Charlie Park

(via joeconyers)

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:39:07 -0500

change over time

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:32:25 -0500

In the past, I would Google search someone after I met them. Now, I Twitter search people I already know right before we hang out.

"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and..."

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:40:00 -0500

“

Power without love is reckless and abusive,
and love without power is sentimental and anemic.

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice,
and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

”

- Martin Luther King, Jr., via Culture Making

WARNING! Backblaze, I can appreciate the urgency of the...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:56:48 -0500

WARNING!

Backblaze, I can appreciate the urgency of the situation, but if there’s one app I don’t want freaking out on me, it’s my automated backup. Can we not have this “GAME OVER, MAN” rhetoric? Thanks.

fred-wilson: Bittersweet Dirt Off Your Shoulder - a...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:54:18 -0500

fred-wilson:

Bittersweet Dirt Off Your Shoulder - a Jay-Z/Verve mashup

found this on the hype machine this morning. very nice.

Fred, I have a whole bunch of Jay-Z mashups. If you’re interested, I can share a Dropbox folder with them. My e-mail’s on the side of my Tumblr.

chrisbowler: Cameron says this about Droplr: At least give...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:06:11 -0500

chrisbowler:

Cameron says this about Droplr:

At least give the users a minute to see if they even like your app before you start begging them to promote your own application (which is the developer’s job by the way).

If you do things like this, people who just want 1GB will do it, and people like me, with standards and expectations of quality software, will not.

I don’t usually disagree with people online, but feel compelled to in this case. It’s cool if someone doesn’t want tweet about a new tool — I understand that.

Bu that’s why the Droplr fellows give you a way out. Being douchey about it would be to force you to send the tweet. I chose not too — and so can everyone else who installs the app.

Charlie’s comment: There’s a middle ground here. We did something similar, with our just-launched anti-ID-theft app Wallet Garden, where we ask the user to tweet about the service. But we wait until they’ve entered in three cards before we show them the blurb asking them if they’d tweet about the app. Wallet Garden is a little different, in that it’s a free app, and tweeting doesn’t currently “unlock” any easter eggs. … But … hmmm … easter eggs in exchange for tweeting … brb.

Oh, Yahoo! Answers, you so crazy. Question: I have a rattle in...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:39:52 -0500

Oh, Yahoo! Answers, you so crazy.

Question: I have a rattle in my chest. What is it?

Best Answer: PANIC!!!! You have a collapsed lung!!! ZORMG!!!1!
u r going to die and have a babby!!!

Avatar: Game Changers Don't Come from the Top. They Come Out of Nowhere.

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:05:00 -0500

This isn’t to say that Avatar won’t make a lot of money. I fully believe it will. But will it “change the game”? I think the post below sums it up well: “probably not.”

mikehudack:

ericmortensen:

I have not seen Avatar. Few have. Yet I keep reading these stories about it being a game changer that will revolutionize the industry. I have not seen Avatar, but I am fairly certain that it will not change anything.

Avatar is a big, expensive dinosaur of a movie in an era where major studios have less pull and less reach than they ever did before. It’s a huge financial gamble that depends on a world that no longer exists, where audiences are uninformed and choices are severely limited. It depends on the one-time spectacle of new, never-before-seen technology and effects.

Avatar is the polar opposite of the forces that are actually changing all types of media. It costs way too much, takes way too long to produce, and is still ultimately dependent on a massive marketing budget that forces it upon the public. It’s a business model that cannon sustain itself in the long term and frequently fails even in the short term.

Of course, Avatar may very well be a huge success. And it might be a fine film. But it won’t change much of anything. Powerful filmmakers securing massive budgets, using the latest technology and forcing their films on the public is par for the course. Game changers don’t come from the top. They come out of nowhere.

Ron's Evernote Tips

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:45:55 -0500

Ron's Evernote Tips:

A nice, simple design for a company tumblelog.

Our Shortcomings | GiveWell

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:31:00 -0500

Our Shortcomings | GiveWell:

I had a chip on my shoulder about GiveWell from a few years back, when they astroturf’d MeFi. But I really admire this: They have a page on their site where they list their shortcomings — the date, the issue, the resolution. Very cool.

Eat Well

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:11:59 -0500

Eat Well:

For anyone unfamiliar with Tumblr syntax, this part up here is mine (Charlie’s). The part below (the part that begins “chrisbowler:”) is a quote, which is, itself, referencing a post on a third website. That “prime mover” post is here: Eat Well.

I haven’t yet seen Food, Inc., but I can’t wait to. And “food as Important Thing” is a trope that’s been flitting around Sarah’s and my house (metaphorical house) since before we got married. I wonder whether starting a local food co-op would be a viable business in Williamsburg (VA). A green-grocers’ that’s only using locally-grown, ethically-raised food. It’d be a fascinating experiment.

Anyway, go read the original post (here).

chrisbowler:

My friend Patrick posted a nice summary on eating today. He includes some information about why most of what you buy today in the supermarket is not fit for consumption and where you can find better alternatives.

I loved reading this post, as it echoes the sentiments in our home. We try our best to purchase food that is grown as local as possible, and in season. This means two things: 1) we spend a lot of money on groceries (as Patrick mentions, quality costs more) and 2) we don’t get to eat banana’s [insert any other tropical fruit here] all year long. In my mind, the most important aspect of food is that it should be as close to the state it was created when you eat it.

The age where convenience is the top priority is ending — it simply has to. And that will at times mean going without (not having everything readily available 365 days a year) and that we work harder to get what we need (grow it ourselves).