Quickies by Slavo

I'm a software developer, currently working on what's going to be the awesomest CMS in the world - Sitefinity. My most recent thumbs up went to StarCraft 2, Inception and the Rock'n'rolla bar in Sofia, Bulgaria.

John Cleese on Creativity

This video was shared a lot in my social circles recently. Watch it.

What did we inherit from our ancestors?

I'm always confused when productivity gurus and other "experts" on personal development or psychology talk about the instincts we inherited from our predecessors. The latest quote is this:

Each and every one of us, as a human being, is hardwired to choose the path of least resistance. We’re programmed to conserve energy for when we might need it and to avoid risk wherever possible, because that’s what it took for our ancestors to survive (and reproduce) in a world full of unknown dangers.

OK. But our ancestors also had courage and decisiveness, crucial to their survival. They were curious to explore new regions and break the status quo. Why did we inherit only the bad stuff?

The "our ancestors" argument in each talk is just bullshit in gift wrap. Stop using it and tell us how to change, not why we are what we are.

Jason Cohen on why "disruptive" doesn't make money

Disruptive technology often comes from research groups commissioned to produce innovative ideas but unable to capitalize on them. Xerox PARC invented the fax machine, the mouse, Ethernet, laser printers, and the concept of a “windowing” user interface, but made no money on the inventions. AT&T Bell Labs invented Unix, the C programming language, wireless Ethernet, and the laser, but made no money on the inventions.

Read the full blog post here.

Evangelizing Yourself

A view of the Pirin mountain from the top of Todorka peak

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The Definition of a Startup

I've been interested in what people think a startup is for a long time. In his latest essay, Paul Graham sums it up in a paragraph. Here it is:

Starting a company is common, but starting a startup is rare. I've talked about the distinction between the two elsewhere, but essentially a startup is a new business designed for scale. Most new businesses are service businesses and except in rare cases those don't scale.

Taken from here.

Back in time...

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Taken with picplz.

Water

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"

Steve Jobs Presents an Idea for a New Apple Campus in Cupertino

A Nice Android Client for StackOverflow

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The nicest thing about it is that you can download and take a look at the source code :)