Kickstarter Must Have Gotten A Kick In The You Know What…..

Posted on by
1

 

image: Adi Studio

 
Call me “cynical,” I don’t care. I don’t buy the sudden altruistic business model Kickstarter is suddenly adopting. In the last day or two, the company has issued statements saying it’s now a Benefit Corporation, BC.

 What the heck is that?  It’s a company that shoots for profits, but its focus is on the betterment of society. For years, most tech companies just tried to please shareholders. 

Kickstarter said they want to be more socially responsible so they have legally defined goals to achieve the Benefit Corporation status. 

 While this is all very commendable, I haven’t seen one newspaper or tech site carefully questioning why Kickstarter has all of a sudden become so humble. I smell a larger story. Other companies that have joined the ranks of BC’s are: Patagonia and This American Life. 

As a new BC company, Kickstarter has pledged to donate 5% of annual post-tax profits to arts education and organizations fighting inequality. Kickstarter now goes from Kickstarter Inc., to Kickstarter BC.

Just as a recap, the Crowdfunding company reports that 92,733 Kickstarter projects have been funded by more than 9.4 million people. The Pebble Time smartwatch is still the most lucratively funded project on Kickstarter with more than 78,000 backers pledging $20.3 million. 

I know I am sounding a little negative, but I’m anxious to know how and why Kickstarter became a BC company. Kickstarter is a genius idea and we can all learn from its evolution.

Read about Kickstarter on CNET and the New YorkTimes.

Emmy Tweets  

Posted on by
Reply

  

Multiple actors, including Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor wore green ribbons at this year’s Emmy Awards to demand climate action.

Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) 9/20/15, 5:02 PM It’s 100 degrees in LA, get ready for a sweaty day at the #emmys 🙂 #eredcarpet
Vivi N (@heartprintstyle)9/20/15, 6:31 PM. My word. Heidi’s dress is even worse up close. #ERedCarpet #EMMYS

Laurie Goldberg (@LaurieGoldberg). 9/20/15, 6:31 PMHeidi Klum looks like she’s wearing one of those alternate materials challenge. To quote Tim Gunn…EDIT, EDIT, EDIT #

 Bill Rancic (@BillRancic) 9/20/15, 6:14 PMI agree!!RT @JoeWalkerWebb26: @GiulianaRancic FLAWLESS! BEAUTIFUL! You’re a lucky man @BillRancic best dressed for me so far on #ERedCarpet

AARP (@AARP) 9/20/15, 4:51 PM  First question. Is white after Labor Day going to be a trend tonight? #Emmys #ERedCarpet

 E! Online (@eonline) 9/20/15, 8:13 PMAmy Poehler and Amy Schumer on the #Emmys stage together? We’ve had a dream like this once. 🙏🙏

USA TODAY (@USATODAY) 9/20/15, 8:10 PM For the first time, two African-American women are up for #BestActress in a drama. Will one take it home? #Emmys pic.twitter.com/C6tKZDd82b

TakePart (@TakePart) 9/20/15, 8:45 PM@jeffreytambor is right— trans representation in the media does affect lives, and lives depend on it takepart.com/article/2015/0… #Emmys2015

Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) 9/20/15, 8:54 PM Again: I love Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She’s BRILLIANT on that show. And yet my pain over Poehler never winning is severe. #Emmys2015

Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) 9/20/15, 8:53 PM. More than 40 of the #Emmys2015 nominees worked for star-maker Lorne Michaels at some point in time? pic.twitter.com/

Sandra Bernhard (@SandraBernhard) 9/20/15, 8:36 PM. I don’t like the decades & decades joke that’s tired #Emmys2015

Laurie David (@Laurie_David) 9/20/15, 5:24 PM Girlfriend & hubby head to #Emmys2015 wearing the green ribbon! #demandclimateaction pic.twitter.com/V47jgTl1rp

Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) 9/20/15, 10:04 PM .@amyschumer that Emmy goes really well with your smokey eye. #Emmys

Entertainment Weekly (@EW) 9/20/15, 9:56 PM The Donald Trump is the #Emmys’ biggest punching bag: ow.ly/Ss9QK pic.twitter.com/

Lois Whitman-Hess (@loiswhitman) 9/20/15, 9:47 PM Watching the Emmys eating chocolate ice from @JohnandTonys

Is This The Real Lee Radziwill?

