Lauren Cooney's Blog

Google Maps, done "Onion" style...

I am an avid "O'Reilly Radar" blog reader, and today this popped up from Brady Forrest. Evidently "The Onion" has done a release of Google World Layer with content from their new atlas, titled "Our Dumb World."

Here's the quote that gives the exact description of what this is:

Click on the Onion pins scattered around the globe to reveal mind-expanding factoids about the lesser, conquerable nations of the Earth. Come back each week to learn more about how little you know.

Check it out... it's pretty damn funny.

Kudos to Brady for digging this up! /LC

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Interview with Anant: IBM's CTM (Chief Trouble Maker)

Check out this video - Anant Jhingran, IM's CTO (or CTM, which I prefer) talks with James Governor about the shift of the Information Management organization within IBM, Web 2.0, OpenSocial, the relationship between IT and LOB, Open Innovation and much more.

James also gives me a nice plug (thanks!) that refers to a couple quotes and an old blog entry of mine from awhile ago that addresses the cultural shift with IT and LOB, and how IT is no longer the gatekeeper of information, but the enabler of providing this information successfully to their enterprise, the LOB units, and the folks that need it.

I actually had a discussion today with Michael Krigsman of Enterprise Irregular fame where we talked about how this is really necessary across the board in order to make projects successful. Michael actually has a new company out there that is working to help out IT in just this way as well. Very interesting stuff.

I love seeing how we're all as community and a group of vendors moving towards more openness with our products, our approaches, our visions, and really, our culture. We're at the tipping point of a major shift here, and I can't wait to see the outcome. This is one that we all need to shape. /LC

BTW: Anant, if you're Chief Trouble Maker, can I be your right hand trouble-maker? I am sure both Rod and David would agree with this!! :)

From Philips Head to Power Drill: My Weekend Project

I got my apartment just about a year ago, and due to travel schedules, etc. I have just finally managed to start settling in and getting some furniture and whatnot to round out the apartment, making it more like a "home." So, as the Thanksgiving break approached I decided to order a bunch of matching furniture (not the cheesy kind) to round out my place and replace all the piecemeal IKEA furniture I've had for years. So I got online (my favorite way to shop lately) and ordered a bed, dresser, and a few tables for my living room. Five days later, I get 6 boxes of pieces to put together (that was just the bed and the dresser), and as I took out the directions to assemble the furniture, I quickly realized a few things:

(1) The boxes were heavier than I am. I mean, it's good furniture, but when you can't lift it easily, it's a bit tough.

(2) The directions call for a "philips head screwdriver," a "rubber mallet," and "a 4MM hex wrench." I know what the rubber mallet is (duh) but I just thought a screwdriver was a screwdriver, and a wrench was a wrench (just being honest here). I didn't know there were "types" of these tools!

I headed down to the local hardware store with my little list of what I needed, and just handed it to the salesperson, who got me my stuff. So I think I'm set, right? Well, I started screwing in these screws to a piece of the dresser, and it takes me 2 hours to put 12 screws in. Yep. 2 hours. And, there are about 100+ screws that are supposed to be installed in JUST the dresser. I pretty quicky realized that this was NOT going to be an easy project. I then called my friend Kate, who pretty much laughed at me and told me that there's such a thing as a "power drill" that helps get screws in faster. Now, again (don't laugh) I honestly thought that power drills just drilled holes. I mean, that's what the name implies, right?

So, I went out and bought a power drill. I was so excited about it I texted about 5 people to let them know, thinking that this would bring me into the "DIY hall of fame" or something. They texted me back, each and every one of them, saying "Don't hurt yourself!" Ye of little faith...

Let me tell you - a power drill is possibly the BEST tool ever made. Now, it took me a little time to figure out how to work it (like, making sure the button was in the "screw in" position rather than the "unscrew" position - although later the "unscrew" knowledge came in handy), but I did it.

Last night at 1am I finished the dresser. It took me a little more time than expected - well, maybe a few more DAYS than expected, and maybe all the screws aren't *quite* in the right place, but it looks awesome and is pretty damn sturdy, if I have to say so myself. Now, my apartment looks like a tornado went through it, but that's okay.

So, one down, three more furniture pieces to go. Hopefully the first one was the most difficult... see below for a pic of what it looks like... /LC

I'm a big fan of "Law and Order" but...

