Grant Harrison

The more you think about it, the more brilliant it is. At first...

Sun, 19 May 2013 03:40:58 -0400

The more you think about it, the more brilliant it is. At first glance, the deftness of securing government funding, which was intended to sustain and encourage marginal businesses, is rather pleasing. The thought of the thousands of small enterprises that could have been nourished and helped to survive by the cash Amazon has swallowed in one tax-cancelling mouthful is challenging and absorbing. It’s the monster that’s made a myriad food parcels into its canapé. But it gets even better. If, for a second, you make the mistake of thinking that giving Amazon handouts might nevertheless help the UK – by incentivising the company to create jobs in Britain even if, for tax purposes, it exists only in Luxembourg – then think again. Because Amazon is the great job-killer. For every job it creates, more than one is destroyed on the high street. It’s the great annihilator of work and yet it’s receiving a job-creation government subsidy. It doesn’t just absorb money that would be better spent creating employment elsewhere, it deploys it to decimate the chances of that employment (via Amazon’s tax arrangements are nothing short of a work of art. Bravo! | Comment is free | The Observer)

It’s a mark of this generation’s strange self-regard...

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:24:15 -0400

It’s a mark of this generation’s strange self-regard that people are minded to think particularly of the tech billionaires as having somehow created a new model of business, when the new boss is inevitably similar to the old boss. For all their Prius-driving babyfacery, you know most of them would be sitting down with Pyongyang in a heartbeat if they thought there was a few extra quid in it (via Don’t be fooled by Google’s Prius-driving babyfacery | Marina Hyde | Comment is free | The Guardian)

Particle Pulsator (by benp) Rockin Michael Jackson life never...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:32:38 -0400

Particle Pulsator (by benp)

Rockin Michael Jackson life never before!

I applaud the team who envisaged this city/road redevelopment to...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:37:31 -0400

I applaud the team who envisaged this city/road redevelopment to change human relationships. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to get support and funding. Fantastic.

Poynton Regenerated (by Martin Cassini)

kateoplis: start living

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:17:06 -0400

kateoplis:

start living

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:10:14 -0400

"I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:54:59 -0400

““I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon… And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it.”

- Joan Didion (via kateoplis)

This is worth a watch. Really worth it. courtneybolton: THIS...

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:53:33 -0400

This is worth a watch. Really worth it.

courtneybolton:

THIS IS WATER - By David Foster Wallace from The Glossary on Vimeo.

In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education.

We made this video, built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested.

Read the full speech here:
web.archive.org/web/20080213082423/http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html

-The Glossary
theglossary.com

Wonderful. KFC is expanding their shit food throughout the UK....

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:18:36 -0400

Wonderful. KFC is expanding their shit food throughout the UK. Expanding waistlines and NHS costs in the process. Hurrah!

Amazon is facing a revolt from small traders as the internet...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 06:54:42 -0400

Amazon is facing a revolt from small traders as the internet retailer – which describes itself as “Earth’s most customer-centric” company – plans to impose a wave of fee rises on third parties who use its network to sell consumer electronics, automotive parts and other goods in the UK and across Europe. Trader fees on millions of electronic accessories listed on Amazon – including popular items such as memory cards, headphones and printer cartridges – will jump from 7% to 12% for the busiest traders in the UK and four other major European markets from 4 April, just after the Easter weekend (via Amazon’s fees hike for third-party traders provokes fury | Technology | The Guardian)

trendd: This was such a cool idea. Click the article link below...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:23:00 -0400

trendd:

This was such a cool idea.

Click the article link below to see them in action.

“Coldplay has been turning their audience into interactive participants at recent concerts by handing them Xylobands, LED-illuminated wristbands that can be activated all at once using a radio signal. The wristbands come in a variety of colors and have the Twitter hashtag #coldplayfilm printed on them to promote the band’s live DVD. When ‘turned on’ at certain points during the concert, the audience is illuminated with multicolored twinkling lights like a giant display.”

