I was thinking again about the discussion here last week about fuzzy concepts – in particular that of networks. In that post, I was trying to get at the value of the network concept for economic analysis. Neil Kay made an interesting point in the comments – which was that you could substitute the word […]
One of the more interesting ideas I’ve run across recently is that of biomimicry. The basic concept is that the best way to find sustainable innovative ideas is to mimic natural processes as much as possible. There are a wide range of r&d projects going on in this field at the moment, like trying to […]
This addresses the other part of my ideas post, and does quite succinctly: Talking about your work does not directly improve the actual quality of your work. Ultimately design happens in the world and in your hands, and not in your mouth. That’s from an interview with designer Jack Schulze. The other quote that’s been […]
When Paul Krugman writes a blog post that is more academically oriented, he always labels it as ‘wonkish’ in an attempt to protect his general interest readers. So in that spirit, this post is ‘wonkish’. Very wonkish. Which is ironic given my exhortation for clarity yesterday, but that’s the way it goes… I quite like […]
I ran across an interview with David Foster Wallace on Salon from just after Infinite Jest came out. It included this quote about the state of Literature: If you, the writer, succumb to the idea that the audience is too stupid, then there are two pitfalls. Number one is the avant-garde pitfall, where you have […]
Here’s another twist on the business models for artists meme. A. Koford has been drawing a fantastic web cartoon featuring the Laugh Out Loud Cats, two cats that look like depression-era hobo comics characters, but who speak LOLcat. It sounds screwy, but works beautifully. Check out the site – All of the comics are freely […]
When I was writing about Kristin Hersh the other day I asked why the record labels weren’t able to come up the new music business model that she’s using. I’m still a bit perplexed by this. Similarly, there’s been lots of talk recently about how newspapers find themselves in a pretty unfavourable position these days […]
