Regardless of what happens on the national political stage, things are coming back on the business front. Particularly the future of the Internet and computing in general.

I went to a venture conference: People were positive again.

I go to the blogs: There’s new products aplenty, many with environmental and social progress built-in.

I go to the stores: Design is improving, which means people are investing in imagination, esthetics, and beauty.

I drive through suburbia: Architecture is regaining detail. Concrete tilt-ups have architectural embellishments added on, instead of just being boxes. New buildings have increased variation and style. Parking lots are less rectilinear, and often feature natural streams with actual plants instead of just running water under the parking lots and calling it “drainage.”

I watch TV and find people on HGTV, Discovery Channel, TLC redesigning their homes in elegant and creative ways. I see “Extreme Homes” and “Rezoned” properties celebrated! And, on my favorite show, I see Engineering and Science celebrated and made fun… and assumptions of the ages turned into real-world analysis and observation: MythBusters!

We need a political version of MythBusters!

Let’s see the actual performance of Trickle Down Economics (also known as “piss on the little guy”). Let’s see the Laffer Curve laughed at! You might not recall that Arthur Laffer drove the economic theory of the Reagan administration with a little curve drawn on a napkin. If you do remember, maybe you don’t remember that he did it to get across the idea to one Dick Cheney, who was too dense to get it without pictures. What he still didn’t get is that the curve didn’t mean a whole lot.

Let’s test the theory of: “Blow up a middle east country and see if the pieces, when they fall from the sky, automatically form democracy!” Oh, yeah, that’s what Iraq and Palestine are about. Oh yeah, it doesn’t work. Oh well, keep blowing things up anyway.

Let’s test the theory that concentrating the most toxic substance known to man, by the ton, and heating water to generate power is a good idea. Oops. Now we have tons of toxic waste and can’t get rid of it. Oops. Most of the power we generate is lost in transmission on the power grid. Well, it’s still better than Hippies with solar panels… Well, no.

Let’s deregulate everything: no rules, no enforcement, the market will decide! Oh, yeah: Savings & Loans, Enron, The ‘29 stock crash, the 2000ish dotcom crash, the great depression, the $3/gallon gas prices, GM and Ford bankrupt, Airlines bankrupt, mad cow disease, water shortages, workers injured, crippled, and killed on the job… what’s next? Keep the Repugnicans, and you’ll see the spiral continue. Hire Democrats and it might get back to normal levels. Hire smart people, regardless of their hair, whether they look French, or are “boring”, and we might get a good country again. One we can take pride in. One that doesn’t torture people.

There are two (or more) Americas. Liberal. Conservative. But there’s only one functional America. It is made up of optimistic, idealistic people and looking to solve problems, not run from them or pretend they don’t exist. They don’t care where an idea comes from, if it works. They pay people fairly, treat people fairly, and understand that individuals thrive if everyone does better. Not just if individuals can act in purely selfish ways.

Look at the 90’s in the U.S. Amid the rise of conservatism was a progressive streak a mile wide. As a result—while there was a widening of the difference between rich and poor—the poor improved their lot: They made 1/3 more in that decade, relative to the cost of living. The lesson is that the rich got richer and the poor got richer, too. Now that we have conservatives in control, the poor are getting poorer. And the rich aren’t doing as well either.

Why? It’s simple: People who are doing better spend more on the little (and big) extras. The extras constitute the difference between a baseline economy (food, housing, clothing, fuel, transportation) and a vibrant economy (restaurants, organics, elegant homes, nice appliances, fashion, driving machines, personal statements, road trips, vacations, family reunions). All the latter items constitute Business Opportunities: choice, variation, personalization, aesthetics, art, design, gourmet, lifestyle… you name it. Without these opportunities you have little square houses, little square businesses, downward price pressures, downward wage pressures, utilitarian scrimp and save.

Spend time in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Roseville, then travel to Kansas or central Illinois. See the difference. Conservatism makes for a baseline economy (in Kansas). Progressives and Liberals make for a vibrant economy. It’s the economy, stupid. Of course… a vibrant economy may also be more wasteful. This is a cautionary note. But it is also about solving problems. And waste is not automatic.

