Factoid of the day: Generational divide
“According to Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution, the (U.S.) federal government now spends $7 on the elderly for every $1 it spends on children.” (Source: NY Times, 2/2/10)
Pictures from the road: Harry Potter edition
Turns out there really is a Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross station in London. Here I am escaping my other obligations and racing to board the Hogwarts Express. (King’s Cross railway station, London, 28 January 2010, 9:30pm)
Photos, factoids, and more . . . from the UK
I’m in London (and Newcastle and Cambridge) this week, promoting the UK edition of Drive, which launched a few days ago. Below are a photo, an idea, a factoid, and a quote from the road. PHOTO To my amazement, Drive is #6 on the b.s. list at WH Smith, the giant retailer. Here’s a photo
Are you indispensable?
Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin, launches today. And like all of Seth’s work, this one will rattle your neurons and rouse your heart. As part of his effort to spark conversations, he’s interviewed several other authors about their work — and how their ideas relate to his. Below is the interview Seth did with me on
Raises *do* matter
Monday’s USA Today has a largely positive review of Drive (“fascinating . . . a powerhouse”) that bears an unfortunate headline: “Raises Make Bad Motivators.” At the risk of sounding like a peevish author picking nits from the tangled hair of quickly forgotten reviews, let me do precisely that. Drive never says that raises aren’t
Emotionally intelligent signage . . . in an airport?
Herking and jerking through airport security these days is nobody’s idea of fun. Jackets end up in tangled balls. Shoes and belts enter the X-ray, then don’t reappear. Gray bins collide, knocking laptops to the floor. The whole experience can be discombobulating. Enter the good people at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport. As I discovered last
Factoid of the day: Don’t look for the union label
“For the first time in American history,” today’s New York Times reports, “a majority of union members are government workers rather than private-sector employees.” Last year, the U.S. had 7.9 million unionized workers in the public sector and 7.4 million in private industry. Only 7. 2 percent of the private sector workforce belongs to a labor union,
There’s an app for, uh, anything
Okay. I’ve done it. I’ve created my own iPhone app. With the help of the amazing folks at Mobile Roadie, we’ve launched the official (sic) Daniel Pink app. You can download it — it’s free! — from iTunes. What’s cool about apps in general, and this one in particular, is that they feel like web sites
Pictures from the road: Googleplex
Every so often, when I run through the streets near my Washington, DC, home, I see a truck that belongs to Rosa’s Mobile Pet Grooming. Instead of bringing their pooch to the pet barber, people in my neighborhood can wait for Rosa’s to come to them. I’ve always thought this was a good idea. But
Pictures from the road: Los Angeles
If a place that looks like this has a line, you know the food will be good. But when you discover that the burritos cost just $4 and you have to eat them in a parking lot, you know the food will be really good. And it was. (2056 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles)