What I hear you saying is...

All this hubbub and hand-wringing over Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! I feel like I'm missing the boat without a post. So here goes... But rather than malign Yahoo! over their past decisions and mistakes, I thought I'd take a different slant and offer some unsolicited advice to those masses that are about to either get laid-off or feel the need to jump ship voluntarily:

Don't move from one rut to another.

Hobson's choice: Join MSFT or walk the plank. Either way you've got a job search surfacing in the magic 8 ball. You know the pink-slips are coming, so you've already unearthed that moth-balled resume (Word '97 version) and started updating. You’ve tapped into your network to see what’s going on out there, and you’ve been cruising the job sites. You may have even contacted a recruiter or two to let them know you’re on the market. But have you thought about what you’re leaving and what you're looking for next? (I mean beyond the fact that you're about to get the axe?)

Maybe the culture ain't what it used to be... Maybe the idea of a company all-hands with Marquis d'Ballmer ranks with attending a satanic ritual... Maybe you just hate your boss... Not enough challenge? No room for advancement? Red-tape? Shitty pay? Perhaps all of these are true.

But now who are you interviewing with?

I’m going to bet that that (a) the companies that have a need for your skill-set are probably not that different from the company they’re trying to leave, and (b) your comfort zone doesn't stretch very far beyond what you've grown used to over the last N years.

So it’s probably natural that the allure of a fresh-break masks all the similarities of the former and future companies. But once you’ve joined, accepted, settled into the same 8 x 6 Herman-Miller cube, the honeymoon will wear off much faster than in your last gig. You’ll be cursing yourself when you find that you’re in the same place you were just a few weeks ago.

So do yourself a favor: Imagine the perfect job. Maybe it’s at another company or maybe it’s even working for yourself. What are the attributes that make this job great? Is it the camaraderie of your co-workers? The intensely challenging projects? The ridiculously lax schedule? The torrential rain of filthy lucre? An X-box for every employee? Free Red Bull and hot chicks? Locusts!? Write all of these down, and internalize them. At your next interview, make sure that your questions are crafted to reveal your future employer's true nature.

Is the company an ant-colony? Are folks fired up about what they are working on? Do they even use words like "folks"? Is the company technology-driven and are they still creating cool things? Or is it just a marquis name that had the life-force sucked out of it eons ago? Do you sense passion, or are the interviewers a bunch of stiffs? Can you drink beers with them? How many? Can you drop the F-bomb in casual conversation without having the walls bleed?

Bottom line: If you do not like the train you are on, don’t just switch seats. Get on a different train.

Interesting data today from Josh Kopelman's "Redeye VC" blog.

Back in November, Facebook launched their new SocialAds platform. Like many other folks, I decided to spend $50 to check out the platform [...] I decided to test Facebook's targeting mechanism by running targeted ads to employees of large Internet companies -- including Yahoo and Microsoft.

Nice. How did they perform?

The Yahoo ad received 21,291 impressions with only 64 clicks (CTR ~0.30%), while the Microsoft ad received 0 clicks with 1,058 impressions. (Errr... that's a CTR of 0.00%, Mr. Blutarsky)

Josh does not speculate why there were 20x the impressions for Y! ad vs. the MSFT. Perhaps a saturation of Valley folk in Facebook vs. Redmond?

Anyhow, he then he decided to run the ads again, after Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Y! The performance this time?

On the Yahoo side, there was a 260% increase in clickthrough rate -- from 0.3% to 0.86%. That is not surprising. But on the Microsoft side, I was really surprised. When I ran around 1,000 impressions before, the ad did not receive one click -- now the same advertisement received 15 clicks. Microsoft's clickthrough rate increased from 0% to 1.19%. Maybe it's not just Microsoft's shareholders who are unhappy.

Also interesting. Yes, perhaps not surprisingly there are more folks in the big houses that are thinking about jumping ship. But then the following conclusion:

As talent leaves the big Internet/technology companies, there will be a flood of experienced folks looking to join (or start) startup companies. And that's a flood I look forward to.

