this is better than the last one

marklisanti (@marklisanti) 11/9/11 11:08 AM The Academy would like us to welcome its new, improved, drama-free Oscar team, producer Roman Polanski and host Mel Gibson!

@HitFixDaniel, 11/9/11 11:16 AM

Daniel Fienberg (@HitFixDaniel) 11/9/11 11:16 AM At this point, the Greek government is pointing and laughing at the instability of the Oscars.

World's Greatest Travel Snack

Seth's Blog: How to get a job with a small company

Good advice. Worth reading the whole thing. Working at smaller companies seems so much more exciting to me, but you need to know how to talk to the people who are hiring at those companies.

Seth's Blog: How to get a job with a small company:

"Most advice about job seeking is oriented around big companies. The notion of a standard resume, of mass mailings, of dealing with the HR department--even the idea of interviews--is all built around the Fortune 500.

Alas, the Fortune 500 has been responsible for a net loss in jobs over the last twenty years. All the growth (and your best chance to get hired) is from companies you’ve probably never heard of. And when the hirer is also the owner, the rules are very different."

Just Because...

Bryan Adams - Heaven (Unplugged)

Thank me later.

Sunday Brunch - November 6, 2011

Hope you enjoy the links.

• Dam Breached, Reservoir Drained - Don't mess with mother nature and gravity.
• Computer Science Majors By Year - I wonder why this chart isn't up and to the right. The country has a massive unemployment problem but you cannot hire a developer in Silicon Valley right now. The market for computer science majors has never been tighter.
• Birth of Europe: Full Circle - pretty funny 
• 2Houses - Software so divorced families can manage the little things. This would have made my life a lot easier when I was a kid.
• How to Find Cups at Someone's House - So true
• What Good Interview Questions are Trying to Discover - this posts benefits people who are interviewing to fill jobs just as much as those interviewing for jobs. If you are asking people interview questions that don't give you this insight, you should re-evaluate.
• Favorite Pitches from TechStars Seattle - I went to this tech incubator event on Thursday. I had a blast and met a lot of great people. So much energy in the room.
• Day Care Sick Day Incentives - I love thinking about little incentive programs like the one Alex outlined. My favorite example is the b-school case study where a day care center was tired of parents picking up their kids late, so they instituted a $10 fee for being late. After the fee was instituted, late pickups doubled or tripled. All that had been keeping late pickups to a minimum was the sense of guilt parents felt about being late. Once there was a fee associated with it, being late became a transaction and acceptable to the parents.
• Another 100 Day Event - Kedrosky - Italy is getting scary.
• Boxer Briefs - informative article on men's underwear. :)
• Nap in Such a Way That Your Cheerios Are Safe - very cute, and true.
• Road & Trees - I always like to end with a picture.

Friday Chill Music - November 4, 2011

I'm traveling today so apologies for the URL links instead of embedded playlist. :)

The National - Sin-Eaters - I'm already getting excited for their concert in SF in early December.

M. Ward - Carolina - He's the best. I like everything he puts out.

Lonely Boys - Black Keys - Rock music.

The War on Drugs - Come to the City - Been listening to these guys like crazy since Hamilton & Kenna turned me onto them.

View of Seattle From Matt's Market

(see full image)

Note from a Friend in Vancouver on the Housing Bubble There

A good buddy of mine lives in Vancouver and we've been exchanging messages about the housing bubble there. I keep sending him posts like this showing the Vancouver market is going crazy. His latest response:

"Renting--rent hasn't changed in the 3.5 yrs we've been here...the house buying money is all asian cash (obviously), the rest of the economy is fine, relatively flat, and mostly based on tourism and commodities (mining, electricity).  The biggest implications of all of this in my eyes is what it is doing to the community...you walk around at night and only a third of the houses have residents in them and lights on.  No one who lives in those houses are contributing income or sales taxes to canada so what's going to happen to social services over time? An interesting social experiment that I would rather not be surrounded by.

I've actually been thinking about it a bit more and was thinking about what it will do to all the local businesses in addition to the social services.  How does a neighborhood restaurant and market stay in business when there's 50% occupancy around (even with 100% ownership)?  I feel OK about our business b/c it draws people from reasonable distances, but small companies that rely on short-distance "locals" are going to have their number of potential customers cut in half.  It's all kind of fine now that it's a new thing and all these problems are offset by rising property prices...but time will take it's toll on the businesses at this rate and the problem will compound when and if property prices start dropping to boot."

Colbert Super PAC - Occupy Wall Street Co-Optportunity - Stephen On Location - The Colbert Report - 2011-31-10 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

Colbert Super PAC - Occupy Wall Street Co-Optportunity - Stephen On Location - The Colbert Report - 2011-31-10 - Video Clip | Comedy Central:

This is quite possible the funniest thing I've seen on TV in years. Colbert was amazing in this. Everything about this is genius.