Funding Friday: Make 100
Kickstarter has a tradition of starting January with the Make 100 campaign, which asks creators to make 100 of something and put it up on Kickstarter for funding.
I backed this Make 100 project earlier this week:
You can see all of the Make 100 projects here. Check them out. They are fun and fascinating.
Comments (Archived):
“…the world’s borough: Queens” – is Queens the origin of America’s famous ‘melting pot’? I like Jan Staller’s Frontier New York.
Even if it isn’t the origin, it seems pretty diverse. I was reading some posts on culinarybackstreets.com recently, and the section on Queens has some articles that mention that in one single avenue, you can find many different kinds of ethnic foods and cultures.
is that still the original ethnic food and culture ‘footprint’, or is it sadly now based on the modern ‘franchise’ model of ‘multi-cuisine’ eateries i see everywhere?
Good question. Not sure. Only read about it, not been there. Based on what I read, I don’t think it was multi-cuisine eateries. One or some of each kind, instead, probably.
I’ve added a hyphen. It looks better :). Thanks.
Welcome 🙂
Queens exemplifies NYC as a “melting pot” and I’ve actually read that it’s the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world. There are ethnic communities and great food restaurants all over Queens (e.g., Greek in Astoria, Asian in Flushing, Indian in Jackson Heights). Many look at Amazon’s HQ project as a potential threat to the borough’s culture, ethnic diversity and cost of living.
>Queens exemplifies NYC as a “melting pot” and I’ve actually read that it’s the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world. There are ethnic communities and great food restaurants all over Queens (e.g., Greek in Astoria, Asian in Flushing, Indian in Jackson Heights).Interesting, thanks. Been to places like that in Goa (lived there for a while), but it’s mainly the varied restaurants, not much of varied global communities. And the ethnic restaurants may not be too authentic, at least the mid-range ones. (Russians are kind of a fixture in some parts of Goa, though, They come and stay for long periods.) If I go to NYC, will make sure to visit Queens. It’ll be a bit like visiting many countries (for at least some of the culture and food aspects) in a short time. Although I don’t go for the concept of “doing” a place (as in “we ‘did’ Paris and Berlin in 1 day” or whatever), and have never taken a package tour in my life, ha ha.>Many look at Amazon’s HQ project as a potential threat to the borough’s culture, ethnic diversity and cost of living.Wouldn’t be surprised. We need some consciously active movements against all this homogenizing and bigco-izing.
My guess has been that for some years Amazon will just rent out their space to commercial customers and, thus, net, lower the commercial rents in Queens.Apparently if see that will want a lot of floor space in some area, then well before moving in and paying the increased prices, buy cheap, rent out the space, let the values rise, and then move in with no rent and with a more valuable asset.Or if are going to push up real estate prices, then get a lot of gains for yourself.Or if want to make money in a rising market, then be the one who causes the market to rise!
Amazon is steam rolling here in Seattle. I’ve been told they own/lease more sf downtown than the next seven largest companies combined. They’ll be good citizens in nyc, but only to a point. No one else’s interests will come before their own. They will likely need to grease the skids a bit more in nyc w/ jobs, training opps, communal park development and/or infrastructure, but they won’t make any ridiculous concessions that are not in their best longterm interests (as they shouldn’t).
pretty cool – I wonder if some of these pieces will one day become collectors items
Have to be honest with you Fred did you read the full project description and view the ‘art’?For example:Let me be upfront about this: I am really fucking lazy. But me putting this up here is me relying on accountability and social pressure to get this done! and this..That said, I should note that I am in no way a professional photographer and honestly, don’t really know what I’m doing.The fact that he is not professional doesn’t matter. But the fact that he says he doesn’t know what he is doing (and that he is ‘fucking lazy’) does matter. And he is using humor in that way is grating to me because it makes a mockery of Kickstarter which is a great platform for creative projects. People want to support creators who either create what they like or at least are making a big effort in some way and deserve support.I have done darkroom photography with SLR’s and know a bit about it. His example photos aren’t even a matter of taste they are just beginner bad plain and simple.Shouldn’t someone who has their act together doing a kickstarter be the one who is highlighted and getting support? Not someone who isn’t even serious enough to fake it until they make it. Also apparently he works at Kickstarter.
