Sunny Breaks

I hadn’t bought any computer magazines for ages but saw this copy of Wired with google plastered all over it the other week. I got a 4000 word assignment coming up next month

and it’s got to be on some communications company and maybe google would be interesting.
I’m no business economics guru but the vibe i was getting from the article about how Initial Public Offerings go was that it sounded like a huge pain in the arse to be part of.

It’s funny—a while back I was thinking there’s almost no chance that I’ll ever be absurdly wealthy because I’m reluctant to get into a) fucking people over or b) fucking the environment over—and essentially all major enterprises do that in some form. This of course only leaves c) winning tattslotto … and I never buy a ticket.

But I was trying to pin down how it is that Google, as an enterprise is exploiting people or planet, and essentially they’re not. They treat their staff well—or at least this is the impression that pervades. Apparently their hardware philosphy is many and cheap boxes, so maybe they’d have to look into a friendly way to recycle or dismantle the machines when their time is up. But this is way-small fry.

So why is it that this one company can be so successful outside of the mainstream way of doing things? What do they have?
Answer = Good ideas. Some in the form of code – their PageRank system. The only weakness with ideas being your capital is that someone might possibly come up with a better idea.

I was wondering why they’d have to have an IPO at all. If it was me I’d be inclined to take the money and split—who’d want to go to all those stock holder meetings? Anyway, I read this today. Very interesting. Of course people will still throw money at them like crazy. I thought the little bit – a clause they wrote in, “don’t be evil” apt to what I’d been thinking.

Google adsense is a really amazing kind of development too when you think about it. Probably worth a whole post itself, but essentially, if communists were going to have advertisements then they’d probably look like those little text ads.
I mean – all things that are screwed up about advertising are removed – the way it denigrates people, and presents unrealistic representations of people, makes you want things you don’t need and screams in your face. You could say it takes all the art of it out too, but I can live with that.

There’s not even the option to be briefly wordy-clever. The text ads are just stating the ‘facts’. Maybe then the lying is done by the actual website that the ad. links to though.

Boy it sure sounds like a lot more fun being a girl in a punk rockin band touring the US than being me. Here is a well written weblog that’s interesting too. The trouble is that the interesting material of being a full time student maxes out at getting squashed in the compactus, getting jazzed up on long, black coffee and sticking stuff in the electric stapler at the admin office window and hearing the example of ‘airline pilot’ used several times in a lecture and thinking, “maybe I could be an airline pilot”. Also, getting an inchworm on a textbook:

So what does a punk band listen to in the van while transiting between cities? Steely Dan.

There’s some good stories and photos of women in aviation at the 99s site. I’d never heard of this organisation before—although it is yankee, it’s also the kind of thing there’s probably a million discovery channel style docos on too. News to me though.

Those cwazy catholics are up to no good again, and this time it’s got to do with racing turtles and spinning rats. I heard about this on the radio so I don’t know if it hit the big internet sites. An article here.
Sidetracking from there, check out the fantastic merchandise here, including a book titled, Hitler: goose stepper and goose eater.

Went to Melbourne yesterday. Picked up CD. Bought some (as Leo Johnson was fond of saying) ‘new shoes’. Apart from a pair of discount converse someone else bought for me I haven’t had any brand new shoes in over six years, so as you can imagine it was quite an event. I got these low-cut doctor martens which at present are a little stiff and need some inner soles for my mutie flat feet. But Veronica gave me a verbal guaruntee that I could wear them every day for the next two years before they wore out. Either way they are rather sturdy and will will be just what the doctor ordered for all those times when I phase out, walk, walk and walk until I end up in the wilderness.
So for good old fashioned service the spouting seal of approval goes to Veronique shoes on Smith st Collingwood near the corner of Argyle. Just up from the Converse, Adidas and Lotto factory seconds places. Oh the discount shoe district? Yes.

As far as I’m concerned JB hifi craps all over Gaslight these days for range of electronic music. I picked up Amon Tobin’s Out From Out Where album, which had a bonus NinjaTune ‘zentertainment’ compilation attached to it. For 23 bucks it’d be crazy not to buy it.