buzz

"Many people ask my what Neoteny (my company’s name) means. It means the retention of childlike..."

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:47:12 -0400

“Many people ask my what Neoteny (my company’s name) means. It means the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood. I first heard it from Timothy Leary when we were working on a book together. (It was called “The New Breed” about the techno youth culture. We never finished it, but I still have a pile of notes. Maybe I should get around to publishing some of it someday…) Tim loved the word. He used it to mean all of the great things that you often lose in adulthood such as curiosity, playfulness, imagination, joy, humor, wonder, etc. It is a biology term that the people in evolutionary theory use to when discussing traits that we retain in adulthood like lack of body hair, etc. There is a good web site about Neoteny at www.neoteny.org. Adulthood in the past meant that you finished learning most of what you needed to learn and you switched to production mode and started focusing on repeating tasks and narrowing your focus. I think that with the amount of change in the world today, it is impossible to “grow up” and finish your learning. I think Neoteny will become more and more of a survival trait in the future.”

- i never knew what Neoteny meant. Now I do. It’s an excellent word and I agree with Joi about the increasing importance of it. I’m going to see him today a few times and will tell him so myself.

The Meaning of Neoteny - Joi Ito’s Web

(via fred-wilson)

The timing of these two showing up in my twitter stream was...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:25:42 -0400

The timing of these two showing up in my twitter stream was great.

Don’t worry, boys. The Hot Potato is coming.

Malcolm Gladwell: Football, dog fighting, and brain damage

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:38:27 -0400

Malcolm Gladwell: Football, dog fighting, and brain damage:

mattlehrer:

Research released the findings of an N.F.L.-funded phone survey of just over a thousand randomly selected retired N.F.L. players—all of whom had played in the league for at least three seasons. Self-reported studies are notoriously unreliable instruments, but, even so, the results were alarming. Of those players who were older than fifty, 6.1 per cent reported that they had received a diagnosis of “dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other memory-related disease.” That’s five times higher than the national average for that age group. For players between the ages of thirty and forty-nine, the reported rate was nineteen times the national average. (The N.F.L. has distributed five million dollars to former players with dementia.)

…

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt called an emergency summit at the White House, alarmed, as the historian John Sayle Watterson writes, “that the brutality of the prize ring had invaded college football and might end up destroying it.” Columbia University dropped the sport entirely. A professor at the University of Chicago called it a “boy-killing, man-mutilating, money-making, education-prostituting, gladiatorial sport.” In December of 1905, the presidents of twelve prominent colleges met in New York and came within one vote of abolishing the game. But the main objection at the time was to a style of play—densely and dangerously packed offensive strategies—that, it turns out, could be largely corrected with rule changes, like the legalization of the forward pass and the doubling of the first-down distance from five yards to ten. Today, when we consider subtler and more insidious forms of injury, it’s far from clear whether the problem is the style of play or the play itself.

…

In one way or another, plenty of organizations select for gameness. The Marine Corps does so, and so does medicine, when it puts young doctors through the exhausting rigors of residency. But those who select for gameness have a responsibility not to abuse that trust: if you have men in your charge who would jump off a cliff for you, you cannot march them to the edge of the cliff—and dogfighting fails this test. Gameness, Carl Semencic argues, in “The World of Fighting Dogs” (1984), is no more than a dog’s “desire to please an owner at any expense to itself.”

…

Professional football players, too, are selected for gameness. When Kyle Turley was knocked unconscious, in that game against the Packers, he returned to practice four days later because, he said, “I didn’t want to miss a game.” Once, in the years when he was still playing, he woke up and fell into a wall as he got out of bed. “I start puking all over,” he recalled. “So I said to my wife, ‘Take me to practice.’ I didn’t want to miss practice.” The same season that he was knocked unconscious, he began to have pain in his hips. He received three cortisone shots, and kept playing. At the end of the season, he discovered that he had a herniated disk. He underwent surgery, and four months later was back at training camp. “They put me in full-contact practice from day one,” he said. “After the first day, I knew I wasn’t right. They told me, ‘You’ve had the surgery. You’re fine. You should just fight through it.’ It’s like you’re programmed. You’ve got to go without question—I’m a warrior. I can block that out of my mind. I go out, two days later. Full contact. Two-a-days. My back locks up again. I had re-herniated the same disk that got operated on four months ago, and bulged the disk above it.” As one of Turley’s old coaches once said, “He plays the game as it should be played, all out,” which is to say that he put the game above his own well-being.

via Rob.

"This is an odd award. You’d expect it to come later in Obama’s presidency and tied to some..."

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:48:31 -0400

“This is an odd award. You’d expect it to come later in Obama’s presidency and tied to some particular event or accomplishment. But the unmistakable message of the award is one of the consequences of a period in which the most powerful country in the world, the ‘hyper-power’ as the French have it, became the focus of destabilization and in real if limited ways lawlessness. A harsh judgment, yes. But a dark period. And Obama has begun, if fitfully and very imperfectly to many of his supporters, to steer the ship of state in a different direction. If that seems like a meager accomplishment to many of the usual Washington types it’s a profound reflection of their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was ‘normal history’ rather than dark aberration.”

