Seeds (2): bikes, planes and automobiles
Many of the seeds of the automobile industry came from bicycle manufacturers (I touched on this in Use, Copy, Repair, Make), and on a visit… Read More »Seeds (2): bikes, planes and automobiles
Learning and Education
On inequality
Inequality is inevitable (because we’re all different), and it isn’t necessarily wrong (if we value the freedom to make meaningful choices) and doesn’t necessarily have… Read More »On inequality
Typo (4): (no) Standard English
[The task of documenting all the words in the English lanuguage] no longer seems finite. Lexicographers are accepting the languages boundlessness. They know by heart… Read More »Typo (4): (no) Standard English
Typo (2): error rate
The other thing about typos is how few we actually make relative to the attention we pay to them. A single spelling or grammar mistake… Read More »Typo (2): error rate
The Onion (3): exemplar interesting problem – learning to read
Problems gain (or lose) interestingness as their context and scale changes. Take teaching a kids to read as an example. It’s almost inevitable that a… Read More »The Onion (3): exemplar interesting problem – learning to read
Raising the average (2)
The basic principle is that when you’re recruiting, you should be seeking to raise the average of your team, bringing in people who increase the… Read More »Raising the average (2)
Seth Godin on transforming education
Seth Godin has written a lot about education – Stop Stealing Dreams (TED talk and longer e-book) is a good place to start. Then it’s… Read More »Seth Godin on transforming education
Interesting problems: a definition
A problem is interesting when… 1. It’s important to someone Presumably because solving it will make things better.* The problem won’t be important to everyone,… Read More »Interesting problems: a definition
Responsibility
Whether you’re improving your own work or helping others improve theirs,* it pays to spend time talking about who is responsible for what – and… Read More »Responsibility
Marcus Borg on unending conversation
Where does the drama of history get its material? From the “unending conversation”* that is going on at the point in history when we are… Read More »Marcus Borg on unending conversation