‘Misc’ Archive
Is an Ivy League education pointless for creative people?
I
came across some of Richard Florida’s work online yesterday (Florida is the author of “The Creative Class” and the creator of the notion that creative people should self-segregate) and I began wondering: why do Ivy League institutions produce so few creative people? Read more on Is an Ivy League education pointless for creative people?…
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The three types of wealth – Money, Time, and Clan
After reading this article on the phenomenon of Farmville I revised my notions of wealth. I previously categorized wealth in the following two ways:
- Owning Money – how much money do you have in the bank account, or can be converted to cash quickly. Most people regard money wealth as the only wealth
- Owning Time – How much time do you have in the average week/month/year that is under your control? Do you spend 90 hours a week working in a job you hate? Do you spend 30 hours a week doing housework, maintaining electronic gear, smiling at people you don’t care about, or commuting? If so, you possess little time, no matter how much money you can spend. Tim Ferriss is the best explainer of this notion. Read his blog (and book). (I include his book, The Four Hour Workweek on my all time top ten list of books. I intend to write a time-wealth calculator at some point.)
Up until reading the Farmville article I limited my definitions of wealth to the above two categories. Reading the article crystallized my notion of clan wealth.
Please note, I’m using the Southern American definition of Clan, which I define as a group of people related by blood, marriage, friendship, or history of friendship which has an intricate network of mutual obligations and debts and acts as one unit on divisive issues. (Please also note, nothing in this post relates to the KKK). In American pop history the Hatfield and the McCoy groups serve as the best example of clans.
Read more on The three types of wealth – Money, Time, and Clan…
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Why you should never complain about anything – with anecdotal proof!
My new commandment: Never complain about anything. Ever. If you feel the need to complain to pressure someone else to make something happen, then be honest and call it manipulation.
I realized this while at a client meeting; we were talking about problems with a botched sales program and the staff had a litany of complaints about the program (ed. note: it was created by a separate vendor years ago, and the fault lies with the now-departed project manager who designed something inappropriate. It does a masterful job of integrating legacy systems from different vendors, languages, platforms, a mainframe and Europeans are involved somehow, but the user interface is wanting. But I digress…). Then I remembered hearing the same litany of complaints a year ago. Unlike last year, I offered suggestions on how to make small improvements to the program. Everyone proceeded to ignore me and continued complaining. At the end of the meeting everyone felt a lot better once they had talked about their problems. No one made any plans to actually fix the problems. Read more on Why you should never complain about anything – with anecdotal proof!…
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Ways to be smarter – I’ll be testing some of these soon
Via some Twitter link I can no longer find, I stumbled across these two posts.
- Nootropics: their effects, their risks, and where to get them – I think I’ll be picking up some Thiamine and sticking with that, as the others seem a bit scary. It is a fascinating bit of research though. Nootropics are “Smart Drugs”
Read more on Ways to be smarter – I’ll be testing some of these soon…
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The future of newspapers, as seen through a Twitter feed
I read this quote in the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Twitter Feed ( the AJC (Twitter, @AJC) is the main paper here in Atlanta))
We’re trying to pin down the name of the College Park recording studio. It’s at the 3200 Block of E. Main St. Can you help us?
and I started wondering if the future of news was as either a medium (like FaceBook) or as the medium + the lead collaborator. I.E. the newspaper supplies the forum (in the form of a website, and the print service, whatever that winds up being) and serves as the lead collaborator. To use a sports analogy, The future of newspapers is like a company that owns a baseball park, and provides a full time pitcher.
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Free Business Idea – Right Wing Vitamins and Organic Foods
The Left Wing Temperament -
- Idealizes: caring, tolerance and balance
- Prone To: Hugging
The Right Wing Temperament -
- Idealizes: Cleanliness, organization and order
- Prone To: Personal space
There are many political overtones and exceptions to the above sweeping characterizations, but in terms of temperament they are true (just trust me on that).
Read more on Free Business Idea – Right Wing Vitamins and Organic Foods…
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How to fix frozen router bits
This is not computer related, but it was meaningful enough to merit mention here.
Last February I purchased a Triton Woodworking 3.5 Horsepower router, the only “elite” tool I have for my woodworking hobby. About 4 months ago I managed to get a 1″ radius round-over bit stuck (“Frozen” in woodworking jargon) into the router. I tried everything I could think of to remove the frozen router bit. I pulled so hard I bent the factory wrench (really, I did), I tried using micro lubrication, I let it run long enough for everything to heat up, I consulted the woodworking elders at Highland Woodworking, all to no avail. As Triton is an Australian company, they do not have a local service center. Read more on How to fix frozen router bits…
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