X – White Girl
She’s blond
Came along the sidewalk
Leave a trail of blue and black
up to you, fighting back
Steel chains, a noose of charms on our necks
I find out nothing when we talk and sit
Blue heart passion and watch the set
Easy to fall, part of your skull starts to break away
Cheaters walk down the block behind this evil street
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Here’s a fascinating look at the role luck plays in business success.
Recently, we completed a nine-year research study of some of the most extreme business successes of modern times. We examined entrepreneurs who built small enterprises into companies that outperformed their industries by a factor of 10 in highly turbulent environments. We call them 10Xers, for “10 times success.”
The very nature of this study — how some people thrive in uncertainty, lead in chaos, deal with a world full of big, disruptive forces that we cannot predict or control — led us to smack into the question, “Just what is the role of luck?”
via Luck Is Just the Spark for Business Giants – NYTimes.com.
More astonishing overreach from our intellectual property overlords and their corrupt cronies in Congress.
The Stop Online Piracy Act also goes by another name: The E-PARASITES Act. It stands for Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act. If it passes, that muscle would certainly be available.
Mark A. Lemley is a professor at Stanford Law School and director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology. He says, “What’s remarkable about this provision is that it would allow the government and in many cases private parties to come into court, get a temporary restraining order without the participation of the accused website and shut down not just the infringing material, but the whole website.”
Travis and I spent the last two nights being zombies for Mordecai Historic Park’s annual Haunted Trolley rides. We were stationed in the insanely-decorated yard of Oakwood resident Jesse Jones, where we waited for the trolley to arrive. Once it did, Travis and I jumped out of the yard and worked to spook the riders.
After the second trolley went by last night, I decided it wasn’t enough to spook the riders. I wanted to make them laugh, too! Before the last trolley visit, Travis and I stopped by the house and made some cardboard signs saying “will work for BRAINZ” and “I need brains! Repeat: I need brains!” I also grabbed a bottle of Windex and a towel.
The trolley rolled up to the house and Travis and I stood statue-still for a moment. Then we leaped out with our signs (illuminated with LED flashlights – the latest zombie accessory) and hollered “braaaaaaains!” as we lurched around the trolley. Well, I lurched around the trolley -Travis lurched only as far as the curb: junior zombies aren’t allowed in the street.
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I was poking back through the MT.Net archives to find this really cool Halloween effect I did six years ago. I called it the Floating Ghost Effect.
Here’s a picture of it in action as well as one that shows how it was set up.
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The N&O’s Jim Jenkins skewered Wake GOP’s Susan Bryant today. This had me laughing out loud!
“Susan Bryant clearly is a genius,” said the insider. “I expect Rick Perry will have her on as chief strategist. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the president simply decided not to run for re-election. He said to me just last night, ‘Look, maybe we should get out. If Susan Bryant in North Carolina can read our minds and follow our every move like this, what’s the point in trying to fight her?'”
via Obama’s conspiracy, revealed – Jenkins – NewsObserver.com.
I’ve been thinking more about Raleigh’s need for a startup incubator lately. I did a little research last night on the available warehouse spaces around town, wondering if any might be good candidates for housing techies. A few on South Wilmington Street look good as does the old Alcatel plant on Wake Forest Road near Costco. A really good location is the old Winn Dixie warehouse at the corner of Whitaker Mill Road and Atlantic Avenue because that warehouse is close to a future transit stop. I think an incubator needs to have good public transportation in order to be successful.
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Last week as I helped plant trees around Chavis Park, I wondered about the one-way streets around the park. I’ve never been a fan of the one-way streets in Raleigh’s downtown area but seeing them pass through the East Raleigh neighborhoods gave me a different perspective. How do one-way streets affect property values, I wondered? If NCDOT’s goal is to speed cars out of town, as it often is with the one-way streets, how does that stream of fast-moving traffic affect the neighborhoods?
Later that day, I sent a note off to city staff asking if there had ever been a study about how one-way streets affect property values. It appears that there isn’t such a study, and as one staffer pointed out it would be difficult to gather accurate data for such a study.
I asked specifically for property value data but what I’m really looking for is more of the sociological impact that a one-way street has on the surrounding neighborhoods.
I consider driving on a one-way street a lot like driving with blinders on. If you see something interesting but see it too late, it’s a challenge to return to it. I think neighborhoods with two-way streets are likely healthier neighborhoods.
Anyway, I need to see if any research has been done on this.
I’d say a lot happened today. After I dropped the kids off at school I hopped on my bike and rode 20 miles along Raleigh’s greenways, following Crabtree Creek as far upstream as the path allowed (nearly to Duraleigh Road). After a quick shower and lunch, I hopped in the car to talk with some folks in Durham about a potential job.
Back from Durham, I got an email from the client I’m chasing, asking for details for the contract. That seemed to go well.
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The Atlantic Monthly takes a peek at Durham’s startup efforts:
Durham is a fascinating example of what happens when a community bands together to try to attract entrepreneurs. They’ve set up all the mechanisms and institutions to foster innovation and now they’re waiting to see if startup culture can take root. The city itself has “great bones,” as they say, with a dense downtown core filled with beautiful old-timey architecture. They even have some inspiring local business history to draw on. Durham was once known as “The Black Wall Street” because of the preponderance of successful African American-owned businesses on Parrish Street.
As I said before, Raleigh needs to get into the startup game pronto or face being forever branded as LawyerTown.
