Do bad companies fire more workers?
Successful companies have better employees. They are more productive and more profitable because they are better at hiring (choosing, attracting) and developing...
Category: work
Scrapbooks made for sharing
From the Wikipedia entry on the origins of the scrapbook in the 15th century and their ongoing function as self-portraits: From the standpoint of the psychology...
the vessel of exploration
For Europeans and their former subjects, the making of planet Earth – a process better known as globalization – begins after the Renaissance, as newly empowered...
Two ideas for a fusion taco stand
1) Guatequeria: Cuban. e.g., tacos de ropa vieja or tacos de rabo encendido. Roast pork. 2) Pintxos tacos: Northern Spain. e.g., tacos de pulpo con papa or taco...
My problem with Footloose (2011): not enough Mexicans
Footloose (1984) had tension because it was of the moment. The Moral Majority was just entering its apex and small town America was a pop cultural phenomenon (m...
was there more Latin rhythm on top 40 radio 40 years ago? 5 YouTube links
Mandrill: Hang Loose (YouTube) 1973 War: Cisco Kid (YouTube) 1972 Steely Dan: Do It Again (YouTube) 1972 Malo: Suavecito (YouTube) 1972 Santana: Evil Ways (YouT...
living in the age of digital singles, what of digital shorts?
Computers have transformed music production and consumption by enabling the cheap and easy manipulation of sound. Digitization took apart music culture (industr...
play yourself
stories are how we make sense of the world. they impose a structure on what would otherwise feel chaotic – “one great blooming, buzzing confusion.” ...
Bad action movie plot: Chinese hackers and Mexican cartels
The Vanity Fair expose on likely Chinese hacking of many important corporations and government agencies by Michael Joseph Gross describes a ploy I’d only ...
extending play: from lp’s to mp3’s and beyond
One of the benefits that record companies enjoyed when albums were the prevalent packaging for pop music was the upward pressure this scheme placed on song pric...
The agony of success: Kings of Pastry and The Pixar Story
The ancient Greeks defined
why nakedness?
Paul Graves and Joe Fish for Sleek Magazine Why does the Book of Genesis in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition use nakedness as the badge of shame? Could som...
Good graphic design can make the difference between a convert and confusion.
This morning, I saw the following text on an advertising poster in a parking lot in Glendale, CA: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE The graphic designer chose to use the da...
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About a year of tweets, archived here for posterity.
I began this current journal, XSML, with the intent of reducing my own notes to extra small, XML-friendly updates. Increasingly, I have been drawn by the allure...
Dassoucy and Cyrano. Like Sid and Nancy. Only more punk rock.
Amazing that no one has made a movie about these two guys, Charles Copyeau d’Assoucy and Cyrano de Bergerac. One is a teen runaway turned rock star, the o...
Facebook + smart grids + cash prizes = It’s on! (and off!)
I know my fellow consumers. We are a conspicuous competitive lot. Look at what I got. Also, free shit. Everyone loves free shit. I was just trying to remember w...
Things I learned from watching the most recent – and only the most recent – Harry Potter movie.
Some movies, indeed some movie series, can be enjoyed starting with the final act on. Harry Potter is not one of them. Movies for kids now use techniques previo...
Three mutations of fabric in stone: pleated floor tiles, a textured teapot and an impossible bench.
Ceramic tiles made with pleated fabric: Folded by Raw Edges for Mutina Porcelain teapot made from a sewn cloth bag: The Teabag by Marie Langaa Porcelain seat ma...
A Cuban thought experiment for an American public.
Imagine having the same president for 50 years — and for at least 42 of those years no longer agreeing with him. What if the U.S. had been attacked by for...