I'm a huge fan of the original "Law and Order." Not really any of the spin-offs - I'm talking Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, etc etc. And of course, Sam Waterston. But this article took me a bit by surprise (well, considering the candidate, maybe not that much) and really made me laugh.

White House hopeful Fred Thompson called his trip down aisle of rifles, shotguns and pistols at a gun show "a day in paradise," and said he wished he could come back to spend more time and money.

So much for gun control (again). 

Check it out. /LC

BTW: for those nit-pickers (and I know who you are) that are going to tell me it's "Sam Waterson," it's actually not. That's just an alias name he used earlier in his career. See? I am a buff. :)

Links for Today: Guy advice, Win your own Company, Oracle goes Web 2.0 (kinda)

• This article popped up on my radar yesterday, discussing how teens use "IMs" and "text messages" to communicate more frequently with their friends, especially to avoid embarrassing situations, like asking people out or on dates. I've been asked out by a 30 year old guy by text before - hate to admit it, but I have (I said no, talk about no game). Interesting to see the parallels here though between ourselves and teenagers... guys, take note :)
• There's an interesting contest out that launched earlier this week, where you could "Win your Own Start-up." It is being promoted as a VC/Web 2.0 sort of contest where judges pick a few ideas that are submitted via a website, and then let the community vote... this will be an interesting one...the VC world meets reality TV, perhaps?
• Oracle had it's OpenWorld Conference this past week in SF, where it launched 2 new Web 2.0 -like sites - Oracle Mix, and the "Official Oracle Wiki." Other than the *really* creative names that they gave these sites, I haven't seem much activity on either over the past few days... doesn't quite seem that Oracle has gotten the community thing yet... at least they're trying?

Going Green: Dopplr Offsetr

I recycle. I turn my lights off when I'm not using them. I support green efforts. But this really made me think again about the impact that travel can have on the environment.

For all of you who travel a decent amount for business this application is a must. It definitely opened my eyes about the impact we (as a group of frequent business flyers) have on the environment.

Brady Forrest from O'Reilly discussed this cool app on the Radar Blog, called Offsetr. It calculates the carbon and mileage totals for you and your Dopplr network. My totals for my entire network were:

• Total Carbon for my network: 569,601 lbs
• Total Miles for my network: 1,352,866

I have about 40 travelers on my Dopplr list, so for those of you have have more, this number will be much higher. If you submit your calculations, you can get the breakdown for each traveler on your list. For example, I have about 40 travelers on my dopplr list, and I ranked about 25th out of 40 (so, I feel kind of bad, but my friend Carlos travels the most, so... )

Something to think about.../LC

*Disclaimer: Carlos is in Manila right now, so I'm just a tad jealous...

The *BEST* Movie I've Seen This Year

Saturday night I headed out with a friend to see "No Country for Old Men." It's a Coen brothers' film, and probably the best movie I've seen all year. I put it right up there with "The Departed" from last year. I don't want to give anything away, so I've included just the trailer below.

One hint: make sure you arrive super early to the theater. We got there at 7:30pm for the 8pm showing, and it was already sold out... Now, you know that's a sign of a damn good movie.

*Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of "The Big Lebowski" , but this is nothing like that.*

/LC

Facebook - Annoyance #1

I am a fan of Facebook, just like most of you guys out there. And so far, I've been quite pleased with the networking opportunities there and the "self-managed" community that seem to have limited spam. But I guess signing up for different interest groups has taken it's toll, as I'm outlining here as my "Facebook Annoyance #1:

Tonight, I opened up my FB email to a spam email from the founder of this group I signed up for, which we'll call "Marketing Friends." He's written a book (great!) and is promoting it on the Facebook group he so smartly launched a few months ago... great timing, eh? I know "Duh, Lauren." And now he wants us to "pre-order" his book! Nope, not kidding.

I signed up for this group "Marketing Friends" awhile ago, figuring it would be some sort of community SIG where folks discussed interesting and creative methods or programs for delivering concrete, honest information to users. Here is the description of the group:

"The Marketing Friends" (name changed) group is for people who believe that marketing is about influence instead of interruption. That the role of marketing is to tell a compelling story based on truth that people can believe and connect with.

Authenticity is the new mantra for marketers who are embracing this new world. Social media is part of this, but not the whole story. The aim of this group is to discuss where marketing should be, how we get there and who is already well on their way.

