Daily Archives: November 20, 2011

A very thoughtful post on how the response to #OWS police brutality could very rapidly…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Google+ OWS on by (updated 4500 days ago)

A very thoughtful post on how the response to #OWS police brutality could very rapidly escalate out of control.

Reshared post from +Baratunde Thurston

I've watched this video several times and thought about it even more. There's a lot to say including some interesting thoughts in this Atlantic piece

Why I Feel Bad for the Pepper-Spraying Policeman, Lt. John Pike – Alexis Madrigal – National – The Atlantic http://bit.ly/rxCpEc

But I want to focus on another thought I've had but only voiced briefly in a standup show last night.

The authorities in all these #OWS crackdowns are assuming a steadily passive reaction from the protestors. Despite the constitutional right to peaceably assemble, governments and post 9/11 militarized police (LRAD!?) are responding with violence against their own people.

The thing about violent uprisings is that you rarely see a steady escalation. These Occupy Wall Street gatherings have been extremely civil and peaceful by and large. And I don't think you're gonna see some slowly increasing amount of violence on the part of the protestors. That's not how revolutions generally pop off. I'm pretty sure that, in general, something just snaps. A student gets shot. A man sets himself on fire. A cop punches an old lady. Then BAM: full scale violent conflict.

So there's that.

But I want to come back to the other risk in the presumption of passivity. There's a frighteningly relaxed attitude to this "Peace Officer" in the video below and among many authorities. It's a condescending attitude based in the idea that these "kids" won't do anything about it. I could be reading too much into the situation, but I think authorities have bought into the narrative that this is a generation raised on iPods and Facebook and MTV reality shows and when push come to shove, they won't fight back.

I would just humbly remind folks that all those factors are true about this generation, but the response may not be. You see, this generation was also raised on collaborative multiplayer combat sims: World of Warcraft, Modern Warfare, 007, Resident Evil, etc. We've literally spent hours building teams and fragging people and aliens and zombies and not batting an eye. Millions of Americans have clocked hundreds or thousands of hours in war simulations. We have all gotten pretty comfortable with coordinated violence.

While it's not "real" war or "real" violence, our brains think differently. We get an adrenaline rush. Our heart rates increase. We sweat. The perception is quite similar, and I just think it's worth some extra thought on the part of the authorities.

I am absolutely not advocating violence, but I can't help but think that you might want to be careful provoking people who have been subconsciously trained on war games.

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The death of John Smale on Saturday was a missed opportunity by several outlets to…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged auto_business cars gm Google+ on by (updated 4500 days ago)

The death of John Smale on Saturday was a missed opportunity by several outlets to examine the negative impact that he had on General Motors during his tenure as a director and chairman of the board. Smale is best known in the business world for being the former CEO of Proctor and Gamble but like many high ranking executives in American business he served other companies as a director.

The extended obituary published in the Detroit News (written by AP reporter Dan Sewell) only mentions his GM role in passing in the opening paragraph while the brief piece on Autoblog focuses on Smale replacing Bob Stempel as Chairman and helping to bring GM back from the verge of bankruptcy. As chairman, Smale probably had little to do with the actual slashing of costs and spending at GM but he nonetheless had a huge impact on GM in another way and it wasn't good.

Smale was responsible bringing Ron Zarella, one of his former P&G colleagues to GM to institute brand management. Brand management was a totally bungled and wrong-headed approach to building and selling cars. At P&G Smale and Zarella found a way to sell the same products under multiple different brands and get away with it. Unfortunately this approach doesn't translate to the car business and resulting in such an unappealing car lineup that despite growing discounting, GM's market share continued to shrink throughout their tenure and consumer's attitudes to GM plummeted.

GM's lineup didn't begin to improve until Bob Lutz joined up and Zarella left in 2001 and even then it took several years to demonstrate that the company could build interesting vehicles. Even then, the company's problems were so deep seated that time that they couldn't earn enough to avoid bankruptcy in 2009. Perhaps if the company had focused on great products and a pared down brand lineup in 1992 instead of waiting more than a decade, that fate might have been avoided.

