I.T. Erudio

Clever heading here – Welcome

Just a place for me to put my random thoughts …

  • “Movies”, “Records”, and me – part 1

    All the cool kids are doing it…I imagine that most people exist on a sort of “sliding scale” of “fashionableness.” At one extreme end is “hip/cool/fashionable/in style/trendy” near the middle is “not as young – but capable of understanding ‘what the kids are saying’” then the other extreme end is “What is everyone talking about?…

  • An experiment and/or learning opportunity …

    I’ve tried a little of this in the past – It is always weird “talking to myself.” Scratching my head, saying “uh” a lot – I’ll give myself a “6 out of 10” with a LOT of room to improve … Just me talking for 20 minutes – mostly about Buster Keaton’s “One Week” silent…

  • A rose by any other name …

    The Bard reference:An optimistic young singer named Sara Niemietz responded to a fan question by saying something like “she never met a flower she didn’t like” (or maybe it was she “never saw an ugly flower” – it was on her Instagram feed – the exact quote isn’t important) Which brought to mind Mr Shakespeare’s…

  • The business of motion pictures …

    First principles In the category of “first principles” put “healthy competition is good for everyone.” To be clear – saying “HEALTHY COMPETITION is good” implies that there is such a thing as “unhealthy competition.” “Healthy competition” – is a version of the classic “win-win” scenario. Ok, obviously in many/most “competitions” someone “wins” and someone else…

  • Nokia-Microsoft, Compaq-HP, thoughts on company size and culture

    Just watched a documentary “The Rise and Fall of Nokia Mobile” – which is available online from various sources (the link is to Tubi). From a “history of tech” point of view it was interesting. Nokia is one of the companies that “invented” the mobile phone – i.e. they tell the story of “mobile communication”…

  • Security, “cyber security”, system administration

    “Enough”During the “lost decade” of my “20’s” I had a LOT of different jobs. PC repair, high school wrestling coach, security guard, and a lot of “student” time in general. The (pre 9/11) “security guard” time was nice because I was usually left alone all night. I was there to be visible and act as…

  • The “regulation” thing

    First PrinciplesAt a “first principles” point of view – USUALLY the best thing for the U.S. Congress to do is “nothing.” Arguably the “Founders” believed the same thing. Which is why the U.S. has the system of gov’ment that we have. Just from a practical “organizational behavior” the larger the group of people – the…

  • Simplicity and Beauty vs Elegance

    Consider the fact that a hammer is “simple” – and in the hands of a killed craftsman might be used in an elegant manner. However, if someone has never seen a nail – what would they think a “claw hammer” does? If someone had spent their entire life living in buildings made of stone, they…

  • User interfaces

    Making a product “easy to use” is never “easy.” “Elegant” products are few and far between. Merriam-Webster tells us that “elegant” means “marked by elegance” – which then requires another click for “elegance” and we get “dignified gracefulness or restrained beauty of style” An “elegant product” becomes an example of “beautiful simplicity.” Under Steve Jobs…

  • Competing with Facebook

    A federal Judge recently dismissed “anti-competitive”/monopoly charges against Facebook The problem is that just being a very popular platform doesn’t make you a monopoly – e.g. Walmart is not a monopoly simply because a lot of people shop there and they are hard to compete againstFB allows people to easily connect with each other and…