Best served cold

From Speedbump

It's so hot. How how is it?

A friend passed this along and I HAD to share.

Entire Apple Stores Being Faked

We've heard of electronics and designer clothes being faked in China. (How else did I get my genuine Rolex watch in NYC for $25?) Now it seems that some merchants in China are taking it up a notch. Fake Apple Stores have begun to pop up in China. They are patterned after the real Apple Stores and even the employees can be seen wearing the same clothes as true Apple Store employees. The main way to tell the fake from the real seems to be to look at quality of the construction in the store and to test the knowledge of the sales people. If your salesman doesn't know more than you do about the iPhone, then that should raise a red flag.

Burnout & the Great Recession

My company has become obsessed with efficiency. This is not a bad thing in itself - every company should be looking to cut waste and build on their strengths. But I have noticed we have passed the point of cutting fat, and have begun running our best people harder and harder in order to meet deadlines. This is "efficient" - fewer people doing more work - but the stresses and strains are starting to show. And people are starting to ask the deadly question, "Is this really worth it?" And the obvious answer is "No."

Turns out, the same problem is all over in the Great Recession. As employers are forced to do more with less, and then realize they can exploit employers because there are no other jobs to go do, eventually employers are asking the impossible. And burning out their most valuable resources.

Of course, in the long run this strategy is horrible for business. Losing the expertise of one top-performer means hiring someone new, training them from scratch, and perhaps requiring 5 to 10 years to reach the level of productivity that the lost employee had. But in an economic time when companies are living quarter-to-quarter, there is little incentive to think even a year in advance. Burnout is mortgaging the next decade to pay for luxury in the next month. Sounds a lot like the thinking that got us in the Great Recession in the first place.

Is Pakistan the solution to the budget impasse?

So, Pakistan has decided to begin restricting their support of anti-terrorism. And the USA has pushe back, threatening to cut off military aid. And finally, Pakistan has threatened to pull out of anti-terrorism efforts altogether. There seems like a simple solution here - end all aid to Pakistan and pull our troops out of Afghanistan.

We save $2 billion in aid, plus the trillions we are investing in the War. In return, Pakistan suddenly has to face its own internal problems without an international scapegoat, while simultaneously having to face what they have made in Afghanistan by refusing to fight the Taliban.

It's time for our allies to understand that we can't afford to pay extortion money anymore. We're looking to fill trillion dollar holes in our budget. Pakistan just volunteered to do that for us.

REALITY CHECK: Simplifying the Budget Impasse

The debate over whether raising taxes or cutting spending is the way to avoid default has moved into high gear as the President issued a "Grand Compromise" to the Republican Congress that includes significant tax increases, as well as long-term spending cuts. So far, the GOP is having none of it. But I think we can simply the political calculation going on in the halls of Washington:

• IF the US Government goes into default, we will vote everyone out.
• IF the only spending cuts are to take place 2, 3, or 4 years out, we will vote out every Republican
• IF there are tax increases, we will grumble but live with it. Your job is probably safe.
• IF there are ONLY tax increases and no substantive spending cuts, we will vote out every Republican.
• IF Medicare, Social Security, and Military Spending remains off the table, nothing will be resolved and we will vote everyone out.

Hopefully, the President and Congress are keeping these important realities in mind as they play hardball in their negotiations.

iPhone as an SLR?!

There's brilliant, there's crazy, and there's Photojojo. They created a mount to attach your Canon or Nikon lenses to your iPhone in order to take network-connected SLR-quality photos. The problem, of course, is two-fold. (1) This turns your ultra-portable pocket camera into a bulky and awkward camera. (2) The sensor on even the best iPhone is still FAR below that of a low-end digital SLR. And if you want the ability to be able to quickly share SLR-quality photos on your iPhone, there is Apple's camera connection kit or EyeFi wireless cards + iPhone app

But you still have to admire their moxy. Or shamelessness. Can't decide which it is.

Perhaps the Greatest Fake Trailer Ever

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout with Taylor Lautner from Taylor Lautner

From FunnyorDie.com. Watch from Antonio Cromartie of the Jets doing what he does best in real life... hitting on women with reckless abandon.

Happy Birthday Nomad

Happy Birthday to the best brother and blogger in the world.

Shelton CT Fireworks 2011