January 2012
1 post
October 2011
2 posts
“A genius is the one most like himself”
– Thelonius Monk
Watch“If I get in there and think about it too much I’ll just muck things up, you know… I really will….My paintings are a lot smarter than I am, that’s for sure.” - Fred Valentine
September 2011
3 posts
“…a pencil sharpener—that highly satisfying, highly philosophical...”
– Pnin by Nabokov…genius. Happy back-to-school, kids and parents!
WatchBrazenhead Books is a “secret” bookstore, somewhere on the Upper East Side of NYC. This video is beautiful, and it’s now on the list for my next visit to the city.
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
2 posts
March 2011
1 post
1 tag
The internet and education - Khan Academy
Over a year ago I wrote about using the internet to supplement education. Recently a Los Altos public school started piloting the use of internet lectures to supplement two 5th grade math classes. Check out the TED talk from the founder of Khan Academy, which provides pre-recorded lecture content (free to anyone on the site).
In the talk, Khan Academy founder Salman Khan quotes a teacher who...
February 2011
1 post
Crazy - Yeasayer / Seal cover
People of my...
January 2011
2 posts
“Art is fundamentally a survival device of the species. Otherwise it wouldn’t be...”
– Milton Glaser: first graphic designer to win the National Medal of Arts. Glaser continues:
How does art help you survive? It helps us survive by making us attentive. In a simplistic way, when you go past a forest and you look at it and you say, “that looks just like Cézanne.” And you realize Cézanne...
September 2010
3 posts
July 2010
3 posts
People are driven by autonomy, mastery, and higher...
Great lecture, and fun to watch. What motivates performance? Autonomy, mastery, and purpose… I buy it. via tereza
Paul Graham on internet addiction →
Paul Graham always writes a thoughtful essay, and his most recent essay on internet addiction is no exception.
Something to ponder, from the footnotes:
People commonly use the word “procrastination” to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what’s happening as merely not-doing-work. We don’t call it procrastination when someone gets...
Moves - The New Pornographers
This band is simply...
June 2010
2 posts
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a...”
– Albert Einstein (via kari-shma)
May 2010
1 post
“I would look at a situation, the circumstances that had been presented, and...”
– Ian MacKaye, getting philosophical about skateboarding. Read the full interview here.
via @iancr
April 2010
2 posts
“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,...”
– Albert Einstein (via elicec) (via quote-book) (via hiten)
March 2010
3 posts
“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I’ll...”
– Native American proverb (via lisapark) (via quote-book) (via hiten)
2 tags
David Horvath - "The real failure is not...
Inspiring interview with Uglydoll founder.
SUBvert David Horvath Edition SUBscribers only
February 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Your startup idea… sounds neat.
It is reality. In the early days, before anything is launched, and certainly before you’ve recruited anyone to join you, it seems nobody is ever as excited as you are about your startup idea. When you tell friends and family about it, your idea rarely gets the reaction you think it deserves. In some cases, the reaction is much worse. And the harder you work on your startup, the harder it is to...
Where is My Mind? - Pixies
Stop.
Woke up today...
December 2009
1 post
1 tag
November 2009
3 posts
Incredible pictures of Manhattan →
These pictures of Manhattan were taken by Tim Grimshaw, using a tilt/shift lens. They are surreal. Here are two, click through to see the rest.
Seth Godin: Upside vs Downside →
I read a lot of different blogs, but Seth Godin is always provocative and linkable. Here’s another good one, about managing upside or downside. Applied to companies:
“As an organization grows and succeeds, it sows the seeds of its own demise by getting boring. With more to lose and more people to lose it, meetings and policies become more about avoiding risk than providing...
October 2009
5 posts
WatchMore people take the stairs if the stairs are a piano!
Cannibal Resource - Dirty Projectors
This tune...
WatchMint CEO Aaron Patzer on Startups
“Creating something from nothing…”
Personal financial management website Mint just sold to Inuit for $170M, less than 3 years after being founded. Here is the CEO just after the acquisition, speaking about start-ups.
2 tags
Passion projects
When I was in 10th grade, my high school brought in some parents to talk about their careers. There must have been several parents who took a turn, but I can only remember one: the accountant. This accountant faced our class, well dressed in his starched white shirt, dark suit and silk tie. He told us, without hesitation, that he really doesn’t like his job at all, and in fact, he hates it. ...
Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers
Why? Because...
September 2009
6 posts
2 tags
Nobody Could Change Your Mind - Generationals
...
Seth Godin's Heirarchy of Success →
Seth Godin puts “attitude” and “approach” above goals, strategy, tactics, and execution. In business and in life, I think.
3 tags
Sensing passion in a business
It is really striking when you can sense passion in a business. Some businesses seem to exist solely for profit, and you can feel it—everything about them screams, “I care about money, not my customers.” Others are charged up with positive energy, and you feel the electricity as you interact with them. I think the difference lies in the passion of the entrepreneur, or the owners, or the...
Summerteeth - Wilco
“It’s just a...
4 tags
How the web could democratize recruiting
I’ve been thinking lately about how much opportunity there is for the web to change the way we manage our careers, find job opportunities, and recruit people. There’s a lot of money riding on this, but somehow online career services haven’t changed much since I worked in the Web 1.0 version of this industry 10 years ago. There are a few things that were true 10 years ago, and they probably hold...
August 2009
9 posts
A Sleep Be Told - The Traditionist
A poppy, folky...
Is the Internet like a school bus?
Here’s a picture I took of a one-room schoolhouse in Redding, CT, just up the road from me. It was built in 1789 and closed in 1931. For 142 years, this little building served twenty students at a time, across eight grades, and was one of 10 schools like it in my little town. Redding consolidated these schools in the 1920’s, like most towns in the country. Why? Because new motorized school...
On the Face of It - The Evens
“The...
World's longest-serving bartender retires →
My grandfather’s cousin, Angelo Cammarata, the Guinness Book of World Record’s “longest-serving bartender,” age 95, has announced his retirement. Raise a glass for him! (link to Pittsburgh Post Gazette article from title of this post)