On photography (no, not a Susan Sontag moment). The camera that counts is inside your head. You can’t buy a new one, a better one, the right one. Smartphones have denuded the art. Everyone now takes photos, but so few are of note. I blame Apple 🙂
There is also the ‘game show’ theory going on here I have to point out. (I just don’t think it should apply in the context of getting favorable social media here).The ‘game show theory’ (my name for the concept) states that it’s important to have questions that anyone can answer (so in this case projects that anyone can do). That way people who either lack confidence (or ability) are not dissuaded from participation. Everybody can get a trophy and can be a winner.You see this on shows like ‘The Profit’ and “Shark Tank”. Some of the investments are so small and some of the businesses are so screwed up that the viewer thinks ‘wow I could do better than that’ or “wow I have $100k I’d invest in that for that %!”. So my point is the faults are intentional and used to attract an audience. There is value in that. It’s a staple of almost all reality tv. The defects are a positive and part of the strategy.Another example somewhat related is slot machines paying out small amounts with a great deal of noise in casino.
‘The medium is the message’ message. It’s a powerful distortion field.
I would give him a break. He comes across as being honest and vulnerable.The primary value here is more someone knowing Queens and having a unique local POV about the area. The photography expertise is secondary at least to me.
.Queens.Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.14 June 1946.Born.Who?Who knew? From absinthe to Zydeco. Queens.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Booth Memorial Hospital. Flushing, Queens. Was born to be a Mets’ fan. A Dave Kingman pop up away from Shea Stadium.DJT’s birth may have been in Queens, but his Jamaica Estates upbringing is hardly representative.
.Bingo. That is the diversity of Queens.You love diversity, right? Everybody lock arms and sway together, please. DiversiTEEEEEEE!Well, I mean except for diversity of thought, of course.Donald J Trump, President of the United States of America, a Queens boy.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
When was the law passed that says that it’s okay and, in addition, good, to go around beating up on people with a club as long as the club has printed on it diversity except when the targeted person has printed on their forehead “diversity”.Soon all the potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cabbages, heads of lettuce, garlic bulbs, etc. in the fresh produce department will rise up, lock arms, and go on strike for “diversiTEEEEEEE!” since, as in an ad, customers are “choosYYYYYYY”.For how to make sense out of diversiTEEEEE with at the same time equaliTEEEEEE can be a challenge! :-)With the push for diversiTEEEE and equaliTEEEE, how can each of Harvard, the Nobel Prizes, the POTUS, and much more be a meritocracYYYYYYYY and avoid mediocritYYYYY without being accused of being a tyrannYYYYYYYY?I want to have a referendum on politicallYYYYYYY correct and vote against it.At least the newsies have been PC to have a way to grab people by the heart and the gut believing that, then, their eyeballs and ad revenue will be sure to follow. For me, I’m choosYYYYY and refuse to pay attention to the NYC MSM.
Everyone wants diversity of thought until it crosses a personal no-fly zone.Same with tolerance. It always becomes intolerant at a certain point.The team that connects intolerance with human rights and equality usually advances its agenda.Don’t get me started on equality of outcomes. It’s one of the most insidious and dangerous ideas that gets thrown around today.
I recently learned that DJT went to Fordham for two years before attending Wharton. It’s always “Wharton this” or “I went to the best schools,” but nary a word about Fordham. I wonder if their admin is glad or sad about the lack of recognition? (A bit of sports trivia: Denzel W. played hoops at Fordham.)
.They’re ecstatic that DJT doesn’t ID with Fordham. Even Wharton hates him.They are like Megan Merkle’s first husband.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
What is the difference between someone who transfers in to a ‘name university’ and someone who is admitted right from high school?
.He was a loser who could not get in up front?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
I am going to wait until I get salt shakers replies to give ‘the answer’.
Knowing enough about people and psychology to manipulate people is a sign of very high intelligence regardless of ethics or uses of the intelligence. Hence not even close to being a loser.That is one of the issues with people trying to bring him down by those types of arguments. That is what those people don’t understand (because they are ‘book smart’ or academics). They are telling people ‘he is stupid’ and all they see is signs of intelligence with their own eyes.A good example is ‘not so rich’ or ‘doesn’t want us to know he does not make money’.What do people see? Someone posing behind a huge jet with their name on it! If that doesn’t mean ‘rich’ I don’t know what it means in the eyes of the proletariat.
