OrangeCoat Blog

Happy Birthday @thinkhammer

Bear — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:42:11 -0500

Happy Birthday to your friend and ours Mr. Yanov.

Malcolm Gladwell Geek Pop Star

Bear — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:01:32 -0500

NY Magazine's profile on Malcolm Gladwell is pretty damn interesting. Things I didn't know before this profile included:

Gladwell had a plant named Buckley in honor of William F. Buckley
Hockey players born earlier in the year make it to the NHL more often than hockey players born later in the year

I'm really looking forward to his new book Outliers. It's a topic I find extremely interesting.

Has anyone ever eaten moose meat?

Evan Tishuk — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:14:19 -0500

Another product of Greenville makes it to the front page of Digg. Coincidentally, I believe this billboard was produced by the firm that OrangeCoat used to share office space with -- Tenth Planet Advertising.

Little House on the Prairie," adults-only version

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:39:02 -0500

Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series "Little House on the Prairie" suitable for adult viewing only.

Make your own Muppet

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:35:40 -0500

You can make your own Muppet. Nuff said.

A proper football tackle

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:19:36 -0500

Dear Clemson football defense please pay attention to rule 255

To execute a proper tackle, lower your shoulder, not your head, and remember to wrap up.

It would be only fair to say that the Clemson defense has been strong most of the year but tackling was certainly an issue against Florida State on Saturday.

Redesigning Drupal.org

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:29:54 -0500

Mark Boulton on the redesign of Drupal.org and the broader concept of 'design by community'

AidJoy's Maiden Voyage

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:49:29 -0500

Earlier this month our friends at AidJoy left on their first mission to South America. AidJoy is newly founded non-profit that helps Central and South American charities with internet marketing.

The big goal with AidJoy is to travel Central and South America via motorcycle for six months going from charity to charity helping each to set up and manage its internet marketing efforts.

The first, bite sized goal is to do this for a single non-profit on the Amazon and that's where Jonathan and Mike of AidJoy are right now. The goal for this trip is to raise awareness and money for a hospital boat that floats up and down the Amazon bringing much needed medical care to villages with little to no access to medical care and no access to roads and transportation to larger cities.

The guys at AidJoy are due back from Peru later this month and from there OrangeCoat is going to be working with them to create a website for both AidJoy and the Amazon hospital boat.

We are excited to attack this project and we look forward to Jonathan and Mike returning safely with tons of stories and ready for action.

P.J. O'Rourke on the fall of conservatism

Bear — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:58:11 -0500

Let us bend over and kiss our ass goodbye. Our 28-year conservative opportunity to fix the moral and practical boundaries of government is gone--gone with the bear market and the Bear Stearns and the bear that's headed off to do you-know-what in the woods on our philosophy.

PJ O'Rourke~ We Blew It

The drastic and sharp failures in the markets and in the polls demands a serious debate on conservative ideals and philosophy. I'm excited to see this debate play out and hope the right group of folks win. (I also hope PJ O'Rourke is documenting the whole thing.)

What makes bourbon ice cream better?

Bear — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:15:15 -0500

What makes bourbon ice cream better? Bacon does.

So, Jim doesn't like Twitter

Bear — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:08:28 -0500

I'm not the Twitter master, in part because it's hard enough to keep up with the 15 people when you've got every lunch, dinner, tagged song, bookmark, and fart someone enjoyed in a day. I think in the long run Twitter will need to develop some form of inclusive or exclusive filtering so people can define that they only care about people's "ideas" and "travel" and "some other tag". Or, I care about everything except that an alarm clock woke them up and their toaster tweeted that they had toast and their refrigerator tweeted that they opened the door and their car was started at 9:15 and is 5 miles SW of Greer, etc, etc.

This concept of having information feed to you is great and different from search, but they will have the same glut of information problem that Google solved. However, search solved the problem for information seekers. Some sort of filtering will have to be the solution to solve the information consumer's problem of information overload from feeds of all sorts, email, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

That is all.

PS: Jim's Twitter account is @allella and mine is @agautsc

PPS: I like Twitter. Twitter is good.

