Thoughts on Pinterest and the man behind it all

Business Insider takes the reader step by step through the life of Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest. It shows his thought processes, gives the reader a background of his life and helps them to see how he came up with, what Business Insider calls, the new “hot social startup.”

I believe that a person’s thought process stems from their background, therefore in order to understand how Silbermann came to found Pinterest it is important to map out what his life was prior to the invention of Pinterest.

Growing up, Silbermann looked up to entrepreneurs, namely Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and George Eastman. Even while looking up to these entrepreneurs Ben continued onto his original goal of becoming a doctor, as was a common career choice for his family, including his parents and both his sisters.

“In contrast, prior to insight solutions, subjects

reported little or no progress toward solution right

up until the point in time at which solution was

imminent (cf., Smith & Kounios, 1996). Metcalfe

and Wiebe, therefore, concluded that insight was

fundamentally a diff erent process, one that involves

critical mechanisms that go on outside awareness,” (478, Insight)

Not finding what he was looking for in the field of medicine he switched over to business where the movie “Pirates of Silicon Valley,” about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates led him to move to California where he got a job at Google in customer support.

The motivation to move to California may not have been solely based on the movie he saw about some of his favorite entrepreneurs, but the decision to move had a lot to do with a single quote from this single movie, “There might be something going on in California.”

“Taking a break from the problem after impasse, a

period known as incubation, can promote the solution

of insight problems (Christensen & Schunn, 2005;

Segal, 2004),” (483, Insight)

Sometimes one has to step away from what they are comfortable with to come up with a new idea. They need to break the bonds that are holding them back. Ben’s move to California was him breaking free. Then, after settling in and realizing Google would not allow him to build products, it was his girlfriend who encouraged him to strike out on his own, and that is exactly what he did. He quit. He later explains that he is thankful to have had his girlfriend by his side, “to call him out on his own bullshit.”

“Researchers have often noted a link between

positive aff ect and creativity (e.g., Amabile, Barsade,

Mueller, & Staw, 2005), and several studies have

directly examined the role of aff ect in insight (e.g.,

Isen et al., 1987; Subramaniam et al., 2009),” (484, Insight)

The idea for Pinterest was not built overnight; instead it followed Ben throughout his life. For example, when he moved to California he claimed to believe that by simply “being close to people that inspire you is a very good first step.”

Pinterest is a place where people have the ability to inspire others who see their work. Also, after the site was up and running, its users did not use the site for things that Ben, nor his coworkers, had thought of. I believe this fact shows that Pinterest continues to improve as its users inspire Ben and his coworkers to modify the site to fit the users needs.

As an active user of Pinterest I must say that Pinterest has inspired me to do many “do it yourself” projects (DIY).  Also, although I strongly believe that people are becoming more and more interested in technology and less interested in spending time outside or with people; I appreciate that Ben created Pinterest in the hopes that it would inspire people to get off the web and do things.

            After reading a little about the history of Pinterest and its creator, I began to scroll down the homepage of Pinterest and noticed a couple projects that popped out at me: Being a strong believer in doing one’s part in saving the environment, an edible cup caught my eye. Cups are not meant to be edible but if they are then they have the dual purpose of holding one’s drink as well as decreasing waste products, such as plastic cups. Not to mention who would be opposed to a tasty treat after quenching one’s thirst. After that, as I continued scrolling I noticed a lamp with take along glow balls for walking around in the middle of the night! This provoked me to think about all the causalities I have had in the past years; stubbing my toes, running into walls, etc, all due to the fact that I could not find a light switch! To think all this could have been prevented, by this amazing idea!

            Pinterest is essentially a place to collect thoughts and I believe Ben Silbermann and his co-workers have stumbled upon something truly exciting, and I know that I will continue to include Pinterest in my daily life.

Be sure to check out Ben Silbermann’s full story on Business Insider at http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-founding-story-2012-4?op=1

Forrrreeee!!! Sorry, my creativity went a little off course.

