Notes à moi-même: 2011

2011/12/02

Qinghai - Tibet

Définitivement sur la liste des choses à faire.

2011/11/25

Moins de livres selon Ikea

Ikea change les dimensions de sa populaire bibliothèque Billy, justifiant que ses clients ne lisent plus de livres. Article de The Economist sur le sujet.

2011/11/23

2011/10/25

2011/10/17

"If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it's not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don't care as much about ideas as they did. In effect, we are living in an increasingly post-idea world — a world in which big, thought-provoking ideas that can't instantly be monetized are of so little intrinsic value that fewer people are generating them and fewer outlets are disseminating them, the Internet notwithstanding. Bold ideas are almost passé. ... There is the eclipse of the public intellectual in the general media by the pundit who substitutes outrageousness for thoughtfulness, and the concomitant decline of the essay in general-interest magazines. And there is the rise of an increasingly visual culture, especially among the young — a form in which ideas are more difficult to express. But these factors, which began decades ago, were more likely harbingers of an approaching post-idea world than the chief causes of it."

2011/10/05

Trade-off

Article de The Economist sur le prix des ressources naturelles et de l'investissement nécessaire pour les extraire.

Supply has struggled to keep pace with this burgeoning demand. The world’s iron-ore production has doubled over the past decade but prices have risen 13-fold. The metal content of copper ore has been falling since the mid-1990s as existing mines are depleted. This mismatch between demand and supply is an age-old problem in commodity markets. It takes years to find and develop new mines and oil reservoirs and to build the infrastructure (rigs, pipelines, railways, ports) to bring the commodities to market. Supply responds slowly to price increases and delay often leads to excessive investment which then depresses prices.

2011/10/03

Magnifique

Cruise on rail sur le long du fleuve près du Massif.
Wow.

2011/09/20

Marx et le capitalisme

Et si les critiques de Marx étaient fondées ?

2011/09/12

Football et macro-économie

Devrait-on y aller sur un 4e essai ?
OUI !

2011/08/09

Une autre approche que la grande séduction

Pas capable d'attirer de la main d'oeuvre ?
Recruter à l'interne !

2011/08/04

La Bourgogne à vélo

Itinéraire
Jour 1: Montréal - Paris.
Jour 2: Paris - Paris. Parcours de 45 km.
Jour 3: Chablis - Avallon. Parcours de 43 et 76 km.
Jour 4: Avallon - Dijon. Parcours de 130 et 65 km.
Jour 5: Dijon - Vougeot. Parcours de 27 et 50 km.
Jour 6: Vougeot - Beaune. Parcours de 27, 44 et 86 km.
Jour 7: Beaune - Beaune. Parcours de 50 et 67 km.
Jour 8: Beaune - Tournus. Parcours de 96 km.
Jour 9: Tournus - Mâcon. Parcours de 67 km.
Jour 10: Mâcon - Villefranche-sur-Saône. Parcours de 72 km.
Jour 11: Lyon - Montréal.

(sur la route)

2011/08/01

Philly Fanatic

Ma mascotte préférée !

What song are you listening to

Bonne idée.

Profiter du système

Comme quoi il faut toujours tout acheter avec sa carte de crédit.

Pire que le Tour de France

Tour Divide.
Ouch.

Chicago

Quoi voir à Chicago.

2011/07/29

Orage au-dessus de Montréal

The Demon Storm from operatique on Vimeo.

2011/07/21

Expo-Science

...version Google (avec Lego, American Scientific et CERN).

2011/07/20

Apple et la Chine

Un Apple Store à Kunming.
Vraiment ?

2011/07/18

Twitter et l'analyse de données

En attendant le dossier médical électronique...

Little Guy Trailers

Se tire derrière une voiture en ajoutant 1L/100km.
Les modèles sont ici.

Question d'entrevue de Sergey Brin

Finally, he leaned forward and fired his best shot, what he came to call "the hard question."

"I'm going to give you five minutes," he told me. "When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don't already know." He then rolled out of the room toward the snack area. I looked at Cindy. "He's very curious about everything," she told me. "You can talk about a hobby, something technical, whatever you want. Just make sure it's something you really understand well."

[...]

Later I found out that Sergey did this with everyone he interviewed. An hour wasted with an unqualified candidate wasn't a total loss if Sergey gained insight into something he didn't already know.

Tiré du WSJ

2011/06/02

Tellement simple

Grilled Cheese + Soupe aux tomates, high-tech style.

2011/05/04

Habiletés

Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

- Albert Einstein

2011/04/09

Le pouvoir des mots

Bien fait.

2011/02/21

Expérience client

Ce que j'aime quand j'achète une bouteille de vin, c'est d'imaginer l'histoire qui a mené à la dégustation et de voyager un peu en même temps.

C'est ce que la compagnie crushpad a compris.

Confectionner son vin.
Suivre l'évolution.
Visiter les lieux.
Participer dans la production.
Ça c'est de l'expérience client.

(via Vincent Marissal)

2011/02/15

La Chine et le charbon

China Railway Group (601390) is in negotiations to build a railway connecting Colombia’s Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, reports nbd.com.cn. The proposed construction scheme includes 7.6 billion US dollars financed by China Development Bank.

The railway will be able to transport a maximum of 40 million tons of goods from Colombia’s economic hinterland to the Pacific Ocean per year, with a focus on coal delivery to China.
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos said that China has investigated the transportation and investment costs.

At present, a total of 27 nations worldwide are looking for China to build railways, while Chinese companies are increasingly inclined to build railways for transporting energy resources rather than supplying cheap labor abroad.

China imported more than 50 million tons of coal in 2009; however, the cost of imports for coastal cities is lower than that of transporting from North by rail or seas.

Colombia is world's fifth largest supplier of coal.

(lien)

2011/02/11

Être généraliste, ça aide aussi

Don’t Be Too Specialized If You Want a Top Level Management Job, un article de Stanford.

Of course, merely working in marketing isn’t a guarantee of reaching the C-suite. Nor is hopping through a half-dozen positions. But by developing strengths in as many areas as you can, Lazear says, “you can enhance your probability of going into leadership.”

Le leadership de l'introverti

Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees, un article de HBR.

By fostering a work environment where people feel free to speak up and be proactive, the organization is creating the right place for introverted leaders to be successful.

2011/02/08

Yes...and plutôt que No...but

the first rule of improvisational comedy, or for that matter any successful collaborative enterprise. Take whatever is thrown at you and build upon it. “Yes … and” rather than “No … but.” “The idiot is bound by his pride,” he says. “It always has to be his way. This is also true of the person who is deceptive or doing things wrong: he always tries to justify himself. A person who is bright in regard to his spiritual life is humble. He accepts what others tell him—criticism, ideas—and he works with them.”

Tiré d'un article de Michael Lewis sur l'effrondrement de la Grèce.