General Start Ups

Note (dot) Cards from the iPhone

Posted on June 10, 2015

travellingpepper

I’m ready.  Have Traveling Pepper and I will write to you. I will thank you, invite you, love you, want you, send good wishes, say hello and good-bye and anything in-between.  Yes, that’s how much I like it. But it goes beyond the finished product.

I was never into photography before Steve made a phone. Cameras needed attention. They needed knowledge on how to use them and trips to places to get film developed.  Finally,  if you were lucky,  you got back a few out of a roll that were good to go.  But then there was the question of negatives.

In my world view negatives were not just the inscrutable filmy things you had no idea what was on them.  A negative was the whole picture taking experience.

And then phones had cameras and my life changed.  I take pics!  Sometimes they are even good and places like Buzzfeed use them for a post. Most of the time they are ordinary but that’s ok by me. I capture daily life events of interest to family, friends, and when I do it for the blog, for those interested in tech and Silicon Valley.

Luckily there are people like Troy who work magic with an iPhone camera. When Troy showed me what he was doing – turning his breathtaking pics into note cards and wall art –   I asked what he was using to take his amazing pics. He said it was an iPhone5.   “Ok”,  I said, “Have you sent a card to Tim?”

Troy is Troy Green of note.cards and Tim is Tim Cook. (Tim is so amazing that he deserves to be known by first name like Steve was here in Palo Alto.  I know, TC is not Steve Jobs as every citizen journalist Apple analyzer  likes to remind you. Of course not. That doesn’t make him less or bad.  But that’s another story. I like Tim.)

Troy takes the ordinary and makes it spectacular.  It shines and shimmers and says, “You’ve never really seen me before have you?”  or maybe, “I’m glorious! I’m happy! Take me and I can make you happy too!”  Maybe it was never ordinary to begin with, but he brings out the beauty in what we see all the time. This is no easy task.

All done on an iPhone5.  This is so amazing to me.  My favorite might be the Traveling Pepper plant but the entire concept and execution of the photography of veggies and plants and turning them into stunning visuals is the magic Troy brings.

Troy explains how he began:

 I started experimenting with photography at farmers’ markets across the Bay Area using different angles, lighting, color combinations, and display designs.  Since I haven’t taken a photography class before, I tried to follow my own path and intuition on what feels right on a good shot as well as enjoy the moment.  Rather than spend time reading “How To” books, I wanted to invest that time learning on my own with real life examples.

This ultimately has led me to the idea of creating unique notecards themed around farmers’ markets.

There you have it. I could say more, but let the cards speak for themselves – or better yet, let them speak for you. Go ahead, get some, and fill them with your special words or a quote or buy them as a gift.

Troy Green note dot cards

 

 

 

 

Bitcoins Start Ups

Are You Using Bitcoin?

Posted on May 28, 2015
bitcoin silicon valley

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He followed me out of the coffee bar and said, “Excuse me, was that a Bitcoin transaction you just did?” Since he was behind me in line at Coupa Cafe, Palo Alto’s only retail place I know to use Bitcoin, I assumed the question was rhetorical. Wasn’t it obvious? I had my phone out and pushing buttons and doing the QR code. Purchasing with Bitcoin at the retail level is a bit of a sideshow. If my hair isn’t looking good, I’m using cash because everyone gathers round and looks at you. No wonder it isn’t mainstream. Kind of like, “Does my SAT score make me look fat?”,  “Is my short story on artificial intelligence/machine learning too much for pillow talk?”

Yes, I told him,  it was a Bitcoin transaction  “Oh good”, he replied, “because I’m a lawyer with clients with Bitcoin startups and I have no idea how it works.”

Hmm…my mind was wandering: “And you waited until now to find out? Do they know you are clueless? No googling, no meet ups? No purchasing and using? You don’t know what it is and they pay you? Can I become a lawyer too?”

Not my style, that’s for sure. How could he represent clients in this exciting field and not even know how it works? I jumped all over Bitcoin when I heard about it. A cryptocurrency? The blockchain? Mining? Oh, feed me more! I want to know what this is all about.

Color me curious. I can’t explain what it was about Bitcoin that was so attractive to me. But it probably has to do with my sometimes early adoption of technology in certain areas. I’m female and middle aged. I’m not the typical demographic.  But I am the one going around town using Meerkat and Periscope and putting up with Pebbles that ask, “How do YOU know about Meerkat?” (Pebble is my neighbor and they are nice, but my son and I are still arguing over whether that is a sexist or ageist comment.  Probably both, but Pebbler, you are forgiven.)