(via Coldplay Wristbands Turn Concert Audience Into Giant LED Display - PSFK)

respectacles: 7. “Food manufacturers now spend nearly twice as much money on advertising their...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:20:57 -0400

respectacles:

7. “Food manufacturers now spend nearly twice as much money on advertising their [breakfast] cereals as they do on the ingredients that go into them.”

– 9 Surprising Facts About Junk Food, Mother Jones

"America cannot agree clear and simple solutions to internal problems like gun control. How can us..."

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:35:00 -0400

“America cannot agree clear and simple solutions to internal problems like gun control. How can us feeble foreigners look to the US for leadership in international conflicts like Afghanistan or Iraq or anywhere else? The US political leaders seem to be personally self serving, totally directed by lobbyists and money. The dearth of leadership continues”

- Congressional gun control legislation is falling apart

Every little helps

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:24:59 -0400

Every little helps

Yikes (via Ice climber takes a tumble)

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:48:40 -0400

Yikes

(via Ice climber takes a tumble)

(via Social networks)

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:43:27 -0400

(via Social networks)

Yet another example of NHS ineptitude, lack of leadership and...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 04:29:54 -0500

Yet another example of NHS ineptitude, lack of leadership and accountability.

Between January and June 2012, Serco staff falsified data 252 times, the NAO report says, based on Serco’s own forensic audit of 107,000 patient calls over the period. Serco told the NAO the changes were “unacceptable” and unauthorised and were the work of two individuals in the Cornwall service who had now left. Staff are now banned from using a “dummy account” which enabled them to change raw data in the logs (via Private contractor fiddled data when reporting to NHS, says watchdog | Society | The Guardian)

"The essence of social media is democracy. Everyone has something to say. Unfortunately, everyone..."

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 08:17:15 -0500

“

The essence of social media is democracy. Everyone has something to say. Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t have something interesting to say. Or intelligent to say. As a matter of fact, almost no one has anything interesting or intelligent to say.

As user-generated-content has become the standard, and as marketers’ content tries to emulate and imitate user-generated-content, it is being relentlessly dumbed down. It is devolving into empty platitudes and boosterism.

We are in for a period of truly vapid online marketing in 2013. It will be the year of content without content

”

- The Ad Contrarian: The Content Con

jayparkinsonmd: Moves is disrupting Fitbit, the Fuelband, and...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 07:54:07 -0500

jayparkinsonmd:

Moves is disrupting Fitbit, the Fuelband, and all those other nonsensical gadgets.

I’ve been using Moves for about 2 weeks now and I really, really love it. It’s an app that essentially functions as a pedometer and runs in the background tracing where you’ve been throughout the day and measuring your steps.

It is not some goofy thing I have to wear on my wrist or on your bra. It’s not something I have to remember to charge. Fire it up once, and it’s on for as long as you have an iPhone. It may not be as “good” as a Fitbit or Fuelband, but it works just fine, it’s available to everyone with an iPhone for free, and it runs in the background of your life. And, most importantly, I haven’t noticed an impact on my iPhone’s battery.

It’s a classic disruptive innovation.

I bought a Fuelband a few months ago, synced it with my iPhone, and connected it to Facebook. Facebook said “You have 37 friends with a Fuelband. Click here to see how many people have live data in the past week.” I clicked and saw 2 people. I immediately returned it to the Nike Store. I knew that goofy thing would be in some drawer in a month after the novelty wore off. And I don’t like to throw away money for gimmicks.

My iPhone is not a novelty. And Moves now runs in the background of my life letting me know how active or inactive I’ve been that day. Interesting, motivating, and exciting stuff. Congrats to the Moves team. Y’all are killin’ it.

felixsalmon: Eddie Huang on TED: “It was like being at a...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 07:37:14 -0500

felixsalmon:

Eddie Huang on TED: “It was like being at a fucking Scientology summer camp. It was horrible.”

Brilliant - Ted as Scientology