Definitions and terms

experience architecture = #ux + #ixd + #ia +#contentstrategy + #design + #dev + #social x #becauseawesome

ME, FAKEGRIMLOCK: THE BOOK OF AWESOME

ME, FAKEGRIMLOCK: THE BOOK OF AWESOME, just presold $24k of books, posters, advice and secret levels in 24 hours (yeah, I'm in).

@Fakegrimlock, if you don't know the brand, is an internet play made of pure awesome.

The back story: Some dude -- a smart dev guy looking to prove a few things -- takes on the persona of a giant robot dinosaur from the old Transformers cartoons, inhabits the character across social media, and drops mad startup wisdom in all-caps, dinospeak on every platform he can grab with his tiny foreclaws. ("LAWYERS CAN BACK THE HELL OFF RIGHT NOW.")

The magic trick of the brand and the instant Kickstarter presale (his second project): @Fakegrimlock built his list of fans, friends and backers one Tweet, guest post, blog comment, interview in full dino regalia, No Eat Friday award and drawing at a time.

"GET READY FOR ... READING!
ME, FAKEGRIMLOCK, SPEND PAST 3 YEARS TEACHING WORLD HOW TO BE AWESOME.
NOW IT TIME TO PUT AWESOME ON PAPER, SO PUNY WORLD NOT FORGET."

Of course, the internet playbook @Fakegrimlock uses isn't enough by itself.

What keeps me coming back is that he uses his mighty robot dino powers for good. That, and #becauseawesome.

Relevant links, dino style:

• WORLD FAMOUS MINIMUM VIABLE PERSONALITY GUEST BLOG POST FOR FRED WILSON. THIS START OF IT ALL.
• ANIMATED VIDEO OF ME, GRIMLOCK, TALK ABOUT MINIMUM VIABLE PERSONALITY.
• THIS EXCERPT FROM SPEECH ON BE WRONG AT TECHSTARS FOUNDERCON

Coming up on 20 years: Internet dog party

Seems like only yesterday:

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" appeared in print as the caption of a New Yorker cartoon on July 5, 1993. 

The cartoon features two dogs: the one sitting on a chair in front of a computer speaks the caption to the one sitting on the floor. 

As of 2011, the panel was the most reproduced cartoon from the magazine.

Related: 

Be brave, #Curiosity #Robot #Spaceship on #Mars.

I am seriously over attached to this #Curiosity #robot #spaceship on #Mars.

Popular Science ‏@PopSci

Curiosity is hunkering down as a huge solar flare races toward Mars. Hang in there little guy! http://pops.ci/15A1djh 

A Rover In Full:  NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation

This comic is a reference to the NASA Mars Rover "Curiosity" landing on Mars on August 5, 2012 at 10:31pm PDT (August 6, 2012 at 5:31am GMT). NASA live-streamed the landing, but demand for the feed caused server issues. Thus, the time spent trying to download the landing images could be used as an excuse for things such as being late for work, falling asleep during the day, or just about anything demanding one's attention.

The Cold War: Back in the 20th Century

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), throw weights, ICBMs, MIRVs, peace treaties, SALT talks: acronyms and mindsets from long ago and far away. It was crazy then, and impossible to explain to people now (along with phonographs, landlines and cassette tapes).

I had forgotten most of it, until this song bobbed to the surface of a feed: 99 Red Balloons.

"While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked like strange spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a "UFO"). He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Luftballons

I am queuing up Dr. Strangelove for tonite as a teachable moment for my daughter, born in this century, as an explanation of why people who say we need endless wars are almost always wrong.

Infinite regress of etymology

In the infinite regress of etymology, wherein Jules Léotard "popularized the one-piece gymwear that now bears his name and was the inspiration for the 1867 song "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze" sung by George Leybourne" ... where did his name come from?