Posted on by
8

For months now, I have been following the 82-year old Lee Radziwill on Twitter. The trouble is that I can’t believe this is the real Lee Radziwill. For those who don’t remember, Lee Radziwill is the younger sister of the late First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. 

All of Radziwill’s credentials are posted next to her name so I have to believe it’s her. Two things puzzle me. She posts practically every hour and her comments are very outspoken.

I just copied and pasted her Tweets here. Tell me what you think.

  
@LeeRadziwill: Create a world for yourself rather than trying to fit into someone else’s.

@LeeRadziwill: I’ve lived a life that’s full.I’ve traveled each and every highway; And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

@LeeRadziwill: Johnny Depp did an OK job playing Christopher Walken in Black Mass. http://t.co/Xsogna0S05

@LeeRadziwill: Wishing Jessica Simpson the best luck in rehab.

@LeeRadziwill: @EmiratesSupport I was just told my case containing my evening wear arrived in Moscow. I am in Dubai. What should I do?

@LeeRadziwill: I would rather crawl on broken glass over a Southwest Airlines flight to Reno, than endure @emirates from LAX to Dubai again. Apologize now.

@LeeRadziwill: The closest you can come to perfection is accepting you will never be perfect.

@LeeRadziwill: #MyInfomercialWouldSell dartboards featuring Ann Coulter’s face.

@LeeRadziwill: Compliment people. Magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.

@LeeRadziwill: The View should have ended years ago.

@LeeRadziwill: Fashion is art and culture and history and everything I love combined.

@LeeRadziwill: Carly Fiorina does not seem like the type to uplift other women. She wants to climb to the top and lord over them.

@LeeRadziwill: Ann Coulter’s trying extra-hard to get invited to Mel Gibson’s Yom Kippur party

@LeeRadziwill: Thank God Ann Coulter is a barren spinster. Just like Adolf Hitler, her sick, hateful bloodline will end with her.

@LeeRadziwill: Do they know President Reagan passed? They say his name like grandchildren competing for him to pick a favorite. #GOPDebate

@LeeRadziwill: Ted Cruz reminds me of Pinocchio. His nose seems to grow with every lie he tells. #GOPDebate

@LeeRadziwill: Donald Trump has been involved in more bankruptcies than failed marriages.

 Roof Party 

Posted on by
2

One of the reasons why Eliot and I returned to NYC today is because our coop was having a roof party for all of the shareholders. Eliot and I are on the board. We really wanted to celebrate the fact that this has been our home for 40 years. Many of our neighbors have lived in our building for decades too. They say that people in NYC don’t know their neighbors. Not in my building.

 

The view from our roof

  
 

Enough food for an army.

  

75 people showed up.

    

The party was Josh Rubinger’s idea and Marilyn Scher handled thr execution.

  

Dyan and Herm

  

Two members of the board, Josh and Jared, President, Stacy Rubinger joins them.

  

 

Josh and Marc Lipman, treasurer, toast the crowd.

Neighbors

  

Josh and Mark

  

Guess who?

   

We were so happy that Whitney got to see the people she grew up with.

  

Edyce with Eliot

  

Natalya and Yuri.

  

All the photos below are our good neighbors.
  

Chef Fredrick meet chef Michel.

  
    
    
    
    
    
   
    
    
    

   
    
    
  

Visual Pleasures 

Posted on by
1

Images:33.media.tumblr.com

I go from loving the digital world, because of the technical capabilities it affords us, to the calm of tranquility. 

