Bummer

The last manned moon landing was Apollo 17 – December 7, 1972. It’s the only landing that has taken place in my lifetime.

I just learned (via the ol’ Wikipedia) that the Soviets never put a crew on the moon. I’d always thought that they had.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing

It’ll be interesting to see how and when it happens again.

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Originally uploaded by Powellizer

We spent last weekend in New York City. It was awesome. That town radiates with energy and it seems to only get more intense during the holidays.

My photo set is here.

Michelle’s is here.

A few videos we took will be here, but only for a few weeks.

Colorization Using Optimization

Colorization Using Optimization

Pretty awesome technique.  Hope this becomes commercially available at some point.  Amazing effectiveness at restoring/manipulating color in photos.

Do they all have to be “billion dollar” ideas?

I read 7 Steps to Land and Leverage an Angel Investor and find myself wondering why a lot of startups focus on creating the next billion-dollar idea. It goes back to motivation and intent.  I don’t believe that Da Vinci set out to create the most famous painting of all time when he crafted the famous Mona Lisa painting.  I think he set out to paint a commissioned portrait, intended to decorate the walls of his client’s home in celebration of the birth of their second son (source).

He was a craftsman.  He did his best on every job – regardless of its “importance” or potential for mucho dinero.

I’ve heard a couple of stories about the start of YouTube and that the founders really just wanted to create a site to share videos with friends easily – way before realizing that it would become a “billion dollar” idea.

So the question is – do you start with “how do we make a billion dollars?” or do you start with “what’s a cool service that doesn’t exist today – or could be made better?”?

Articles like these sound like a non-billion-dollar-idea is sub-par. I don’t buy into that at all.

Loose ties.

As covered by Mark Granovetter back in 1973, “weak ties” are one important key to success.

I met my wife through mutual friends; good friends – but not our closest friends.

I got my current job from the friend of a business partner’s son.

Those ARE the bridges that often produce breakthroughs.  That’s why LinkedIn et al. are important.  It’s not just MY Rolodex that’s important – it’s yours.  It’s us as friends sharing who we know when the need arises.  That IS community.

I don’t know everyone that you know.  I never did.  But now the tools are becoming available for us to share who we know.

And that is very, very powerful.

I love LAMP

Snorg Tees sells a shirt that looks like this:

I thought that “I <3 Lamp” meant that the wearer was a geek and was indicating their love for LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/PERL/PYTHON).

Tuns out it’s a quote from The Anchorman.

I gotta get out more.

Incomprehensible

How is zerbert (or zrbtt) NOT in the dictionary?

Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks was the co-creator of Mickey Mouse. He was the cartoonist and Disney was the producer/director.

I’ve always thought that Disney was the chief animator.  He was a suit!  An uber-creative suit – but he was the business side of things.

An “Ah-Ha” Moment

Friday Flickr Foto #28

Originally uploaded by Powellizer.

I had the pleasure of attending my first coffee cupping today. The cupping was hosted by Counter Culture Coffee at their brand new traning/education loft at Atlanta’s King Plow Art Center.

A BIG thanks to David and Chris of CCC. They guided the process with eloquence and passion. It was informative, memorable and a bit surprising (ask me about the suspenseful "twist" at the conclusion).

This photo is of their new Clover 1s. This machine is generating a lot of "buzz" in the coffee industry. It is designed to allow a barista to micro-brew coffee a cup at a time. This allows for the preperation of different types of coffee to different customers rather than having big pots of just a few (or two) varieties. So a shop could offer a customer a cup of coffee VERY specific to his/her tastes (region-specific, roast-specific, etc.). With luck, it’ll help elevate the level of coffee served way beyond the typical "regular or decaf" options. With it, you can have a cup of Costa Rican Terrazu and then follow up with a cup of the Sumatra Aceh French Roast.

Favoring GTD over CYA

I’ve spent a decade or so in corporate America.  I’ve found that I’m happiest in organizations that value GTD (Getting Things Done) over CYA (Covering Your Ass).

The difference in these two cultures is staggering.  Responsibility means different things depending on the culture.

I prefer a true team effort.