Disqus - Friends of davidhegarty

Re: Kenny Kellogg: Blogging on a Business Trip

Alex Bain — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:48:29 -0000

I agree that this would be a great trend if it caught on. I took a class in my last semester at school from a professor, Andy McAfee, whose research is solely focused on web 2.0-type technologies in business. He calls it "Enterprise 2.0". You'd probably enjoy reading his blog.

The funny thing about seeing something as trivial as the shots of someone's meals on a business trip is valuable in the right context to the right person. I happen to be planning my first trip to Asia for business at the moment, and seeing the culture, in advance, through someone else's eyes is great for preparation.

Re: Playbook for a First Time Investor?

Alex Bain — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:55:17 -0000

I've been asked this same question before, and have arrived at similar answers, but never this well structured or articulated.

The next time I get this question, I'll just send them to this link.

Re: More Palin

Alex Bain — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:26:24 -0000

You mentioned Palin jokes in 2 posts that are supposed to be funny regardless of politics. I can't say I agree.

I do find Fey's impression of Palin funny, in it's accuracy, but I don't find much humor in the way SNL attempts to turn her into a caricature.

In the same way that I'm willing to concede that any doctor or lawyer that has passed the requisite tests/schooling required to perform their profession cannot than be considered unintelligent (though perhaps in articulate), it drives me nuts when the left-leaning media try to cut the legs out from under Republicans by insisting that they're stupid. I'm willing to concede that nearly any elected official holding high office is far smarter than most of the journalists criticizing them.

I never got many laughs out of Wayne Brady pretending to be effeminate, b/c it's such an easy joke, and, likewise, I get no amusement when writers try to take down a politician they disagree with by turning them into caricatures. It's not clever. It reminds me of canned expressions like "don't go there" or "you have too much time on your hands".

Just so I don't seem like a crazy Republican, I wouldn't find jokes about Obama being stupid funny either, but you'd have to listen to AM radio, not your (otherwise) favorite TV shows and websites, to hear stuff like that.

Re: More Palin

Alex Bain — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:48:16 -0000

FYI, THIS is funny regardless of whom you're voting for: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: Comments are the Best

Alex Bain — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:37:00 -0000

Best post ever… except for the Obama video :-)

Re: More Palin

Alex Bain — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:47:16 -0000

I've got no problem with someone arguing that Palin's not qualified, though I don't agree with the assertion. [Incidentally, the longest serving and by all accounts best Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, John Marshall was barely even a lawyer when appointed.]

Suggesting Palin is unintelligent is where I take issue. I don't know if a person's college or college degree is the best indicator of intellect. I had plenty of acquaintances at Brown and at Harvard Business School that I wouldn't trust to order me a pizza, let alone run the free world. Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and Steve Jobs are all college dropouts.

Palin has "struggled" in a couple interviews. I put the term in quotes because I'd shutter to think how anyone I know would perform with a spotlight shined on them like the one Palin has faced. There are plenty of examples of Barack stuttering embarrassingly, but Palin's a much more fun target for the liberal media.

My favorite example of how the media's biases can alter the public perception of a politician is from the 70's, when the major networks fed the country a steady stream of every little misstep or stumble by Gerald Ford, until the world was convinced he was a klutz. Meanwhile, he was the only President to have ever played Division I college football, and he played for Michigan.

I don't personally have a great sense of how smart Palin is or isn't, but I trust that she wouldn't have been selected if McCain and his advisors didn't think she'd do her job well. I can't imagine any more difficult intellectual exercise than these debates, and I thought her level of articulation and factual recall was admirable.

The one caveat to all of this is that I think we hold celebrities to different standards for all sorts of qualities. I've heard guys calling actresses and models ugly during locker room chatter, when I know the same guy would be thrilled and wholly intimidated if he had a chance to talk to the same actress/model in a bar. Some of the smartest people I personally know would get crushed in these interviews or debates (especially if they were at all right of Castro, so that the media would want to jump on them). But if we're holding Palin to the celebrity standard, not the personal standard of intellect, in the same way that Hale Berry might be "ugly" to someone, I'm okay with that ,b/c it's mostly in jest.

Finally, I'd rather have Romney in charge than any of these people, by a lot, but Huckabee ruined that for everyone.

Re: Still looking for a backup solution

Alex Bain — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:19:46 -0000

I've found that JungleDisk is perfect for smaller files, but when they start to get above 1GB, it becomes unreliable, which is a problem for video.

I've had problems with Mozy too, but if I use it exclusively for video, and JungleDisk for everything else, it's a winning combo.

