Healthy campaign; Sick government.
I just finished reading Double Down: Game Change 2012. It’s a tick-tock of the last presidential election. As you might expect from someone who ran for Congress (and is a geek), I’m fascinated by the behind-the-scenes stuff. (Yes, recommended for those w/a similar mindset.) One of the sharpest points in the book was just how finely-tuned the […]
Google, P&G, and Insidious Interviews
Interesting article in the NY Times about what Google has learned about hiring over the years. The highlights: 1) GPA & standardized test scores were uncorrelated with employee performance. 2) Ability to answer brainteasers was uncorrelated with employee performance. 3) Behavioral interviews were effective in predicting employee performance. In 2007, I shared with Google my […]
square and starbucks.
What’s in it for Starbucks? That’s the question I was asking after I digested the big news from last night that Square signed a deal with Starbucks to power their payments. I won’t detail the deal, because if you haven’t read about it already, you definitely don’t care about this post. First, I’m surprised at […]
the less discussed, other sinister plot at groupon.
I love Silicon Valley. Love almost everything about the technology ecosystem. I grew up in New Jersey watching with extreme envy and wonderment as the ‘95-01 boom-bust played out. Like most, I also share a certain reverence for Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, the Valley tends to indulge in one of the less enviable Jobsian traits: the […]
what is quora?
The best site you (probably) have never heard of. I started playing around on Quora a little over a year ago. In that time I’ve become addicted. However it’s one of these sites that’s contained to Silicon Valley + a few people connected to Valley’ers. So let’s talk about it. So what is Quora? 1) […]
financial services reading.
Lots of disturbing, horrifying, and bizarre facts out there about the state of the financial services sector of our economy. One of my all-time favorite writers, Michael Lewis, has a great piece on AIG in Vanity Fair. Much more controversially, Matt Taibbi, in Rolling Stone posts a searing indictment of uber-bank Goldman Sachs. Almost must […]
2 hours of pain and bliss.
Below are some of the more interesting articles I’ve found over the past month. Not sure if it adds up to 2 hours of reading, but it sounded like a good title to me. Why pain? Because reading some of these articles made my blood boil and indignation rage. After avoiding these kinds of articles […]
reading joker one.
At one point in 2004-2005 I read a book or two a week. In retrospect, it was a phenomenal time. Some of my earliest memories are of reading soo much. At one point, I remember that my brother and I were so engrossed that our father took our books away from us when we had […]
facebook, twitter and corners.
Back in the day, around age 10, I went door-to-door selling greeting cards, candy, and other random things from a catalog. We’re talking big money here: I probably made $2 for every item sold. Things were going well until the day I got the newest catalog in the mail and then canvassed my neighborhood. A […]
attention & value.
One of the reasons I love writing is that it makes me form coherent thoughts. This process sometimes ends up changing how I view a topic. My previous post on what we value has ended up being one of those times. We live in a world of insane inattention. For me it started with AIM back […]