Maybe a recession is good for Entrepreneurs

Just browsing an article from Don Dodge – the next big thing. He writes a compelling article in a time of economic gloom and doom. It is an interesting read for anyone who wants to start a new business or enhance an industry. Give it a read it by clicking here

I cannot believe that Connecticut HAD to allow gay marriages to be legal. That is simply ridiculous.

Just simply STUPID… I ASK WHY?

Well, I sat down this morning and made a cup of coffee (NOT FAIR TRADE) and read my weekend NY Times.  In it their was an article my Robert McFAdden (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/nyregion/11marriage.html?scp=2&sq=gay%20marriage&st=cse), I thought to myself – THIS is insane…Why?  Still making it legal….UGH

Now this is going to piss people off if they do not keep reading.   Most readers are saying (those who do not really know me):
1. “&#*(#$ Big Daddy is a misogynistic ass.
2. Dumb back-ass homophobic cracker should go back to the middle century (although it was probably accepted then).
3. Stupid Republican, Conservative, Straight Arrow.

Although the ones that do know me understand that it simply pisses me off that in this day and age the government has to tell me what is legally considered love.  Moreover, we as a population actually put up with this SHIT.  They can tell me who I can legally share my life with?  They can tell me how and what I do in private?  They can tell me what 2 consenting adults can do? They can tell me how I legally income split? (ha ha ..had to slip that in).  Simply ridiculous that this is still and issue and that it is news and  common sense still does not prevail…..What is next?  What can I legally eat?  What can i legally watch (oh they do that), What can I legally listen to (they do that too).

Hey, do not get me wrong, I am no right-wing conservative, but I do believe in small government. Why?  Well the government has been doing such a stellar job with:
 

1. HealthCare
2. Globalization (Whatever that means)
3. War 
4. Financial Bailouts……(Lets see how that turns out….) 

Guys, feel free to add to the above short list. 

Just a little rant…

Daddy Big.

Does Anyone have a Land-Line Anymore – God whispers to me?

Riggs 2.0 introduced me to an extremely talented writer in San Francisco, Mark Morford. I try and read his Blog entries 1-2 times per month.    His latest entry is about the death of the land-line.  From his latest blog:

 

“My mental gyrations are, of course, irrelevant. There is no real justification for the cost of two phone numbers and multiple handsets anymore. The next wave is here. Wireless is the new e-mail. Which was the new fax. Which was the new teletype. Which was the new snail mail. Which was the new Morse code. Which was the new Pony Express. Which was the new cave drawing. Which was the new voice of God in your prehistoric head. Which really isn’t all that different than a call on a Bluetooth headset. 

 

I suggest you check out
 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/08/13/notes081308.DTL

Is Your Lunch Rated Sigma Six – Get a Dabbawala Service

At 19,373 persons per km², Mumbai is India’s most densely populated city with a huge flow of  traffic. Because of this, lengthy commutes to workplaces are common, with many workers traveling by train.

Instead of going home for lunch or paying for a meal in at a restaurant, many office workers have a cooked meal sent by a caterer who delivers it to them as well, essentially cooking and delivering the meal in lunch boxes and then having the lunch boxes collected and re-sent the next day. This is usually done for a monthly fee. The meal is cooked in the morning and sent in lunch boxes carried by dabbawalas, who have a complex association and hierarchy across the city.  The dabbawalas transport the food via rail and at each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses.

Some Stats

More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunch boxes get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries, statistically equivalent to a  Six Sigma (99.9999) rating.  How NUTS IS THAT!!

WHERE CAN DABBAWALA’s HELP US (Here is my list, send me yours:

Here is list of areas that can be imporved by the use of Dabbawalas.

• Replace Air Traffic Control by Dabbawalas
• Replace All government benefit program employees by Dabbawalas
• Replace Post Office Workers by Dabbawalas
• Replace any software development team by Dabbawalas
• Replace Revenue Canada with Dabbawalas
• Replace the govenrment with Dabbawalas

Check out their site at http://www.mydabbawala.com/

I am Victim….A Victim of Cool Kids

About 2 weeks ago I was on the telephone with a very close, smart, logical, reasonable and good friend.  You see both he and I are BIG gadget freaks. The smaller, the useless, the better.

