Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.

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	February 17, 2003

LIBERAL RADIO Today's New York Times describes the plan of some "rich Democrats" to establish a liberal radio network to counter the redneck radio brigade led by Limbaugh et al. Consensus is it would be a "kinder, gentler" kind of reportage compared to that of the ever-angry right. I e-mailed Salon bigwig Michael O'Donnell about it, wondering aloud whether piggy-backing on this network might allow Salon to simulataneously reduce its costs and find an additional outlet for its important perspectives. Michael is not impressed, though I'm not sure whether it's the concept or the people behind it that bothers him. Keep watching Salon to learn more. And if you haven't already, have faith and become a premium subscriber. 6:24:49 PM  trackback []  comment []

LICENSE TO VIOLATE THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH? There's an interesting debate described in Slate today about conflicting First Amendment rights, relating to, of all things, partisan slogans on state license plates. Being an ardent believer in free speech, women's reproductive rights, and the separation of church and state , I'm not quite sure which side to come down on in this one. 6:05:17 PM  trackback []  comment []

WHAT INNOVATION? I just finished reading another survey of business leaders that said that innovation is one of the most important drivers of growth and profitability, and a key competitive differentiator for their companies (is that enough corporate-speak for one sentence or what). In my work, I deal with a lot of mid-level managers (like me) who, for the most part, don't believe a word of it. The real objective, they say, is to convince your customers (and hopefully competitors as well) that you're doing all this great leading-edge innovation that's going to keep your products and services fresh, responsive, and valuable, while actually doing no innovating at all.  After all, innovation is a lot of things that business leaders hate: expensive, risky, long-term, expectation-raising. Why would any business responsible to its shareholders (oops, now it's stakeholders) want to do such a thing? Much better to buy or steal entrepreneurial ideas from guys working in their basement, get your army of lawyers to patent them to death, and make your money from both the product and patent infringement suits. There are lots of entertaining books from business gurus (some of whom have never really worked in a real company) who will tell you, and your boss, how the most innovative companies are dominating their markets, and how you can play a role (though if I hear the story about the 3M post-its once more I'll scream). Problem is, most self-styled innovators in large companies will tell you they are hated in their companies, and the only reason they still do it is that, like blogging, creativity is habit forming and they just can't stop.   So the next time you read a story in Fast Company or Wired that tells you about the benefits of innovation, or hear a supplier or a drinking buddy tell you their company encourages innovation, ask them to prove it. Ask them how they measure it, reward it, and promote their most creative minds. If you get any credible response, I'd like to hear it. And since I can't stop either, here's a link to my Prescription for Business Innovation. It's been praised by academics who have suggested I publish it, but then what do they know. 3:28:47 PM  trackback []  comment []

APPLES AND ORANGES: WHICH COSTS MORE PER POUND, A CAR OR A CROISSANT Time for something silly. This is a wacko variation on Trivial Pursuit . I invented it, but in the interest of making intellectual property available to all that need it (in this case people with too much time on their hands), I hereby place it into the public domain, provided that anyone who tries to make money off it (hah! good luck) will be hunted down and killed. I call it Apples & Oranges. Here's how it works: Each team draws a card with the name of some product on it. The team has to guess whether the cost per pound of the item is: under $0.50 $0.50-$2  $2-$4  $4-$6 $6-$12 $12-$50 $50 - $200 over $200 These eight ranges (shown in $U.S.) work very well for a wide variety of items. Those in other countries use your $U.S. exchange rate and favourite weight unit and adjust accordingly.  Your team gets 2 points for correctly picking the cost category, and 1 point if they only miss it by one category. Or you can pick three cards and have your team try to put the items in relative order from most- to least-expensive per pound. Here are some examples to get you going: All it takes is a catalogue and a scale to get you going, Or, if you pick up one of those monster mail-order catalogues in the plastic envelope with the air-sickness bag on planes, it shows you the shipping weight and the price so all you have to do is divide. For products in a package, the cost-per-pound is excluding the packaging. Write the item name on the front of each card and the cost per pound on the back. You'd be surprised how far off your guesses can be. I'll post the correct categories and cost per pound data for these 42 examples in a couple of days, so you can practice guessing in the meantime: Antacid, Tums Tablets Bathrobe, deluxe Bread, Texas toast white sliced Cabinet, Teak Storage Camcorder, Sony digital Camera, Canon Sport 35ml Car, Chevy Venture new Card Table, 6-sided deluxe with chip holders Cheese, Havarti, package Chicken Wings (box, preseasoned) Chocolates, Pot of Gold box Coke, large bottle (contents only) Cordless Phone, Vtech 900MHz Croissants, Pillsbury Deodorant, Lady speed stick Deodorant, Mennen speed stick Electric Bicycle, Iacocca brand Gasoline, regular Grape Juice, reconstituted frozen Ham, whole Headache medicine, noname acetaminophen Headache medicine, Tylenol caplets Leather Jacket, men's bomber style Light Bulbs, no name package Mouthwash, Scope Nanaimo Bar (chocolate dessert slice) Orange Juice, fresh bottled Perfume, Oscar de la Renta, 30ml bottle Potato Chips, Lays large bag Potatoes, large bag Red peppers, whole Salmon steak, package Shark Cartilage, packaged arthritis relief Slippers, Sheepskin Soap, Dove bars Sole fillets, frozen Tea Caddy, Butcher Block, wheeled Tool Set, 107 piece Vanadium Turkey, fresh whole Watch, Birks ladies chrome/leather Watch, Swatch waterproof Water, Perrier bottled Hint: The number of items in each category is:  a-4, b-3, c-5, d-5, e-8, f-8, g-5, h-4. And of course, there's some political messages here about the relative cost of no-name versus brand-name, mens' versus womens' products, and miracle cures. 12:36:50 PM  trackback []  comment []

