I’ve been reading David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries, basically a compilation of blog posts ostensibly about his bicycling in cities around the world, but that jumps from his perambulating to thoughts about architecture, art and danger, the impact of city structures on their inhabitants, the Marcos mystique in The Philippines, bike lanes and basically anywhere else his mind rambles off to. In his visit to Palo Alto he sees the garage where the computer company HP was launched..

It’s no accident that the humble garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard began their partnership in Palo Alto is an icon here. Like Sun Studio in Memphis, where rock and roll was born, or Menlo Park, New Jersey, where Edison lit up the world, this funky little garage is revered partly because it’s nothing special. Its ordinariness is the point.

The humble origin as icon immediately brought to mind another memorialized shack from which an empire was spawned, the Casa Romuli in Rome, which was supposedly the childhood home of Romulus, the founder of Rome.

The single roomed hut was maintained for centuries, though it was burned or destroyed and had to be rebuilt multiple times. In it ancient Romans would make sacrifices to Romulus and it served as a reminder of Romulus and Remus’ and their humble origins, raised by a she-wolf and found by a shepherd.

While the rags to riches, Horatio Alger story seems so American, the story of poor origins and a rise to greatness capture imaginations around the world. The start up begun in a garage, the baby found in the bullrushes, twins raised by a wolf, the child born in a manger. The image is so engrained in us that even trust fund Presidents dress up as a cowboys and clear brush to take advantage of the power this myth of humble origin has on us.

While Romulus and Remus claimed, or where later endowed with a regal lineage, and Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s palace, the only founder of a major religion that I can think of who was born and raised from royalty is Siddhartha Gautama who rejected the life of a prince and became Buddha. Of course as the exception that proves the rule, the palaces where he lived are lost to time, but a decedent of the simple Bodhi tree where he gained enlightenment is still venerated.

The Power Of The Humble Origin Myth is a post from: Trumblog

Freakonomics was outstanding for it’s use of economic theory to uncover the true cause of the drop in crime in the 90s, why drug dealers live at home and whether Sumo wrestlers throw bouts and why. It was a revelation, entertaining and a success.

SuperFreakonomics follows the same structure as Freakonomics, identifying the risks of drunk walking versus drunk driving (neither is a good idea so don’t drive home after a few too many thinking that you’re safer than walking), the relative benefits of a pimp versus a real estate agent (I’ll have my next home sold by a man in a fur coat and purple hat thank you) and what traits to look for in an emergency room doctor for a better result (experience and two X chromosomes are a good bet). In those sections SuperFreakonomics is just as entertaining as its predecessor.

Where SuperFreakonomics fails is where it deviates from this formula and ventures into profiles of interesting ideas, but ones that are not based in investigative economics. The review of Ian Horsley’s work on the economic indicators for identifying terrorists is a perfect blend of profile and fascinating correlation between motive and economic behavior, but Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner seem to have drank the Intellectual Ventures Kool-Aid and spend way too much time on their ideas for reducing hurricane strength by cooling the oceans where they develop and ending global warming by seeding the stratosphere with sulfur dioxide both as illustrations of the value of ideas that are cheap and simple.

These are fascinating ideas and may work, but they are not the economic mysteries that made Freakonomics a success and fascinating read. The trip into speculative science at IV, as interesting as they are, veer from the thesis of SuperFreakonomics and got me thinking “are these good ideas” and “what would be the unintended consequences of these actions” rather than “wow I never thought of the correlation between this action and another result.” Shining the light of economics on these mysteries is a better route for future editions of the Freakonomics series.

Disclaimer: This review has nothing to do that a photo of mine is included in the illustrated version of SuperFreakonomics. Check out page 105.

Freakonomics Off The Rails is a post from: Trumblog

Courtesy of @loulouk

A Geek’s Hierarchy of Needs is a post from: Trumblog

In my post earlier today I forgot to mention another free benefit of voting today besides that snazzy “I Voted” sticker. No, I don’t mean bringing a sparkle to the eye of the senior citizens working the polls, I’m talking about the I Voted 2010 Foursquare badge. Just check in when you vote, and I suggest adding an “I voted” shout just in case your polling place doesn’t have the right category set up and the badge is yours. Already voted? The shout with any checkin today should do the trick.

