Likes & Launch: Archive

“When researchers studied an incoming class of cadets at West Point, they measured their grade point averages, physical aptitude, military abilities, and self-discipline. When they correlated those factors with whether students dropped out or graduated, however, they found that all of them mattered less than a factor researchers referred to as “grit,” which they defined as the tendency to work “strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.”—

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (via anoemi)

Yes.

May 26, 20124 notes

#military #veterans #grit

Mayor Bloomberg Receives Webby's Lifetime Achievement Award

nycdigital:

Last night, Mayor Bloomberg received the 16^th Annual Webby Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. Tumblr CEO, David Karp, introduced the Mayor, who was recognized for his lifelong and continued support of technology, including his leadership in transforming New York City into a true global technology center. In his allotted 5-word speech, Mayor Bloomberg proudly stated, “Make it here, then everywhere”.

Make it here, then everywhere.

May 22, 20126 notes

Play

May 16, 20121 note

#Google

“Carroll was miffed that someone had appropriated all of time just so they could have a fourth component to allow them to rotate things properly, so in the tea party he took it away. In the movie, no one explains why the Doormouse, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare are all going in a circle around a table in a perpetual tea time during a perpetual unbirthday. In the book, Time had been the fourth member of their party, but had gotten fed up and walked out. That left the other three to keep going around in circles forever, like an incomplete quaternion. Alice, free of the madness of requiring an extra dimension in order to be of any use, leaves the tea party.”—

A Math-Free Guide to the Math of Alice in Wonderland

Best math geek read. I’m a sucker for math riddles in stories and in real life.

May 15, 20121 note

“Here is an idea, let’s make education a core value of our nation again. Instead of massive bureaucratic and wasteful government programs, we need to get hyperlocal with education. Instead of expecting things to come to us, let’s learn to forge our own paths again. Instead of filling our minds with junk, let’s fill our minds with knowledge and apply that knowledge with our hands. The need and desire to learn needs to be internalized and driven by the individual. We need to become the “University of You” and value education again. This value is not in terms of test scores or graduation rates or relevancy towards a career path. Rather it is the foundation for elevating our minds and equipping us with the tools to succeed in an increasingly complex world.”—

Strong Opinions @marksbirch

Great post by Mark. There is no easy path. I think people have mistaken “school” for “education”. And “attending” for “learning”. Through the use of the public library and the internet, we can learn anything. You do not need a class, a school or a teacher.

You, free resources, hard work and practice can become whatever you want. There are no excuses for Americans especially. The world’s information is available, most of it for free, what are you going to do with it?

May 15, 20124 notes

Play

May 15, 201277 notes

#Architecture is Awesome

“The study, “New Tech City,” conducted by the Center for an Urban Future, concluded that the tech sector is growing faster in New York City than anywhere else in America and that the city now trails only Silicon Valley as a hub for the development of new technology companies.”—

I’m looking forward to being back in NYC!

New York’s Tech Industry Tops U.S. in Growth, Study Finds - NYTimes.com

May 13, 20121 note

Play

May 11, 20123 notes

#renonights #carnival #neon carnival #coachella

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May 4, 20123 notes

#do good #charity #philanthropy #digitalhope

“Online education mostly helps students with Step 1. As Richard A. DeMillo of Georgia Tech has argued, it turns transmitting knowledge into a commodity that is cheap and globally available. But it also compels colleges to focus on the rest of the learning process, which is where the real value lies. In an online world, colleges have to think hard about how they are going to take communication, which comes over the Web, and turn it into learning, which is a complex social and emotional process.”—

The Campus Tsunami - NYTimes.com

The potential to learn is unlimited, question is whether the work ethic will come up to match it.

May 4, 2012