O.k. So I’ve gone through the process of adding the links to my “Networking” section, on the left side. I’ve signed up to 3 different sites and I’ve been playing with how they work and what can be done.

• Ecademy – Seems to be chalker block full of features and additions. You’ve got blogs and message boards, meetings and clubs but only if you can afford it. I’m still looking through it, but so far, nothing for the broke ( which is me ).
• LinkedIn – It’s a friendster for business. You can search profiles, groups, experiences, business industries, anything that the users put up. And another bonus, it’s free. I’m connected to 1 person so far, woohoo!
• MeetUp – This site’s purpose is a little different. Like LinkedIn, it’s free. They’ve got a small twist, its goal is to create physical networks. Sure they’ve got a message board but their strive is to make the face to face connections, which is scary but I think can be very beneficial. I’ve got my first meetup on Feb 10.

Ultimately like real networking, it’s something that takes time an patience, so one week isn’t going to get me huge results. I’ll check in from time to time to let you know how the network grows.

Well, I’m still looking for finding ways to extract event data. If you’ve got any suggestions or sites to read, send them my way. At the same time, I’m now working on building out the advertising portion of the database and UI. This of course is needed if I want to make money, and well…I do need money to make the business go.

Not only do companies have problems with translating things into foreign languages. But now slang is the problem too. Ha Ha, McDonalds! Takes their recent catch phrase “I’m lovin’ it!” to a whole new and disturbing level. Did I say Ha Ha?

It seems there was a mistake in a shipment of Doris Day DVD’s. The BBC reported, Sex movie mix-up shocks couple.

Now here’s the kicker.

The couple, regular attendees at their local Baptist church, settled down with a cup of tea to watch the 1957 musical… “My wife and I were very shocked but we watched it until the end because we couldn’t believe what we were seeing.”

When people are in shock they’ll watch just about anything! This was a mistake, but just turn the T.V. on and you’ll see this kind of stuff happening intentionally.

This past week my Company of Friends Group was discussing aspects and thoughts towards Networking. Stewart Marshall has learned some great lessons and shared them with us, and the conversations that ensued were interesting and eye opening for me.

The best aspect I took from our conversations was the misplaced negative stereo-type people have created over the years about networking. I’m not exactly sure how and when this happened but I know I had this idea until this conversation. the term “Networking” for me conjured images of fake smiles and fake hand shakes. Giving your card out to thousands of people and knowing only 1% might actually keep it. I found myself surprised that concepts and principles in networking are the exact same I use to make friends. It all comes down to meeting new people, however we’ve found that we can do that, use it.

So as a learning and growing project, and being an internet person, I’ve decided to start linking in through various networking sites and to give them a try. I’ll be adding the Networking sub-category to my Business Category, and as I learn about these sites and explore, I’ll definitely be keeping everyone in the loop.

Side Note:: This also keeps in line with this new concept of chaos theory. New People = Unexpected = Chaos.

…speeding cheetah? Here he comes to save the day!

Update: There was a link. I removed it because it was a 404 and not even Wayback Machine has it

I’ve seen a couple of instalments of The Hour and so far it’s a refreshing take to news. Previously, I stopped watching news or caring about news because quite frankly it sucks. All of it, the news; the people. Well, welcome George Stroumboulopoulos and welcome back caring about news! I love this new take. Congrats not just to George, but to the CBC for allowing this on the air. He started his interview “Hey Man, what’s happening”. Who does that?

I had intended on writing maybe a witty, and maybe and interesting post today. I wasn’t exactly sure as to what or how or why. No topic had come to mind. I woke up, relaxed and made my morning Postum. As I sat on my couch and started to drink I realized by butt was wet. Matter of fact, there was an odd smell. Oh crap! My cat had pissed on my couch yet again! I have been trying to figure out why he was doing it. I thought I was on the verge of figuring it out. It’s not his food, it’s not his water, it’s not his litter, it’s not the living room. It’s not anything! Oh, and I’ve tried everything to clean the stuff up with. I’ve tried all sorts of brands. Cleansers with chemical, enzymatic cleaners, natural cleaners. I still haven’t found anything. I found a reference somewhere to a new product which has a remote possibility to maybe get rid of the hidden smells we humans can’t pick up on. So with that minor chance of a whim, I’ve just had to order online. I’m starting to go mad. My friend vanessa say’s to get rid of the couch…i just spent $600 on the couch a couple of years ago. I’m not throwing it out. I tried to look how much it would cost for new cushions. Guess … no just guess. $80 each. That $160, I don’t have that money. Especially when I’ve quit my job to start this enterprise of my own.