Back to Coupa Cafe. I love how the employees there taught me how to use Bitcoin to purchase a coffee. I find that very cool that they are so well trained, so helpful and did it so well.  English may not be the first language but they sure knew the language of Bitcoin. Not so cool is the fact that I was taking my son who works at Intel there for coffee and paying with Bitcoin and he has no interest.

Maybe I find the word cryptocurrency exotic (I do) and new and full of potential. When I see that one of my vitamin stores online accepts Bitcoin,  (yes!) I use it.  I buy a T-shirt at the Bitcoin meet up at Plug and Play: Don’t Mess with Bitcoin. When I have a garage sale in downtown Palo Alto I put the shirt on the tree to point out where the garage sale is. Only one person mentions it. I advertise the room I have to rent on Craigslist with Bitcoin in the title: Bitcoin Accepted. No one responds. Until…..

A 20 something female intellectual property attorney takes the room for a month while finding a place of her own. She pays with PayPal. At some point in her stay she asks me, “How come in your ad for this room you said you would take coins?

I had the talk with her: not coins but Bitcoin. I explained Bitcoin. She had no idea. The next day she came back from work and thanked me for saving her from potential embarrassment: an IP lawyer in Palo Alto that hasn’t heard of Bitcoin. I guess she asked around the office and realized it might be a good sign to not confuse physical coins with Bitcoin. Maybe I should hook her up with the lawyer who followed me out of Coupa?

I don’t pretend to understand all the blockchain tech but when I had to get a refund, Scott Robinson, facilitator of a local Bitcoin meet up showed me how to use the blockchain to see my transactions and prove I was due a refund. This was cool! I used it to contact the owner of Coupa Cafe who was interested because this was his first Bitcoin refund and he understood what I printed out and showed him. And refunded my transactions. 

But why such slow adoption? My take; until there is a marketing campaign that showcases objects bought with use of Bitcoin, it’s not going to be adopted at the retail level. The blockchain technology can be used in various arenas due to its mechanism of action and right now that looks like its immediate future. But buying a dress at Neiman Marcus or bottled water at Walgreens – not so easy even if it were available at those places.

Scott Robinson said middle aged females would have to use Bitcoin for it to become popular. I think it is more than that.  Mark Zuckerberg would have to declare a Bitcoin awareness day to attract that crowd. A 10% off day for use of Bitcoin on every online and physical store purchase that accepts Bitcoin would go a long way to awareness and adoption. Ease of use and awareness that people can relate to : priceless.

No one is denying the payment arena is in flux. My friend has a biometric palm ID start up and it will eventually be compatible with Bitcoin as well as credit cards. (Maybe…the only start up I saw go sky high was my in house renter,  who came here in beta as co-founder and  CEO of Pinterest.  I may not be the best person to look to the future…I should have traded rent for a piece of the pie. But I thought, gosh, this is boring yet there’s no denying he and the VC’s were right and I was wrong.  Boring it may be but obviously my take was the minority. And there is nothing like sharing your house with someone over the top about mega funding for his startup. Shout out to Paul!)

Why is my other son (a millennial living in L.A.) not using Bitcoin? He says: “It isn’t something widely accepted and I know next to nothing about it.” Damn! That reflects poorly on me as teacher. I guess if I didn’t use it, he would know nothing?

Older son at Intel says: “Mom, you are geekier than I.” (Does your boss know this?)

Online use of Bitcoin is easier right now than retail.  Advances in wallets help – and places like XAPO are moving us in that direction. I just signed up for an account and look forward to using it. Thanks for making life easier, XAPO. This is where we need to be going.

My real time price counter of Bitcoin on my website, my t-shirt, my many coffees using Bitcoin at Coupa and some vitamin purchases are exciting to me, but I’d love to see the Bitcoin community (backers, investors, miners, etc) using some incentives to make it inclusive. Right now, it’s for a special club (geeks? men? those who need to get funds cheaply across the world?). Not everyone speaks Bitcoin language and enjoys throwing the words cryptocurrency and blockchain around. No, I am not a dominatrix as someone asked me upon hearing me use the word blockchain and no, I don’t advise hiding assets in divorce in a Bitcoin arena as someone else asked.

