Text Sushi by Alf Rehn

From beerorkid.com, by way of boingboing.

I may be off this blog over the holidays, so Merry Christmas!

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There is a new template for meetings. From now on, all meetings should be held Fight Club Style!

Nice article on professors using researchers to churn out their work, one that makes me wonder if I work too hard on this whole “sole original author”-thing. Isn’t all that a myth anyway? Let’s see, where can I round up a gaggle of people to do my writing?

The often stellar blog Academic Productivity has a lovely thing posted, asking the question: Academics are prostitutes? Sure, it’s a reference to a published article, but still fun to see that someone has the wherewithal to find these things…

Very, very beautiful pictures…

David Hlynsky Communist Store Windows

I am looking for a new ultra-compact camera, and the attempt to find a suitable one is driving me half-mad. There are tons of models out there, and it takes hours to figure out which one might be the best one for a specific usage. People often talk about how the age of innovation is great for consumers, but is this really optimal? So many models, so many brands, so much choice that… Yes, that what?

One would think that this fantastic choice would mean that consumers become happier, as they can choose between all colors, all pixel-amounts, all kinds of bodies. In fact, I think it might lead to the opposite - we’re becoming less happy. For what good is choice if it becomes a chore, what joy is there in tons of models if it makes us doubt the things we get?

I may end up not buying a camera, because I simply cannot make up my mind. If I do buy one, I assume I’ll be permanently unhappy because I’ll always feel like I made the wrong choice. This does not feel like an optimal situation. We may need a movement towards less choice, fewer models. We may in fact need to rethink the whole point of massive product portfolios.

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I just updated my homepage with a forthcoming article, one I co-wrote with my friend and colleague Saara Taalas. It’s a meditation on leadership and ignorance, with the following abstract:

Here’s the PDF.

This lovely ad comes from the brilliant blog A Soviet Poster A Day. What is amazing about it is not that it advertises tobacco, but that it advertises absolutely no brand whatsoever. Read the full story at ASPAD.