None, if deserving. It’s been written that Trump’s older brother knew an admission’s counselor at Penn and that’s how he got in as a transfer. His family name and stature likely didn’t hurt, either. His grades at Fordham are alleged to have been mediocre. Moreover, as you know, there’s a big difference between a Wharton bachelor degree vs. an MBA. Trump has the former. Not sure when he speaks of Wharton most understand the distinction. Not criticizing him per se, there just always seems to be a lot of missing or incomplete information wherever Trump is concerned. Yes, he graduated from Wharton, kudos to him, but the devil is in the details.
.I wonder does Pres Trump spend millions to ensure that his Occidental, Columbia, Harvard Law grade transcripts never meet the light of day?Just goofing with you.JLM
You can read my reply to SS. Quite frankly I have no clue how someone who has actually done something (prior to running for President) regardless of advantages they might have had can be compared to a rank and file graduate of the same school who got in purely on academics. News flash: Getting ahead in life takes way way more than academics and test grades. And many people that attend those schools have some kind of advantage. I attended one and was lucky that I went to a private school first. That helped (was my idea btw to go to private school but yes my parents had to pay the money for me to go there). Everybody has some angle. Nobody is pure. Some are more pure but in the end the decisions are arbitrary. It’s not being the fastest on the running track. It’s not sports and numbers.That is as close to pure as it gets. (Although Tiger Woods had his father so…)People can hate Trump (and for valid reasons). But the truth is doing what he has done (even with family money) is an achievement. Plain and simple. Ranks way above any degree from any school.
I think a degree from a prestigious Ivy institution is a golden ticket. Not just from the connections one gains from befriending well to do classmates, but by reputation alone (as you likely know). I’ve seen people in biz milk the shit out of their Ivy degrees, and rightly so. Some were mighty impressive, some a lot less so, to the point of occasionally scratching my head in disbelief. I do not have an Ivy degree. I was not all that academically inclined in HS. In fact, when I look back at my HS years I’m aghast that I was so disinterested. In retrospect, a shame and a missed opportunity! I did get both a BBA and an MBA, but neither from a prestigious institution. I don’t honestly believe the quality of education I received was that dramatically different, but what is immensely diff is the prestige that such a degree carries and infers. It’s a calling card, a door opener, whatever you want to call it.All that aside, in isolation Trump leveraging his degree, whether admittance transpired via family name, his brother’s association w/ an admission’s counselor, etc., is not a huge problem. (I’m sure you are quite right that Ivy schools are full of “by any means necessary” types of admittance.) My prob w/ DJT is this is one of many data points indicating questionable ethics, morality, judgement and/or born on 2nd base privilege that has permeated his career and now his Presidency. He is unaccustomed and likely incapable of deferring to anyone’s judgement but his own, facts and legislative process be damned.This notion that he’s delivering an agenda he promised voters is a valid pursuit, except he’s not operating in a vacuum, as there are hundreds of other elected officials in DC who were elected on their agendas, a point that’s become irrelevant (certainly to Trump) as our gov’t digresses to a state of disarray. There’s a continually disturbing pattern of behavior and a lack of morality that has followed DJT at seemingly every turn of his life. How it has not caught up w/ him is astonishing and Houdini-esk. One can perhaps marvel at that as a skill, but inevitably there will be a day of reckoning, just based on the laws of probability alone.
.Did DJT get elected President or Pope?If he was elected President, then I don’t give a shit who he fucked a dozen years ago. To be crude, I probably like a guy who wanted to get laid more than one who didn’t, all things being equal.I worked for a guy in the military who was an unconscionable prick, an uncouth man, huge nosepicker, and the best leader in a pinch I ever met. Not even close.In desperate times, he was unbeatable. Led by example. Led from the front. Fearless.I was intrigued by him and spoke to officers who served under him from company command to battalion command to brigade command to ADC of a division.Everybody said the same thing — if they had a kid, they wanted this MFer in charge because the probability of their kid coming home alive was heightened.All I care about is policy, the impact of policy. I like Pres Trump’s policies. I like the outcomes.I don’t see a single competing Dem policy that can hold a candle to Pres Trump’s administration.The Dems say they want border security — I live in Texas and want it desperately, they’re dropping off the illegals in my state — but they won’t do anything.The current crop of Dem candidates want to abort babies until First Holy Communion, tax income at 125%, tax wealth (unconstitutional, but it will take some time to figure that out), punish success, compete to identify the most number of genders, discuss unrealistic education and health care policies.It is not hard to like Pres Trump’s Realpolitick solutions.He goes over and kicks NATO’s ass and they invest $100MM more into defense with a glide slope to invest twice that next year. That is a real result.A lot of what makes Pres Trump attractive is simply that he gets shit done and doesn’t kick it down the can.NK (no improvement since 1953), taxes, NATO, crime bill, NATO spending, Chinese trade cheating, rebuild the military — the list goes on forever.The world is 1% doers, 99% bullshitters. I throw in with the doers. Pres Trump is a doer.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Not sure we’ve ever had a need to look at, let alone plot, the relative importance of policy vs. morality on a graph. No question if we did policy historically would win out in importance, but we’ve never before experienced anyone as immoral as Trump. It’s not hard to fathom that his frequent, despicable behavior will grow weary for many and overwhelm any policy successes, which are always open to debate and interpretation anyway. Watch this whole relentless Wall pursuit backfire on him, particularly his current stance to disparage and be dismissive of the current post-shutdown legislative process. You don’t think he’s gonna piss off a lot of folk in his own party? People are people. You demean a bunch of lifelong legislators, irrespective of party, and they’re gonna get restless. This notion he knows more than the intel community, his own party leaders, etc., in addition to his own crass behavior, is gonna catch up to him. It’s almost imo like he’s on some kind of self-destructive path.