The Chipper Demon's new CD: Duets of Dodging Acorns

Bear — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:24:07 -0500

The new Chipper Demon CD: Duets of Dodging Acorns was "officially" released last night. Twenty-one new songs for you to discover and enjoy.

PS: The bonus track is simply put the greatest song in the history of the world to date.

John Francis's TED Talk

Bear — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:40:15 -0500

John Francis didn't speak a word or use motorized transportation for years. While doing this he became a very successful environmental activist. However, at some point in his journey, he realized to reach his full potential he had to stop placing these limitations on himself and embrace the idea that it is alright to change and grow.

Don't be fooled by dancing spider robots

Bear — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:58:05 -0500

Don't be fooled by the robot dancing to Mambo Number 5. They turn into giant spider robot killing machines like the one in Wild Wild West. Self aware robots must be stopped.

PS: If you haven't listen to Kevin Smith's story about writing a Superman script and giant spiders, you should.

Kottke provided the Mambo Number 5 link.

Save the Clemson Organic Farms Bacon (and other food products)

Bear — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:29:36 -0500

The Clemson University Student Organic Farm is in jeopardy of shutting down due to lack of funding. It's a wonderful program that teaches students the ins and outs of organic farming by running a real organic farm.

In hopes to save the farm they are having benefit event on November 22. The event includes good, local food, music, and children's activities. Mark your calendars and sign the petition. It would be a shame to lose such a wonderful resource.

When: November 22 from 11am-4pm
Where: Clemson Student Organic Farm
Sign the petition.

Gourmet election watching

Bear — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:10:49 -0500

A gourmand's guide to watching the election results. Sorta. (A Maddd link)

Graphic design I can believe in

Bear — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:45:33 -0500

(via Wooster)

Candy or Obama?

Bear — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:30:24 -0500

Yale economist Dean Karlan used Halloween as chance to experiment on the voting preferences of children. Would these children of liberal parents pick Obama or more candy?

The short answer, most Connecticut kids prefer Obama over candy.

Seared Steak Tacos with Cactus Paddles

Bear — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:20:18 -0500

Perhaps next Mexican Monday will include cactus

A quick thought on Hunter S. Thompson

Bear — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:26:47 -0500

I watched "Buy the ticket, take the ride" an okay documentary on Hunter S. Thompson last night. Watching the movie did drive enough interest for me to watch his appearance on Charlie Rose.

In the overall lackluster interview Rose did ask an interesting question, Have you wasted your talent? What an inspiring thought? Even a man who has reached the level of success as HST could have wasted his talent. It certainly makes me want to put little bit more effort in because I certainly can't compete with the talent of Thompson.

* The interview was lackluster for me mainly because HST didn't bring the same energy and life to the interview as he does to his writing.

A quick rant on college football and branding.

Bear — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:07:42 -0400

Georgia versus Florida is still "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" and Texas versus Oklahoma is still "The Red River Shootout." Destroying the character and characters of college football to sound more politically correct is silly and hurts the sport. That is all.

Happy Birthday Emmit

Bear — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:54:39 -0400

Happy 2nd birthday to my nephew Emmit! For your birthday only would I use an exclamation point my boy.

The Nature of a Mirror by Robert Penn Warren

Bear — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:09:52 -0400

Robert Penn Warren reads The Nature of a Mirror

Autumn in the South

Bear — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:03:33 -0400

This wonderful photo of the was taken by NCBrian.

The Right Key

Bear — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:49:52 -0400

The only song you ever need to listen to again is Charmaine Neville Band - The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhole. (Thanks to Mad for the heads up)

Gran Torino Trailer

Bear — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:36:54 -0400

Trailer for Clint Eastwood's new movie Gran Torino

The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success

Bear — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:23:07 -0400

The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success.

An entrepreneur is successful because his passion for an outcome leads him to organize available resources in new and more valuable ways. When you look at it that way, Kurt Cobain was definitely a creative entrepreneur, and he and the other members of Nirvana knew the outcome they wanted.

It couldn't be more true.