There is a creative culture out there, and it’s moving on without conservative America. And, it will win. That is my hope for the future.

While Georgie spoke last night, it became obvious that he and the Republican Party are aware of what America wants done. The speech addressed those things (with a few notable exceptions) and contradicted only a couple things (like Iraq).

Problem is: that’s been true all along. Problem is: they say what we want to hear (mostly) and then do the opposite.

We want governance, not politics. Collaboration between the parties, not competition. Not petty politics. Yet the Repugnicans, Bush included, have completely divided this nation, intentionally. It is the foundation of their strategy. It is what Karl Rove is hired to do. It is what Tom Delay was hired to do. It started, mostly, with the Contract on America, and has escalated since.

We’re addicted to oil? No. We’ll accept alternatives. We’re addicted to driving, to warm homes, to convenience. This is our bread and butter. Oil is just what’s put on the plate… And Repugnicans have resisted, battled, fought to keep it that way. They’re not stopping now. Bush says we need alternatives? Yeah, we’ve been saying that for decades. But the Bushies have stopped that progress cold.

Fortunately, the private sector has moved forward. We have biofuels, solar, efficient lighting, efficient homes… it’s all cued up and ready to go. It would be nice if the Feds would support it.

Foreign policy? Yes we need engagement. We DON’T need assault. Yet aggression is what Bush has served up.

Retirement plans? Medical reform? Yes So what did we get: a plan to DESTROY Social Security and a completely broken Medicare Drug Plan (passed based on fraudulent cost estimates).

The Repugnicans funded their rise to power largely by fighting environmental laws, and by killing socialized medicine. This got them big bucks to get into office. They continued the rise by auctioning off our government and our tax dollars to the highest bidders. Total corruption of the political process.

That’s what Bush has done, and will continue to do until he is impeached.

I went to a venture conference last week, the first in quite awhile. The last time was depressing. No talk of web or internet, except in a negative sense, no vision, and a generally a complete lack of awareness or imagination.

This time was different. The TechCoire (pronounced like “tech-choir”) conference in Rancho Cordova was full of people with enthusiasm, a sense of a positive future, and an increased awareness of the web.

It’s about time. My perspective on the crash is that VC’s with investment bankers basically bilked investors by forcing companies that had barely formed into going public in order to cash out. It was not that there weren’t plenty of good people working on great products for the web. Instead, it was that there was an emphasis on exit strategy. As a result some bad plans became public (with time they might have worked out their problems) and deserving companies often were left without funding just prior to reaching the stage where they were self-sustaining.

Now, I understand that investors want 10x in 3-5 years. That’s what they  WANT. What they can expect to get, is 5-10x in 5-10 years. Historically this is more the norm. In fact, most companies really hit their stride in just over 10 years. Better results happen, but if it takes awhile, they should neither be surprised or skittish.

This is particularly true with emerging technologies because consumers take time to adapt to them.

That aside… the money and the management is tired of playing it safe (or at least some are) and are venturing out (pun intended) into the realm of “trying things.”

The fear is fading. Hopefully this trend towards progressive thought is also happening on the political front. We can’t stay conservative and keep our democracy. Democracy only works if people hold onto a few liberal ideas: Open government; improving quality of life, fair elections, distributed wealth (no, not communism, just economic policies that allow the poor to get educated, get a chance, and succeed), opportunity for minorities, cheap or free quality education, a social safety net, the rule of law (not of individuals), and a government of, by and for the people, free speech, privacy, the right to own and keep property, or be justly compensated in the rare instance it must be taken for the collective (public) need.
As for the private sector, we need to invest in new ideas, great design, improving technology, educating the workforce, and earning our wealth. If executives and stockholders don’t act to retain value, and instead flush all the money down the toilet, the whole system will continue to backup.

Back in the crash days, a lot of good companies got killed by skittish investors. While many failed to adapt to change, many more never had the chance. Now they have a second chance.

