Raleigh zoning busts startup

By Takaai Iwabu for the News & Observer


I cringed when I read how a local startup company was busted by Raleigh’s zoning inspectors Tuesday after being featured in Monday’s N&O. This doesn’t look good for a city that is attempting to show it’s startup-friendly.

Then I looked at Takaaki Iwabu’s photo of the group, showing thirteen employees working in the founder’s basement.

Thirteen? Thirteen? Dude, come on! There’s rarely even a dozen people in my company’s RTP office suite and we have thousands of square feet!

This is not a case where a guy and a few close friends are working out of a home office. I think once the company reached 4 employees, tops, it should have found a real space. Either that, or let your employees work out of their own homes using telecommuting. I can imagine how the neighbors must feel about thirteen extra cars in their neighborhood.
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More Dead People for Romney


An inspired wag created a Change.Org petition to have Mitt Romney’s Facebook account suspended. While there’s of course no chance of this actually happening, I did find the following comment from the petition to be interesting:

Terren Braen EASTHAMPTON, MA 1 day ago Liked 0

THEY MADE MY GREAT UNCLE LIKE MITT ROMNEY THE DAY HE DIED. THERE’S NO WAY HE SIGNED ONTO FACEBOOK AND LIKE MITT ROMNEY AS HE WAS DYING. THAT’S JUST SO SO SO RUDE AND ABUSIVE! WHO EVER IS RESPONSIBLE SHOULD PAY THE PRICE FOR THEIR LACK OF RESPECT.

Bank of America Alert: Important Message Alert!

Well, aren’t the folks at Bank of America so helpful to send me this poorly-written email, alerting me to “fraudulent purpose.”

Funny how this particular email wasn’t sent from a Bank of America server. Hmm.

Received: from www-data by famas.airsoftarms.com with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1TTF2F-0008Qr-4q for me; Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:51:27 -0400
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:51:27 -0400
To: me
From: Bank of America < ealerts@bankofamerica.com >
Subject: Bank of America Alert: Important Message Alert !

Bank of America Online Banker

Our Valued Customer,
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Cheap Thoughts: a new role for the U.S. Postal Service?

Speaking of antiquated ways of doing things, I’ve often wondered if the U.S. Postal Service might be better off transitioning to more of an IT role. Perhaps it could rebrand itself as a Information Delivery or Information Directory service and deliver both hardcopy (i.e., mail) and softcopy (i.e., email,fax,etc.) materials to Americans. I’ve often wondered if it should play the role similar to IANA in routing traffic on the Internet.

I’ve also thought before that the postal service missed an opportunity to take on the directory role by providing each American with a free .us email address.

The postal service has long been an information delivery service, it’s just that now an increasing amount of this delivery is taking place on the Internet. Could the USPS one day deliver packets the way it now delivers packages?

What is wrong with America?

A Facebook friend (ok, acquaintance) posted a link to a sermon by David Jeremiah, saying it was “on the importance of voting and the selection of God fearing leaders.”

I didn’t watch it because the last thing I need is for some self-proclaimed holy man to tell me how to think. This is what drives me crazy about some ministers: some think they can tell you what God wants better than God Himself can tell you. In this case Jeremiah knows who you should vote for because God apparently told him.

The God that Jeremiah believes in sounds to me like a mighty weak one. Does anyone think for one moment that the Almighty’s power could be thwarted in any way by the outcome of an election? Do you think God really cares about such things? Or, do you think perhaps this only serves to stroke the ego of power-hungry mortals like David Jeremiah?
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Phone numbers and 911 hangups

Someone in my office misdialed 911 this morning, causing the Morrisville PD to needlessly dispatch an officer. As far as I know it’s the first time this has happened at my work. The officer who responded almost certainly had better things to be doing than chasing down someone who fat-fingered a telephone number. That was one officer who wasn’t available for other, more serious calls. That’s one incoming call to 911 that tied up an emergency line and a dispatcher needlessly.

Dialing mistakes have always happened, of course, but the Triangle area has gotten hit particularly hard since the new “overlay” area code (984? I had to look it up) was introduced. The emergency call centers in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and Orange County have taken tens of thousands of misdialed 911 calls since this change took place this year.
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Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders

I started today feeling very down on Facebook. This feeling changed when I found this letter from Mark Zuckerberg to shareholders, basically saying that Facebook doesn’t exist simply to chase money. Crazy as it sounds, I believe him. I think Zuckerberg’s still very much still a hacker, in spite of Facebook’s popularity.

It’s given me hope that Zuck’s not a bad guy and there might be hope for Facebook yet. That said, if Zuck thinks he controls Facebook he’d better pay attention to the Hacked by Mitt Romney stuff.

It’s Becoming Clear That No One Actually Read Facebook’s IPO Prospectus Or Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders

As Facebook’s stock continues to collapse, the volume of whining is increasing.

Four months ago, you will recall, Facebook was viewed as “the next Google.” Now, with no major change in the fundamentals, it’s viewed as an over-hyped disaster. Meanwhile, there is ever-louder grumbling that 26-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in over his head and should be relieved of command.

As I listen to all this whining, I have a simple question:

Didn’t anyone even read Facebook’s IPO prospectus?

The answer, I can only assume, is “no.”

via It's Becoming Clear That No One Actually Read Facebook's IPO Prospectus Or Mark Zuckerberg's Letter To Shareholders – Business Insider.

Dangerous Minds | FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK

Dangerous Minds takes a closer look at Facebook’s throttling of posts. On average, posts are only seen by 15% of a user or page’s audience and posters must pay to have the post reach more of one’s audience. What used to work just a few short months ago is now purposefully broken, so Facebook can extort you into paying for the fans you already attracted.

But it wasn’t just the so-called “fan pages,” individual Facebook users were also starting to notice that they weren’t seeing much in their newsfeeds anymore from the various entities they “liked”—or even updates from their closest friends and family members. Something was amiss, but unless you had a larger “data set” to look at—or a formerly thriving online business that was now getting creamed—it probably wasn’t something that you noticed or paid that much attention to.

It’s the biggest danger of putting all of your digital eggs into one basket: Facebook’s walled garden may be one of the prettiest out there but it’s still walled. Your presence on Facebook is subject to the whim of the company’s latest profit scheme. We’re all social media serfs and Zuckerberg (or, more accurately, Wall Street) is king.

via Dangerous Minds | FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK.

Facebook stock soars but is it built on fraud?


Facebook’s stock soared today on news that its mobile advertising efforts are paying off. The stock is up 22% over its price yesterday. As VentureBeat says:

After investors jumped on Facebook stock in after-hours trading yesterday, following the company’s mobile-focused earnings report, it’s not a huge surprise to see the stock make another huge leap this morning.

Facebook’s stock is up 22 percent from yesterday, trading at $23.80, as of the time of this post. The stock reached a high of $24 this morning, and it was up almost 28 percent in pre-market trading. Facebook’s stock is still well below the $38 it opened at, but the rise is still a good sign for investors.

via Facebook stock on the rise: Up 22% after solid mobile earnings | VentureBeat.

What does Mitt Romney have to do with this rise in Facebook’s stock?
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