Now quit reading my blog and go vote!

Another Perk For Voting is a post from: Trumblog

Today is the first Tuesday in November. It is the day to vote in the US. While voting is not mandated in the United States it is a right of anyone 18 or over and in my view a responsibility.

I’m going to let you in on a secret about voting. People notice. And by people I mean politicians. Sure that may not mean much when you are talking about the President, a Senator or even your Representative, but get to the local races for state or city office, the ones where you are more likely to have that official actions directly impact your life, and trust me the politicians know who votes and who doesn’t. If you want something a regular pattern of voting does wonders for getting a local politician involved.

So if my plea to exercise your civic responsibility or the benefit of personal response from politicians doesn’t move you how about the nice sticker that the polling folks hand out?

Don’t know where your polling place is? Google’s got you covered. Now you have no excuse. Go vote.

Vote is a post from: Trumblog

The latest production by the amazing Actors’ Shakespeare Project is called The Coveted Crown and is Henry IV parts 1 and 2 with parts of Richard II & Henry V bookending the plays to give them context.  Every ASP production that I have seen has been entertaining and I’m excited to see the company of actors take on this challenging production.

The plays run until November 21, 2010 and are Midway Studios in Fort Point, Boston.  Call for tickets at 866-811-4111 or you can book online.  The trailer of the play is below [DISCLOSURE: it was edited by my lovely and talented wife Angelica Brisk].

ASP | The Coveted Crown: Henry IV, parts 1 & 2 from Angelica Brisk on Vimeo.

The Coveted Crown: Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 is a post from: Trumblog

If you don’t know about HONK!, here’s the deal. Every October brass bands from around the world make their way to Somerville, MA for a day of musical luniness and a parade to Octoberfest in Harvard Square. Oh and it’s this weekend, October 9th and 10th, 2010.

I’m not talking ho-hum, oom-pa-pa, 76 Trombones kinds of brass bands. These are bands that unfurl their freak flags and wave them around from stilts or weave them into pom-poms. Bands that Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan and Frank Zappa would travel to see. We’re talking The Pink Puffers, personal fav Rude Mechanical Orchestra, The Seed and Feed Marching Abominable. Punk, cross-dressing, black and green, orange and red, loud, manic, street, brass bands.

Then there are the crowds. Mosh pits of band geeks, hipsters and folks that just want in on a good thing. Ecstatic crowds high on the scene and amazing music. Youngsters, oldsters, families, singles, confirmed bachelors and spinsters getting in on the excitement and showing these bands what playing for the best fans in the world can be like.

Did you miss yesterday’s concerts in Davis Square? No matter, the parade from Davis to Harvard Square is today and in addition to the bands you’ll get Bread and Puppet, Boston Hula Troop and plenty of community groups strolling along the parade route. Then more concerts in Harvard Square at Octoberfest.

It’s going to be another glorious October Sunday for HONK!, there’s something about a confluence of raucous brass bands that seems to clear the skies and raise the temperatures each year, so keep it coming.

Want to see more photos of past HONK!s? Check out my sets on Flickr:

HONK! 2008

HONK! 2009

UPDATE: here is my set on Flickr from HONK! 2010:

HONK! 2010

HONK! 2010 is a post from: Trumblog

Yes, that’s right, while I do not have a “personal relationship with Jesus” he is stalking me on the Twittersphere. Does that make him my disciple? Oy.

I Have A Follower In Jesus is a post from: Trumblog

Summer is officially over. Labor Day is behind us, the kids are back in school and it’s sure getting dark later these days than it was in July. Our family had a lot of travel between the end of June and the middle of August so we focused on making the most of the last few weeks of Summer 2010 together. We had a week in Maine and a camping trip in central Massachusetts where I read 4 books (reviews to be posted over the next week or so), we hiked up a mountain, observed cocktail hour daily, canoed, kayaked and generally relaxed and recharged. Here are a few things that I learned this summer.