For many, a driving range is an obnoxiously boring place where old men waste money and time hitting small white golf balls into an empty grass field.  Even the idea of going onto a course for a round of golf strikes many people as a waste of time.  However, a few years ago, in my hometown and several other locations, a new type of golfing experience opened that has many excited about going to hit "small white golf balls."  This new experience is through the form of a new golf range called Top Golf.  Top Golf was originally created in the late 1990s by two twin brothers, Steve and Dave Jolliffe (Kaufmann).  Locations began solely in England but it quickly moved into several U.S. locations and is rapidly building.  So what is Top Golf? and how did  its creators think of such an idea?

Top Golf in its simplest form is a high-tech golfing range with a bar and restaurant attached.  In a more complex form, it is a way for serious and non-serious golfers to work on their golf skills, or to just have a good time with friends.  Rather than just the usual, hit a ball, watch it, and hit another approach of typical golf ranges, Top Golf turned range practice into a game.  They put radio-frequency identification microchips in the golf balls which allow players to get feedback about the distance and placement of each and every ball they hit, while also adding multiple targets out in the "grass field" (Kaufmann).  With this design players are capable of playing multiple games using the targets and the special golf balls.  Making a boring golf range into multiple fun and/or competitive games.

Two men practicing at a Top Golf location. (dallasobserver.com)

The creators of Top Golf are two twin brothers, Steve and Dave Jollife along with World Golf Systems Group co-founder Geoff Emmerson.  The Jollife brothers invented the idea of the "I.D. ball" which is simply a golf ball with a micro-chip in it (Micro-chip).  This technology was originally used to help professionals keep better track of their progress while practicing.  However, a few years after the Jollife brothers developed the micro-chip they found themselves bored at their driving range.  The two brothers brainstormed ideas that might make their day at the range a little more interesting.  The brothers decided that there should be some type of range that allowed golfers to get their competitiveness flowing and still provide an outlet to improve their abilities (About TopGolf).  With the already established micro-ship golf balls, the twins thought about a game that would allow golfers be at the range, be competitive, and be entertained all at once.

Typical golf range style (hidden-hills.com)

The brothers quickly developed multiple game types that those who came to the range would be able to play and enjoy.  They branched off from one game, hitting the ball as far as possible while still hitting a target, to multiple others. One involving a chipping contest, where the closest targets are used and the players must hit the center of the targets, another that tests approach shots using the middle targets, and finally accuracy from all ranges, except for putting (although some locations do have a miniature golf course, close enough right?).  The creativity behind the games themselves, besides their competitive addition to practice for skilled golfers, is the opportunity they provide for those who honestly care very little about golf.  The games are simple, you drop the ball through a sensor to register the ball, then it rolls on the mat like any other range, and then... you hit the ball, and that's that.  The ball is tracked with its micro-chip technology, if you hit a correct target you get a certain amount of points which depend on your closeness to the center of the target.  Each player has their own "account" or card which is linked to their bucket of golf balls.  This means whenever the next player wants to go, 1 ball at a time or 25 at a time, they can simply drop their ball through and the machine which registers that a new player has begun to play.

An example of how the screen looks with multiple TopGolf players (blog.topgolf.com)

   

In the end what really strikes me about TopGolf is its ability to make every level of golfer and non-golfer comfortable.  When I go to a golf range or course I often find myself uncomfortable when I encounter a very obvious serious, and often very wealthy group of golfers behind me or at the next mat over.  TopGolf has made the environment welcoming to any and every type of person.  Don't have golf clubs of your own? TopGolf supplies you with some.  Aren't accurate or can barely hit the ball?  There are targets everywhere, all with down-slopes going towards them so you're bound to hit something for points (ask my girlfriend who beat me last time we went).  Can't stand sitting and just hitting golf balls for any long period of time?  TopGolf has a bar and restaurant, along with waiters who are constantly walking around taking orders for food and drinks (because what can't food and a few drinks make a bit more fun?).  Along with the food and drinks, there is almost always something else going at at TopGolf.  Baggo games, karaoke, or as the author of one article writes "a makeshift stage for a hula-hoop contest" was available at the entrance to jump ahead in a waiting line (Kaufmann).  The Jollife brothers, with the help of World Golf Systems Group, have truly created an innovative location for all to enjoy.      

