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Blog Notes-March 2009
The Annual Chairman Letter from Warren BuffettBerkshire Hathaway - Shareholder letters from the Chairman, Warren Buffett. This may be the most popular read of the weekend! Though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time. It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so. America’s best days lie ahead.
Good to have some positive sentiment. I've read these shareholder letters for about 12 or 13 years now and there is always something interesting to see. This year is no different! Just past the introduction I particularly liked his overarching goals summary:
In good years and bad, Charlie and I simply focus on four goals:
(1) maintaining Berkshire’s Gibraltar-like financial position, which features huge amounts of excess liquidity, near-term obligations that are modest, and dozens of sources of earnings and cash; (2) widening the “moats” around our operating businesses that give them durable competitive advantages; (3) acquiring and developing new and varied streams of earnings; (4) expanding and nurturing the cadre of outstanding operating managers who, over the years, have delivered Berkshire exceptional results. 2009-03-02 Technology and CPA's
Self-Management, Time Management ... David Allen and David ForsterDavid Allen: Getting Things Done (video captured at Google, 10/19/2007, GTD and the Two Keys to Sustaining a Healthy Life and Workstyle). 45 minute summary of his GtD methodology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7vUdKTlhk 2009-03-09
DA talks about the Matrix of Self Management, with Control and Perspective as two keys. At the top of the matrix is the Captain & Commander -- high perspective and high control. This position balances control of the details with the perspective of doing what is important.
 David presents several different cuts from his newest book (2009), Making It All Work, in a piece titled: What Kind of Self Manager Are You. Workflow management steps (lists, projects, processing, weekly review, etc.) and Horizons of focus (roles?) are other details. Although David Allen's lists are basic and simple (and a Google search will reveal the details), Mark Forster has squeezed these concepts into an even more basic and simple methodology he calls the Autofocus System. The details of Autofocus are on his website. The quick summary is: The system consists of one long list of everything that you have to do, written in a ruled notebook (25-35 lines to a page ideal). As you think of new items, add them to the end of the list. You work through the list one page at a time ... continued at Autofocus
A short video of Mark Forster showing his notebook with pages of lists provides a good point to think about the fact that we have to consciously think about how to keep a list of what we have to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF1ngJAyD_s 2009-03-09
Data Extraction testingExtracting Data From Outlook 2007 Logbook notes
After watching a video in a Web site, you may want to save the video file into your local disk for playing it offline in the future. If the video file is stored in your browser's cache, this utility can help you to extract the video file from the cache and save it for watching it in the future.
Similarly WebVideoCap by NirSoft can be used to capture Flash video and RTSP/MMS streams.
Writing on a TypewriterDavid McCullough gave an exclusive interview to the Belmont Vision and the following comment was published intact about his writing tools. McCullough: I do write on the same typewriter. I bought the typewriter second hand in 1965. I probably paid $25 for it. It’s a Royal, upright standard typewriter and it was made in 1940. I have written everything I have had published on that typewriter and there is nothing wrong with it. It works perfectly. It was made in the USA and made superbly well. I like it because I like the feeling of making something with my hands. I like pressing the key and a letter comes up and is printed on a piece of paper. I can understand that. It’s not out in the ether somewhere. I like it when I swing the carriage lever the little bell rings like the old trolley car. Lots of people including my own children tell me, remind me how much faster I could go if I used a word processor. I don’t want to go faster. If anything I’d like to be able to go slower because I don’t think all that fast. And maybe the typewriter is writing the books. I don’t want to risk changing it. As long as it holds up, I’ll hold up.
2009-03-27 Free E-Book about the software industry and the case for free softwareAfter the Software Wars by Keith Curtis, 292 pages, available for free as a PDF. Given the technology that's already available, we should have cars that drive us around, in absolute safety, while we lounge in the back and sip champagne. This book explains how we can build better software and all get our own high-tech chauffeur. NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "Keith Curtis, an 11-year veteran of Microsoft, takes a programmer’s approach in “Software Wars,” attempting to systematically build a case that free software can help pave the way for a 21st-century renaissance in many fields ranging from artificial intelligence (cars that drive themselves) to the human journey into space (space elevators). For Mr. Curtis, free software is all about leveraging our collective intelligence."
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