JAY-Z is back and better than ever

The rules of the game

Have you ever wonder why sometimes people that belong to a minority group seem to just confirm the prejudice against then when they are submitted to some test to measure the thing we think they are bad at? One of the reasons that some studies have come up to explain the low performance might be the stereotype threat. These studies show that once you place someone in category that is expected to perform badly in a situation; it will negatively influence the final result. What happens is that the worry to deny that stereotype end up just making you spend more time worring about then fighting it.

The first experiment to prove that theory was conducted in 1995 at Stanford with Caucasians and African Americans. The experience was to apply a GRE - Graduate Record Examination - in two mixed groups; the first one was told that their intelligence was being measured and second one was told nothing of that sort. The Caucasians performed almost equally in both group, however the African Americans had a significant lower result in the group that was told that their intelligence was being measured.

Beside this breakthrough experiment several other have shown the effect of the stereotype threat in minorities groups (Steele & Aronson, 1995), women (Spencer et al. 1999), girls (Ambady, Shin, Kim, & Pittinsky, 2000), and students from low social-economic background (Croizet & Claire, 1998). But how does it work?

A study conducted at the University of Padonova in Italy (http://dpss.psy.unipd.it/ita/download/Maass/Cadinu_et_al_pdf1.pdf) found that the most important effect of the stereotype threat was the thought intrusion. That little voice that stay on your mind saying that you “suck” at it. This voice starts to consume your cognitive power affecting in a strong manner your performance at the test/activity you are taking.

Hear I post a documentary called blue eyed that show it happening in a workshop experiment. The documentary is very harsh but it shows a reality we choose to ignore.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Part 7



Part 8



Part 9


Part 10


Part 11



Part 12

The Capitan´s Log #2

Cool website that teach you how to play an instrument

http://www.showmehowtoplay.com/


An Homage to Led Zeppelin




Promiscuous Acustic

The Capitan´s Log #1

This are a few things I have seen in the Web that you might like.

SeeTo is a website that allow you and your friends to watch a video or any multimedia file at the same time.

http://www.seetoo.com/


Snooth social shooping website that allow people to have an enhanced experience while buying wine

http://www.snooth.com/

FoodTube will help people like me that doesn´t know how to cook, but would like to eat a proper food.

http://foodtube.net/

eToro website that make easier to buy and sell foreing exchange.

http://www.etoro.com/

Finally some good videos that I saw.


Coheed and Cambria - The Suffering




Snoop Dog - Video of the year

Marco Gomes' New Podcast

Check it out!

Everthing is going to be alright

They are artist-slash-entrepreneur

Radiohead newest album ‘In Rainbow’ seems to be the last stroke at the dying music industry. The band made available the download of its album for any amount that their fans were willing to pay. The strategy paid off and the release, just in the first day, made an astonishing amount of $6 MM (1.2 million downloads at an average price of $5). All the money went straight to the band’s pocket. Even though these numbers are not official several other bands and artists have shown some interest to release themselves from the major labels – e.g. Paul McCartney, Madona, Oasis, Jamiroquai and Nine Inch Nails – and start to sell its records directly to its audience. Bands and solo artists are abandoning their former employee spirit and are embracing a rising entrepreneurial desire that is about to change the industry forever.

Download it (but don't forget to pay what you think is worth)

The duo Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan is another example of artists that are getting control over their destiny. Last year they started to record a series of short-film called Chad Vader - a parody with the dreadful character Darth Vader - to a local cable network, 101 Channels, but their show was canceled in its first episode. They didn’t let it get on their way and continued to produce the show and distributed it on the YouTube. The Show became a major hit with almost 19 MM views, which made YouTube invites then to participate in the new professional partnership program – i.e. part of the revenue gained with ads will be shared with the video producers – and they are planning to release the series’ DVD sometime soon.

These are examples how internet has provide the medium to people to explore not only all their potential as artists, but as entrepreneurs as well. The opportunity are enormous all it takes is the desire to make it better, to make it different, to make it unique; and of course a computer.