#gm #cars #auto_business

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If UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi ordered the pepper spraying of students she not…

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Google+ on by (updated 4503 days ago)

Reshared post from +Jason Calacanis

If UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi ordered the pepper spraying of students she not only needs to be fired, she needs to face criminal charges.

Additionally, I hope she is sued personally and wiped out financially.

Here she faces he students who lined her long walk to her car according to +Xeni Jardin's awesome +Boing Boing coverage.

Students at UC Davis should be outside of her home and the home of the cop who did the pepper spraying. Seriously, 500 people outside your home for a couple of nights, with your neighbors looking on, might give these absolute idiots some time to think about their behavior.

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In many ways the world is a better place because Steve Jobs lived in it, but I wouldn't… 2

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Google+ on by (updated 4503 days ago)

In many ways the world is a better place because Steve Jobs lived in it, but I wouldn't have wanted to work with him.

I listened to Walter Isaacson's authorized bio of Jobs and while it is flawed in some ways, including some fundamental technical errors, the author should at least get credit for not making it into a hagiography. Jobs was a deeply flawed and troubled human being that often mistreated those that worked and lived with him. He is definitely someone that I would have wanted to work with or attempt to call a friend.

At the same time, I'm glad that he brought together the teams of people that created products like the Mac, iPod and iPhone. Despite the flaws in those products, they helped drive technology and communications forward in some very important ways.

Unfortunately his disdain for most people and his need for control also shows through in the way these products were actually manufactured. By shifting all production to China, he got lower costs by taking advantage of the lack of regulation and labor protections. Isaacson reports that Jobs "described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs" during a meeting with President Obama. The only thing that is hard about building a factory in America is treating your workers well, something Jobs was loathe to do.

Jobs was also reluctant to take responsibility for his own actions including supporting his own daughter Lisa. He also gave almost nothing to charity or any philanthropic causes.

In Rolling Stone, the brilliant Matt Taibbi submits the Jobs case to his Supreme Court of Assholedom and raises a very interesting point. Because Jobs was a purveyor of consumer products, shouldn't we the consumers also take some of the responsibility for enabling Jobs buy actually spending money on all those Chinese made trinkets? I'd say we probably should but you should read Taibbi's post and make up your own mind.

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Supreme Court of Assholedom: The People vs. Steve Jobs | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone
NOTE TO READERS: I will have something on the developments at Zucotti Park soon, and will also be appearing on Countdown tonight to talk about it. In

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Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis demonstrated this week that not all… 1

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Google+ occupy OccupyWallStreet OWS on by (updated 4504 days ago)

Retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis demonstrated this week that not all cops corrupt hooligans. Too bad there aren't more cops like Lewis still on duty.

#OWS #occupy

Reshared post from +Beau Kahler

Emotionally intense images of retired Philadelphia police captain Ray Lewis – who has joined the #OccupyWallStreet protests – being arrested by the NYPD.

Captain Lewis has been outspoken against the NYPD’s wrongful use of violence against peaceful protesters.

From what I have seen, Ray Lewis’ conduct defines honor, bravery, and dignity.

There is a media blackout on images of his participation in the protest, and on his arrest:

I couldn't find the photographers name to mention. This is quite an emotional set of photos, I am proud of this man for standing up for what he believes in such a pressing time in our countries history. Bravo!

When will the government realize that this situation is not going away, stop hiding from the truth, let's be honest.

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If you haven't already contacted your representative and senators about SOPA…

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If you haven't already contacted your representative and senators about SOPA and PROTECT-IP, please head over to the EFF and demand that they stop these bills that will give big corporations the ability to censor internet communications.

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

I'm in China, where everyone takes Internet censorship for granted. Will the same be true soon in America? Stop SOPA…

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Take Action | Electronic Frontier FoundationStop the Internet Blacklist Legislation
The Internet Blacklist Legislation – known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House – is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill. L…

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