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May 17, 2006
I Think We Need a New Word
It has come to my attention that someone with the initials “D.D.” makes comments about my blog on her blog. (NB: Blogspot has gotten pretty militant about which browser you use to access the site. You’ve been warned.)
We refer to people who read blogs but never comment on them as “lurkers”, but I’m not aware of a term for people who comment about one blog on another. Any suggestions?
Posted by pgutwin at 1:01 PM | Comments (1)
Globalization, Part II
I recently had the privilege of hearing Jaswinder Ahuja deliver a talk on globalization. While there were a number of important points in his remarks, one key thought has stayed with me: The ultimate goal of any companies globalization efforts should be focused on accessing talent pools outside of the US, not simply finding a lower-cost workforce. From an economic point of view, it may lower the cost of labor (expanding supply with a fixed demand lowers the cost), but lower labor costs don’t really drive business growth. Growth comes from higher sales, typically into expanding markets.
Jaswinder also provided a list of issues a global company needs to face, and most of these dealt with overcoming the physical and social separation between the US and other geographies. This separation represents a cost to the organization involved – while an organization can use the temporal separation to it’s advantage (“round the clock” production), it’s extremely difficult to map some development and manufacturing operations onto this continuous model. The basic fact is that it’s not all that cheap to have a workforce spread out across the entire planet.
So I am completely baffled by the immigration “debate” going on. (NB: I hardly think it’s a debate – the President has offered nothing substantial other than half-heartedly trying to appease the rabid right, and a semi-functional guest worker plan outline) The discussion seems to be centered on the “to let them in or not let them in” point, when to my mind that’s the least of our worries. We should clearly let any and all into the country. It’s good for us: it improves the economy, it makes the nation a stronger, more divers society, and it’s the right thing to do.
While liberalizing the immigration policy will have a positive, long term effect on the US economy and our society, it will come with change. And I suspect this is the core issue – Americans in general are worried about keeping what they have. I suppose that makes sense to some degree, but what are we loosing by being so tight-fisted? We have so much more to gain than loose.
So I think there’s a second phase of globalization – where the borders of countries stop being so important. Think of it as the world moving to be with us here in the US. If we can get to this second phase, we’ll reap the benefit of an expanded labor pool, drive down the cost associated with getting access to that increased labor pool, and be the richer socially for all for this.
I do think it’s important to modulate some parts of immigration, less because it’s dangerous for our country, and more so that we can direct a good situation into a really, really good situation.
And finally, we seemed to have forgotten the national consiousness we once had, that was so eloquently expressed in Emma Lazarus’ Famous Poem The New Colossus and engraved on the base of the statue we revere as a symbol of our nation and our freedom: The Statue of Liberty
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
As a nation, we should aspire again to this compassionate, generous vision of humanity.
Posted by pgutwin at 12:33 PM | Comments (2)
May 15, 2006
You May Say I'm a Dreamer
You’ll have to pardon me – I guess I just haven’t gotten over the 2000 Presidential elections, but I really have been wondering who the Dem’s will field in 2008. My dream candidate is Al Gore, and it looks like I’m not the only one.
Actually, my real dream is still for Howard Dean to be President, but now I see that there are political jobs much more important and powerful than being President. Howard has one, or to be more precise, has made the DNC Chairmanship into a powerful, important position. Sorry, I misspoke – we’re lucky Governor Dean is loaning the Democratic Party his power and importance. Without his effective leadership there, it’s unlikely the Dem’s will be able to achieve and maintain a majority in both houses.
Posted by pgutwin at 5:54 AM | Comments (0)
May 9, 2006
Changing the World, Guns and Geeks, Sea Lions
I am at a conference in Monterey, California, and we’re staying at the Hyatt Regency Monterey . The hotel is beautifully landscaped, the staff attentive, a nice golf course next to the main building, etc, etc. Between the restaurant and the golf course is a nice little gazebo with a gas fireplace, and I wandered over there with my drink before heading off to bed last night. 
