Disqus - Latest Comments for adamclyde

Re: Smarter finance.

adamclyde — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:05:12 -0000

I'm glad you noticed the Smarter Planet efforts from IBM. I'm involved in that work at IBM (I do a lot of the blogging work on the Smarter Planet blog you referenced above). I appreciate your comments and agree... we still have a ways to go to improve the 2-way dialogue. But we are getting there.

With regard to the specific issue on Smarter Financial Services... there's a lot of work going on that we are excited to talk about... we just need to get to that. We've been really focused on talking about the smarter cities, healthcare and energy/Smart Grid work. But there's a lot of great work going on to really understand how to work with the financial services industry to embed better intelligence throughout the system - to fundamentally change the way risk is understood and managed. This goes far beyond just IBM, obviously. But we hope we can play a role in improving the systems so we can avoid the kinds of massive, systemic turmoil we are seeing today. I'd love to hear more of your ideas on how we - as a society, not just IBM - can make progress on this front. Looking forward to more of a discussion on all of this. Feel free to check us out there on that blog, on twitter at @smarterplanet or anywhere else. Cheers - Adam

Re: Lost Pearblossom Highway

adamclyde — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:48:01 -0000

Excellent post...

Aside from the inherent cultural issue at play, which you outline, in Southern California, the biggest enemies to widespread commuter rail adoption are the dual problems of commercial sprawl and residential sprawl. No one I know actually works in downtown LA. So until there is a spider-web system of light rail, most people will continue as they do now because, as you suggest, there isn't any choice (driving to catch a train, then catching a bus, then walking or catching a taxi to the office isn't a choice for most people).

But until that spider system of light rail is built, I wonder how much of a change could be brought about by providing some significant incentives to businesses to put their offices in walking proximity to rail lines? Perhaps this system exists already, but it would seem to help counter the tendency to move farther and farther from the few centers of business that are currently served by rail.

That only solves for the commercial sprawl part of the equation - not the residential side, which is also a major problem. (ahh... the wonderful half century of suburban planning at work).

This also reminds me of the great prototypes at the MIT Media Lab on the Smart Cities work. I love the model they put forth. (look here: http://cities.media.mit.edu/ and click mobility and CityCar). Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they've got the full presentation up there that shows what a system like that would look like in suburbia, but it's really provocative. Frankly, it's probably further out than building rail in terms of likely adoption by municipal government, but it's really forward thinking.

Anyhow, great post laying out the current and historical issues...

Re: California Oil

adamclyde — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:01:51 -0000

Growing up in Southern California I was always curious about the oil fields we'd always pass in Huntington Beach. I always thought they were oddly out of place... seeing fields of small oil rigs just a block from some of the beautiful beaches in Huntington Beach. Since they predated me by many decades, they held a certain level of charm, I guess.

Over the past 15 years, they've been largely replaced by residential real estate as that market has, apparently, become much more valuable than oil production. I guess it's not surprising given the premium location, but were those fields still productive? Or did they lose production before they started to transition to real estate.

If they were still productive, and in light of depressed housing prices in California, I wonder at what oil-per-barrel-price the transition from oil production to real estate becomes a poorly made choice. As you've pointed out, oil won't stay at $50/barrel previously. If it rides at $200 again, and if there was still oil to be extracted there in Huntington beach, I wonder if they will lament that they got rid of the fields in the first place.

(though I have no idea who profited from the oil... the city? state?)

Re: louisgray.com: The LDS/Facebook Rumor Didn't Pass the Common Sense Test

adamclyde — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:14:32 -0000

Louis - wow. I mean wow. I hadn't heard that one yet. I'm glad you brought it to my attention - no doubt I'm going to get lots of questions at work tomorrow (BYU grad, etc. here). So this is a good heads up.

If folks are interested in understanding the family history designs of the Church, it's worth taking a look at familysearch.org. People will see the existing resources available to the public and see that the unstructured nature of random relationships in Facebook really isn't related to anything the Church is interested in.

That said, there could be some interesting value in more people using facebook or other social networks to connect with distant relatives who are also doing research on the same family lines. What if you had facebook "fan" pages for some prominent 19th century relative. It could be used as a place to coordinate and share research among distant relatives.

OK, now I'm just riffing on a tangent. Nice post. Thanks.

Re: Micro-blogging meetup in September? (Scripting News)

adamclyde — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:12:50 -0000

Great idea. If you decide to choose NYC I'd love it! Spread the love East, I say. (though, understand that the chances of it actually happening out here in the East would be slim... here's hoping).

regardless, great idea...