One factor you are not taking into account is this. The concept, and I have mentioned this before, of ‘the high capacity circuit’. For example Phil Sugar is a hi cap circuit. There are things about him that you don’t even know in terms of achievements. Anyway in any of those schools you are surrounded by people who (for whatever reason) often (note: ‘often’ does not imply ‘always’) driven. Enough of those types are there that it drives the rest of the student population. I have noted that at both the private high school that I went to (most took school very seriously) as well as Wharton (ditto not slackers or ‘just get by’). They were special in that way. At the very least. You know you said ‘when I look back at my HS years I’m aghast that I was so disinterested. In retrospect, a shame and a missed opportunity!’ So what does that say? Maturity level? Upbringing? Friends you associated with? Lack of foresight? My sister was kind of the same. Was all distracted by social things.Hah not me in high school. I saw it as important to do well. I studied and I did not skip classes or cut corners. I worked hard. All of the time. ‘He is upstairs doing school work’. And I did the work.And you see I wasn’t particularly gifted in high school in any way. Unremarkable. I have told here that a teacher said ‘you aren’t Penn material’. But I probably wouldn’t have been gifted academically even at a public school. But I was definitely driven and working all of the time (because it didn’t come easy to me; I hate tests and what not). And that is exactly what got me into Wharton (in spite of grades and test scores). I was also smart enough to social engineer some advantages so I was special in that way.Look I deal with a few people which I will not mention. One is a person who was associated somewhat with Facebook (only one example) who was in the Olympics and is close to being a billionaire. He went to Harvard (UG) and is kind of well known. You have heard of him. He most likely got into Harvard as a result of a few special reasons. One might be that his father was affiliated with Wharton (was a prof there). Another might have been his athletic ability. But here is the thing. He is a high capacity circuit. How do I know this? [1] He has called me to discuss things on Saturday night on my cell at 10pm. And guess what? I am there for the conversation and not only that I am glad that I got that call. That is a high capacity circuit and someone who thinks business is fun. Someone who is into it at all hours of the day or night and never has enough. Not someone who is just getting by. Not implying you are doing that or that I am more successful than you are. Just stating a fact.[1] There are many ways I know this from dealing with him not only that I will point out but that is definitely one reason. Being driven when you don’t need to be driven. Ditto for another guy I deal with whose father is a billionaire and has a trust fund and went to Princeton. Hi cap always on and open (is a movie industry guy let’s say).
Do not disagree w/ anything you wrote. I def was not in a high capacity environment in my formative years. Was it a lack of maturity, upbringing, who I hung with, a reflection of the times, or a combination of the above? Probably the latter. No regrets, though. I pretty much retired young (by choice), so something did click and work out fairly well for me.
No regrets, though. I pretty much retired young (by choice), so something did click.Retiring young is nothing to brag about. It says that you weren’t doing something that you loved doing. It also implies that you wouldn’t be in a better place had you taken a different path. It also doesn’t factor in ‘luck’ at all. Perhaps a few events after those years would have changed the outcome? Then you’d be singing a different tune perhaps? By the way not trying to relate happiness to making money. Or even whatever work someone does. Just that as a general rule it’s better to work hard and take things seriously as if they do matter.The example I use? Crossing the street. You look both ways. If you don’t you might still not get hit but that is not something you say after the fact ‘oh and I didn’t even look both ways’.I dated a girl once who was a doctor and whose ex husband was a doctor as well. She told me he was working to be able to ‘retire at 50’. Or something like that. How sad? You go into medicine (for whatever reason) and you don’t love it enough to even work into your 50’s doing it?
