Category: Personal Reflections

After reading this piece, where the President of PayPal vents about HQ staff refusing to utilize the company’s product and tools, I get David Marcus’ point. There is a danger, though, with the confrontational leadership statement. Sounding whiny and entitled trends to disconnect you further from your audience, in this case, your employees. Scolding tones need to be used with caution and thoughtfulness.  Undermining your connection or weakening team trust is hard to repair.

Ultimately, it’s really hard to gauge the effectiveness of one communication without seeing the larger context. Arm-chair quarterbacking is easier that doing the work.

Wil Wheaton posted this video yesterday. This chap videos the locales where famous movie scenes were shot, then integrates the current footage into the movie. And he does it well. It’s 15 minutes, and well worth your time.

As a fan of the film, and also having living along the Oregon coast (Astoria), this really hits home. The feeling is a blend of nostalgia, tinged with a little sadness at all the change. Anyway, watch this for yourself.

Stand by Me 1986 ( FILMING LOCATION ) from Herve Attia on Vimeo.

Shortly after the momentous win of Superbowl 48 by the Seahawks, I heard of the parade to held in their honor. My first thought: “well, that’ll be a mad-house; no thanks”. Probably helps in understanding my viewpoint that I’m hardly a sports-fan. I enjoy them from an entertainment perspective, but I’m hardly the uber-fan. Add to that, though, that I first heard expectations of 10s of thousands, then over a hundred thousand. Now we’re hearing estimates of up-to 500 thousand. Traffic in the City is a mess. And I’m smugly patting myself on the back to be sitting, where it’s warm (current temperature in Marysville is 25 degrees) in front of my computer. Seattle is a bit warmer (ha!).

What I love about this digital age: the ability to view such spectacle from anywhere on the globe. I will be streaming the thing while I keep working away (probably on KING5.com, but we’ll see). If you’re at the event, enjoy!

“Adventure, excitement: a Jedi craves not these things”. Wise word from Master Yoda. Have you ever wondered about the roots of this wisdom? Why is this wise?

Craving adventure to cure boredom is this problem, the weakness of personality. Making others responsible for your entertainment externalizes problem solving, makes it harder to solve issues, weakens your personal power.

Interest and excitement can easily be found through exploration, through learning. Boredom’s cure is easy. Simply own the results, the process. Make it yours, embrace it deeply. That’s the path to a fulfilling and rich life.

I first stumbled upon the Piano Guys with the video below. I find their work well done and fun. They clearly enjoy performing.

And, lo, I see that they’re in town this week (Thursday the 6th) at the Paramont. However, the sticker shock along with the fact I’m already heading to Spam-a-lot this weekend will force this off my plate. However, if you’re looking for something to do Thursday night, give them a whirl. I highly recommend them. And enjoy the song below.

This came across this on my Twitter feed this evening.

Hard hitting, painful as a father to see, to consider. To picture my son begging for his live at the hands of a merciless beating. It’s a provocative image, eliciting a solid emotional response.

My intellect, as a general rule, questions emotion-based responses. Thus, I choose to search out details, and, perhaps, facts. Doing so, of course, simply adds muddle to this. Start with this, Whiting: Kelly Thomas verdict shocking, then understandable“, adds a bit of color, and here’s another piece with details “Two former officers found not guilty in death of Kelly Thomas“

I read through all of this, and am starting to feel confused and numb. Which side is right? Is this verdict really just? Unjust? Are these guys just doing their job?
A few details give me pause.

First and foremost, these officers beat Thomas for 10 minutes. Ten.

“Defense attorneys said Thomas suffered physically from drug abuse, and his exertions during the struggle were too much for him.”That’s countered by the county’s pathologist’s report stating Thomas cause of death was “from asphyxiation caused by injuries he received during the confrontation.” Not heart failure or any other “failure”. Being beaten savagely for nearly 10 minutes will kill the most physically fit of us. I find the defense’s “expert testimony” to the contrary expected, and hollow. Sorry, but I’m sure if you pay out enough cash, you’ll find someone with the right credentials to provide whatever argument you want. I feel the state’s experts have the most valuable insight here. Not buying the defense’s claims here.

Another was uttered by Ramos’ attorney,John Barnett“>, claiming “…they had no malice in their hearts.” His client’s own words counter this. The whole encounter started with Ramos “see these fists?….They’re getting ready to —- you up.” No malice, indeed.

So, ultimately, I need to acknowledge I wasn’t on the jury, didn’t see what they saw and hear what they heard. Just or unjust, we need to keep that in mind. If this is a failure of “the system”, then raging against some of the players is counter-productive (meaning the jurors, to be clear).

The defense, though, came up with one thought that should chill us. The defense said that “cops must protect themselves when they believe they are in danger, without fear of prosecution for handling the incident with force. “That fear costs lives” John Barnett, an attorney for Ramos, told the Los Angeles Times. “Not because they fear the criminal, but because they fear the court.” Afraid of the court, or afraid of being held responsible for their actions? Sorry, but I think they should feel that fear, that they should have that concern in the back of their minds, “I can be held accountable for my actions”.  And the argument that it costs lives specious.

Officers are granted great power, great authority and need to be held to a standard that warrants that trust. From what I’ve read this evening, it’s hard for me to feel that these officers lived up to that standard. Mr. Thomas, for whatever his issues and failures, didn’t commit a capital crime. I wonder if there is a way to prevent such terrible things from happening.

Today: another day where I sit amazed at the information stream I’ve set up for myself. Emails, website, tweets, etc, tons of stuff I WANT to process. Add to that the stream of stuff I “should” read. It’s really mind blowing.

I consider, though, “why?”  It’s hits me that is rather new. Must of my life, getting access to information required more effort. I needed to subscribe to a magazine or journal, go to a library, etc. Plus, editors and publishers weeded the irrelevant (ostensibly, at least). I never needed to invest time in determining whether I was investing in worthwhile information.

Now, knowledge races towards me. Things that would’ve required hours, of not days, of research I can now access from my bed. And it’s all there… ALL, good, bad, useful and not…all. And I value that, democratizing information, even with the added burden.

I’m working on the control skills. Really, though, the challenge is gluttony, on my part. I love knowing stuff, especially the eclectic, unusual. Perhaps a little showing off, but also it just makes me giddy. And that’s really my challenge: I want to read it all. How do I prioritize it, chose which this to ignore? Hmm… indeed…

I’ve actually had full conversations simply stating “dude” with different inflection and emphasis. Ah, life on the west coast!