Andrew Mason on how to deal: From founder to ex-Groupon CEO.  I can vaguely remember when Groupon first started. I wouldn’t consider myself a coupon clipper, but I before I knew it, I found myself buying coupons for dinner, drinks, even live lobsters to be sent to my home. And then I forgot to use one of the coupons. And Gmail started sending the Groupon emails to spam. (Or maybe I did?) And without even thinking about it, I stopped using Groupon. But the story of Groupon - and the promises for its future - are still incredibly interesting to me. Whether you’ve been keeping tabs on founder, Andrew Mason or have never even used a daily deal site, this article by Elizabeth Spiers will likely have you paying more attention to what Groupon becomes.   High-res

Andrew Mason on how to deal: From founder to ex-Groupon CEO. 
 
I can vaguely remember when Groupon first started. I wouldn’t consider myself a coupon clipper, but I before I knew it, I found myself buying coupons for dinner, drinks, even live lobsters to be sent to my home. And then I forgot to use one of the coupons. And Gmail started sending the Groupon emails to spam. (Or maybe I did?) And without even thinking about it, I stopped using Groupon. But the story of Groupon - and the promises for its future - are still incredibly interesting to me. Whether you’ve been keeping tabs on founder, Andrew Mason or have never even used a daily deal site, this article by Elizabeth Spiers will likely have you paying more attention to what Groupon becomes.  

Source Fast Company

Drugs, porn, and counterfeits: the market for illegal goods is booming online.    Featuring upwards of 11,000 listings, Silk Road looks like an early eBay, only the listings are mostly for illegal goods, ranging from drugs to guns to art to knockoff apparel. It’s a site with “a long, cryptic address that can only be accessed through Tor, a decentralized network of servers that encrypt and relay traffic in order to obfuscate a user’s online activity.” In June 2011, when Gawker first covered the site, it was the one and only. But lately competitors have sprung up and are making some serious dough, $400k+ of revenue in a month. So where are the authorities? After a recent conviction in Australia, Silk Road (and others) are more on the map, but police are struggling to figure out a solution. (Remember Bitcoin? People can pay for these goods and services with Bitcoin and are essentially untraceable.) I had no idea this kind of thing even existed, so am quite fascinated!  High-res

Drugs, porn, and counterfeits: the market for illegal goods is booming online.   
 
Featuring upwards of 11,000 listings, Silk Road looks like an early eBay, only the listings are mostly for illegal goods, ranging from drugs to guns to art to knockoff apparel. It’s a site with “a long, cryptic address that can only be accessed through Tor, a decentralized network of servers that encrypt and relay traffic in order to obfuscate a user’s online activity.” In June 2011, when Gawker first covered the site, it was the one and only. But lately competitors have sprung up and are making some serious dough, $400k+ of revenue in a month. So where are the authorities? After a recent conviction in Australia, Silk Road (and others) are more on the map, but police are struggling to figure out a solution. (Remember Bitcoin? People can pay for these goods and services with Bitcoin and are essentially untraceable.) I had no idea this kind of thing even existed, so am quite fascinated! 

Source theverge.com

“Ignorance is bold, knowledge reserved.”

- Thucydides

The power of ‘I don’t know.’ 

While many writers try to be as succinct as possible, often omitting any evidence that they may be second guessing themselves, Kreider reminds us that it’s OK to not be 100% sure of something. Writing isn’t always prescriptive (or proscriptive) and doesn’t have to carry an all-knowing, smug, undertone. So why has it become the social norm? Kreider thinks a big part of it is a fear: “To admit to ignorance, uncertainty or ambivalence is to cede your place on the mast head, your slot on the program, and allow all the coveted eyeballs to turn instead to the next hack who’s more than happy to sell them all the answers.” 

