Emergency Operations Center 2010

"A location where uncomfortable officials meet in unfamiliar surroundings to play unaccustomed roles making unpopular decisions based on insufficient information in much too little time."

- Art Botterell

Kobayashi Maru, man. 2010

I love Merlin Mann and Jeff Veen's kickass brains.

The whole episode of Dan Benjamin's The Conversation is very worth watching, but this bit resonated deeply:

Merlin: "There's still companies today where they are feverishly trying to lock down, like not let you get to Gmail and not let you get to any of this stuff, but you've got 3G on your phone! You know? It's there's this shift that – ...we usually use this in the sense of talking about media – but the toothpaste is out of the tube with this stuff. ... It's not like it used to be like you're describing, Jeff. Like back in the day when if I wanted to do anything with email, I had to go to the office and sit down with Eudora and my Hayes modem and that was a completely different way of thinking about my work than it is today. And I think that you're describing a shift, though, that's a whole constellation, a syndrome of changes that IT in particular is probably having a pretty hard time keeping up with."

Dan: "Well, you know, just the existence – to kind of support what you're saying - just the existence of apps like Gowalla, the existence of the Gowalla/Foursquare mentality, of something like that couldn't have existed the way it does now just a few years ago, let alone a decade ago. And I think people want to be in touch and it's like would a company now, today, a new one, ever be able to do anything but encourage this kind of thing? And when is enough enough?"

Jeff: "Well, I'll tell you, there's another shift as well, and it's not just this 'IT departments trying to exert control', but it's also this notion of how you measure productivity. Right? ... In the past corporate productivity measurements were about your butt in a chair for forty hours a week. Right? You know, filing your TPS reports. So that's why you see crazy stuff, like, you know, firewall filters that won't let you go visit Facebook while you're in the office. As opposed to... be more milestone-based, set out your objectives, know what they are, get them done, have a deadline, and then leave me the hell alone. I'll get my work done and that might actually require me connecting with somebody on Facebook to answer a question, or, or whatever! Right?"

Merlin: "Yeah, it's infantilizing!"

Jeff: "It is!"

Merlin: "What's funny to me in this is again another thing from the book, but, like, to me this is a huge pattern is that what is knowledge work at the heart of it? Knowledge work is you hire somebody because they're smart and they either know how to solve a problem you don't know how to solve or they know how to solve it better and more efficiently than you. So they're a part of this value chain where, like I call it the black box career, but you don't need to know everything about MySQL to go hire the guy who's your MySQL admin. You just need to know that that person does a good job with it. ...Pragmatic Thinking and Learning, Andy Hunt (one of the Pragmatic Programmer guys), he has this wonderful term, and I really recommend this book for anybody... and the phrase he uses is... that the problem at a lot of companies like you're describing, Jeff, is they're trying to herd racehorses and race sheep. And so, in that instance, you are infantilizing people whose job it is to figure out what their job is. ... You know what, just tell me the deadline and the rules. Kobayashi Maru, man. I will figure out how to do this, but, like, get out of my face and stop trying to give me unnecessary rules. In my opinion, that is a failure of management. You look at somebody like Lopp, right? Michael Lopp. You talk to Michael and he will just say 'You know what my job is as a manager? My job is to get out of the way, remove barriers, and then run defense so my people don't get interrupted.' And that is so different from 'You need to be sitting and checking email all day long so I know that you're there.'"

Jeff: "It's about trust, right?"

Merlin: "The lack of trust, absolutely, the lack of trust. And also... when you get to the big company level you end up having... more mortar than brick."

Good news and an opportunity for San Franciscans 2010

I'm very relieved that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee has maintained funding for the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team program. This is a wonderful, practical, and free program to train ordinary San Franciscans to stay safe and, where possible, help others in case of disaster. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee the funding will be preserved in the future, so take advantage of the program now while we have it.

Why should you care?

California has a 99.7 percent chance of having a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or larger during the the next 30 years. The likelihood of a more powerful quake of 7.5 magnitude in the next 30 years is 46 percent. Such a quake is more likely to occur in the southern half of the state than in the northern half. ... the probability of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or larger over the next 30 years striking the greater Los Angeles area is 67 percent and in the San Francisco Bay Area is 63 percent [source]

The best way to deal with this threat is to understand what it would mean for you and your household and how you can reduce your risks of being badly hurt during a quake. Take the classes, they're free and interesting. Download the NERT manual and learn how to put together an emergency kit. Get involved with your local team and stack the deck in favor of coming through the next big shakeup unharmed.

San Franciscans, once again, why should you care?

Because we have 17,000 residents per square mile and only about 300 firefighters on duty at any given time. You will need to be self-sufficient, especially in the first three days after a major quake.

It's not hard to be ready, but you do have to start preparing.

Every week, from now until the ground moves, devote a little time – even just a few minutes when you can't take a class or do a bigger safety project in your home – to providing for your future.

