rickwebb's tumblrmajig

The choice is not the choice you think

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:30:24 -0500

So, the other day, I was talking to a colleague in the business. They were looking for a freelancer. And they launched into that routine about “needing the person to be on site because it’s really intense work.” I instinctively did my slight shrug and aggravation and ignored them.

I was thinking about this this morning, and it struck me that that conversation was actually a nice little microcosm of pet peeves, learnings and misapprehensions that I see routinely.

Firstly, it seemed so obvious to me that looking for someone ” to be on site because the work is intense” is a really dumb idea. But I was struck by how often I hear it. So I decided to take a moment and walk through, in my own head, why I viscerally loathe that line of thinking, even though it probably makes perfect sense in the head of the person thinking it. And it struck me: they are making a false choice. I believe, though I’m not 100% sure, that the logic in their head is that the person they can get - working on site or at home - is the same quality of person, so why not have the added advantage of having the person on site?

The problem with this, to me, is that you’re not actually talking about the same quality of person either on site or off. Firstly, you’re radically reducing your potential pool of people by limiting it to a single city. And no matter how great the Flash pool is here in New York, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the pool in the rest of the world. And secondly, I think it’s pretty obvious that the best people often prefer to work at home, and therefore even within your city, you’re limiting your pool. And, finally, there may be real obstacles to a good person working on site - planning for child care, for instance, or taking care of a pet.

So really when you say someone has to work on site, you’re basically radically reducing the likely quality of the person you’re going to get. And sure, there’s a benefit to having the person on site, but does that benefit overcome the quality differential? My experience says probably not.

Then I got to thinking about a conversation we have in the office here a lot about our three offices. There’s been a movement afoot here by some people to have our teams completely co-located. Certain team members go on and on about the benefits of having the whole team in the same place. And I’m always a bit frustrated by it, because, again, it’s sort of a false choice. I usually turn it around and say “do you want the best team, or a team that happens to all be in the same city?” We have offices in three cities for no other reason than each of these cities has a great talent pool - there are people in Boston and SF you simply can’t get in NY. Having a presence in other cities allows us to get a better quality of people. And I believe if I were a client, I’d want the best, wherever they are.

Then THIS got me thinking about the underlying logical fallacy that I think people fall into often: first, they make false choices for themselves. They simplify or leave out crucial data: “do you want a team together or dispersed” is a very different choice than “do you want the best team, albeit dispersed, or a good team that is in the same city?” I think we make this mistake more often than we realize.

Why David Lynch Turned Down ‘Return of the Jedi’...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:28:00 -0500

Why David Lynch Turned Down ‘Return of the Jedi’ (via ForaTv)

AWESOME.

Upper East Side Smut Castle Ruined by Uptight Hedge Funder - Guccione Mansion - Gawker

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:32:14 -0500

Upper East Side Smut Castle Ruined by Uptight Hedge Funder - Guccione Mansion - Gawker:

Man this is sad. I was hoping Falcone would turn it into some sort of smut museum.

Apparently Philip Falcone is not related to Batman’s Carmine Falcone after all. Boo.

Marduk Live at The DNA Lounge 12-6-09 (via rollow5150) Marduk...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:27:21 -0500

Marduk Live at The DNA Lounge 12-6-09 (via rollow5150)

Marduk bodyslams an audience member and throws him into the audience. BAD ASS. At the 1:16 mark. Check it, yo.

Do They Know It’s Christmas? (feat. Andrew W.K., Bob...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:24:54 -0500

Do They Know It’s Christmas? (feat. Andrew W.K., Bob Mould, David Cross, Ezra Koenig, GZA, Kevin Drew, Kyp Malone, Tegan & Sara & Yo La Tengo) - Single by Fucked Up - Download Do They Know It’s Christmas? (feat. Andrew W.K., Bob Mould, David Cross, Ezra Koenig, GZA, Kevin Drew, Kyp Malone, Tegan & Sara & Yo La Tengo) - Single on iTunes

Hahah F***ked up covered one of the greatest christmas songs ever, “Do They Know It’s Christmas: with Kyp Malone, Tegan & Sara, Yo La Tengo and Bob Mould. YES.

Silver Trembling Fetus Ornament | The Flaming Lips Oh the...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:22:14 -0500

Silver Trembling Fetus Ornament | The Flaming Lips

Oh the Flaming Lips are selling a silver trembling foetus Christmas ornament

Merge Records Oh hey also Jeff Mangum has a new song wtf woah.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:05:25 -0500

Merge Records

Oh hey also Jeff Mangum has a new song wtf woah.

Pitchfork: Magnetic Fields, Atlas Sound, Four Tet, Mark Kozelek to Play Noise Pop

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:01:11 -0500

Pitchfork: Magnetic Fields, Atlas Sound, Four Tet, Mark Kozelek to Play Noise Pop :

Man that is a really great lineup. ROADTRIP TO SF!

Portishead - Chase The Tear MP3 music downloads - 7digital

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:22:48 -0500

Portishead - Chase The Tear MP3 music downloads - 7digital :

Hey there’s a new Portishead song out, as a benefit for Amnesty International. Grab it.

