Hackworth: Desert One, a Watershed Event

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David Hackworth:

April 24 and 25 marked the 25th anniversary of “Operation Eagle Claw,” Jimmy Carter’s ill-fated attempt to salvage his presidency by rescuing 53 Americans held hostage in Tehran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It’s also the date of one of the U.S. military’s worst self-inflicted public humiliations.

By the time the joint mission was canceled, eight American warriors – five from the Air Force, three from the Marines – had been killed, and dozens were wounded.

Hackworth also discloses the apparent “real” reason the mission was aborted.

Rutherford County, TN: Fastest growth in jobs

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Kasey Wehrum:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its figures for the fastest-growing large counties in terms of job growth last week, and Rutherford County, Tennessee came in on top at 9.2 percent.

Small businesses’ hiring habits played no small role in the number of jobs created and lost, according to Brian Headd, economist at the Small Business Administration.

“”hen a large company lays off thousands of employees it is national news, but in fact, the rise and fall of small businesses has a much greater effect on job growth than most people realize,” said Headd.

Madison Center of Wired World?

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Andrew Wallmeyer argues that “Madison-area consumers have a ringside seat” to telco battles between cable, phone and internet firms. Is this true? I think not. Here’s why:

  • Madison lacks wifi at the airport – lagging other communities who have had this for years.
  • There is no production fiber to the home or premise happening here.
  • Currently available “broadband” services (Charter cable, SBC DSL and TDS DSL) substantially lag those available in Japan & Korea, in terms of performance and cost.

I have quite a few links on broadband – click to check them out.
I think Wallmeyer should revisit this with a comparison of services available elsewhere – in the US and around the world. Fiber is coming to the home, in a few places, just not Madison. WiFi is widely available in some communities now, just not generally here. We’re behind, it’s as simple as that.

UPDATE: Japan’s NTT is now offering 100mpbs to the home for Y4,700/month ($45)…. We’re further behind….

More than 90% of Corporate Spreadsheets Have Material Errors in Them

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Philip Howard:

At the highest level (at least), spreadsheets should be treated as a corporate resource. For example, if you use spreadsheets for planning then you need to do everything you can to eliminate the possibility of error. And what do you do with corporate resources? You give them to the IT department which can implement proper testing and control procedures.

The real problem, of course, is that business managers don’t know that there is a problem (actually, lots of problems) with spreadsheets, while IT regards spreadsheets as falling outside its jurisdiction. So spreadsheet management falls down a hole in the middle.

Alliant Energy’s Erroll Davis on Humility in the NYT

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as told to Eve Tahmincioglu:

Enron made me very angry. We are all paying a tremendous price for the screw-up.

These are powerful positions we executives hold. I have $8 billion at my disposal. We don’t have that many checks and balances on us. You can lose perspective and start to think you’re royalty. I think of these guys with their $10,000 shower curtains and I say to myself: “I could understand how they could do that.” But I also understand why you shouldn’t.

If you lose track of where you came from – and surprisingly, a lot of these people came from humble beginnings – you lose track of your moral compass, what work means to the average employee.

Davis’s Wisconsin based Alliant Energy has been in some hot water over investments in Brazil and a Mexican resort. Interesting to see this in the NY Times. I wonder if this piece was “placed” by a pr firm?