Funny thing, is that just yesterday I was having a talk with my Dad about this my new lessons about the chaos theory. I’ve come to the conclusion that everything, regardless of whether I know it or not has a root cause. My Dad on the other hand believes that some things don’t have any reason. They just happen. So we debated on this for a little bit. In my new idea, to really fix a problem you need to know the root cause. If not, then you are just masking the problem. But what about moments like this where nothing is evident. You can’t figure out the root problem. Do you give up on trying to figure what the root is? We don’t always have the time to find the root cause. But I guess figuring out our own answers is part of the process. How we handle and learn from the unexpected is how we can define our success or failure.

The title of my post might be a bit confusing, but let me explain. I started this post with the hopes of creating an idea about how companies can really become a society. By becoming a city, there could be so many positives. But as I though and compared I noticed a potential comparison for another social order. For some it could be scary, and for others it might not be. But take a read and let me know your thoughts.

Are corporations the biggest cross border communists? There seems to be this social statement “booing” and shunning communism: Russia, Cuba, Iraq. So why is it that we allow corporations to act the same? Lets take a look at just one definition of communism.

A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

• defined on dictionary.com

“A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy…”

You look at a company and tell me it doesn’t do this. When a company opens, its basic design is to make money. To make money you need to control or at least plan to control you economic corner of the world, regardless of what corner that is.

And as an employee who’s not in the “government” or, should I say “management”, did you plan this control? Did you really have a say in it? Management can take your advice and suggestions but they are the real ones who are creating the plan, regardless of how you feel.

“…a single, often authoritarian party holds power…”

Who hires your CEO? Who hires the President of your company? Was there an election? If there was, then wow! Chance are, I’m thinking a small group or “party” made the decision. If not, it was just a single person who said “I am the President”. Even take a look at your management team. Did you put them there or was it their bosses? Power is an interesting conversation. Sure, some could argue that really the employees hold the power, but who do those people allow to use it? I’ve herd people who “had” to stay at the office late because of something their “boss” assigned them. People “having” to do a task which they don’t like. But still waking up in the morning and doing it. No one should have that kind of power. But it happens in corporate culture every day.

“…claiming to make progress toward a higher social order…”

There are lots of programs and incentives and tools that companies use to calm their masses. Improvement Teams, An annual review, 360 feedback, they are constantly coming up and devising new and “improved” methods for making the company “flow” better. Terms like “synergy” evolve and Managers and Directors grab onto it like a moth to a flame. Hoping to be able to use this term to maybe claim that they have a form of higher social order. After all, they have “synergy”. Companies need to constantly “claim” to be making improvement in how they “perform”. After all. The better a company performs is a reflection on how organized or ordered their society is…right?

“…which all goods are equally shared by the people.”

That should be amended by “proportionate to how valued your contribution”. Take a look at any dictator. They don’t live in a shack. This is really where the downfall of communism lies. Greed corrupts and eventually the dictator redefines this principle to base it off of who “contributes” better; who they “like” most.

But in the terms of companies, they down right define it at the onset. The value of your contribution is given a dollar amount. Managers or Directors make more because they have a more values contribution. In a sense this dollar value is your share into the “goods” of the company. How many people get Bonus, or Commission. Again, a defined principle to “share” with you the goods that you have help obtain.

Conclusion

Now, I’m sure there are gaps in logic, faults in analysis. But, before you approve or disapprove all I ask is that you look at the commonalities for a moment. This thought was a complete accident. Chances are it might have been a thought or theory introduced somewhere else, and if so, I haven’t read it. I was trying to form something else, something better, yet there it was. Staring me in the face and I had to admit, it’s an interesting thought.

What the ….?

Update: Regardless of the reason, I still stand with my original statement. What the…?

Update 2: Switched to the youtube version. No one has flash anymore.