Holiday Family Portrait Circa Back When Dad Cut Our Hair

Gotta love that Tiger prowling in the background...compliments my obvious disdain for the family photo session!

American Psycho Business Card Scene (Video) and Your Business Card is Crap!

I'm a big fan of creating interesting business cards. I'm a fan of personal calling cards, the concept of creating purple cow's, and most of all these two video clips about business cards:

American Psycho - Business Cards
by nightwind23

Here's my other favorite business card clip:

Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley as Chipendale's (Video)

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
by tressage

RIP Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley! Two greats gone too soon!

Street Art in Seattle

A few paste ups, cool pieces, and random installations I saw when out and about in Seattle last night with my old school Iowa City High friends: Melissa, Mindy, Jean, Emily and new addition Blair....

Boldness, Speed, and Focus

The OrganizedWisdom Process for Hiring Exceptional Talent Everytime: 20 How-To Tips To Building Your A-Team

I've been hiring new team members almost every week this summer at OrganizedWisdom so I thought I'd share my experience with other entrepreneurs. I just published my tips over at The Wisdom Blog in a post titled:

The OrganizedWisdom Process for Hiring Exceptional Talent Everytime: 20 How-To Tips To Building Your A-Team

Take a read and please share any suggestions or ideas of your own.

Cheers!

Documentary Film On Bathroom Graffiti (10 min. video)

I was interviewed for this documentary film about Latrinalia awhile back. Here is the result: a great 10 minute documentary on Bathroom Graffiti. I focused on my thoughts about freedom of expression, street art, and the medium being the message. To learn more about The Bathroom Graffiti Project collaborative arts initiative, click here.

Latrinalia - Toilet Graffiti Documentary from Sam Trowbridge on Vimeo.

Brooklyn Street Art, Graffiti, Pictures

Spent the day in Brooklyn on Mother's Day to visit the Brooklyn Design fair. Here are some pictures of the street art, graffiti paste ups and random sightings. Fun day!

Your Business Card is CRAP! (Video)

"I build crowds guaranteed! What do you do guaranteed?"

This is just too good not to repost:

Esther Dyson's 5 Tips for Entrepreneurs (Video)

Esther Dyson share her wisdom on start-ups, risk-taking and 5 tips for entrepreneurs in this video. Esther is an investor and on the advisory board of OrganizedWisdom.com and continues to be a huge help to us as we grow our business.

Graffiti Street Art in Paris

The Montgomery Flea Market Rap (video)

Race Through Paris in a Ferrari (video)

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive him at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

For an intense rush (and a fast tour of Paris streets), watch the entire 8 minute clip when you get time and just imagine you are sitting in the passenger's seat. My favorite part is the car parting the birds in the street and the very last few seconds. Perfect ending.


Update: With Sound of Engine! (thanks Jim!)

OrganizedWisdom is Hiring Director of Advertising Sales and Sponsorships

My company, OrganizedWisdom Health, is growing quickly and we are looking for the best of the best to join our team. Here is the most recent position we are looking to fill. Please pass along/tweet/facebook this position if you know someone who is a perfect fit.

Click here for details: OrganizedWisdom is Hiring Director of Advertising Sales and Sponsorships

Cuba Memories: Walking in Havana

More pictures from trip to Havana many moons ago...click here.

Le Tag Paris Graffiti Exhibit - Le Grand Palais

Spotting great street art, graffiti art, tags and of course bathroom graffiti have always been one of my hobbies. So you can imagine how stoaked I was to see the work of over 100 of the most important and famous graffiti writers at Le Tag at Le Grand Palais last week. Here are a few shots from the show...

Unity Invents Piano "Breakdancing"

I've never tried to breakdance on a boat, on carpet, in a tux, and with no music before. This is what happens when forced to improvise. It's not necessarily pretty, but definitely interpretive...enjoy.

Recorded on April 3, 2009 on the Hispanola boat in London for one of several wedding parties I attended for my good friends Jean and Nic.

My Newest Recipe: Bacon Fried Brussels Sprouts With A Kick

This week I created a tasty new recipe. I call it Bacon Fried Brussels Sprouts With A Kick. It's easy to prepare. Super flavorful and fresh. Mostly healthy. And makes for a tasty side-dish.


