Things I Want # 12312

Can someone buy this Tord Boontje Tangle Globe for me when Artecnica starts selling these later this year? Please?

Al Gore at the Aspen Institute Forum

“Unnoticed in Washington and New York as the debt-ceiling debate was going on, the ratio of television advertisements was nine to one on the 'Don't-lift-the-debt-ceiling debate. Spending is the problem.' And now we're going to tip the country back into recession. It's absolutely insane,” Gore said. “Mark my words on this we became the greatest country on earth because we made better decisions than any other nation. And we made better decisions because we used shared consciousness-shared reality rule of reason best evidence democratic discourse free debate to figure out what's more likely than not to be the best decision here. It didn't always work but it worked a hell of a lot better. Since we adopted this new system we are making catastrophic decisions that have massive consequences. The Iraq invasion. What just happened with macro-economic policy. It really is extremely difficult.”

Collaborative Art of Cara Thayer and Louie Van Patten

I love the absolutely raw and visceral emotion these paintings give off. It's not just a matter of the colors being able to demonstrate the way the light reflects and the skin tones, but the way the skin is pulled and moves. Gorgeous work by Cara Thayer and Louie Van Patten

Ideas

It is worth remembering that the output per man in this country has increased on the average about two percent a year during this century. Mere continuation of this trend will mean a future full of better things for people. But it is my own feeling that the tremendous gains which have been achieved by machine techniques may be substantially matched when we learn to make better use if ourselves as people.

-Henry Ford

The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance.

-Peter Drucker

Never shrink from doing anything which your business calls you to do. the man who is above his business may one day find his business above you.

-John Drew

Adoption and continuation of policies that incorporate a maximum of forward thinking should be the most valuable single consideration of all executives.

-Charles Presbrey

In modern business it is not the crook who is to be feared most, it is the honest man who doesn't know what he is doing.

-Owen D. Young

Comfort

“I am the creator of a television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to millions. … Then who am I? … You’re the star.”

The Truman Show (1998)

Thanks.

Onwards

Video by James Jarvis. If I had to climb that many stairs while running, I think I'd quit. That said, I'm the idiot that goes running outside when it is 106° F outside.

3D Printed Custom YOU Dolls

Thanks to the Japan-based company Clone Factory, you can give the gift of an unsettling plastic simulacrum formed deep within the uncanny valley. Blogger Danny Choo has a post up explaining the entire process, which involves multi-angle photography, face-mapping, and custom 3D printing. The cost of your very own pint-sized doppleganger is 138,000 yen or around $1,700, but the effect of it is priceless.

..via Geekosystem

Starbucks WiFi Ending?

It has been only just over a year since Starbucks announced that all stores would have free WiFi, and now it seems they are regretting the decision. In a true American fashion of getting something for nothing, there have been droves of people who come into the stores and soak up the free WiFi without spending any or much money. Rather than treat the company as a business, people have been using the stores as their own personal offices or living rooms.

So now Starbucks faces the dilemma of how to reduce the amount of time people are sitting and not buying, weighing options from limiting the time to a few hours to putting covers over the electrical outlets to limit the use to only as long as your battery lasts.

Personally, I am very curious how this will work out. I know when I was a barista, it was frustrating to have someone sit there all day and conduct their business from the seating area. Even though they were in a public place, often the people camped out would try to take over the entire seating area for their own, meeting clients and expecting the other patrons to be quiet and respect their needs only. While I can fully understand the need for some people to use public WiFi due to pricing or availability at home, that does not mean Starbucks or any company there should be expected to accept people who sit for half the day in their stores without the patrons paying back into their profits.