Frustrated at California’s woes, voters are sharply pessimistic about whether the next governor will be able to move the state in the right direction, and most believe California is in the midst of a long-term decline, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows. Against that grim backdrop, next year’s political contests loom as potentially volatile, but Democrats start out holding the upper hand, the poll found. President Obama retains his popularity in a state that gave him a landslide victory one year ago, with 60% approving of his tenure as president. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican struggling in the last year of his term, won the support of only a third of voters.

California’s best years have passed, voters say — latimes.com

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Tags: Los Angeles Times California Comments | | Nov 8, 2009
The younger man, a U.S.-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, spoke to his uncle of ethnic taunts by Army colleagues. A sensitive man, he was haunted by the wartime disabilities of soldiers he treated as an Army psychiatrist, Hamad recalled, and was overwhelmed by a growing caseload he felt unable to manage. Fort Hood shooting suspect endured ‘big pressure,’ uncle says — latimes.com
Tags: fort hood Comments | | Nov 8, 2009
Not only do I notice more fabulous, but it sure seems as though the creators of it are more engaged, dedicated and yes, joyful, than I can remember. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do work that matters, this is it. You can’t say, “but I need to make a fortune instead,” because that’s not happening right now. So you might as well join the people who can say, “I love doing this. Seth Godin on being fabulous
Tags: seth godin passion fabulous 2 notes | Comments | | Nov 8, 2009
Arguably the most buzzed-about rapper to emerge out of the blogosphere’s tower of babble, he’s acutely aware that to achieve commercial success outside of the Internet bubble, he needs a radio hit. But as he readily admits, “I’m not a radio artist yet.” So in a bid to earn visibility, he collaborated with Lady Gaga and Gucci Mane for his first two singles, alienating many of the purists in his vociferous fan base. Compounding the disappointment was that neither cut caught fire, though the Gaga-aided “Chillin” has nearly gone gold. Moreover, “Attention Deficit” is riddled with commercial compromises that were absent on the free giveaways he made his name on: the outstanding “100 Miles and Running” and the “The Mixtape About Nothing,” a “Seinfeld”-themed opus that shifted people’s paradigm of what to expect from a mix tape. But in spite of the myriad hoops that the corporate brass forced him to jump through, Wale has delivered the strongest debut yet of XXL’s much ballyhooed Freshman 10 class (Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, et al), one that augurs well for a lengthy and successful career. (via Wale watch: The D.C. rapper on the blog age, Twitter and his debut album ‘Attention Deficit’ | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times)

Arguably the most buzzed-about rapper to emerge out of the blogosphere’s tower of babble, he’s acutely aware that to achieve commercial success outside of the Internet bubble, he needs a radio hit. But as he readily admits, “I’m not a radio artist yet.” So in a bid to earn visibility, he collaborated with Lady Gaga and Gucci Mane for his first two singles, alienating many of the purists in his vociferous fan base.

Compounding the disappointment was that neither cut caught fire, though the Gaga-aided “Chillin” has nearly gone gold. Moreover, “Attention Deficit” is riddled with commercial compromises that were absent on the free giveaways he made his name on: the outstanding “100 Miles and Running” and the “The Mixtape About Nothing,” a “Seinfeld”-themed opus that shifted people’s paradigm of what to expect from a mix tape. But in spite of the myriad hoops that the corporate brass forced him to jump through, Wale has delivered the strongest debut yet of XXL’s much ballyhooed Freshman 10 class (Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, et al), one that augurs well for a lengthy and successful career.

(via Wale watch: The D.C. rapper on the blog age, Twitter and his debut album ‘Attention Deficit’ | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times)

Tags: pop & hiss wale hip hop Comments | | Nov 7, 2009
A Holistic Approach to Teaching

BASICS are the beginning.

REPEAT yourself often.

AVOID creating desperation.

INSPIRE with examples.

NEVER forget to repeat yourself.

—John Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity.

and I’d add that this is a good approach to business communication, overall. — misterjt

Tags: Product Management john maeda the laws of simplicity teaching communication Comments | | Nov 7, 2009
Reducing a five-minute task to one minute is the raison d’etre of operations management, the field that has brought us a world that never sleeps and is always on time. John Maeda in The Laws of Simplicity (and making me wonder what the heck I’ve gotten myself into in my new position) :-)
1 note | Comments | | Nov 7, 2009

Drunken Ewoks fight & molest Al Roker on Today Show (via theessentialsofcool)

Saw this on The Soup. It might make me switch back from GMA to the Today show. — misterjt
Cite Arrow reblogged from theessentialsofcool
Tags: today show halloween star wars ewoks al roker inappropriate 1 note | Comments | | Nov 7, 2009
As the world gets closer to the COP15 Climate Change conference, it’s important to look at from where the emissions around the world are coming. In the last year, some countries have started to clean up their act, while other countries continue to pump out carbon dioxide. Our latest Transparency is a look at the five highest emitters in each region of the world as of 2007 and whether they have increased or decreased both their total emissions in the from 2006 to 2007 and their ranking on the list of biggest emitters. (via Transparency: The Change in Carbon Emissions | GOOD)

As the world gets closer to the COP15 Climate Change conference, it’s important to look at from where the emissions around the world are coming. In the last year, some countries have started to clean up their act, while other countries continue to pump out carbon dioxide. Our latest Transparency is a look at the five highest emitters in each region of the world as of 2007 and whether they have increased or decreased both their total emissions in the from 2006 to 2007 and their ranking on the list of biggest emitters.

(via Transparency: The Change in Carbon Emissions | GOOD)

Tags: good carbon green environment Comments | | Nov 7, 2009
comic sans pudding pop (via Rakka)

comic sans pudding pop (via Rakka)

1 note | Comments | | Nov 7, 2009
i feel compassion for the simpleton (via Rakka)

i feel compassion for the simpleton (via Rakka)

2 notes | Comments | | Nov 7, 2009