Lichtman Consulting - Latest Comments

Re: Social Search

jeremylichtman — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:34:54 -0000

That's like saying its ok to add one more step into an email unsubscribe process. :)

I think I'll just continue to either log out before searching, or use an alternate browser (and clear the cache each time).

Re: Social Search

Matthew Dubins — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:33:03 -0000

Of course there is always pressing the button that filters out all google+ content from your results. Then you can lower the noise to signal ratio if it's too bothersome!

Re: Why some people are intensely fascinating

Ashok — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:20:54 -0000

You are not wrong Promod, rather spot on.

Re: Why some people are intensely fascinating

jeremylichtman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:35:08 -0000

I agree completely.

Many of these categories of people don't necessarily have huge audiences - at least initially.

I like what you say about courage. That's something I didn't include in my post - people who are willing to be outspoken are often fascinating (although also sometimes infuriating!).

Re: Why some people are intensely fascinating

Promod Sharma — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:31:37 -0000

Not everyone requires 10,000 or 100,000 Followers to be successful. What we need most, is the courage to say things that stay on the permanent public record. That's the magnet that (eventually) attracts an audience. With time and ongoing practice, we find our niche and develop a style. That's when the magic happens. There's a joy in watching skilled performers who love what they do.

PS I could be wrong :)

Re: Who wants to be a Trillionaire?

jeremylichtman — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:06:00 -0000

That part isn't my problem. :)

I've signed NDAs though.

Re: Who wants to be a Trillionaire?

Matt — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:03:49 -0000

I’m working on several projects in this area right now, so I have to be careful what I discuss online!

why someone will come and steal it when its out lool

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

Matthew Dubins — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:14:00 -0000

Drawing, painting and making music sound like very artsy outlets for creativity. You could creatively create code to solve a problem in a way you would have never thought possible before. You could fix a leak in your home using totally untraditional but effective methods. When you have the drive/intelligence for creativity in you, it finds a way to express itself.

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

jeremylichtman — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:25:14 -0000

I'll put together a post. Don't really have the time to exploit any more good ideas. Hopefully somebody else will be able to use 'em. Assuming they're actually good. :)

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

Ezra Benjamin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:19:22 -0000

I am sure you will share them in due "time."

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

jeremylichtman — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:16:54 -0000

Interesting. Plus c'est change, plus c'est le meme chose.

We need to be developing the social web infrastructure to allow for more creative collaboration (as opposed to more collaborative sharing of content).

I just had some ideas along these lines, resulting from your comment. Thanks!

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

Ezra Benjamin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:10:53 -0000

Voltaire was quoted saying "the multitude of books is making us ignorant." In that same vein the enormity of information does not make us more intelligent. That being said society can not advance without some calculus; contrasting and complimentary ideas, feelings, and people. When someone explores personnel creativity; many draw from society and oneself in relation to. It is of little benefit to the creative process to follow a path of imitation but ignore any process would be defeating; no matter how unsatisfying. We learn in a variety of arenas, to limit ones avail to that which we deem quality creativity is to deny ourselves and society the gem of dissatisfaction.

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

jeremylichtman — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:54:23 -0000

Some good points here.

Partly we're talking about one medium displacing others - I used to draw/paint/make music, and somehow I don't find myself doing those any more.

The social web definitely allows me access to the thoughts of people I would never have otherwise encountered, along with a vastly larger audience.

I just hope humanity doesn't wind up spending all of its spare time looking at the latest equivalent of lolcatz. Or contemplating our collective navels.

Re: Is social media displacing creativity?

Matthew Dubins — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:46:16 -0000

Creativity is the process of taking elements of what already exists and recombining them in some way that wasn't explicitly laid out for you (I admit sometimes you think you're creating something new, but someone else has thought of it). The medium through which your creative work is displayed can be almost anything. Just because you're using your social computing time reading other peoples' stuff, it doesn't mean that you won't have opportunities to be creative during other times of your day. Just seeing other peoples' ideas gives you those elements you need to piece together something interesting and in doing so make something new.

Re: The Effect of HST on Online Business

jeremylichtman — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:28:51 -0000

I don't claim to be an expert in this, but I don't think a company without a physical presence in Canada be required to collect Canadian taxes, even if selling to a Canadian. If the company has an actual Canadian presence, then they should definitely ask their accountant, or talk directly to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The recent fighting between Amazon.com and various US States may eventually change how jurisdictions are viewed across North America. Even in Amazon's case though, I think they're mainly being forced to collect sales taxes for states where they have actual physical resources (i.e. warehouses or offices).

