Caretaker Bob

New Stadium.

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:00 -0400

Becoming increasingly optimistic about the future of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club as the New Stadium rises on the site of the 1930’s Civic Stadium, and the 1950’s Ivor Wynne Stadium:

http://newstadiumnewexperience.com/main/

http://www.ticats.ca/page/construction-cam

For those new to the story: I got involved with my home town Canadian Football League team when it fell into bankruptcy in 2003. After working hard at improving all aspects of the team, from fan experience to football personnel, resulting in significant improvements in revenue in all categories - we were still having challenges making the team work as a financially viable business.

So I took the time to sit down with a wide range of Hamilton Football historians from former league commissioners to former owners, including my 90 year old Uncle Bill, a member of the team’s board of directors in the 50’s and 60’s. Only to learn the last time the team had earned a profit was some forty years earlier.

Now, or to be specific: a year from now, with a new league Broadcast deal, and a very exciting new stadium, the future financial stability of the team in Hamilton looks very bright.

I have discovered, in twenty years of moving around the ball park,that the knowledge of the game is...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:15:08 -0400

I have discovered, in twenty years of moving around the ball park,
that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to
the price of the seats.

Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox owner

Irreconcilable differences...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:47:00 -0400

Sometimes it’s no-one’s fault, things just didn’t work out.

Sadly, I have to announce today that I’m divorcing Twitter @bobyoung from @caretakerbob. I tried to stay united for the sake of my sanity, but have finally come to terms with reality.

The interesting lesson here is while for many people a single twitter account can work despite their varied interests, for others those interests are so unrelated they become distractions for their followers.

Most of those who share my enthusiasm for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (www.ticats.ca) do not have as much interest in my passion for technology and the future of content (www.lulu.com). While my friends who share my interest in the future of technology don’t generally care much for Canadian football,

So as of this afternoon, @caretakerbob will be exclusively focused on all things Canadian Football related, and @bobyoung will focus on technology, the future of content publishing on the Internet.

Of course this does not mean that I don’t have friends who share both interests and if you are one of them just follow both @bobyoung and @caretakerbob.

Cheers, Bob.

(The timing of this divorce is being driven by tonight (June 13, ‘12) being the unofficial opening of the Canadian Football league season, with a 7pm pre-season game between the Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts, about which I will be tweeting sufficiently frequently my tech friends will be tempted to hit the un-follow button.)

Tips to make your book stand out, from the U Publish panel at BEA

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 09:59:46 -0400

Tips to make your book stand out, from the U Publish panel at BEA:

Recorded last week at uPublishU, the day-long self-publishing pre-conference program of BookExpo. Featuring Jenny Pedroza, co-founder of the Writers Coffee Shop; Mark Coker, Founder, Smashwords; Sandra (Sandy) Poirier-Diaz, President, Smith Publicity, Incorporated; and Bob Young, CEO & Founder, Lulu.com.

This panel’s industry insiders know how to ensure that a book will stand out in the dynamic world of self-publishing and they shared with CCC’s Chris Kenneally their insights on what every self-publisher needs to know about the secrets of the editing process; the art of cover design; the tricks of the publicity trade; and how to create and find winning sales ideas.

8 Rules for Creating a Passionate Work Culture

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:59:46 -0400

8 Rules for Creating a Passionate Work Culture:

A great article on hiring the right people and nurturing their talents to create a passionate work culture that will last.

We're number 1!

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:30:11 -0400

Ok, so it is a little early in the season to start celebrating, given the season does not start for another month and three weeks (but who is counting), but for the first time in a decade the bookies are taking the Tiger-Cats seriously:

http://www.oddsshark.com/cfl/sportsbooks-release-grey-cup-odds

www.ticats.ca

Sigh.

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:23:44 -0400

We (those of us against NC Amendment One change to the state Constitution) were beaten badly last night. We can only assume most of our fellow North Carolinians saw it as a poll on the idea that marriage is a good thing, as opposed to what it was, namely an attempt to withhold the right to marry from others. Whatever you think of the definition of marriage, Constitutions are for protecting the rights of minorities, not for withholding rights from minorities. While I normally respect the result of democratic elections, not in this case.