“Love your highlights. Your shoes are awesome.” I’d love to be able to respond, “10% off every Thursday with Bitcoin at Macy’s.”

Meanwhile, thanks Coupa Cafe for your awesome employees who learned Bitcoin and helped me use it and for the many conversations the use of Bitcoin has brought me. And I look forward to the day I don’t have to worry about my hair before I pay. Bitcoin has a future in my world but I’d rather not struggle to use it. So, here’s to the backers, investors, miners, users, early adopters, and start ups like XAPO for all that you do. And the meet ups at Plug and Play in Sunnyvale and Hero City.

Medical Technology Start Ups

Health Tap: Dangerous Mediocrity Wins a Webby

Posted on May 11, 2015

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A Webby for Health Crap?  Yep.

 

Just because the info is online and the delivery system is not what you are used to doesn’t make it award worthy.

Health Tap is mediocre.  Don’t call it a game changer – it isn’t.   And the only thing it is disrupting is people’s ability to get good health information.    To call it the new face of health care is to believe in delusions, yet people love delusions when it comes to health care.

Health Tap  is a rehash of disinformation the medical industry loves to give the public who respond with white coat syndrome: adulation for nothing.  Then they go on forums and complain how much medicine they take, how they still feel ill and they can’t stand their doctors.  News flash: the emperor has no clothes yet I bet Health Tap is going to be a cash cow. MD’s appear to spend no time researching answers so this must be a great second source of income for them. Facile ,easy to answer questions with pedestrian responses, it’s just like RL with an MD.

Example: I have now posted twice on Health Tap’s Twitter about the confusion of one doctor. You can see the mistake HERE.  Someone asked about the impact of grapefruit seed extract on their use of anti-depressants. The MD (a shrink) who answered has no clue what GSE is because she answered about “GRAPEFRUIT JUICE…..”  and its impact on different meds.  FIVE MD’s  agreed with her answer. This is how we all get dead.  This is why the CDC warns that medical mistakes are the third leading cause of death each year.  Grapefruit seed extract is a botanically derived substance with anti-microbial, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. It is marketed under the name Citricidal. It is nothing like grapefruit juice any more than apple cider vinegar is like a candied apple. Yes, apple is the constant, but so what.  And this is hard to understand?

Despite the plethora of  published info on this substance (GSE) another question to the mighty minds at Health Tap found another MD saying it had ZERO medicinal value.  And we should take his word because he is ONLINE and that is so cool or something?  What century is this? Party like its AOL and 1999?

Here ya go Health Tap docs – this is  from the University of Texas Med School, published.  There is plenty more on GSE and many of us have known and used it for years with great results. But because you never researched the topic, it has no use? You just answer “no value” because it has never been pharmco repped?  Where’s Khosla?? Topol?

U of Texas study, published:  The GSE was consistently antibacterial against all of the biotypes tested, with susceptibility zone diameters equal to or greater than 15 mm in each case.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our preliminary data thus suggest an antibacterial characteristic to GSE that is comparable to that of proven topical antibacterials. Although the GSE appeared to have a somewhat greater inhibitory effect on gram-positive organisms than on gram-negative organisms, its comparative effectiveness against a wide range of bacterial biotypes is significant.

Health Tap Homework Assignment: Research and find the source of the above and 5 more studies.

There is nothing innovative about answering questions that anyone could find in something like Web MD which itself is nothing but an old fashioned encyclopedia of information, most of it, out of date and geared to typical cluelessness.  If you can’t learn how to  optimize a deep and broad search for information that makes a difference, or don’t want to, there’s Web MD , in your face, page one, slot one of Dr Google.

Of course, at Google itself in Project X they don’t do anything like Web MD or Health Tap – they use  the power and significant cash resources of the new philosopher kings to actually delve into oh say, the world of turning off a gene to delay aging.  Yes, the  innovative, game changing stuff. You think Larry Page wants to read about mainstream methods on Web MD or the Mayo Clinic site.  No, he hires top notch genetic PhD’s from UCSF and they bring their entire labs to Google to work on CALICO. You can read about CALICO here: Anti-Aging at Google

There’s a reason people like fortune cookies. They don’t make you think. A few meaningless encapsulated words have enchanted young and old for years. Just like Health Crap is doing now. The con is on.

BTW, Health Tap  – what’s the purpose of bothering with a social media presence if you ignore it? Transparency is as missing from you as it always is in mainstream medical.  Twitter account : anyone home @healthtap?

