What We Can Learn From The Eiffel Tower
We take great works for granted. We forget, but the fate of even our most famous ideas and creations…
Category: history
Inside the messy invention of the microwave oven
[In 23 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…
How the Post-it Note Was Invented
[In 27 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…
Why no one cared about the Wright brothers airplane
[In 28 days my latest book, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity,…
Eight lessons from Nazi Propaganda
On my way through Austin, Texas last week I had a free afternoon and on a whim went to…
iPhone vs. Light Switch: which invention is more impressive?
If you could only pick one, would you rather have power in your home or a working iPhone? We…
What I learned at the Civil Rights Museum / MLK
The hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4th 1968, is now the primary site of the…
Notes from visiting the WWII museum on Veterans Day
On the end of a long road trip through the southeast, I spent yesterday at the WWII museum in…
The First Time I Saw The Web
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the web, here’s my story. I was a senior at CMU in…
Banning Something Makes It Powerful
Today is the 80th anniversary of the repeal of the American prohibition of alcohol, and it serves as an…
The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: Book Review
This book, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things, by Matthew White, is a masterpiece. We think the world…
Innovation is an illusion
Here is a good thought experiment: Consider the last time you walked into a convenience store . Perhaps you grabbed…
The Math and Aftermath of 9/11
Eleven Fourteen years ago 2996 people died during the events of 9/11/2001. It was a tragic day for thousands of…
Why Great Ideas Fail
I ran a session at FOO camp on Why Great Ideas Fail. The goal was to leave the room with…
Why today is not the future
In The First Decade of the Future is Behind Us by Kyle Munkitrick for Discover magazine, he ask the…
The Internet changes nothing
Thanks to Ario for this provocative essay on the effect of the web, called The Internet Changes Nothing. There…
The wonder of assembly lines (My day at Ford)
On my recent trip to Detroit, I saw many interesting things. I saw Jeff Gurney sing at the Red…
The founding fathers and their faith
Last week I finished reading Founding Faith, by Steven Waldman. The book explores the history of religion in America,…
Ada Lovelace Could Kick Your Ass
Few people know that Ada Lovelace was likely the first computer programmer in history. She made my list of…
Research help: A web challenge!
Hi guys. I’m working on a keynote for next week’s Web 2.0 Expo conference in NYC, at the Jacob…