Kombinat!
Monday, September 26, 2005
Third Grade Math Argentinian Spectacle
Fool.com: Berkshire Hathaway [Post of the Day] September 23, 2005:
“It is nothing more than third grade math...we are creating money and credit at a much, much faster rate than output. Claims against output are increasing at the rate of 20% per year and are growing 3x faster than output grows on a nominal basis. It now takes five units of debt to get one incremental unit of GDP...the productivity of money and credit is crashing from its over-issuance.”
... As Munger said at the 2004 annual meeting-“If Argentina happens here, we can't save you”
Monday, September 19, 2005
Public Announcement.
Earl Benser is an idiot. Here is his demonstration of being an idiot.
I don't buy from Amazon. I don't even go to their siteI needed to test ecto entry so I just posted the above Public Announcement. There is nothing to worry about . Earl is harmless, a harmless idiot, just like so many millions of americans.
unless by a momentary accident, followed by cookie cleaning.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
The Semantic Earth.
Release 1.0 / Fresh Produce / The Semantic Earth:
The earth is a wet rock. We inhabit it with meaning. Whether those meanings are discovered, invented or revealed, they are dependent on us. You see that dependency clearly in the diversity of maps we draw. Maps can be inconsistent and contradictory in every aspect – what objects we see, at what scale we draw them, where we etch the boundaries, which words we use as labels – because our human projects are inconsistent and contradictory. There is no more hope for a single, universal map than there is for a single, universal language, because the thing we are mapping – the earth – has no language, no culture and no projects of its own. It is too real for that. All its meanings are attributed.
David has such a nice sense of PLACE.
As a reference see post on cluetrain list copied below:
We live in a physical world. Markets are Conversations of Structures and Mechanisms to expand communities' conversations. Conversations are physical, having material existence, perceptible, subject to laws of distance, time and form.
The Structures and Mechanism are what we may refer to Business Processes, a direct engagement of community to build and expand Structures and Mechanism. The processes that engage a community to have a particular conversation, a converstion that is not accidental but desinged by the structures and mechanisms. Not abstract, a potential conversation but an actual conversation distinguished by and pinpointed precisely by the structure which allows and affords the converstation to exist. It is physical, let's not forget it.
Communities are physical. Communities are Conversatiions of Concerns to expand communities' commitments. Markets are Conversations in so far as they expand commitments and concerns of communities.
What we call Public Domain are Conversations of Communities to keep in existence the Commitment of Communities. Communities' concers are for the human beings and their environments. They are conversations for me and you and our world we inhabit. We live in a physical world. Conversations are Physical Structure.
The earth is a wet rock. We inhabit it with meaning. Whether those meanings are discovered, invented or revealed, they are dependent on us. You see that dependency clearly in the diversity of maps we draw. Maps can be inconsistent and contradictory in every aspect – what objects we see, at what scale we draw them, where we etch the boundaries, which words we use as labels – because our human projects are inconsistent and contradictory. There is no more hope for a single, universal map than there is for a single, universal language, because the thing we are mapping – the earth – has no language, no culture and no projects of its own. It is too real for that. All its meanings are attributed.
David has such a nice sense of PLACE.
As a reference see post on cluetrain list copied below:
We live in a physical world. Markets are Conversations of Structures and Mechanisms to expand communities' conversations. Conversations are physical, having material existence, perceptible, subject to laws of distance, time and form.
The Structures and Mechanism are what we may refer to Business Processes, a direct engagement of community to build and expand Structures and Mechanism. The processes that engage a community to have a particular conversation, a converstion that is not accidental but desinged by the structures and mechanisms. Not abstract, a potential conversation but an actual conversation distinguished by and pinpointed precisely by the structure which allows and affords the converstation to exist. It is physical, let's not forget it.
Communities are physical. Communities are Conversatiions of Concerns to expand communities' commitments. Markets are Conversations in so far as they expand commitments and concerns of communities.
What we call Public Domain are Conversations of Communities to keep in existence the Commitment of Communities. Communities' concers are for the human beings and their environments. They are conversations for me and you and our world we inhabit. We live in a physical world. Conversations are Physical Structure.
New Orleans
When the levee breaks I’ll have no place to stay.~ from Led Zeppelin "When the levee breaks"
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.
Don’t it make you feel bad
When you’re tryin’ to find your way home,
You don’t know which way to go?
Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Malcolm Gladwell:The Moral Hazard Myth
A Must read : The New Yorker: Fact:
Do you think that people whose genes predispose them to depression or cancer, or whose poverty complicates asthma or diabetes, or who get hit by a drunk driver, or who have to keep their mouths closed because their teeth are rotting ought to bear a greater share of the costs of their health care than those of us who are lucky enough to escape such misfortunes? In the rest of the industrialized world, it is assumed that the more equally and widely the burdens of illness are shared, the better off the population as a whole is likely to be. The reason the United States has forty-five million people without coverage is that its health-care policy is in the hands of people who disagree, and who regard health insurance not as the solution but as the problem
via: Ron J blog
Do you think that people whose genes predispose them to depression or cancer, or whose poverty complicates asthma or diabetes, or who get hit by a drunk driver, or who have to keep their mouths closed because their teeth are rotting ought to bear a greater share of the costs of their health care than those of us who are lucky enough to escape such misfortunes? In the rest of the industrialized world, it is assumed that the more equally and widely the burdens of illness are shared, the better off the population as a whole is likely to be. The reason the United States has forty-five million people without coverage is that its health-care policy is in the hands of people who disagree, and who regard health insurance not as the solution but as the problem
via: Ron J blog
Patrick Byrne's Ultimate Goal as CEO of Overstock.com
Fool.com: Overstock.com [Post of the Day] September 8, 2005:
OK then. Are there more CEO's like this of Public or Private companies? can we see a show of hands? hello? Hello? Anybody?
My goal as CEO (actually, at Overstock we eschew "C" titles as being egocentric, so technically I am just, "president") is to build with my colleagues a company that serves tens of millions of households by allowing them to stretch their budgets further and live better than they would have had we not come along.
My goal as a capitalist is, in the process of achieving the first goal, to build one of the great companies in the world, capable of earning an ungodly return on capital by generating billions of dollars of revenue and hundreds of millions in net income using capital as sparingly as possible.
My goal as a citizen are to fulfill my civic obligations, in which I include this: when I see that thugs are mugging old ladies in the street, to straighten out the thugs.
One could argue that it is necessary to have only one goal, but this is incorrect. The first two goals mentioned above are mutually dependent: we could not build a great company without a desire to serve other Americans, and we could not serve other Americans to the desire we wish were we not fanatic capitalists. Is the third antagonistic to either of the first two? I can see that it might be. On the other hand, it is also allied with the first two: it is impossible to desire to serve one's fellow citizens while being willing to turn one's back on an old lady getting mugged; and should we ever need to raise more capital, we will not be able to do so sparingly if our stock is artificially suppressed.
You have, however, put your finger on the issue: I can see that some would say I am betraying my obligations as a CEO to fulfill what I feel are obligations incumbent upon any good citizen
(...) if I had to choose, I would rank my duties as a citizen above m\y duties as a steward of other people's capital, but just one notch above."
OK then. Are there more CEO's like this of Public or Private companies? can we see a show of hands? hello? Hello? Anybody?
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Negative Savings Rate
from John Mauldin's newsletter.
"in July. U.S. consumers spent more than they earned in July for just the second time in the last 46 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Personal incomes increased 0.3% in July, while spending roared ahead by 1%. As a result, the personal savings rate tumbled to negative 0.6%, the lowest since monthly records began in 1959. "
from John Mauldin's newsletter.
Music on Saturday Night
Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski and Anne Sofie Von Otter mezzosopran. They made music beautiful.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
New Orleans Flood a Hollywood Dream
I talked to a friend last night (in Germany) and he said "Look, there are only black people trapped in New Orleans". Hmm...