• A ramshackle house with a view beats a fancy new house on the main road.
• Vacation home bathroom cabinet tends to highlight the dangers of vacation rather than the joys.
• I really do need a fireplace at home.
• Most old, rural towns have a theater or opera house on Main Street that the community is trying to save, because it’s left out of “back to basics” town budgets. Clearly in the good old days folks thought these institutions were part of “the basics.”
• Being out of cell range can be a blessing (and here AT&T’s network limitations work for them and Verizon’s reach doesn’t)
• Free wifi isn’t confined to just coffee shops and libraries anymore, general stores are getting In on the game as well.
• A Tick-Spoon has many uses beyond just removing ticks from children and pets, it’s a 1/2 tsp measure when camping and a great travel yogurt spoon.
• Stars are magical, shooting stars doubly so.
• Moose are wily, especially when it comes to being spotted by Trumbles.
• Pugs may not like to swim, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to play “king of the world.”
• The littlest things can be the most entertaining, like saying the funny name of a town (Athol, Athol, Athol).
• Pumpkin whoopee pies are the bomb.

It’s fall and time to get back to school, back to work, back to blogging on a regular schedule. Thanks for reading.

What I Learned On Vacation is a post from: Trumblog

I’ve written before about the danger of becoming a helicopter brand. The way to avoid this of course is to constantly deliver on your brand promise and then over deliver when you don’t.

Case in point:
This week I’m in Atlanta chaperoning my daughter and one of her friends at the Us Fencing Summer Nationals. They are performing well, but I cannot say as much for the hotel where we are staying.

Before my trip I was told that the hotel had been overbooked for the first night and that they were moving us to a different hotel for that night at no cost, plus an additional free night at the correct hotel as well as covering the necessary taxi rides and free breakfast for all. Yes, an inconvenience, but they made good. They wanted to put us in a hotel at the airport, but we negotiated for a room in town.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the hotel that we agreed upon we were told that they had no rooms and that we were supposed to be at the airport hotel. When we got there our rooms we were told that our rooms had been canceled. Some negotiations and phone calls and we weren’t sleeping on the streets of Atlanta.

Once we got to our hotel the next day we found out that the refrigerator that we requested was not available and that the rollaway bed that we reserved would not fit in the room, which resulted in needing a second room though they knocked one night off our stay in that second room. They then delivered breakfast vouchers that they promised only they left 1 out meaning another trip to the lobby to ask for what we were promised.

Checking out of that room and into another one I happened to leave stuff behind, which turned up in their lost and found and retrieving it was perhaps the most pleasant experience I’ve had resolving a situation with my stay.

Now here is what could have happened: I could have been inconvenienced on the first night of my stay, but raved about how well they took care of me. I could be writing about how the Omni does a great job of not nickeling and dimming it’s guests for wifi and just asking for some contact information, rather than complaining that their IT support staff couldn’t get my laptop online. I could be telling the story of a hotel that found the stuff that I stupidly left in my room. I could be raving about how clean the hotel is or how close it is to the venue, but instead I’ll pass on that the smell of the cleanser was over powering and that bad layout of the elevators and floor levels confused everyone. I could have had a great experience with the Omni hotel, but they did everything that they could to avoid that.

So, a few lessons from this fiasco.

1. Keep your promises.
2. Screwing up is ok as long as you make good.
3. Make sure that you do not screw up a second time when making good.
4. If you screw up a second time you need to doubly make good.
5. Do not make people ask for you to deliver on a promise to make good on a previous screw up.
6. There are many opportunities to make people happy, don’t blind your customers to those moments because you dropped the ball too many times before.

Update:
This blog post and a tweet about my wifi connection issues got a response from the Omni, first via Twitter and then a call offering additional IT support. By that time I’d worked around things with my BlackBerry and iPad and preferred to watch my daughter compete than be on the phone with the hotel IT department. Then when I returned to my hotel room at 11PM on the last night of my stay there was a table laden with snacks and drinks as well as an apology note. I appreciate the thought from Omni, though we ended up rolling the table to a friend’s room since there was no possible way that we could consume all of the drinks and snacks ourselves nor in the 7 hours we had left in the room. The sentiment was right, but the delivery a little off.

Screwing Up The Brand Experience is a post from: Trumblog