February 2010
54 posts
WatchI decided I want to post more videos.
There’s nothing especially amazing about this one. It’s just a typical night in the Bain house. Lisa had the brilliant idea to do breakfast-for-dinner, which is why I sound so giddy :-)
January 2010
49 posts
Barefoot Running: Is It Right for You? →
What’s the argument against barefoot running at this point? It looks funny, I guess.
“The venture community has started to pile into the space with Accel leading a...”
– Thoughtful post by Todd Dagres on private sale sites. My work at CrowdSprout was a little too early to get my leg humped, I guess :-)
“Mr. Jobs owns approximately 5.5 million shares of the Company’s common stock....”
– Even I didn’t know this.
From Apple’s 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders Proxy Statement. (via marc)
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The Science Behind Failed Resolutions →
Here’s a month old WSJ article that I just got around to reading. I wish I remembered how I originally found it, but I don’t. It was probably from GiveMeSomethingToRead.com.
The article makes the case that the portion of your brain that controls willpower behaves like a muscle. This means both that it can tire in the short run, and that it can be strengthened over time.
I put this...
Typing Errors - Reason Magazine →
Turns out the QWERTY keyboard was not designed to slow people down, and is faster than other typing alternatives.
It’s fun when urban legends get debunked.
I don’t remember how I found this article. It’s been in my Instapaper library for a few days. It was probably through John Gruber or Marco Arment.
DailyBooth.com/Bain →
I’m giving this a shot. I’m not sure if it’ll land closer to 12Seconds.tv, which I’ve basically abandoned, or Foursquare, which I’ve embraced.
I’m using it for the same reason that I started using Twitter originally: I like the role it serves as a widget in my blog’s sidebar.
It should be more interesting as I develop a habit of posting from places...
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Wu Tang Vs The Beatles: if you're wondering, it's... →
pablog:
Listen. Now.
I never get tired of mashups. This is Wu Tang lyrics over Beatles melodies. Free to download, but it took me a couple tries to get the download to work.
“ “Seat Cover” – an attractive female passenger in a vehicle.
...”
– Just a small sample of the brilliant list of CB lingo on Wikipedia. I wish these were more widely known, they’d be great for conversational allusions.
E.G. “Did you see Eric leaving work with that seat cover the other day?”
toddwickersty-deactivated201001 asked: Do you take/make those panoramic photos on an iPhone? If so, what app do you use?
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“Mr. Taylor follows a very basic lesson plan often referred to by educators as “I...”
– What Makes a Great Teacher?
So many great bits in this article. It had never occurred to me before how hand-raising in a classroom leaves so many students at a disadvantage.
We had an equivalent of equity sticks in b-school: an Excel model that randomly chose a student to answer a question. We...
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“The cause of the floor’s collapse remains under investigation.”
– Weight Watchers clinic floor collapses under dieters.
Also via Lee.
“When asked directly whether his bank had stress tested for a house price fall,...”
– Wall Street chiefs admit to not stress testing a fall in housing market.
Via my b-school buddy, Lee.
“For smokers who derive a self-esteem boost from smoking — perhaps they see it as...”
– Clever Freakonomics post, but didn’t we cover this in the 1960’s (at least on TV) and decide it was silly?
benjaminstein:
Ben: I can’t believe my Grandma doesn’t have wifi. That’s like living in a place without clean drinking water.
Arin: Why don’t you just tether your iPhone to your laptop?
Ben: …
Arin: …
Ben: How did you even know to say that?
Arin: I subscribe to a blog of things to say to frustrate your nerdy husband
It’s a shame the girl was...
The Future of Decision Making: Less Intuition,... →
My old HBS professor, Andy McAfee, has a blog post on on the Harvard Business Review site about decision making.
It’s full of both insight and neat cocktail banter (e.g. a Princeton economist is using meteorological data to model future wine quality, and, in some cases, outsmarting Robert Parker).
If your work involves making decisions based on a mixture of data and intuition, give this...
mattk11 asked: What's the theme you are using? Kind of has a Where's Waldo look to it...
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Beyond the grammatical looking glass
In my attempt to double-check the appropriate plural of “Starbucks,” I discovered the grammatical concept: “mass noun“…
[Mass nouns] cannot be directly modified by a numeral without specifying a unit of measurement, and that they cannot combine with an indefinite article.
In learning about mass nouns, I came across “cumulative reference“…
If one collection of...
“This payment was automatically returned by PayPal on Jan 5, 2010 because the...”
– I bought my father a nice workout suit for Christmas, and paid with PayPal. I guess SportsAndStyle.com didn’t claim my payment fast enough, so I got it back. Sweet!
The product arrived on time, and he liked it. This actually makes me more likely to shop there in the future.
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In-flight odor
Me: How does that tiny baby two rows up produce that much stench?
Lisa: I'm ovewhelmed.
Me: I'm about ready to push the stewardess call button for help.
Me (to the kid I've never met sitting next to me): Have you ever sniffed anything quite this bad?
Kid (eating two packs of Twizzlers): You mean my fart?
Me (confused): That's not the baby?
Kid (proud): That's not the baby.
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The 2009 Furiowards →
Our cat was hard at work this year:
He endured a cross-country move without missing a beat
His monthly visitors rose from ~500 to ~1000
His Facebook fan page, launched in January, has found a steady audience of ~610
He’s hosted numerous reader meet-ups, bringing his message to the community
He turned pro, lending his wit and charm to the Molly Meow brand, and negotiating the terms of...
Vibrams do's and don'ts
Things I’ve learned I prefer to do wearing Vibrams:
Walking on the beach - feels just like being barefoot, but you don’t have to worry about cutting your foot on a seashell
Driving - You feel “closer” to your car
Playing squash - It’d be a disadvantage if your opponent wasn’t also wearing them, but in a fair fight, it’s a blast
Running on wet terrain -...
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