slantback.

Nov
2nd

Mon

Part of that is setting up this filter in your brain that’s like, “I’m working on this thing now.” So, everything I read, everything I look at, and everything everybody says to me is put through this filter of the project I’m working on. “Is this useful?” Everything you’re telling me right now is first going through a filter of, “Is there something in there that I can use on the project that I’m working on?” and then it passes through and I answer you.

— Gamasutra - Features - Valve’s Writers And The Creative Process

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

If you can figure out how to communicate, “it’s not your fault,” then people will be grateful, and they’ll return. It might not be right, it might not be mature and it might not be the behavior society wants to advance, but it works.

Even better, figure out how to teach your customers to enjoy taking responsibility. It’s the long term solution that builds a healthy relationship between customer and vendor… you coach them on good choices and they embrace what happens after they make them.

— Seth’s Blog: Help your customers avoid taking responsibility

2007 study found that a vigorously flipped coin is likely to land on the same side it started on at least 51 percent of the time, possibly more depending on the person doing the flipping.

— Not So Random After All - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

‘The Wire’ has done more to enhance our understanding of the systemic urban inequality that constrains the lives of the poor than any published study” Sociology Professor William J. Wilson said.

— The Harvard Crimson :: News :: HBO’s “The Wire” Earns Credits

Nov
1st

Sun

Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year.

— TV Finds That a Mortal Foe, the DVR, Is Really a Best Friend - NYTimes.com

Oct
30th

Fri

The music web space is dear to me, so whenever I see something new, I want to see people thinking and working hard to create something incredible. Why make crap?

— Fascinated

I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.

— Isaac Newton after losing £20,000 in the South Sea Bubble (via chrbutler)

Oct
29th

Thu

One important point about the difference between problems and dilemmas: with dilemmas, you will generally have a sense of the different possible responses, and have to make an intelligent choice between them. With problems, the solution is almost by definition hidden, and must be discovered. Futures thinking is much more robust when dealing with dilemmas.

— Futures Thinking: Asking the Question | Open The Future | Fast Company

…while it may be simple to ask a question, asking the right question is much more challenging It’s easy to ask questions that are too vague, too narrow, or assume the answer; it’s much more difficult to ask a question that can elicit both surprises and useful results.

— Futures Thinking: Asking the Question | Open The Future | Fast Company

Oct
28th

Wed

Danger Doom (Danger Mouse & MF Doom) - The Mask

You know who thinks the iPhone 3GS stinks? Steve Jobs. No one is working harder on an “iPhone 3GS killer” than Apple.

— Daring Fireball (via superamit)

Oct
27th

Tue

(via eyeonspringfield)

As the behavioral economists see it, compliance will depend not only on the penalties and cost of coverage, but also on the ease of signing up for coverage and whether people can be persuaded that it is a widely accepted social norm. They point to the large number of eligible people who fail to take advantage of Medicaid, food stamps and Pell grants as a sign that perceived inconvenience can keep people from taking steps in their economic interest. By contrast, the Medicare drug benefit program has achieved high enrollment partly because low-income Medicare recipients did not need to apply for subsidies if they already qualified for Medicaid.

— If you build a coverage mandate, will they come? - washingtonpost.com

participants possessing high levels of self-control related to food choices (as assessed by a pre-test) avoided french fries, the least healthy item on a menu, when presented with only unhealthy choices. But when a side salad was added to this menu, they became much more likely to take the fries.

— See Salad, Eat Fries: When Healthy Menus Backfire - Duke’s Fuqua School of Business