December 2007
17 posts
“I realized that for IBM to become a great company it would have to act like a...”
– Tom Watson, founder of IBM
Nanosolar Ships First $1/Watt Solar Panels →
“Our product is defining in more ways I can enumerate here but includes:… - the world’s lowest-cost solar panel – which we believe will make us the first solar manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as $.99/Watt”
“We need parents to turn off the television and instill in our children a sense...”
– Barack Obama
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he...”
– Viktor Frankl (via)
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the...”
– Desmond Tutu
“I actually don’t consider myself a huge risk taker. I’m a student of the...”
– Will Smith, answering an interview question about risk taking (emphasis is mine)
Human History In 115 Words →
First, tribes: tough life. The defaults beyond the intimate tribe were violence, aversion to difference, and slavery. Superstition: everywhere. Culture overcomes them partially. Rainfall agriculture, which allows loners. Irrigation agriculture, which favors community. Division of labor plus exchange in trade bring mutual cooperation, even outside the tribe. The impulse is always there,...
The Market for Lemons - Wikipedia →
“Akerlof’s paper uses the market for used cars as an example of the problem of quality uncertainty. There are good used cars and defective used cars (‘lemons’). The buyer of a car does not know beforehand whether it is a good car or a lemon. So the buyer’s best guess for a given car is that the car is of average quality; accordingly, he/she will be willing to pay for...
The Scarcity Shortage →
“It seems as though once a category becomes successful, the headlong rush to knock it off is stronger (and quicker) than it ever was before… So how do you deal with the shortage of scarcity? Well, the worst strategy is whining—about copyright laws and fair trade and how hard you’ve worked to get to where you are. Whining is rarely a successful response to anything....
Talking about start-up expenses
Me: I could cover the cost of the initial EC2 servers or whatever.
Friend: (said with sincere, persuasive overtones) I really like my VPS provider.
Friend: For $5/mo more, I can get swap space.
