tbellis.org

Let’s let Buffet end the deficit in 5 minutes.

ellistyle — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 17:29:32 +0000

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.”

This guy is my hero.

Work

ellistyle — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:44:01 +0000

The will to prepare to win is what sets people apart.

-Coach Bobby Knight

Referring to the fact that no one has the will to lose, but not everyone is willing to go beyond simply desiring to succeed.

A Lot of Us Wear a Lot of Hats…

ellistyle — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:12:25 +0000

It’s good to be the guy your boss comes to. It’s great to have a job. An additional few hours in the day would be good sometimes.

Money Movement

ellistyle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:46:55 +0000

I spent some time in rural Idaho working exclusively with the Latino population. Most were laborers or hands on farms. Many sacrificed their own income to send money to family members in their native country. It seemed an uncommon practice; judging by the visualization, not really. This is just one small component of the current immigration debates as it pertains to economics. Find the interactive visualization at the link below.

via: torre.nl

Innovative Operations

ellistyle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:59:58 +0000

We all seem to love our iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and (my personal favorite) Airport Express’. You can’t argue with great products. While I don’t agree with the near exclusive use of foreign labor, Apple’s operations are as well thought out as their products:

“What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost (or a significant fraction of it) of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time (maybe 6 – 36 months), and then for a discounted rate afterwards. This yields two advantages:

Apple has access to new component technology months or years before its rivals. This allows it to release groundbreaking products that are actually impossible to duplicate. Remember how for up to a year or so after the introduction of the iPhone, none of the would-be iPhone clones could even get a capacitive touchscreen to work as well as the iPhone’s? It wasn’t just the software – Apple simply has access to new components earlier, before anyone else in the world can gain access to it in mass quantities to make a consumer device. One extraordinary example of this is the aluminum machining technology used to make Apple’s laptops – this remains a trade secret that Apple continues to have exclusive access to and allows them to make laptops with (for now) unsurpassed strength and lightness.

Eventually its competitors catch up in component production technology, but by then Apple has their arrangement in place whereby it can source those parts at a lower cost due to the discounted rate they have negotiated with the (now) most-experienced and skilled provider of those parts – who has probably also brought his production costs down too. This discount is also potentially subsidized by its competitors buying those same parts from that provider – the part is now commoditized so the factory is allowed to produce them for all buyers, but Apple gets special pricing.”

Tim Cook is quite capable of keeping the doors open, I would say.

Cut Chair | Peter Bristol

ellistyle — Fri, 06 May 2011 02:06:41 +0000

Cut Chair

The Cut Chair provides a stable place to sit, but creates an optical illusion that tells you otherwise.

A plate concealed by a thick carpet allows a robust cantilevered seat. Three well placed leg “stumps” and the chair looks as though it has just been magically sliced apart.

I am looking for a partner that would like to have the Cut Chair made for installation or production. Please contact.

Peter Bristol © 2011

via peterbristol.net

Dubai

ellistyle — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:20:52 +0000

looks like that planet in Star Wars that is like one giant urban landscape with skyscrapers

until you widen the shot a bit.

Still an amazing looking place.

http://wonderaday.com/blog/1856/

Age of Our Leaders

ellistyle — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:21:54 +0000

via ilovecharts.tumblr.com

My commentary on this chart:

1. I never was a diligent student of history or politics, but why does the congress line start at 1950? What did I miss in my civics classes in high school.

2. Reagan was old.

3. The aging population elected a young whippersnapper.

It is interesting to see all of this information in one place.

Staircase to one’s Subconscious

ellistyle — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:23:54 +0000

I am sure that going up those stairs leads to a hill in front of blue sky and puffy clouds like in a Magritte painting.

More here.

The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator

ellistyle — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:45:52 +0000

via malcolmgladwellbookgenerator.com

Keep going until you get to the “Subtitle” one.