Aaron Roe(bot) Fulkerson Open source entrepreneur and digital viking.
About Me
I am a founder and the Chief Executive Officer of MindTouch, a popular open source business application and collaboration platform used by millions. Read more.
Georgetown Dog Pile
September 13, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonI was in DC last week where I was attending a work related conference titled Gov 2.0 Summit. Before leaving home I asked Ashby, my daughter, to help mommy because Roesevelt, my son, was sick. Tara called me and told me she had been especially helpful and that Ashby had told her she was helping so much because “daddy asked me to help you because Roe is sick.” So cute. I had to pick her up something.
Before going to the airport to return home I stopped by Georgetown to buy Ashby something fun to reward her. I happened upon a shop lifter casually walking away from a shop keeper after apparently having stolen from his shop. The shop keeper attempted to stop her by insisting she stop as he followed her down the sidewalk while, I’m assuming, he hurriedly tried to reach the police on his mobile phone. She ignored his demands and continued her brisk stroll.
The shop keeper attempted to wrestle the stolen merchandise from the woman. A scuffle ensued that soon involved three women wrestling the unlucky shop keeper to the ground. It seemed they were all in cahoots. I only photographed two of the women wrestling the shopkeeper because the third actually left her one year old child, in the stroller, in the road. Albeit near the curb, but still in the road. Realizing where the kid was, sadly, kept me from photographing the dog pile on the hapless shop keeper as I was busy worrying that a car may hit the kid.
As for Ashby, she got two hair barrettes and an Obama tshirt. She says the Obama tshirt is a boy’s shirt and she is not fond of it. She is very girly.
Anyway, Georgetown is a beautiful part of the city.
“More Posts Please”
September 1, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonI know. I haven’t posted in a while. All is quite well. I leave you with this.
Dolphin Stampede
August 23, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonI have seen many many dolphins during the years l lived in the Florida Keys. Dolphins are always playful and social. They would tag along with us when I worked the crab trap line or fished the gulf stream. Moreover, whenever I visit my father’s place in Port Orange I always see a few in his back yard. He lives on the Halifax River, which is part of the Atlantic Waterway. In fact, I saw a few dolphins last week while I was at my dad’s. However, I have never seen anything like the stampede shown in this video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDiEXRMB-u8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
This video was shot in the Sea of Cortez between Isla la Guardia and Bajia de los Angeles. While fishing we ran through a pod of several hundred dolphins. This is part of what we saw.
I had no idea this kind of thing happened. Wow! So much for fishing….
Sad Robot
August 6, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonSteve has been on a two week vacation. The other day I was on a phone call at his desk. You see, the sales and marketing team has grown rapidly in the last 6 months and we are packed like cord wood in our side of the office. Whereas, the product team is in an expansive and windowed side of the office. Bastard devs.
In short, while Steve has been gone I’ve discovered Steve’s desk is far more comfortable than mine when I’m on calls. Also, I think I can smell him…LOL, just kidding. Digression aside. While on the phone I left Steve the following doodle:
It reads: “Steve is gone.
Come back from Iceland….” Doodle
July 15, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonDuring an interview today….
I drew a robot. I’m not sure what the interviewee thought about it, but I think it’s pretty good. Back to work….
Dyson is Awesome
June 27, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonWow. I’m so geeky. Check this out.
…inside the new Dyson DC31 vacuum cleaner is a motor that’s ten times faster than a jet engine, and much quieter. At 104,000 rpm, the DC31′s digital switched reluctance motor actually spins faster than any motor on earth.
Powering the device is the second-generation Dyson Digital Motor (DDM), which weighs just 139g and measures 55m in diameter. Compared to conventional motors, which use carbon brushes that spark to create the rotations, the DDM uses a a stator that creates a strong electromechanical field, which is then switched digitally using an on-board microprocessor. The motor never actually touches the rotors. The motor draws only 200 watts (about half the power needed for a typical vacuum motor), does not emit any carbon dust, won’t wear out as fast, and puts your high-end blender to shame.
Tara and I have hard wood floors through the entire house and only one room with carpet. Ashby’s room. Why do I want one of these? Tell me which is geekier: me reading Popsci, me thinking Dyson is a bad ass or me being really excited about a vacuum.
For more evidence of Dyson being awesome I submit to you his uphill flowing water fountain.
Wrok
April 30, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonWrok
- work related tools that affect disruptive improvements.
- to affect deeply; stun; move or sway powerfully, as with emotion; Wrok!
- to positively affect, shake or disturb violently the status quo of a work environment. MindTouch 2009 introduced a messaging bus that enables notification to users via email, microblogging and/or for messaging external systems. It wroks!
- to lull in security, instill hope, inspire, etc. GMail and Google Maps are applications that wrocked when they were first introduced, inspiring a new class of rich internet applications.
Chapel Hill After UNC Win
April 19, 2009 — Aaron FulkersonRoy shared this spectacular time-lapse video of Franklin Street (the main street in Chapel Hill) after UNC won the championship game.
Timelapse: Franklin Street after the victory from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.
Watching the bonfires flare up is pretty nifty.
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Keynes, He's Cool Again!
April 14, 2009 — Aaron Fulkerson
You know who I mean: John Maynard Keynes. He’s in vogue (again). Economists are like fashion, they have a thirty year cycle.Mukund misquoted Keynes on Twitter today. He wrote:
If you owe your bank manager a thousand pounds, you are at his mercy. If you owe him a million pounds, he is at your mercy.
I responded with:
By the transitive property, if the bank owes you billions of dollars it owns you.
The actual Keynes quote is:
If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.
As quoted in The Economist (13 February 1982), p. 11. Close enough. I think the transitive property can still be applied here. Obviously I’m referring to our government bailout of the banks. An FDIC intervention doesn’t sound so bad to me. Although, I’m not sure the FDIC could scale to the level required by Citi and Bank of America.
When confirming the quote I came across this unrelated Keynes quote I find especially agreeable:
Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.
Right on.
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I am Oliver Young
January 21, 2009 — Aaron Fulkerson
Oliver Young is the Forester researcher for Web 2.0. I saw his avatar and it struck me: I don’t have a suit like that. I would look great in that suit. As you can see, I was correct.
UPDATE: Michael Silva progresses the meme.
Big Three Automakers
January 18, 2009 — Aaron Fulkerson
You probably thought it was smart to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: we spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you’re out $25 billion, plus the cost of your subaru. Maybe next time you’ll buy American like a real man. Either way, we’re cool.
We’re the big three. We don’t need to compete
(via adfreak and you might want to check out lawrence lessig’s rant on bailouts)
Personally, I drive a Honda. In fact, other than a couple K cars acquired for under $300 each and a Jeep Cherokee I bought for a song all of my cars have been from other than “American manufacturers”. I put that in quotes because my Honda and previous Toyotas I’ve owned were manufactured in the United States. Not that this matters a great deal to me. I buy Honda and Toyota because these are better products; as such, these consistently require less maintenance and maintain a significantly higher resell value.
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He knows when you’ve been bad or good…
December 25, 2008 — Aaron Fulkerson…so be good for goodness sake, ooohhh!
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