You’re projecting. I’m happier not working f/t, and not necessarily because I didn’t enjoy what I did. I had fun jobs. I got tired of the bs, stress, etc. I now can spend more time on my health (both physical & emotional), writing, reading, travel and engaging in an occasional consulting project or two. I think this country has it so wrong wrt work relative to the Europeans. I never, ever want to be defined too closely by what I do (or did do) for a living. The work/life balance w/ a f/t gig no longer worked for me. To each his own.
I think this country has it so wrong wrt work relative to the Europeans.How so?
Avg. work hours per week, vacation time allotted, even regularly taking lunch, which increasingly has become taboo in today’s work environment. Work/life balance has become worse since there’s increasing economic pressure on individuals/companies and a desire to achieve more w/ less.
Do you read Jason Fried of Basecamp? His company is a good example of how you can work, earn a good living, and have a life outside of the office.
We are on the same page. It’s why I could never go into IB or Law. I’d hear people say if I just do this then I can retire at 50. Hey if you have fun great. But it doesn’t seem that way.
Ok so let’s break this down a bit. This is not a defense of Trump or his actions btw. I call them like I see them.’None, if deserving.’ – Your parent comment clearly doesn’t indicate that by words or tone.’It’s been written that Trump’s older brother knew an admissions counselor at Penn and that’s how he got in as a transfer.’At a competitive school like Penn that type of connection is not going to defy physics for someone not capable of doing the work. Besides all else equal I’d rather have affirmative action on my side wouldn’t you?’His family name and stature likely didn’t hurt’ – A large part of the people who attend ‘those schools’ have that going for them and you know that.’Moreover, as you know, there’s a big difference between a Wharton bachelor degree vs. an MBA’The opposite actually. The difference is the Wharton UG’s are actually into business right off the top vs. someone who decides to go after a business degree after pursuing some liberal arts nonsense and never even tried to run a lemonade stand as a child. After all it’s a business school. And some of us were thinking business when we were 7 years old. Not when we were 22 for the first time. Typically UG’s are entrepreneurs, MBA’s are corporate types (very generally). At least during the time period that Trump attended. Take Fred as an example. He has said that it was his mother in laws idea that he get an MBA. And do you not think he was helped a bit in getting into MIT (UG) because his father was a Brigadier General that taught at West Point???? (Although not sure if that was when he was applying). Of course it helped!!! My point is you are assuming (incorrectly) that the pool of people attending those schools all ‘deserve’ to have gotten in. And those that didn’t attend are not ‘as good’. Nothing can be further from the truth. That said as someone who went to that school and has the degree I think that’s great!! Keep it up!! I can tell you that the degree (and not the education) has done wonders putting money in my pocket. It’s priceless. Even my love life! And you know I worked really hard to get that degree and get in being smart enough to know that would be the benefit.’Not sure when he speaks of Wharton most understand the distinction’Sure but you don’t either. Not to mention it kind of snobby (hey that’s fine; use it to your advantage) like ‘oh well in NYC someone who grew up there ranks higher than someone who moved there’. You know this ‘born and bred’ shit. No it’s not ‘TED’ vs. ‘TED X’. TED vs. TED X would be more like claiming you went to a name school when you attended night school courses at a name school. NYC and it’s ‘bridge and tunnel’ or neighborhood ranking (and not because of schools either, eh at least in the suburbs it’s because of schools).’Yes, he graduated from Wharton, but the devil is in the details’.No the details are that those schools are filled to the gills with all sorts of people who did not get in by test scores or anything more than a qualitative and arbitrary decision. That is the way it is for all competitive schools. It’s not science. It’s art. They simply can’t accept all the qualified people.