McCain v. McClane

Bear — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:42:31 -0400

We had the very popular OC Fight of McClane v. Riggs and now Good has the almost as interesting McCain v. McClane. (via Airbag)

Ron Howard, Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler want you to vote... BAD.

Evan Tishuk — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:16:14 -0400

Ron Howard reprises his roles as Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham. Fonzie and Andy Griffith make appearances too.

Bacon apple pie

Bear — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:25:02 -0400

When I first read the headline for a bacon apple pie I was intrigued . After seeing the photo, I was in love.

Why We Don't Do Spec Work

Bear — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:02:09 -0400

We don't do spec work for two main reasons:

1.) Part of our process includes a good amount of time put into research. This research includes getting to know the company and the people in the company. This allows us to deliver the best solution from a message, marketing, design, and functional stand point. You aren't allowed this research and get to know you time with spec work. All you can go on is what you think people might like. Making decisions on blind guesses is not a good business process.

If a company is interested in seeing if we have the chops. We have a past projects section.

2.) We can only charge for the hours we spend working. If we give those hours away for free then when do we make money. On top of that, Bill Masters (former owner of Perception kayaks) once said he never gave away a kayak for free because free has no value. That stuck with me.

If you're young and trying to make a name for yourself I'd suggest doing amazing work for small companies with small budgets. That way you get real world experience and get to nail down a process of working with clients that you can use for the rest of your life.

Doing spec work doesn't help you grow as a business person. Learning how to talk to a customer, learning what they need, and delivering a product for those needs is a real key to business. If you are just doing imaginary work that you hope people will like you'll never grow and learn this process.

PS: You can follow me on Twitter.com/agautsc

Site Launch: Intelligent River

Bear — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:00:42 -0400

We've recently launched a new website for Clemson University, IntelligentRiver.org.

The Intelligent River project uses a network of wireless sensors to measure water quality, soil moisture, water level, tree girth and additional environmental parameters in South Carolina. All this data is collected and displayed in real time on the website.

If such things interest you, I'd suggest spending some time in "Data Products" section. We had some fun with the Google Maps API and plenty of good ol' fashion javascript.

Hope you enjoy.

John Hodgman on aliens

Bear — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:51:53 -0400

How does John Hodgman know that aliens exist? He went to the movie Dune and a girl talked to him.

Firefox mobile (aka Fennec) Demo

Bear — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:34:56 -0400

Fennec Alpha Walkthrough from Madhava Enros on Vimeo.
The Firefox mobile (aka Fennec) demo is pretty damn nice. Add that to the Android platform and I might have a new phone by say, spring time.

Zombie Walk

Bear — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:35:48 -0400

Toronto has a yearly Zombie Walk. Who knew?

Update: The entire Flickr set of the Zombie walk

Dancing with cats

Bear — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:47:11 -0400

Remember Dancing with Cats? Me neither until I ran across the Flickr set. So, funny. So, good.

BJ Hill walks America

Bear — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:58:06 -0400

BJ Hill is a 32 year old teacher who is walking from San Francisco back home to Massachusetts. He carries a notebook and asks people he meets along the way to write a message to the next President of the United States.

BJ is walking through Greenville, SC today. You can follow his journey on his blog and/ or his Twitter.

Corn dog muffins

Bear — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:42:26 -0400

Corn dog muffins sound like a wonderful tailgating snack. PS: Mad brought a corn bread ham and cheese sandwich to Bag Lunch Thursday today that was more cake than bread.

Battle of the Useless Labels

Jimmy C — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:54:31 -0400

Round One

A battle for the title of Most Useless Label. Now accepting your votes and submissions:

Sean Gaffney's Magnetic Clip

versus

Jimmy C's "Tray"

Dow is down thanks to computers

Bear — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:59:22 -0400

Self-aware robots are destroying the economy. Colbert explains.

Malcolm Gladwell on Genius

Bear — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:20:10 -0400

A pet interest of mine is trying to better understand those who are considered geniuses. Malcolm Gladwell has an extremely interesting (of course) piece on the subject in the most recent New Yorker. He focuses mainly on the myth that all genius pours from a person easily and at an early age.

