Quick Hits

A lot of quick hitting items for me this week, so I’m going to eschew the normal format and just get into them…

--  Great Tweet of a link from John Wheaton (who is a must follow on Twitter- @JohnLWheaton1) about the decision in California to grant land to LinkedIn over Google.  I don’t think Google loses many battles, so this is truly an interesting one.   Google was planning an intense new global HQ (which I wonder now if they will redesign to try and match or top Apple) and now without the land they’ll be going to plan b. 

--  Tremendous feedback from my piece last week on the renovation needs by 2030.  Thank you to all.  It will be an issue to continue to monitor and we as an industry need to support any and all efforts to be involved in the process.

--  I ran into a computer magazine from 1977 that had a great story in it… it was an article on how computerized statements will be a key to getting paid faster.  I have to laugh since I don’t think that ever made a dent in the pay process, and even now, with electronic statements, those who want to pay quick do… and those who don’t or can’t… won’t.

--  The NFL was in hot water yet again, but this story did not get the same amount of attention as “Deflategate” did.  The story is how the NFL takes millions of dollars from the armed forces for advertising, but they try and play it off with “honoring the troops” during pre game and halftime.  It’s very disingenuous.  If you want to take money to promote signing up for the National Guard or Army etc. that’s fine.  But honoring of any troop should be free and done with respect, not because it’s a sponsor. 

--  Hiring is always a crucial need and one thing that came up this past week was that with the shortage of skilled employees some companies are just hiring any warm body they can.  That is a dangerous approach as sometimes it’s really better to let the job go unfilled than to hire someone who could cause major harm.  And in an industry where the primary product is pretty dangerous when not handled correctly, that’s even a bigger reason why it’s better to be focused on the hires you make.

--  I made the extremely quick visit to AIA.  Did not get to all I wanted to, but still good to see who I did.  Reaction on the floor traffic was mixed; some folks were thrilled, some not so much.

--  One thing at AIA that I caught wind of via social media ahead of time was View’s announcement on their new “Intelligence” product.  It’s a predictive glass that will do many things including react to the environment.  It’s no secret I love the dynamic glass space and this is yet another reason why. 

-- Kudos to Jeff Razwick for a tremendous blog on GlassMagazine.com last week.  I believe the blog “format” has many uses, but pieces like Jeff’s that in 500 words or so provides such great and important information is crucial to our world. 

-- Not sure of my publishing schedule for next week, with Memorial Day in the US and also the weekend wedding of my nephew Josh.  Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday (And a Happy Victoria Day this week for my friends in Canada who celebrate that) and please those in the US take some time to pay respect to the men and women of the armed forces, both alive and passed for their commitment and dedication to the country they served.   Thank you.

LINKS of the WEEK

--  This is when Twitter is truly fun.  Creative and light hearted trolling.

--  Mixed feelings on this.  I am very familiar with the 504 policy and I respect and am thankful for it, but also think there’s more to the story here as well. 

--  The “overbooked” generation.  Count me as someone who likes when kids don’t have too much time on their hands.

VIDEO of the WEEK

And here are your monthly news bloopers.  Like all months, some good, some bad, some unfortunately tasteless.