 

 

Diversity Voices

Meetup for Whites Only

Posted on March 20, 2015
Diversity problem in tech

 

Diversity problem in Silicon Valley? Big time.

I was going to write about something else  but when I opened this email for a new meet-up:

http://www.meetup.com/WHITE-STARTUP-INVESTORS-AND-FOUNDERS/

and my jaw dropped, and my brain went to the news today of a black man found hanging from a tree in Mississippi,  I knew I had to say something.  Here it is: WTF?

I am reprinting the description of the meet up in its entirety. It is shocking. Beware. (I can’t quite believe this is real. A sick joke?, No, it looks real.)

DESCRIPTION:

Other groups have meetups, so here is a meetup for white investors and founders.

According to history, all major modern technology is a white invention. That includes electrical generators, electrical circuitry, electric lights, batteries, motors, television, radio, transistors, diodes, integrated circuits, computers, software, telephones, mobile phones, the Internet, the computer mouse, the GUI, cars, trains, planes, jets, rockets, space ships, modern plumbing, modern architecture, refrigerators, air conditioning, modern fashion, the list goes on and on.

Most white people in the US seem too concerned about being “politically correct” (a white term that few, if any, other cultures would have been so kind and polite to invent) to look at that directly. Silicon Valley is also basically a white invention. Yes, Apple and Google and Microsoft were all founded by white people. Most white people seem internationally and culturally naive, so other cultures have been exploiting white people’s general tendency to be nice and politically correct and competitively noble with other white people.

Sadly the wonderful places that white people built as democracies have started to be quietly invaded by relatively irresponsible 3rd world nations. People from 3rd world nations that pop out a ridiculous amount of kids (potential voters) come to scam the naive white American investors for a quick buck and cash in on the white Silicon Valley gold mine.

Then many of them likely go back to “play” in the places they are from and do very un-American things, such as serving an endangered species at dinner in China to impress people, with the money. These other groups have support networks in the US where they can come together to share info and work together for common goals, so here is a meetup for white investors, entrepreneurs, and founders. Much of the rest of the world is seemingly trying to copy white society, although seemingly often in very irresponsible ways, and the modern world needs white leaders to guide the responsible and environmentally kind use of white technology. White people were seemingly ready for the technology and thus received it, yet they shared it with less responsible and environmentally immoral cultures, so they should be leading its responsible use and future. Other cultures have shown that they certainly should not be leading anything until they can care for their own nations. If there is anyone that doesn’t like this, then those people should stop using all white technology as a protest.

Note: This is not an anti-non-white group.

the above is from WHITE FOUNDERS MEET-UP GROUP

And that ends the description – with a note this is not anti-non- white. You could have fooled me. Tell me, please, what do we say to this? What response? Are things as bad as this? How did this get into the MeetUps?

When you think you have seen it all, the cosmos laughs and says, “Not yet.”

UPDATE, April 5, 2015 The Whites Only MeetUp No Longer Exists.

General Voices

Bye to VISA and NMEFCU: Future Tech is Coming

Posted on November 7, 2014
NMEFCU

impossible

 

 

 

 

Disruption, change the world, make it a better place – these are phrases  heard all the time in Silicon Valley.  There are  start ups everywhere – in my garage I have a palm ID biometric tech start up. I’ve watched Pinterest grow from a co-founder living in my house saying, “I’m worried we won’t get traffic when the VC’s watch us” to..well, you know where that rocket ship went.

NOATTA is the start up in my garage.

This is a story of disruption vs sloth. It’s an aha moment for me and a description of an event that shouts: you don’t matter and we don’t care.

Mike Judge, producer of HBO’s Silicon Valley,  has some good reasons to poke fun at over the top “I want to make the world a better place” entrepreneurs.  However,  given the choice between those with a passion, a goal,  a hope and a dream of venture capital,  I’ll take them any day over the apathetic inhabitants of the credit card and banking industry.

When it is asked if Silicon Valley can be replicated in other areas it  can –  if you have enough of what makes this place spawn so much innovation. It’s a desire to change the way things are, do them differently, do them better and have supporters (venture capitalists) and a technical infrastructure.

But I’ve come to see that the special DNA of that special person is not in everyone. And some industries have failed to embrace change and will be blandished. ApplePay will do so to banking and credit card industry.

The enormous financial bond between the two has made them lazy. The huge transformational technological cosmos around them, the acceleration of the world to the future,  they have been blinded to, Apply Pay and Visa collaboration notwithstanding.

If ever there was an arena ripe for disruption, these 2 are they. They are about to find out the consequences of failing to embrace technological change and the huge expectation of transparency demanded by consumers.

 

DON’T TELL ME IT CAN’T BE DONE

What separates the ones that get things done from those who quote non-existent policy?

The complacency and inability to problem solve is a red flag of an industry about to be disrupted.

I am told, “We can’t do that, it’s policy.”  I ask what policy is stopping NMEFCU  from writing:  “As of this date we have not received notice to refund customer’s credit card from VISA.” I am put on hold for 10 minutes. Answer, “It’s just policy.” I ask to have it read to me. No, it’s policy not to disclose policy.

This lack of transparency is being booted out in medicine.  Theranos is posting their blood test costs on their web site. The costs are 1/4 that of the average.  See my post  Big Disruption in Medicine   Doctors and hospitals may rebel, The FDA is grasping at its Rockefeller dollars, but change is in the air. Even pharmaceutical scientists from Merck outed their in- house fraud a few years ago in development of measles vaccine.

Backstory:

One boring detail after another and no one can figure out an answer. This is why Disrupt and Problem Solvers are in Silicon Valley: 

I was given a refund  (mid October) by a merchant but my account has not been credited.  The bank in question is New Mexico Educator’s  Federal Credit Union.

They tell me: Visa is slow (it has been 3 weeks. That isn’t slow, it is glacial.) They say, “Wait 30 days”. (Guess who benefits from wait time?)

NMEFCU says, “Dispute the transaction.” No, that would be committing fraud. The transaction was fine – I bought a product with a no questions asked guarantee,  returned it, and the same day the merchant processed a refund.  A disputed transaction is a black mark on a merchant and there was no dispute.

NMEFCU told me it was up to VISA to fix the problem. I got on Twitter and askVISA said it was NMEFCU’s problem and talk to them. I replied that was done. They replied with a phone number to call.

Wrong number!  I had been given a number for Lost and Stolen cards. We are now almost in hour 4 of dealing with this situation.

The promised return phone calls from NMEFCU have not occurred. (2 of them). When I finally was put through to another person at VISA he said, “Dispute the transaction.”

The constant referral to policy was intertwined with, “There is no way to fix this. Wait.”

I don’t know where my $264.99 is. But the merchant in question is willing to write me a check and trust that when I get the money refunded I will then send him a check to reimburse him.

This is called customer service. He’ll survive while you are still thinking up non-existent policies because “there is no way”.  There is always a way. Tell your manager, “Something is broken here, how can we fix it?” And if you’re smart when you get the solution, you let the CEO or President know.

Or ask Peter Thiel for funding for your startup (Paypal co-founder) and bypass all the old school people who think, “We’ve always done it this way, it’s fine.” No, it isn’t.

The close and cozy hugely profitable ties you between credit cards and banks  are about to crash.  Apple gets it and there is no stopping them. It may take a while but while you are musing over ‘policy’  quantum computing is buzzing along to change the world.

UPDATE: I  just found out a few hours ago that VISA realizes how far behind it is and in July, came an announcement:    “Visa Opens San Francisco Technology Center to Advance Innovation in Payments”

I’m waiting for results. Suggestion: Step one: Refunds should not take 30 days. And yes, that’s what both you and NMEFCU tells me is the norm.

General

The Varsity On University Ave. Palo Alto

Posted on October 20, 2014
Varsity Theatre

This is a walk down Memory Lane. As the Varsity is about to rebirth as a co-sharing work and coffee bar, let us remember all the good things the building has given us, bookstore, yes, but especially the bar, restaurant and great movie theatre.

Here’s my unused coupon

Varsity Theatre

 

Cell Phone Technology

Interview with James Johnson, CEO Vortis Technology

Posted on October 12, 2014
Vortis, James Johnson

James Johnson, CEO Vortis Technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently interviewed James Johnson, founder and CEO of Vortis Technology, as he releases new information about his company on the cusp of the the re-introduction of Vortis cell tech.  Vortis has re-remerged as a leader in cell phone array technology and Johnson is presenting at IEEE Monday October 13, 2014 in San Jose.  James Johnson’s story is as interesting as he and his technology is.