Re: Kellogg & Twitter

Alex Bain — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:23:49 -0000

Great post on the merits of Twitter. I hadn't ever used this argument before when the subject comes up, but I will now.

That party sounds like it was a blast.

Re: Just added “Likes”: an easy way to let people know... | Tumblr Staff

Alex Bain — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:26:07 -0000

This is brilliant. Thanks so much for adding this feature.

Re: Just added “Likes”: an easy way to let people know... | Tumblr Staff

Alex Bain — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:33:02 -0000

Would there ever be a page displaying all the posts I've "liked"? I'd also like to see the kind of posts other people that I respect have "liked".

Re: Amazing New Blog: Field Access

Alex Bain — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:58:13 -0000

Thanks for the tip on this site. This guy's stuff is really impressive. I'll feel very cultured subscribing to an artist's blog :-)

Re: Friday Chill Music (November 14, 2008)

Alex Bain — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:44:03 -0000

I downloaded some She & Him after reading this, and really like it.

Re: 314 into 206 - Very funny. If the picture is clear, its easier...

Alex Bain — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:36:01 -0000

This KILLED me. Thanks for sharing. I love the time traveling.

Re: 314 into 206 - Very funny. If the picture is clear, its easier...

Alex Bain — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:42:57 -0000

That also cracked me up.

Where do you find this stuff?

Re: Romney on the Bailout

Alex Bain — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:16:36 -0000

I don't think he had the freedom to speak out on the financial crisis while the election was still looming, because of his ties to the Republican party. It may have been seen as grandstanding McCain. I think most Republicans agreed that, once the economy, and not ending the war, had become the biggest issue, it was a shame that Romney couldn't have been our candidate.

I think social issues are pretty far down on Romney's list of priorities, and Massachusetts approved gay marriage on his watch. He didn't press those issues so much as the liberal media harped on them to discredit him.

Re: All the Alex Bain you can handle!

Alex Bain — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:49:19 -0000

Terrific point. No one's ever to old to still love breakfast :-)
[and being a geek is something to be proud of]

Re: Instapaper

Alex Bain — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:05:28 -0000

I had to start using Instapaper to keep up with all the great articles you were recommending :-)

Re: All the Alex Bain you can handle!

Alex Bain — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:06:13 -0000

I've not seen anything for blogger. I'll keep an eye out. Maybe this
is the wake-up call you need to switch to Tumblr :-)

Re: All the Alex Bain you can handle!

Alex Bain — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:37:11 -0000

I don't have any science to back this up, but I'm told that the
reblogging nature of the Tumblr community is actually very helpful for
your page rank. That would involve not only switching your site to
Tumblr, but also following some of other Tumblr authors, and joining
that dialogue, which I've enjoyed.

Re: Joe vs. Cobra

Alex Bain — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:36:28 -0000

I appreciate getting the credit, but I think thanks are due to Ben Decker for that one, and probably to Brian Spaly for popularizing the meme. I think it started mostly as a way to flirt with girls for the single guys in the office, and stuck around because some of our co-workers were so obviously Cobra that even they couldn't deny it.

It died out when partners started using the terms, like when you hear a newscaster or a grandma saying "bling bling" or "don't go there".

Re: Alex's last minute gift guide plugging his friends' companies

Alex Bain — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:05:18 -0000

Good point; giving the gift of teaching someone about LuvvBugg is the
best way I know to communicate fondness for that special someone.

Re: Outrage!

Alex Bain — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:13:47 -0000

This post, and the links it contains explain Carey's subdued mood. They broke for 45 minutes between the guy bidding and announcing the winner. The producers (and Carey) were convinced he'd cheated. They were sort of right. Basically, a super fan had memorized the values of some of the most commonly included items in the showcase showdowns, and perfectly legally shouted out his calculation. The contestant, who didn't know the helper, followed the advice, which could have helped or not, but landed him both prizes.

Even if Carey knew exactly what had transpired at the time, I'd still forgive him for being pissed, because it's going to fundamentally change how the show will have to work in the future if the formula has been "cracked".

Re: via Bain: Crowdsprout

Alex Bain — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:17:05 -0000

That site looks AWESOME. I can't wait to try out CrowdSprout!

Thanks for the shout out.

We'd love any feedback users have to offer, especially if it's either actionable or positive :-)

If anyone knows any businesses that might like to list on CrowdSprout, let me know.

Re: All the Alex Bain you can handle!

Alex Bain — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:19:42 -0000

The term was intended with the utmost respect :-)

Re: All the Alex Bain you can handle! - Favre's shoulder pain from biceps tear

Alex Bain — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:31:10 -0000

Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about your old man. He's got
rage issues :-)