Cannot understate the importance of being in a high capacity environment. The passive cultural influences you receive are invaluable (well, there’s a tuition amount you can ascribe…).I happen to casually know a handful of Wharton undergrads because they play on Penn’s tennis teams and I often sometimes am kicked off of the court because they have practice. I also live in a development where several MBA students rent town homes. I’m practically a townie to them.Here’s the average undergrad path excellent HS -> recruited athlete(1) -> Wharton undergrad -> Goldman/McKinsey (why consulting firms hire inexperienced people is hilarious and covered in Barbara Toffler’s book, Final Accounting). Finance/Consulting is still the biggest draw among top tier schools, it’s not even close. These people are competing like hell to get analyst positions. They’re typically working in banking the summer after their freshman year. They’re enacting a 3.5 year plan to get those jobs. I’m always impressed by their drive and there is immense pressure to be at the top. I remember practicing for banking interviews, it’s practically its own sport.The attitude, except for ex-military, is that the MBA is the destination. The firms compete like hell for Wharton MBA grads. I believe it is the case that the order of priority is networking, networking, networking, academics.Comparing the two, I’d agree with LE’s assertion.(1) the amount time Ivy tennis players dedicated as juniors for training makes it that much more incredible that they excel as students.
I’m a pretty decent tennis player. More like a club hacker than anything close to upper tier. I used to work w/ a guy (a very smart guy) who said he graduated Wharton AND also played on their tennis team. One day he asked me to hit with him. Within 30 seconds I knew he was full of shit. I remember asking myself, “why would he expose himself to something so obvious?” Turns out he also didn’t go to Wharton. He was immediately fired when they found out. Despite all this, he went on to have a pretty successful career in another industry. (The #1 player on my HS team played #1 singles at Harvard. Beat McEnroe as a junior.)
I think the lesson there is to go big or go home with your lie.
There is a yiddish saying that my Dad told me once casually that has always stuck with me. Not sure the yiddish but it translated to ‘if you are going to eat like a pig, let it drip from your beard’.
Close, I think it’s eat pig not like a pig… “if you’re going to eat pork, eat it ’til your beard drips.”Az men est khazer, zol es shoyn rinen iber der bord.
Cannot understate the importance of being in a high capacity environmentThis. It’s something I wish I appreciated and better understood when I was 18 and into my 20s. I picked my college largely because I could play rec ice hockey and the girls were good looking.I leveraged family connections to get an i-banking analyst position at a midwestern middle market bank after graduation and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. It was a rough first 6 months. The guys who go through the gauntlet you described know more after their freshman year of college than I did when I graduated.After banking I went to Duke for an MBA, and it was like a 2-year (very, very expensive) vacation. The little I drank in undergrad was more than accounted for during b-school. No grades, lots of team projects, tons of golf, and more than enough networking events. Completely different environment than undergrad. You are right about the priority stack.
Middle-market in the Midwest. I don’t even think that counted as i-banking. I kid. But the sentiment my class and I felt was that it was NY Bulge Bracket or bust. We frequented leveragedsellout.com and then this… https://vimeo.com/1616061The closest I got to Broad & Wall was a deferred offer in i-banking at BofA in Chicago (spring 2008, this was common, although more common in law). My wife said no so I managed to get a job at Ernst & Young in Philly where she was attending law school. I hoped to round-about get to the bulge bracket and then a hedge fund via middle-market banking in Philly (Graham Partners is known for recruiting tennis players). Didn’t happen so I’m an i-banker never was.I bet Duke was a blast. I have two friends who are there now who are having a great time.
🙂 Yeah definitely a different experience. My bro-in-law was an analyst at GS out of undergrad, and I’m pretty sure he effectively made close to minimum wage. I had some semblance of a life working 60-80 hour weeks instead of 80-100. The difference is he moved over to the prop desk afterwards and had massive earning potential, while I had nowhere “up” to go but b-school and so spent two years playing golf and drinking beer in NC. Ironically enough, we are both now playing the entrepreneurial game where our degrees and resumes hold little value, but he could go back to GS tomorrow and make high 6 / low 7 figures per year. I don’t have that option.Edit: watched that video. Was after my time but hilarious. Loved the line about not being able to buy bottle service with points.
and the girls were good looking.Colleges of course know this and try to have all sorts of good looking people in the college. (Men and women). Ditto for certain companies as well. Like from Jaws ‘no boating accident’.
