hey, it's noah

"The theory is flawed. After one month - admittedly not an “infinite” amount of time -..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:11:37 -0500

“The theory is flawed. After one month - admittedly not an “infinite” amount of time - the monkeys had partially destroyed the machine, used it as a lavatory, and mostly typed the letter “s”.”

- The results of a £2,000 Arts Council grant that tests the theory that “if a monkey hits keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time, it will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.”

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Is there any point to ‘frivolous’ academic research?

"Because, let me tell you, I remember the old days, the antegoogluvian era. It was O.K. — it wasn’t..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:39:05 -0500

“Because, let me tell you, I remember the old days, the antegoogluvian era. It was O.K. — it wasn’t horrible by any means. There were cordless telephones, and people wore comfortable sweaters. There was AltaVista, and Ask Jeeves, and HotBot, and Excite, and Infoseek, and Northern Light — with its deep results and its elegant floating schooner logo — and if you wanted to drag through several oceans at once, there was MetaCrawler. But the haul was haphazard, and it came in slow. You chewed your peanut-butter cracker, waiting for the screen to fill.”

- Great review of a new Google book.

Book Review - ‘Googled - The End of the World as We Know It,’ by Ken Auletta - Review - NYTimes.com [Via Snarkmarket]

How to Hire

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:31:17 -0500

How to Hire:

I think Aaron Swartz’s explanation of how he hires programmers is pretty applicable to hiring anyone. An excerpt:

There are three questions you have when you’re hiring a programmer (or anyone, for that matter): Are they smart? Can they get stuff done? Can you work with them? Someone who’s smart but doesn’t get stuff done should be your friend, not your employee. You can talk your problems over with them while they procrastinate on their actual job. Someone who gets stuff done but isn’t smart is inefficient: non-smart people get stuff done by doing it the hard way and working with them is slow and frustrating. Someone you can’t work with, you can’t work with.

I think what happens often (at least in the marketing industry) is that people move too far to “can you work with them” side and fail to pay enough attention to the other two buckets.

Via: How to Hire // NoahBrier.com

"The skills that once commanded $4 for every shiny word are far less valuable at a time when the..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:19:20 -0500

“The skills that once commanded $4 for every shiny word are far less valuable at a time when the supply of both editorial and advertising content more or less doubles every year.”

- The Media Equation - For Media, a Sunset Is Followed Quickly by a Sunrise - NYTimes.com

The Viral Non-Strategy

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:29:33 -0500

The Viral Non-Strategy:

Josh Kopelman, Managing Director of First Round Capital hits the nail on the head with his latest post about the “viral strategy” of startups:

Virality is something that has to be engineered from the beginning…and it’s harder to create virality than it is to create a good product. That’s why we often see good products with poor virality, and poor products with good virality. The reason that over $150 Billion is spent on US advertising each year is because virality is so hard. If virality was easy, there would be no advertising industry.

A few points on this: First, I’d add that virality is also partly by chance. Second, it drives me crazy when I hear/read about entrepreneurs talking about the product as if it’s the only thing that matters. Sure it’s important, but if a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody there to hear …

Via: The Viral Non-Strategy // NoahBrier.com

Ha. I hadn’t heard about Jeff Koons’ $25 million...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:12:39 -0500

Ha. I hadn’t heard about Jeff Koons’ $25 million hanging train for the LA County Museum of Art.

Jeff Koons’ ‘Train’ nowhere near its final destination, or even a start date | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times

Jocko Flocko, NASCAR Driver

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:04:10 -0500

Jocko Flocko, NASCAR Driver:

Today’s Learn Something Every Day intrigued me: “NASCAR driver, Tim Flock is the only driver in motor racing history to have to make a pit stop to remove a monkey from his car.”

The full story is over at Tim Flock’s official site. The monkey’s name was Jocko Flocko and actually drove with him for eight races as a publicity stunt. Flock explains the day he finally had to part ways with his monkey co-pilot:

Back then the cars had a trap door that we could pull open with a chain to check our tire wear. Well, during the Raleigh 300, Jocko got loose from his seat and stuck his head through the trap door, and he went berserk! Listen, it was hard enough to drive those heavy old cars back then under normal circumstances, but with a crazed monkey clawing you at the same time, it becomes nearly impossible! I had to come into the pits to put him out and ended up third. The pit stop cost me second place and a $600.00 difference in my paycheck. Jocko was retired immediately. I had to get that monkey off my back!

Awesome.

Via: Jocko Flocko, NASCAR Driver // NoahBrier.com

Uncomfortable Trends

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:58:30 -0500

Uncomfortable Trends:

Just last night I was telling my mom how much I love Google Hot Trends. I get the hourly alerts via RSS and am amazed by the insight and grounding it gives me. It’s easy to fall into our world of nerds and forget there are millions of people watching Florida quarterback and wondering why he had Hebrews 12:1-2 painted on his eye black.

