Old Mines Reopen in a Revival of California’s Gold Rush - NYTimes.com →
nytimes.com
Are they talking about 1848, or 1998? Kidding! But perhaps the metaphor does apply to the secondary market…
February 2011
66 posts
Industry Standard founder Battelle has a million ideas in his head | Poynter. →
poynter.org
I stumbled across this while I was looking for my original post on starting FM nearly six years ago. This was 2002, nearly a decade ago, and Fost, a media industry reporter, sent me an email asking what was next after the crash of The Industry Standard. Money quote:
“Might he start something up again someday?
“God, how could I not?” he said. “It’s what I know how to do. Whether a magazine or publishing business or, Lord knows, I have a million ideas that run around my head. Should something extraordinary strike me, I’ll probably pursue it to the ends of the earth.”
I then wrote The Search, started Web 2 Summit, and launched Federated Media. Now I’m stepping up and handing over the reins to Deanna Brown. It’s fun to reflect on those early years that led to where I am now.
“For me Sonos, Spotify and my iPhone are the paraphernalia that hold my drugs of choice. This year I fell into an entirely new crop of retro soul, folk and power pop. With countless hours logged on airplanes and in airports, it’s hard to imagine what I would have done without the persistent soundtrack blown through headphones, on moving walkways and 747s.”
—Snoozebutton – Your Discerning Guide to Modern Culture » Blog Archive » The Bestest 2010 – Tunage
Dow Industrials Top 12000 - WSJ.com →
online.wsj.com
Wall Street LOVES round numbers.
“VCs have actually become the largest single category of buyers on SecondMarket, accounting for about 40 percent of transactions in the fourth quarter, according to the marketplace’s recent stats.”
—
What Does Redpoint VC Geoff Yang Want to Fund? | Liz Gannes | NetworkEffect | AllThingsD
Fascinating.
(via tedr)
Seems to indicate a desire at some genetic level to invest, even if they can’t get in the “normal” way! Or are they hedging their fund returns?
Tumblr A Few Months In
I like Tumblr, and it’s replaced Twitpic for me as a place where my “moments” live, often and usually pictures of great rides in Marin.
But so far the service hasn’t taken off in a social sense - I’m not “in the flow” of Tumblr, and I measure that by one metric - do I find and follow folks on a regular basis?
The answer is no, though I’d like to. Perhaps I’m lazy, or just not looking hard enough, but I find the process non-intuitive. I like the folks I am following, many at the suggestion of other Tumblites (Tumblrers?) who I already knew. But I’m starting to lose the habit of checking my Tumblr dashboard, because I’m not discovering new things there enough.
So, Tumblrverse, what am I doing wrong? Or perhaps, what might Tumblr be doing better to keep folks like me using the service for more than a picture parking blog?
January 2011
65 posts
Carnivorous Plants Eat Poop From Tiny Bats | Wired Science | Wired.com →
wired.com
If I had only known that a publication I had a hand in starting would one day run this headline, why, it would have made the long hours so much easier.
“
If anyone understands this, it’s Erin Alderette, the longtime mayor of the Chelsea Piers Sports Center in New York. She began her term back in 2009 after joining Foursquare on a whim and, a few brief challenges from other gym members notwithstanding, she has held onto the post ever since.
One person she briefly battled for the title was Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist who provided much of the original funding for Foursquare.
Foursquare Mayor for Life?
“My competitive drive, it’s really strong,” Alderette said in what is undoubtedly an understatement. “The thought of someone checking in and bumping me as mayor really motivates me to get in there every single day, sometimes twice a day. I don’t like taking weekends off. I don’t even like going on vacation.”
Bragging rights aside, Alderette’s mayoral tenure does have other perks. She’s entitled to a free guest pass every day of her term, something she didn’t know about until recently and that she doesn’t find especially important.
More exciting is the level of respect she’s earned from her from fellow gym goers. When an instructor recently announced that he was pleased to have the mayor attending his Yoga class, everyone turned around expecting to see Mr. Bloomberg in a spandexed downward dog, Alderette included. Once the class realized he was referring to Alderette, she swears there were more murmurs of awe than snickers of ridicule.
- I will never get the mayorship of my gym back, alas. I think Foursquare needs to create mayoral cabinets or something. It’s disheartening. I used to be mayor of my son’s school then he started checking in from his bedroom (which is about 200 meters away from his school, where he does, in fact, go every day. He just doesn’t always remember to check in).” —when i bumped her, she accused me (on twitter) of using my investor status to get the mayoralty. i told her that i had earned it fair and square and she needed to go to the gym more often. then i followed her on foursquare and twitter. a week later, she had it back and pulled away from there.
Social ‘Networkouts’: Surprising Ways Social Media Motivates You to Exercise - ABC News (via naveen)
Steve Jobs' medical leave: Apple's CEO will leave the company—even if he's healthy. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine →
slate.com
I disagree. What’s left to do? Die. And none of us want to do that.
