Untitled

Being heavily invested now is the world of small business (I suppose I could add in the word medium here and use the SMB acronym), I thought this would be interesting. However, the very first one - number 10 - is suspect. I think a much more interesting number would be the percentage of people employed by small businesses. I'll bet it would be a significant, but lower number.



I worked for two organizations that each employed around 140,000 people world-wide and there are many that big and bigger. Frankly, I would expect the number of small business, as a percentage of employers, to be that high - but I think the metric is meaningless.



Number one - the last point - makes more sense to me and sort of obviates whatever value number 10 had. However, leading off with a useless metric kind of lowers the value of everything else in my eyes. Just sayin'!

Amplify’d from usgovinfo.about.com

US Government Info

Top Ten Reasons to Love U.S. Small Business List highlights importance of small business to U.S. economy  By Robert Longley, About.com Guide

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the top 10 reasons to love small business, what the SBA's Office of Advocacy calls "the heart of the American economy." 10. Small businesses make up more than 99.7% of all employers.

9. Small businesses create more than 50 percent of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

8. Small patenting firms produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

7. The 22.9 million small businesses in the United States are located in virtually every neighborhood.

6. Small businesses employ about 50 percent of all private sector workers.

5. Home-based businesses account for 53 percent of all small businesses.

4. Small businesses make up 97 percent of exporters and produce 29 percent of all export value.

3. Small businesses with employees start-up at a rate of over 500,000 per year.

2. Four years after start-up, half of all small businesses with employees remain open.

1. The latest figures show that small businesses create 75 percent of the net new jobs in our economy.

The SBA's Office of Advocacy, the "small business watchdog" of the government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the President. It is the source for small business statistics presented in user-friendly formats and it funds research into small business issues.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration] Read more at usgovinfo.about.com

 

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Frosty, The Red-Nosed Snowman

There are lots of things I love about being a father of young children. One of them just happened in our living room while I was cleaning the kitchen. Our oldest is away with Mom at a Girl Scout activity and the youngest daughter of one of the other families is here playing with our youngest.



I just listened to her (the friends' daughter) start to sing Frosty the Snowman which, mid-way, transformed into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and somehow ended in an amalgamated medley of the two. Listening to this incredible editing job, which I'm sure was invented on-the-fly, was priceless. I will miss this age as I miss others that have passed. Thankfully my memory isn't what it used to be, so the loss isn't melancholy for long. Still . . .

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Some Weird Stumble Upon-Like Thing

I came across this while looking for information on the treatment of left-handers during medieval times. This isn't from the page I found, which seems to be quite old and simplistically designed, but I thought the sentiment quite useful to memorialize.



Consider this a very public bookmarking; done so you might judge for yourself if the sentiment is worthy of a moment of your time . . . retrospectively, I realize but, well, what can I say? So sue me.

Amplify’d from www.csun.edu

… A Prayer by a 17th century Nun "Lord --- Thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody… helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all. But Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details. Give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains… They are increasing… and love of rehearsing them is becoming gets sweeter as the time goes by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others pains… but help me endure them with patience. I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonable sweet. I do not want to be a saint… some of them are so hard to live with… But a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talent in unexpected people. And give me O Lord, the Grace to tell them so." Read more at www.csun.edu

 

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Dang! I missed today's best time

http://blog.hubspot.com/Portals/249/images/day_hour_infographi...

I'm sorry . . . and I say that with the utmost sincerity (especially since I'm likely the only one I'm saying it to - which makes it all that much more pathetic) . . . but I really wanted to write about something, anything, today. So I thought I might write about my relationship with blogging. However, as the linked graphic clearly shows, I just missed the ideal time to do so today and, alas, it appears mostly downhill from here.



Nevertheless, thanks to Amplify, I can still fulfill my obligation to myself and get back to work so I can relax and watch some of the best commercials we're likely to see all year. Incidentally, I think there's a football game wrapped around those commercials. Don't quote me on it, though.

