1. Are You Being Served? (newyorker.com) “American workers are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. That’s the clear message of flight attendant Steven Slater’s emergence as a “working-class hero,” after he threw his job away with a tirade against passengers and a slide down an exit chute. Slater’s fifteen minutes [...]
“Every one of us has talent; the great challenge in life is finding an outlet to express it.” -Ed Witten
1. Regrets Of The Dying (inspirationandchai.com) “For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.”
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle
“The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that [...]
Like many words these days, “indie” has become a buzzword. But to me, “indie” carries a lot of meaning. To me, pure “indie” culture is socially easy-going and friendly. But don’t mistake that for laziness, because indies are passionate people at heart. They get really excited by something — the unrestricted exploration process, discovery, and [...]
1. Inside The Secret World Of Trader Joe’s (money.cnn.com) “Apple’s retail stores aren’t the only place where lines form these days. It’s 7:30 on a July morning, and already a crowd has gathered for the opening of Trader Joe’s newest outpost, in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The waiting shoppers chat about their favorite Trader Joe’s foods, [...]
Selected parts (I’ve taken what I think is most important) from Paul Graham’s “Taste For Makers”: Good design is simple. When you’re forced to be simple, you’re forced to face the real problem. When you can’t deliver ornament, you have to deliver substance. Good design is timeless. Aiming at timelessness is also a way to [...]
I’ve never been much interested in the past (which I think is different than “history”). Regardless of whether your past was good or bad, if you live in it, you’ll most certainly become unhappy. Either unhappy because it was terrible, or unhappy because it was so great, and presumably, your life now doesn’t live up [...]
My body lives joyously in the present, while my mind is immersed in discovering the future, the unknown, the next thing.
1. Don’t Send In The Clones (nytimes.com) “For a time in college, I shared a dorm suite with three other girls.”
It’s actually more like the elephant in our universities career centers. Prospective graduates don’t want to work a “desk job”. Sure, some pay nicely, and some may have to choose this route in order make ends meet. But in the long run, being rich isn’t what matters most to people. Rather, loving your work is [...]
We spend too much of our time in front of computer screens these days. While more online community probably exists because of this, I think there’s much less offline community. Afterall, there’s always a tradeoff. I’m aware that “online” is probably here to stay. But I just think the greatest benefit that technology can provide [...]
Like many, I dream of global peace. But by peace, I don’t just mean freedom from disturbance. To me, global peace also consists of shared happiness, community, and love.
1. The Illustrated Guide To A Ph.D. (might.net) “Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.”
In life, I believe we need action as much as we need oxygen. But my experiences and observations suggest that as one ages, one’s experience with action changes. As one ages, one’s experience with action becomes more disconnected. In order to resolve that, we have to reconnect one’s experience with action as one gets older. [...]
1. But Will It Make You Happy? (nytimes.com) “Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation [...]
1. Epic Confusion: The Narrative Of The Superathlete (nytimes.com) “A great many of the highest moments in sports these days come with an aftertaste of ambiguity, a feeling of: Really glad that I witnessed that, but what am I to make of it? The notion of looking up to the sports hero was always dubious. [...]
I’m beginning to think that true happiness comes from an environment that naturally encourages everyone to share and experience three things (in both one’s personal and professional lives). Freedom. Curiosity. Love. Perhaps I’ll elaborate someday.
1. The Graphing Calculator Story (nucalc.com) “Pacific Tech’s Graphing Calculator has a long history. I began the work in 1985 while in school. That became Milo, and later became part of FrameMaker. Over the last twenty years, many people have contributed to it. Graphing Calculator 1.0, which Apple bundled with the original PowerPC computers, originated [...]
1. Letting Go (newyorker.com) “Sara Thomas Monopoli was pregnant with her first child when her doctors learned that she was going to die. It started with a cough and a pain in her back. Then a chest X-ray showed that her left lung had collapsed, and her chest was filled with fluid. A sample of [...]
1. Depression-Era Color Photos (denverpost.com) “These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit [...]
From The Giving Pledge’s About section: “The Giving Pledge is an effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice either during their lifetime or after their death. Each person who chooses to pledge will [...]
1. Peter Norvig On Being Wrong (slate.com) “Peter Norvig, the director of research at Google, has been involved in this project since its toddlerhood. Norvig joined the company in 2001 and, from 2002 to 2005, served as its director of search quality — a position that put him in charge of the company’s core Web [...]
My most pleasurable days consist of me being active, where I’m engaged in focused and intriguing (and often times kinetic) activities. On the other hand, I’m always up for exploring when something piques my interest. During these times, following a vision isn’t as important because my curiosity directs me.
1. Keep Calm, Carry On… (alexisohanian.com) “Few people outside of friends & family knew about the following at the time it was going on; bringing it up now, long after I’ve left reddit, feels less self-serving and will hopefully be instructive. This came up briefly in a talk I gave at MIT, but this feels a [...]
1. Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: GitHub (37signals.com) “Q&A with Chris Wanstrath, CEO and Co-Founder of GitHub. This is part of our “Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud” series which profiles companies that have $1MM+ in revenues, didn’t take VC, and are profitable.”
1. Warren Buffett’s Mr. Fix-It (money.cnn.com) “The day after Lehman collapsed in September 2008, David Sokol noticed that the stock of Constellation Energy, a Baltimore utility, was plummeting. He called his boss, Warren Buffett, and said, ‘I see an opportunity here.’ Buffett, who had noticed the same thing, replied after a brief discussion: ‘Let’s go [...]
I just came across an interesting collection of startup resources via Y Combinator. You can check it out here.
It seems to me that’s what we all want. Even independent people. Even the none empathic. Perhaps especially independent and none empathic people. Love. We want to love, and be loved, in both our personal and professional lives. (I think we also hope for good health.) Life may be that simple. But how does one [...]
I just came across an interesting podcast series about entrepreneurship, entitled “Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders”, through Stanford University’s entrepreneurship site. I haven’t listened to any of them yet, but it looks like a good list of speakers. You can find out more about it here.