In war for talent, ‘brogrammers’ will be losers

In war for talent, ‘brogrammers’ will be losers:

The tech industry’s testosterone level can make the thickest-skinned women consider a different career. But the rise of the brogrammer joke and its ensuing backlash has some benefits: It helps talented women choose worthy employers, it gives a name and face to a problem that plagues the industry and it publicly shames some of the most sexist offenders.

Gina Trapani
In 1999, Google’s Marissa Mayer almost didn’t take the job at the all-male start-up because there were more women at another firm that made her an offer. If Mayer had just graduated from college today with offers from two equally compelling start-ups — one all-male and one not — it’s clear which one she would choose.
If you write software for a living and you’re located in Silicon Valley, you have your pick of employment options at an array of tech start-ups — yes, even in this economy. When a recruiter’s pitch is: “Wanna bro down and crush some code?” — like San Francisco-based Klout’s was — you get a sense of what that company is looking for. If you’re a woman, it’s not you.

[If you even consider thinking about yourself in context of such a ridiculous term, you’ve already lost.]

You are standing on the thing you seek to criticize

You are standing on the thing you seek to criticize:

I personally criticize the social nature of science — where popular ideas get funded and unpopular ones get shunned, and sometimes it takes a generation dying to get closer to the truth. I hate the herd mentality and the activist scientist. I think they cause harm to science itself. But many take the human vulnerabilities of science to make a case that science is itself mostly worthless — that everything in the world is just a matter of belief. They say that believing in gravity is much the same as believing in divine providence.

Everything is not the same. Bedrock principles are not there by blind luck. We’ve tried other ideas and they didn’t work at all. This is an extremely important thing to know. We have learned a lot about how to allow humans to live, love, and have a meaningful life over the past several centuries. Picking out principles for having a dynamic economy or a vibrant scientific community isn’t like choosing a flavor of ice-cream at a dinner buffet. Yet vast swaths of people — people with six-figure incomes and college debts — think it is. They haven’t been taught the critical thinking skills or given the testicular fortitude to make cultural value decisions. And so here we are.

What Would the End of Football Look Like?

What Would the End of Football Look Like?:

I think the only way the game survives, long-term, is if the rules change dramatically to something like flag football — to a sport that resembles basketball in terms of athleticism, pace of play, and violence. Me? I think I might enjoy watching such a football very much. But I don’t think most NFL fans would. Too many NFL fans are in it for the violent hits, not despite them.

[I don’t think this is true. I think a lot of folks don’t care about the hard hits. In fact these days, I see them making more people quest than anything else. BTW, the same applies to hockey. The big hits and fighting degrade, atmo, two beautiful sports. I’ve played them both in my own bush league way… but I’ve enjoyed standing on the ice with real players (NHL) I’ve played football with guys who were going to the combines, and not quite making it etc. I know how gifted these guys are. Change the rules, give them a chance to adjust, and we can all enjoy the power, speed and beauty of watching people play at that level without the stuff that is killing people.]

Source: Daring Fireball

Apple Is Doomed: The Phony Sony Parallel

Apple Is Doomed: The Phony Sony Parallel:

This isn’t to say that Apple can’t be contaminated by the toxicity of success, or that the spots of mediocrity we can discern here and there (and that were present when Steve was around) won’t metastasize into full blown “bozo cancer”. But for those interested in company cultures, the more interesting set of questions starts with how Apple will “Think Different” from now on. Jobs was adamant: His successors had to think for themselves, they were told to find their own true paths as opposed to aping his.

From a distance, it appears that Tim Cook isn’t at all trying to be Jobs 2.0. But to call his approach “legal/bureaucratic” (in the Weber sense), as Colony does, is facile and misplaced.

[Interesting analysis. Loving “bozo cancer” though. That’s a useful term of disdain.]

Disruptions: Start-Ups Keep Revenue at Zero to Cash In on Acquisition – NYTimes.com

Disruptions: Start-Ups Keep Revenue at Zero to Cash In on Acquisition – NYTimes.com:

Indeed, this madness was invented in the late ’90s and helped perpetuate the first dot-com meltdown. “Mark-to-mystery was developed as a large part of the last bubble, but it’s gotten a lot worse this time around,” Mr. Kedrosky said.

When this next bubble pops — and it will pop — the idea to make no money can finally pop, too. Then investors can start working with companies to build businesses that have long-term financial goals, instead of just building a short-term mystery.

[Bad news all around. Money remains the root does it not?]

Source: Daring Fireball

Good Quarter for Amazon

Good Quarter for Amazon:

Revenue is up year over year, although profits were down. This caught my eye:

“I’m excited to announce that we now have more than 130,000
new, in-copyright books that are exclusive to the Kindle Store –
you won’t find them anywhere else. They include many of our top
bestsellers – in fact, 16 of our top 100 bestselling titles are
exclusive to our store,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of
Amazon.com.

So 16 percent of bestselling titles are exclusive to the Kindle Store — and the
Department of Justice is investigating Apple’s iBookstore. Got it.

[I’ve nothing to add.]

Source: Daring Fireball

Selling to people who havent bought yet

Selling to people who haven't bought yet:

No, they won’t respond to a better-than-them pitch. Instead, they’re much more likely to respond to a new statement of their problem and a new statement of the solution. Don’t ask them to announce that they were wrong when they decided that they didn’t need a tablet, a survival kit or an anti-impotence drug. Instead, make it easy for them to make a new decision based on new information.

[A lesson that needs to be heard in many fields.]

Source: Seth’s Blog

Air-O-Swiss Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier

Air-O-Swiss Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier:

It’s a little bigger than a Macbook Pro power supply, and twice as thick. It has a clever water reservoir, any .5 liter or smaller water bottle snaps into a fitting, and will supply 6-10 hours of vapor, depending on the setting.

Berlin apartments are as dry as a brush fire, so we also ran it all day in the living room, and even in a large room, it made the air so much more pleasant. Then we ran the Air Swiss all night for the baby, and again it performed perfectly. That’s day and night for 30-days non-stop; it’s built solid.

The only drawback is that there is a rather bright blue light that illuminates the vapor when the unit turns on, which changes to a red light when the water bottle is empty. If you’re a light sensitive sleeper, it might be an issue.

[Heh. I like it.]

Source: Cool Tools