Less is Mohrer

ubernyc: To celebrate our heroic win over Uber Boston… we mean,...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:16:23 -0500

To celebrate our heroic win over Uber Boston… we mean, the Giants’ heroic win over the New England Patriots, use Promotion Code: MANNING and get $10 off one ride this week in NYC. Apply the promo now! It will be good through Friday until 11:59pm.

Don’t forget to talk some trash to @Uber_BOS and follow @Uber_NYC on twitter.

Go Big Blue!

Photo

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:48:49 -0500

Happy 14th Birthday to Pearl Jam’s Yield. One of my all...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:35:36 -0500

Happy 14th Birthday to Pearl Jam’s Yield. One of my all time favorite records.

Photo

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:00 -0500

Early Adoption

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:06 -0500

File this post under shameless bragging.

I’m not the kind of internet user that signs up for every new service on the first day, but I have made some fortuitous moves in to web services about which I will now brag:

Facebook: Launched 2/4/2004, I joined 3/7/2004 (I estimate I am within the first 20,000), now has more than 845mm users
Foursquare: I am user 4821, there are now over 10mm users
Tumblr: I am user 29,174, there are now over 36mm users
Lot18: I am user 13, there are now almost 1mm members

23rd St. - Ely Avenue Back before they built the 63rd street...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:45:04 -0500

23rd St. - Ely Avenue

Back before they built the 63rd street tube under the East River about 10 years ago, both the E and F trains stopped at 23rd St. Ely Avenue. I calculated that I’ve passed this stop roughly 2000 times in my life (180 days of school x round trip x 4 years + any other time I ever went into Manhattan when I lived in Forest Hills). I knew nothing of this station but the image captured above. But now, this station is part of my daily commute, as I transfer there from the E to the G on my way to the Uber office in Greenpoint. While the idea of a start-up setting up shop in Williamsburg or Greenpoint is hardly unusual, I never in my wildest dreams thought this station, which I long admired through the subway car window, would ever be part of my life in this way.

The point is, things change, sometimes very quickly. 60 days ago I was chugging along at Lot18, right smack in the middle of the holiday shopping season. Now I’m running Uber NYC, in what I can describe in no other term than My Dream Job. I would never have guessed on December 3rd where I’d be on February 3rd. So, when you find yourself on a familiar, beaten path, try breaking out and see where it takes you. You wont be disappointed!

The Trials of Uber

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:36:42 -0500

The Trials of Uber:

“I like pissing people off” -TK (via Fortune)

Me and Travis

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:41:37 -0500

Me and Travis

Photo

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:38:20 -0500

A piece on Uber on NPR, focusing on our regulatory issues in DC....

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:56:26 -0500

A piece on Uber on NPR, focusing on our regulatory issues in DC. My parents heard it live this morning; not bad for 2nd day on the job!

(via ryangraves)

Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich to Get the GOP Nomination

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:41:42 -0500

robertreich:

Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich’s ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.

Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.

The Republican worry is understandable. “The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handling the election over to Obama,” says former Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty, a leading GOP conservative. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican party.”

Pawlenty’s views are indeed widely shared in Republican circles. “He’s not a conservative – he’s an opportunist,” says pundit Joe Scarborough, a member of the Republican Class of 1994 who came to Washington under Gingrich’s banner. Gingrich doesn’t “have the temperament, intellectual discipline or ego control to be either a successful nominee or president,”says New York Republican representative Peter King, who hasn’t endorsed any candidate. “Basically, Newt can’t control himself.”

Gingrich is “an embarrassment to the party,” says New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, and “was run out of the speakership” on ethics violations. Republican strategist Mike Murphy says “Newt Cingrich could not carry a swing state in the general election if it was made of feathers.”

“Weird” is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked with him. Scott Klug, a former Republican House member from Wisconsin, who hasn’t endorsed anyone yet, says “Newt has ten ideas a day – two of them are good, six are weird and two are very weird.”

Newt’s latest idea, for example – to colonize the moon – is typically whacky.

The Republican establishment also points to polls showing Gingrich’s supporters to be enthusiastic but his detractors even more fired up. In the latest ABC News/ Washington Post poll, 29 percent view Gingrich favorably while 51 percent have an unfavorable view of him. (Obama, by contrast, draws a 53 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable.)

Independents, who will be key to the general election, are especially alarmed by Gingrich.

As they should be. It’s not just Newt’s weirdness. It’s also the stunning hypocrisy. His personal life makes a mockery of his moralistic bromides. He condemns Washington insiders but had a forty-year Washington career that ended with ethic violations. He fulminates against finance yet drew fat checks from Freddie Mac. He poses as a populist but has had a $500,000 revolving charge at Tiffany’s.

And it’s the flagrant irresponsibility of many of his propositions – for example, that presidents are not bound by Supreme Court rulings, that the liberal Ninth Circuit court of appeals should be abolished, that capital gains should not be taxed, that the First Amendment guarantees freedom “of” religion but not “from” religion.

It’s also Gingrich’s eagerness to channel the public’s frustrations into resentments against immigrants, blacks, the poor, Muslims, “liberal elites,” the mainstream media, and any other group that’s an easy target of white middle-class and working-class anger.

These are all the hallmarks of a demagogue.

Yet Democratic pundits, political advisers, officials and former officials are salivating over the possibility of a Gingrich candidacy. They agree with key Republicans that Newt would dramatically increase the odds of Obama’s reelection and would also improve the chances of Democrats taking control over the House and retaining control over the Senate.