Hmm. A flood of folks, to be certain. But are these really the types that are likely to join -- let alone found -- start-ups?

I have one word for you: Brickhouse. And I'm not talking about the Commodores version -- I'm talking about Yahoo's.

Any company that needs to start a separate division to spark new product initiative is dead. It's an admission of failure. Elvis left the building eons ago.

I'm not saying that there aren't a lot of smart and talented people left at Yahoo, but the last 36 months have been a bonanza in funding and new ventures in the valley. Anyone that was interested in jumping from Y! or MSFT to a smaller initiative has already done so.

So while there may be a flood of 1000+ folks hitting the streets in the weeks or months to come, I'd be really surprised if a significant number of them end up joining or beginning new companies.

DVDs are something that I own very few of -- in fact maybe fewer than 10 titles. But this year as an early Valentine's day present, R gave me a set of the BBC Planet Earth series.

Whoa.

If you have even a scintilla of interest in nature documentaries, then add this to your Netflix queue today, or just buy it.

First, the photography is mind-numbingly beautiful -- as awesome as any still shots you might find in National Geographic, but obviously in motion (which is much harder to do). On my humble 27" Sony Wega it's gorgeous -- but it might inspire me to finally bump up to HD :-)

Second, even if you are not a photographer, their technique will have you constantly asking "how on earth did they shoot that?" To that end, each episode comes with a "diary" at the conclusion that chronicles some of the challenges (five straight weeks hiding in a tent in the jungle for just 15-seconds of footage of birds mating, scaling a *30-story* mountain of bat crap, crashing into Baobab trees with insane French baloonists). Amazing stuff. And if you have ever had aspirations to become a professional nature videographer, this will change your mind.

Third, the narrative is pure. For every "Bambi" moment, there is some gut-wrenching, raw facet of nature exposed that chafes our fragile empathy. Baby elephants wander off into the desert heat to die. Polar bears starve to death in plain site of food. Insects explode with invasive fungi. Not a show for young kids (ok Rich?)

Needless to say, this series is going in the permanent collection in Maison d'Williams

I feel almost guilty embedding this crappy youtube vid of the trailer, but if you imagine smearing vaseline in your eyes, standing outside on the street and then peering back into the darkness of your living room, it would probably look something like this:

Yahoo launched their Digg-clone "Buzz" today. You'd think that with an alleged 3-month window to success, they would be doing all they can to get some traction.

But if you go visit Yahoo's main news page, there's nary a mention of the new product. Not even a promotional banner. The only integration point I could find was at the bottom of each article (aka in the iconistan position). No ALT text or explanation. Just a link and graphic.

Based on the numbers on their top stories, it does seem to be getting some traction, but where is the love from the main news page? As they are the largest news site in the world, did they have pre-launch scalability jitters? Unlikely -- this is the Y!, not some fly-by-night alpha operational infrastructure.

I don't have visibility into Yahoo's org structure, but based on experience at other large Machines, I'd bet this is the result of fiefdom disputes between the Buzz and those in charge of news.yahoo.

I guess we'll find out in three months...

I hate the Sunday comics. I hate them so much that I actually relish the act of hating them. In the rare event that I buy a paper, they are the first item I toss (even before the circulars) after quickly scanning them with all the derision and scorn I can muster...

Who thinks these are funny?

The list of offenders is exhausting, but at the top are:

1. Family Circus
2. Cathy
3. Garfield

The utter banality and uselessness of these strips leaves my soul crying in anguish and despair.

So props to Edubya for finding this excellent (and often funny) tribute/exercise in which Garfield has been photoshopped out of each strip: "Garfield minus Garfield"

The result? John's puerile, vacuous drivel is miraculously transformed into gleeful spurts of nihilistic angst that leaves me cackling with a sense of unease that I've not felt since reading The Stranger.

Long live the existentialist aesthetic!

Errr....now, back to my meds...

Bonus: funny (and very raunchy) NSFW Fark photoshop thread for "Mary Worth"