TopGolf has also been received well within the golf world.  Some golf clubs are beginning to partner with TopGolfs in their area for lessons, and outings. In return many of TopGolf's members are being recommended for their near by golf clubs, and many are beginning to join.  So this new form of a golf range is not just benefiting golfers, country clubs, new-golfers, or non-golfers, but is benefiting everyone by creating a new way to go out and have fun! 

Information found at the following links... 

http://golfweek.com/news/2012/jul/13/topgolfs-successful-mix-swings-suds-and-socializin/

http://topgolf.com/company/about-topgolf/     

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2936479/Micro-chip-golf-ball-exports-soar.html

A New Era in Birth Control?

Birth control methods for women have been documented since Ancient Egyptians used honey, acacia leaves, and lint to block sperm from swimming the entire length of the vagina. In the 20th century, the usage of condoms and eventually birth control pills became common and widely accepted. The end of the 20th century saw new innovations like IUDs and hormone shots that provided more long-term birth control but also created a slew of not-so-desirable side effects. With the exception of condoms, all of the fairly reliable and reversible methods of birth control are the sole responsibility of women, but Elaine Lissner and Sujoy Guha are trying to change that.

For more than thirty years, Sujoy Guha has been working on a drug called RISUG (Reverse Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance) that has recently started clinical testing in India. Elaine Lissner brought the idea of RISUG to the United States under the name Vasalgel and is currently raising money for clinical testing. It has already proven very effective in rabbits and baboon trials are currently running. You can find out more information about donating and where they currently are in the trial process here.

The method works by injecting a gel into the vas deferens (the tube that sperm travels through) which coats the tubing and essentially tears sperm apart as it travels. The result is that ejaculation still happens as normal, but the sperm is no longer able to fertilize any eggs. Though RISUG and Vasalgel are made up of different chemicals, they work in the same way, and both are proving very reversible in clinical trials. Without intervention, the method is effective for approximately ten years, but can be reversed at anytime by another injection that simply breaks down the polymer gel and flushes it out. The result is a cheap, effective, and easily reversible procedure.

Elaine Lissner refers to vasectomies when describing the process of Vasalgel, explaining that "the procedure is similar to a no-scalpel vasectomy." This analogy between the more traditional vasectomy and the new procedure gives some insight into the creative process. The creators of Vasalgel and RISUG used a previous procedure (a vasectomy) as a pattern for creating a less-invasive, cheaper, and more reversible way to get the same result. In fact, they predict that the polymer used for the procedure will be cheaper than the syringe used to administer it.

While Vasalgel seems like it could be the perfect product, it has stumbled during clinical testing because of a lack of funding. Most new drugs get pushed through clinicals by big pharmacy companies hoping to make money on them once they are out on the market. Vasalgel, however, is not intended to make anyone rich. The parent company, Parsemus, plans on charging only enough to keep the company stable, and even want to make sure that the product is covered by insurance. Unfortunately, this means that no big investors are eager to pay for the trials. The product is currently being funded by private donations, and one donor has just agreed to match donations up to $37,000. So even though there hasn't yet been much acceptance in the pharmaceutical business, enough people are interested in the possibility of this new form of birth control to keep the studies going.

Current plans are to start clinical trials on humans late this year and, assuming all goes well, to have it available widely by mid-2016. So look for this innovative new form of birth control in a few years!

Peanut Allergies May Have Met Their Match

The Killer Peanut May Have Met Its Match

Ever since I was in grade school, I would be reminded I was not allowed to bring in snacks to share if they had any peanuts in them. There was always at least one classmate that had a peanut-allergy. This very dangerous condition has been a growing trend, affecting hundreds of thousands of children in the United States alone. However, thanks to researchers at Northwestern University, anaphylaxis (or a life-threatening allergic-reactions) may be a thing of the past.


In the past, peanut-allergies have often been combated through a method called immunotherapy, which has people with the allergy ingest very small doses of peanuts until they begin to built up a tolerance. Though it has had some success, this approach has not proven to be very affective.

Instead of pushing and expanding immunotherapy, the researchers decided to take a new approach to the problem. Using the technology that has previously been used for autoimmune diseases, Dr. Stephen Miller and Dr. Paul Bryce have begun to explore other, much more successful ways to treat the allergies. 