Here I am last Monday canoeing through the beautiful mangrove tunnels of Cueva Del Manglar, Cartagena, Colombia.  

 Photos by Eliot Hess  
    
    

  
Where would I rather be? The truth is, both places.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, (my workspace), I just received an email from Broadwayworld.com.

Dear Lois,

I wanted to let you know that we’ve just posted Tech Writer David Pogue to Make Guest Appearance in 39 STEPS Off-Broadway on http://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway at:
   
   

Nice way for a publicist to end her day.

Pressing Facebook’s Buttons 

Posted on by
1

https://vimeo.com/139401042

I always thought it was peculiar when a friend, or family member, announced on Facebook, that his or her father died. What was more shocking was when the sorrowful post received 100 “likes.”

I could never figure out if that meant Facebook members were happy that the father died or they just wanted to acknowledge the post. Of course, I knew that it meant “acknowledgement,” but it still disturbed me. 

Voila! Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg must have sensed my frustration. In a recent meeting, he admitted the company was working on a way for Facebook users to show “empathy” when it was inappropriate to “Like.”

Zuckerberg said they were not going to produce a “Dislike” button because he was not interested in turning Facebook into a platform “where people voted up or down.”

Therefore, Facebook is contemplating a “Sorry” button because they feel it’s more appropriate. Nothing has been finalized.

Watch the video to hear Zuckerberg talk about the possibilities.

Photography Drones Hit The Wedding Scene 

Posted on by
Reply

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There I was,  peering in on an elaborate wedding, in the very at elegant ballroom, of the Santa Clara Hotel, in Cartagena, Colombia, when all of a sudden, my friend Howard declares, “Look, it’s a drone.” 

I looked up, and much to my disbelief, a flashing, red lit drone, (kind of like a flying saucer) was circulating the dance floor, 15 feet up, capturing all of the opulence of the fairytale wedding. My jaw dropped. 

I can’t explain why I was so surprised. I’m in the tech industry. I should have known about these things. I usually do. However, when I saw this for the very first time, I got overwhelmed. I had never seen a drone used this way. The fact that it was flying over lavish gowns and pearly white dinner jackets, was a surprise. We didn’t get to watch the drone for too long. The party coordinators closed the entranceway doors as soon as the bride and groom were announced.

Later that night I googled  “wedding photography” and learned that more and more couples want drones to capture stunning aerial shots of their special day. That means that wedding photographers are adding drones to their list of options. I heard that video photographers are charging as high as $1,000 for an hour of flying time.

Father-of-the-brides beware! You can’t fight progress. 

I have included various videos of wedding photography drones doing their job. One even shows a major goof.

Happy New Year 

Posted on by
1

 

(Thank you Mindy Lampert for the image) 

Our tour group participated in a Colombian ritual to plant a Palm tree in the Cocora Valley. “We give back what we take away.”

   
 Ruth and I on a mile plus hike up the mountain.

 
 

Making Campbell Soup In A Keurig K-Cup

Posted on by
Reply

  
For the last week, the topic of conversation has been coffee. It makes sense. I’m in Colombia, the home to some of the greatest coffee in the world. It’s so strange. Eliot and I love our Keurig Green Mountain coffee every morning. The people here do not consider that coffee

Now, we just learn that our favorite Keurig machine will also be able to make fresh-brewed soups. Keurig and Campbell’s Soup have developed the ability to make soups in the K-Cup pods. Each cup will only be 70-calories and are available in Homestyle Chicken Broth, Noodle Soup Mix, Southwest Style Chicken Broth and Noodle Soup Mix.
Many people in the tech business knew that Keurig and Campbell’s Soup were working on this product development for a few years. Well, it showtime. The product is ready.

You can read more about this topic in USA Today. 

The food has been superb this week.  I photographed a few to show you.

Farmer Cheese on Colombian bread.

Dressing up a hamburger.

Trout On Plantains.

      

Local fruit.