Pitchfork: She & Him Announce Volume Two

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:41:15 -0500

Pitchfork: She & Him Announce Volume Two :

I approve of this. And the title of this album. Also have you seen that Ellen Von Unwerth Zooey Descehenel billboard on Broadway and Astor? HOT.

tedr: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth meets U.S. singer Lady Gaga...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:35:26 -0500

tedr:

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth meets U.S. singer Lady Gaga following the Royal Variety Performance in Blackpool, England

@mollybloom pointed me to this one (see my previous 2)

Note:

the queen’s smile

he queen’s glove to protect her royal skin from the populace

the queen’s flashy garment

the young LL Cool J in the background

bustr: samantham: Proud of you, Buster! Way to go. Locavore -...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:24:10 -0500

bustr:

samantham:

Proud of you, Buster! Way to go.

Locavore - The Top 10 Everything of 2009 - TIME

Thanks, Samantha. Your post here was how I found out about this. :)

ZOMG This is awesome! Congratulations!

mdfsmash: elspethjane: theviesociety: OMG almost every store...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:56:54 -0500

mdfsmash:

elspethjane:

theviesociety:

OMG almost every store on canal street (chinatown) is barricaded by police as they search for counterfeit goods (see ransacked goods in bags). It’s as if the whole street’s gone dark.

Whoa.

Oh man, yes please. And come back on Sunday and take down the Howard St. Bazaar.

nickdouglas: youngmanhattanite: brianvan: Also: inviting the entire NYC tech scene crowd and...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:40:56 -0500

nickdouglas:

youngmanhattanite:

brianvan:

Also: inviting the entire NYC tech scene crowd and AGAIN having too little space to let all the registered ticketholders into the event? But this time having it in Brooklyn on a Monday in December, so that it’s even more infuriating when they turn away 50 people at the door? That’s a huge boner. Hope you had fun at your pretty-pretty-princess birthday party! UNFOLLOW.

Crüe forever.

USING “UNFOLLOW” IRONICALLY TO PRETEND YOU’RE AN ENTITLED PRICK IS NOW A MEME.

I dunno, that sounded pretty clever, and that actually annoys the shit out of me as well. Why do places even have registered ticketholders or RSVPs then ignore them?

secondverse: tedr: “No news, no press, no Davos, no suit-and-tie fraudsters, no fools. I need to...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:29:36 -0500

secondverse:

tedr:

“No news, no press, no Davos, no suit-and-tie fraudsters, no fools. I need to withdraw as immediately as possible into the Platonic tranquility of my library, work on my next book, find solace in science and philosophy, and mull the next step. I will also structure trades with my Universa friends to bet on the next mistake by Bernanke, Summers, and Geithner. I will only (briefly) emerge from my hiatus when the publishers force me to do so upon the publication of the paperback edition of The Black Swan.”

—

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Good Bye! The Reappointment Of Bernanke Is Too Much To Bear

Ouch. NNT drops the proverbial hammer on Ben Bernanke.

(via mokoyfman)

That sounds fantastic. Go into hiding until your publisher requests a book tour. Would that we all the same option, you fucking coward.

I know, right? Oh, look at me, I am so smart, and so sure in everything, that I am going to act like my retroactive hindsight is so great that I can say with absolute certainty that a very smart man was incompetent because he didn’t do exactly what I, now, with the benefit of hindsight, think he SHOULD have done, while I was busy being a douche who writes, rather than trying to save the economy. Jesus H.

via Virgin Galactic unveils Spaceship 2

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:23:01 -0500

via Virgin Galactic unveils Spaceship 2

"The shock rocker was released from his contract after ‘The High End of Low’, which was..."

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:21:53 -0500

“The shock rocker was released from his contract after ‘The High End of Low’, which was released in May earlier this year, sold just 121,000 copies in America.”

- Marilyn Manson dropped by his record label | News | NME.COM

120 thousand copies. Man. I know a lot of bands that earn good livings off of selling far, far fewer records. Manson belongs on an indie. 120,000 is a shit ton still.

"Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch has revealed that he wants to play their first two..."

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:21:56 -0500

“Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch has revealed that he wants to play their first two albums, 1980’s ‘Crocodiles’ and 1981’s ‘Heaven Up Here’, back-to-back.”

- Echo And The Bunnymen set to play early albums in full? | News | NME.COM
I would be mildly interested in seeing this. Clever how Ian keeps finding new ways for me to bother seeing the Bunnymen again, even though his voice is shot.

Spiritualized's Jason Pierce 'not interested' in reforming Spacemen 3 | News | NME.COM

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:20:52 -0500

Spiritualized's Jason Pierce 'not interested' in reforming Spacemen 3 | News | NME.COM:

I’d been hearing rumors of this of late - and i knew ATP made them an offer - but recently (today) I saw a semi-official rumor about them probably playing Coachella, and, luckily, I realized it was probably not true before I COMPLETELY LOST MY SHIZZLE OMG PLEASE SOMEDAY REUNITE JUST FOR ME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?

It’s been funny. The last few years both Jason and Sonic have been playing Spacemen 3 songs with Spiritualized and Spectrum, and I even had the pleasure of seeing them both in one week in 2008, which was *almost* like seeing Spacemen 3, but not quite. Also neither one of them does any songs from Recurring, which is sad, and while it was probably emotionally draining to make, IS AN AWESOME RECORD.

Kylie Minogue to release live album from New York | News | NME.COM

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:20:12 -0500

Kylie Minogue to release live album from New York | News | NME.COM:

This rules. I was at this show. Or one of them. And now I can hear the songs I missed by arriving late!