Since 1996,the WayBack Machine site has been archiving about 85 billion web pages. I’ve gone in and looked at the history of my site … boy, have I come a long way too. 🙂
Over at this site someone went in and looked as some big brand names like MacDonalds, CocaCola, Pepsi and Lego. It’s “interesting” to see how primitve websites were back then in what we seen now as the stone age of the Internet (but which very exciting and cutting edge at the time.)
Wired’s report on the history of the iPhone and its impact on the US carrier market.
Read more here
It’s all about getting people to notice you, so here is a nice video of how they did it by wildbeaming, a form of beamvertising. Pretty cool. Limited to cities though.
Video also available on YouTube
Something I had to share: Wired has come up with a list of 10 rather “special” ways that people are working on to save our planet.
Taking Lifehacks to the max.
For years, I’ve lived a double life.
In the day, I do my job – I ride the bus, roll up my sleeves with the hoi-polloi.
But at night, I live a life of exhilaration, of missed heartbeats and adrenalin.
And, if the truth be known, a life of dubious virtue.
I won’t deny it – I’ve been engaged in violence, even indulged in it.
I’ve maimed and killed adversaries, and not merely in self-defence.
I’ve exhibited disregard for life, limb and property, and savoured every moment.
You may not think it, to look of me, but I have commanded armies, and conquered worlds.
And though in achieving these things I’ve set morality aside, I have no regrets.
For though I’ve led a double life, at least I can say – I’ve lived.
Yes, it’s the immortal PlayStation ad. Check it out on YouTube and look here for some analysis of it.
The previous post on the Asoh defense led me to another real gem, the Abilene paradox.
Where I work, they have something called “disagree and commit“. It’s a good principle if it works, and when there is ample time to discuss, as this post explains. It tends to get a bit scary when the discussion bit is omitted (by fear of displeasing management or whatever the reason may be), and people end up with the Abilene paradox. This is a paradox in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group. It involves a common breakdown of group communication in which each member mistakenly believes that their own preferences are counter to the group’s and do not raise objections. Scary, isn’t it? The paradox is usually inllustrated by the below story:
“On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman, Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene [53 miles north] for dinner. The wife says, “Sounds like a great idea.” The husband, despite having reservations because the drive is long and hot, thinks that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group and says, “Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go.” The mother-in-law then says, “Of course I want to go. I haven’t been to Abilene in a long time.”
The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive at the cafeteria, the food is as bad. They arrive back home four hours later, exhausted.
One of them dishonestly says, “It was a great trip, wasn’t it.” The mother-in-law says that, actually, she would rather have stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic. The husband says, “I wasn’t delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only went to satisfy the rest of you.” The wife says, “I just went along to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat like that.” The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because he thought the others might be bored.
The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the afternoon.”
Sounds familiar?
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