Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- Scarlet Road – Trailer – YouTube. "This is sure to polarize people. Documentary about a sex worker? Fair enough. What if that sex worker specializes in helping people with disabilities? Here’s the trailer for a movie that makes you think, no matter where you stand on the issue." (Alistair for Hugh).
- What tricks do you use to get customers to spend more money? – Reddit. "Here’s a Reddit thread that exposes all of the dirty secrets retailers play to influence buyers. From TV tuning, to bar tab minimums, to changing floor tile sizes, to item placement, it’s all here — the anonymity of Reddit’s posters and the general distaste many workers feel for underhanded trickery makes this a treasure-trove of cheap (and effective) manipulations, although you may have to wade through a few side-rants to get to the good stuff." (Alistair for Mitch).
- The Rise of Developeronomics – Forbes. "A compelling argument that good developers are becoming the most important ‘commodity’ in the world. Forget gold, Treasury Bills, and the equity market: you should invest in good developers if you want to get rich, says Venkatesh Rao." (Hugh for Alistair).
- Barbarians on the Thames – City Journal. "As a lefty, my tendency is to agree that ‘the state should do more,’ but as with everything important, when tendencies become assumptions become fundamental principles – with no testing – there’s a big big problem. This is a provocative article about the ’causes’ of London riots, and makes a strong (if uncomfortable, for me) case that much of the grievances of the rioters can be traced back to an overabundance of housing subsidies, overgenerous welfare payments, and general leniency on crime. And it’s worth considering as we think about tackling the big problems we have to face in the next decade (a broken economic system, climate change to name two): do we have evidence that this policy actually benefits society and provides the outcomes we want? It would be nice to see the Lean Startup model implemented in how we make social and economic policy – test, learn, test, learn, test… *before* you launch something big. So, often we do things because we ‘think they are right,’ but have no real sense of the actual consequences, and our political systems are not built for Lean. Maybe they should be." (Hugh for Mitch).
- The 50 funniest tweets of 2011 – HappyPlace. "In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I figured I’d shoot you a link that isn’t so big-brained. There are some real gems in here and it made me discover Joe Mande with his brilliant tweet, ‘Please tell me those aren’t dog names. RT @MikeVick: Who do y’all think gonna win the fight tonight Zab Judah or Zhan?’ Not to get too deep here, but Twitter really is creating a new form of entertainment. I love watching comedians (like Mande) work Twitter down to 140 characters of humor. I also appreciate his ability to take something that a celebrity says on Twitter, retweet and add his own comical spin that also turns it into an awkward confrontation – that in and of itself is an even newer form of comedy." (Mitch for Alistair).
- Malcolm Gladwell Has No Idea Why "The Tipping Point" Was A Hit – Fast Company. "When asked why The Tipping Point was such a successful business book, Malcolm Gladwell responds: ‘my only real hope was that my mother would like it! I’ve considered all my books to be very private, idiosyncratic projects designed to make me happy. And I’m forever surprised when they make other people happy too.’ It’s amazing to me that the most popular content (be it a business book or hit song) are never produced with a mass audience in mind, but because it’s someone’s art and it makes them happy just to be making it. While that may seem obvious to some, I wish more brands would think this way and do things that would make the keepers of the brand happy about the brand instead of worrying what every customer might think." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.