Project OrielEmbracing Change

I use backpack to keep track of the links I want to share with you when the time is right. But for some of these links – their time never comes. They sit there in the queue and never get their 15 minutes of fame. They never get to stand up straight in front of millions with the lights shining. It really is a sad situation and I’d like to rectify it. Today I’d like to dedicate this post to all the links that are not as interesting, not as shiny, a little outdated, and are all around a little more dull than the other links. (note: your millage may vary)

* Free Conference calling for when you don’t have WebEx or another corporate tool.

* Three Hypotheses of Human Interface Design “Hypothesis 1: Human interface cognitive load is proportional to the number of clicks/keystrokes/gestures”

* The Lightswitch That Might Explain a Lot About Java via Global Nerdy “I gave a talk at Sun Labs where I encountered a special light switch in one of their conference rooms. At first I thought it was some kind of silly “engineer” joke. But the light switch functions as stated for real. Does it win the award for the most confusing light switch?”

* Grey’s Law also known as Hanlon’s razor “Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”

* Google Product Search (formerly Froogle) lets you comparison shop prices across many online stores, Google style.

* Instructables “The World’s Biggest Show & Tell” have user submitted content on how to do one thing or another. Their feature article: How to Solve A Rubik’s Cube.

* Spiral of Silence – “The theory asserts that a person is less likely to voice an opinion on a topic if one feels that one is in the minority for fear of reprisal or isolation from the majority”

So I read Blink by Malcom Gladwell. I was excited to read it, and found it OK. If you pick it up – read the first half, skip the long detailed stories, and catch the conclusion.

To sum the book up, “blink” judgments (or rapid assessments of a situation) can be entirely right or entirely wrong. They don’t really know how to differentiate between the two. They do know that your blink assessments are more affected by your prejudices than things that get longer consideration. And they know that no one can satisfactorily explain why or how they came to the blink conclusion they did. There are great examples in the book, but the experts just don’t seem to have any information to add.

I enjoyed Malcom’s last book The Tipping Point, and his next book sounds fascinating. But as much as I enjoyed getting this book started and found some fascinating nuggets of information in it – it seemed to be lacking something in the end.

* 1001 movies to see before you die

* Create your own streaming radio station based on an artist you love with Pandora. Great way to find new music.

* Gmail now supports IMAP for free. Excellent implementation merging the concept of folders with labels.

* Time names iPhone the invention of the year

* Quote: “people are ignorant of the things that affect their actions, yet they rarely feel ignorant. We need to accept our ignorance and say ‘I don’t know’ more often.” – Malcolm Gladwell

* Quote: “OVERWORK, n. A dangerous disorder affecting high public functionaries who want to go fishing.” – Devils Dictionary

It is a good book and it feels much more honest than the 4-Hour Workweek, which has a similar target audience.

Every time, however, that I’ve tried to describe the book to someone else Mr. Ferrazzi ends up sounding like some greasy social climber. I guess it isn’t that so much as he is very methodical and intentional about his relationships. People as a whole seem to be hesitant about any structure brought to relationship building – they want it to feel organic and authentic. Much like making sausage, I think everyone is happier if you don’t know what happens behind the scenes.

But his bigger message is that the best way to meet people, get favors, land a dream job, or smooth over any bumps in your road to success, is simply to be generous to others. And being generous to others without any expectation of returned favors, is good advice in any situation.

Update: I forgot to mention, the reason I found this book was an excellent post Networking, “Never Eat Alone”, and Highrise – talking about how Highrise is perfect for carrying out some of the practices that Mr. Ferrazzi suggests.