Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Kaizar's posterous

"The more we become obsessed with the clarity and speed of the signal, the less time we have to appreciate the message." -Gary Kimaya

"We are pattern seeking apes"

via radioopensource.org

Why is it that really innovative public policy doesn't seem to have advocates anywhere in the political debate? Rather we find politicians and pundits debating the past and a priori assumptions about how society should function.

This is in essence the question Siddhartha Mukherjee asks in an insightful interview with Chris Lydon about the late historian Tony Judt. He notes Judt's nostalgia for European social democracies of the past, without confronting all that those social democracies didn't produce, such as the social and scientific innovations that bubbled in the US.

It's a reminder to me that history can tell us what humanity is capable of, and is important in keeping us humble as we walk through the world. But a turn to history shouldn't necessarily be the template to solving today's problems.

Microsoft's missed revenue opportunity with Word

For most people now, though, publishing means putting things on the Web. Desktop publishing has given way to laptop or smartphone publishing. And Microsoft Word is an atrocious tool for Web writing. Its document-formatting mission means that every piece of text it creates is thickly wrapped in metadata, layer on layer of invisible, unnecessary instructions about how the words should look on paper.
via slate.com

Word isn't just an atrocious tool for web writing. Microsoft's non-standard, bloated metadata makes translating complex Word documents into other formats nearly impossible. This stunts the growth of a potentially valuable ecosystem of web-enabled applications built around niche optimizations of document management and collaboration.

Really, MSFT could be cashing in on Word's ubiquity. A licensed API for document translation would allow web apps that interact with Word docs to flourish. The fees could be high enough that only applications with high value-add (vs. generalized Word replacements like Google Docs) would pay. As Microsoft learned in the 90's, and Apple capitalized on in the last decade, managed ecosystems are big value drivers across a company's product line. Microsoft needs to stop thinking of Windows as the ecosystem, and instead amplify the value of applications like Word and Excel through licensed APIs.

Economic inequality and social dysfunction - a data-laden TED talk

via ted.com

My naive question is, why doesn't news media question politicians on their solutions to the dysfunctions Wilkinson highlights? Imagine if each presidential political debate focused on one dysfunction (e.g. high-school drop out rates, economic mobility, mental illness, incarceration rates), which forced candidates to talk about these complex issues. They couldn't settle in the easy comfort of the red-meat, hyper-partisan issues that tend to get discussed.

Christina Paxson, an economist, is the new President of Brown.


Brown University seal

March 2, 2012

Dear Members of the Brown Community,

I am delighted to announce that earlier today the Corporation convened for a special meeting and with great enthusiasm elected Dr. Christina H. Paxson the 19th President of Brown University. This concludes an exhaustive international search conducted with collegiality and collaboration by the twenty-nine members of the search committee, including members of the Corporation, faculty, students, and staff. Because of Dr. Paxson’s relentless pursuit of quality, her unwavering devotion to academic excellence, her personal passion for teaching and research, her remarkable leadership and record of impact, and her inspiring style and character the committee members and the Corporation are unanimous in the belief that she will be a magnificent leader for our community. She will treasure and preserve all that is distinctive about Brown, and build strength throughout the University in the years to come. We are honored and privileged to welcome her to Brown.

Dr. Paxson is currently the Hughes Rogers Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and the Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2000, she founded the Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW), a multidisciplinary health research center in the Woodrow Wilson School. During her time as director of CHW, the center started undergraduate and graduate certificate programs in health and health policy, and took on the leadership of the University’s Health Grand Challenges program. Prior to her appointment as Dean in 2009, she was chair of Princeton’s Economics Department and was the founding director of a National Institute on Aging Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging at Princeton. She was elected as vice president of the American Economics Association in 2012 and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her research is on health, economic development and public policy, with a current focus on economic status and health outcomes over the life course in both developed and developing countries. She has been the Principal Investigator on a number of research projects supported by the National Institutes of Health, the most recent of which is a study of on adversity and resilience after Hurricane Katrina. She received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College and earned her doctorate in economics from Columbia University.

As Dean, Dr. Paxson has been responsible for leading one of the world’s great centers of education and scholarship in public and international affairs. The Woodrow Wilson School includes distinguished undergraduate and graduate education programs, and serves as a source of leading research on a wide variety of topics of global import. Dr. Paxson has led the School to new heights, overseeing curricular reform, financial adjustments in the wake of the economic crisis, and appointments to the faculty of the highest caliber. She has overseen significant changes in the undergraduate major in public and international affairs, which included eliminating selective admissions and revamping the curriculum to place greater emphasis on multidisciplinary learning, independent research, and field experience in the United States and internationally. Under her leadership, the Woodrow Wilson School founded the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance and increased opportunities for research and teaching on issues related to domestic and international financial markets. She has done this work with a leadership style that espouses listening and consensus, balanced with decisiveness and progress toward shared goals, and has earned the deep respect and admiration of her colleagues and students.

I wish to thank the members of the 

search committee who gave so much of their time and wisdom to this process over the past several months. Our committee had one of the most challenging tasks imaginable — finding a successor to Ruth Simmons, whose leadership of Brown has been extraordinary. Our efforts were informed by the input and opinions of members of the community offered at open forums and other communications in October, and articulated in the presidential search statement which espoused the values and qualities we sought in our next president. Following the public outreach phase of the search, the committee members met numerous times and traveled far and wide, meeting with a broad array of fascinating and highly qualified candidates for this position. We were impressed by the knowledge of and keen interest in what is taking place at Brown, and that is a testament to the work and dedication of all faculty, staff, student, and alumni.