The article tells the story of those who struggled for decades to create great works of art. Focusing mainly on the writer Ben Fountain and the artist Cézanne. It's interesting to read about the personalities that bloom late and the support system needed for such a late bloom.

As an aside, Jonathan Safran Foer is mentioned and interviewed in the article as an example of the phenom (early genius). If you're interested more in him, I'd suggest listening to this interview on Slate.com

Woot on Apple's annoucements

Bear — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:41:33 -0400

An Apple a burn, my favorite of all a burn's.

Upgrade to OS X takes away some feature you really liked, replaces it with another way to access the iTunes Store

Could I regrow my hair in a few years?

Evan Tishuk — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:01:10 -0400

The gene for male pattern baldness has been identified. I'll bet anything that if stem cells helped cure baldness, there'd be a lot less friction on the issue.

Sarko's devil dog look

Bear — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:42:18 -0400

Sarko got a mohawk haircut and Paivi took a picture with her phone. It turned out scary. (This wasn't Photoshoped at all.)

The Wii Wins Again

Bear — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:48:12 -0400

The Wii ad department has a bit of the fun with YouTube. (via AdPulp). And speaking of Wii, don't forget today is Bag Lunch Thursday.

Does twitter want to make money?

Bear — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:11:30 -0400

It's Slate's turn to write the article, 'How is Twitter going to make money?' BTW, twitter.com/agautsc if you're so inclined to follow folks.

Randomness, Effort, and Black Swans

Evan Tishuk — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:38:55 -0400

Seth Godin asks if effort is a myth:

I think we've been tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap. We see the folks who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it's easy to forget that: (a) these guys are the exceptions, and (b) there's nothing you can do about it anyway.

And that's the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don't get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.

Seth's post ties in with one of the key points made in Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Fooled by Randomness -- a book I recently devoured and highly recommend as a mild antidote to The Tipping Point. Taleb points out that we tend to see only the exception -- the black swan or the winner -- and are largely blind to the losers when assessing risk and probability. For example, if there was a coin flipping tournament with 1024 contestants, one guy would necessarily win 10 consecutive flips. You'd be tempted to think that he's endowed with some special gift of foresight. Heck after the 10th win in a row, the flipper might actually start to believe he's untouchable. But it's just random chance combined with a large pool of coin-fliping automata. Same goes for a lot of other luck-driven sucess stories. "I owe this success to my passion determination and vision. I am goal oriented and never take 'no' for an answer." Sounds like something an exceptional CEO might say when his company gets purchased for $70 billion? The trouble is, there are probably thousands of similar CEO's who fit the same mold and lost. You never hear about them because no one writes best sellers about ~~Tommy Bowden~~ people who had a good run but things never fell into place. Furthermore, this line of reasoning also casts a lot of uncertainty onto someone's track record. So what if you had 10 successful coin flips? Does that mean I should invest my life's savings on the outcome of flip 11?

I think with the gloominess of the current economic mood, it's good to be reminded that effort is something we can control and often profit from. Luck is random and not bankable (banks are hardly bankable these days). Work smarter and prepare for luck. Effort isn't a myth, and I hope karma isn't either.

Alicia Keys and Jack White sing the new Bond theme song

Bear — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:35:49 -0400

Alicia Keys and Jack White sing the new Bond theme song.

A Nobel A Burn

Bear — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:23:54 -0400

A must read Slate article that is basically a giant a burn to the Nobel prize committee for their hatred of American literature.

The Washington Post's Michael Dirda pointed out that it was Engdahl who displayed "an insular attitude towards a very diverse country": It is a bit rich for a citizen of Sweden, whose population of 9 million is about the same as New York City's, to call the United States "isolated." David Remnick noted that the Swedish Academy itself has been guilty of conspicuous ignorance over a very long period: "You would think that the permanent secretary of an academy that pretends to wisdom but has historically overlooked Proust, Joyce and Nabokov, to name just a few non-Nobelists, would spare us the categorical lectures."

The advantages to going bald

Bear — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:58:51 -0400

Awww man. There really are some advantages to going bald. Right?