He speaks of lessons learned from Valley insiders he worked with – lessons he shares in how to grow a company, how not to sabotage it, and brings his own personal ethos to the fore. Jim’s journey has not been an easy one or a boring one. Read carefully for not all lessons are so straightforward, compelling and end in success.

Vortis Cell

Here is James Johnson on “mastering the art of the comeback with a little help from your friends”. He refers to the post A Cell Phone, A Problem and A Journey: Vortis Technology

JAMES JOHNSON:   As we help others understand Vortis and promulgate the technology I look forward to sharing our Vortis Story.

Your articles on betrayal clearly show a human stratum of discontinuities between honest people and lizard level hypothalamus types where the roots of greed and fear are borne (not to mention political spin, some marketing and crooks). Good prevails over evil every time and the reason is because it all balances out; and catches up!

I appreciate the title of Hero and want very much for my kids to know this; but truth is, recovery from crashed management strategy is betrayal; but what was the root cause?

This “Vortis Story” actually has many heroes. They are the unsung heroes such as Fernando Garcia, leading steel forming and machine production that produced value to one turn around I did; made easy by him. There are many in our validation and verification list who, among others, are also unsung heroes.

I have Mr. Campbell’s first book as a gift from a friend (80’s) and we can only dream of ethnographic studies such as his where he travelled to the deepest parts of humanity and location globally looking for that common thread between reality and myth. How amazing was he to find such shared commonalities.

I’d like to think I’m more capable as an ethnographic researcher than a hero. I do however work for heroes and have served very good, honest people and they are my heroes; in which I would take a bullet or a hit if need be; but my military and cliff/scuba rescue work taught me how to concentrate in extremes; why failure is not an option and that it’s all just a process to honor.  Using preventive techniques work well. This is why I got into the Science of Reliability and wrote the first paper on failure mode and effects analyses; why management fails and what are the elements in common.  This paper was built off of our 1985 “First Corporate Valuation Software Program”; now used by financial and government as a standard today.  Thanks Hans Schroeder [bearval.com]; you are a hero!

In any start up or turn around I ensure the dialog removes “sales pitch” and includes “reporting progress” based on rational metrics and Continuous Improvement.

In a political environment (hidden agendas) mistakes are used against people.  In a honest business development process mistakes are congratulated [for extending ones self beyond the Peter Principle].  Same mistakes are not tolerated but learning from mistakes is a mandate!  If I were a hero, I’d claim this ground as my territory!  Continuous Improvement as a means to flip any scenario—this is the tool I used!

In addition, the use of present tense (“we are now doing this) over future tense (we wantabe doing this) changes a culture to focus on “what is, is!”  Our strategy discussions and agreements and goals will provide the future talk; plenty of it!

A company that is calm and eliminates the “rush job scenario” [Quantum Humanistics] will find that doing things slower; actually picks up efficiency and effectiveness.  A derivative of the tortoise and the hair; and there are variations and stratums about this.

As a Silicon Valley Director with experience in  (C Level) Reliability Science, Quality Assurance (Management Science/Theory) and Forensic Finance,  I have enjoyed helping people build more reliable firms around more controlled growth and change.  QA Works; when it’s worked!  In 1992 my nationally published paper was on the history and science of globalization quality assurance and Quantified of the Implementation Process. This is the science of dissemination of innovation [good ideas and how change is adopted–or not).  Firms who optimize the four variables change fast and sustain their growth as part of an ongoing process control network of organic growth and value.

Our focus in the valley was how to help a company migrate out of the 80’s (Star Wars; easy pickin’s from trickle down economy) to the 90’s (“wholly shit; Offshore Global Competitors Coming; and beating us?”).  I helped a firm transition quickly that became Silicon Valley’s #1 competitor [sustained for over 10 years while growing 3X’s].  How?  Teaching everyone that life is a process and we need only see it; wake up to cycles and do it with love, vigor and vim! http://www.jamesrjohnson.net/al.htm

Okay, what is the definition of a hero?  This is one who is conscious of the gap between one’s known skills or capability to the known risk before him.  The larger the gap, the greater the fall potential.  In rescue, we just focused on reliability, training, communications, team, etc.  We never felt heroism because this is more like playing; on the cliffs and ocean but with a serious purpose!  Perhaps the bravest thing people could do is let go of loss and live with it. Then turn your life around afterwards with a new meaning and new goals.

