Stephen Colbert is hands down one of the best comedians of our time.  One of my favorite foundations of humor is pointing out and appreciating the absurdities of the world we live in, for which Colbert has unique talent.  In particular, (political persuasions aside) he does a great job of roasting the media.  Whether it’s his legendary White House Correspondents Dinner performance, chatting with Bill O’Reilly (Colbert- “You know what I hate about people who criticize you?  They criticize what you say…  but they never give you credit for how loud you say it… or how long you say it.”), or quitting out of frustration that cowards are taking over America; Colbert delivers the goods.

One of my favorite moments is when Colbert summarizes the Cingular/ATT merger.  The flow… raw cleverness… the delivery… this skit is truly a masterpiece.  Watch more Colbert.  Take life less seriously.  It does a body good.

Estimation- Relative mass of celestial bodies

In any context, a very useful skill to learn is estimation.  Most job interviews typically incorporate some form of case study, where the candidate is called upon to work their way through a problem, making basic estimates and assumptions along the way.  Aside from being able to logically reason through the problem, I’ve found the second most important aspect of making a good estimation is some basic knowledge with which to frame the problem.

In the case of planets, solar systems, and our universe, it’s frequently quite difficult to understand the scale of celestial bodies/forces/energies, and how they relate to one another.  The result of this fuzziness (and that the numbers are so big!) is that it’s very easy to be off by several orders of magnitude.  Aside from being visually stunning (and humbling as a human being, this video does an amazing job of conveying the relative masses of several planets and stars in our universe.  Another exercise you might find interesting for a minute or two is comparing the sizes of planets to eachother, just to have a slightly better understanding of how planets relate to one another.

Table Tennis

Table tennis is an amazing sport that seemingly defies physics. Physics systems that refuse to be reconciled: Theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and table tennis. The required speed, agility, and precision… phenominal.

This video says it all. Enjoy.

ps if you want more

The Nature of Time II- Week

In my last post, we took a look at how we spend our time on a daily basis. Let’s continue the regression, and consider how we spend our time on a weekly basis.

The clock punching, factory working, 40 hour work week was ingrained in my mind as the NORMAL WAY OF LIFE (bold, caps, underlined).

But I didn’t find (nor would I want) life to be that simple, cut and dry. For instance, my college schedule (because life doesn’t begin until college, right? for any given week might look a bit like the following:

A reasonable cacophony of fun, no? Naps in the afternoon, all nighters, partying til dawn… that was the life…

Or was it? 4 short years later, turned loose on the world, I was forced to find gainful employment.

While my voyage into the financial world wasn’t quite this bad, I have a dozen people lined up to tell you this is reality folks. The 100 hour workweek, this is what it looks like. An endless army of tasks marching into your inbox, demanding your attention. And you had better be detail oriented… or else! Sunday night off, if you’re lucky. It’s not a joke.

After a year, I began pondering different ways of life. Perhaps return to coding, and the natural state my body always seems to push me towards.

<tangent> Being in the zone when coding is a state of flow unlike any other that I’ve ever experienced. Blink once, and all of a sudden the sun is rising, a monolith of newly minted code stands before me, and my dear forgotten body complains from having been forgotten for the past 12 hours. AND, it’s Saturday morning and I forgot all about that party I was supposed to go to! Sorry WhatsHerName, maybe next time…</tangent> Contract coding on my own terms- getting work done when and where I knew I worked best, and having the rest of the time to spend as I saw fit. But after having moved to California, all I really wanted to do was start my own company…

And look at that, the old adage it’s true, you get to *choose* which 80 hours a week you want to work! Large blocks of time spent on the product, lightly seasoned with a handful of naps, meetings, and free time. Best served room temperature. No other vocation seemed like it would harness my passion quite so well, so I poked my head up, took a look around to check feasibility, and (unfortunately) noticed the market was starting to look a little frothy…

So I settled (if such an awesome life can be considered “settling”) for life in a startup: not too structured, but also not completely freeform.

It’s a rare night that I get away with all free time once I leave the office, but that’s a story for another day (next post). Freedom to come in late some days, work at night because I want to, go home early other days when I’m not quite feeling the fire- the startup life is exactly what I was looking for. Passionate at work, passionate at play, life seems to feed on itself, whether I call what I’m doing work or play. The line between the two has started to blur… what exactly does it mean to be doing “other things”, or “working”? Next up, The Nature of Time III- Think Grey!

ps as a bonus exercise, what about considering how you spend your time on a monthly basis? It’s probably not this simple…

Vacations start playing a roll at this level. And how are you going to spend your weekends?

What about yearly? Now we’re looking at switching jobs, taking a sabbatical, going back to school… Any number of things is possible

Quotes to Live By

Here is the list of quotes I try to read every morning when I wake up, and live throughout the day.

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the one who thinks he can. – Bruce Lee

Strength, intelligence, charisma; these are but a few of the traits that help a person go quite far in this world. But they all fade in the face of some challenge or another. Those with strength may lose their resolve in the face of a persistent adversary. Those with intelligence must occasionally bow to the rare devilishly tricky puzzle. Those with charisma may encounter deaf ears and cognitive dissonance. Is there one ring to rule them all? Clean, simple, sheer force of will. The one currency in this world that will retain value no matter how much inflation and debt crush international financial markets. Believe in yourself, try hard, and be ready to pick yourself back up. Because… why not!?

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or as a curse, while a warrior takes everything as a challenge. – Don Juan

There are two types of events in this world. Those you can influence, and those you cannot. Psychologists like to call the first your “sphere of influence.” There’s not much pondering to be done here. Events are in your control. Start influencing. Carpe diem.

The wise man asks himself for the reason of his mistakes. The fool asks others. -Chinese proverb

You may associate with the smartest, strongest, richest people in the world. But ask yourself this- why are they your friends/colleagues/investors/employees? Because you are unique, you think different, and you bring something to the table something that other people don’t have. You are the only one who can truly and honestly evaluate your performance. Peer into your soul early and often. Work to get a better understanding of who you are, and why you do the things you do, and you will surely be well prepared for anything life can dump on your head. You have nothing to fear from peering into your soul if you like who you are. And if you don’t like who you are, even a tiny little piece, what to stop you from crafting a new “you”?

By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree. – Cambodian proverb

We all know the sports fan who is capable of offering timeless wisdom of the ages… from the comfort of their recliner. Or the armchair entrepreneur. Or the consultant who “analyzes” an opportunity away. Get out there and do! How else can one expect to learn?

You may sense a theme here. Something along the lines of “attacking life” might be an accurate depiction. What lead to this thought pattern? Life’s short. There are so many amazing, interesting, fun things to do, that to NOT be excited every morning I jump out of bed would just be a tragic loss.

So instead, I read these quotes, throw on my armor, grab my sword, and venture out into the world to see what adventures await

2008 Election- Ron Paul

Have you ever had the vague unsettling sensation that the US has been, and is, being led astray? I’ve been guided to Ron Paul by a good friend of mine, and he’s exactly the kind of honest, intelligent, and thoughtful person that would do an excellent job leading our country. My frustration originates from the fact that popular media and money drive elections more than anything else. What to do, what to do… Certainly the greatest technological advances in my lifetime could be leveraged in this direction… In any event, some clips of Ron Paul in action:
The economy and fiscal policy are enormously complex. Or are they…?

A lucid explanation of where Neocons came from, why the political climate is the way it is today, and where our current leadership is taking us. Some chilling references to Machiavelli.

At the end of the day, I absolutely love people who’s words conjure the mental image of a knife slicing through hot butter. Ron Paul is a master chef.