Through his work with autoimmune diseases, Dr. Miller had developed a strong foundation to understand the relationship between white-blood cells and the immune system. He used this previous knowledge on combating autoimmune diseases, which attack healthy white blood cells, by introducing new cells, and theorized that allergies could work similarly. He took an area that he had expertise in, but applied it to a different problem.

First using mouse models, Dr. Miller and Dr. Bryce began to attach the proteins found in peanuts to white blood cells, then inserted those cells into previously allergic mice. Days later, the mice were fed peanuts; and every starred at the mice astonished as they gobbled up the tasty treat without any signs of allergic reaction. Because the mice's immune system now recognized the protein, the body was able to accept the peanuts.

Dr. Bryce commented that this discovery was especially ground-breaking, because there are many different allergen proteins that could be attached to the white blood cells at one time. This would allow for multiple allergies to be treated. They even tested this theory, introducing a protein into the cells that simulated an asthma attack. In this study, mice's lungs did not become inflamed after inhaling the protein. This is shown in the image below.

http://www.whatayear.org/01_12.php

Therefore, Dr. Miller, Dr. Bryce, and their colleagues did not find a solution for just peanut allergies, they found a potential solution for all allergies. The largest obstacle for this approach however, is the great amounts of time and energy needed to extract white-blood cells from the blood. But they have been exploring alternatives to white-blood cells, like synthetic cells that can be produced in a laboratory. The trouble with that is getting the body to accept the cells and not reject them as foreign and dangerous intruders.

Though there is still more to be done, this amazing and creative solution is a break-through for schoolgirls like me, schoolgirls that just want to bring in peanut butter cookies to share with the class.

For a more detailed report on what their research has found, visit http://www.jimmunol.org/content/187/10/5090.full.pdf

Adagio Teas, Cara McGee, and the Fandom Tea Blend Revolution

Adagio Teas was founded in 1999 as a marketplace for organic and Fair Trade tea blends which are purchased directly from their growers.  One of their major offerings is an area of the site where you can create your own tea blends (they suggest that users "practice the ancient art of tea blending").  Essentially, the site allows users to find the flavor that they as an individual like the best.  Once a blend has been created, the user can purchase a 3 oz bag of tea for ten dollars and have it shipped to them for their personal enjoyment.  Users can also make their blends public, and they will be offered on Adagio's site for others to purchase.  This is where the true story begins.

In late 2011 or early 2012, Cara McGee, an alum of SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design), started creating tea blends for herself based on the popular BBC show, Sherlock.  She made the tea blends available for purchase and displayed them on Tumblr, a popular short-form blogging and social-media site.  Tumblr gave Cara an avenue to show off her tea blends to people who would enjoy them, particularly other fans of Sherlock.  She never expected what happened next: the fans loved the tea blends.

The creation of these tea blends is creative in that it connects people to their interests in a way that had never really been done before.  Cara's blends actually "taste like" the characters and scenes she models them after--something which takes a lot of time and practice to accomplish (and Cara has created hundreds of these blends).  The fandom blends also unite the fans in ways that had never been seen before; people from coast to coast (and even some areas overseas) can experience the physical creations of other people who love the same things that they do without paying a premium for the opportunity.

Throughout the next few months, Tumblr seemed to explode over this new method of fandom expression.  Cara and other fans and artists created blends based on their respective interests and made them publicly available on Adagio's website.  Currently, there are tea blends available for almost any fandom or interest imaginable, from Marvel Comics, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter to Breaking Bad, personality types, and dinosaurs.

Cara has, since the creation of her first tea blends, entered the echelons of the "Tumblr famous".  Hundreds of thousands of people follow her blog, and despite her slight discomfort over that fact, she manages to be an absolutely charming and delightful individual.  She has made herself available to other fans in a way that is absolutely incredible.  She not only greets fans at the many comic and entertainment conventions around the country; she also hosts tea parties in the cities near those conventions for those who either cannot afford the cost of attending or cannot handle the large crowds and long lines.  These people can now attend tea parties at smaller venues; I actually met her last year when she came to Chicago for C2E2 in late April (she hosted a tea party at the Adagio store on State Street).