One hero in my high school was our friend in San Bruno Mark Brelsferd who won global  motorcycle Champion; Go Mark! That’s him in his firey crash; that he recovered from. His crash [and survival] looked  a bit like mineJ

Mark and I road dirt bikes in San Bruno, where PGE’s pipeline management showed more worry about good ole boy network than my ole neighborhood and his customers of San Bruno. Wow! They blew up the ground! I can’t imagine how they missed that.  spending time on Quality Assurance or reliability or  Process Control?  Nope!

Coincidently I played my saxophone in a fund raiser for cancer patients; and one of them was the PGE pipeline director.   He’s been there forever and I wonder what preventive Actions he’s focused on and why bad managers can’t understand that a “surprise” is a major defect in their process?  Their goal is simple:  NO SURPRISES!

As I was contacted by PGE, I proposed a solution similar to the NASA Risk Management Overlay process they used to mitigate risk of fire and events in the Space Station.

In this matter, it is not the solutions; it is the implementation process that fails!

Anyone walking the grounds understood its movement and it would have taken only an “ask” for drivers to be the eyes on the grounds and notices of interest to review feedback loops and compile priorities and additional capacity loads. However, when you ask these managers about QA, you see headlight eyes; and who understands process?

Dan Kottke too is one of my heroes!  Dan is a keyboard partner in our band Quoi whom I learned later worked with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs [never enters his mind to brag] as one of the three guys who built the little Mac and started Apple.  Dan told me he and Steve Jobs were in India when they found an apple orchard and enjoyed it for a week around the area.  Sitting there, on the slope; biting an apple; Steve had his ah ha moment.

I call that ah ha moment a Quantum Humanistic (QH) ® circa 1987] in that often times; a flow of life force one way or another is guided by such moments; mostly bad such as PTSD events, etc. that it is life changing. A series of smaller ones, like the Tessla vibrator, if in synch, can cause a butterfly effect globally.

An example was when I was surprised to see Apple advertising they now stock Beatles?  At first, this is a no brainer; but why just now?  Then it dawned on me:  Apple Productions [Beatles] tried to tell Steve he couldn’t name his company Apple.  Guess that was their mistake trying to tell Steve not to do that!

Dan and I both went through a lot and leaned on and learned from each other between 2007 and 2012 when my cognitive dissonance came from the betrayal of some international directors of our Scottish Firm.  This dominated my world as his struggled for his daughter grew.

Dan, as I, needed to fight; in courts for our father rights!  He actually studied law just to ensure he exerted his fatherly rights; for his daughter.

Thank you Dan; I owe you big time! You are my hero for helping me when these international executives double crossed us.  They dished out [Myers] Lemons and I’ve had to stir it up and make lemonade.

Dan Kottke was and is a brutally honest hero and accidentally upset Steve Jobs for telling the truth about their time together (and a fatherless child).  See how easily start-ups can be derailed by honesty and someone else being threatened?  That then migrates to hostilities and in Apple, the start-up, Steve cut Dan out.  In a scene in Pirates of Silicon Valley, [thankfully] Steve Woz [an example of all that is good] simply wanted to focus on technology and save Dan by giving him stock; just before he quit.  That action, along with Dan’s focus made Dan a Silicon Valley Hero in my book. Bottom line for Vortis; Steve Jobs, a forgiving man, stayed friends with Dan and by his reference, Steve introduced me to his emerging markets director in London to address process and quality Assurance issues for Vortis’ African Associates.

Thanks to Steve Woz; the love of life revealed itself with Dan and Stock as built an amazing life that I was a small part of as we spent years enjoying Palo Alto as I sought to pivot from our Scottish Firm’s management failures and betrayal.

Steve Jobs is without question, a hero for Vortis!  Having said this, Steve exhibited typical mistakes CEO’s make at a customer complaint.  In beginning when encountering problems from holding and shorting two elements of the rim antenna, his first response was to tell his customers to hold it differently (a typical denial response).  He later retracted and admitted internal managerial failures; and oh so many lost jobs on that.

Steve actually was the first CEO of a major competing telecom who was actually proud of his new antenna design.

Thank you Steve for your love, energy and humanity even though your moving sphere of reality was just your field of view as you helped others reach your place; and me and Vortis!

Dan is a father! He has the way of a father. Fathers who take responsibility are the real heroes; and those who go after the industrialist to build for the next seven generations.

