May 2012
12 posts
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“researchers Nicholas Christakis at Harvard, James Fowler at UCSD, and Rob Cross...”
– megan garber in network map of 14K VC investments
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“the road isn’t infinite. it’s possible that, just around the corner, there’s a...”
– peter thiel & LOTR
still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate, and though we pass them by today, tomorrow we may come this way and take the hidden paths that run towards the Moon or to the Sun.
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“the few who knew what might be learned,
foolish enough to put their whole heart...”
– faust ▸ wagner
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“how many digits does 125^100 have?”
– peter thiel ▸ max levchin
…more from Thiel in NO DEATH, NO TAXES
on Leo Strauss: this is always a problem with élites, they’re always skewed in an optimistic direction, it may be true to an even greater extent at present. if you were born in 1950, and you were in the top-tenth...
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“if it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong.”
– richard feynman
in general, we look for a new law by the following process:
first we guess it; then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law that we guessed is right
then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience,...
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sad-eyed lady of the lowlands →
taking up the entire side B of Bob Dylan’s classic record Blonde on Blonde, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands can sometimes be overlooked due to its length - a few harmonica solos and Dylan’s words taking us through the entire eleven-minute song. sure, it’s not conventional, but Dylan often did things his own particular way, and that’s part of why his spot among the all-time greats cannot be...
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“the difference between Edison and many unsuccessful inventors was that he knew...”
– geoff dutton in why innovation happens and why you should care
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“individual analysis confirms again the grouping of the band into three...”
– peter gloor in Jazz Flow: analyzing “group flow” among Jazz musicians through “honest signals”
in this project we aim to analyze “honest signals” between Jazz musicians by using sociometric badges with the goal of identifying some of the pre-requisites for “flow”, the state...
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darkness on the edge of town →
the 70’s were a fascinating time for music, no doubt about it. they were also fascinating time for Bruce Springsteen. if you haven’t watched The Promise documentary, you should. 1975’s Born to Run propelled Bruce into superstardom and produced a number of legendary tunes: Thunder Road, Born to Run, Jungleland, Backstreets to name a few (that’s almost half the record). what followed was however...
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“the chess grand master consider no more moves than does the expert;
he just...”
– robyn dawes
…from the robust beauty of improper linear models in decision making.
the linear model cannot replace the expert in deciding such things as “what to look for,” but it is precisely this knowledge of what to look for in reaching the decision that is the special...
April 2012
12 posts
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“we should seek to be really good monopolists. instead of being slightly better...”
– peter thiel.
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“you don’t need hundreds of viral features to succeed. in fact, most great...”
– adam nash
to design virality into your product, there really is a three step process:
clearly articulate and design out the features where members can touch non-members. wireframes and flows are sufficient. personally, I also recommend producing a simple mathematical model with some assumptions...
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towards a unified theory of starting up →
1. find the people you believe you could build something amazing with. these are your cofounders.
2. find something you love deeply that could be so much better. this is your market.
3. if you spent your lifetime on that thing, what could it become? this is your vision.
4. what is the smallest possible thing you could build that would test whether others agree? this is your minimal viable...
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“overdoing email can be as detrimental to your IQ as smoking weed”
– katherine ellison
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RIP Levon Helm →
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Watchnas & clapton - change the world.
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Augmented Paper →
the interface and UX style I most enjoy, particularly on iPad, is something I think of as augmented paper. Augmented Paper, for me, has these properties:
a quiet, aesthetically pleasing, breathable, layout-conscious treatment of information, where functionality is as implicit as reasonably possible, and where interface is minimized rather than either celebrated or avoided
information presented...
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little wing →
jimi hendrix - little wing
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“thefacebook is a corporation with a database in which they would like to record...”
