Tactical Consent

Galileo as master salesman

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:26:57 +0000

It really doesn’t matter how brilliant an idea is if no one ever discovers it.

Chuck Dymer has a great article on the matter

Grading with games

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:35:00 +0000

James Paul Gee of Arizona State University is a brilliant person with a compelling case for using video games in the service of assessment and learning without trying to separate the two as with the standard model practiced in the United States. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. His specialty, “New Literacy Studies,” is an interdisciplinary field devoted to studying language, learning, and literacy in an integrated way in the full range of their cognitive, social, and cultural contexts.

In this video he makes some interesting points

Creativity is a necessity of a global economy
Those who know how to memorize facts traditionally have been privileged above of those who are good at solving problems.
People naturally want to be productive in their own way
Games are a connected to larger storyline. They’re extensions of other media which can ignite a passion for books, card collecting, forming social connections, fan fiction writing, and creating alternative worlds that compliment the original work
Games introduce a language on demand instead of forced on you.
Games treat words as tools to solve problems.
Games inherently combine learning and assessment.
Textbooks and game manuals should be treated equally
Learning with a peer often produces better results than learning from an expert

Warren Buffet describing the financial meltdown (video)

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:38:33 +0000

“It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked.” – Warren Buffet

When the Omaha Oracle speaks, I listen not just because he knows how to turn money into more money, but because he so often contrasts with what the chattering pundits on CNBC typically blow smoke about.

How did Madoff do it? Really?

Andy Harris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:41:45 +0000

How did Bernie Madoff get away with it for so long? He did it with secrecy, confusion, and above all else he cultivated trust in the right people who would do most of the influencing for him. I’m not so interested in the financial instruments and securities details of the situation; that was mostly a fiction anyways. The man behind the curtain eventually was revealed as a simple con-man but the story of how people came to invest in him is not so simple. Watch this great video by the Wall Street Journal and notice the connection between trust and persuasion that is undeniable. It is essential to his game.

“If it was good enough for the Palm Beach Poobahs, then it says something about me too” is my favorite line from it. I think it summarizes completely the psychological reality that Madoff exploited. At first it sounds simple but it’s far more elaborate of a con game because that kind of trust wasn’t built overnight. It was trust built by status anxiety. If I was good enough for Bernie Madoff, then I am as esteemed as his famous clients whom might have reason to see me as an equal. He was a legitimate member of the inner workings of the stock market industry for nearly 40 years, but chose investor victims who were not familiar with the industry. He took advantage of the asymmetry of information that enables all abuses of power and it only came to light because the economy made folks want to pull their money faster than he was collecting it from new victims. I have no clue as to why the SEC didn’t see this coming. I suspect his pillar of the trading establishment status put a bias on the SEC who were called to investigate his investments as early as 2001.

We are hardwired to enjoy games

Andy Harris — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:00:11 +0000

I won’t get into the brain science behind the title’s claim because it’s already widely accepted as truth. But I think Pearl Jam’s newest tactic to re-release the album that made them a pop icon is really remarkable for their use of a game to bring attention to an album. As an act of persuasion, I think it’s effective mostly because it’s conjuring up all kinds of positive feelings I already have about the music I know I already like. It’s probably been done before, but this one is really slick. They made an interesting 3d game using my favorite web technology, Papervision3d, to unlock each of the songs from their album. It’s kind of addicting….unless you hate Pearl Jam’s music. If that’s the case, then rest assured that no one else is perfect either. I think they are my generation’s Rolling Stones and they don’t cease to entertain my ears.

McDonalds Storefronts Across the World

Andy Harris — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:31:02 +0000

Here’s a flickr group that I think is interesting. It’s dedicated to the storefronts of McDonald’s. It documents a challenging design problem for McDonalds that they seem to solve quite well. For most of the Midwestern US they simply setup along highways in underdeveloped neighborhoods which allowed them to construct their stores with a consistent design. What I think is fascinating is how it appears they had to or wanted to change their design to fit into the community design standards of places that were most certainly already developed. It’s as if they were trying to reduce community friction in places that might reject big corporate monoculture. Either way, no one can claim that McDonalds is afraid of variety and change.

All we have is time

Andy Harris — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:57:04 +0000

I think it’s interesting to contrast the message of this song with the message of the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Are they really saying the same thing?

List of magazines available from Google Book search

Andy Harris — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:34:28 +0000

Google doesn’t provide this list on their book search portal, so I thought I might help them even if they don’t want it. I’ll try to keep this list up to date.

American Cowboy
Atlanta
Baseball Digest
Best Life
Black World
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
CIO
Cincinnati
Cruise Travel
Ebony
Ebony Jr.
Indianapolis
Jet
Log Home Living
Mac Life
Maximum PC
Men’s Health
Mountain Bike
New York
Popular Mechanics
Popular Science
Prevention
Runners World
Vegetarian Times
Women’s Health

It is the journey; not the destination

admin — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:31:16 +0000

I do not know exactly where I am going with this little drop in the ocean of millions and probably soon to be billions of blogs. However, I do know that I find a great deal of things facinating and curious that I just cant keep to myself. This blog will allow me to share those things I find with you. If I am boring to you, then the solution is simple: do not read my blog. If I am facinating and provide useful information then, enjoy.