Japi's Blog

Guy Kawasaki at The Houston Technology Center

Guy Kawasaki came to Houston yesterday evening to give a talk at The Houston Technology Center.  I had seen him give a talk called a couple of years ago at the NTC 2006 in Seattle and it was fantastic!  So I was very excited about the event.

I was not dissappointed... Guy was phenomenal, gracious, hilarious, brilliant and just freakin' AWESOME!  His presentation was called "The Art of the Start".  Guy was amazingly gracious in staying wayyy longer than anyone expected. He took every question and even went partying (from what I understand) with some local Kawastalkers (no need to name names). <grin> 

Guy also showed us alltop.com which is a site that covers a variety of interesting topics... he specifically showed us:

• http://career.alltop.com/
• http://moms.alltop.com/
• http://egos.alltop.com/
• http://twitter.alltop.com/
• http://humor.alltop.com/
• http://adoption.alltop.com/

We've posted some pictures of the event on the HTC Web site.

I was also really excited to run into some old friends and met new ones... here's a short list of some of the folks I encountered last night (sorry if I missed anyone):

1. Erica O'Grady
2. Christine Selleck
3. Imelda Bettinger
4. Laura Mayes
5. Tracey Lee Wallace
6. Monica Danna
7. Holly Gunn
8. Kelsey Ruger
9. Richard Yoo
10. Dwight Silverman of The Houston Chronicle
11. Marc Nathan of The Houston Technology Center
12. AND I GOT TO MEET.... are you ready?... Jenny Lawson... The Bloggess!

Since several other folks have blogged about this event, I wanted to do something slightly different.... I decided to copy and paste a bunch of the tweets that were posted on Twitter during the event.  Some of them are obviously funny, others you have no idea what they mean... but here's the list, enjoy:

1. she's in beta with our second child
2. Laura Mayes of skirt has been called out several times... Freakin' awesome
3. Most people think rich and smart parses to smart. No. Most of the time it parses to 'lucky'
4. There is no reason for the survival of Apple but that there is a benevolent God
5. 2 kinds of bozos. rich and famous are the most dangerous bozos. rich/famous usually parses to lucky
6. Don't let the bozos grind you down
7. Find the influencers. the higher you go in most orgs, the thinner the air. harder to support intelligent life. CX0 are dumbest people who sucked up the longest. smartest are the influencers. not ultimate decision makers
8. i believe in god because there is no other explanation for the survival of Apple than a benevolent god
9. seed the clouds ... how you make the rain. "let a hundred flowers blossom". plant fields of flowers
10. Sales fix everything
11. Embrace your evangelists
12. embrace your evangelists... people who get it and want to help you because they believe you/they are making world a better place
13. don't ask someone to do something you would not do
14. lower the barriers to adoption. flatten the learning curve - "plug it in and it works
15. Hire people who are better than you
16. hire better than yourself ... that's very hard to do, but everyone knows they should do it
17. apple hired me because they were willing to ignore the irrelevant
18. hire infected people - infected with a love of what you
19. 10/20/30 rule of powerpoint - 10 slides is optimal number of slides in powerpoint presentation
20. holy grail of marketing - provide something only you can do that provides high value
21. All you white people look alike

So there's the list.... and if you ever have the opportunity to watch Guy Kawasaki... do anything and everything (even slashing someone's tires) to be there.... he's worth every second!

Has the term "journalistic ethics" become an oxymoron?

Last night, ABC News hosted a debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  It has been a somewhat insane primary season with ugly politics being played at every turn.... and last night was one of the ugliest examples of it thus far.

I recorded the debate and began watching it at 9:30 PM or so... it was a 2 hour debate so I was pretty tired as it ended.  During the whole debate, I was not quite sure what was going on (I'm guessing it was due to being sleepy) - I just knew something wasn't quite right.

In every debate so far, Senator Obama has been poised and risen above the "politics as usual" attacks thrown his way.  Senator Clinton has had good and bad moments in the debates - personally, I have not been impressed by her performance in them.  She seems bitter and uses attack politics to try to make herself look better than her opponent.  I believe voters are smart enough to see through her and the results of the primaries are proof of that as Senator Obama has a commanding lead in delegates and popular vote.

Well, back to last night...I went to sleep not truly understanding what I had just witnessed.  This morning I received an email from an old time friend, Marcia, explaining exactly what had happened - Senator Obama had been railroaded!  My initial reaction was "naw, we're just being paranoid"... then I started reading and found out that YES, horrible multi-level political attacks had been leveled at Senator Obama... and here's a small sample of the public and media backlash:

1. The ABC News Web site has received over 18,000 comments regarding the debate and just looking at the first few pages, it's obvious that the public is outraged by the lack of professionalism and journalistic integrity shown last night by both George Stephanopoulus and Charlie Gibson.  People have posted numerous comments demanding they be fired and about once or twice per page, there's a comment complimenting the debate (some of these could have been planted by ABC News). Some of the more interesting comments include:
   • "I am very disappointed that it abc spent half of its precious national debate time on questions about lapel pins and guilt by association. As a high school social studies teacher trying to interest young people in the genuine policy issues faced by our republic, I am stunned that what used to be one of our top three television news organizations would ignore so many crucial issues in order to rehash personal topics that just make the American people more cynical. The debate was a disservice." - jcrider5344
   • "I can't believe I once took Charles Gibson to be a serious journalist. I actually believed that he could replace Peter Jennings. Was I wrong! Given that Hillary's husband was once George Stephanopoulos' boss, I didn't expect much from him. Nevertheless, I decided to watch the debate because of Charlie. Thanks, Charlie. You've lost a long-time fan." - vetforobama
   • "Gibson, Stephanopoulos...clearly hitmen. Ten million viewers watched as ABC News destroyed its reputation." - chyxct98
2. The blogs are blowing up with postings ripping ABC News, George and Charles:
   1. On AlterNet:
      1. ABC Blows It!
      2. Worst. Debate. Ever.
      3. Debate: ABC Decides Top Issues Facing Americans Are Flag Pins and '60s Radicals
   2. On The Huffington Post:
      1. ABC Debate: High Ratings, Critics Give Broadcast Poor Reviews
      2. Obama Criticizes Debate, Attacks Clinton For Being "In Her Element"
      3. David Brooks Praises ABC, Debate, Because He Lacks...
      4. The ABC Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media
   3. The Guardian in the UK:
      1. US network faces backlash after Democratic debate
      2. Debate moderators force Obama on defensive
   4. Editor & Publisher:
      1. Clinton-Obama Debate: ABC Hit on Focus on Minor Issues
   5. The Boston Globe:
      1. Gibson, Stephanopoulos criticized for work on debate
      2. Obama says debate focused on 'gotcha,' not policy issues
   6. Philly.com
      1. ABC gets an earful after debate
      2. Does Gibson Know The Constitution? (64 comments)
   7. In The Washington Post:
      1. In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC (over 200 comments)
      2. A Debate About the Future (hundreds of comments)
   8. Daily Kos:
      1. Let's Be Absolutely Clear About Last Night's Debate (501 comments)
      2. As a former ABC News employee, I have to say... (225 comments)

It's really sad to see how such a strong news network which has produced great journalists like Peter Jennings and Ted Koeppel has stooped this low.

The debate was held at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center which is beautiful, educational and represents the founding of our nation, and this makes the mess that ABC News called a debate even worse.

In my opinion, George Stephanopoulus should have said "I cannot participate in this debate since I could be biased."  But he (and ABC News) obviously did not care about journalism ethics - they attacked Senator Obama relentlessly and I am hopeful that the nation noticed the travesty - especially the voters of Pennsylvania and they show it in next week's primary!

Glenn Beck - America's Addiction

I had a the pleasure of meeting Glenn Beck about 3 years ago on a visit to Philadelphia when he was doing his live, nationally syndicated radio show.  The opportunity came about because his radio show was looking to use our Tendenci software.  Glenn was very gracious and sat down to talk for about 10 minutes during a break on his radio show.

I came across an article he wrote called "America needs a 12-step program" which describes how the government used to be afraid of the people... and now it's the other way around.  He suggests a six-step program to get the country back in the hands of the people:

1. Admit we are not powerless.
2. Believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.
3. Decide to take our power back.
4. Make a complete and fearless moral inventory.
5. Admit our wrongs, and our rights.
6. Be ready to remove our defects.

The article is dead-on target! We DO need to take back our government.

Body of War - A Powerful Documentary

Ellen Spiro (a friend of my brother Joaquin) and Phil Donahue have produced and directed a powerful documentary called Body of War. 

It is the story of a young man, Tomas Young, who joins the military to fight the evil doers and is wounded after serving in Iraq for less than a week.

Here's a synopsis from the film's Web site:

"Body of War is Tomas' coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. Body of War is a naked and honest portrayal of what it's like inside the body, heart and soul of this extraordinary and heroic young man."

Watch the preview below:

Obama Volunteer Corps at Habitat for Humanity

Obama Volunteer Corps worked this weekend to assemble walls for a future Habitat for Humanity home building project.

Here's a video of the work we did.

Collective Intuition Which Inspires Us

Barack Obama has many qualities which draw us to his campaign and his message.  In fact, his message has inspired numerous individuals to begin Obama's change right now with organizations like ObamaWorks in Philadelphia and Obama Volunteer Corps in Houston.

Some of the qualities which inspire us include:

1. Message of change
2. Powerful oratory
3. Ability to rise above the fray
4. JFK/MLK like qualities
5. Hope
6. Charisma
7. Intelligence
8. Speak about race in an intelligent and adult manner
9. Mad Basketball Skillz (well, I like that one... grin)

I read an article by Mark Morford in the San Francisco Chronicle's online edition (SFGate.com) called "The very best thing about Barack Obama" in which Murford mentioned all those qualities and others... but explained that THOSE do not describe the very best thing about Senator Obama... it's actually the "feeling" or "intuition" we all have about him... we all feel (as Morford describes):

"People feel it. They hear an Obama speech or read the articles or talk to like-minded folk, and they squint their eyes and weigh everything and then dismiss all that surface crap and get that look on their face that says, you know what? This guy gets it. He feels right. It's not a trick of light. It's not complete bulls—. It's not the usual spin and manipulation and fakery. There is actual meat on this bone. What a thing."

I completely agree... it goes beyond just Obama's message of hope... it's something we can't touch yet it lives inside each of us.  Even the most jaded (of which I was one), are coming around to hear and act on Obama's message of hope and change.

Last Speech by Dr. Markin Luther King Jr

40 years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, TN.  He was a great American who has left a legacy of peaceful resistance against inequality and injustice which is still alive.

His final speech (see excerpt below) sounds prophetic as he mentions that he is not worried because he has been to the mountaintop.  He continues to state that he would prefer to live a long life, but that he's not concerned about that. 

It was a very sad day for the world to lose such an amazing and valiant human being.

Obama Volunteer Corps

Brad Pritchett of HopeActionChange.org has created a new group in Houston called Obama Volunteer Corps.  Its goal is to enhance the communities in and around Houston through work with Habitat for Humanity, The United Way and others.

Schipul sponsored and launched the Web site: http://www.obamavolunteercorps.org/

We have our first event this Saturday at the Habitat for Humanity Warehouse.  We will be building walls.... pretty cool!