2010

Just realized the TypePad "Quick Compose" box is basically useless to me because it doesn't accept HTML, e.g. to put a link into a post. *sigh*

2010

"The kind of writing I do has always been designed either to elicit a conversation or to provide some framework for thinking about a problem, and you do that better if you're dealing with people whom you don't know in advance and who may not be inclined to agree with you. Usenet is a much better environment for that, frankly, than the Yale campus."
--- Clay Shirky, knocking my socks off again

2010

Spammer with an oooold list of domain data reminds me that at one time I owned synergystreet.com (no memory of what that was for) and brendanfrasersmouth.com (which was, of course, for those things on which gay men and straight women can agree and was bought, I strongly suspect, right after watching Gods and Monsters).

Definitely in motion on my road 2010

My latest Discardia post is about choosing what you most want and don't want in your life and then bearing those priorities in mind when faced with options (which we are all day, every day).

Here are my choices:

I want...
1. to be thriving in a great relationship.
2. to feel healthy and strong.
3. to be a published author.

I don't want...
1. to work in a cubicle.
2. to have little control over when I do what.
3. to be stressed all the time.

I'm making great progress on all of these goals. I quit my office job just over a year ago, went into business for myself as a productivity and life coach, started writing my book about Discardia, devoted more of my energy to my relationship with Joe, and consciously began designing my life for less stress.

The feeling healthy and strong part has been tough, though, I have to admit. I hate gyms. I have a weak knee and a weak ankle which make running or jogging very unattractive. Really, the only exercise routine I actually like and seek out many times a week is walking. As someone with a project of walking the city of San Francisco – every street, every block – that's not a surprise, right? :)

During the past two years I've made various attempts to up my activity level. I tried the Wii Fit for a while; fun, but not inspirational for daily activity. I got a pedometer and renewed my focus on my SF walking project; definitely a help, but not always compatible with working on a book and maintaining a happy home many hours a day.

Yesterday, I think I finally found the sweet spot: a treadmill desk.
I moved my Ikea office armoire to the other wall so the space in front of it wouldn't block our path to the back bathroom, switched the shelves around so that the extending desk surface could hold my monitor at face height when I'm standing, and put my treadmill in front of the desk. There are a couple tweaks needed – the typing surface needs to be an inch or two lower and the stereo speaker buzz needs to be resolved – but in the first part of my day today (less than two hours) I've already strolled at a comfortable speed of 0.7 miles an hour (while typing and reading) and logged over 2700 steps.

I can see that with this setup it will be very difficult not to reach a daily goal of at least 10,000 steps. Also my energy and alertness levels are both higher than when I'm sitting in a chair. Awesome!

Notes on my setup:
- LifeSpan Fitness TR200 Fold-N-Stor Compact Treadmill
- nice finished board
- two scarves to tie board on treadmill handles
- blanket under board for padding and as additional safety grip
- Ikea armoire with extendable shelf
- cheapish monitor
- MacBook
- creativity

Handy city info for your address 2010

I was checking to confirm who my city supervisor is when I found this handy dandy service from the San Francisco government. Just type in your address (or a cross street) and you'll find out

• Your parcel information (block & lot, zoning, lot area)
• Elected officials with links to their home pages (Board of Supervisors, U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, State Assembly, BART Board of Directors)
• Street information with – woo hoo! – street sweeping info for both sides of your block
• Nearest school and public library

Hooray for public information!

Recently enjoyed podcasts 2010

Since I no longer have a commute or do so much plane travel, I am not consuming podcasts at the same rate as I used to, but they are great while I do dishes or vacuum. I also use them to induce happy calm on bus rides with irritating fellow passengers.

Here's what's stuck out for me lately among my subscriptions.

Productivity:

"Goal Setting" from David Allen Company

Science:

"Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool" from the British Museum and BBC's brilliant 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' series. This stuff just gives me chills, even more so since I've actually stood at the lip of the gorge (on my 2005 trip to Africa). We all come from this heritage.

A bunch from 60 Second Science:
"Monkeys Hate Others' Bonuses, Too"
"Count On Steves to Defend Darwin"
"Earths Common as Dirt"
"Money Can Buy Happiness Sometimes"
"Waking in the Dark: Daylight Saving Time"
"Heart Keeps Pumping Out New Cells"
"Breathing Easy Thanks To Great Oxidation Event"
"Iron Will to Live for Antarctic Microbes"
"Monkey Drives Dinosaur Game Extinct"
"Elderly Who Forget Age Remember Better"
"Bad Mileage Driving Tips"
"Rain Zone Moving North"
"Profanity Bleeps Physical Pain"
"Cat Call Coerces Can Opening"
"What's Behind Birthers' Obama Belief"
"Hot Rocks Were Technology Revolution"
"Gene Therapy Cures Color-Blind Monkeys"
"Salty Origins for Early Earth Biomolecules"
"Teen Inventors Fight Tinnitus"
"Pill May Change Attraction"
"Wind Farmers Go to School on Fish"
"Black Hole Quasar Building Galaxy"
"Caffeine Merely Masks Alcohol's Effect"
"If Time Flew, You Had Fun"
"Lighter Drinks Avoid Heavy Head" (Or just try smaller, better drinks, mm?)
"Gunfight Tip: Faster to Draw Second"
"Ancient East Asian Found in Roman Empire"

Cocktails:

"Traveling Mixologists Rock Paris, episode II" from OhGo.sh

Happy listening!