Dispatches from the New World of Work: Comments

Comment on "May All the Gods Smile Upon Them!"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:16:37 -0500

Thought 4: the best record player I ever had was made by an American company called Acoustic Research. It was driven by an elastic band. If you wanted to change speed from 33 to 45 rpm you had to take off the platter and move the band from one gearwheel to another. The playing arm was lifted and lowered by a simple lever. There weren't even hinges on the perspex lid - you just lifted it off and put it somewhere else. It was a machine designed to do one thing superbly well, and that was to reproduce the sound on the disc. Anything else, like convenience, came a very poor second. It was as un-automatic and simple as it could possibly be, and almost perfect.

- RobCH

Comment on "May All the Gods Smile Upon Them!"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:01:33 -0500

Thought 3: one of Dieter Rams' (b 1932, chief designer for Braun since 1961) ten design principles is: Good design is as little design as possible. His design philosophy "Less, but Better". Rams apparently has been a big influence on Jonathan Ive of Apple.

- RobCH

Comment on "May All the Gods Smile Upon Them!"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:36:39 -0500

Thought 1: there is a big design difference between the art of making complex things simple to use, and not making things unnecessarily complex in the first place. Thought 2: part of the problem is that marketing bods have for decades been raised on the FFB mantra: the more of them you can offer in a product, the more people will want whatever it is you're selling. The possibility that one of the Bs might be a lot fewer Fs and Fs is not often raised.

- RobCH

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:10:57 -0500

Was anybody else disappointed that Moroney's response to Amazon's business model proposal was to go to law to defend his slice of the old, old pie? That is, instead of looking to define the pie radically differently (yet again) in a way that would put his organisation (maybe in a very different shape) back in the driving seat? He has content (at least for the time being), any of which he could choose to offer with/to/through a variety of partner channels. But from what I can see (and forgive me, Mr M, if there is a whole lot more behind the scenes) he appears to have decided to sell the family silver and now be resentful that he is being offered a derisory sum for it. Thing is, he's already conceded defeat - this battle is merely over the terms he can squeeze from the victor. It's the evolutionary process in action. Amazon's model is no more "free" than Moroney's, so some small, smart, lithe, warm-blooded rodent can still come in and make them all extinct. Ah, I'm in the land of mixed metaphors again...

- RobCH

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:01:27 -0500

Nice piece Tom.
Happy Independence Day from everyone in New Zealand.
Peace!

- Shaun O'Neill

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:47:56 -0500

Randy, our buddy Tom usually manages to "double dip" from my checking account: I often buy an audio book, then I want the printed copy to scribble notes in and highlight, so it's BAAAACCCCKKKK to the bookstore (or Amazon.) Sometimes it's the other way around: I enjoy the book so much that I buy the audio book to listen to on longer drives. It's not fair. Just package the things together and give me a discount. LOL.

MarkJF, I can NOT believe you'd ask such a foolish question. EVERYBODY knows what tape is: that's what they use to seal the box when they ship it to you. "Ya buy 'em books and buy 'em books..." LOL. Hell, I've still got around 100 8-track tapes in nice storage boxes (including a few by the Eagles -- Trevor will be pleased to know.) But my more prized possessions are a LARGE box of 45 RPM records. My great grandmother ran a restaurant in the small town of Oneonta, AL a long time ago. Whenever a new record was put in the jukebox, the technician wrote the date on it (usually.) When they were taken out of the machine, she got to keep them. I have everything from Elvis Presley to the Beatles and can tell you when a lot of them were first put in. Some nostalgic conversations get stirred by those old records.

In the way of tape, I also have some 3-inch VTR (yes, 3" inch wide videotapes that could only be played on an Ampex VTR1200 machine that takes up a room.) Among those are some original "George Wallace for Governor" campaign ads that were loaded on a machine, played once for transferring to other tapes (like 3/4" U-Matics), then sealed back up and never played again. Might be worth something one day -- assuming there's still anything to play them on. Last I knew, there was only like one guy left in the country that could repair one of those machines. I know because we paid handsomely to fly him to Alabama and back during his vacation once to fix our 1200 at the station. That wasn't a nice experience at all.

- Dan Gunter

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:50:10 -0500

So say we all.

- David Porter

Comment on "May All the Gods Smile Upon Them!"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:36:56 -0500

Or what about this one Dan - "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I
realised that The Lord doesn't work that way, so I stole one and asked him to forgive me"

Its 1.30 am and time for me to hit the sack my friend - We've lowered the tone far too much already this evening. Tom could well fire us both - but I suspect he may smile just a bit too :-)

- Trevor Gay

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:27:01 -0500

Mike L - Apologies about George III - we can choose our friends but alas not our Kings and Queens :-)

Interesting to ponder your observation of how empires collapse in their pursuit of power over and domination of other nations. I'm reminded of Don Henley (in his uniquely brilliant and irreverent way) sings as follows on The Eagles classic latest album title track "Long Road Out of Eden" about the fallacy and stupidity of craving for an 'Empire'-

"Went down the road to Damascus, the road to Mandalay
Met the ghost of Caesar on the Appian Way
He said, "It's hard to stop this binging once you get a taste
But the road to empire is a bloody, stupid waste"

Behold the bitten apple, the power of the tools
But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools
And it's a long road out of Eden"

Pretty powerful stuff - I'm looking forward to seeing The Eagles next Tuesday in Birmingham where Don will no doubt belt that one out.

