Strange Cargo

May
3rd

Thu

Consuming no protein at all on Monday, and catching up on Wednesday seemingly causes a different — better — physiological response, possibly because the deprivation, as a stressor, activates some pathways that facilitate the subsequent absorption of the nutrients (or something similar). And, until a few recent (and disconnected) empirical studies, this convexity effect has been totally missed by science —though not by religions, ancestral heuristics, and traditions. And if scientists get some convexity effects (doctors understand here and there nonlinearities in dose-response), the notion of convexity effects itself, though, appears completely missed from the language and methods, particularly biology, economics and other complex systems where it belongs the most.

— http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/chapter4.pdf

Mar
19th

Mon

http://www.mobileinc.co.uk/2011/08/can-the-next-instagramhipstamatickloutangry-birds-be-born-within-a-agency/

I keep thinking back to another quote from the article on Fast Company:

Tech startups begin with the big idea, then seek to monetize.
Agencies start with a budget, then seek the big idea.

Two guys on a limited budget can get together and build Instagram, getting 7 million users in less than a year, a couple of guys at Odeo can start a side project called Twitter and become one of the biggest things ever. But at agencies we are consistently unable to turn a app costing 5 or 6 figures into something that can engage people for longer than a campaign (if that).

Mar
1st

Thu

I want to suggest another image, one that comes closer to the Internet in practice: a great groaning table, creaking under bottomless platters of food and pitchers of drink, and we in our chairs, too exhausted to stand, mouths too numb to taste much, but with just enough energy to reach for more.

— Gluttony Goes Viral - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Feb
21st

Tue

weekender:

Team B excitement: demo of 3D rotating transform in CSS

Tuesday morning 8am walk.

weekender:

Rainbow over Manor House Hotel. Find the pot of gold.

Nov
10th

Thu

StickyGram - Your Instagrams As Magnets: Win Your Entire IG Feed as Magnets

stickygram:

StickyGram HQ is buzzing with excitement this week as we launch our biggest contest to date. It’s called Print My Feed and we’re offering to print one lucky Instagram user’s entire feed as StickyGrams.

This will be a month long global photo competition, split up to across 4 weekly photo…

Sep
5th

Mon

StickyGram - Your Instagrams As Magnets: StickyGrams in the Wild

stickygram:

What a roller coaster ride these last two months have been. Ever since we launched StickyGram the site hasn’t stopped buzzing.

Thank you for all the kind messages. It’s fantastic to know that you folks dig our little idea. In particular, we’ve enjoyed seeing all the images of StickyGrams…

(Source: stickygram)

Aug
5th

Fri

Anatolia’s Muslim entrepreneurs

Fueling this economic expansion is a new generation of entrepreneurs from Anatolia, in eastern Turkey. These businesspeople are conservative Muslims, but they aren’t extremists. The Anatolians are astonishing; no one can say for sure how they arrived on the scene as the dynamic engine of Turkish modernity. Ask an Anatolian entrepreneur about this success and he may credit a strong work ethic, combined with family values ingrained in the Muslim faith.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_3_muslim-economy.html

Jul
7th

Thu

stickygram:

Packaging, check (Taken with Instagram at Stickygram HQ)

(Source: stickygram)

Jun
15th

Wed

Trends are a manifestation of new enablers unlocking existing human needs

— From status symbols to STATUS STORIES