Daniel Goldstein on Why You’re Going to Screw Up Your New Year’s Resolution (unless you tie yourself to the mast)
Published on Jan 2nd, 2012 by Luke Gilman
TED Talks: Daniel Goldstein: The battle between your present and future self
“The other reason that it’s difficult to resist temptation is because it’s an unequal battle between the present self and the future self. I mean, let’s face it, the present self is present. It’s in control. It’s in power right now. It has these strong, heroic arms that can lift doughnuts into your mouth. And the future self is not even around. It’s off in the future. It’s weak. It doesn’t even have a lawyer present. There’s nobody to stick up for the future self. And so the present self can trounce all over its dreams.”
Goldstein has come up with some interesting ways of balancing the power between present and future self that go beyond commitment devices (tying oneself to the mast) and into visualization of outcomes.
The scholarly articles behind Goldstein’s talk are available on his website: http://www.dangoldstein.com/
Ice Cube on the Eames’ House
Published on Dec 24th, 2011 by Luke Gilman
Ice Cube celebrates L.A. with a tour of design icons Charles and Ray Eames‘ and the Eames House. (HT AdWeek)
Court ordered relief in temporary restraining order in trademark case includes de-indexing from search engines
Published on Dec 3rd, 2011 by Luke Gilman
“The relief granted by the court is extraordinary in its scope, and includes:
- an injunction against the defendants prohibiting them from using any Chanel marks or selling any Chanel products;
- an injunction against the top-level domain name registry, directing it to change the registrar of record for the domain names to GoDaddy (!);
- an injunction telling GoDaddy to change the DNS data for the domain names so the domain names resolve to a site where a copy of the case documents …
Some weeks just feel like this (gif)
Published on Nov 5th, 2011 by Luke Gilman
Dan Phillips makes creative houses from reclaimed stuff (Houston TED Talks)
Published on Dec 11th, 2010 by Luke Gilman
Dan Phillips is a Houston-area homebuilder who makes affordable houses from recycled and reclaimed materials. His work and processes are truly inspiring (see pictures from his flickr stream). More impressive to me is his philosophical take on his work – rather than operating from a revolutionary creed, Phillips’ approach is grounded in common sense and keen insight into human needs and habits.
Although he doesn’t discuss it in his talk, I especially appreciate his take on housing inspectors, whom I suspect for many in Phillips’ position could be mistaken for an inevitable enemy, rather than a potential collaborator. More on Dan and his building on his company website: The Phoenix Commotion and an interview in the New York Times.
Dan Phillips is a designer and builder in Huntsville, Texas. In 1998, he and his wife, Marsha, started The Phoenix Commotion, a construction company that builds affordable houses from reclaimed and recycled materials. Their mission is to divert landfill waste while creating sustainable housing for single mothers, artists, and families with low incomes. The Phoenix Commotion keeps labor costs low while reclaiming human potential. They use an apprentice program to teach sustainable building skills to individuals that volunteer or intern on the Phoenix Commotion Crew.
The houses are energy-efficient, cheap and satisfying to build — and wildly, effervescently creative. To the Phillipses, any material used in enough multiples creates a beautiful pattern — so Phoenix Commotion homes are covered and decorated with salvaged materials of many stripes. Homes are built in concert with their eventual owner, who contributes sweat equity and their own artistic flair.
