Cold Heartless Evil

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

What makes us do bad things? More importantly, what people do the worst things imaginable. Radiolab covers the subject of evil this week in “The Bad Show.”

  • A fresh interpretation of Stanley Milgrim’s electroshock experiment. It’s not just people’s willingness to follow instructions from a person in a position in authority that allows them to intentionally inflict harm on others. Individuals will act, and continue to act, contrary to their own beliefs, and in a way that is abhorrent even to themselves, because of an intellectual buy-in to the greater good.
  • Saint or sinner: Fritz Haber, the man who saved the world from starvation also developed and personally implemented (on the front lines) one of the most terrible weapons in history.
  • And last, interview with a killer.

Give it a listen:

Creative Commons License photo credit: Greencolander

Filed Under: Podcasts

Paddy Ashdown: The global power shift

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Watching the Sunday “talking head” shows is truly an exercise in frustration. Big name politicos repeatedly hit their talking points and the hosts wont ask tough questions for fear that the politico wont come back on. I contrast that with this discussion of the shift of global power from a single pole (the United States) to a multi-polar world in the new century and from nations to transnational groups.

I don’t agree with everything in this discussion. I do not share Ashdown’s faith that transnational treaties can to bring law and curb the power of transnational groups. WIPO being one example where the proposed treaties seem designed to promote large rights-holder interests, exclude critics, and short-circuit democratic involvement via secret discussion. However, compared to the fare on Sunday morning news shows, the piece is still a breath of fresh and frank discussion.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Satoru Kikuchi

Filed Under: Videos

Cute Cats and The Arab Spring

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I saw this mentioned on BoingBoing last week: it is a discussion from the 2011 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture series discussion the importance of mainstream internet venues in democratic movements: unlike small networks (whose shutdown may be invisible to the mainstream), use of popular networks like Flickr, Facebook and Youtube means that heavy-handed shut-downs will likely make more people aware that something is going on. A very Freakonomics bit of analysis!

CBC.ca | Cute Cats and The Arab Spring. Via BoingBoing

Creative Commons License photo credit: Dr. Hemmert

Filed Under: Podcasts

Inside Foxconn

January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Apple infinite Loop

This week’s This American Life showcases Mike Daisey’s amazing journey into the heart of Apple’s (and many other’s) manufacturing at Foxconn. Daisey’s plan started simply enough: going up to the gates of Foxconn and seeing if any workers want to talk. Other journalists with whom Daisey shared his plan with, thought this would be … a very bad idea. Undeterred, Daisey went ahead. Then he saw the armed guards.

Surviving that first encounter, Daisey decided to get bold.

Check out Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory | This American Life.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Codexian

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: , ,

The geek is strong with this one!

December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Star wars car window decal

I saw this at my kid’s school parking lot. That’s one supportive wife that guy’s got!

Filed Under: Stuff Tagged With: ,

The Lean Startup

December 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Just as in my firm, many solo and small firm attorneys are blazing their own path; trying to find their way to building a profitable business. However, most of us, never went to business school. So, we are just finding our way in the dark.

We have a lot of advantages: we are small, lean, and can turn on a dime. This gives us agility.

  • We can drop things that are not working.
  • We can quickly respond to changes.
  • We to make continuous improvements without the approval of a board of directors.

However, it still helps to have a model in place. Personally, I think a great place to look is tech industry startups. They are also not shackled with low barriers to entry and low costs. I also think their notions of rapid iterations apply in a law firm setting.

Here is a great discussion on the TWiT network with Eric Ries, author of the Lean Startup, discussing what works for startups. Give it a watch.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Ic9GODcaE

You can also download a podcast version here.

What do you think? What’s the best startup advice you have to lawyers going out on their own?

 

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: , ,

Cali Lewis marshmallow recipe. YUMMY!

December 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cali lewis marshmallow recipe

How do you make home-made marshmallows? The Cali Lewis way, of course!

Ever since Cali showed her recipe for marshmallows on the late lamented Geekbrief.tv (I know, I know. It’s Geekbeat.tv now), making marshmallows “the Cali way” has been a holiday tradition at my house. There’s a legacy for you: hundreds of episodes, and what sticks? Marshmallows!

Sadly, Cali Lewis’ recipe for marshmallows did not make the transfer to her new home at Geekbeat.tv. This means that while the original video is still floating around the interwebs (like the links below), the written recipe has disappeared into the ether. So, let’s rectify that right now! Note: I’m not trying to steal content from Cali. The written recipe has dropped off the radar, so I am just trying to make it available again. I hope Cali approves.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: ,

Singing Christmas Hedgehogs

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here’s a funny video to put you in the mood for Christmas. That is, if Christmas is all about competition and unrealized desires. Which, after all, is the true meaning of Christmas. Right? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With:

YoungBlood – Naked and Famous (cover)

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo by WonderlaneThis is a year old? Hey, I still discover music from 10 years ago! You all are just lucky, I haven’t put up any Foster the People … yet.. :)

Here’s a good slower cover by Birdy:
Young Blood (The Naked & Famous Cover) — Birdy by hesallears

Creative Commons License photo credit: Wonderlane

Filed Under: Music

Andrew Solomon: A Time of Hope

December 16, 2011 By 2 Comments

The clarinet 1

This is a fabulous story from Andrew Solomon about his trip to find musicians in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. I haven’t heard anything this beautiful in quite a long time. It’s like a real life “Yellow Submarine.”

Give it a listen (mp3 link).

Note: I’m having trouble with the link, and The Moth page doesn’t show this podcast at all (!) as of this writing. Here is a link to the feeds where the podcast shows up. Look for “Andrew Solomon A Time of Hope.”

UPDATE 01/25/12: The MP3 link above seems to be working. However, it’s been pointed out to me that after a while, older episodes of The Moth podcast drop off the feed. Here are some other sources for this episode:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: , ,
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