Cooking time: less than 10 minutes!

Tools: Cast iron skillet/well seasoned frying pan.

Ingredients: 4 fresh brussels sprouts, 1 strip of thick cut bacon, Tabasco Sauce, dash of salt, fresh ground pepper, teaspoon grated parmesan cheese.

Serves: This recipe is for 1. Just multiply ingredients by number of people you want to serve.

How to Cook: This really is the easiest thing you will ever make other than toast or a grilled cheese. But it will come out like a gourmet dish from your favorite steak house. Here are the simple steps to cooking this tasty side dish:

1) Wash, rinse, then cut the 4 brussels sprouts in half.
2) Dice the bacon and get it frying in that well seasoned skillet.
3) Place the brussel sprouts face down in the pan and mix them in with the bacon pieces.
4) Flip the brussel sprouts after about 3 minutes.
5) Make sure to coat each piece with bacon grease, then put one drop of Tabasco on each of the brussels sprouts.
6) Cook for another 3 minutes and stir once or twice.
7) Just before serving dash lightly with salt, fresh cracked pepper to taste.
8) Sprinkler the parmesan cheese over the brussels sprouts while still in the frying pan.
9) Place everything on a side dish and enjoy.

Pictures of Unity Stoakes's Bacon Fried Brussels Sprouts With A Kick from my lunch earlier this week:

Follow me on Twitter @UnityStoakes

I've posted this before, but since I'm tweeting much more than posting to my blog I figured I'd post again. Also, more people are using Twitter now so join me at:

Follow my personal tweets at twitter.com/unitystoakes
Follow OrganizedWisdom tweets at twitter.com/organizedwisdom

Thoughts on the AIG Bonus Mess And 8 Lessons from an Entrepreneur

Earlier today, the New York Times (Andrew Ross Sorkin) published an absurd column about why the $165,000,000 in A.I.G. bonuses money should not be rescinded. Already millions have been divvied out to many of the so called experts at A.I.G. in the division actually responsible for bringing the company to it's knees.

The piece titled The Case for A.I.G. Bonuses, perpetuates many of the same arguments that have been floating around in recent weeks and cites the following reasons why taxpayers should accept this absurd notion:

1) The sanctity of contracts: "If you think this economy is a mess now, imagine what it would look like if the business community started to worry that the government would start abrogating contracts left and right."

Hogwash. No one every mentioned "abrogating contacts left and right" willy nilly. We are talking about prudent financial stewardship for one specific company, in one particular time of chaos, in one particular situation.

"If government officials were to break the contracts, they would be “breaking a bond,” Ms. Meyer says. “They are raising a whole new question about the trust and commitment organizations have to their employees.” (The auto industry unions are facing a similar issue — but the big difference is that there is a negotiation; no one is unilaterally tearing up contracts.)"

The reality is that contracts are re-negotiated and changed everyday in business. In fact, it is part of business that contracts are often re-negotiated, just as this article mentions when referring to what the auto unions are doing. They are working with management to change the original agreements. This is an absurd notion that the US is breaking these contracts. The company wouldn't even exist without the bailout money. Everything has changed in these agreements the moment the company failed and we were forced to change ownership to prevent complete failure. It's a simple rule of business (and life really) that everything is negotiable. For example, how about this. Give the 400 recipients of the bonus money a choice: accept bonus money and your name gets published for all to see. Or congress offers this choice for those who take their bonus money: take the money and we will write into the tax code that you will be audited by the IRS for the rest of your life. I'm sure their are dozen reasons why this wouldn't be legal, but you get the point. The US Government has a lot of levers and pressure points to make that bonus money much more painful than it's worth.

2) The "brilliant" bozos that created this mess are the only ones smart enough to get us out: "A.I.G. built this bomb, and it may be the only outfit that really knows how to defuse it."

Really? These are the only 400 people smart enough in the world to figure out how to get us out of this mess? That is absurd again. Everyone is replaceable in business. Everyone. No matter what degree they have, or how much they get paid. Any business that depends on any one person (in this case a relatively small group of people considering the size of the organization), is a big FAIL. The sooner A.I.G. stops depending on these morons the better. Besides, there are surly numerous brilliant professors, eager grad students, and other finance experts with the conscience, motivation and ability who would gladly step in if asked to serve their country for the greater good. Wouldn't you if The President of the US asked you too? There are good people in this world who are motivated by challenge, who want more than money to fulfill their life, and who would gladly take on this mission.