If you agree please join the effort to have this mistake repealed:

https://www.change.org/petitions/1-million-against-amendment-1

Freedom+tolerance+education=prosperity

Sat, 05 May 2012 08:46:00 -0400

It is sometimes hard to tell which are the chickens and which are the eggs when considering Tolerance, Freedom, Education, and Economic Prosperity. Although looking at the history of the most successful economies it is obvious that the most creative societies are the most successful over the long term. And the most creative ones (whether by accident or design) are the best educated, most free, and most tolerant of new ideas and of change.

Fred Wilson, a brilliant VC in NYC, weighs in:

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/05/tolerance-and-prosperity.html

North Carolina is so much better than this.

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:11:00 -0400

I love North Carolina. I am a North Carolinian by choice, not by birth. I chose North Carolina because of its Quaker values of faith, tolerance, and freedom. North Carolina and the people of North Carolina have been very, very good to me and my family.

We have achieved amazing business success and made lifelong friendships and raised a wonderful family. All while enjoying the great weather, spectacular beaches, majestic mountains, world class universities, the South’s best pulled pork, and the nation’s best college basketball teams.

We chose North Carolina because of its welcoming culture and people. 20 years ago we packed up and did, what our friends in Connecticut referred to as, “a reverse Beverly Hillbillies”. But the joke was on them. We have not only enjoyed 20 years of much better weather, but unimaginable business success with first Red Hat Inc, and now Lulu.com.

Now my adopted state has chosen to turn its back on its tradition of welcoming immigrants, and of tolerance and freedom to all its citizens, with a proposed amendment to the NC State Constitution no less, that hangs a great banner across the entrances to the state saying to a whole bunch of American citizens: You are not welcome here.

This Amendment One, and for more information just google “NC Amendment One”, is against the spirit of what makes North Carolina great. It is against everything North Carolina stands for. North Carolina stands for freedom for all its citizens, young and old, black and white, handicapped and able bodied, gay and straight, married and unmarried.

Let me confess my ulterior motive to blogging on this topic: I build technology companies. That’s my profession. Building a successful technology company requires recruiting the best and the brightest young people our great nation graduates from its best schools. Amendment One is the single worst thing the North Carolina legislature could have done to alienate this generation of bright talented young Americans from wanting to invest their careers and raise their families in North Carolina, and here’s why:

This generation of Americans is just plain better than my generation. They are more tolerant, more freedom loving, more intelligent and more creative than us old geezers. Trust me, I know this. I get to work with them every day. They have more energy and enthusiasm than any prior generation of Americans. They care more about making the world a better place than any previous generation of Americans ever have. All we (all of us born before 1970) have to do to make the world and America a better place is to avoid stopping them.

This proposed amendment to our state constitution is specifically telling them we don’t want their friends and fellow Americans to come here. We need these talented, intelligent young Americans to come to North Carolina to help our technology industries succeed, but they have choices. They can go to states with mottos like “Live Free or Die” instead of states that attempt to tell them how to live their lives, such as this Amendment One does. And trust me, these bright young Americans can and will chose to join my competitors in Seattle, or San Jose, or New York.

If you love North Carolina too, on May 8th please join me and run, don’t walk to your polling place to vote for the North Carolina you want. Let your friends, family and neighbors know this is not some unimportant primary election. Let’s tell the world North Carolina is still the welcoming and tolerant and freedom loving place that drew me and my family here 20 years ago. Vote NO to Amendment One.

Your fellow Tar Heel, Bob Young.

Bob Young, born 1954, Hamilton Ontario Canada. Founder of several tech companies, the most famous of which is North Carolina’s Red Hat Inc. Currently founder/CEO of Raleigh NC-based Lulu.com. North Carolinian by residency and choice.