Some thought provoking arguments about inventiveness and entrepreneurship

Is really the necessity mother of invention? Are entrepreneurs/inventors some rare phenomena of geniality that once in while appear in the middle of mediocrity? Is a good invention or business always accepted?

I know that is quite a common sense to think that an outstanding entrepreneur/inventor are capable to just see a need and then find a way to fulfill that need with the perfect invention/business. Although it might be true to some inventions/business – e.g. the A-bomb, iPod or the pizza delivery service - the bulk of inventions/business are things that are create just from the sheer passion of its inventor or entrepreneur for creation, curiosity and entrepreneurship. That is why even though we have almost 70K patent registration in the USPTO only a few of then see the bright light of the market. And a lion’s share of new business faces mortality in the first years.

A clear example of that would be the phonograph invented by Thomas Edison; he did not have a clue what would be the use for that equipment. He suggested 10 uses for the machine - e.g. to record the last words of dying people was one of his suggestions. It never crossed his mind that the equipment could be used to play music. When people started to use it to listen to their favorite tunes he got pretty upset and thought that this was not the best way to explore the equipment. Finally, after 20 years he admitted that the equipment could be used that way and started to sell music records.

We see examples like that everyday inventors/entrepreneurs creating new solutions that they are not quite sure who would use it or how he or she would make some money out of it. But is that a problem? I don’t think so. Because let our creativity free is the only way, so far, that we have found to create things that are truly innovative like: airplanes, microwave oven, friendster and blogs.

Another questionable point of view regarding creation of new solution is the aura of geniality of inventors/entrepreneurs. This might be a product of the ‘patent bias’, which forces entrepreneurs and inventors to forget contributions from the past in order to register something clearly new; and therefore something that can be registered. Instead of seeing then as people in touch with the zeitgeist that have made the last marginal contribution to a string of past inventions, which finally made that particular thing useful; we tend to see then like a Zeus that just sprung out Athens from their forehead.

James Watt is considered the father of the industrial age because of his water pump device moved by steam, which accordingly to the legend was inspired by a Kettle. But it is quite often forgot that Thomas Newcomen had invented 57 years before a very similar machine that was moved by steam and that particular one was inspired by Thomas Saverty; which was inspired by a machine from Denis Popin, that was inspired by a blueprint from Cristian Haygens, so on and on. Each of those inventors had to stand on the shoulder of a previous giant to see farther.

This distorted view makes ordinary people think that the capability to create new solutions (business/inventions) is a thing beyond their reach. And that is in my opinion why most of the people never think about develop new solutions; they just leave it to the ‘genius’. A more precise divulgation of what really were the processes to create solutions would make people realize that all it takes is hard work, a little bit of creativity, a little bit of luck and more hard work.

Finally, even though you have come up with an outstanding solution there are still some hurdles that must be overcome in order to make your solution (an invention or a business) a hit.

First, you have to create a solution that is economically better than the previous solutions that are in use. People must be able to see that they are better off with your invention. Then you have to face the social value and prestige that older inventions have. And this might prove the most difficult part. In time, there are vested interests in our society that make harder for a good invention to gain its space. Hybrid cars are a clear example of that dynamic in our society.


I was inspired to write this post by an amazing book that has changed the way I understand the world.

A monday night experiment...

It is not perfect, but I thought it would be cool to post it. Hope you like it.



Intro: Rounabout - Yes -(jon anderson/steve howe)/ Little Wing - The Jimi Hendrix Experince (Jimi Hendrix)

The coolest videos I saw this week

Zero 7 - Destiny - Fantastic Video with a great song. They have other great tunes but this one is a killer.



I aaaam Iroon Mannn!!!!!



Chuck is a bad-ass-m#$%¨$%&¨@#$!!!




Mars Volta - L´Via L´Viaquez - The most weird, but in a good way, band in the whole world.

