Toluu : Occam's RazR

Occam's RazR

better communication makes the complex simple

My site will be down for a little while this afternoon, as will my email. My webhost, Lunarpages, is moving my physical server from LA to San Diego. It’s expected to take less than four hours, and I have had several days notice.

In the years I have been with them, this will be the third downtime I’ve experienced. Period. Of the previous two, one was a server maintenance where I was given two weeks notice, and the other was an unplanned outage of less than three hours.

Not bad at all. That’s why I recommend them to anyone who asks.

(If you do choose to sign up with them at some point, please check with me about my affiliate ID. I am eligible to earn referrals.)

Game the SystemDecember 3

(How Ike became the #1 Twitter Elite of Planet Earth)

We just came out of an election season where there were multiple ways to keep score:

Popular vote
Electoral vote
States carried

In the above instance, we have a constitutional mandate that tells us which one matters. Life is often more fuzzy than that. Take the college football standings in the Big-12 South, where three teams finished with seven wins and a single loss.

Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35
Texas Tech beat Texas 39-33
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 65-21

Big 12 If you spin them head-to-head, you just keep rolling in a circle. The Texas fans think their win ought to count for “more,” because it happened on a neutral field. The Oklahoma fans say Poppycock (or something equally rustic, and likely demeaning to both cowboys and cows), that they lost to Texas within the state of Texas. Also, Oklahoma appears to win in both overall strength-of-schedule and in point differential.

The Texas Tech coach, realizing his team was too far out of the conversation to matter, said his team’s higher graduation rate ought to break the tie.

Instead, the division championship came down to which team was highest ranked by

Global DominanceDecember 2

(Inspired by this.)

Birmingham, AL (NOPRWEB) December 2, 2008 — What’s better than soaring to the top of a popular social networking site? How about being at the very top of the entire planet? That’s the envious position The Personal Brander, Ike Pigott, found himself in last month when he entered the Twitter elite. Proving just how powerful his Internet marketing promotional strategies are, Pigott not only became a top Birmingham Twitterer, but has now expanded his territory where he currently outranks all members of the site on Planet Earth. Internet marketers who would like to follow The Personal Brander’s tweets and improve their own promotional efforts can do so online at http://twitter.com/ikepigott.

According to Nielson Online, Twitter is the fastest growing social networking site, achieving a 343% growth rate between September 2007 and September 2008. For obvious reasons, landing in the top tier of this social media giant could boost an Internet marketer’s career, but accomplishing it for all of Planet Earth is an almost guarante

Shopping for SecurityNovember 28

“When it comes to trading Freedom for Security, we’re like the poor fools who only go to the grocery store when we’re starving; then wonder why we’re poor, fat, and have a pantry loaded with fluff.”

- Ike Pigott

Freedom, Security, and DollarsNovember 26

Another day, another dollar. A day late, a dollar short. Dollars to doughnuts.

A dollar is a unit in flux, but it’s a unit that represents our time, effort, and attention.

How much would you pay for a new car? WAIT! Before you answer, how would you rather pay for a new car?

Clean 150,000 garbage cans
Mow 1,000 acres of lawn
Sew 100,000 buttons by hand
Wash 75,000 dishes

Those were chosen completely at random, and on purpose. There is no attempt at equivalence here, there may be one of the above that is much easier for you to attain. And that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Fortunately, we live in a society where there is a common medium of currency, which makes the comparisons easier. Much easier than when we had to barter for goods.

Trade Talks

Life in a “five cows for an acre” society is not nearly as efficient. When there is a common ground, a coin of the realm, trade gets streamlined. You don’t waste valuable time (another commodity) choosing how to pay or what means of compensation you’ll accept. You do business, and you move on. In societies that lack stable currency, you’ll see underground markets emerge swiftly to fill the need. Prisons are full of people who’ve learned how to barter. So are nations with economi