VONNEGUT ON BUSH'S WAR, PSYCHOTIC LEADERS AND TRASHING THE ENVIRONMENT Kurt Vonnegut, who is now 80, was recently interviewed by In These Times and spoke out in his usual irreverant and eloquant manner about the madness of war with Iraq, the psychosis of political and business leaders who act irrationally and feel nothing, and the destruction of our environment that continues relentlessly beneath the smokescreen of terrorism and corporate abuses. Two excerpts: [We are each] heir to a shockingly recent history of human slavery, to an AIDS epidemic and to nuclear submarines slumbering on the floors of fjords in Iceland and elsewhere, crews prepared at a moment's notice to turn industrial quantities of men, women and children into radioactive soot and bone meal by means of rockets and H-bomb warheads... [We have] inherited technologies whose byproducts, whether in war or peace, are rapidly destroying the whole planet as a breathable, drinkable system for supporting life of any kind. Human beings, past and present, have trashed the joint. Those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka 'Christians', and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or 'PPs.' To say somebody is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable medical diagnosis, like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete's foot. The classic medical text on PPs is "The Mask of Sanity" by Dr. Hervey Cleckley. Read it! PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. And what syndrome better describes so many executives at Enron and WorldCom and on and on, who have enriched themselves while ruining their employees and investors and country, and who still feel as pure as the driven snow, no matter what anybody may say to or about them? And so many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick. What has allowed so many PPs to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can't. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody's telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times... 12:10:48 PM  trackback []  comment []

FRIDAY FIVE SURVEY - WHY I BLOG Just found out about Friday Five so I thought I'd try it out. 1. Explain why you started to journal/blog. Personal reasons: I love to write and need regular practice to do it better, I love to share ideas, I learn best by writing stuff down Business reason: I'm a Knowledge Officer for a large company by day, and wanted to explore whether blogs might be a better way to share business news and knowledge as well. Jury's still out on that. 2. Do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? Kind of the reverse - some of the people who've discovered my blog are people I now interact with day to day. So far, most people at my work have no idea about this, and that's probably just as well. My family know but so far aren't really into it. 3. Do you have a theme for your journal/blog? Primary theme is supposed to be environmental awareness/activism, with politics, economics, music/film/TV/lit/arts, science, and business innovation as secondary themes. Sometimes, however, events overtake the best laid plans, so liberal politics has been the de facto primary theme so far. 4. What direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year? No idea. If it makes me a better writer, that will be enough. If it makes me a more informed, sensitive, unselfish, humble, active, mature, balanced person, that will be gravy. If it in some way touches someone else and as a result makes the world a slightly better place, that would be awesome. 5. Pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs. Too hard to cut it down that much. Instead, I'd like to publicly thank those that have graciously and selflessly helped me get this blog launched (two weeks old today), especially The Raven and CharlyZ (gracias). Also like to urge some of the poets and essayists who write extraordinary and beautiful things, usually with little or no recognition, to please keep doing it -- you may not get as much attention as other bloggers, but we need you. And anyone with ideas on how to save Salon, please let them know. 12:57:05 AM  trackback []  comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dave Pollard. Last update: 19/02/2004; 2:39:32 PM.