Hoping for some solitude, I was a little disappointed there were three women there already, sitting around the fire, engaged in animated conversation, an older woman and two very attractive younger ones talking intently. There was a chair sufficiently removed from the group to be separate, but within earshot. After a couple of minutes the women included me in the conversation – they were talking about where they were from. The older one was from the Albany NY area, and the two younger ones were from Los Angeles, actors taking a break from the “craziness” in LA.
At this point I was bracing myself for the worst – I was expecting some banal conversation about the movie world, how hard it all is to be beautiful and trying to get an honest job acting, but…it didn’t quite turn out that way.
The two actors were taking a break all right – from the pressure of making a documentary on the plight of AIDs orphans in Kenya on a shoestring, about struggling with the moral imperative of making the world a better place surrounded by vain, rich and self-centered people. They both had graphic stories of what they had seen in Kenya – the poverty and neglect, of what they had experienced – the compassion that the orphans extended to them. They had a clear, well formed idea of how they could help – raise enough money through the documentary and other means to create a self-sustaining village for the orphans, founded on micro- investments, utilizing ecologically sustainable farming and manufacturing techniques.
Sometimes I despair about our future, given the young people I know (aside from my own kids of course ;-), but these two young woman gave me hope – that there are people out there who understand, who care, and are trying with all their might to make a difference. They believe that they can change the world. I think they can too.
I’m was a little surprised at meeting the two young women last night – usually these things take over the whole hotel. Typically at these conferences there are “security guards” making sure only registered participants with a conference badge can get into the meeting rooms. I would expect to see the normal crew of retired school teachers and bus drivers mildly standing next to the door checking badges. Mind you, I’d be shocked if anyone else would want to join, but maybe it’s just me – I don’t have a very suspicious mind.
However, the folks organizing this conference apparently are more concerned. The security company making our presentations safe are Off Duty Officers. Now there’s no problem with a police officer picking up a little extra money, but these folks forgot to leave their guns at their normal job. It’s more than a little creepy going in to see a presentation on graph based floorplanning, but to have to pass muster by a guy with a gun on his ( “her” in one case) hip.
But moving from the ridiculous to the sublime, we were escorted on a kayak tour of the Monterey harbor this afternoon. In the past I’ve been on these kinds of outings, and they are usually so rubber padded that it’s difficult to really see or do anything interesting. Not so this time – we were all given spray suites, trotted out to the waiting kyakes, given a 2 minute “lesson” and then pretty much pushed out on our own. There was a “guide” who followed us around, offering interesting insights into the local flora and fauna, including some of the human types.
My co-worker Brion and I were in the same kayak, and we completed our tour a little early. We sat about a quarter mile off the beach, bobbing in the waves, waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. It was wonderful – sun, surf, beautiful scenery – For a moment everything was perfect. I could use more moments like that.
Posted by pgutwin at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)
May 3, 2006
Best of a Bad Situation
The recent Moussaoui verdict is the best outcome to a very bad situation. I'm surprised that otherwise good-hearted people are calling for the blood of this really messed up guy.
I’m not surprised that people are no more mature than a bunch of grade school kids on the playground – what surprises me is how little Moussaoui’s life or death matters, but how much they care. He is, at best, a caricature of himself, but somehow the people calling for his death think there’s some value in his existence. There isn’t – he’s already proven who and what he is, and it’s less than nothing.
Posted by pgutwin at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 1, 2006
SketchUp: Google's Latest Cool Free Download
I've been using SketchUp for about a year to visualize a number of ideas for remodeling our house. I paid full-freight for the tool, and glad that I did. It's really useful.
About 3-4 months ago, SketchUp’s web site announced they had been acquired by Google. I couldn’t image what Goggle wanted with SketchUp.
Goggle recently announce what they intend to do with the program: give a lightweight, free version away, and link it with a “3D Warehouse".
While I’m not sure I really understand the vision, I appreciate the technology – we’ll just have to see where it all goes…
Posted by pgutwin at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)