I can see now how many Hollywood Studios are already beginning to think of making a movie of New Orleans tragedy. You will see next year a couple of movies about it. There will be heroic stories, tragedy, tears, triumph and all that other romantic crapola. Of course none of the money from the proceeds of the movie will be donated to help the victims of the flood (OK, maybe few bucks).
cynically yours,
K!
I can see now how many Hollywood Studios are already beginning to think of making a movie of New Orleans tragedy. You will see next year a couple of movies about it. There will be heroic stories, tragedy, tears, triumph and all that other romantic crapola. Of course none of the money from the proceeds of the movie will be donated to help the victims of the flood (OK, maybe few bucks).
cynically yours,
K!
Value Creation of CEO and Chief Blogging Officer.
Then answer given by Damodaran is what internet as a distribution model is all about. The distribution will work only when your commitment is not the to the distribution but to the value your work creates. The issue is that many of those who create so called 'Value' or 'intellectual property' are high on distribution crack cocaine addiction wagon and as such are addicted to the distribution that pays them most even if it puts a barrier to accessing that value by others. (from Motley Fool Hidden Gems: Interview With Prof. Aswath Damodaran [Subscription Required]: I made some phrases in bold letters)
Another point Damodaran reminds me and I am quite amazed that most miss this point is that CEO's job is always to look at Value Creation for Shareholders and not for the Corporation. It's is the Shareholders that put up Equity for the promise of Future Cash Flows. They are the ones CEO is working for. A Corporation does not belong to a CEO, it is not his plaything unless he is enough large of a shareholder and derives most of his income from the Cash Flows stream rather than a CEO's compensation.
Well, ok enough of these thoughts, back to looking for a job.
James Early: My question might be getting more toward your life philosophy. Your website has an incredible amount of information for free, there for anyone who wants to look at it. Why do you do that? What about your passion for industry and prosperity?As this example I can see why Cluetrain Manifesto is online for free and you can also buy it if you wish to have a printed copy. This is also why Chris Locke is creating so much good shit on his websites for free. This is what HighBeam didn't get about Chris Lock's chiefbloggingofficer blog contribution to Value Creation because the dude is not addicted to distribution as value creation but is addicted to Creation as Value Creation and then finding the best distribution to share the creation. When the Gig Ended for Chris at CBO, HighBeam just became another information pusher and the company lost value. Remember that CEO's job in any corporation is not to strategise how to grow a company and create earnings but instead it's to create Competitive Advantage. CEO's job is to carve out the Existence of Value and create Incentives to Access Value and Barriers to Entry for other corporations, strategy to create earnings are secondary. The reason NIKE pays Tiger Woods millions of bucks is all about Competitive Adventage and Barriers to Entry for Other Corporations. NIKE can not afford not to pay Tiger because if Tiger was exclusively representing another company it would have been a Barrier to Entry for NIKE. Of course Barriers to Entry can be created artificially as Communism and Mafia do it but in a free market one has to constantly create Barriers to Entry, every corporation has to build those structures. Chris Locke's writing at CBO was Barrier to Entry for HighBeam's competition because if another company tried to do a similar gig it would further prove the Value Creation of CBO.
Aswath Damodaran: I measure return on capital very simply as I invest time capital into creating papers, books, lectures. For me, the maximum return on capital is if people use what I do. It has driven my publishers crazy because on my last four books, I put the entire book online for free. I have had calls from my publisher the next day saying, "What are you doing? You put your own book online. Aren't you worried that you will sell less?" They have completely misunderstood my objective in writing the book. They thought my objective in writing the book was actually to sell a lot of books and make money.
My objective in writing the book was to get the most people to read the book. From that objective function, what I am doing makes complete sense to me because more people read my book if they can download the book and read it than if they are forced to pay an absurdly high price for that same book. In fact, the reason I did it was more for people outside the US than in the US because I have actually got emails from an Indonesian analyst saying I would love to buy a book, but it is a month's salary for me! I don't want to put him in a position of spending a month's salary to buy my book or not reading my book at all, so I said to go ahead and read. It is not as if I am losing sales by doing it. The reality is, if somebody wants the book they are going to buy the book, if they can afford it. If they can't afford it, this is all moot anyway. They wouldn't have bought the book."
