or two, give him some time to settle in...

on Jobs

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Don’t Worry about Apple - Cringely on technology:

In the long run the goal won’t be to replace Steve, anyway, but to transcend him, because Steve was far from the perfect leader.

The last time Steve Jobs left Apple, back in 1985, the entire company breathed a sigh of relief. Steve back then was an undisciplined brat. John Sculley was able to dramatically improve Apple’s balance sheet through one simple technique – eliminating all the wacky projects Steve was spending $200 million per year running at Apple – projects that were generally never going to hit the market anyway. Alas, that’s where Sculley ran out of gas as a leader because he lacked technical vision where that’s all Steve had in those days.

It took learning to run NeXT on a budget and almost losing the company to teach Steve how to be a leader. It took learning to leave Pixar alone to teach Steve that there were some things – many things – best left to others more talented than he. Those two experiences, added to his fall from grace in 1985, made Steve Jobs the leader he is today. Still all elbows and shoulder blades, he somehow makes it work.

If you've got the cash, I'd almost suggest buying shares from Apple when it gets to $75 or so, 'cause it'll bounce back to $100 in a week once Jobs comes back.

on a recent police shooting in Oakland

Dispatches from the Culture Wars: A (Mild) Defense of the Cop in the BART Shooting:

At the same time, I'd pose this question to the Mehserle [the cop] defenders I've seen on police forums and bulletin boards: I'm sympathetic to the argument that in the heat of the moment, Mehserle inadvertently reached for the wrong weapon. But Mehserle had training. He had other cops there backing him up. If we're going to be sympathetic to him, where's the sympathy for people like Cory Maye or Ryan Frederick?

Why should we assume good intentions when a cop with training, wide awake and conscious, with other cops all around him makes a mistake that ends with a fatality, but assume the worst when a civilian is awoken by the sound of police breaking into his home, and in the heat of the moment, fires a gun after mistaking them for criminal intruders?

Seems to me you can't simultaneously argue that trained police officers should be forgiven for nervous mistakes made in the heat of the moment, but ordinary people should be expected to show impeccable judgment and restraint, even under unimaginably volatile and confrontational circumstances.

Posting my Pic of the Day here as well this time...

The CC across the street, having moved in barely 4 months ago to where Tower used to be (and it was empty after Tower for over a year).  I wanted one last shot of it before "Store Closing" signs plastered it horribly and then it all goes dark...

BTW, this has the Fair Oaks area with now 3 empty warehouse-size stores (Tower/CC, Linens & Things, and CompUSA), as well as Fair Oaks itself at only having half the restaurants it normally should have (with 2 more closed this last month).  None of the competition for those stores will move in there because they all already are at nearby Fair Lakes.

3 restaurants formerly in their own buildings (and 1 gas station) within a 2 mile radius of here have all turned into banks for crying out loud.  You'd think they wouldn't have the cash for that sort of thing, and I'm wondering how many of those buildings won't actually finish their conversion...

there used to be an oath for this sort of thing w/ doctors...

White Coat Underground : Accomodation or contortion?:

What kind of idiocy are we dealing with here?

"The regulation is important, because we increasingly are seeing discrimination against health-care personnel who hold religious beliefs having to do with abortion and contraception," said David Stevens, chief executive of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. "Unless these conscience rights are protected, people are going to be driven out of health care."

What a steaming pile of guano. The CMDA needs to stop their whining. If their particular cult's beliefs prevent them from practicing medicine properly, the should be driven out of health care. If fact, it would be a very good idea to let pre-meds know quite explicitly before they matriculate that their own personal beliefs are going to take a back seat to those of their patients for the rest of their lives. Medicine is full of ethical conundrums, but this isn't one of them. If your morals don't allow you to follow the standard of care of your profession, get the hell out. I don't give a rat's ass what your beliefs are, I just want the best medical care available, and if you can't provide it, then get a job at Starbucks and make me my damned coffee.