Well, there have been a couple interesting posts (there are 655 members) but the Wall Posts only consist of people that are promoting themselves rather than any information they might have to offer - rather, folks are just posting their contact information and PR services they provide. I honestly think that some of these folks probably have good services to offer, but is this a group for people looking for jobs/contracts or is it a group that shares best practices for "people who believe that marketing is about influence instead of interruption?"

I guess am frustrated here for 2 reasons:

(1) I can't believe that the founder of this group sent out a mass email to all members to promote his new book without offering a discount to folks in his facebook group or something of that sort. I mean, if you start a group around how to influence people with marketing tactics, don't you think he would have at least used the "pull" method to get folks to purchase his book? I mean, obviously he mastered the "push" method through his mass email... Marketing 101 here, folks. And no chapter excerpt? Hmmm.

(2) Maybe it's just because I am a community person rather than a marketing person (although I know some of you folks don't think there's a difference here... but trust me, there is, as Anant will tell you from our weekly LAMP stack and Open Source debates) that I just don't think that this kind of stuff should be on Facebook. I know, I know - I just had a debate with a friend this weekend over the real "need" for Facebook and it's purpose, so I see holes in this argument, but still. Possibly I'm just jaded (or naive) from watching how Apache has done things and how its community has worked, but still. Sigh.

Well, I guess I'll post something relevant to this Facebook SIG list and see if this group will start to give back. If not, I'm out. And most definitely I'll be screening my interest groups a bit better next time. I'm sure this isn't the only one out there that is created for these purposes.

Watch out, I'm on a roll. :) Possibly I'll pull a Chris Anderson. I think his idea here was brilliant. Sometimes things just needed to be weeded out./LC

Links for Today - Oil Spill, Forrester Comments, and New Movies

Sucky: Swim Portion of San Francisco Treasure Island Triathlon Cancelled: Due to the 58,000 gallon oil spill from a cargo ship that hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge earlier this week. There's massive damage to the wildlife in the Bay Area, and the coast guard is being questioned for their delay in responding to the accident. Not good.

What I'll be responding to on Monday: Forrester is talking about how smaller firms are moving faster than larger firms (namely, MSFT, IBM, and SAP) with Web 2.0, and there is a preference for these smaller firms developing new technologies in the marketplace.

New Movie: I am heading to go see "No Country for Old Men" tonight... should be good. Plus I'm getting popcorn from someone who owes me. Excellent, excellent reviews. Will update with my rating on Monday.

From the Chiropractor to ER... but hey, at least I got these cool pics!

Yesterday was *quite* the interesting day. I went into the Chiropractor to get my back fixed (after years of playing sports, it's finally about that time). We took some x-rays of my lower back, which was pretty cool - I've never broken a bone before, so it's rare that I actually get x-rays. After suffering the small disappointment that they couldn't give me the x-rays on CD-ROM, the doctor called me into the x-ray room to show me some "abnormalities" with the x-ray - to keep the story short, it looked to them like I *could* have a rupture in my aortic artery...

From there, the chiropractor shipped me off to the emergency room, where I spent the next 6 hours stuck on an IV sandwiched between some homeless guy trying to get Methadone from the ER staff and a woman who kept insisting that San Francisco needed to give free healthcare to their citizens because Seattle did (the doctor finally quieted her down by telling her, "If you want free healthcare, then go to Seattle!" - to which the woman countered, "I used to live there!" - and the doctor replied, "Well, if you want their free healthcare, then why don't you move back!" Gotta love the ER. And to think I went to the *nice* hospital.

At the end of the day, we did a CAT scan and absolutely nothing popped up that was abnormal. They think that I took some form of pill (possibly my AM vitamin) that hadn't digested yet and that was what the x-ray picked up. And nope, I'm not kidding. That was it. And to think I thought I was going to be the next "Discovery Channel Special." No such luck (thank god for that too).

That said, the hospital did give me this very cool CD-ROM that let me actually view the CAT scan as they took it. I can't capture all the cool visuals (they allow you to track the movement as you actually went through the machine) but I decided to post the link here. I mean, it is pretty neat. Check it out. /LC

Download Lauren_CatScan.doc

UPDATE: I have heard from many of you asking if this is the correct date of birth on the x-ray... it is not. But, if you think you're getting that out of me think again. :)