The release of the iPhone in Canada got us all excited.  Oooooooh cool interface….fun finger things.  We are both avid Crackberry users.  My banana fingers can type up a storm on that little RIM interface.  BUT..i wanted a the new cool, in, designer iPhone.  

My good friend says – “Way the Pros and Cons, and make the right decision”.  So I did:

CONS to iPhone vs. Blackberry

• Weak telephone radio (phone does not work as well)
• Weak typing interface (email does not work as well)
• Weak Exchange Integration (calendar does not work as well)
• Weak Battery Life (device does not work as well)
   

PROS to iPhone vs. Blackberry 

• All the cool kids have them
   

Well as a educated, entrepreneurial, logical adult I did the right thing.  I went out and bought the 16GB white 3G iPhone.  I am now typing this BLOG waiting for the battery to recharge….But it sure looks nice.  

NOTE: You may ask why the white iPhone.  Well, everyone has the black one!! 

Bishop Al Green – Now that’s All About the Music

I used to love going to live concerts. My brother Mark was quite the influence on me for that.  Thanks Bro!  However, as I grew older I started to stay away.  Maybe it was because of the crowds, the rushing, potential waste of time or even disappointment. Me a “Fuddy Duddy”, I have been called worse. Well, an old friend has been touring with Al Green and invited me and some friends to the show for the Montreal Jazz Festival at Place Des Arts. I did gladly accept the invitation but really was NOT excited.  It was a rainy Saturday and I did not want to rush to get downtown for the show.  Moreover, I really could not say I could name more than 5 Al Green’s songs.  

Well thankfully I did go.  What a show I have not gotten so much energy from one single person in my life. The show flew by.  Now those who know me, know that I DO NOT DANCE.  Well yesterday was the exception.  I was standing and dancing the entire time.  It was true Magic.  

Now I know you all read my earlier posts about people saying that it is “ALL ABOUT the MUSIC.  Well this was ALL ABOUT THE MAN, THE BAND, THE MUSIC.  

Did I learn anything from this concert?  Love, Spirituality, Positive Energy?  HELL NO!!!  What I did learn is sometimes you need not to be such a FUDDY DUDDY and get your lazy ass out!!.

 Thanks FUNT…TBone..Star.

Hip Hop Acamdemics……Come Come Now…Sugarhill Gang = Spice Girls

Last night on the CBC, there was a so-called “Hip-Hop Academic” talking about Real Hip Hop and Rap.  He gave us the typicall VH1 historical run down (Kool Herc, PE, Gangsta Rap, Blah Blah Blah).  This guy actually teaches HIP HOP at some University in the US.  I am sure those parents are reeally excited about the $50,000 per year tuition. 

Anyway, he went on to talk about how the SugarHill Gang repreented real street HIP-HOP.  I almost fell over laughing.  He mentioned how “street and gritty” they were. 

Come Come Come Now.   Everyone who has been listening to rap for more than Puff Daddy’s name changes can tell you that the Sugar Hill Gang was a novelty act. 

The group was created to profit on a supposed novelty item. New Jersey-based producer and  record label owner Sylvia Robinson had become aware of the  hip-hop parties occurring in and around the New York City area during the late ’70s, so she gathered three locals from her town of Englewood New Jersey (not even New York) : Guy O’Brien, who was the original Master Gee; another local rapper, Michael Wright, who called himself Wonder Mic, and non-rapper Big Bank Hank. The vocalists were then teamed up with three session musicians, including future Living Colour Bassist, Doug Winbish.  Together, they recorded all of the Sugarhill Gang’s work.

So in essence, Sylvie can be compared to that idiot Simon (American Idol, Spice Girls) and the Sugar Hill Gang can be compared to the Spice Girls. 

Wow…what History….People should really want a lesson:

1. NY77 – Disco Fever Days
2. Any Kool Herc documentary
3. Hell even Beat Street (another hollywood-esque item) or Wild Style

Stale I am…Green Eggs and Ham – Daddy’s is Done afterhours(ing)

Well I never really did that so….i guess the top should read “WTF am I doing here with these drug induced misfits”.  Lets give you a run-down.  I promised a close friend that I would go to an after hours this Saturday.  Her plan was that we should sleep and get up at 3:00AMish.  Ok…already it sounds…well STUPID!!

