Category: Uncategorized

I really dig the anonymous lab scientist standing proudly next to the Univac 1108.  Next to this sign was a life-sized blow up of him.  “Look kids, a scientist!”

Fort Trumball, now a CT State Park, was home to Naval sonar research during the Cold War and until the lab was relocated to Rhode Island in the 90’s.

Docked while we were there, was the tall ship USCGS Eagle, now used for training and goodwill trips around the world. The 7th in the line bearing the name, this cutter was laid down in 1936 Nazi Germany and originally christened the Segelschulschiff Horst Wessel.

This flowering vine grew from the bottom of the fire escape railing to over the top in just days. The flowers are a brilliant purple, and close for the day once the sun is high.  Anyone know what it is?

 

Fantastic new podcast from Radar on reputation and ranking models, including Hilary Mason of bit.ly and Sean Taylor at NYU. The clear outcome is long-term social rankings are heavily and disproportionately affected by positive early votes.  This reinforces to me that the social structure of communication has a large impact on social norms.

Podcast: ratings, rankings, and the advantage of being born lucky.

Thanks to ghelleks for the pointer. He knows I <3 this stuff.

Greenwich Ave, NYC

For the first time, the Park Avenue Tunnel was open to pedestrians this weekend. Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer transformed the Park Avenue Tunnel into an interactive light and sound installation.

I accept the topics I post about can be rather eclectic.  However, I did not see this coming.  Presented without further ado, the top four searches leading readers to the site, according to WordPress:

• transnational corporation network structure
• tiny tiny rss reader api
• number of brand conversation
• 18-24 year old men demographics

I think doulingo is messing with me again.

Kevin Spencer recreated the classic chair at 1:20 scale with a 3D printer.

h/t fubiz

“[T]he most important thing about language is its capacity for generating imagined communities, building in effect particular solidarities.” Benedict Anderson

I’m at Red Hat Summit this week talking about cloud with customers and partners, and it occurs to me one of the common metaphors isn’t quite right. The problem with the “Assembly Line” metaphor is everyone thinks of 1907 Ford (“any color you want, as long as it’s black”). And that’s actually a lousy example.  There was zero flexibility in product output and the only automation beyond individual parts was the well-defined hand-off during assembly. Don’t underestimate the power of those elements, but that’s nothing compared to what we can do today.

The right model is Chevrolet’s model: build knowing the products you need tomorrow are different from the ones you need today.  Build knowing you will change your process while it’s still running. It’s no wonder that once implemented, Chevy beat industry-leader Ford to market by a full year while continuing to serve their current customers and took the lion’s share of the entire car market .

If your cloud isn’t open and changeable, your competitors will out innovate you and take your market.

{ photo from excellent slide show on 100 years of assembly lines at Chevrolet and GM: http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/89625-100-years-of-chevrolet-assembly-lines }

[ update: corrected link to Red Hat Summit keynote streaming ]