Wired.com had an interesting article about Craigslist and its founder, Craig Newmark. The online article was from the actual Wired magazine.

I’ve been following the whole Craigslist saga for years, so much of it was old news to me, but I was struck by the following passage:

Craigslist gets more traffic than either eBay or Amazon.com. eBay has more than 16,000 employees. Amazon has more than 20,000. Craigslist has 30. …. Only programmers, customer service reps, and accounting staff work at craigslist. There is no business development, no human resources, no sales. As a result, there are no meetings. The staff communicates by email and IM.

And the article mentions a consulting firm that tracks Craigslist’s paid ads, and the firm estimates the site’s revenue for 2009 will probably exceed $100 million.

I understand that Ebay and Amazon have larger revenues, but look at the headcount disparity. Wow.

Update: Sorry, had this written last night and never got around to posting.

For some reason – I guess it’s the sped-up media machine powered by cable news and the internet – we seem to be celebrating 40th Anniversaries (such as the moon landing) these days, instead of waiting for the Golden (50th) Anniversary.

Today, it’s the 40th anniversary of Woodstock making the news.

Ah yes, three days – Aug. 15, 16 & 17, 1969 – of peace and music. 1967 was the Summer of Love; August 1969 made it, in some ways, the keystone of a summer of peace, music, love, hippies and drugs.

I was only 10 years old at the time – just getting ready to enter the 5th grade. I think I recall seeing some stories of it on the news at the time (yes, I’d watch the news with my folks occasionally), but nothing really sticks with me. The moon landing – less than a month earlier – had a much more profound effect on me.

Today, of course, I truly wish I could have been there. Wow – look at the talent: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, CSN&Y;, the frickin’ Who! Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, Canned Heat (Going Up the Country) and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

And the list goes on and on (who can forget Joe Cocker’s rendition of I’ll Get By With a Little Help From My Friends?).

Best. Concert. Ever.

And a pretty damn good documentary, as well. And – of course – now reissued in a special 40th Anniversary edition. I have the original album from the documentary (circa 1975 or so), and if I recall correctly, Janis Joplin wasn’t on same (legal issue). Maybe she’s on earlier reissues/Directors’ Cuts, but she certainly appears to be here now. Excellent.

• Sonia Sotomayor won Senate confirmation for the Supreme Court. She’ll be sworn in Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. She’ll be the court’s first Hispanic justice, and only the third woman (Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg).
• John Hughes, director of 1980’s classics such as “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” died of a heart attack in Manhattan today. He was only 59 years old.
• 64th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Let’s never – no one – do this again. And let’s not “celebrate” this anniversary, OK?