Re: The Effect of HST on Online Business

Mccaffrey — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:20:16 -0000

If a company based in the United States but is selling services through north America. The service is online virtual service suscription based.

Are taxes required to be payed in different locations. Ie Ontario hst

Re: Another solution for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

jeremylichtman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:54:25 -0000

Any human structure is in constant need of slow repair.

As long as the circulation ducts stay open - and they'll probably occasionally need clearing out due to ice crystals forming - the whole structure is going to be pretty stable, even in the tropics.

Anyhow, the idea is intended to be a cost effective way to build a great big floating platform made out of recycled garbage - and to capture some mind-space in the process. Whether the platform is later replaced with something lower maintenance is a different story.

Re: Another solution for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Sol — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:13:28 -0000

I think you were looking for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

Still, I imagine that even with a cooling system, it would degrade slower over time. So somehow it would need to be repaired now and then. I guess another question is how much can degrade before the thing is unusable?

Maybe it would be better as a metal frame filled with pykrete?

Re: Another solution for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

jeremylichtman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:20:41 -0000

Oh and I ran numbers on this plan vs a generic cleanup/recycle plan. I think my idea would cost less than $2 million to bootstrap, and a minimal annual cost (maybe even a profit) going forwards. I even did a parts list. :)

Re: Another solution for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

jeremylichtman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:19:13 -0000

There was a fairly large boat make out of pykrete somewhere in Canada during WW2. After they turned off the refrigeration unit, it took three hot summers before it completely melted.

I think reasonably cold brine (i.e. freezing point of very salty water is a few degrees below zero Celsius) running through the system could keep it frozen on a permanent basis.

The energy requirements for running the refrigeration and pumping the refrigerant could easily be run by a relatively small passive solar system.

Add in some kind of system to suck plastic out of the surrounding ocean, and a little bit of equipment to partially automate creating new blocks, and this could easily be bootstrapped.

Or alternatively the blocks could be melted and the plastic stripped out and recycled at leisure later on.

Re: Another solution for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Sol — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:12:05 -0000

Yeah, I dunno if it would stay frozen, the whole thing might be in constant need of slow repair. What's the average air and water temperatures around there? Could be tricky... Maybe just a giant floating barge with an opening in the hull that dredges in the plastic and then feeds it to a huge on-board recycling plant, and then sell the recovered plastic. But that might not be cost effective...

Re: Open peer-to-peer markets

jeremylichtman — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:29:56 -0000

Thanks for the link. Going to follow up on that.

I've already started work on this. Still design phase, haven't done any coding yet, but have done an exhaustive review of existing open source work to get a feel for design. I'm looking for collaborators, so please spread the word.

I think what it boils down to is that there's a lot of demand for this, and its definitely part of the zeitgeist. Not many people have the time or skills to actually build it though, or at least to start the build process.

Re: Open peer-to-peer markets

Liu2000 — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:25:31 -0000

Great article. I've added it to my bookmark and will reread it again.

During my first time attending DC bitcoin meetup, I brought up the idea of setting up a p2p market replacing ebay/craigslist, everyone -- only 3 people attended -- thought it's a good idea but implementation is the hard part.

Mr. Zachary Alexander wrote a lot on p2p economy, I used to subscribe his forum but have lost track of it lately.
http://ebtdesign.com/forum/?ta...

Re: Currency as incentivation

jeremylichtman — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:41:18 -0000

Here's another idea. A currency backed by barrels of crude oil, or maybe even crude oil futures. Creates an incentive not to store the oil long term, instead of burning it. Also slightly deflationary in nature, as supply decreases.

Re: Open peer-to-peer markets

jeremylichtman — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:22:24 -0000

I've poked around in the source, but I should revisit.

What I had in mind was to deliberately create analogous roles that exist in current markets, in order to make it easier for people to adopt this. In addition, certain kinds of markets really do have a need for capital margins, and things will probably work better if the escrow/broker has enough money on hand to cover situations like shorts that are going in the wrong direction, or margins on futures contracts.

The alternative is some kind of blind third party escrow system, where a random third party and set of witnesses are used. There's probably ways to address margins automatically as well, but smarter people than myself will need to do some thinking about that!