Links for February 18th from 07:00 to 13:31

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on February 18, 2009). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Sometime between 07:00 and 13:31, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

  • Non-Hierarchical Management: "A better way to think of a manager is as a servant, like an editor or a personal assistant. Everyone wants to be effective; a manager's job is to do everything they can to make that happen. The ideal manager is someone everyone would want to have. ¶ Instead of the standard 'org chart' with a CEO at the top and employees growing down like roots, turn the whole thing upside down. Employees are at the top — they're the ones who actually get stuff done — and managers are underneath them, helping them to be more effective. (The CEO, who really does nothing, is of course at the bottom.)"
  • Irony for Me: The Trilogy Tomatometer: "Do you know how many hours are wasted amongst men and women determining the best movie in a trilogy? Trillions, that's how many." The Trilogy Tomatometer uses SCIENCE — and the Rotten Tomatoes movie review site — to determine the relative awsomeness of movie trilogies.
  • No Photo Ban in Subways, Yet an Arrest: "Twice in the last five years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed a ban on photography in the subways as an antiterrorism measure. And in 2007, the city proposed severe restrictions on filming in the city streets, but retreated when visual artists and activists gathered 26,000 signatures on petitions of opposition within a few weeks. ¶ Both times that the transportation authority tried to ban photography, it, too, dropped the idea because of opposition. Even so, people taking pictures in the subways are regularly stopped by the police and asked to let the officers see their images or to delete them. ¶ 'They don't have to do that, and it's completely unlawful to ask them to delete them,' said Chris Dunn, a lawyer with the New York Civil Liberties Union. 'But it comes with the explicit or implicit threat of arrest. It's a constant problem.'"
  • Facebook Backs Down on Privacy Terms: "Facing a federal complaint from a leading privacy advocacy organization and a revolt of tens of thousands of its users, Facebook on Tuesday night backed down from what many have seen as an onerous privacy policy. ¶ The policy had seemed to grant Facebook perpetual rights to users' uploaded content, and the threatened complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) had demanded, essentially, that the social-networking service return to its previous terms. ¶ Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post late Tuesday that the company had decided to do just that."
  • YouTube – the Simpsons – NEW Main Title: The Simpsons gets a new intro sequence — the first since it began, I believe — for its transition to HD.