links for 2009-04-30

• Twenty Questions for the Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal:
  (tags: food cooking gastronomy fatduck blumenthal)

links for 2009-04-29

• Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world
  (tags: blackswan taleb capitalism bailout money economy)
• Warren Buffett's 1992 prediction of the decline of print and television. – By Jack Shafer – Slate Magazine
  "An economic franchise arises from a product or service that: (1) is needed or desired; (2) is thought by its customers to have no close substitute and; (3) is not subject to price regulation. The existence of all three conditions will be demonstrated by a company's ability to regularly price its product or service aggressively and thereby to earn high rates of return on capital. Moreover, franchises can tolerate mis-management. Inept managers may diminish a franchise's profitability, but they cannot inflict mortal damage."
  (tags: business strategy media newspapers warrenbuffett)
• Barack Obama's 100-day report card
  (tags: america us politics barackobama 100days)

links for 2009-04-28

• Hanging Tough: Financial Page: The New Yorker
  "One way to read these studies is simply that recessions make the strong stronger and the weak weaker, since the strong can afford to keep investing while the weak have to devote all their energies to staying afloat. But although deep pockets help in a downturn, recessions nonetheless create more opportunity for challengers, not less. When everyone is advertising, for instance, it’s hard to separate yourself from the pack; when ads are scarcer, the returns on investment seem to rise. That may be why during the 1990-91 recession, according to a Bain & Company study, twice as many companies leaped from the bottom of their industries to the top as did so in the years before and after."
  (tags: success risk investment uncertainty spending newyorker marketing strategy economy economics recession surowiecki)
• The singer not the song
  "The message from both men was that they had expected Susan's performance to be as nondescript as her appearance was lacking in glamour."
  (tags: uk opinion singing clivejames image beauty)
• Confusionism – Is Facebook making people lonely?
  "Just as a watched pot never boils, does a watched social network creates anxiety, attention deficit and emotional longing. This raises some interesting questions. Firstly, How does this affect our outer social activity? does it enhance it or reduce it? Secondly, do we become more confident or less confident as individuals in actual social interaction from prolonged exposure to Social networks?"
  (tags: socialnetworking via:adamcrowe)
• The Small Space Movie Lover's Library and Bedroom
  (tags: home diy bed shelves design inspiration)

links for 2009-04-24

• Heaven's Gate
  (tags: suicide cult)

links for 2009-04-23

• Which face is the odd one out?
  "Amid the applause for Boyle was an acknowledgement that ironically, no-one better demonstrates that quality of being happy in their own skin than her. And that's what makes her attractive, regardless of how she looks."
  (tags: society beauty women)

I Trust my Glasses

Specsavers have had a pointless ad (to me) saying they’ve been the most trusted optician for a few years in a row. In a few words, why it makes no sense:

You pretty much get the idea ‘trusted optician’ and if you watch television you can’t have missed all the ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ ads, like shaving the dog instead of the sheep, etc. When I first saw the ad, it sprung to my mind ‘why would I care?’ (even if they are trustworthy).

Why would anyone care that they or anyone else, for that matter, is a trustworthy optician? 

When it comes to your eyes, from my probably deluded perspective, there isn’t much to it. You go in to get your eyes tested, you read a few letters of different sizes on a wall, you get some drops in your eyes and look into a machine without blinking. Now, my common sense tells me there’s not much you can get wrong here or in the next phase where you test a few lenses and see the ones you get along with best. The optician will then tell you how, when to wear your glasses if you have no clue and then you pick a frame. Won’t go into the amazing details of picking a frame because I think trust has nothing to do with whatever frame you choose for yourself. Unless you want style tips from them, where trust may play a role!

Trust?!

Having asked someone who worked in an optician’s store, the answer to this burning question (or the gist of it) was that you want to trust the optician to give you glasses only if you really need them, and not because they want to make money off you. It makes the ‘trustworthy’ USP some meaning, or at least gives it a bit more sense. But I still think it’s a bit pointless! Because glasses are rarely these fashionable items that you desperately want to spend £120 on, let’s say.

If I had no problems with my eyes whatsoever, there is no way in hell I would go to a doctor and say please, give me glasses. I want them. Unless you’re a hipster but that’s a niche far too small to be considered and it’s your problem, not the optician’s fault they gave you glasses without needing them; unless we’re in the States and you want to sue someone. Glasses to me are like braces – you get them because you need them but you’d be happier without. Except eyes never revert back to their initial state, like teeth get aligned back in position. Braces and glasses are two things which were ugly before but deemed acceptable by society. You suspect that when people say they look good on you, they’re lying and your self esteem starts to decay, wondering if it’s really true or they’re just saying it to make you feel better. That’s why no one wants them – they make you insecure for all the wrong reasons. Hassle no sane person wants to go through. People don’t care whether Buddy Holly was a style icon or not when they get called ‘4 eyes’ or nerds. 

So why is ‘trust’ so important for Specsavers? I don’t want or need to trust my optician, I just want them to do their job and take care of my lenses, eyes but because it’s such a straightforward thing, I’ll notice when I’m trying lenses on whether my glasses are doing more harm than good. If it feels right, it feels right.

