I have been typecast [Identity]

I AM Times New Roman.

Am I timeless or a snob? Or maybe both (MWF, TThSat, Sunday I rest). Take the quiz here to find out "What font are you?"

Boston

(c) emily sterne photography

Over the summer, Kelly and I got married in the Boston Public Gardens.  The entire week was put together in large part with the help of our friends.  Jen was able to recruit Emily Sterne to help photograph the special event.

You can read Jen's recount and emily's amazing photos.

Ethnography and Design [Innovation]

It's been a great couple days here at Berkeley. I'm constantly inundated with new ideas. I've been truly amazed at the ad hoc conversations that occur within the interstitial time between meetings and classes.

One topic that has gotten me really excited is the concept of design thinking. As once an aspiring graphic designer, I have always been fascinated with design. It is the last mile between us and utility.

One core component of design thinking centers around tying cultural analysis and ethnographic observation to create big "I" insights. The following is a great short video on how design thinking was used to design the future of sustainable fishing:


Design Ethnography from Central

HT: Youngandbrilliant

That's a good question... [lotd]

Lesson #4:  When someone responds, "That's a good question." That means that they don't have the answer at hand.

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? [Economy]

Paul Krugman, let's it rip in the NY Times piece:

Few economists saw our current crisis coming, but this predictive failure was the least of the field’s problems. More important was the profession’s blindness to the very possibility of catastrophic failures in a market economy. During the golden years, financial economists came to believe that markets were inherently stable — indeed, that stocks and other assets were always priced just right. There was nothing in the prevailing models suggesting the possibility of the kind of collapse that happened last year. Meanwhile, macroeconomists were divided in their views. But the main division was between those who insisted that free-market economies never go astray and those who believed that economies may stray now and then but that any major deviations from the path of prosperity could and would be corrected by the all-powerful Fed. Neither side was prepared to cope with an economy that went off the rails despite the Fed’s best efforts.

Read the entire article here.

The long game [Lessons]

Lesson #3. It's all about constant and long-term vigilance. It's easy to say yes now, but can one follow through? 

Ideas should scale [Lessons]

Lesson#2: Insights do not scale. Ideas scale. Insights lend themselves to new ideas.  Build rapid prototype and explore the idea. Good ideas are not about specifications and therefore, scale.

From: 
Putting the People First: Human-Centered Poverty Alleviation.
Featured Speakers: Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO; Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and Founder, Acumen Fund. Moderated by Stuart Davidson, Managing Partner, Labrador Ventures

Image Source: Tumitu Design

There was an easier way all along. [Lessons]

Lesson #1: Instead of a series of embedded “if statements” I can make histograms with a data analytics pack. The realization that hours of Xcel juggling for no good reason at all. Sometimes its easier to ask to challenge your previous assumptions. There may have been a faster way.

Image Source: wallyg

Independent v. Indie [Film]

Strong Bad, has a funny video differentiating the key traits of Independent vs. Indie films.

HT: MiracleMax

Bay Bridge [Bay Area Construction]

A portion of the bay bridge is undergoing seismic retrofits. Over the holiday, the bridge was completely shut down.  To compensate, BART has been running virtually 24-hours--a rare occurrence.

SFist writes:
Captin_nod put together this mesmerizing video featuring time-lapse photography of yesterday's ongoing Bay Bridge construction and the rising of last night's very lovely full moon.

You can also check out these Bay Bridge 360 live video cams all weekend.

In related news, SF Appeal reports that yesterday was BART's second highest day of ridership ever, and the transit agency has also apparently embraced social networking.

Joel Klein vs. New York City teachers [Rubber Room]

Interesting article about education in NYC and the Rubber Room. Joel Klein vs. New York City teachers: newyorker.com