- Josh Marshall (via langer)

"If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances."

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:55:17 -0400

“If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.”

- Julia Sorel

I am frequently surprised at the average person’s lack of willingness to try to accomplish something potentially a little beyond their abilities.

"When we were building Flickr, we worked very hard. We worked all waking hours, we didn’t stop. My..."

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:25:34 -0400

“When we were building Flickr, we worked very hard. We worked all waking hours, we didn’t stop. My Hunch cofounder Chris Dixon and I were talking about how hard we worked on our first startups, his being Site Advisor, acquired by McAfee — 14-18 hours a day. We agreed that a lot of what we then considered “working hard” was actually “freaking out”. Freaking out included panicking, working on things just to be working on something, not knowing what we were doing, fearing failure, worrying about things we needn’t have worried about, thinking about fund raising rather than product building, building too many features, getting distracted by competitors, being at the office since just being there seemed productive even if it wasn’t — and other time-consuming activities. This time around we have eliminated a lot of freaking out time. We seem to be working less hard this time, even making it home in time for dinner.”

- Caterina Fake - Working hard is overrated - Sept 25, 2009

Startups are hard. They require an insane amount of hard work and stress. But I like how Caterina calls out the difference between freaking out vs working hard.

(via bijan)

"Most Infomercial-esque: Ajay Kulkarni from Sensobi, a company making a “personal relationship..."

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:48:00 -0400

“Most Infomercial-esque: Ajay Kulkarni from Sensobi, a company making a “personal relationship management” app for the BlackBerry, was so emphatic he could’ve sold a thousand ShamWows. (My neighbor was downloading the app while the presentation was still going on.)”

- Boston.com article on TechStars Boston Investor Evening. My boy loves his blackberry. Go Sensobi.

funsizebytes: lindstifa: This is why I married them. Reblogged...

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:30:33 -0400

funsizebytes:

lindstifa:

This is why I married them.

Reblogged because it made me smile for having married well.

Amen.

Men, Women, and Parking Spaces

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:45:05 -0400

funsizebytes:

Subtitle: Wherein I take my personal observations and consider them normative…

Yesterday, I wrote:

I just realized that the difference between the way men & women choose a parking place for a car has everything to do with public bathrooms.

I have long noticed a difference between myself and my wife when choosing a parking spot in a not-crowded parking lot.

I will leave at least one vacant spot between myself and the next car.

She will park right next to another car even if she doesn’t have to.

Yesterday I realized that our friend (also female) had done the same thing.

Maybe it was because the parking lot just had the lines re-painted, but suddenly I saw it just like each spot was a urinal.

Every man over the age of reason understands that when choosing a urinal, you choose the one as far away from any other guy as possible. There was even an email which circulated a few years ago which had ASCII drawings showing how to decide.

But the rules boil down to this:

Unless you are at a sporting event, concert, or other extremely-high bathroom-volume experience, you do not choose to stand next to another guy at the urinal. Ever.

I mentioned this to The Wife and at first she laughed—but then she added: “Well, see, we always choose a bathroom stall next to someone in case there isn’t any toilet paper.”

I rest my case.

Really, what more evidence do you need?

Coda: when not using the urinal, men might choose a bathroom stall next to another guy. Most guys will try to get some distance between them and the next guy, but really, our highest priorities for the sit-down are a) clean seat and b) no previous unflushed content. Also, if we look down and there is no toilet paper, there is exactly a 0.000000% chance that we would ask the guy in the next stall for toilet paper. Seriously, I would sooner use my underwear as toilet paper than stick my hand under another guy’s stall asking for toilet paper, because these are your options for what happens next:

1) He pees on your hand

2) He poops on your hand

3) He ignores you

4) He’s an elected Republican official and puts his dick in your hand because he thinks you gave “the signal”

5) He comes out of his stall, kicks in the door to your stall, and beats the crap out of you.

6) He actually gives you toilet paper.

Now I know that seems like a one-in-six chance, but really, that last option is like 2% because “getting your hand peed on” has about a 75% probability.

merlin: YouTube - The Wire Season 1 Opening &...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:32:30 -0400

merlin:

YouTube - The Wire Season 1 Opening & Intro

“Got to. This America, man.”

"In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable. Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible."

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:06:38 -0400

“In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable. Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible.”

- Michael McFaul, National Security Council by way of Signal vs Noise

Pssst, wanna buy a Prada bag for $20?

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:19:44 -0400

smartasshat:

A Movado watch for $25, a Gucci handbag for $20.

…

Federal officials, working with the Derry police, spent two years investigating the sale of counterfeit products at a local flea market.

…

Buying a product that looks like the real thing but isn’t may seem like a victimless crime, but it isn’t. Among the victims are the people who lost a job or didn’t get one because of the counterfeit trade

…

Wow. Unbelievably flawed logic. No one who pays $20 for a Gucci bag would pay $700 for it if the fake weren’t around. Yeah, I get that they shouldn’t be allowed to put fake labels on shit, but a two year investigation to raid a flea market? Please.