Brenda Battat, former National Advisor for the Hard of Hearing who lifted Vortis to national leadership as she later became a presidential advisor.  Her history is even more amazing as she worked in communist China in the 70’s; helping them understand western culture.  What a hero she is and thank you Brenda.

Jyoti the spiritual leader of the International Counsel of 13 Grandmothers who travels the world teaching that the root of all religion isn’t war; it’s peace!  Imagine!  As far as QA is concerned, it’s a bit discerning to know there is a bias to stir up war; rather than end it.  It is a profound awakening to understand that those hired for Peace in the Middle East do realize they’ll lose their job if they succeed!

Steve Jobs helped accidently when he trumped industry.

Jim Phillips, Motorola’s former antenna designer loved the Vortis!  Thanks Jim; you have passed but you will be a part of Vortis History.

Steve also influenced an old friend who invented the embedded antenna and whom I worked with in 1999 when 20/20 News released the first major story on cell phone issue; as I was a Director in the first high-tech start-up.  OMG; danger?  Quoi?

Rob Hill, my partner and Chief Technical Officer was Steve Jobs’ distinguished iPhone Antenna Designer.    Rob is the inventor of the Embedded Antenna for cell phones and Apple’s innovative rim antenna designer.  The antenna worked well but the package failed to be integrated according to design rules and Apple learned to follow instructions next time.  I wonder who betrayed the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)?

It wasn’t betrayal that sent Steve Jobs clamoring to apologize upon being busted about the antenna issue but it’s amazing the politics surrounding Antennas. It was a management defect [correctable].

Rob’s been around high tech and without question; he agrees; “these guys know exactly what they wanted to do; from the beginning!  They make conscious choice.

When our world leaders stop, bend or break communications, you can bet there is a hidden agenda.  The BP Oil Spill was a QA Matter and unfortunately; who cared about QA?  Ask roughnecks about QA and you’ll likely get tossed out; but certainly not after the BP Crash and you should see the good things Halliburton Drilling Operations are doing to reliability and Quality Assurance as I worked with their group on new plans!

We are here to help the hard of hearing; not rake in big bucks or sell our souls to highest bidder.  When people betray partners; in QA, we search for the root—we get under the politics; into the hidden agenda and determine factually and evidentially; WTF!  Mistakes are costly but great educators.  Bad partners use mistakes against you.

Thankfully, most of Vortis Associates are honest, energetic and loving so all our projects rolled out well and showed much promise and new horizons.

So many other heroes are unsung.  I’d rather be ordinary.  My daughter Jaime Lee Johnsonquoted me in her college entry letter: “there are no extraordinary people, just ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”  We believe this!

I love, however being a scientist and when I see humans create bad things from quantum humanistic characteristics that go astray or awry, I like to help.  Continuous Improvement is that help!

I can see Joseph Campbell’ myth to reality process [or vice versa] as its kind of like the migration of moving from a free world state of being to one of religious wars and patriots who come to learn war is better than peace [for the arms sales]!

We are here to help the hard of hearing.

If we rake in big bucks it’s because we did it right from the start!

I have worked with too many people whose battle cry is “cut cost; cut back; stop waste, etc.”  In an organization where performance, quality, cost, service and capacity are equal players, the result of “cutting things” without understanding impact elsewhere is usually devastating for the customer and ultimately for the company.  I remember what Prop 13 real estate tax change did to California’s Services to its customers.

Creating Value is our goal; we do this by learning best practices which is achieved by open, honest, collaboration [see Wikipedia].  Go figure that our would’s only commodity nowadays is information.  Because of this, secrecy and betrayal is the way of the world!

I’d like to change this and help top managers understand that Quality Assurance, C-level Reliability Techniques and Process and Forensic reviews are good.  Be honest,  build your company on a holistically balanced approach!   How do you know? You’ll know when you are comfortable understanding that surprises are a sign of bad management.  If you ask about Quality Assurance and they look with headlight eyes; train em Daniel!

 

More on Vortis and Jim Johnson : The Hero’s Journey

 

 

 

Big Tech General Voices

Bedtime in Palo Alto at the Apple Store

Posted on September 17, 2014

As I took the pic, a homeless woman asked me: is someone spending the night here? What followed was a great conversation and here’s a shout out to Annette on University Ave and her one year of sobriety after 40 years.

And to Larry, for giving Apple his all in wait time – you and all the others bring some fun to the store. You can always find Larry camped out with an interesting group around him and some good conversation when Apple has a new product.