 Of course I could not sleep. So i waited till 2:45 and took a shower.  HA..like that would make a difference when I get to the club.

I get to the club and there are not 1 line, but 4 lines to get in.  (1 for the list, 1 for the ticket holders, 1 for the “i should be on the list” list, and 1 for the idiots).  I was kinda hoping that i was not on a list so that i could just go back home.  Oh well….my friend…she had pull.

Now we proceed up stairs to the coat check where they need to know my initials to check my coat. What is this Starbucks?

Now here is the best, the security check.  It was like a cross between Nazi Germany and going through TSA at any airport.  Empty your pockets, open your mouth, and let us look through your wallet.  This was so funny, i almost plotzed.  Now the security guys are great at looking for K, X, MDMA, ABC, 123…BUT weapons….I guess that is not a problem.  I could have brought a M16 into this place.  But I guess the fun-loving music lovers aren’t violent……..it is all about the music….LOL

 Now here is the kicker #2.  a bunch of 20-somethings that are wearing no clothes whatsoever sweating like  Hookers in Church.  Now I am sure there were hookers there, but this is no church!!!!  Everyone walking into the bathroom to embibe in the K,X,MDMA, ABC and 123s.  

Everyone says “it is all about the music” but they cannot dance without the K,X,MDMA,ABC and 123s.  All about the music …… my ass!!!

then there was the ridiculously funny french canadian hip hop video clothes wearing drug dealers.  I guess wear a lot of clothes, look like a mumbling idiot, get a NY (Jets, Yanks, Giants, Nicks, etc) fitted base-ball hat and you are a bonafide after hours dealer…that would get put down dealing in any urban area or just plained old laughed at ….Busters. 

Well, my friend proceeded to dance, i had some pupil dialated female said that she has not seen me in years and proceeded to babbling on how much fun we used to have.  I never met this person before….Well, I lasted about 1.5 hours and escaped around 4:50AM.  

To end, I was actually at the opening of this club about 10 years ago.  Guess What?  It looks exactly as it did then, the walls, the people, the music.  The only difference is that i used to be one of those people…not anymore  DADDY’s IS DONE AFTERHOURSING.

Awwww…Not Happy that you travel 1 hour to get to work?

Just got back from my trip to Tanzania with my brother and nephew.  An eye-opening experience, to say the least.  Besides the landscapes, the people, the wildlife and the hospitality, the area just puts things into perspective.  I find that we (yes me included) really complain about things that we think are important like:

• I have to travel 1 hour to get to work.
• My boss (my employees) are driving me crazy
• Movie prices are too expensive
• The roads in Montreal suck
• The weather sucks
• blah blah blah

Well here are some things to consider about areas like Tanzania:

•  Infant mortality rate is 6.8% of live births.
• 19.3% of all children are underweight and 31% are stunted.
• 42% of the population has HIV/AIDS
• Children walk 1-2 hours to attend a school that looks like it belongs in the middle ages.
• Female Castration is widely practiced (to children).
• Tuberculosis and  emphysema among children is very high because the living room, bedroom and kitchen are all in a size of your corner office.  By the way, some cook with coal and wood.  Does not work well with lungs.

So why am I telling you this.  To depress?  Nope!  Because with all these issues, the people still smile and are still happy.  I have never been greeted “Hello and Welcome” so many times in my life.  Really eye-opening.  Health Partners International is a great organization.  They get the medicine (anti-viral et al) to the people who CAN help. If anyone wants more information on how to help do not hesitate to ping me.

  

What is your Perception of Daddy Big?

I recently told a very old friend of mine that I am going to Tanzania with my brother and nephew.  I continued to tell him that we were bringing some needed medicine to a local hospital and helping in the building of a kindergarten.  At that point he said the following “No way!, what is the catch?”  and “There must be some sort of business write-off” “Daddy Big cares about others?”.  Now I know this guy for over 20 years.  However, a find a lot of people have the same thoughts…I think.    I was not really upset about the questions, just a bit taken by surprise.  Am I that devious and opportunistic?  Is there always a financial motive behind my actions? I hope not.Anyway, I need to finish my packing.  I need to find an extra second suitcase.  Need to bring back all those Blood Diamonds.  I heard I can make a killing.  Do not want to disappoint the masses.