Source The New York Times

Marilyn Monroe, Vodka, and Lolita: The images of “Original Mad Man” Bert Stern. Alright, alright, I’m an ad geek, I know. But I’m guessing that even if you’re not in this crazy industry, you’ll still think Bert Stern is a super interesting dude - and that the images he created are fabulous. As one of his former models says, “His life has a perfect three-act structure: poor kid growing up in Brooklyn during the depression, becoming famous at 24 as the biggest photographer in the world, and losing everything.And then there’s this resurrection.” High-res

Marilyn Monroe, Vodka, and Lolita: The images of “Original Mad Man” Bert Stern. 

Alright, alright, I’m an ad geek, I know. But I’m guessing that even if you’re not in this crazy industry, you’ll still think Bert Stern is a super interesting dude - and that the images he created are fabulous. As one of his former models says, “His life has a perfect three-act structure: poor kid growing up in Brooklyn during the depression, becoming famous at 24 as the biggest photographer in the world, and losing everything.And then there’s this resurrection.”

Source fastcocreate.com

A “Whom Do You Hang With” map of America.  A theoretical physicist from Germany decided to map America based on 1MM+ reports from the website WheresGeorge.com to show just how connected we are as a country. If you aren’t familiar with the site, WheresGeorge.com tracks how dollar bills travel based on data input from “volunteers.” In addition to this “money-in-motion proxy,” NPR also shows our connectedness mapped through long-distance phone calls. High-res

A “Whom Do You Hang With” map of America. 
 
A theoretical physicist from Germany decided to map America based on 1MM+ reports from the website WheresGeorge.com to show just how connected we are as a country. If you aren’t familiar with the site, WheresGeorge.com tracks how dollar bills travel based on data input from “volunteers.” In addition to this “money-in-motion proxy,” NPR also shows our connectedness mapped through long-distance phone calls.

Source NPR

Beyond the screen: How TV shows are extending the story to digital.  As my friend and former colleague Michelle writes, “An immense amount of time and effort goes into developing a great narrative - and no one knows this better than the brilliant writers within the television industry.” So I suppose it makes sense that TV shows are rocking social activations, giving their fans ways to engage beyond the episodes themselves. From GIRLS to Shameless, Michelle gives you the skinny on the evolution of storytelling. High-res

Beyond the screen: How TV shows are extending the story to digital. 
 
As my friend and former colleague Michelle writes, “An immense amount of time and effort goes into developing a great narrative - and no one knows this better than the brilliant writers within the television industry.” So I suppose it makes sense that TV shows are rocking social activations, giving their fans ways to engage beyond the episodes themselves. From GIRLS to Shameless, Michelle gives you the skinny on the evolution of storytelling.

The impossible decision.    While the author is specifically questioning/referencing the decision to go to graduate school, the way he writes about the conundrum could be applied to many important life decisions: “You can guess what these things will be like; you can ask people; you can draw up lists of pros and cons; but, at the end of the day, without having the experience itself you cannot even have an approximate idea as to what it is like to have that experience.” We have a desire to make rational decisions, but at the end of the day, sometimes we have to cast logic aside. Of course, that’s coming from someone who just quit her job to travel the world ;) 

The impossible decision.   
 
While the author is specifically questioning/referencing the decision to go to graduate school, the way he writes about the conundrum could be applied to many important life decisions: “You can guess what these things will be like; you can ask people; you can draw up lists of pros and cons; but, at the end of the day, without having the experience itself you cannot even have an approximate idea as to what it is like to have that experience.” We have a desire to make rational decisions, but at the end of the day, sometimes we have to cast logic aside. Of course, that’s coming from someone who just quit her job to travel the world ;) 

Source newyorker.com

The dark side of antioxidants.


It seems that in the past few years there’s been a pretty big push in favor of antioxidants and the health benefits they provide. But according to this article, antioxidants aren’t always great - especially if you’re a smoker. It sounds like it’s not something to freak out about, but better to get your antioxidants from your diet instead of through supplements. I’m (obviously) not a doctor, so not in the position to provide medical advice or credit/discredit this article, but they did cite several medical journals where studies were published. (And a quick Google search shows that a blogger from The Daily Beast also covered the topic.)