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Gladwell for Dummies | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/article/gladwell-dummies?page=0,0

This is an interesting (and quite long) primer on Malcolm Gladwell, written before his comments regarding social media and social movements. It's surely worthy of a read if you're trying to figure out just how valuable his opinion is. The author of this piece, Maureen Tkacik, casts a fair amount of doubt on his ability to really understand much of anything . . . I think :).

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Consider Attending IBM's Social Business Jam? Here's How!

I am a VIP guest taking part in a unique opportunity to engage in an interactive discussion about the growing influence of social technology in business.



On February 8-11, 2011 I will be joining IBM to host their Social Business Jam where we will cooperatively explore the value of social technology in business, the mitigation of its risks, and the management system required to drive the social transformation required for its use. This web-based event will provide an unrivalled opportunity for thousands of leaders from around the world to pool their knowledge and experiences, and to examine this next generation of business. I urge you to participate. Learn more here: www.ibm.com/social/businessjam



There will be 5 discussion forums occurring simultaneously, where participants can join any time during the event. The subjects of these forums are:

• Building the Social Business of the Future



• Building Participatory Organizations Through Social Adoption



• Using Social to Understand and Engage with Customers



• What does Social mean for IT?



• Identifying Risks and Establishing Governance

Participation does not require your full-time involvement during the 72 hours of the event. You can log-in to the Jam whenever you are available, and spend as much time as you want to comment, read or engage in topic areas you find most interesting. We're looking forward to your participation!



Please join me in this exciting conversation about the new era of business:

1. Register for the Jam: Please register for the Jam via this link: http://ibm.co/joinsbjam

2. Spread the word about the Jam: Please help us generate buzz about this upcoming event via Twitter (#sbjam) and other channels of communication you have access to.





Thanks.

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In Memorium - STS-51-L Challenger

A little over three weeks ago I wrote a personal reflection on the Challenger disaster, as it changed my life not insignificantly and this anniversary kind of coincided with the end of the changes the original event precipitated. I just thought I'd share my post once again. It's at http://wp.me/paiNK-7v

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I'm OK, You're a Pathological Techno-Geek

You won't go wrong reading the entire review, but in the interest of brevity I am herewith sharing the author's final paragraph. It's a couple days old. Sorry

Amplify’d from www.boston.com

Antisocial media

An MIT professor and psychologist argues our modern wired lifestyle is damaging us and our relationships, but she may be a bit premature

(Tatsuro Kiuchi)

By David Weinberger

Globe Correspondent / January 16, 2011

But, suppose human nature is more malleable than her psychological model allows. Suppose the Internet is devising a self that is social in new ways that include intimacy, but that also find real human value in thinly spread connections. Turkle’s observations raise disturbing issues, but her theoretical framework so colors her conclusions that, although her book will spark useful debate, it settles less than she seems to think. The changes our technology is bringing are challenging our conceptual frameworks for understanding those changes, including the psychological standpoint Turkle takes as secure.

David Weinberger is a senior researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He can be reached at self@evident.com.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company. Read more at www.boston.com

 

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Please Help!

Hello. My name is Rick and . . . well . . . I'm a bit of a Social Media addict. I've been able to resist Farmville, but I still check in frequently to see what's up on Facebook. I follow amazingly fascinating and informing people on Twitter and have connected with them on Facebook as well. Many of them are in far away locations on the planet, so there's almost always a conversation going on; at any time of day or night. Today it became clear to me just how much of a problem this is for me.



I have an iMac, an iPad, and (I know this probably seems heretical, but what can I say?) an HTC Hero running Google Android. I use or have used Twitter's web app, Nambu, Osfoora, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twitter for iPad, and maybe some services I can't even remember using. I ran my iPad's battery down by about 3:00 pm PST today and had to switch over to my phone exclusively while it's recharging. The process has me twitching a little bit. The alternative is to sit in my home office, tethered to my Mac, but the weather is gorgeous and at least I can be somewhat ambulatory with either of my other devices.