Anyway, Danah Boyd makes a similar point in her excellent essay Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media:

Ironically, the one place where I’m finding people are being forced to think outside their box is the Trending Topics on Twitter. Consider a topic that trended two weeks ago: #thingsdarkiessay. Started in South Africa, this topic is fundamentally about language and cultural diversity but, when read in a U.S.-context, it reads as fundamentally racist. Boy did this blow up, forcing a lot of folks to think about language and cultural differences. Why? Because Trending Topics brings a topic that gained traction in a segment of the network to broader awareness. Unfortunately, it’s hard to actually get meaningful dialogue going even if trending topics trigger reactions.

Via: Uncomfortable Trends // NoahBrier.com

The Impact of Space

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:35:22 -0500

The Impact of Space:

Snarkmarket links to a very interesting On Language column and addendum about camel case. In addition to the idea that camel case has been popularized by programming languages (which makes sense), the following insight into the role of spaces between words caught my eye:

In Ireland and England during the seventh and eighth centuries, local priests had so much trouble with Latin that spaces were added to their liturgical texts as a crutch. Clerics discovered that reading became more fluent for everyone, because the eye can recognize separated words as distinctive shapes. Monks were able to copy manuscripts in silence, in accordance with many of their vows, and privacy intensified the experience of devotional reading. The innovation flourished and by the 13th century was standard in Latin everywhere. Angels in manuscript illustrations used to speak into the ears of scribes; now they presented them with books to read for themselves. Clerics tackled more complex texts, in greater numbers, and Saenger argues that silent reading seeded the flowering of medieval theology known as scholasticism.

Via: The Impact of Space // NoahBrier.com

Okay, this is the third thing in a row I’ve reblogged from...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:06:14 -0500

Okay, this is the third thing in a row I’ve reblogged from Colin. Get on Tumblr, dude.

’nuff said « BuzzMachine

Ivan Puig Art | Trend.Land -> Fashion Blog & Trend...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:05:20 -0500

Ivan Puig Art | Trend.Land -> Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine

Sweet Delorean commercial. “Live the dream …...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:00:20 -0500

Sweet Delorean commercial. “Live the dream … Today.”

"On the other hand, it’s clearly not good news that a severe-if-not-life-threatening shock such as..."

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:25:24 -0500

“On the other hand, it’s clearly not good news that a severe-if-not-life-threatening shock such as this one sends the dollar down rather than up. The immense fiscal cost of the financial crisis has hurt the dollar’s standing as the global reserve currency, and if I were at Treasury right now I’d be very concerned about this reaction. Not that there’s much Treasury can do about it.”

- Felix Salmon » Blog Archive » The dollar’s still not safe | Blogs |

Uncool is the new Cool

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:14:53 -0500

Uncool is the new Cool:

I was listening to the radio in the car this afternoon and something struck me: Of the three songs I heard, two of them were in the new Guitar Hero. This isn’t overly surprising, as the game is full of some of the most popular songs of the last thirty years, but it got me thinking about all the people who will experience those songs for the first time as part of the game. In a way, they become new, leaving their original hair-band or whatever other context and just become Guitar Hero tracks.

Anyway, all of that is a long way to say Brian Eno’s comments on the death of uncool struck me as part of the same trend:

We’re living in a stylistic tropics. There’s a whole generation of people able to access almost anything from almost anywhere, and they don’t have the same localised stylistic sense that my generation grew up with. It’s all alive, all “now,” in an ever-expanding present, be it Hildegard of Bingen or a Bollywood soundtrack. The idea that something is uncool because it’s old or foreign has left the collective consciousness.

Via: Uncool is the new Cool // NoahBrier.com

"First lady Michelle Obama chose to wear a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown Tuesday night..."

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:05:46 -0500

“First lady Michelle Obama chose to wear a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown Tuesday night to the first state dinner held by her husband’s administration.”

- Maybe in retrospect “flesh-colored” wasn’t the best way to describe her dress color …

The Associated Press: First lady wears Naeem Khan gown to state dinner [Via Sociological Images]

keithobrien: Apologies for not sourcing the creator, but this...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:51:29 -0500

keithobrien:

Apologies for not sourcing the creator, but this just wins 2010, which, I remind you, has not even started yet.

soupsoup: Muppets are forever. I should really just write a...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:25:04 -0500

soupsoup:

Muppets are forever.

I should really just write a script that automatically reblogs Muppet videos.

"Bill Parcells was famous for his Psychology of Results. You are what the record says you are. Lovie..."

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:17:58 -0500

“Bill Parcells was famous for his Psychology of Results. You are what the record says you are. Lovie Smith practices the Pathology of Reflection. The Chicago Bears are never as bad as they play in losses to Smith. Apparently they are brilliant practicers but I think most teams would look brilliant practicing against the Chicago Bears. If you don’t agree with the coach, you’re just a naysaying media member or unintelligent fan. Here are the facts. Three years ago the Bears lost the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts. And at the end of this season, they will have been a losing team since.”

- Well put.

Bears Must Fire Lovie Smith - Da’ Bears Blog

Just added Mayor at John F. Kennedy International Airport to my...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:10:11 -0500

Just added Mayor at John F. Kennedy International Airport to my jobs on LinkedIn. Thanks Foursquare!

See Logo with Flare for explanation. (via catbird)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:54:00 -0500

See Logo with Flare for explanation.

(via catbird)