The only Secret!

During the Rugby World Cup 07 one moment caught my attention; Portugal’s rugby players singing their national anthem. They lost to Scotland (56 x 10) and New Zealand (108 x 13), but they played with their heart during every second of the game. They are amateurs playing against professional, yet if you look to the origin of the world amateur – lover in old French – I can see why it is worth to watch their game.

When have most of the people lost their passion for what they do? People who killed that little inner-child that wanted to be a fireman just because their parents told them they couldn’t make a few bucks out of it. But is this a good trade-off? Do something that is a torture for you just to make ends meet does not seem a good deal to me.

People are most of the time badly informed and end up making decisions supported on poor and misleading information. In order to support young and why not mature people to make a more conscious decision about what to do with their life a real cool site appeared on the web - Ikwa. They are currently in beta but soon enough people will be able to access some of its content that will allow people to make a more conscious decision regarding their career planning.

You should always be passionate about what you do and that is the only secret to be happy. Simple as life should be.

The phenomena land

One thing we – Brazilian - have inherited from Portugal is that we believe in saviors. The most famous Portuguese episode in that sense was the Sabastianism’s belief – e.g. a belief that Don Sebastian, a Portuguese king killed in combat, was expected to return and restore the glory of the old days. More often than not we Brazilians tend to follow the same behavior in several aspect of our everyday life. We tend to put all of our hopes in one person and forget all the hard work of hundreds or thousands of people that helped this person to achieve its goal. But is there any problem with that?

Yes, there is!

First, we end up setting unrealistic expectations of what one can do and, therefore, simplifying the reality and making wrong decisions. When Brazilians elected Lula they thought that the only thing they had to do was vote for him and everything would be alright. It never crossed their mind that they should had elected a base of sustentation in congress or they should had asked who was going to be part of his office. Several months later corruption scandals, incompetence and apathy have been the characteristics that define this administration. When you don’t vote in a plan, in ideas, in a team you vote in saviors and as Santa Claus they don’t exist.

Second, a lot of the time we tend to forget all the hard work that takes to accomplish something and to give all the glory to just one person or to place all our hope on then. Our sport is full of example where we become extremely dependent of our phenomena and forget all that it takes to accomplish a goal. Brazil’s basketball was for almost twenty year dependent on Oscar; once he was gone Brazil can’t even get to the Olympics games. On the other hand Argentina that at the same period did not base its basketball on a single player but instead on a whole structure of teams, league and players has been now harvesting the fruits of this strategy – an Olympic gold medal and a second place in the world rank.

I am not saying that we should not have idols, use their superior abilities and capability to lead, however it cannot overcome the sense that all goal to be achieved demand hard work and teamwork.

Contextualization, humans still "rock"!!!

The human brain is the most powerful “computer” we know. Despite the fact that computers have been replacing humans in several activities there are still some fields where our “computational” power cannot be beaten. Humans can in seconds understand context with thousands of variable and a huge number of layers where computer would fry its circuits to understand it in a rudimentary way. While some engineers still struggle to create more and more complex algorithms – that try to emulate artificial intelligence – others have putted their money in humans with free time.

Born out of crowdsourcing – a way of out outsource a service to a huge number of third parties – the human based computations seems to be the solution to the “simplicity” of nowadays algorithms. This area of computational science believes that a lot human performing small – although complex for computer – tasks would create the most powerful computer ever built. There are several methods of human based computation like: Darwin (programs written by several programmers competing to survive), wiki (several people contributing in a same direction), Human based genetic-algorithm (humans selecting, contributing, mutating and recombinating – Yahoo answers), Social search (humans ranking searches - Cha-Cha search, Google Image), Guessing Games (extract knowledge from people through funny games). These are an example of how human intelligence can be used to make a more complex, complete and relevant experience in several fields.