It's not that I'm on Twitter all the time; it's just that I feel compelled to at least pay attention. I also find myself checking in using Foursquare or Facebook Places, and writing reviews on Yelp. I'm fascinated with the quality of information available via Twitter or, lately, Quora.



I can't seem to disengage, and I don't even work in Tech or a large enterprise (at least not anymore). What can I do? My children are begging me to help them be less bored. I should get them their own smart phones I suppose, but they're only 7 and 9. Still . . . the temptation is strong.



My name is Rick. I'm 63 years old, semi-retired, and wondering what to do with this addiction. Please help!

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Tunisia's President Flees After Riots Fanned by WikiLeaks

URL:  http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/14/tunisias-president-fl...

A little more information on what's happening in Tunisia.

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Tunisia's Revolution Was Twitterized

URL:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/firas-alatraqchi/tunisias...

I think anybody who is interested in the power of social media to revolutionize not merely the way we do business, but the way we live our lives, should be paying close attention to what's happening in Tunisia. I wish I'd known about this earlier. This likely is a harbinger of more changes to come, as peoples' ability to communicate, share, inform, and educate (all of which facilitate collaboration and innovation) expands to ubiquity.



To me this represents an aspect of emergence that is incredibly exciting. It's very democratic and participatory, incredibly disruptive, yet it's hard to say what that will mean as process and structure coalesce behind our desires and needs. Gives me goosebumps!



We couldn't spread democracy through the use of force very effectively (and surely not very efficiently), but technology is doing it for us . . . and to us. I was thinking this is part of our evolution, but then - since we've created the technology - realized it's intelligent design =;^D

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Another Reason Healthcare is so Expensive!

I just had to share this. It strikes me as indicative of just how litigious our society (the United States, that is) has become and how, coupled with many contributing factors, it makes our healthcare (or sickness care) system incredibly wasteful and, therefore, expensive.



I received a "SECOND REQUEST" letter from NexClaim Recoveries, LLC the other day, reminding me I was a slacker in not filling out their previously sent treatment questionnaire. It carried the following "threat":



Your response is required within the next 21 days to avoid further contact.



Now here's what this is in regard to. Last August my then 6 year old daughter was bleeding off some excess energy by spinning madly in the very large elevator vestibule in the San Francisco Hilton. She lost her balance, fell, and hit her mouth on the edge of a small table sitting between two chairs at the far end of the area.



She was bleeding rather profusely from her mouth and I immediately sought medical attention from the hotel. We were very quickly transported to the emergency room at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in a hotel limousine, where my daughter's mouth was closely inspected (after quite an effort on behalf of the staff to earn her trust). Thankfully, the blood was from a cut lip and nothing more; no broken or damaged teeth. The hotel was good enough to retrieve us when we were finished and the lip healed within days.



At no time did I ever contemplate looking to the hotel or anyone else for liability. In fact, if there's any "blame" to be assigned I'm afraid I would be the first candidate. She is, after all, my daughter and I'm the one who "allowed" her to spin around. I was, in fact, sitting in one of those chairs and "should" have been there to catch her, eh?



Well, thankfully NexClaim is far enough evolved in the Technium to have also built a web presence designed to provide people like me an easier way to respond, as well as save themselves nearly a half buck in postage each time it's used.



I have to say I'm still a bit miffed I had to actually take an action - to keep from being dunned - in order to assure these people (and United Technologies-Anthem, my healthcare extor . . . er, provider) I'm not going to do something; like sue them.



When I finished filling in as little as possible of the form as I could and still ensure they will never contact me again, I was taken to a page containing the following.

Thank You for responding via our online questionnaire response form. Your response has been processed and received and you may discard your paper questionnaire.  Occasionally, responses may not be processed before another questionnaire is generated.  Therefore if you receive a questionnaire in the mail regarding the same treatment, please disregard. Your assigned specialist may contact you if additional information is needed.



Should you have any questions or need to change your response, please feel free to contact our Customer Call Center at 1-888-468-4742 .

