Philly Area IT consultant's post on Forbes creates controversy



Gene Marks, a resident of the Philly suburbs who runs a consulting firm focused on CRM for small businesses
and has been a long time blogger and contributor to several publications, got quite a reaction with this piece he contributed to Forbes: "If I Were A Poor Black Kid". It has created a bit of an uproar on the Web. While no doubt Marks' intentions were good (though perhaps self-promoting; as a Forbes contributor he gets paid by the click), the article to some reflected a presumptuous, out of touch attitude and a lack of understanding of the practical difficulties inner city kids might face.

His commentary has provoked a number of responses, both satirical and reflective, of which some of the best are linked to below:

If I Were A White, Male Middle Aged Forbes Columnist… (Color Lines)

If I Were A Poor Black Kid (Modeled Behavior)

A Muscular Empathy (The Atlantic)

If I were the 99% I'd try to be the 1% (The Economist)

Trolling The Internet With 'If I Were A Poor Black Kid' (Forbes)



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Daily Links 12/16/2011: Salesforce makes HCM acquisition; will rename SuccessForce



Salesforce Makes A Rypple With New Acquisition (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Salesforce snubs SAP with Rypple flip (Dennis Howlett/ZDNet Blogs)

SAP Sees No Further Big Cloud Buys After SuccessFactors - Report (Dow Jones via NASDAQ.com)

Dell Resurrects Venture Capital Arm (Wall Street Journal: Digits)
Something to keep an eye on, given Boomi's central role in Dell's emerging Cloud strategy.

Revenue Cycle Management: Healthcare's Next Frontier?
NextGen parent QSI acquires small claims processor ViaTrack to bolster position in burgeoning RCM market.
(Information Week)
NextGen Healthcare is based in Horsham.

Xfinity rebranding raises doubts among experts (Philadelphia Inquirer)

FTC hits Comcast CEO Brian Roberts with $500,000 fine (LA Times: Company Town)
Apparently just a technical oversight, and anyway, what's $500,000 when you rule the world?

Cablevision Stock Hits 52-Week Low After COO Resignation (Hollywood Reporter)

What's Next for Cablevision? (Light Reading Cable)
Some suggest Comcast could be interested in Jersey, Connecticut pieces of Cablevision if it were to be put up for sale, but most doubt that will happen any time soon.

Cox To Sell Wireless Licenses To Verizon Wireless For $315 Million
MSO and Wireless Carrier Will Resell Each Other's Residential and Commercial Products
(Multichannel News)

Penn State receives $10 million commitment to engineering research (Penn State Live)
Some good news on another difficult day for the University.



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