Gladwell on Enron: a mystery, not a puzzle. Everything he’s saying is correct, but it seems like it’s the job of a company’s management not to let themselves get into a financial situation that’s so hopelessly complex that nobody on earth can make sense of it. And it’s the job of the government to regulate the ways in which companies can get sleazy with their books.
Category: Links
danah boyd on ephemeral profiles. In this same vein, for several of my friends it was common to have several different IM screennames reflecting several different levels of availability. So if you’re writing a paper and don’t want to have eight different conversations with random acquaintances, you can switch to a login that only your “inner circle” knows, rather than sign off entirely.
Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, dead at 74. Arguably the greatest and most respected sports owner of all time, Hunt coined the term “Super Bowl” and helped make Major League Soccer a reality. The teams he owned were not just items in his portfolio — they were manifestations of his love of sports and the people around him. Kansas City is in mourning today. Sports fans everywhere should mourn with them.
Time Warner Cable wants the NFL to “get real.” Cox had a similar squabble with ESPN a few years back. Why do the bickering parties in these disputes think they can get the public to pick sides? Just like labor disputes in professional sports, this sort of conflict reflects poorly on everyone involved.
A movement started by a hockey fan on Something Awful is now getting coverage nationwide: the NHL now chooses its All‐Star teams starting lineups entirely by fan vote, so he started a movement to send Rory Fitzpatrick (an unheralded bench‐warmer) to the prestigious game. Whether it’s a salute to the NHL everyman, an affection for the underdog, or a vote of no confidence in the voting methodology… well, it’s pretty cool to watch. Right now Fitzpatrick is fifth in voting among Western Conference defensemen.
The New, Soft Paternalism. Fascinating read about how new state laws are helping Americans stop themselves from doing things they should not (e.g., gamble). My “short‐term” self is rather weak‐willed, so I’ve had some success with letting my “long‐term” self take control: I embrace external authority, arbitrary as it may be, to get things done. (Like insisting on a penalty fee in a freelance project if the deadline slips.)
The IE team is now offering a free, pre‐activated VirtualPC image to make it easy for developers to run IE6 and IE7 side‐by‐side. This gesture reveals how much the IE team values its relationship with web developers. Nice work.
The Hitch‐Hacker’s Guide to the Galaxy: a contest/quiz from The Ethical Hacker Network. Not challenging if you’re a web developer, but it’s a fun thought experiment and a creative way to raise awareness of common security flaws in web apps.
AIM Lite, also known as LAIM. Also known as “the no‐headaches AIM client.” Also known as “the AIM client you should make your parents install immediately.” It’s interesting not only because it’s an excellent, non‐bloated piece of software to come from AOL, but also because it uses Boxely, the XUL‐like UI toolkit that Joe Hewitt has raved about.
Web design is 95% typography. So what if we have only a handful of fonts to work with? Creativity thrives under constraints. Look at Daring Fireball or Coudal Partners and observe how typography can fully define a site’s identity.