With her degree in comic art, Cara designs the labels for her tea blends as well as scripting and drawing original comic books.  Her day job is as an interior design librarian.  Cara hopes to work professionally as a comic artist; however, the current economy is making this goal difficult.  In the mean time, she attends conventions in order to network with both fans and possible future employers.  Cara's personal blog, areyoutryingtodeduceme on Tumblr, is where she communicates with her own fans about upcoming tea blends she's releasing, art she's creating, or conventions she's attending, as well as pursuing her own interests in fandom.  Cara is an excellent example of little-c creativity: she is still tinkering in her chosen domain of comic art, learning where she fits into the professional world and trying to combine her passions with her work in a fulfilling way.

Any questions about tea blending? Cara herself may address some of them here: http://areyoutryingtodeduceme.tumblr.com/post/23526961918/a-really-dumb-blending-tutorial

Also, as a note, loose-leaf tea is much better than bagged tea. Trust me. And, best part, ALL OF THE PICTURES ABOVE WITH BLENDS ON THEM ARE CLICKABLE. GO. TRY THE TEA.

Finally, Adagio has excellent customer service who can address any questions you might have about their tea, creating your own blends, and the work they do to ensure that they can continue to carry a high-quality product while helping those who produce it. Visit http://www.adagio.com/  for more information.

The Golden Dream

Film is a language that everyone speaks. The medium offers insight into other cultures, new discoveries, and allows its viewers to experience new ways of thinking. Every year, the Chicago International Film Festival screens over one hundred films from 55 countries; some of which go on to become major blockbusters while others receive little screen time once they leave the festival. Regardless of the reception a film receives, a filmmaker always swells with pride as the product of years of teamwork is finally projected on screen for the first time.

At last year's festival, I had the privilege to hear Diego Quemada-Diez (director and chief writer) present and speak about his first feature length film "La Jaula de Oro" (translated as both "The Golden Cage" and "The Golden Dream"). The film follows the story of four Guatemalan teenagers and their journey as they immigrate to the United States. Quemada-Diez held a Q&A after the film, and discussed the process of making the film. I soon learned that much more work went into this film than most others. One could arguably say that this is one of the most collaborative films ever created.

Quemada-Diez hadn't gone to film school, and started work as a cameraman on various projects. As he learned new technical and directorial skills, the beginnings of "La Jaula de Oro" were never far from the back of his mind. He began with idea of making a documentary about Central American immigrants and their stories about their journeys to the U.S. As he discussed with other filmmakers and started preliminary research, he realized a fictional story might better serve his purposes. He wanted to create a connection with the audience, and to take them on a journey with his immigrants. He came to the realization that neither a documentary or a fictional original script would be enough to convey the emotions and experiences he hoped to capture. Quemada-Diez wanted more than the "talking heads" portrayed in documentaries; he argued that they keep too much distance between the subject and the audience. He wanted his viewers to feel what his characters felt, and to accompany them on their journey. After multiple discussions and brainstorming sessions with other filmmakers he met through different project he worked on, he decided to combine the factual, realistic aspects of a documentary with the narrative quality of a drama.

Over the course of six years, Quemada-Diez interviewed over 600 immigrants who were in the process of, or had already embarked on the journey that the teenagers in "La Jaula de Oro" were about to begin. Quemada-Diez and his team of writers had to somehow pick and choose which details to include when they began to weave the stories of the fictional immigrants together. The writers worked together and spent extensive amounts of time collaborating and discussing in order to make each character's story and experience just right.

While many filmmakers do heavy research and conduct numerous interviews when making a documentary or a movie based on a true story, few, if any, have ever gone to the lengths that Quemada-Diez has to write their script. Not only did Quemada-Diez work with four other writers on the script for "La Jaula de Oro", he had included contributions from over 600 others. With so many different minds offering their opinions, a script can lose its coherence, and the writer risks losing his voice. At the end of the film as the credits rolled,  I sat in silence, unable to come up with words to describe how beautiful and moving the past two hours had been. During the Q&A, Quemada-Diez explained the painstaking process of how he and his writing team recorded interviews and collaborated throughout the years as the script was written. His voice full of sincerity as he explained that he owed his deepest gratitude to all those who told their stories. He never once referred to "La Jaula de Oro" as "my film"; the emphasis was always placed on our creation. As a director, he could have easily taken sole credit for the success of the film. Yet, as the credits rolled behind him, the name of each and every person who shared their story with him filled the screen as a reminder of the greatness and wonder that can come from collaborative thinking.

