Some thoughts on reading "The Lean Startup"

April 28, 2012

falsifiability, leanstartup, popper, scientific method

[caption id="attachment_1983" align="alignleft" width="234" caption="Not Eric Ries."][/caption] The most important thing I learned from reading The Lean Startup is the idea that “learning is the essential unit of progress for startups” (from the “Learn” chapter). I think what I find fundamentally profound about this is the idea that there is a unit of progress for a startup. Ries defines a startup as “a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty” (from the “Define” chapter).

Thing stories

April 21, 2012

3d printing, atoms, economics, gold, mega man, startups, things, value

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="297" caption="Mega Man picture by Flickr user Brian Talbot (clicking photo goes to Flickr page)"][/caption] A little while ago, at the New York MakerBot User Group, they were talking about a project to buy things from thrift stores, scan them into Thingiverse, and then donate them back. Though you can only do it once (or at most a few times) per object, it struck me as a great idea - money for charities, and digitization of the world for Thingiverse’s audience of makers.

Making springs

April 10, 2012

compression, extension, spring, torsion

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="A completed spring!"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1918" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="The workspace. We put that metal bar into the chuck of a power drill, so that we could wind the wire around it as it rotated"][/caption] Last fall, a fellow Hive76 member (Dave Sharp) brought in the necessary equipment to make springs! I remember being a kid and playing with all the springs I’d find from ballpoint pens, or from fold-out mattresses, and in many, many other places.

Joke file

April 4, 2012

jokes

Knock knock Wanna hear a knock knock joke? Sure. OK, you start it… — Ask Metafilter Fungi A mushroom walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender walks over and says, ‘I’m sorry sir, but we can’t serve you.’ The mushroom sits back and asks, ‘Why not? I’m a fun-gi!’ Monkey A woman gets onto a bus with her baby. The bus driver says, “That’s the ugliest baby that I’ve ever seen.

Ricotta, crackers and zucchini ribbons

April 3, 2012

crackers, curds, lemon, milk, rennet, ricotta, whey, zucchini

[caption id="attachment_1909" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Served with homemade crackers and wilted zucchini ribbons."][/caption] I like to make things from scratch, especially when they involve learning about a new process or technique that I didn’t know about before. I have a great, reliable cracker recipe from Alton Brown, and I was looking for another course for an Italian-ish meal I was making for friends in New York. So, I figured this would be a good opportunity to try making ricotta cheese.

Some observations on hackerspaces after reading Hackerspaces: The Beginning

March 28, 2012

books, hackerspaces

[caption id="attachment_1763" align="alignleft" width="373" caption="A picture of Datengarten, a hackerspace in Bremen (taken from the book)"][/caption] “Some of it’s just because we’re adventuresome morons with the smarts to wear safety goggles.“ - NYC Resistor About six months ago, Bre Pettis (Makerbot CEO), Astera Schneeweisz, and Jens Ohlig released this book, called “Hackerspaces: The Beginning”. It’s a collection of anecdotes, advice and history from a vast number of hackerspaces around the world; it captures a specific point in hackerspace evolution, a point from which I don’t think things have strayed too much, though the movement has certainly grown since then.

Pepper soup and oysters

March 28, 2012

butter, oysters, peppers, soup, tarragon

[caption id="attachment_1898" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Oysters with tarragon and butter."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1899" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Yellow pepper soup."][/caption] As part of this meal, I made a few other courses. Two of those other courses were a simple oyster course (oysters in a sauce of tarragon and butter), and a pepper soup that I’ve made a number of times. This was an interesting meal because we could only cook a very limited amount of it at the house of the friends we were cooking for.

Osso buco

March 26, 2012

asparagus, barolo, bouquet garni, braising, osso buco, polenta, red wine, veal

[caption id="attachment_1883" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="The dish just before being served. It's braising in a Dutch oven."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1884" align="alignleft" width="316" caption="The Barolo that we drank with the dish. Great pairing. Particularly full body."][/caption] Here’s a great osso buco I made for some friends last fall. The context for this meal was that for our wedding, we asked friends to buy bottles of wine for us instead of wedding presents. When possible, we tried to share those bottles with the purchasers, and maybe even cook for them.

Make your own tea towels

March 11, 2012

Hello! I’m Lilli, Justin’s wife and an avid eater of Justin’s cooking, an occasional sous-chef, and a DIYer. I want to share this tea towel project with you because it is easy, impressive, and useful. You can make them for yourself or they would make a nice wedding or house warming gift. [caption id="attachment_1788" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="DIY Tea Towels"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1851" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Cotton twill cut into pieces measuring 20"

The hackerspace design patterns book

January 2, 2012

books, design patterns, hackerspaces

Here’s a great - let’s call it a “book” - on how to get a hackerspace started. (It’s a lecture given by Jens Ohlig and Lars Weiler at Chaos Communication Congress 2007.) What’s a hackerspace? You could also call it a “creative space” - it’s a place where people can gather to make things or talk about making things. Other things can be done in a hackerspace as well, but that’s the organizing concept.