I warn you. It’s not worth the risk.

Even if the odds that Gingrich as GOP presidential candidate would win the general election are 10 percent, that’s too much of a risk to the nation. No responsible American should accept a 10 percent risk of a President Gingrich.

I’d take a 49 percent odds of a Mitt Romney win – who in my view would make a terrible president – over a 10 percent possibility that Newt Gingrich would become the next president – who would be an unmitigated disaster for America and the world.

I was just talking to Petra about this. Gingrich nomination makes Obama reelection more likely, but is still not worth the risk. I too would prefer a President Romney than a President Gingrich.

sesamestreet: Happy Birthday to Square One TV, which turns 25...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:11:27 -0500

sesamestreet:

Happy Birthday to Square One TV, which turns 25 today. Here’s a memory from one of us.

I was obsessed with Square One. Nine Nine Nine has been stuck in my head for twenty years. Also, Ghost of a Chance.

Uber

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:27 -0500

Big News: I am the new GM of Uber NYC, the New York business unit of Uber. Uber is Everyone’s Private Driver. Using the Uber iPhone or Android app (or SMS) you can request a car to your GPS location with the push of a button. In about 5 minutes a fancy black car will pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. Payment is automatic through the credit card you loaded into the app, including tip.

I’m in San Francisco right now enjoying my “NUber” Orientation and meeting lots of really smart people from around the country. The existing New York team is amazing and I’m psyched to be working with them. All told, I’ve never been more excited about a professional opportunity. We’re going to change the way people get around in the big apple!

More time come… in the meantime, check it out. Use that link and get $10 off your first ride.

NFC Championship - Go Giants!

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:24:25 -0500

NFC Championship - Go Giants!

Obama is apparently a tenor. Awesome!

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:19:30 -0500

Obama is apparently a tenor. Awesome!

More on this later…

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:18:04 -0500

superamit: Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:40:40 -0500

superamit:

Many of you have asked, so here’s what’s going on with me.

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE

8/1979: Born. Grew up in CT, built a killer eraser collection, fell in love with computers.

Left college to start a company. Fell hard. Fled to India for 3 months.

Started 2nd company. Learned to be an adult. Fell in love with NYC.

Moved to SF, discovered burritos & some of my fave people on Earth.

9/2011: Got diagnosed with Leukemia!

Cried. Went through 3 cycles of chemo. Hurt. Thought hard about what I want out of life. Grew up a second time.

TODAY

… After over 100 drives organized by friends, family, and strangers, celebrity call-outs, a bazillion reblogs (7000+!), tweets, and Facebook posts, press, fundraising and international drives organized by tireless friends, and a couple painful false starts, I’ve got a 10/10 matched donor!

You all literally helped save my life. (And the lives of many others.)

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Tomorrow, I’ll be admitted to Dana Farber in Boston for 4-5 weeks.

First I’ll get a second Hickman line to allow direct access to my heart (for meds and for nutrients if I’m not able to eat). Over the next week, the docs blast my body with a stiff chemo cocktail to try and eradicate all traces of cancer cells. In the process, the immune system I was born with, and my body’s ability to make blood, are destroyed.

Next Friday, I get my donor’s stem cells by IV. I start on immunosuppressants to prevent my body from rejecting them (I’ll be on them for 12-18 months). For these weeks I’ve no immune system, so I’m severely vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. My hospital room and hallway become my world.

Meanwhile, the stem cells make their way to my bone marrow and, with some luck, start producing platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells. At this point, my blood type changes to the blood type of my donor. And my blood will now have my donor’s DNA, not my own.

This is science fiction stuff. I can hardly believe it’s even possible, and there’s lots of chances for things to go wrong. It’s frightening.

AFTER THE TRANSPLANT

Recovery to a new state of “normal” takes about a year, but there’s a few storm clouds hovering:

My immune system is new, like a baby’s. I’m prone to getting sick.

Just as with any organ transplant, there’s a chance of rejection. Except in this case, it’s my blood that’s the foreign body, and it touches every organ. They call it graft-vs-host-disease and it can cause health issues and organ complications for the rest of my life.

Successful transplant or not, Leukemia can relapse. Stubborn mofo.

Overall, 75% of AML transplant patients survive year one, 50% make it through year five. My odds are a little better since I’m young.

THE GREAT NEWS

I’ve got a long road ahead. But I’ve got a donor & amazing family & friends. A few months ago I didn’t have many options. Today I have a plan.

I am alive. I start tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Thank you.

joshruben: Couldn’t have done this without help from the...

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:20:16 -0500

joshruben:

Couldn’t have done this without help from the inordinately talented Hana El-Assad and Vincent Peone.

Why isn’t this guy on SNL yet?

New York City gets a Software Engineering High School

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:07:35 -0500

New York City gets a Software Engineering High School:

(via pile)

I remember Mr. Zamansky, he is a cool dude. My freshman year there was a delay in setting up email accounts for new students and for many weeks I went to his office every day asking if they were ready yet. We finally got them in the Spring. I was MohrerJ@stuy.edu. I remember the most l33t computer nerds were all using a new search engine called Google. So much faster than altavista.

Maybe if I had Mr. Z (as he’s affectionately called) for AP Comp Sci my life would be in a different place right now. This new school will be wonderful but Stuy is losing one of the greats.

New Years Resolution so far so good. Next stop: sub-30min 3 mile

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:48:33 -0500

New Years Resolution so far so good. Next stop: sub-30min 3 mile