Concept of the Day: The Abilene Paradox
The Abilene Paradox has been an important concept to understand in business culture and has been around for a while, but what we’re seeing with a fast collapse of left-wing ideology and in popularity of the Obama government may be best understood using it as well, noted by the Ace of Spades blog.
In brief, the Abilene Paradox is when a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of any of the individuals in the group…each member mistakenly believes that their beliefs are counter to the group so no one raises objections.
It’s how totalitarian governments or institutions such as slavery stay in place so well, the information the people are given leads them to believe their views are not shared by a large group of people so they stay silent and in line.
In today’s society it works more that people assume, because of the media, their views are in the minority, and they don’t want to “rock the boat” and be called a racist, homophobe, islamophobe, etc. etc. so they keep to themselves.
This paradox falls apart when unexpected people begin to speak out in a prominent way (then you then start to get a cascading effect). When a Republican speaks out against Obama or illegal immigration or ObamaCare - no big deal, but when others begin to — that’s when it starts to break down (See former Obama supporter Mort Zuckerman’s “The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government Ever“).
Bottom line – understand what you believe, why you believe it, and speak your opinion, without worrying about “rocking the boat.” It’s likely you’re not alone.
Netflix Comes to the iPhone
I’ve got Netflix. I’ve got iPhone. You probably do too. Well today is a day of happiness as the free app now allows you to watch streaming videos in the palm of your hand. On a really tiny screen that drains your battery.
A cool concept, but how does it play out? Download it for yourself, or check out Gizmodo’s stellar review of the new app. So exit question – even if it’s great…is watching movies all the time really yet another good thing to add to our deteriorating attention spans and lack of being wherever we physically are at any given moment?
- Here’s how Netflix streaming works on my 3GS: silky smooth over Wi-Fi, gimped over 3G. And I’m way more relieved about the former than I am concerned about the latter. Streaming video over 3G has always been untenable; I’m just glad they even offer up the option. But the interface is easy, the video is clear and crisp enough to make dream of retina displays, and it played back the first five twenty minutes of Futurama: Bender’s Game.
Can I fawn some more? I’d like to if you’ve got a minute. But not just about Netflix on the iPhone. That’s just one slice of the pie. It’s been on the iPad for months. It looks like it’ll be gorgeous on Windows Phone 7. Android can’t be far behind (right?). Then throw in WiMax and LTE speeds. Maybe a future in which studios embrace broad distribution instead of fight it—or Netflix pays up for earlier distribution rights, given how much money they save streaming rather than shipping. That’s when we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want. That’s the dream. And we’re so close.
Why College Football is Better than NFL
Now here’s a bitter rivalry that happens every year that no one’s ever going to win. I fall into the “College” football camp, myself, but if I were to explain why, clearly, it’s so much better than the NFL, I don’t think I could do it better than this article (the included image doesn’t have anything to do with the article, don’t worry).
Excerpt – #4 Lack of Parity
Parity sucks. Parity’s great in the sense that “every team has a chance”, but that’s where its virtues end. With parity, teams are less spectacular, teams are better matched, and consequently, the play is less exciting. Parity means that punt returns are stopped after five yards, that linebackers never block field goals, and that a running game is effectively neutralized by an opposing defense……..
………A lack of parity means there are Davids and Goliaths. But occasionally, the underdogs make a miracle happen (hello, Appalachian State!) that resonates so profoundly that it serves as a reminder of why it’s not always best when teams are evenly matched week-in and week-out.
Your Next Car. The Ford Fiesta.
Behold the power of marketing. This is the most intense car review for the least intense car I’ve ever seen. You thought you knew the Ford Fiesta. You don’t.
Checkout the Fiesta vs. Corvette segment. So much bang for the buck.
Movie Review: The Expendables
Rated R
REVIEW: 3 STARS OUT OF 4
Just got back from the 80′s homage film “The Expendables” directed by Stallone himself featuring a “who’s who” of 80′s action movie stars (and some newer folks as well). Looks like people “got it” as the film took away first place for the weekend. Here’s some quick notes on how I liked the film and if you’ll like it or not.
The good: It’s short and breezy at well under two hours. Aside from a bit of a clunky beginning with a few too many poorly filmed shots, the film gets moving quickly and never bores. The action scenes are everything they promise to be – big, loud, unrealistic, outrageous, logic-defying, and have huge body counts.The grand finale is almost overwhelming..but there’s a good mix of guns, fists, knives, karate, MMA, air combat, you name it.
The cast is great. The cameos by Bruce Willis and Ahhnold are a bit disappointing, but for the most part they got a lot out of the crew. Stallone and Statham are the key players, with Statham taking on a good bit of the hand-to-hand combat roles. Jet Li is solid, and Mickey Rourke is surprisingly useful in his fairly small role with a well-acted part. A few of the other actors seem to be a bit unused, but there’s so many players that’s probably just reality.
The plot doesn’t matter, if you even really understand it (though there are a few nice nuances). It’s all about the action, and a return to the R-rated, bone-crushing action by cigar-smoking, brutish good guys. While it’s good that action films (such as The Dark Knight) have gotten contemplative, we should never lose the art of simple destruction of evil by the good, using large guns.
The not so good: The film has some fairly poor dialogue and it makes some scenes a little choppy and not flow well. A few attempts at humor work, but some are stale. Additionally, the camera work will give you a bit of a dizzy spell and some of the shots are a bit overlong and you just want to get on with it already. Finally, the CGI that’s mixed into the film is pretty bad at times, fortunately there was plenty of the real deal punches and explosions to not be distracting.
Bottom Line: Marking the end of an era, perhaps, this film delivers on both being an homage, and being able to fit in with any other 80′s action movie pretty solidly. If the purpose is to have fun and watch stuff blow up, everyone in the theater got their money’s worth.
Also, ignore the reviews. If you think you’re going to like this movie, you will.
All the guys are getting pretty old, but it’s clear that they would still beat the tar out of today’s beta male movie stars.
Who will like it: Dudes 24-55. Butch girls.
3 STARS OUT OF 4
Twitter: The Movie
There’s a real movie about Facebook coming out, then there’s this fake movie trailer for a Twitter movie.
I’m more interested in this one 
The Broken Window Fallacy
One of the most important concepts to understand how misguided our economic policies today are is the “broken window fallacy.” The video below does a very good job of simplifying it.
This isn’t a new concept, and it can be pretty obvious to anyone, especially economists. Which likely means that the intellectual class in Washington fully understands it, but growing jobs and wealth isn’t at all the goal of their economic policies.
For a population that doesn’t understand basic economic concepts like the broken window fallacy, what they do understand is getting free stuff, interpreting that stuff as wealth or accomplishment, and then voting for the party that gave it to them.
Not understanding what they can’t see on the surface, how that money would have been spent better and built a flurry of job opportunities for a career rather than a temporary handout, is what the politicians bank on.