- Trevor Gay

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:39:06 -0500

TP - This is a most beautiful post. Thank you so very much for your acknowledgment of workers, entrepreneurs and those who have taken tremendous cut and blows to their dignity and pride, yet they do as you have said; they endure. Inspiring indeed!

Happy 4th of July!

"They were led by someone who did not have a good grasp of the world situation (George III)."

Just imagine if Sarah Palin was the president? She is clearly out of her league. That rambling speech was classic SP. There is no plan here; this woman is utterly lost, save the fact that she seeks celebrity. OK. The beauty contestant simply needs to go back to prancing and winking in the arena she knows best. Maybe there's a reality show down the road. Best in that.

- Judith Ellis

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:31:19 -0500

It is sort of humbling when you think about how stressed-out we get over starting a company and knowing we might lose our investment if it fails... when you compare it to a bunch of brave souls setting out to start a nation all the while knowing failure might mean they lose their lives.

Perspective is a funny thing, isn't it?

- Dan Gunter

Comment on "May All the Gods Smile Upon Them!"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:23:04 -0500

Trevor, love the rant about the signal. Reminds me of other foolishness, like seeing the sign at McDonald's that says "Braille Menu Available Upon Request." Except the sign has no braille on it. And it's displayed about eight feet up in a glass window. But that's okay. I can't read braille anyway.

- Dan Gunter

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:20:48 -0500

Perhaps we can also learn from the fate of the British Empire. In 1776, the British were over-extended, under-funded, and had a determined enemy (France). They were led by someone who did not have a good grasp of the world situation (George III).

- Mike L.

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:20:25 -0500

The rules are easy about FREE; the recent book from Chris Anderson; I will buy it; however it is common sense that people (Me) I do not want to pay for something that does not add value to my life; for example I was subscribed to Barron's and WSJ - however every other day (or week) I would miss a delivery (issue); I would call customer service and the answer was - well this is the way it is; if you do not receive the daily issues (WSJ) the printing departmen is at fault no us (The customer service dept). Bottom line they never delivered my daily issue and I did not re-ordered the paper another 12months - I still get the information via the internet....why should I pay? Why should I go thru that terrible experience? - because when you pay for a service - you expect the service. Why should I worry about them (WJS employees) losing their JOBS?

- Juan

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:16:29 -0500

Indeed we do have much to be thankful for. Let us consider making this 4th of July festive and free of so much nay-saying over the woes that are but the current chapter in this adventure we call life. May year 234 be positive, and filled with ever increasing hope that we will improve upon the good, learn from and diminish the bad, and reach out to all our neighbors (both "foreign and domestic") and make our forefathers proud of what they started.

Happy and safe 4th of July to all.

- Dan Gunter

Comment on "233 And [Steadfastly] Counting"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:51:59 -0500

Happy Independence Day to you Tom; to ALL the team at Tom Peters.com; and to my many friends in the US from the right hand side of the pond. For the record and in spite of differences we may have had with the previous resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I for one want the US to be on the inside of Britain's tent p*****g out rather than being on the outside p*****g in :-)- Have a great day all!

- Trevor Gay

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:45:59 -0500

And having read it (and told many friends) can I add what an honest, superb book "Dropping Almonds" is. I encourage all TP commenters to order Scott's book. As Scott is far too modest to blow his own trumpet let me say on his behalf you can see details here:

http://www.droppingalmonds.com/

- Trevor Gay

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:44:35 -0500

Sarah Palin is a joke! Senator McCain is a joke too and maybe he should step down for nominating such a one who could have been a heartbeat away from the presidency. Perish the thought! Give me a break! She's a joke!

- Judith Ellis

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:36:22 -0500

I had the good fortune of self-publishing a book. The process was wonderful and the product is so much more friendly to the environment. There was also a recent article in Smart Money (I think) that discussed the relevance of self-publishing and instantly credibility with those who choose to go down this path. Another benefit-----no big publishing house is going to provide a dope like me an opportunity to publish. Trafford Publishing, albeit from Canada/England, was exceptional to work with.

Speaking of gender differences...nice to see that the lynch mob finally ran Palin out of the Governor's office. She was treated horribly by the media. Even though Obama stated that family should be off limits, wasn't the case with Palin. Kinda sad from my perspective...

- Scott Peters

Comment on "Link Roundup #3"

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:36:21 -0500

4COL Cathy @TEOTD AWGTHTGTTA Its TEOTWAWKI

Best wishes from England :-)

- Trevor Gay