“Think of it: the lowest common denominator in being digital is not your operating system, modem, or model of computer. It's a tiny piece of plastic, designed decades ago by Bell Labs' Charles Krumreich, Edwin Hardesty, and company, who thought they were making an inconspicuous plug for a few telephone handsets. Not in their wildest dreams was Registered Jack 11 - a modular connector more commonly known as the RJ-11 - meant to be plugged and unplugged so many times, by so many people, for so many reasons, all over the world.” PeopleThinkingWorldReasonDreamCommonCompanyKnownPiecesComputerModelsDecadesTinyDigitalMeant To BeBellsPlasticLowestTelephonesLabsPlugsCommon DenominatorOperating SystemsWildest DreamsLowest Common DenominatorConnectors Author:Nicholas Negroponte
“Many [business] people focus on what is static, black and white. Yet great algorithms can be rewritten. A business process can be defined better. A business model can be copied. But the speed of execution is dynamic within you and can never be copied. When you have an idea, figure out the pieces you need quickly, go to market, believe in it, and continue to iterate.” PeopleNeedsBelieveIdeasProcessBlackWhiteFocusPiecesFiguresModelsSpeedDefinedExecutionWithin YouBlack And WhiteStaticAlgorithmsBusiness Models Author:Gurbaksh Chahal
“The business model piece is we're always talking about competing more effectively. If you're starting a company or career you don't want to compete. You want to create a monopoly. We want to invest in a company that has a good plan to create a monopoly.” IfsWantCompanyTalkingCareersPiecesPlansModelsInvestingStartingCompetingMonopolyBusiness Models Author:Peter Thiel
“But most of us who aren't models aren't models, right? And so, you just have to get used to that and sort of read right past it. So. On the sex symbol piece, I don't get that piece. On the personality piece, that people are excited to meet a leader from Mozilla - maybe there's more about meeting me personally than I give credit for, but I find that people are excited about what Mozilla is, more than 'Oh my god, there's Mitchell, look, her hair,' whatever.” PeopleGivingLooksPastUsedSexLeaderPiecesHairPersonalityModelsMeetingsExcitedCreditSymbolsSex SymbolMozilla Author:Mitchell Baker
“And ultimately, it's good for all of us to have more original programming on the air. Business doesn't drive the creative. So, in identifying a project like Dovekeepers, looking at something like Extant and looking at Under the Dome, it was about falling in love with a piece of material, getting excited by the creative direction, hearing a vision, and getting excited about the potential for those projects and building the business model around it. And they're not all modeled the same way. Every one is different.” WayDifferentFallVisionCreativePiecesAirBuildingMaterialsProjectsModelsOriginalsFalling In LoveExcitedHearingProgrammingIdentifyingBusiness ModelsDomes Author:Nina Tassler
“Expert estimates of probability are often off by factors of hundreds or thousands. [...] I used to be annoyed when the margin of error was high in a forecasting model that I might put together. Now I view it as perhaps the single most important piece of information that a forecaster provides. When we publish a forecast on FiveThirtyEight, I go to great lengths to document the uncertainty attached to it, even if the uncertainty is sufficiently large that the forecast won't make for punchy headlines.” IfsImportantMightTogetherUsedViewsPiecesInformationModelsErrorsFactorsUsed To BeUncertaintyExpertsLengthDocumentsProbabilityPublishMarginsAnnoyedHeadlinesForecastsForecasting Author:Nate Silver
“Shamanism, on the other hand, is this world wide, since Paleolithic-times, tradition which says that you must make your own experience the center piece of any model of the world that you build.” WorldHandsPiecesThis WorldModelsTraditionWideShamanism Author:Terence McKenna
“I was always the weirdo at school. When I became a model [at 16], I didn't tell anybody. I was terrified that the kids would rip me to pieces.” KidsSchoolPiecesModelsTerrifiedRipWeirdo Author:Karen Elson
“I don't know if there is an existing model that anyone can hold on to right now. Every [piece of] advice about how to go about in the record business you would get 5 years ago is no longer valid. Everything is changing very rapidly and there is an increased sense of anger and despair among artists that are not major-selling megastars.” IfsKnowsYearsArtistRecordsPiecesAdviceRight NowDespairMajorsModelsYears AgoSelling Author:Olof Arnalds
“Very often, when you're listening to a piece for the first time, you're listening through a model of other pieces that you know. At a certain point, a piece becomes idiosyncratic and you start to understand it on its own terms.” KnowsFirstsCertainTermPiecesListeningModelsFirst Time Author:Paul Lansky
“A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'” HumansInterestPiecesModelsGunTexasReportersRangersColts Author:Clint Smith
“And even with traditional fashion models, where it's their job to be a certain size and a certain proportion, you have to make adjustments once you see your clothes on a real live person. Now imagine doing that with more sizes, more proportions. You really have to play with every piece. So timing is a big part of it. You have to make the time.” PersonsRealPlayBigsJobsCertainPiecesImagineFashionClothesModelsSizeTraditionalProportionTimingAdjustmentFashion Model Author:Christian Siriano
“Comparing filmmaking to a plastic model, shooting is the process where you mold and color each piece, and editing is where you build a finished whole from the pieces you molded and colored. Obviously, the latter is the most enjoyable part in the making of plastic models, so editing is the process in filmmaking I enjoy the most. But at the same time, editing can be a painstaking task, too.” WholeProcessEnjoyPiecesColorModelsTasksFinishedShootingCompareLatterPlasticFilmmakingEditingEnjoyableMold Author:Takeshi Kitano
“When people are frightened about going hungry and paying their mortgages, a scarcity model begins to prevail; they fear someone else will get their piece of the pie.” PeoplePiecesModelsHungryFrightenedPieMortgageScarcity Author:Barbara Kingsolver
“Successful model? That's a myth. The year I modeled was the most painful year of my life. Editors would always talk to you in the third person as though you were merely a piece of merchandise.” YearsPersonsSuccessfulPiecesModelsThirdsPainfulMythEditorsMerchandiseThird Person Author:Jessica Lange
“Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'” ShouldUsedPathPiecesFashionMinesSixModelsCrossesShould HaveGuitarWoodsStringsGuitaristFlashyFashion ModelGuitar Strings Author:Angus Young