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Showing posts with label Newsletters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newsletters. Show all posts

July 27, 2011

Newsletter: Summer 2011

by
This is a quarterly email newsletter with ideas, cool links, book
recommendations and a personal update. 


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Read time: 2 1/2 minutes
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IDEAS
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1.  Neighborliness in the lonely city

Since moving to Brooklyn, I've thought much more about
neighborliness than when I lived near Wall Street. People idle here, 
a melange of music can be heard from apartments, car alarms go 
off at all hours, and there's an organic ebb and flow of people who 
you never say hello to but see regularly enough that you start thinking 
of them as your neighbors.

Neighborliness, though, is an odd sensation in a large city where the
combination of close proximity and anonymity sometimes lends to a 
sense of loneliness. New York City is like a giant campus where the
only matriculation requirement is agreeing to experience separateness 
together.
Coming from a small town, where perhaps we experience 
togetherness separately, I am constantly aware of this, yet it also
serves as a security blanket when race, gender, sexuality, income and 
all other variants of distinction begin to blur together. In the end, you refer 
to each other simply as survivalists, or more appropriately, human.

Here are some more thoughts on city living:

A modern perspective on working back and forth between 
a small town and NYC.

A local perspective empathetic to the dilemma of
neighborliness and loneliness in a large city.

A thorough New York Magazine article debunking the 
myth of urban loneliness.

2.  Is the singularity really near?

The more technology becomes part of our daily lives, the more I
think about Ray Kurzweil's idea of the singularity, a precipice-type 
event when technological intelligence is expected to surpass human 
intelligence.

AI, cylons and cyborgs immediately come to mind, but 
it's not far-flung science fiction when you see someone talking to 
thin air on their bluetooth or you pull up satellite-enabled, 
location-tracking GPS directions on your smartphone while driving. 
What seemed unlikely a decade ago, we already take for granted.

At the same time, advancement feels like it's outpacing us. No
matter what age, it seems like everyone is trying to find a balance 
between online and offline worlds. Adaptation to new technologies 
has become a necessary skill, though it's still uncertain how 
technology will impact communication in the long run. First, we 
may have to contend with the growth of technological inequality 
on a more global level.

Singularity-inducing technologies worth keeping an eye on:

NeuroSky uses EEG monitoring to type hands-free and send 
emails and tweets.

The Predator camera "fingerprints" your visual image to track 
movement and location.

World Lens translates language real-time using the camera on 
your smartphone.

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BOOKS
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1. The White Album by Joan Didion

Since reading it, I've touted this book to almost everyone I know.
Didion talks about everything under the sun in a dry, nonchalant
style that hits you unexpectedly, perhaps at dinner or when you're
out taking a walk. It requires the right mood - for me, it was
needing a dramatic change to my reading list. This is just the cure
for that. (I wrote a much more detailed review here)

2.    Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

I read this book over 3 years ago and came back to it because it
because of a renewed interest in storytelling. Powerpoint has
wisely lost ground with many since Reynolds came out with a better 
way to be persuasive. Going beyond the classroom or boardroom, 
this book targets the art of conversation altogether. An insightful and 
worthwhile read. (I'd also recommend The Back of the Napkin by 
Dan Roam as a wonderful companion read)

3. Just Kids by Patti Smith

Light, fun, and dare-I-say-it, a beach read with substance. I
didn't know who Patti Smith was when I read it, and that made it
all the better. Smith lilts along autobiographically through the
60's and 70's showing the plight and reward of becoming an artist.
This book is a rare opportunity to live vicariously through a
bygone era that still holds great influence today. (A more detailed 
review can be found here)

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CONNECT
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PERSONAL UPDATE
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I've been experiencing Brooklyn on my bike, which I recently
revived from its 8-year slumber in a storage box. No car and long
avenue blocks is a perfect excuse to use the bike more
functionally; to pick up groceries or dry cleaning or ride to the
park for a picnic.

My favorite biking adventures though have been on Governor's Island, 
a welcome escape from the daily hubbub of the city.

I'd love to hear how your summer is going. Drop me an email when
you get a chance!

Cheers,
Akshay 
Labels:

April 12, 2011

Newsletter: Spring 2011

by
This is a quarterly email newsletter with ideas, cool links, book
recommendations and a personal update.

******
Read time: 2 minutes
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IDEAS
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1.  Are you an Apple or PC person?  And what does it mean if you're

both?

I wonder what Leonardo da Vinci would have chosen. It's the
ultimate modern debate between design and function. What I love
most about this rivalry though is the awareness it builds about how
aesthetic and usability blend together.

I particularly like Rick Landesberg's passionate observation of how
creative imagery affects us daily: "when the functional rises above
itself, when the everyday becomes celebratory, we become more
human." Examples abound:

Here's a "map" of San Fransisco depicting local and tourist
hotspots just from pictures taken by each group.

Here's "map" of NYC laying out racial and ethnic group census data
in an easily comparable fashion.

Here's a "diploma" using a portrait of an anatomical heart made up
entirely of words from a dissertation.

2.  What's the cure for procrastination?

First, are you sure you want to cure it, considering
procrastination may be telling you that something really isn't
worth doing? We deal with task overload daily and often blame
ourselves for not doing enough. When something stays on my to-do
list for weeks though, I wonder if I'm truly too busy or if I'm
subconsciously avoiding it because it doesn't matter to me.

