BrandToBeDetermined

Friedman's NYT Op-Ed - worth a read

A must-read. From Friedman's Who Will Tell the People:

Our president’s latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and beg King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess there was some justice in that. When you, the president, after 9/11, tell the country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction to oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount gasoline.

and continues

We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people. Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I’m voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room.

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

Completely worth your time to read it. Regardless of you politics, we can, likely, agree that the current situation is unacceptable.

World Creole Music Festival starts today

  portsmouth 
  Originally uploaded by eschipul

Yea! World Creole Music Festival starts today if you are in Dominica! This of course, is the celebration leading up to National Day on November 3^rd when they became Independent from the United Kingdom.

So what is with you people not dressing in traditional Carib attire today?

And on that note, my Mom OWES me one for making me promise to wear traditional garb. Note I am in Houston. Best comments so far today at work are below. They typically start with "you look like..."

1. Santa Claus' bullet proof vest
2. You look like my Scotch tape cover
3. You're awful tall for an elf
4. Are you looking for a Christmas tree to sleep under?

Yes these are the types of people I work with....

Darfur - Tracy McGrady Visit with John Prendergast

Tracy McGrady, a Houston basketball player, visited Darfur. Details from the Chronicle (go THERE and COMMENT!)

Sept. 30, 2007,  8:15AM
McGrady on Africa: 'I knew I had to go'
After a journey to refugee camps in Chad, NBA All-Star vows to spread the word about atrocities in Darfur

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

There was so much Tracy McGrady did not know. Not then, not in the beginning.

The Houston Rockets star had seen the news reports about the atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where a genocide has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions more homeless and living in bleak desert camps.

He had begun to educate himself with conversations with experts. But he did not really understand what genocide means, how horrific the tragedy was in Africa's largest nation. (more)

Read the full article on Tracy McGrady's visit to the Darfur Refugee camps in Chad.

 

   

More Than a Moment of Silence

So many words have been said. Instead I will observe a moment of silence, a prayer, and encourage tribute. And support for Hokies of Virginia Tech. 

kofi annan @ hobby center

  kofi annan @ hobby center 
  Originally uploaded by eschipul.

Houston's own Brilliant Lecture Series presented former Secretary General Kofi Annan tonight at the Hobby Center.

L. Scott Brogan is the political consultant and driving force behind the Brilliant Lecture series. Given I don't swim in those circles I am curious about his role. You can't just drop Sidney Poitier and Kofi Annan without a few connections.

Tying in the previous posts on zoominfo, here is Scott Brogan's zoominfo data.

Light posting the rest of the week as I am traveling (again). This time to Chicago so I'll get a pizza and beer for you. Ya, just you.

Last thought - at the event it was no pictures. So you get a picture of the building. Despite everyone using their point-and-shoot cams to take 9999 photos. Frustrating. Why not just be progressive like NYC? Open photos - no flash? How hard is that? Grrrrr.

Help Find Jim Gray - Mechanical Turk

Jim Gray, a computer science researcher at Microsoft, has gone missing. For more on the situation read this Jim Gray post on Werner Vogel's blog. The NYT ran it as did numerous blogs.

If you have time to help, the Mechanical Turk hits to search satellite imagery for Jim's boat are available.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas
Happy Hanukkah
Merry Kwanzaa
Happy New Year
Seasons Greetings
Happy Holidays
Blessed Ramadan

and "May God bless us, each and every one." - Tiny Tim.

May you be blessed in the coming year.

This blog is on hold at the moment. For those of you who know me, rest assured I will be back. Just not yet.

Dr. Robert Gates Creative Commons Photo

  Dr. Robert Gates 
  Originally uploaded by eschipul.

Yesterday while travelling my blackberry clicked in with news of Rumsfeld's resignation. Then of the nomination of Robert Gates. Then a creative commons request by NowPublic to use a photo I took of Dr. Gates three weeks ago while at the Aggie 100 awards in College Station.

These are of course very serious matters. And the Internet is a very funny place. A photo that was just a photo, because it was posted with a creative commons license and tagged, turned into a PR opportunity. Both for this flickr stream and hopefully also our company (www.schipul.com which pays the bills).

So there it is. Random creative commons karma.

9-11 Remembrance

eLinear Marketing Speak Obfuscates Unknown

Today's HBJ notice had an article about eLinear Solutions going out of business. The name eLinear sounded familiar so I went to their site to refresh my mind on what they do. This is the opening paragraph from the eLinear homepage:

Linear Solutions is a network-related technology solutions provider of comprehensive, integrated security, IP telephony, and network & storage solutions. By striving to bring additional value to each of our clients with each project completed, eLinear brings a market-driven, entrepreneurial approach to traditional technology services businesses, while providing single provider accountability.

Marketing needs to take some responsibility for their challenges.