Brad Feld's got some well-put advice for our new president on his blog. My favorite:

When asked what advice she'd give Obama, [Madeleine Albright] said two things. First - "listen". Second - "be confident, but not certain." She described Bush as a president who has been too "certain" - he's "certain that he is correct on all issues and then never listens." In contrast, she wants a president who is "confident" yet willing to listen, learn, and adjust his point of view based on the data presented.

That's good advice for anyone... not just politicians.

Norman Wolfe on Why the Executive Compensation Debate is Fundamentally Flawed:

Yet in the current discussion on CEO pay we take as a given that CEOs are in it for the money and we have to pay them to get them and keep them. Yet these very same people would not take this position with their own organizations. Or if they do is this the kind of culture or tone at the top you want for your company.

From this perspective, the argument for high-CEO pay runs counter to a lot of wisdom about avoiding hiring people who are driven only by the salary. Unfortunately, the entire elite executive culture probably needs to change first before we start seeing reasonable executive salaries.

I am simultaneously shocked and honored that Riverdex, my entry with Chris Tenbrink to the 2008 Rails Rumble competition, has taken 3rd Place!

Now I have absolutely no excuse not to finish the site. I procrastinated building it for almost 2 years, and it became a reality in less than 48 hours.

So, for those of you preparing entries for next years' competition already, I've got a few bits of advice for you:

First, image is everything. Spend plenty of time making sure the first impression of your site is a good one. Make sure an uninitiated stranger can understand the purpose of your site simply by looking at the home page for a few seconds. Don't build any features that require more than a few clicks to access.

Second, spend most of your planning time on logistics. Identify exactly which plugins you'll need to use for your site, and practice installing them. Practice setting up a VPS from scratch. Only plan the design of your application in a loose way. You'll likely mis-estimate which pieces will take the most time, so you need to stay flexible about which ideas to leave on the cutting room floor.

Third, take breaks. I've heard from many of the other top-ten folks that they used far less than 48 hours. In other words, they actually slept. I did too, about 6 hours a night. I also went to the park with my family, and went out to dinner too. Your brain needs rest, and you'll operate more effectively when you're not burned out.