Upgrade to Cougar // giggle
notraces
's favorite posterous posts
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Posterize.us
via posterize.us
In my previous post, I made some remark about sense of community ... in Tumblr, and perhaps the lack thereof in Posterous. A few minutes after I'd done that, I came across THIS! :)
Whoever started it, it's a great initiative.
Sarah Palin Signed Autograph XBOX 360 - eBay (item 160366445618 end time Oct-10-09 23:20:47 PDT)
via cgi.ebay.com
You'd think at a minimum bid of $1,100,000 he'd give free shipping. But noooooooooo.
Teun Hocks
Teun Hocks, photographer from Netherlands. A Rene Magritte of photography.
Surprising side-by-side documentary footage by a $169 Flip Mino vs. $3500 Canon XH-A1
Wow, Kirk Mastin taped a Flip video camera to a $3,500 Canon XH-A1 + pro mic, and filmed a mini-short with both of them filming identical footage. He then runs through it one after another, and you can barely tell the difference. The main difference actually is the sound quality, and even that isn't significant at all.
This is apparently the video blog entry that caused the NYTimes to pick up the Flip camera. Anyway, Kirk Mastin, your blog rocks.
And also I just finally ordered a Flip Mino HD myself. I'm absolutely inspired by the storytelling possibilities.
How to pitch your ideas aka Startup Viagra (via @davemcclure)
Dude, this slide deck is awesome. Anyone who is raising money from anyone should know this slidedeck backwards and forwards.
For extra credit, see Dave's blog Master of 500 Hats and check out his writing and slides on growing your startup using judicious application of metrics and analytics.
Derivative markets .... an understandable explanation:
Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).
Word gets around about Heidi’s drink now pay later marketing strategy and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar and soon she has the largest sale volume for any bar in Detroit.
By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.
A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.
At the banks corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS, and PUKEBONDS.
These securities are then traded on securities markets worldwide. Naive investors don’t really understand the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics.
Nevertheless, their prices continuously climb, and the securities become the top-selling items for some of the nations leading brokerage houses.
One day, although the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the bank (subsequently fired due his negativity), decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar.
Heidi demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Therefore, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.
DRINKBOND and ALKIBOND drop in price by 90 %. PUKEBOND performs better, stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %. The decreased bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans.
The suppliers of Heidi’s bar, having granted her generous payment extensions and having invested in the securities are faced with writing off her debt and losing over 80% on her bonds.. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 50 workers.
The bank and brokerage houses are saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock negotiations by leaders from both political parties.
The funds required for this bailout are obtained by a tax levied on employed middle-class non-drinkers.
The most encouraging video I've ever seen about doing creative work. Must watch.
via lifehacker.com
Ira Glass, creator of This American Life (my favorite radio show and TV show ever), drops some serious wisdom on creative work.
He's specifically talking about TV and radio work, but I think this applies to all creative work, including creating massively useful software.
The main message: Fight through the dip.
