Letters Remain

Month: January 2009

  • Essential Pantry Items

    Mark Bittmanā€”writer of The New York Times‘ cooking Column, The Minimalist, and food blogger at Bittenā€”has compiledĀ a list of lacklustre pantry items and their antipodes: the ‘essential’ provisions we should stock in their stead. These things take up more space than they’re worth, while others are so much better in their real forms that the…

  • Work on Stuff that Matters

    Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, implores business owners (and everyone else) not to follow the money, but to ‘work on stuff that matters’ by following these three principles: Work on something that matters to you more than money Create more value than you capture Take the long view I want to make clear that…

  • Low-Tech Treatments Hold Most Hope for Cognitive Recovery After Brain Damage

    Scientific American looks at some new research being conducted to aid cognitive recovery in victims of severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI). It appears that some of the greatest benefits will come from improvements in low-tech quick-response treatments. “We’re not bad at getting people to survive [severe TBI], but we’re worse at getting good cognitive recovery.”…

  • The World in 2009

    The Economist‘s annual issue collecting predictions for the coming year has been released in the form of The World in 2009. From the introduction, by editor Daniel Franklin: Anyone hoping for a period of calm after the turbulence of the past year will be disappointed. For the economy and for business, as well as for…

  • Executing Your Idea

    Serial entrepreneur Alex Mann implores us to take action, in this series of posts on executing your business idea: Be An Executioner Who’s Your Market Building Your Team Gaining Momentum Develop Your Moat As Alex reiterates in Gaining Momentum, this advice that originally appeared in the comments section of the introduction (written by friend and…

  • Primer on Evolutionary Psychology

    The evolutionary psychology theories of human behaviour are fascinating, as anyone who has read Matt Ridley’s acclaimed The Red QueenĀ can attest. For those that haven’t, however, The EconomistĀ has created what may be the best primer on evolutionary psychology I’ve read. No one is suggesting Darwinism has all the answers to social questions. Indeed, with some,…

  • Articles to Understand the Financial Situation

    It may be a bit late now, but if you’re still looking for good information on the current macroeconomic situation the single-page compilationĀ The Money Meltdown is an excellent resource, even given its slight U.S. slant. via Kottke (Don’t forget this previous post of excellent links, too.)

  • That Most Precious of Metals

    We all know that goldā€”one of the most precious metals on Earthā€”is scare. However, the actual dearth of gold is surprising, as Jason Kottke points out: The estimated total amount of gold mined by humans would fill a cube that’s only 25 meters [about 82 feet] on a side. Platinum is even more rareā€¦ all…

  • Pro Poker as a Startup

    As a former professional poker player, Matt Maroon got a lot of enquiriesĀ from people asking him if they should ‘go pro’. Now an entrepreneur, he gets similar enquiries from people asking him whether they should start their own company. He discusses the similarities between pro poker and start-ups in A Little Better Advice. My goal…

  • The Benefits of Good Writing

    From chapter 8 of Getting Real, one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject of application development; the benefits of good writing: If you are trying to decide between a few people to fill a position, always hire the better writer. [ā€¦]Ā That’s because being a good writer is about more than words.…