Read NC Amendment One in full here

colourandshape2: Final Season at Ivor Wynne Stadium Saturday,...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:33:59 -0400

colourandshape2:

Final Season at Ivor Wynne Stadium

Saturday, Oct 27, 2012

Will be a Sad Day

Why E-books Won't Hit the Bargain Bin

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:31:12 -0400

Why E-books Won't Hit the Bargain Bin:

Quentin Fottrell of Smart Money takes a look at the Justice Department’s investigation into how ebooks are priced.

For the record: I’m not predicting the future on this issue, my point is the online publishing space is changing so rapidly the future is not predictable, yet.

Print -and- ebooks.

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:14:50 -0400

Much has been written about electronic reading on your computer, your tablet, and even your phone replacing reading printed books. But that is not what we are seeing at Lulu. Our experience leads us to conclude that people are just reading more:

http://www.lulu.com/blog/2012/04/print-sales-stronger-than-ever-thanks-to-ebooks/

Barrier Island Study Center opens April 9th

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:49:06 -0400

The Bald Head Island Conservancy is opening a new Barrier Island Study Center on Bald Head Island, NC this April 9th.

The Study Center is impressive because it will be the first community-based research facility of its kind in the nation. This means that the research will not only enhance our understanding of barrier islands, the data will be shared with the scientific community and general public on a national and even international scale.

Missing honey bees problem found?

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:42:57 -0400

This is pretty exciting news if true:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/30/bee_pesticide_link/

Of course, and as usual, we first have to convince the pesticide company scientists:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_788993.html

hamiltontigercats: Chris Williams, Bakari Grant, Aaron Kelly,...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:05:05 -0400

hamiltontigercats:

Chris Williams, Bakari Grant, Aaron Kelly, Dave Stala, Jason Boltus and Jeremy Kelley put on a dunking clinic while warming up for yesterday’s Cops and Cats basketball game at St. Mary’s.

Video c/o Drew Edwards’ Scratching Post blog.

Tiger-Cats reloading for 2012 season

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

Tiger-Cats reloading for 2012 season

Things to Worry About

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

Things to Worry About:

On August 8th of 1933, author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a letter of advice to his 11-year-old daughter, “Scottie,” who was away at camp. Some of his timeless advice included:

“Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about Cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship
Worry about…

Things not to worry about:

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about:

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?”

(Source: F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters ; via Letters of Note)

Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Illuminated Manuscripts

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:00:06 -0400

Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Illuminated Manuscripts:

“The history of bookmaking hasn’t been without its challenges, but never was its craft as painstaking as during the era of illuminated manuscripts.”

via BrainPickings

[“The Book Reader of the Future” from the April 1935...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:30:49 -0400

[“The Book Reader of the Future” from the April 1935 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics. via retronaut]

I want one of these!

Lulu.com 2.0!

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:37:55 -0400

[Disclaimer: This blog is not supposed to be about marketing either Lulu or the Tiger-Cats or any other of my business projects. But I am an old typewriter salesman and sometimes my enthusiasm for those projects trumps my stated goal of being laid-back and objective about the world.]

Ok, so “Lulu 2.0” is just my name for all the hard work the Lulu engineering team has put into rewriting the core Lulu.com application over the last two years or so. This release launched successfully on the weekend, and here are some early indicators of the benefits of this release:

1. The popularity of our new “registration-less checkout” already accounting for 28% of new orders. A couple of customer comments:

“…am absolutely “THRILLED” that you have made a registration-free purchase option. The registration requirement for buyers was a real headache. In the past I often had to purchase the book on behalf of the buyer and send it to them. This was my absolute only “beef” with you guys, and now it’s rectified. You people are spectacular! Thank You!”

“Thanks for taking away the registration component… I’m new to this game and for me every sale counts, so I’m grateful for that alteration.”

2. Speed of transactions. The faster your customers can find and buy your book, the happier they will be and the more books they will buy.

The load times from “browse” to “add to cart” to “checkout” is showing the time to finish those steps has decreased by more than 50%.

3. But as always, the biggest benefit of this major Lulu release is the same as we predicted last year, namely our ability to innovate, so stay tuned…

You can also see what Lulu has to say about the launch.