My ex father in law was a big tennis player. So was my first girlfriend’s father as well. The father in law’s love of tennis was the thing that drove me when newly married to decide I wanted my own boat and shore place. He used to (I have told this story before) make us wait on a beautiful day to go out on his (small) boat until ‘the game is over’. Not that I didn’t want my own place before that but it was a ‘fuckit’ moment. I want to go when I want to go and that is it. I like that control.My ex brother in law is a tennis pro. In the 90’s he beat the 7th seated seeded person in the world. He then dumped my ex sister in law and moved to NY and is a pro there (on the North Shore at a tennis club). He met my ex sister in law at the tennis club. She worked the counter (and as mentioned dad played there).Anyway to my other points look at all the serendipity in what I just said. Several things happened that were essentially luck.
There is a big difference the bachelors are much smarter, driven, and prove-ably successful than the grads.You realize when the undergrads take the same exact course from somebody like Jeremy Segal. The undergrads curve is 10 points higher than the grads, Right? He openly says it.Frankly the undergrads sneer at the grads that think this.Want to know where 3 of the top 10 rated hedge fund managers in the U.S. come from? My undergrad program.How about the majority of the CEO’s
Interesting, but which carries more prestige from a perceptual standpoint?
I’ve hired out of both pools and tend to prefer undergrads. That could be due to my age. There were MBAs in the class I taught who were older than me.
Now you are going around in circles. Prestige to some schmo who doesn’t have a clue? Frankly all they hear is Wharton and that is what pisses the grads off.At Goldman Sacs or McKinsey? Entrepreneur circles? Undergrad.Edit I should say some, only those that were posers to begin with.
I think that’s unprecedented. The notion that a more senior, post-grad curriculum catering to an older and presumably more mature constituency carries less weight than an undergrad degree is surprising. Can you think of another institution where that is the case? What are the acceptance rates? Is Wharton grad school easier to get into than undergrad?
Wharton Grad acceptance rate: 20%M&T: 2%
Stanford is the other answer to your question.
Poseurs. Posers. Both can be used but what a difference the ‘u’ makes.Are the people who use poseurs instead of posers poseurs ? :-)https://www.merriam-webster…
Ha!!! Again I stand corrected by your vocabulary and knowledge of quotes. You must have one for this although you made a very good one yourself at the end. Somebody sitting next to me at a conference asked me where I went to school. Strange question, but I said: Wharton School of Business, and Moore School of Engineering at Penn.They said you know some cheeky undergrads say they have a Wharton Degree but they don’t really have an MBA. (Let me assure you one of my diplomas says Wharton).So I gave them a Ferris Bueller quote you would like: “It’s understanding that makes it possible for people like us to tolerate a person like yourself.”
Exactly because to my point the UG’s are more likely to be born and bred as business thinking. I remember in Wharton having to explain certain concepts that I just knew seat of the pants growing up around small business. The non business thinkers are ‘newly hatched’ (in many cases) and hence don’t have a frame of reference to apply the knowledge to. (In the case of people going for an MBA after some work experience what have my guess is a narrow slice of working for a corporation).
This breeds a behavior I call “playing business”You asked why does Wawa do so well?Well even though they have a lot of management fat at this point they can take it, they know what they have to do and do it.Frankly a ton of that management came up through the stores and that is why operations are so efficient and well run.I have also seen businesses run like they are a business school project.
Wawa is in the model of Sam Walton at Walmart. They are in the model of a smart operator who has that seat of the pants feel for what the business does. Not some corporate guy who is brought in and doesn’t know the business but maybe knows other business.The corporate guy is like ‘just do it get it done’!!!.I had a consult project for a startup. Normally I deal with the founder. In this case they hired this woman who was a corporate person who took over from the founder. So she gets on the phone with me. Now most startups are all ears for a conversation that involves strategy and shit they never heard of. They like to learn. In most (not all cases). Some slot you in like all they do is talk to people all day long. Like it’s a doctors appointment. Anyway this corporate woman gets on the phone with me. She say ‘ok LE can you get this done for us????’. And the way she toned the message just really pissed me off. Like she wanted some guarantee. Sorry does not work that way. It’s art not physics. I don’t need you you need me (is true).Anyway later the company failed (people that you know invested in it btw). So I happened to follow up with the seller of the thing I was going to buy (she was a basket case as well but that’s a different story). She tells me how irritating this lady was as well as the founder. It totally turned her off. That is why you hire me. Because I run interference. Always be nice to people. It’s like being a cop interrogating a suspect. If you are a dick and hard ass (at the start) they stop talking and lawyer up.Anyway I don’t hate all corporate people. Might sound like that. Their ignorance is often my opportunity.
What’s that, a ‘Queenie’?