– matt webb
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tangled up in blue →
“this song took me 10 years to live, and two years to write” Dylan often said before playing Tangled Up in Blue in concert. his marriage was crumbling in 1974 as he wrote what would become the opener on Blood on the Tracks and his most personal examination of hurt and nostalgia. Dylan’s lyrical shifts in perspective, between confession and critique, and his acute references to the sixties...
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“you shall not pass”
– gandalf the white
March 2012
32 posts
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“having money is overrated when you are brought up not to believe you are...”
– gil elbaz
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“what you start to understand, is that assumptions in biology are often based on...”
– John Quackenbush
then and now, Quackenbush’s creed is that his software tools must be available in the public domain.
Quackenbush was considerably irked, then, when TIGR decided to go with licensing agreements for said tools instead. he remains convinced that attempting to write and market...
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Jim Yong Kim →
Jim Yong Kim, nominated to be the next World Bank president, is a prominent player in global health care, particularly in developing countries.
Mr. Kim, currently president of Dartmouth College, previously led the global health and social medicine department at Harvard Medical School. He has served as a director of the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization, where he focused on...
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love will tear us apart →
in some cases, a song can just be so tragic in nature, where you need not be familiar with the context or meaning to grasp just the heaviness of its content. Joy Division’s 1979 Love Will Tear us Apart was released in April 1980; singer Ian Curtis took his own life the following month.
the track is burdened by the strangely beautiful desperation weighing on Curtis’ mind: suicidal tendencies, a...
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never go back →
Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach stepped in to produce one track and co-write three songs on Grace Potter and the Nocturnals’ upcoming album The Lion the Beast the Beat, set for a June 12th release on Hollywood Records. The disc’s lead single is the bluesy and upbeat “Never Go Back,” which Auerbach co-wrote.
When Grace Potter and Auerbach wrote the song, they really intended just to play around...
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“great founders fail, and weak ones grow to be great. impenetrable markets open...”
– BRYCE DOT VC on the agony of being correct
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“Mr Osborne always starts off with a sense of where he wants to end up and then...”
– J.G.
as if there were any other way to go about your business ?!
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“I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in...”
– ben franklin essay to richard price
the essay goes on to discuss the way different foods affect the odor of flatulence and to propose scientific testing of farting. Franklin also suggests that scientists work to develop a drug, “wholesome and not disagreeable”, which can be mixed with...
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“i keep on climbing higher and higher”
– Felix Baumgartner
Felix prepares to take a test jump at 13.6 miles above ground
…in preparation for his 23-mile-high skydive later this summer
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“this is what patents are for, right ? to protect companies with original IP...”
– m
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(white man) in hammersmith palais →
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“sometimes things can irritate you so you become aware of a problem, which is a...”
– Sir Jonathan Ive
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“to understand demand properly, you must know whether it is funded by the buyers’...”
– ray dalio
two sorts of credit cycle are at the heart of mr dalio’s economic model:
the business cycle, which typically lasts five to eight years and usually ends in a recession because the central bank raises the interest rate, reducing borrowing and demand
the debt cycle which can last 50-70...
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“prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. if you want to make ambitious...”
– paul graham
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“creativity is the residue of time wasted”
– albert einstein
it is this ability to attack problems as a beginner, to let go of all preconceptions and fear of failure, that’s the key to creativity.
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“one of my tricks for generating startup ideas is to imagine the ways in which...”
– paul graham
7 frighteningly ambitious startup ideas:
new search engine
replace email
replace universities
internet drama
the next Steve Jobs
bring back moore’s law
ongoing diagnosis
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born ready to die →
it’s a perfect marriage… dark and mysterious… soulful and gritty.
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“it is when you see your reflection most clearly that you may feel the...”
– spike
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nautical disaster →
despite The Tragically Hip’s cult status in their home country of Canada, they’ve maintained a relatively low profile in the United States. over the years, they’ve earned a reputation as an excellent live band, with Nautical Disaster being a cornerstone in their live performance.
Nautical Disaster recounts an accident at sea and the nightmares that ensued for one of the survivors. the...