Throughout the process we reaffirmed all that is special about Brown — our signature approach to education and scholarship, which is characterized by intellectual independence, close interaction between students and faculty, a focus on the merits of a liberal education, and a commitment to research. The mission and purpose of Brown resonated with everyone we met, but none more so than Christina Paxson. Her background of scholarship and teaching excellence combined with her leadership and managerial experience has prepared her well for the role of President of Brown. Additionally, she brings a love of learning, a dedication to students, a knowledge of the depth and breadth of disciplines, and core values of integrity, passion, insight, and caring. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Paxson to the Brown community.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Tisch
Chancellor

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Brown University, Box 1893, Providence, RI 02912, USA

@tmobile, Shouldn't it be getting easier, not harder to use mobile data?


T-Mobile.com Manage Your Account Support

Important Notice about Domestic Data Use While Off the T-Mobile Network

Beginning on April 5, 2012 there will be a limit on the amount of data that can be used while a T-Mobile customer's device is connected to another provider's network ("off network" or "domestic romaing"). Customers that are domestically roaming will receive free text message usage alerts for data. If the roaming data limit is exceeded for a Rate Plan, then data service will be suspended from off-network roaming until the start of the next bill cycle or a qualifying change is made to the Rate Plan. This will not impact: (1) voice usage, and (2) data usage on the T-Mobile network.

To determine domestic roaming areas, see the T-Mobile data coverage map by visiting www.T-Mobile.com/Coverage. The domestic roaming data allowance for each Rate Plan is outlined in the chart below. To use this chart, review the Current Rate Plan Full Speed Data Allotment column to identify the megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) included in your Rate Plan, and then see the domestic roaming data usage limit that applies on the right. The megabytes of gigabytes for a Rate Plan can often be found by reviewing the Available Service section on page 1 of the bill (ex: Classic Simple 200MB Data Promo) or by dialing #WEB# send from your mobile phone.

Current Rate Plan Full Speed Data Allotment New Domestic Off Network (Romaing) Data Limit
1MB to 199MB 5MB
200MB to 1.99GB 10MB
2GB to 4.99GB 50MB
5GB to 9.99GB 100MB
10GB and above 200MB
Mobile Web Pay Per Use 10MB

Off-network data use may occur even when you are within the T-Mobile coverage area. See T-Mobile.com for directions on how to update device settings to avoid domestic roaming and for more information about this notice. Review Sections 3-5 of T-Mobile's Terms and Conditions available at T-Mobile.com for information on your rights (which may include early service cancellation) as a T-Mobile customer. Please retain a copy of this notice for your records. © 2012 T-Mobile USA, Inc.
©2002-2012 T-Mobile USA, Inc. | Terms of Use | Terms & Conditions | Return Policy | Privacy Policy

As the legal market consolidates, it should look to the cloud to make mergers more seamless

By joining forces, small law firms hope for access to more-lucrative deals and to retain existing clients. For larger firms, combinations offer ready-made regional offices or expanded practices. Building new practice areas within a firm is too costly these days, legal experts say. And hiring individual partners has had mixed results.

... [however]
Law-firm combinations are complex, risky propositions. The costs of integrating new employees, real estate and computer systems might not offset hoped-for gains from increased billable hours, access to more business, or economies of scale. Alliances also can founder over how much partners are paid or which lawyers will hold the reins in the new firm. Partners peel off for greener pastures, sometimes taking clients with them, after a merger. Conflicts between clients can emerge when the rosters of two law firms are combined.

via online.wsj.com

Law firms, big and small, are merging. The value in consolidation is primarily on the revenue side -- they're able to serve more clients, and serve their existing clients more comprehensively. However, mergers aren't without their costs. What only gets mentioned in WSJ's coverage of this phenomenon is the costs of combining information systems.

The plodding, proprietary document management systems used in law firms don't lend themselves to easy adoption and integration when two firms merge. This is yet another reason that firms should look to cloud-based solutions like Ridacto. There is no "integration" with cloud-based solutions, and firms don't have to worry about throwing away server banks or software licenses. Cloud solutions are light-weight, flexible, and cost-effective.

Google search and baby names

In our still-budding digital world, where public and private spheres cross-pollinate in unpredictable ways, perhaps it’s not surprising that soon-to-be parents now routinely turn to Google to vet baby names. A quick search can help ensure that a child is not saddled with the name of a serial killer, pornography star or sex offender.

But what’s new is the level of complexity that Google and other search engines have brought to the name game. Some parents want names that are unique so their child will rise to the top of future search results. Others want names that are uncommon enough to bestow uniqueness, but not so exotic that they would be considered weird on the playground. A rare few want their child’s name to get lost in a virtual crowd.

via nytimes.com

That a search for your child's name brings up a porn star speaks not to your bad choice in names, but rather to how unsophisticated Google's search algorithm is today. I hope, by the time it matters for 2.0, Google search, or whatever the next great information discovery company out there is, will get relevance, rather than me searching for it.

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