September 2008
21 posts
Reporter: Senator McCain, what did you think of Gov. Palin's remarks during her interview with Katie Couric?
McCain: I can't comment on them specifically, as I have not watched the interview. I do know that Sarah Palin and I share the same world view.
Me: So the world view you share is a hodge-podge of phrases, followed by a random orderings of words? Listen, you snot, we know you've seen it, and even reamed her out privately. Thanks for trying to gloss over your VP stunt, and for feigning respect for the American people.
Can Successful Video Games be Fun? (Part 1)
“Woah, isn’t that the whole point of video games, Aaron?”
Well, it was, and ostensibly it still is, but I’d like to open your eyes to the hidden economic and psychological mechanics that are forcing successful video games to be increasingly less fun.
Let’s look at Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, one of the most successful video games ever. WoW rakes-in an...
The Internet is Incredible...
… because of its power to create unbelievable connections between people.
One of my favorite artists from our site just friended me on Facebook… and as it turns out she is a student in Baghdad!
How new this kind of interaction is! I was fortunate enough to attend a highly diverse, multi-national high-school, and it provided my first exposure to foreign cultures and ideas. I’m...
Self Discipline - A Field Report
I’m grateful to have lot of passion and optimism in my approach to life. However, I’ve always been envious of those who demonstrate a great deal of self-discipline. Since I don’t believe passion and discipline are mutually exclusive, I set out this summer to acquire this skill I didn’t seem to have.
Here is a recap of the things I’m proud to have accomplished this...
Path101 Results
Path101 aims to help people find well-matched careers. Their first offering, is a personality quiz that identifies your strongest (and weakest) traits, and offers up the most compatible industries / careers based on their database. Here are my results:
Highest Scoring Traits
Teamwork
Extroversion
Confidence
Lowest Scoring Traits
Concreteness
Perfectionism
Orderliness
Like-minded people...
Watchvia fred-wilson
I have a big crush on Sarah Silverman!
Wacky Idea #1: Veto's Cafe
I’m going to float a wacky idea that I came up with at lunch today. It sharply divided the DK Pictures offices. Obviously, I happen to think it could work…. maybe in NYC? You be the judge, and let me know… or feel free to build it, and I’ll be the first customer at your grand opening.
Veto’s Cafe:
At Veto’s, you don’t decide what you eat for lunch, we...
“Has everybody grasped that their great-grandchildren are going to be watching...”
– Gary Vaynerchuk In addition to a lot of other fantastic thing Gary says, this one strikes me as really interesting. What is a world like when your ancestors’ online presence is fairly real and present? (Related: see notes from my lucky 1on1 with Gary back in July)
Mocked for Video-game Night...
… but when you make video-game ‘like’ things during the day, can’t we just call it over-flowing enthusiasm for your industry? Passion? Research? Networking? Yes. Yes, we can.
“One thing I found is that, in general, the social dynamics of the MMORPGs were...”
– Worlds In Motion - AGDC: Multiverse’s Moore On Why Social Worlds Need Games
Reblogs: Some Matter, Some Don't
I have had the good fortune of being re-blogged a few times (but who’s counting?)
Observations:
“Reblog bait” is a real tactic that works as designed, though largely ineffectual. You could make it onto Tumblr Radar, you could appear in hundreds of new dashboard pages, but ultimately you’ll net scant-few new followers. (It will, however, help your PageRank a great deal so...
LHC Webcam Feed →
zombielove:
Worth watching for a minute or two. It looks like they’re pretty busy around the clock.
Rhetoric Tweak
I’ve got a very simple rhetorical technique AND it will make you a more effective communicator. (Credit goes to Manager Tools, which is a fantastic podcast)
Try obliterating the word ‘but’ from your writing and speaking, replacing it with the word ‘and’ instead.
“Wow, this is simple but effective!” => “Wow, this is simple and effective!”
...
Everything you need to know about the Large Hadron...
nrbd:
There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about the LHC, and considering that I’ve been looking forward to this thing for, oh, 3 years or so, I’d like to clear up some of the concerns. I’ll offer simplified answers that save you the trouble of parsing through Wikipedia, and REALLY really simplified answers that you can tell your friends when they say, “OH SHIT, I HEARD THAT THING...
Spore is inspiring. It’s hard to put down, and it begs you to try and do more with it. Awesome.
Standardized Testing in the Digital Age
Standardized testing seems a bit archaic. Here’s what I want to know: if we assume that every student has access to the internet while taking a test, what does that do to the format of the test, and the nature of the questions?
Ideally, you are testing for intelligence. Intelligence is NOT memorization (a skill that standardized tests place a premium on). A good memory is admirable, but I...
When talking to an overly knowledgeable person (you know the type), I can’t help but think: “You’re an organic second-level cache for Wikipedia.” Props for being such a great cache, but if you left the room, I’d survive with my iPhone, just fine.
(Intelligence, relevance & creativity are still welcome, and A-OK, in my book)
