Thursday, August 30, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
List of Books
- Flatland
- The Holographic Universe
- The Mad Trapper
- The Singularity is Near
- Harvey Penick's Little Red Book
- Die Happy: 499 Things Every Guy's Gotta Do While He Still Can
- Killing Pablo
- What God Wants
- 501 Must Visit Destinations
- Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
- Jason Bourne
- The Doors of Perception
- The Fountainhead
- The Art of Dreaming
- The Hatchet
- The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
List of Music
- Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
- Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
- Notorious B.I.G. - I Got a Story to Tell
- Fedde Le Grande - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
- Tragically Hip - Fireworks
- The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance
- Smashing Pumpkins - Eye
- Madonna - Push
- Yves Larock - Rise Up
- Snoop Dogg - Boss' Life
- Mark Ronson - Stop Me
- OK Go - Here it Goes Again
- Less Than Jake - Bridge and Tunnel Authority Remix
- Groove Armada - My Friend
- John Legend - Save Room
- Bob Sinclar - World Hold On (Acoustic Version)
- Fat Freddy's Drop - Roadie
- DJ Marky & XRS - LK
- Enur ft Natasha - Calabria 2007
- STS 9 - Tokyo
- Zion I - Revolution
- Geto Boys - G-Code
- Jack Johnson - Cookie Jar
- Mattafix - Gangster Blues
- Aesop Rock - No Regrets
- Champion - Keep on Riding
- Grits - Ooh Aah
- Zoe Keating - Fern
- Daft Punk - Voyager
- Agoria - Les Violons Ives
- Hande Yener - Romeo
- Edwin Starr - War
- Outkast - Rosa Parks
- Mos Def - Speed Law
- Faitnless - Insomnia
- The Stranglers - Golden Brown
- Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner Woodstock '69
- Phish - Gin & Juice
- Bonobo - Ketto
- New Order - Confusion
- John Butler Trio - Mist
- Andy McKee - Art of Motion
- Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
- Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Zeitgeist "The Spirit of the Age"
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Career Advice by Scott Adams
I know the feeling. I majored in economics, got an MBA, worked at a bank, then a phone company, and became a cartoonist.
For every person who studies something specific, such as the law or medicine, and actually ended up in that sort of career, I think there are five who let chance pick their careers. That works out more often than you’d think, but you can’t recommend it as a career strategy. Instead, I recommend a general formula for success. Allow me to explain.
If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:
1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try.
The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.
I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you’re the boss of the people who have only one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you’re in charge, or maybe you’re starting your own company using your combined knowledge.
Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more “pretty goods” until no one else has your mix. I didn’t spend much time with the script supervisor, but it was obvious that her verbal/writing skills were in the top tier as well as her people skills. I’m guessing she also has a high attention to detail, and perhaps a few other skills in the mix. Probably none of those skills are best in the world, but together they make a strong package. Apparently she’s been in high demand for decades.
At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That’s one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that’s the thing you’ll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%. If you have an aptitude for a third skill, perhaps business or public speaking, develop that too.
It sounds like generic advice, but you’d be hard pressed to find any successful person who didn’t have about three skills in the top 25%.
What are your three?