Another point Damodaran reminds me and I am quite amazed that most miss this point is that CEO's job is always to look at Value Creation for Shareholders and not for the Corporation. It's is the Shareholders that put up Equity for the promise of Future Cash Flows. They are the ones CEO is working for. A Corporation does not belong to a CEO, it is not his plaything unless he is enough large of a shareholder and derives most of his income from the Cash Flows stream rather than a CEO's compensation.
Well, ok enough of these thoughts, back to looking for a job.
Chad Kroski All Your Base Meme Propagation
from flickr user:Kombinat.
This time in German. And it started in July. You can read the entire story at German Wikipedia.. Basically T-Mobile is doing an ad on TV in Germany for a Web'n'Walk product, a wireless gizmo thingi. Goes something like this: At the Singles meeting this chick meets this dude who has a book by Chad Kroski. She goes to the bathroom, whips out here gizmo thingi Web'n'Walk product and Googles Chad Kroski and finds out he is the bestselling author. Then she comes back and flirts with the dude. - Such an ad on TV, and of course Chad Kroski is a ficticious bestselling author created by T-Mobile corporation but to add a bit more flaire they create an official fake website http://chadkroski.de/ complete with Bio and Review of Books.
Funny thing happens. chadkroski.de mulfuncttions a bit and blogggers take over Chad Kroski theme and start writing fake reviews of his books and post photos. Apparently someone has published an essay by Chad Kroski which was lost a long time ago. Then there are people writing about secret meetings with Chad Kroski and so on and so on. Basically Chad Kroski is out of the hands of the Corporation and in the hands of the Webheads. chadkroski unofficial websites are created, Chard Kroski has been turned into a Carnival. Out of the hands of the Corporation, into the hands of Jokers, Pranksters and Tricksters. Bravo!
So how does T-Mobile react to this? You would think they would let it go and join the Carnival and the Web Play Party but no, they kill the independent operators, file lawsuits and pull the ads. - Draw your own conclusions because this marketing was brilliant and what got in the way was their compulsion to control the outcome and there you have it. What started as a Worst Practices type of Marketing ended up as a Rightious Move to Kill it.
See: sichelputzer.de in english who also writes about another fake site soulmelon
from flickr user:Kombinat.
This time in German. And it started in July. You can read the entire story at German Wikipedia.. Basically T-Mobile is doing an ad on TV in Germany for a Web'n'Walk product, a wireless gizmo thingi. Goes something like this: At the Singles meeting this chick meets this dude who has a book by Chad Kroski. She goes to the bathroom, whips out here gizmo thingi Web'n'Walk product and Googles Chad Kroski and finds out he is the bestselling author. Then she comes back and flirts with the dude. - Such an ad on TV, and of course Chad Kroski is a ficticious bestselling author created by T-Mobile corporation but to add a bit more flaire they create an official fake website http://chadkroski.de/ complete with Bio and Review of Books.
Funny thing happens. chadkroski.de mulfuncttions a bit and blogggers take over Chad Kroski theme and start writing fake reviews of his books and post photos. Apparently someone has published an essay by Chad Kroski which was lost a long time ago. Then there are people writing about secret meetings with Chad Kroski and so on and so on. Basically Chad Kroski is out of the hands of the Corporation and in the hands of the Webheads. chadkroski unofficial websites are created, Chard Kroski has been turned into a Carnival. Out of the hands of the Corporation, into the hands of Jokers, Pranksters and Tricksters. Bravo!
So how does T-Mobile react to this? You would think they would let it go and join the Carnival and the Web Play Party but no, they kill the independent operators, file lawsuits and pull the ads. - Draw your own conclusions because this marketing was brilliant and what got in the way was their compulsion to control the outcome and there you have it. What started as a Worst Practices type of Marketing ended up as a Rightious Move to Kill it.
See: sichelputzer.de in english who also writes about another fake site soulmelon