3) The bozos that created this mess may actually use it to their advantage to make more money: "If they leave — the buzz on Wall Street is that some have, and more are ready to — they might simply turn around and trade against A.I.G.’s book. Why not? They know how bad it is. They built it."

This is insane and criminal. If this is really the argument, then these people are treasonous at this point and should be arrested and tried in the court of law. Their names should be released to the public and they should be tried as financial terrorists. Even if they don't go to jail, the press will take care of them in the media. Surly, their reputations are worth more than a couple $ million? Maybe not.

4) There is no way to retain these geniuses without paying them absurd sums of cash for ruining their company and helping cripple the world's economic system: "“We cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff” the company “if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury.”

This is simply not true for the best talent in the world. The acting Charmian himself only makes $1. He's not doing it for the money. He's doing it for his ego. The folks in DC like Geithner don't take those jobs for the money. Their salaries are almost nil. They do it for the power. For the prestige. For the limelight. For the challenge.

Furthermore, what really gets my blood running about this line of thinking is how weak these people must be to walk out on their country in a time of need. After all they played a major (MAJOR) role in getting us to this point. And then they would consider leaving! You have to be kidding me. These people shouldn't be retained. They should be fired, and left to wither away in their own greed and glutiny.

There is a concept that makes America great. It's called patriotism and civic duty. It is the reason why we have soldiers who are sacrificing their lives everyday in wars around the world to protect us and to make us better. And guess what, they don't get paid millions of dollars. In fact, they barely get paid at all. And they are willing to give their lives to serve and protect us. And we can't even get these bonus idiots to clean up their own mess? Let's not forget that already 11 of the people who received these retention bonuses have already left. Shameful!

Now that my rant is over, here's what I've learned as an entrepreneur about the concepts laid out in these arguments. They work in the businesses I've helped build. They just might work with A.I.G too:

1) Every contract is negotiable in business. Re-negotiating is different then breaking a contract, and often a wise option.
2) Everyone is replaceable in business. Including yourself. So get to work and do something to create long-term value (as opposed to bring your company to it's knees with your "shinanigans".
3) Disloyal people should be fired sooner rather than later. They are like cancer and must be cut out immediately. Zappos for example, offers new hires $2,000 to quit in the first 30 days. If it's only money they care about, good riddance. How about accomplishment?
4) If your organization's management doesn't understand how something is engineered, they should get out of that business. A.I.G., nor the regulators, understood what these hooligans were even doing until it was too late.
5) Transparency is essential and powerful.
6) Reputation matters.
7) People care about more than money, like respect, achievement, doing great work, pride, helping others...
8) Oh and how about this crazy notion, bonuses should be given based on success, not failure.

Last days of knitting factory

Decanting 1996 Barolo that was gift on 30th bday.

When Infomercials Go Wrong

Everything is Amazing Right Now, And Nobody's Happy

Last night I was saying at dinner that when I grew up we actually had a party line for a telephone...

Andreessen on Charlie Rose: Stop the Presses Tomorrow

My Blogging's Slowed, But I've Been More Active Than Ever

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I've been actively sharing online more than ever. I've been busy micro-blogging (via twitter and Blip.fm), photo blogging (via Facebook, Flickr and this blog) and re-blogging via my Google Reader shared posts and this blog.

I'll probably focus on publishing more recipes and sharing a lot more photos in the coming months and I also plan to share a bunch of my old writings once I get the time to scan them in, but for now, I'm most actively sharing my thoughts/work/ideas/music via:

My Twitter
My Blip.fm
My Shared Posts
My Facebook
The Wisdom Blog
OrganizedWisdom Twitter Feed

The good news is all of the above (except for Facebook) is available on My Tumblr.

Aubrey de Grey argues aging is a disease that is curable

Ugh!

 

 

(Picture) Invoking Unity!

Had to do it...a friend just sent this to me:

Representin' The OrganizedWisdom Tee in Mexico

Barack Obama Inauguration Poster Released...Another Amazing Shepard Fairey Design