I’m personally gratified by this because I have a great business plan that has been maturing in the absence of any possibility of funding. It’s ready, I’m ready, and I’m sure the market is ready. I think maybe the investors might be ready, too.

Yet, there are indicators that the same mentality is returning already. Just because MySpace, etc. sold for big bucks, there’s a sense that the old game is on, again. Ideas that are good still may not fly. Teams that look good on paper, but have lousy ideas will get funded, but will the “little guy”?

The natural reaction to this question is: “It is more than ideas that make businesses.” True. Execution is what makes companies: Getting things done is critical. The market makes companies: What sounds good on paper may not sell, then you have to adapt or die.Teams make companies: Internal dissent and stresses, groupthink, etc. can kill an otherwise good idea with a good market.

But at the root, new ideas keep make and keep companies. The ideas solve problems. Weak execution? Ideas for reorganization or systematization can help. Market not ready? Ideas about adapting to different markets, changing the product, changing the pitch can solve that. Team falling apart? Maybe ideas to motivate, reassign or simply rebuild the team are due.

Sitting there, without ideas, is the killer. Recycling old ideas might help, but new ideas are what motivates people. Motivation is what drives all the other elements.

So here’s to the end of “The Great American Stupid: 2000 to 2005” and here’s to new ideas, progress, and renewal.

I went to a venture conference last week, the first in quite awhile. The last time was depressing. No talk of web or internet, except in a negative sense, no vision, and a generally a complete lack of awareness or imagination.
This time was different. The TechCoire (pronounced like “tech-choir”) conference in Rancho Cordova was full of people with enthusiasm, a sense of a positive future, and an increased awareness of the web.
It’s about time. My perspective on the crash is that VC’s with investment bankers basically bilked investors by forcing companies that had barely formed into going public in order to cash out. It was not that there weren’t plenty of good people working on great products for the web. Instead, it was that there was an emphasis on exit strategy. As a result some bad plans became public (with time they might have worked out their problems) and deserving companies often were left without funding just prior to reaching the stage where they were self-sustaining.
Now, I understand that investors want 10x in 3-5 years. That’s what they  WANT. What they can expect to get, is 5-10x in 5-10 years. Historically this is more the norm. In fact, most companies really hit their stride in just over 10 years. Better results happen, but if it takes awhile, they should neither be surprised or skittish.
This is particularly true with emerging technologies because consumers take time to adapt to them.
That aside… the money and the management is tired of playing it safe (or at least some are) and are venturing out (pun intended) into the realm of “trying things.”
The fear is fading. Hopefully this trend towards progressive thought is also happening on the political front. We can’t stay conservative and keep our democracy. Democracy only works if people hold onto a few liberal ideas: Open government; improving quality of life, fair elections, distributed wealth (no, not communism, just economic policies that allow the poor to get educated, get a chance, and succeed), opportunity for minorities, cheap or free quality education, a social safety net, the rule of law (not of individuals), and a government of, by and for the people, free speech, privacy, the right to own and keep property, or be justly compensated in the rare instance it must be taken for the collective (public) need.
As for the private sector, we need to invest in new ideas, great design, improving technology, educating the workforce, and earning our wealth. If executives and stockholders don’t act to retain value, and instead flush all the money down the toilet, the whole system will continue to backup.
Back in the crash days, a lot of good companies got killed by skittish investors. While many failed to adapt to change, many more never had the chance. Now they have a second chance.
I’m personally gratified by this because I have a great business plan that has been maturing in the absence of any possibility of funding. It’s ready, I’m ready, and I’m sure the market is ready. I think maybe the investors might be ready, too.
Yet, there are indicators that the same mentality is returning already. Just because MySpace, etc. sold for big bucks, there’s a sense that the old game is on, again. Ideas that are good still may not fly. Teams that look good on paper, but have lousy ideas will get funded, but will the “little guy”?
The natural reaction to this question is: “It is more than ideas that make businesses.” True. Execution is what makes companies: Getting things done is critical. The market makes companies: What sounds good on paper may not sell, then you have to adapt or die.Teams make companies: Internal dissent and stresses, groupthink, etc. can kill an otherwise good idea with a good market.
But at the root, new ideas keep make and keep companies. The ideas solve problems. Weak execution? Ideas for reorganization or systematization can help. Market not ready? Ideas about adapting to different markets, changing the product, changing the pitch can solve that. Team falling apart? Maybe ideas to motivate, reassign or simply rebuild the team are due. Sitting there, without ideas, is the killer. Recycling old ideas might help, but new ideas are what motivates people. Motivation is what drives all the other elements.
So here’s to the end of “The Great American Stupid: 2000 to 2005” and here’s to new ideas, progress, and renewal.

