After Irene

An interesting little tour of Hoboken, NJ the day Hurricane Irene left.

Hoboken Update II

Hoboken 411 posted a few daylight photos of Hoboken as well as some from HobokenPatch. I'm hearing that the east side of Hoboken is doing relatively well, but some points on the west side of the city has up to 5 feet of water.

Update: Here are a few more photos from HobokenPatch.

Hoboken Update I

There's not much to do remotely but scan the Web for updates and useful links.

I've already started collecting useful Twitter feeds for updates on the conditions in Hoboken (@rob_daly/hoboken-news).

So far it sounds like massive flooding, which has lead the city to evacuate the local Wallace School shelter and transport people to the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ late last night.

Everything else seems to be understandably anecdotal when it comes to power outages and flood levels. As of approximately 6 am power utility PSG&E estimates that 213,000 customers are without power in the company's territory.

Just a few minutes ago, the city reported local flooding sites. They appear to be the usual suspects.

Okay, Irene

I spent this morning packing the car, picking up my sibling and heading to the family homestead. It looks to be a good call since the mayor of Hoboken has officially ordered a mandatory evacuation of all first floor units in the city. Now, it's waiting and watching the Weather Channel and one of the local webcams.

For everyone who decided to stay put and ride it out, good luck and God bless.

Irene, Really?

I’m really torn on the entire Hurricane Irene coverage that I’ve been seeing on television and online. Ever since Los Angeles traffic officials hyped the July weekend closing of the 405 Freeway as “Carmegedon” in order to keep people off the highway, I’m having a hard time digesting all of the hurricane hype surrounding Irene and the tri-state area.

I can see it from a municipality's view: They simply do not have the budget to deal with hurricane damages as they previously did and fear is a wonder motivator to get your citizens to do what you want them to do. But once you know that governments cry “wolf” one too many times, it is hard to totally trust them.

No, I don’t want to become another accident statistic. I’m probably packing a bag tonight in case I have to spend some time away from home because of the weather. Yet, I remember other Category 1 storms hitting the region in years past and you saw people in the Hoboken bars and restaurants.

Just my $0.02.

If I am horribly horribly wrong, please make sure that my nephew gets my comic book collection.

Reducing Latency via UX Design

Earlier this month, we launched a new series of audiocasts over at Sell-Side Technology, dubbed Financial Tech Talk. It's been a fun learning how to produce and host these online conversations with industry insiders about the IT issues facing the investment banking community.

This week, we posted a 30-minute conversation with visual data interface designer Brad Paley on how to firms can convey far more visual data and reduce "human latency" by implement elements of psycholinguistics in their user experience (UX) design. We will be posting additional audiocasts as the weeks go by, so please check back.

"Not in front of the American"

I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon catching a viewing of The Guard. I have only seen Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles up until now like Ken the experienced hit man in the 2008 In Bruges and Mad-Eye Moody in the various Harry Potter movies. It is good to know that he can carry a leading role. In the film he plays a very independently thinking Connemara police sergeant who winds up in a middle of a multinational drug deal occurring his quiet community in the west of Ireland. Don Cheadle plays an FBI officer sent to help capture the drug dealers and is a great "fish out of water" straight man for Gleeson's Irish wit. If you are looking for a film reflecting a cosmopolitan 21st Century Ireland, this is not for you. But if you are into clever non-PC banter delivered fluidly, check out the movie.

Pillage N the Village Bed Race Regatta

Palmyra, NY hosted its fourth annual Pillage N the Village Bed Race Regatta this weekend. For those are not familiar with bed races, it involves a 5-person team, who ideally should be four bob-sledders in training and a jockey.  Teams modify bedframes by adding wheels and push bars as well as decorating it accordingly (presentation always counts). The race is pretty simple: The jockeys ride their respective beds while their teammates push the beds at breakneck speed to the mid-point of the race route where they have to stop. The jockeys jump off their beds, run to a bucket, put on a pair of pajamas and race back to their beds. Then the team races to the finish line.

Jackassery Costs Dear

The key paragraph from S&P's downgrade note:

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year's wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements,the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.

Death of the 5-Year IT Plan?

Is the pace of technological innovation preventing companies from making long-term IT investment plans? Yes, it's basically Alvin  Toffler's FutureShock thesis applied to IT planning and my column for the August issue of Waters.