s most successful companies are taking advantage of the international online marketplace and how they are expanding their brands beyond domestic borders to create tremendous global growth for their companies.
The panel is taking place at The Travel Distribution Summit 2005, which is produced by EyeForTravel.com. It will be moderated by Henry Harteveldt, Vice President of Travel Research at Forrester Research. Panelists include:
· Del Ross, Vice President, Global E-Commerce Services,
InterContinental Hotels Group
· Michael Hanke, International E-Commerce Strategist,
United Airlines
· Noreen Henry, Vice President, Hotels, Travelocity
Date: Tuesday, October 4th
Time: 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Central Time
To Participate: Log onto:
http://events.streamlogics.com/conferenceplus/business/Oct0405/index.asp
Please RSVP as soon as possible to:
The panel is taking place at The Travel Distribution Summit 2005, which is produced by EyeForTravel.com. It will be moderated by Henry Harteveldt, Vice President of Travel Research at Forrester Research. Panelists include:
· Del Ross, Vice President, Global E-Commerce Services,
InterContinental Hotels Group
· Michael Hanke, International E-Commerce Strategist,
United Airlines
· Noreen Henry, Vice President, Hotels, Travelocity
Date: Tuesday, October 4th
Time: 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Central Time
To Participate: Log onto:
http://events.streamlogics.com/conferenceplus/business/Oct0405/index.asp
Please RSVP as soon as possible to:
Subscribe to:
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