The Secret Value of Business Blogging

Those who followed the meteoric rise in the number of websites in the ‘90s will
see parallels in the similarly stellar growth of blogs. By some estimates, the number of blogs doubles every five months, and is approaching 15 million blogs worldwide — Which makes blogging the buzz, everywhere you go. But most people are still at the stage of asking: “What is a blog” and “Why should I care?”. Businesspeople often ask, “How can I use a blog to help my business?”

What is a Blog?
The word “blog” is a contraction of “web log”. Like an ordinary website, it has text and navigation that uses HTML to display content in a web browser. It differs from an ordinary website by using specialized software to manage the content in a particular way. This blog software resides on a web server. It allows the user to write articles and manage images and links within the web browser itself, with little knowledge of HTML, and no special tools required.

When you write an article (called a “post”) for your blog, the post appears immediately online, on the blog’s home page. The most recent article is always at the top, and the rest in descending chronological order. As new articles appear at the top, older articles “roll off” the home page. Each article is also stored in an archive, where writings continue to be available for as long as the blog exists. Links to the archives are automatically created and managed by the blog software.

The Secret Value of a Business Blog
Because it is easy to write a post, and the posts appear chronologically, it forms a journal. For a business, a blog is a great way to keep customers, employees, vendors, and the press up to date on company or industry news. But the secret value of blogs is not just how people read them, but how search engines, like Google, read them. Blogs are magic at Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

The secret is that, over time, posts written about a particular product, service, or industry will create a cumulative volume of pages that are rich in keywords related to your specialty. The more you write, and the more careful you are about embedding keywords in your posts, the higher your blog will appear in search results.

To really power your way to the top of the search engines requires getting more sites to link to yours. Google uses the number of links into your site to establish a “page rank”. Page rank, plus keyword matching, are combined to position your page in the search results. But to really drive traffic to your blog, you need to become an “active blogger.”

Passive Bloggers Write, Active Bloggers Link
If you just write articles on your blog, you’ll eventually get more people viewing it. But this is the passive approach. To crank it up, become an active blogger.

Blogs have the ability to accept “comments” from readers. Sometimes this feature is turned off to avoid “comment spam”, but most sites still accept comments. After you write an article on your site, go to like-minded blogs, and use their comments to notify them of your article. These comments normally link back to your site. Typically, active bloggers watch their comments. Most are looking for good material for their own blogs, So they might follow up on your comment by mentioning your article on their blog, and linking to it. Over time, this increases the number of pages linking into your blog, and your search engine positioning will magically rise closer to the top.

Ping the Blog Search Engines
Traditional search engines only update their links every few months. This is inadequate for blogs that are updated weekly, daily, even hourly. So specialty search tools for blogs have stepped in to fill the gap. These tools allow you to “ping” them each time you post a new article. The ping notifies them so they can immediately update their index of blog entries. Blog search engines just store an entry of each post, and link directly to the archive of that post. The archive has a permanent address (called a “Permalink”) so that, even years in the future, a search will return the correct results.

If you start a business blog, post at least two articles per week, and keep at it, and it will pay dividends. If you become an active blogger, you will soon create a network of links and relationships with other blogs that will increase your authority both to readers and to search engines. Becoming an authority in your field can only help your business.