Let us take contextual market for example, while several companies (Google, Yahoo…) use complex algorithms to deliver marketing to content, boo-box developed a very elegant service that believes humans “rock” when it comes to contextualization. The first group works like a guy with machine gun trying to kill a rat in a dark room, the second like a sniper that shoot just once and delivers the right message to its target – bulls eye all the time!!! There are a few decades ahead before a computer understands what I am saying – even I don’t – until then I am gonna use boo-box. What about you?

Aid a curse in disguise

Africa received in the last 50 years more than US$1 trillion in aid (values brought to its present value), but from the 48 poorest countries in the world 38 are African states. This “cheap way” to buy guilty-relief that the developed world found it has prevented Africa to reach its real potential and condemned its citizens to a beggar’s life. That is why it should be found a new approach to tackle this old problem.

First it has to be analyzed what are the effects of this money inside African societies. Most of the donations do not come with clear goals and the proper planning, therefore do not reaching the wished effects. And moreover it has some side effects that just help to increase the problem itself, those side effects are:

• Creates an enormous bureaucracy (68% of the money donated to health in Uganda are used to overhead costs);
• Makes corrupt governments richer (from US$20 bi donated to Congo US$5 bi ended up in Mobutu’s account in Switzerland);
• Suffocates local entrepreneurs (in 2003, 650.000 tons of grain were donated to prevent the effects of a probable drought that never happened, and made the local producer to swallow a big drop in their prices)
• Favors a beggar mentality.

Those are the reasons why the Quenian Economist, head of the NGO that try to find new solutions for Africa, says – “For God sake stop helping Africa”!

The new path that Africa and those who are trying to help should tread is good and old-fashioned capitalism. It worked for East Asia – Africa of the 60s – and should work now for Africa.

Education, fair trade and productive investments are the key to rescue millions from poverty in the continent. Money shouldn’t be given it should be earned. When capital is invested in productive activities it creates a virtuous circle. First it wakes the entrepreneurs within the population, then it creates jobs, then generates wealth, then it is used to wake more entrepreneurs, and so on and on. The more this circle grows the more it makes corrupt governments and mammoth bureaucracy unacceptable and thus, creating an urge within entrepreneurs and consumers to get rid of then.

If instead of see Africa as a continent to be helped developed countries see Africa as partner for business, they would then be really helping pull the continent out of poverty. It is imperative to stop patronizing Africa and allows it to achieve the real independency - the economical one.

The almight Smashing Pumpkins

The best album of the year is out and it rocks!!!
Hear are the highliths of this record.

1- Doomsday clock
A crunch-bone-heavy-metal song that will make you want to bang your head on the wall.
A new characteristic from this new pumpkin formation is the background
vocal that have improved a hundred time and this song has a lot of good background vocals.


3 - Bleeding Orchid
With a multi-vocal intrduction, the dramatic and heartful mood of the song is introduced. This is one of those songs that has it all: powerful guitars, variated druming, killer vocals and good lyrics.


5 - Tarantula
Heavy and fast! With good vocals and a bluesy feel on it. It has hitted big on the radio.


7 - United State
A marathon of lound guitars and tribal druming with a colossal ending (if you won't hear the complete song at least hear the last 2 minutes)



Those are the songs that should be highlighted on this album. Pick up yours and have fun!

Economic Growth and sustainability, are they at the same side?

The last minute says it all!

Mankind faces now a dilemma: go green or go dead. Which one would you choose? Even though a five-year-old could answer that question, still is not clear if we have perceived the urgency of the matter. China and US have their private contest of who pollute the most; developing countries fight for their right to destroy earth; we still have a locust-swarm behaviour devouring careless all the planet resources.Is there any hope?

In the last two years, especially after the Katrina disaster, mankind seems to have awoken of its golden dream of infinite growth with no consequences and have opened its eye to the nightmare we brought ourselves in. DVDs like Al Gore’s inconvenient truth, the enlargement of Bush’s vocabulary adding to it the word global warming, the growth of the media space upon ecological issues, it has increased the awareness of the problem. But what can be done to amend it?