Somehow, this is almost like adding insult to injury, as it seems further proof they're wasteful and disorganized, which I believe the entire reason for their existence actually is. I also find it ironic they actually infer I'm a Customer!

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How's That New Year's Resolution Working Out?

I don't make New Year's Resolutions, never have. I did, however make an Old Year's Resolution back around Thanksgiving. It was to make it through the holidays without gaining any weight and still enjoy myself.



Putting on my pants this morning I realized I achieved my goal and, in fact, appear to have lost weight. I haven't actually weighed myself, but I believe the ease with which I fit into a pair of pants I don't think would have been all that comfortable a month or so ago is proof enough.



The real point I'm making here is, if you need to do something you don't need to wait around for some (let's face it) arbitrary day in the Earth's revolution around the Sun to commence. I'm pretty convinced New Year's Resolutions are designed to fail. Not a good model, IMO.

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Whither Goest Ubiquity in SM?

I'm about halfway through Kevin Kelly's "What Technology Wants", a fascinating book in which he discusses his concept of what he calls the "Technium". Click here for a page on his website with links to numerous reviews of the book.



The point I'm at in the book he's discussing the concepts of risk management and how best to approach new technologies, as well as the potential for both good and bad inherent in them. The thing that struck me the hardest, though, is the recognition that some of the effects of a technology aren't apparent until they approach ubiquity, that is until a certain critical mass of people or entities are using them.



So . . . in that regard I find myself wondering what social media is going to look like when everyone is using smartphones and some of the, say, location-based services are both easier to use and more powerful in terms of bringing people together. Anyone have any ideas on what the future may hold? What will it mean to restaurants and others who depend on a fickle public when everyone joins the conversation?

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Rocketdyne Continues to Advance on J-2X Engine

If the ill-conceived decision to depend on Russian launch capability for at least two years, which was part of George W. Bush's plan for our Space Program, results in the loss of talent still working at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, it will be at the very least a setback that may take a decade to recover from.



I'm in favor of the commercialization of space and American (actually human) launch capabilities, but it isn't imminent, even if we use aggressive estimates of existing companies vying for leadership. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne needs to become more competitive, but that doesn't require throwing them to the wolves. It would be a sad loss for not just our country, but everyone who believes we have a role to play outside the confines of this planet.

Amplify’d from pr-usa.net

PR-USA.net

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Completes Assembly of Fuel Turbopump on NASA's J-2X Rocket Engine

The J-2X fuel turbopump assembly follows the successful assembly of the oxidizer turbopump, which delivers high-pressure liquid oxygen to the main injector.  The engine, whose first hot-fire tests are planned for  early 2011 at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, has the characteristics to power the upper-stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle.

"Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne continues to demonstrate readiness and the capability to support NASA as the nation embarks upon the next era of human spaceflight," said Jim Maser, president, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

John Vilja, vice president and program manager for the J-2X engine, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, said the J-2X is a significant and long overdue development in upper-stage propulsion.  "The J-2X will prove vital in continuing U.S. space exploration, advancing engineering skills, creating opportunities for missions beyond low-Earth orbit, and even providing opportunities for adaptation to alternate fuels in space," Vilja said. Read more at pr-usa.net

 

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The Beauty of Diagrams: Vitruvian Man & Others I Can't View

URL:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vl3h1/The_Beaut...

Facebook and other frustrations. How many times do you see comments friends of yours have made on threads that were initiated by someone who isn't a friend of yours . . . and you wanted to comment as well, but couldn't? It happens to me quite frequently, but I usually just let it go and content myself with gratitude for not being as interested in instant gratification as, say, my seven year old.



However, this morning I became aware of what looks like a fascinating six-part series that was apparently broadcast on BBC4 just recently, the synopses of which are available on the BBC's website, but which also are listed as unavailable in my area.



