As an antidote to the intense conversations across the weekend, try Garfield minus Garfield. “Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?” (Thanks, Garth.)
Jason Calacanis and the Evil Cult of the Internet Start-up
[Note: This article is a follow-up to How do you treat your staff? Like 37signals, or like this prick?, written after that piece received a lot of attention. But my views are more complex than simple Good vs Evil, as a look through all Calacanis-related posts will show.]
I’m still chuckling at the seriousness with which some people treat getting onto Techmeme. It’s true, I keep stopping typing to giggle. It’s embarrassing.
I’d never visited Techmeme until this weekend. Even then it was only because someone told me I’d blipped up there. It’s just another feed of what someone thinks is “important” in infotech, yeah? Who cares. It’s not as if it’s Reuters or BBC News.
It’s just more geeks telling geeks what geeks think other geeks should think about stuff that geeks think about.
But Jason Calacanis cares.
Jason Calacanis must care very deeply because he “joked” about it on this website, and over at TechCrunch he “joked” about getting pageviews. His fan club speculates that Duncan Riley and me and others are only attacking him to generate our own web traffic. Well, I can’t speak for Duncan, but no, I couldn’t care less about website traffic — especially the low-grade drive-by flamers that usually wash up here after being mentioned on high-traffic fan sites. That’s not why I’m here.
I’m attacking Calacanis because I reckon the business style he describes, the one championed by his defenders, is rotten to the very core.
But first, let’s talk about religion…
Continue reading “Jason Calacanis and the Evil Cult of the Internet Start-up”
Seriously Funny
One of the best compliments I ever received came from Andrew Roffe, an opera singer friend who, sadly, is no longer with us. “I love going to concerts with you,” he said. “You laugh at the funny bits in the Mozart.” As one should: Mozart was such a trickster!
If you’ve known me for a while, or if you’ve been reading my ’umble offerings here, I hope you’ve noticed that I treat serious matters with humour, and take my humour seriously. My approach to the world is curiosity-fuelled, playful. But like a cat with a mouse, it’s play with serious intent.
John Denver karaoke sparks Thai killing spree
“I warned these people about their noisy karaoke parties,” said Weenus Chumkamnerd, 52, after his arrest. “I said if they carried on I would go down and shoot them. I had told them if I couldn’t talk sense into them I would come back and finish them off.”
“A neighbour said that the karaoke group normally sang Thai pop and southern Thai ballads, but one particular western tune could be heard often — John Denver’s Country Roads… the neighbour said the revellers had been singing it over and over again.”
Khun Weenus was so furious with their awful singing that he didn’t notice he’d murdered his own brother-in-law. (Thanks for letting me know, Richard.)
Bigger isn’t always better
In the context of our on-going argument, it’s refreshing to stumble across the observation that bigger isn’t always better for business. “Americans think big. This has helped make them the most powerful nation on Earth, but bigger is not always better, either for our bodies or, I suggest, for our organizations. If I were to visit a symphony orchestra and ask them about their growth plans for the future, how would they respond? They would talk about their plans to extend their repertoire and to bring their work to new audiences, not about increasing the number of violinists… Why does almost every business that I know seek to grow in size, year after year, in fact, as if there were no limit? Why can’t they be content with doing more with less?” (Hat-tip to Signal vs Noise.)
A Pause in the Jason Calacanis discussion
A note for folks stumbling across this website thanks to the Jason Calacanis / 37signals / TechCrunch discussion: It’s 4.30pm on a sunny autumn Sunday afternoon here in Sydney. I have been writing a further post which explains, amongst other things, that I’m not trolling (deliberately stirring up controversy), but passionately arguing a genuine concern. I’m amused this has turned into a global controversy, flattered even, when I reckon it’s more a storm in a teacup — though at its heart is a fundamental issue about how we do business. However for the next few hours I’ll be enjoying the remaining sunshine, doing some shopping and generally spending Sunday evening with my beloved. More soon.