Blogging tools:
WordPress
Blogger
TypePad
Moveable Type
Blog Search Engines:
Googles Blog Search
Technorati
BlogPulse
Bloglines

Sources of Business Blogging Information:
Author’s Blog
Blog Herald
The Intuitive Life
Wikipedia on Blogs

Welcome to my new blog, same as the old blog.

I started this blog the easy way: using Blogger.com. But Blogger is weak in several key areas:

a) most important: categories!
Categories applied to articles result in named archives. This is critical for finding articles later, and for accumulating Google cred.

b) Pages: static pages that don’t appear on the blog, but are navigable from the blog. This is great for non-changing material. This turns the blog into a real website, in a sense.

c) User access control: I won’t actually use this for my blog, in all likelyhood. But any group or business blog needs this feature.

d) Plug-ins: Extends the capabilities of the blog.

and more…

So I followed the directions for moving a Blogger blog to WordPress. I must’ve done something wrong, so I ended up republishing all the archives (about a year’s worth) using Ecto. I had to process each one individually, but it’s done now.

Only problem: all the articles are dated the day I moved them. I can use WordPress’s admin area to restore the original dates, though.

Also, I lost the comments.

All of which is probably solved by careful preparation but, why bother?

Well, I’m not THAT poor, but it is the holidays, and the web design business is always spotty for a freelancer, so the extra $400 and counting that I’m making from selling the “Worst President, Ever” merchandise through CafePress.com is very welcome.

If I go past $500, I’ll donate half the additional proceeds to a good cause. I think I’ll try to come up with merchandise to battle John Doolittle locally. He’s been a Bush Thinkalike since before anyone ever heard of Bush in California.

He’s opposed the efforts of Robert Matsui (who recently died, and has been replaced by his wife Doris Matsui) to improve the levee system around Sacramento forever, because he wants to build Auburn Dam. The levee repairs are necessary regardless of whether a dam is built, and can be addressed more immediately than a dam. Oh, and the dam was being built on earthquake faults. But of course, conservatives don’t believe scientists when they say that’s a bad idea.

Anyway, if we can make people aware that he’s Bush, Jr…

Thanks for all your comments, including the angry ones!

Yes, I am a bit of a hippie, raised in Northern California. I haven’t smoked pot since college, but some of my best friends do. I find it hard on the lungs. I miss the giggles, though. It also helps with anger management, so maybe some of you should try it.

Many have noticed that this is based on those “W” stickers that were ubiquitous before the last election. Others have had the same idea, but weren’t technical enough to get it “good enough”. The “Worst Ever” line has been around for a long time. But, it is important at this point to make it clear that the decision in ‘04 was a bad one, and we have learned from our mistakes.

One guy suggested that the quality of stickers at CafePress isn’t that good. If this isn’t just a flash-in-the-pan, I’ll set up an ecommerce site and have the work done at a higher level. CafePress is awesome for having a brainstorm and putting it out there… but the choices are limited, for obvious reasons. It tends to push the prices a little high, too. I do hope the quality is satisfactory, please let me know if it isn’t.

If you want to order in quantity, or to get wholesale pricing, drop me an email. I can get a much better price for you!

You still have to worry about the 37%, but the trend is in the right direction, Bush is in trouble.

Keep in mind, people, that Bush has not vetoed a single thing out of congress, and that means that any blame that goes to Bush, goes to the Republican Party as a whole. Bush may be the point man on the lying, cheating and stealing, but there is an organization that created the institution that he rode in on. That’s the Party.

Still, I had to whip this up:

I’ve made these into bumper stickers, oval stickers, buttons, T-shirts, golf shirts and more at CafePress. Go to my store there, to buy!

Note: I used CafePress to do this quickly, but they charge quite a bit. If you want wholesale or volume purchases, I can get better pricing. Email me

PS. Thanks, BoingBoing

Here’s some useful tips for business bloggers via Lifehacker.

And, on a related note: Ten Blogging Hacks from Micropersuasion.