Curing it is a mix of setting deadlines and tackling tasks
"Since open-ended tasks with distant deadlines are much easier to
postpone than focussed, short-term projects, dividing projects into
smaller, more defined sections helps."

The Pomodoro technique is one of my favorites. If "work expands to
the time allotted", this is how to get work done fast!

Compact Calendar is another tool that makes project planning easier
by offering a visual of continuity across consecutive days instead
of months.

Here are 3 simple solutions offered by Marty Nemko for dealing with
the procrastination problem.

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BOOKS
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1. Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

In search of a book that would help me articulate my thoughts and
ideas better in conversation and on paper, I found Made to Stick.
The authors are natural storytellers that lead by example and keep
you turning pages. It's a book you'll come back to time and again.
It's sticky, I guess.

2. The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman

Written by my friend, Josh, this tome of business knowledge is
hefty in the topics it covers and yet somehow it's encapsulated in
a small reference-like volume that reads like a novel. I finished
it in 3 hours. Skip b-school and learn it here. It's exactly why he
wrote it.

3. I Am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj

I would put this in the category of philosophy that you can play
with, feel, work through. The entire book is a transcription of
various Q&A sessions with people who come to debate life issues
with Maharaj. Easy to read little bits at a time, it's experientially 
rewarding because you can easily practice the message.

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CONNECT
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PERSONAL UPDATE
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I recently took a trip to Istanbul that was a mix of catching up on
sleep and discovering a secular Islamic culture. Ever since Ataturk
made Turkey into a secular state in 1923, there have been major
debates about the ban of headscarves and the consumption of alcohol.

I saw a provocative video fixture at the Istanbul Modern Art
Museum, discussing the right of women to wear headscarves if they
wanted. Also, alcohol was taxed so heavily that sometimes a glass
of wine cost twice as much as the entree! 

The interplay between the two sides in daily life was remarkable to
see. I highly recommend it for history buffs.

I'd love to hear about what's going in your life, so drop me an
email when you get a chance.

All the best,
Labels:

January 12, 2011

Newsletter: Winter 2011

by
This is a quarterly email newsletter with ideas, cool links, book
recommendations and a personal update. 

******
Read time: 2 1/2 minutes
******

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IDEAS
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1. Are you saying what you mean or is everyone listening to what they want to hear?

What's in our heads doesn't always translate verbally. Being bilingual,
I often wish I could use Hindi words to communicate what I'm trying
to say. Hindi has the ability to invoke various emotions with a single word.
I imagine Native American languages work similarly, exhibiting an emotive
quality that requires several English sentences to explain. English is far more
analytical, which is obviously its strongest quality. It reduces the strong cultural
and historical effects subject to shift meaning and clearly connotes a message.

Interestingly though, single words in English can have a different meaning
based on context. We may not think about word choice, but it has an impact
on how well we communicate with others. George Bernard Shaw said, "The
single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
At work and with friends, I notice how much time and energy is spent on
correcting misunderstandings. Viewing language as variable and subjective
has made me much more attentive to whether I'm truly understanding what's
being said and whether I'm truly communicating what I want to say.




2. What will the internet look like in 10 years?

Every generation feels removed from the previous one and the
internet has widened the gap even more in the last 10 years. The
rate of growth, especially in social media, seems to have surpassed
the rate of adoption, with a few obvious exceptions; Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

With no barrier to entry and an ubiquitous, open-source platform,
one would think the internet would allow very few people or companies
to rise to the top. The internet though is an enormous, real-time
sociological experiment that makes us either participants or observers.

Clay Shirky explains it brilliantly:

"In systems where many people are free to choose between many
options, a small subset of the whole will get a disproportionate
amount of traffic (or attention, or income), even if no members of
the system actively work towards such an outcome. This has nothing
to do with moral weakness, selling out, or any other psychological
explanation. The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and
freely enough, creates a power law distribution."




3. Is the economy shaping the job market or is it the other way around?

It's hard not to think about the job market right now. Unemployment
at 9% not only affects recent graduates, but also increases job lock
among current employees, shifts where we live, increases housing
prices, and diminishes productivity through long-term underemployment.

The soft side of unemployment is different though. While morale is
still low, people are finding creative ways to find work and companies
are responding with an increase in project-oriented work.




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BOOKS
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1. Daemon by Daniel Suarez

Fast-paced from the beginning, Daemon represents a whole new
thriller genre mixing technology and crime while staying out of the
sci-fi realm. Great summer/airplane/couch read.

Existential philosophy boiled down to two words that convey a
flippant yet energized attitude. The ability to fearlessly achieve
your goals is a strong theme in this book. A little bit of a
throwback to the 70's new-age, hippie motif (Parkin runs a retreat
called The Hill That Breathes), it's still a hilarious must-read.

3. White Noise by Dan Delillo
Strange and captivating, White Noise was written in 1985 and yet
eerily speaks of societal problems we face today, especially
media-induced fear. The writing is quirky, funny, and has a
lackadaisical style that makes tough vocabulary somehow easy to
understand. I felt like a better writer having read it.

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CONNECT
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PERSONAL UPDATE
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Hi from NYC! My last year has been a thorough exploration of
restaurants and neighborhoods in NYC. I've expanded my horizons
beyond Manhattan into Brooklyn and I'm always amazed how the city
organically changes from street to street. If you're around, give
me a buzz and we can get together for coffee or dinner.

Cheers,
Akshay
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