Month: March 2009
-
Observations on Dining
Ben Casnocha compiles a list of grievances and observations on “restaurants, tips, and bread baskets”. For example: If I were a restaurant manager I would spend 30 minutes with each of my waiters explaining the research around how to maximize tips from patrons. For example, leaving a mint with the bill or drawing a smiley…
-
Models of Racial Segregation
Tim Harford—the FT’s ‘Undercover Economist’—has produced a video demonstrating Thomas Schelling’s theory of racial segregation, in 2 minutes. Schelling, who was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics for “having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis”, showed with his Models of Segregation that even a mild preference for the colour of…
-
The Problem With Printers
Not everyone agrees with the development philosophies of 37signals, but you can’t deny that they do have some ideas that are spot-on. This, for example, on printers and why they are so damn annoying: Buying a printer remains the last confusing part of modern computing. […] What makes this an even tougher choice is that…
-
Print Your Own Magazines
Upload your magazine as a PDF to MagCloud and they’ll not only print it on demand, but also manage payments, subscriptions and delivery… now to the UK and Canada as well as the US. Reasonably priced, too. It reminds me somewhat of the newspaper, Things Our Friends Have Written On The Internet 2008 (via Kottke).…
-
Planning for the Worst Case Scenario
Eliezer Yudkowsky on planning for the abyssal. Never mind hindsight on the real-estate bubble – there are lots of things that could potentially trigger financial catastrophes. I’m willing to bet the American government knows what it will do in terms of immediate rescue operations if an atomic bomb goes off in San Francisco. But if…
-
Business Models for Web Apps
Looking at the business models of the top 100 web apps of 2008, Dan Zambonini of Box UK found that 34% use Advertising, 12% a Variable Subscription model, and a further 8% each for Virtual Products, Related Products and Pay-Per-Use. Continuing this analysis he compiles an extensive list of different methods to monetize web apps. via @zambonini
-
Evolution of Art and Design
Flickr user 802.11 has created a lovely flowchart depicting the evolution of art and design between 1845 and 1980. The chart depicts art movements and design groups and how each are connected. You should take a look at some of her other visualisations, too. I particularly like the depiction of character interactions throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo…
-
Most Borrowed Author in Britain
For the second year in a row James Patterson has been announced as the UK’s most borrowed author. Interestingly, all is not as it seems: in calling Patterson “less a novelist than a literary factory”, The Guardian notes that he actually employs a large number of writers to do the majority of his writing. Patterson and the…
-
The Storytelling of Ian McEwan
I’ve never read any of Ian McEwan’s novels, but after reading a lot of intriguing stories about his writing style (specifically, this article discussing McEwan’s Enduring Love) I think I may have to add him to my reading list. This comprehensive look at Ian McEwan’s life and writings—full of insights and observations—will hopefully pique your interest too. via Arts…
-
Risk Analysis Education
Ron Lieber of The New York Times asks, Could the current financial crisis be breeding an entire generation of risk averse traders? Kevin Brosious, a financial planner in Allentown, Pa., polled the students in his financial management class at DeSales University on the percentage of their portfolios they would allocate to stocks right now. The…