First of all we have to change the mindset that has lead us hear. We must get rid of those economics models that do not consider our most precious possession - our home the mother earth. Economists love to put a price on everything, why “d´a hell” they think all nature resources are for free? That is the reason why they created the false trade-off between economic growth and care about preservation. Everything we consume is underpriced and companies that do not care about the pollution their value chains generate are getting rich by destroying the world. Our responsibility on this process is to start to demand green companies, if they do not carewe do!!!

Second, we are a major part of the problem; our ways of doing things also gives a hand to the destruction of the planet. We must start to analyse what we can change in our behaviour to make a better world, the first step is to discovery what is our ecological footprint and then start to reduce it. There are several sites on the Web that shows how with a moderate effort we can help to change the world. Always have in mind you are one, but we are 6 billion, so if we all push to the same side, who knows what we can do !!!

Would know the difference between fly and fall if you could not see the ground? Right now our society is on a free fall thinking that it is flying. And if it do not wake up soon it will hit hard the cemetery of civilizations. A great quote I have seen about that it was on Al Gore´s DVD and it was said by Churchil.

“The time of half-measure has passed. We are entering a period of consequences,"

Think about that!!!

Cool websites about it:

Incovenient Truth web site
Natural Capitalism web site (You can read some chapters of the book - it will blow your mind)
EcoWorld web site (good articles)
Footprint Calculator

Perched at the edge of the abyss

If you were at the border of the roman empire when the first German tribes started to move in, would you know that everything you knew was about to change? If you saw the Spanish vessels coming on the horizon would you envisage the massacre that was about to take place? If you heard about the fall of the Bastille would you image that all you once hold sacred would become a thing from the past? And now are we living at one of those times? Can we say what come next?

The (not so) modern nation-states
(soundtrack)

Capitalism is extremely dependent of flows (i.e. flow of capital, goods, services, workers) the faster it occurs more wealth it generates. In the last 30 years the world has seen an intensification of those flows and the figures generated by then are rocketing out of the charts. Along side with that the problems we face, nowadays, often escapes the capability of governments to deal with it. Can local governments not be a barrier to those flows and not become obsolete and irrelevant?, it is the question that keeps resonating in the mind of those who are pay attention.

The last and current US governments have been sabotaging every attempt to create organizations that regulates nation-states (i.e. by not signing the Kyoto Protocol, attacking Iraq without the approval of the Security Council, creating barrier to liberalization of commerce), because this is what nation-states, especially the biggest one, are used to a land with no law. All our societies are based and regulated by laws, but countries are not, they are used to solve their problems like thugs outside a bar. Nevertheless can a world more and more integrated cope with that hooligan’s logic?

After the dawn of a new millennium NATO, a reminiscence of an even darker time, is discussing whether it should or not be placing missiles facing Russia. Don’t they know most of the energy that warm the halls where they have this great ideas come from those frozen fields? Or “El presidente” Hugo Chavez and his vicious speeches against the country that buys most of his oil. Those are example of how this bar-fighting-behavior is irrelevant and have been keeping the eyes of people away from more pressing matters like inequality, terrorism, piracy, global warming, and so on.

Borders (the real and virtual ones), as well, have become a major nuisance to people and business around the world, capital and information run free on the other hand people and goods do not. What is the logic behind having a border? Is it to protect me? But from what? Human beings that, although do not speak the same language and do not have the same customs, share the same dream of a better world? Can’t they come up with a better excuse?

Nation-States are becoming a thing from the past as they once have made the absolute-states. So what will take its place?

A good example of what I think it should look like the next step (although still far from perfect) is the European Union. A continent that have been for centuries the center stage of wars and massacres (that would have shamed even the devil itself) and that still hold some grudges at each other, however have managed to put it all behind and decided to share their future as one. The process of how the EU achieved its actual stage should be copied not only to integrate a continent but to integrate the world.