The series includes episodes on Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, Copernicus and the heliocentric universe, Newton's prism, Florence Nightingale's depiction of the real cause of battle deaths, The discovery and depiction of DNA, and the story behind the plaque carried on the space vehicle Pioneer.



As a long-time fan of Edward Tufte's and the general notion of "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" I was hoping to watch the series. Alas, not only can't I comment directly on my friend's comments; I can't even watch any of the series.



So . . . Jack Vinson - thanks for your inadvertently making aware of the series; curses on you Facebook for not allowing me to make a side comment because the originator isn't a friend of mine; Damn you BBC for allowing me to read your promos about the series, download the damn iPlayer, but not allowing me to view the episodes.



If anybody out there in cyberland knows how I can remedy this situation without waiting a year before the BBC deigns to replay the series, I would be most appreciative. Thanks.

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Happy Holidays from a Quantum Gestalt Humanist

Well, it being that time of year again, I just want to take a moment to wish everyone I know (or whoever happens upon this post) the best. Over the years it's morphed considerably. What was once Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year has become Happy Holidays. There's also Mele Kalikimaka, which is one of my all-time favorites and, as of the last few years, I've taken to wishing friends and family a Happy Chriskwanzukkah.

Recently, however, I came across a new one in the Urban Dictionary, and thought I'd like to share it. So . . . from this former Jew, currently atheist (but who likes the term in the title as well, especially for friends who refuse to believe I'm an atheist), kinda Buddhist, who was raised in a Christian country and is intimately familiar with the holiday now only loosely associated with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth (including that Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men nonsense):

Happy Chrismahannukwanzadan

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Usage of the word "collaboration" through the eyes of Google Labs' Ngram Viewer (thx @Renee_Hopkins)

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=collaboration&year_...

Interesting. Based on a tweet from @Renee_Hopkins regarding the frequency of use of "disruptive innovation", I visited the site and put in the word "collaboration". It looks like from about 1870 on there's a fairly even slope, save for the period around WWII (which, I both assumed and pretty much confirmed by checking some titles, had to do with the scrutiny of European collaboration with the Nazis - though there were some other studies as well). Also, it looks like it peaks in 2000 and is currently waning somewhat precipitously.

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Henry Porter on wikileaks

Ah . . . I find the last sentence in this quote simultaneously damning and illustrative of a too-large percentage of our so-called leaders. I'm amazed we put up with their shit! Why are so many so gullible and easily led astray; choosing courses of action that are demonstrably against their own best interests?

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

I have lost count of the politicians and opinion formers of an authoritarian bent warning of the dreadful damage done by the WikiLeaks dump of diplomatic cables, and in the very next breath dismissing the content as frivolous tittle-tattle. To seek simultaneous advantage from opposing arguments is not a new gambit, but to be wrong in both is quite an achievement. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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A Few Choice (mine) Quotes From Bucky

Just thought Sunday morning would be a good time to pass along a few of the numerous quotes attributed to R. Buckminster Fuller I found particularly thought-provoking or enlightening.

Amplify’d from en.wikiquote.org

Buckminster Fuller

Richard Buckminster Fuller (12 July 1895 – 1 July 1983) was an American philosopher, architect, and inventor, known to many of his friends and fans as "Bucky" Fuller.

God, to me, it seems is a verb, not a noun, proper or improper. No More Secondhand God (1963)

The opposite of nature is impossible Public lecture at Columbia University (Spring 1965) [citation needed]

We must do away with the absolutely specious notion that everybody has to earn a living. It is a fact today that one in ten thousand of us can make a technological breakthrough capable of supporting all the rest. The youth of today are absolutely right in recognizing this nonsense of earning a living. We keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery because, according to Malthusian-Darwinian theory, he must justify his right to exist. So we have inspectors of inspectors and people making instruments for inspectors to inspect inspectors. The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living. Barlow, Elizabeth (March 30, 1970). "The New York Magazine Environmental Teach-In". New York Magazine, p. 30.[1]

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment. Interview (30 April 1978) Read more at en.wikiquote.org

 

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