The film's IMDB page is here
You can find out more about the Chicago International Film Festival here
Unfortunately, there is no word on a possible wide release date or distribution of the film. Oftentimes, movies like "La Jaula de Oro" find their only screen time on the festival circuit, and aren't made widely available afterwards. That's part of the magic of film festivals, because it allows us the opportunity to see movies we might never have a chance to see again. However, the film won the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2013 Cannes Festival for the cast and has won twelve other awards, so there is hope that one of the independent theaters in Chicago could pick it up. 

The Creativity of X-Rays

Art encapsulates the breadth of human experience within picturesque paintings, sensual sculptures, and even within pedantic prose. Yet, art’s variety and versatility extend far beyond such traditional mediums. Meet Hugh Turvey’s x-ray photography: a dappling of artistic expression mollifying the boundaries between science and art. His innovative redirecting of photography captures the beauty of the unseen and the imagination of a fundamentally investigative society.

"Femme Fatale" This is Turvey's favorite picture. It is now an iconic image of women suffering for fashion.

 

Trained as an art director and digital photographer, Turvey originally wanted to be a rock and roll photojournalist. X-ray images only became Turvey’s passion by fortuitous circumstances. In 1996, a colleague of Turvey wanted him to find a picture of a broken bone for an album cover. After Turvey visited a local hospital’s radiographer for an x-ray, his fascination with its complex interplay of density and light enraptured his life. Before this encounter, entire universes laid outside his perception, and now he wants to document these universes at all their levels.

Turvey patched together the motorcycle by digitalizing x-rays on photographic scanners.

Although Turvey is not the first man to utilize x-rays for aesthetic purposes, no one before him has gone to such intricate depths or captured such diverse images. The rare snapshots usually consisted solely of flowers and, while beautiful, sat forlornly upon the desk of the doctor adventurous enough to capture the image. Turvey surged beyond that to reveal the elaborate and ornate world regularly invisible to the naked eye on a grand scale.

  ^

Dain Tasker's Flower (1931). Originator of the Domain. His pictures sat abandoned in his attic until rediscovered in the 70s.

Turvey reached across divergent domains to establish a popular art form and a new expertise. A science app for children, called “X is for X-ray,” once commissioned him to capture images rotating simultaneously in both x-rays and in visible light. By doing this, the app’s creators hoped to expose children to the wonders of their invisible world by intersplicing it with the visible world. As that technology simply did not exist, Turvey and his colleagues only succeeded by merging various techniques that now allow children to experience science in a new and interactive way.

 

Turvey’s vivid depictions of minute life continually receive the adoration of scientists and the general public alike. His work has gone on exhibitions across Europe for its inventiveness and ingenuity. It appears that those fine details, accentuated by his talent and allowable only by science, draw people in to inspect their world in a way never before possible.

 

Yet, this serendipitous melding of domains raises an interesting moral dilemma as well. Several have remarked upon the ethicalness of subjecting humans to unnecessary and possibly harmful radiation. To these valid criticisms, Turvey responds that he has curbed his photographing of human subjects as the current regulatory climate looks disapprovingly upon it. Now, his attention stays mostly on curious, inanimate objects and low-level or dead organisms such as the goldfish and elephant skull pictured.

 

Art is simply capturing a moment, a feeling in time. X-ray art captures these very same moments and feelings just in a formerly, unallowable detail.  These x-rays allow us to fathom our world with a new emotional depth that was previously impossible to even examine.

 

For more information on the artist or the history of x-ray art, click on links below:

http://www.beyondlight.com/whatis.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/06/arts/art-in-review-dr-dain-l-tasker.html

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/21/hugh-turvey-inside-the-life-of-an-x-ray-artist/

http://www.x-rayartist.com/