Unbelievable
January 30th, 2009
Just an unbelievable first decent.
Terje’s First Descent – Click here for this week’s top video clips
Archive
Archive for January, 2009
What’s Cooking
January 22nd, 2009
If you throw a frog into boiling water, he will jump out, but if you increase the heat of the water slowly, he will get accustomed to the increasing heat and eventually get cooked.
If you throw a man onto a boiling planet, he will jump off, but if you increase the heat of the planet slowly, he will get accustomed to the increasing heat and eventually get cooked.
These photos were clipped from www.doublexposure.net
Running the Numbers An American Self-Portrait
January 18th, 2009
I read this submission below from Chris Jordon and his photo essay shocked, impressed and inspired me to lessen my waste.
Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month.
This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the roles and responsibililties of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming. ~chris jordan, Seattle, 2008
Click Here for is his photo essay:
Don’t Go After That Dream Too Soon
January 17th, 2009
In 1990, a friend of mine, Yudy suggested we start a children’s wear company to fill a void he saw in infant surf wear. We came up with the name Surf Babies and launched the company with no money and lots of good intentions. We built custom fabrics, designed unique styles and set out to land the best accounts we could… but what we didn’t know…was how to make baby clothes.
We jumped into the fray with a determined frenzy without adequate funding or preparations. We were told that under-funded small businesses don’t work but we were too confident to care. We were convinced that the need for our product was so great, and our brand differentiation so unique, we could just produce our way to success.
Ultimately, our failure lay not as much in being under-funded but in being too aggressive. We went after our dream account, Nordstrom’s in our first season and they picked us up in 4 stores. But, we were new to the production game and ended up delivering inferior products that didn’t sell thru and they never picked us up again.
Looking back on that experience I would have waited a season or two until we pitched the big account. This would have given us the time to perfect our production systems and ensure we delivered the best product on time. There is no substitute for strategy and thorough planning and you need to give yourself the time to create both.
Are you Positive?
January 16th, 2009
The entrepreneur path is a circuitous route, filled with potholes and generally fraught with peril. Optimism is undeniably necessary for an entrepreneur but a positive attitude is even more powerful. Exuding confidence in your vision, not just with your words but your body language is equally important.
Encourage those around you. Keep them stoked with positive reinforcement. Don’t just believe in yourself…Know you are going to succeed.
Acknowledge the reality of your situation but don’t give in to doubt, smash the doubt with renewed resolve and dedication. And keep your balance. When the highs come share them with those that contributed and when the lows come, dig in and get over it. The path is the challenge and silver lining.
If you aren’t challenged, you’re not living.
Opportunity is Made, not Offered
January 12th, 2009
The lack of confidence in today’s economy has bled into every sector of consumerism and decision making. But history has proven that radical innovation thrives during a downturn and that opportunity abounds, even now. At Mobile Media Now we have taken the obvious cost cutting steps to streamline our operations but more importantly, we dropped strategies or products that didn’t fit our core business. We have shored up morale with a staff option incentive and redistributed work load and responsibility.
Having dropped the distractions, we are now focused on our core competencies and key differentiators. And there feels like no better time to follow our convictions then now when our clients are hurting and our competitors are disappearing. We believe in our innovative product HotClickVideo so we are going for it. We are offering companies a new way to earn revenues during a period when their earnings are shrinking. In the process of creating new options for other companies, we have given a unique opportunity to our own.
Innovation needs Presentation
January 7th, 2009
The path to change is littered with new products that failed to convey their worth. In trying to devise the best way to present our HotClickVideo concept of Video Garage Sales, I came across Douglas Englebarts presentation in 1964 of the computer screen, the hyperlink, hierarchical lists, user testing and even a mouse for the first time. The value and benefit of an idea are worthless unless you people can understand it.
A Sage Seagull
January 6th, 2009
While sitting on a beachside bench with my daughter last year I was enlightened by a pigeon. Lily and I had been having breakfast when we noticed an elderly man feeding the birds. He had the rapt attention of large, Western Seagulls with bright orange tips on yellow beaks that were either shrieking or biting at rivals. There were a host of smaller California Gulls, smaller in stature, but more agile and constantly on the moving. Then there were a few pigeons…
Each time the man threw a wad of bread crumbs before him a flock of birds responded. The Westerns were all over the place, flapping their wings, punching out their chests and generally scaring all other birds away from the largest pieces of bread. The California Gulls were flitting in between the Westerns, avoiding their beak thrusts and darting in to grab any scraps they could.
The Western Gulls spent the entire time squawking challenges, rushing to and fro with wings spread to discourage any birds from getting in their way. The California Gulls were constantly on the move to avoid their aggressive cousins and focused on retrieving the mid-sized chunks that were uncontested or perfectly thrown.
Meanwhile, the pigeons worked. They kept their head down pecking at the earth, dancing around the squabbles and seeking out uncontested crumbs. The Western’s disregarded them as a threat to their big chunks and would only pause for seconds to intimidate them. The California Gulls all but ignored these puny pigeons that moved throughout the melee, continuously picking up perfect bites, unmolested by their posturing counterparts.
What I drew from this experience is that in business it pays to cover your bets. Make sure you are going after those large accounts with the big upsides but don’t forget to keep the smaller, consistent business coming in because they keep the bills paid.
Big Inspiration
January 3rd, 2009
Strength is often mis-defined in the form of muscular, financial or otherwise frivalous ways. This man defines strength. are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html
Disaster Preparedness
January 3rd, 2009
My father grew up in the shadow of World War 2, served 8 years in the marines and had a penchant for survival. His business card stated his occupation was… Purveyor and Procurer of Fine Exotic Woods, and in lesser print… Mule and Jackass Training. When he moved from Orange County to his 10 acre ranch he started an earthquake preparedness effort in his new hometown that quickly spread throughout the County. His motto…
You can never be too prepared.
After Katrina hit I renewed my commitment to his maxim and made sure I had my family covered with emergency water, food and crucial supplies. If you haven’t prepared yours yet I suggest the following sites that can help you get prepared: ready.gov; iprepare.com; and survivorind.com.