We as s specie that share the same fate should put aside things that really aren’t important and start to focus on things that really matter.

Economic Growth and sustainability, are they at the same side?
(Next post)

Information Society, the birth of the quantum man.
(Next post)

Welcome to the brave new word of Web 2.0.

The term Web 2.0 is a term applied to whole a new way of use the world wide web, this new way of use did not born from a major technological breakthrough but instead a concept change. The biggest concept shift was to see the web as platform for programming development, creating a web of services conversely a web of data. And the opportunities brought by that are endless.

All technologies that are being used by developers to create the Web 2.0 were available before like APIs, but the mentality to see the Web as platform and to allow third parts to use its databases or existent applications to create their own application is new.

Web 2.0 businesses are all about simplicity. The old saying – “less is more” - have never being truer. From design to programming, from organizational structure to process, everything is simplified to the minimum necessary to fulfill a need. They present itself as whole new animal, a new subject for business scholars around the world.

A particular specie of these services are the mashups, business and applications that are born from the mix of two or more existent applications to provide a brand new service. There are almost two thousand of these services and they keep appearing in a ratio of 3 a day. They present a lot of opportunities for investment and investors haven’t been strangers to these opportunities and have invested more than $250 million dollars on this market.

Hear an example of a Mashup in a Web 2.0 service.

www.musicovery.com

It is simple.
It fulfills, in a simple way, a need. (Random music for people that are multitask)
It uses a lot of existent applications to make a unique one.
It has an elegant way of monetize its services.

The future of the Web 2.0 is still blurred, but the prospects of this industry are promising.

Music Tip
Rodrigo Y Gabriela

They are back! The ghost of time will get you!

The most original band of the last 20 years is back, after a seven-year hiatus, they just performed a come back show in Paris. This is the resurrection of the band that died for rock and roll. Hears to you the smashing pumpkins!

The departure of the band was a little sample of the mayhem that surrounds their entire career, during the 11 eleven years they were together. Amidst all the fight between members, problems with their record label and plastic music rocketing the charts, they managed to release a conceptual album, a double album for free on the internet and perform a 4 hours farewell-show.

Now they are back and better than ever! The few songs I’ve heard made me comeback to the first time I heard then back in 96. A light and shade battle for the real meaning of live, a never ending experimentation of sounds, and a sad machine that never give in “because when you give in, then you give up”.

Hear a little sample of what I am talking about (live and demo version of the songs)
Gossamer

Tarantula



Their 7th album will be released in July 2007 and will be called Zeitgeist (Ghost of time in German). Certainly I will get myself one more chapter of this fantastic story.

When 3 is too much!

The last Spider man movie was the most expensive movie in the history of the industry and failed miserably in achieve its goals of follow one the most sucessful franchise in Holywood. But Peter Park's story does not stand alone in trilogy fiasco, it is just on more in an endless list that includes X-men, Matrix, Back to the future, Terminator, among others. This makes one wonder if it is worth to go to the theaters to see other movies sequals.

One of the main problem with those trilogies is that they were not planned to be one. The Hollywood producers think that is just enough to put new enemies, more special effects, some week storylines and everything will fall into place. However, in order to be a sequence the history must be interconnected, it must be a reason why you should spend a 2hours in a unconfortable chair other than make producers richier.

Regardless of the unfairness of comparisson the most sucessful franchises in the movie history were The Lord of the ring and Star Wars. Both movies have something in common they were writen as one piece, that for logistic mather were divide in three or six parts. That way you can garantee that in all parts you have the same level of quality and that every chapter builds in the expectation to the next one. If you just keep adding plots that have no relation other than happening with same charaters, you are just giving more of the same, and that is just boring.

Hoppefuly, the producer of Pirates of Caribean have noticed how important it is to have some coherence. Despite the fact that the trilogy was not planned to be, they were clever enough to create a story that actualy need a third movie to be told. That is why a think that still some hope of seen a sequal this year that actualy make you want to see the names at the end of it.