Skip to main content

Squidood

Do you ever get the some people aren't really individuals, but clusters of people all rolled into to one. They seem to accomplish so much that it impossible that, for them, there are only 24 hours in a day?

I was just reading Seth Godin's blog on my Sage RSS feeder. The guy is amazing. He pumps out books and blogs, he invents Internet businesses like Squidoo... he's a polymath and still finds the time to shave his head every day. I have trouble shaving my spartan beard everyday and by 3.30 n the afternoon I am usually ready for a nap.

It was Seth's post on the subject of Squidoo itself that caught my attention. Squidoo facilities people who want to share their expertise or interest in a subject. I have registered a few lenses myself, but haven't really had the time or inclination to make then half as useful as they should be. As utility is one of the cornerstones of the good web there doesn't seem much point in putting stuff online that serves no purpose. Even ThoughtSpurs has an intention - to get you thinking - though sometimes you might simply be left wondering...

He talks about how it has taken three years for Squidoo to get any kind of altitude and likens its progress to that of an albatross, with a very long take off at a high level of efficiency once the wind and wings have accomplished lift. Three years to be an overnight success.

The post made me wonder about how some ideas take off with a bang but then plummet to earth on descent that rivals the ascent for velocity and excitement, burned out and, ultimately a wreckage. Others never leave the ground, their design fatally flawed (like the Bonney who, if I might continue with the aviary theme, was so convince that seagulls were the n'est plus ultra for flight design, promptly engineered an aircraft that mimicked the bird's shape and then killed himself with it on its maiden flight-maiden crash).



Maybe a Squidoo lens about wacked flight ideas...?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Go figure

Took my daughter shopping tonight. We had dinner out. Got back home late. She laid her new clothes out in neat rows so she could choose what to wear for tomorrow. She's 5. I see her just every second weekend. How can such incredible errors of judgement (marrying my daughter's mother) result in such a wonderful little human being? Go figure

Mac Air Music

I love the idea of the Mac Air but, call me old fashioned, …no disk drive? How will I watch Ratatouille, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars and A Bug's Life on DVD? The music on the MacAir launch commercial is terrific. I tracked the artiste Yael Naim's video for you. What is the name for this genre (Regina Spectre et al)? Apparently Steve Jobs chose the track personally for the TVC. Order from Amazon: Splash out:

Sexist Advertising and stereotypes

Advertising lives in the short-form world. Because mass media is so expensive the 30 second commercial is conventional and because there is so much clutter simplified signals are essential to 'cut through'. One form of communication short-hand used as a default is the stereotype - "A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image, based on the assumption that there are attributes that members of the "other group" have in common. Stereotypes are sometimes formed by a previous illusory correlation, a false association between two variables that are loosely correlated if correlated at all. Though generally viewed as negative perceptions, stereotypes may be either positive or negative in tone." In the 1950's and 60's when men dominated advertising stereotypical impressions of women as inferior or subservient were not only commonplace but usual. It was normal to show women as housekeepers, largely because most wer...