Category: General

My Sprint Android Nexus S had a problem with the time zone change last night. Not only did it set the time back by an hour (possibly based on the carrier signal), but it also switched from Central Time To Mountain Time. I am able to fix the problem by unchecking the “Automatic – use carrier supplied values” and manually specifying central time, but if I recheck the “Automatic” box it changes back to mountain time.

It seems as if Sprints Carrier signal accidentally started sending out a different timezone instead of sending out time code and saying it was CDT. So basically the Android clock fell back by two hours instead of one.

I have an Apple wireless keyboard where the batteries slide into a tube. The batteries corroded and I can’t get them out. The only part of the battery that can be seen is the bottom of one of them. The plastic is black and the metal has two small bumps on it about the size of a pin head.

After comparing this to all the other batteries in the house, it appears that Duracell is the only brand with a black plastic casing on the bottom end and those two little bumps. After a brief call with Duracell, they are sending me a box to ship them the keyboard and they claim they will either repair or replace it.

When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. ~ Warren Buffet

I love this management quote from Warren Buffet.  You can’t manage your way out of bad economics.  The truly brilliant management team knows this and will work to change the economics of the business first.

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. ~ Peter Drucker

This is a funny management quote, but unfortunately very true.

Organization doesn’t really accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds. ~ Colin Powell

This management quote is too easily forgotten by managers eager to try out all their new ideas. In fact, part of the idea of management is to create systems so people become interchangeable.  While this might work for some businesses, it is only useful if you don’t need creativity and ingenuity.  Those are things the people bring to the table and you can’t get simply by creating another process or plan.  Seriously how useful is it to have a plan that says, “come up with something brilliant.”  It doesn’t work that way.  Leaps forward only come from having brilliant people.

• A judge ruled that the health care law is not constitutional.
• Americans adopting kids from other countries is at a 15 year low.
• The last IP addresses should be allocated a bit later this year, helping highlight the need to switch to IP6.
• The company that owns CliffNotes is working with AOL to create web video versions including 60 second versions to watch on your mobile phone right before taking a test.

A bunch of people are upset about the new scanners the TSA is using and upset about the new “enhanced” pat downs.  I can understand.  After reading a bit about both of them, it doesn’t sound like something I’d like to run my family through. However, the suggestions I’m seeing for how to deal with it are ridiculous. Right now a bunch of people are planning on opting out of the x-ray machines the day before Thanksgiving which is going to create a huge travel nightmare.  This might get some media attention, but it is going to take something that is moderately inconvenient and make it very inconvenient for a whole lot of people.

I don’t see how this approach is going to get the TSA to suddenly change their mind about things. It isn’t like the slow down is going to greatly inconvenience them–or at least not the people who actually make decisions for the TSA. Maybe the media attention with prompt changes, but that still seems like a round about way to try to create change.

If you really want to see changes made to the way TSA is treating people, there are three things you need to do.

1. Talk to your congress person

Let your representatives and senators know what you think and what you’d like to see changed. These are the people making the laws.  They are only going to know what you want if you tell them. Complaining to your friends doesn’t count–your congress person doesn’t hear that.

2. Write the airlines

What if you could hire someone with lots of resources to take your concerns and try to get laws and procedures changed? Well you can and it won’t cost you anything. Airlines have a very big interest in getting you to fly. I don’t think most of them care what TSA does as long as people keep flying.  However, if they feel they are losing money, they are going to start pitching a fit, hiring lobbyists, and doing whatever else they can to get the procedures changed.

Write them a polite short letter saying that you were planning on flying somewhere and decided not to because of the new security procedures. Remember, it isn’t their fault, but let them know they are losing customers because of this.

Letters carry disproportional weight in most businesses. I have seen businesses go out of their way to change things based on a single letter. There is something about a physical piece of mail that makes companies take it much more seriously than a phone call and just a few letters can make a big impact.  It might not happen right away, but imagine this: After a poor quarter the CEO asks his team, “why are sales down?” and someone answers, “well, we have all these letters from people saying they don’t want to fly with the new security procedures.”

3. Write the airport

Airports are competing for business too and although most aren’t going to have the resources of an airline, they are still worth contacting. If you don’t want to walk through the x-ray machines, write a letter to airports that use the machine letting them know that you are using a different airport to avoid the machines.