ajit verghese

Space: The Final Frontier (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 27 May 2012 20:29:40 -0400

Space: The Final Frontier (Taken with instagram)

Dusk (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 26 May 2012 21:56:04 -0400

Dusk (Taken with instagram)

Enjoy your long weekend, however you spend it. (Taken with...

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:58:27 -0400

Enjoy your long weekend, however you spend it. (Taken with instagram)

"Failure is really important, actually. If you want to push something to the limits, you want to see..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:52:31 -0400

“Failure is really important, actually. If you want to push something to the limits, you want to see failures because otherwise you know you haven’t pushed it hard enough. So if you’re testing or developing anything, you want half of the things you test fail and half of them work. By seeing failures, you can then work out where the limits are — how far you can push a certain technology or design.”

- Great interview with Alex Knox at Dyson.

It’s Alive! (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:20:39 -0400

It’s Alive! (Taken with instagram)

1970’s Bollywood Filmi star (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:50:35 -0400

1970’s Bollywood Filmi star (Taken with instagram)

Break the Machine (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 19 May 2012 03:16:17 -0400

Break the Machine (Taken with instagram)

I think they are making the Tabasco bottles smaller…...

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:47:56 -0400

I think they are making the Tabasco bottles smaller… (Taken with instagram)

I helped start the co-ed a capella group ‘Superfood’...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:15:47 -0400

I helped start the co-ed a capella group ‘Superfood’ when I was at Georgetown. Two weeks ago they had the first ever Superfood reunion on campus where they invited all of the alums (affectionately known as leftover ‘foods) to attend and sing a song on stage with them during their Spring Sing concert. The one song that every Superfoodian knows is ‘Zombie’ by the Cranberries. While the song has undergone a lot of improvements in arrangement over the past few years (thanks Vince!) we were all able to remember the core / fake it pretty well. Thank you Superfood. It was great to be back on stage in Gaston Hall.

Benefits of cooking at my parent’s house? Fresh herbs....

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:24:51 -0400

Benefits of cooking at my parent’s house? Fresh herbs. What Mint! (Taken with instagram)

"I see this in politics all the time. Candidates enter politics wanting to be authentic and change..."

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:49:10 -0400

“

I see this in politics all the time. Candidates enter politics wanting to be authentic and change things. But once the candidates enter the campaign, they stop focusing on how to be change-agents. They and their staff spend all their time focusing on beating the other guy. They hone the skills of one-upsmanship. They get engulfed in a tit-for-tat competition to win the news cycle. Instead of being new and authentic, they become artificial mirror opposites of their opponents. Instead of providing the value voters want — change — they become canned tacticians, hoping to eke out a slight win over the other side.

Competition has trumped value-creation. In this and other ways, the competitive arena undermines innovation.

”

- The Creative Monopoly - NYTimes.com

Interesting ideas by Mr. Brooks. Give it a read if you have a moment. There are lots of good nuggets in the article, however the discussion about politics struck me today.

"we have confused conversation with connection and collectively seem to have embraced a new kind of..."

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:45:00 -0400

“we have confused conversation with connection and collectively seem to have embraced a new kind of delusion that accepts the simulation of compassion as sufficient unto the day”

- The Flight From Conversation is a fascinating article by Sherry Turkle in the NYTimes this weekend. Check it out. This killer quote struck a chord.

I think that we often times embrace the digital world as an alternative to the physical world because we can control our interactions - we treat digital as a sort of antiseptic to help sand down the edges of our reality.

This is a dangerous game that makes you feel like you are connected, learning, talking and REALLY living. Futurists might claim that in fact, it IS living. But I don’t think it is really living. It is a simulation of living by itself. And as days go by, we all become more guilty of it.

But it doesn’t need to be.

I look at digital interactions and social platforms as extensions of my real (analog) life. These tools and communities provide further levels of discourse and interaction - but these further levels are extensions of thoughts and interactions that I have in conversations over a meal or with friends in face to face interactions. And in my opinion that’s how they should be considered. As extensions, not as replacements. Digital interactions and social platforms enable emergent outcomes - those serendipitous moments which provide overwhelming value (a blog post in itself). They are additions, not alternatives and if we consider them to be alternatives, then our future looks a lot more grim and dystopian. And that’s a bit soul crushing.

(H/T @katenieder)

How Big is Amazon's Cloud?

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:06:01 -0400

How Big is Amazon's Cloud?:

Amazon is a fascinating company and it’s web services are a good representation of the concept of ‘eating your own dog food’.

Think about what Amazon has built and/or has access to: a boatload of digital content, tremendous hardware and software infrastructure, taste and preference data for millions of consumers, the credit cards of those consumers, consumer facing hardware, a publishing platform, payment, efficient distribution, the list goes on and on. I’m loooooong Amazon. Amazing company. Can’t wait to see what Bezos continues to do.

"Levon Helm will be sorely missed, and never forgotten. He cuts an imposing figure in the history of..."

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:51:49 -0400

“Levon Helm will be sorely missed, and never forgotten. He cuts an imposing figure in the history of rock and roll and leaves behind a body of work that that we’re blessed to have, a lifetime of perfect tempos, perfect taste, perfect feel. It’s music we describe with vague metaphors because we can’t describe it with anything else, and because when we run out of those there’s just nothing left to say.”

- Levon Helm Was Perfect - Jack Hamilton - Entertainment - The Atlantic (via toddzeigler)

I realize that people might be a bit sick of Gotye and Kimbra...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:52:33 -0400

I realize that people might be a bit sick of Gotye and Kimbra (and that I’m pretty late to the party) but check out Walk off the Earth covering ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ if you haven’t seen them before.

H’amazing.

This. is. Entrepreneurship.

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:34:33 -0400

This. is. Entrepreneurship.

"In the time since I’ve realized that a proactive and meaningful approach to thankfulness is a tough..."

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:31:17 -0400

“In the time since I’ve realized that a proactive and meaningful approach to thankfulness is a tough venture. It really requires a consistent mindfulness so that you can appreciate the people, opportunities and gifts in life on a daily basis. Conscious thought leads to a recognition of things both large and small.”

- @ryandawidjan: Thoughts on Appreciation

Amen Ryan. Well thought out, well written and inspiring. Hope others see this as a good example of how we should be living and acting in the present - and giving thanks for both the wins AND the losses.

Mike, Chris, Rob and the whole holland-mark team keep bringing...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:03:28 -0400

Mike, Chris, Rob and the whole holland-mark team keep bringing the FIRE.

miketrap:

Actifio’s Ash Ashutosh asked us to kick off his marketing planning meeting with some thoughts on the state of marketing itself… how it’s changed, what it’s about today, and how smart companies are using it right now in new ways that push the envelope, and get results. High level stuff, hopefully with eye toward the practical and applied.

Here’s the deck, welcome any thoughts or feedback below.

Every entrepreneur NEEDS TO SEE THIS MOVIE. Being Elmo is one of...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:58:13 -0400

Every entrepreneur NEEDS TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Being Elmo is one of the best movies about love, perseverance and #startuphustle I have ever seen.

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie.

10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:56:06 -0400

10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders :

Great article with some sage advice. I especially like #7 - reposted for the lazy ones who might not click through.

7. Replace ego with empathy: I have long advised leaders not to let their ego write checks that their talent can’t cash. When candor is communicated with empathy & caring and not the prideful arrogance of an over inflated ego good things begin to happen. Empathetic communicators display a level of authenticity and transparency that is not present with those who choose to communicate behind the carefully crafted facade propped-up by a very fragile ego. Understanding the this communication principle is what helps turn anger into respect and doubt into trust.