Like on a bus, but with wi-fi

Virgin’s ‘never take your dongle out again’ ad had me laughing a bit on the bus into town one of these days and I must say finally there’s some added value to being on a train in the UK. While CrossCountry trains have been horrible for a couple of years now with not enough coaches on the right routes (and by ‘right’ routes I don’t mean the ones I am on although it would be terrific, but the busiest commuter ones), I think I want nothing to do with other train operators, and this is frankly very exciting to me.

It’s an addition that’ll make me read less probably, or do more with the iStuff which I know I shouldn’t but it’s fun. Take away the Wi-fi, the tables, and trains are these very boring things we’d want nothing to do with. Sitting on one would be a chore. 

People will most likely start complaining if it doesn’t work (everything’s amazing, nobody’s happy) but then that’s the price Virgin will have to pay. At least they’re trying and don’t care very much if they fail right now. Am I the only one excited by this?

links for 2009-04-22

• How Pathological Liars Are Made
  "Most liars will lie about anything, even when it is not important and it does not matter," Dr. Jeanette said. "They just say anything because there is no connection with their emotional self." That emotional disconnect allows liars to believe their own lies. And that helps them convince others of their untruths.
  (tags: lies liars life interesting psychology behaviour)
• Study finds pirates 10 times more likely to buy music
  "According to research, those who download 'free' music are also the industry's largest audience for digital sales. Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase."
  (tags: piracy downloads piratebay mp3 music)
• The birthday present
  "When parents have children, often the woman effectively gets married to the children and that's not a good role model. If the parents look as though their relationship is all about self-sacrifice, why would the kids want to have children themselves? Growing up looks like no fun to them. So we have lots of kids who don't grow up."
  (tags: relationships sex guardian)

Elective

I’ve had about 3 weeks to think of my module of choice for my final year, captain’s log 2009-2010. I’m very excited about finishing uni and while the website isn’t working right now, this gives me a few more days to think. So this is me thinking out loud:

Digital Marketing

• Pros: been meaning to do something among the likes of and get a job as a digital strategist or at least not feel like an outsider in the world of online versus offline. I doubt I’ll say no to “diluting my skill-sets“, just get a better understanding of this along with the strategic comms module I’ll be doing anyway. In my mind we’ll have a year-long project and interesting discussions about things happening in the digital world which sounds really good to me and hopefully I’m not deluding myself. Too much. I know someone might be reading this and I’m not being sarcastic or anything, it’s a rather big choice for me!
• Cons: I do want to do digital but I don’t want to live, breathe digital every day as long as there are other projects and deadlines due, especially since we’re talking uni. I will have the “honour” of working with people that I haven’t met but then again working with people I had known for a while proved to be, um, less than satisfactory. Won’t say crap but we just had some personality clashes…eventually they sorted themselves out but repeating that would be a royal pain in the behind. Turnin

Integrated Marketing Communications:

• Pros: I know who’s teaching, I like the idea of it, it seems pretty straightforward and fun to me, but…
• Cons: I think I had too much of theory and case studies and my dissertation will be eating my nerves and biting at my patienc so skipping this doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. So, do you know what media buying is and what you can do? Um, no thanks. 

A foreign language:

• Pros: Whatever language I may choose to learn, be it Japanese or continuing expert French it’lll guarantee me a high grade to boost my morale at the end of the year. Might give me extra time to focus on other things…but;
• Cons: It’s just a foreign language and I can learn that on my own or take a course after uni is over if I so wish. Feels like I’d be wasting my time when there will be opportunities aplenty afterwards, while learning other things in an ..um, academic fashion might not be.

Growing Old Slow

I think newspapers need a break from writing about children but obviously I don’t have any so I know nothing; but there’s this obsession about how we bring our children up, what’s the best way to do it, how we’re going to go about doing it and I’ve seen a few people at it who seem to have got it right and others who failed miserably.

A while ago, those who grew up in the ‘no internet’ era could have been left on their own by parents and they still would have ended up decent individuals, dare I say, mainly because of the fact that there weren’t as many time wasters as now. How motivation plays a part in this is a mystery. I think my brother, sister and I have been terribly spoiled and we all ended up three very different individuals. Now I hate being spoiled and it bothers me when my parents spend far too much money on certain things (although I do see the benefits, or some). I’ve found a path I’d like to go down and stick to it, everyone’s pleased with uni and I’ve done enough stupid things which I won’t mention here for fear they might read it. Pretending is hard to do! My sister still loves being spoiled but at least they’re pleased with her results, while my brother doesn’t care much about all the ’stuff’ and is doing poorly in school. But none of us have strayed too much from the ‘path’ of listening to your parents and not doing drugs, binge drinking and all those things. I think they were fun to some extent but going out in a tutu and drinking till my liver fails, encounters with the pavement and throwing up on the way to A&E is not my idea of fun. 

I think I would have hated my parents forever if they had sent me to school later because they read some article in a newspaper that changed their minds. They actually sent me to school earlier, and I swear that’s not because I annoyed them at home but apparently I was reading the newspaper far too early for my age. And now frankly I’m quite happy they did – can get away with a lot of inappropriate things and no one can say ‘act your age’. I am!

This is why I somehow wish newspapers and magazines, or better said the press altogether should tone down their ’success stories’ because it’s not for everyone, and it’s certainly not something a newspaper tells you to do. It’s something you should know yourself, perhaps by spending more time with your child, rather than thinking the kid is ‘getting in the way’ of work now that ‘he’s grown’. 

My rant is now over.