Haha… that logic is pretty self-serving. To their point though (but certainly not in agreement), those that are willing to drop $700 on a handbag are going to be less likely if the $20 version is being flaunted by the “undesirables”.

As I mourn the loss of someone I didn’t know, hadn’t heard of and could have conceivably...

Mon, 11 May 2009 20:48:00 -0400

As I mourn the loss of someone I didn’t know, hadn’t heard of and could have conceivably never have learned of, I am amazed at the unexpected consequence of the digital-social lives we now lead. I remember talking with an alumnus of my grad school after a number of attempts to link up. We laughed about how much I “knew” about him and his family just as a result of having met him once and following his flickr stream. I congratulated him on his latest child and wished his wife (also an alumnus) and family the best. It felt just a little creepy to have that intimate knowledge of someone I didn’t “know”.

Today I learned of the death of @jamield. After seeing it mentioned for the 3rd or 4th time on twitter, I did a little research. After reading a poem dedicated to her and a couple of other thoughts, I began to get some notion of who she was. It turns out that @jamield was just another person. I mean, she wasn’t “famous” as we might consider a celebrity. She had micro-celebrity of a sort. Internet-famous, even. Based upon the response to her passing away, I can only say that she touched a lot of people’s lives. She was apparently warm, friendly and quick with a joke. A good person.

I read her last twitter updates. Checked out her tumblelog. I am struck by how innocuous her last messages were. It drives home the sudden and unexpected nature of her death. The sudden nature of death in general. I guess I’m struck by the outpouring of sympathy and feelings of loss from others who had never met or heard of @jamield either.

I didn’t know Jamie Leigh Dyer Dordek, but if she was anything close to the things that have been said of her, I too am sad for the loss.

lindstifa: I am in lurv. sniffyjenkins: Why did I not know...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:22:47 -0400

lindstifa:

I am in lurv.
sniffyjenkins:

Why did I not know about this blog before, people?

Tiny Art Director. She’s four years old. He’s Dad (Bill Zelman). She tells him what to draw. He draws it. She critiques it & then shit happens. It’s utterly charming & very funny. Example:

“The Brief: I’m going to tell you what to draw. Draw a dragon sneaking up on a girl. She’s picking flowers.
The Critique: Daddy it’s not supposed to be like that! He has dog legs! I’m so mad at you! I’m going to erase those legs! Daddy why did you do those legs??? [collapses in tears]
Job Status: Rejected”

Tiny Art Director

This is utterly adorable.

"vctips: When you email me a slide deck that ends in “version12.ppt”, somehow I..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:27:31 -0400

“vctips: When you email me a slide deck that ends in “version12.ppt”, somehow I don’t think I’m the first person you’re pitching… (@joshk)”

- Is being the first person I’ve pitched important to you? Are you looking to plant a flag or do a deal? If you want me to lie to you and tell you that you’re my first, I can do that, I just didn’t realize that would sweeten the pot, so to speak.

Incidentally, if you get “version1.ppt”, I’d think it’s a safe bet that little time or thought has been put into it. I don’t think I’ve ever sent anything to anyone important that didn’t get to v5 at least.

A friend had work commissioned by the MoMA. I missed it but...

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:11:00 -0500

A friend had work commissioned by the MoMA. I missed it but here’s a video on the installation.

Titled, “I Want You To Want Me,” it’s a data visualization made up of data from dating profiles.

Hot. Ness.

"For most of its history basketball has measured not so much what is important as what is easy to..."

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:52:00 -0500

“For most of its history basketball has measured not so much what is important as what is easy to measure — points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots — and these measurements have warped perceptions of the game.”

- I read the excellent article about Shane Battier titled The No-Stats All-Star and I couldn’t help but consider how the same misguided obsession with easy-to-measure statistics has influenced the design of social networking applications and rendered many of them ineffective.

Is Facebook or Tumblr really more useful when you have more friends?

(via muchonieve via zachklein)

This is the standard incentive system issue. The behavior you want to motivate is rarely easily measured. In team sports they focus on all of these individual stats even though what really matters is how the team performs. The problem is it’s very difficult to quantify the benefit a player provides to a team.

For example, in business, sales would seem to be about as close to an easily quantifiable activity. However, if all of your incentives only focus on the quantifiable ($), then you can motivate other dysfunctional behaviors in the margins. That’s why my understanding is that you need to push other more subtle levers focused on team dynamics to motivate the appropriate behavior.

funsizebytes: Best job ever of not cracking a smile to let on...

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:21:34 -0500

funsizebytes:

Best job ever of not cracking a smile to let on that “Yeah, I know what I just said”

Wow. The man must be a sociopath to let that one out with out a giggle.

Because what I really need is another image of myself and in...

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:28:29 -0400

Because what I really need is another image of myself and in cartoon form, no less.

http://www.faceyourmanga.com/

Now I can re-buy iTunes songs as ringtones. Does anyone believe...

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:03:00 -0400

Now I can re-buy iTunes songs as ringtones. Does anyone believe that the first thing I want to do after dropping a sum of money I wouldn’t classify as insignificant on this phone is to BUY ringtones? I guess I brought it on myself. If lining up to give someone $300 doesn’t classify you as an easy mark, what does?