The Ole filter makes a pass...  and I promise not to comment on Michael Jackson, setting me apart from 99.99% of the blogosphere, I know.  It was a good day, a summer day, a long, relaxing by-the-pool day.  Of course, I coded all day :)

Robert Scoble wants Microsoft people to "think small", as a result of his visit to the Reboot conference.  "I wish Microsoft would send more of its developers to these small geek-focused conferences so they can see the new competition that evolves in the hallways...  I'm looking for small teams inside Microsoft that are changing the world."  Man, that's a tough one. 

It is nearly impossible to get teams in a big company to "think small".  I worked for Intuit for a while - a great company with a tremendous culture of innovation - but it didn't think like the startups I've been involved with.  Why?

Well, the kind of people who work at a big company are not the kind of people who think small.  If you're a "think small" kind of person, you work for a startup.  There may be people at Microsoft who want to "think small", but they'll probably leave at some point.  It is really hard to transform a big company's culture in this way because by its very existence a big company attracts employees who want to work for a big company.

When I worked at PayPal there were a ton of "think small" people.  Once PayPal went public, many of them left; not because they could, but because they found that they were no longer working for a small company.  Those that didn't leave then left soon after when eBay bought PayPal. eBay is a great company, but is is a BIG company, filled with big company people, and hence people who "think small" move on...

UCBerkeleyNews reports Astronomers discover most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet.  "The world's preeminent planet hunters have discovered the most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet: a possibly rocky world about 7.5 times as massive as the Earth.  This hot 'super-Earth,' just 15 light years away, travels in a nearly circular orbit only 2 million miles from its parent star, Gliese 876, and has a radius about twice that of Earth."  As more extrasolar planets are found, the odds that we're alone just get smaller and smaller. 

Steve Sailer consistently goes where others fear to tread; this time out he reports Blondes Have Deeper Roots.  "A couple of decades ago, I began noticing that the leading lady in a movie was almost always fairer-skinned than her leading man."  Pretty amazing stuff.  [ via razib ] 

Here's an interesting test from the article, what is the gender of the people pictured at right?  Most people find the picture on the left looks female, and the one on the right looks male; in actuality they are identical except that the one on the right is darker.  So much for getting a good tan, eh?

Linked by razib is Survival of the Prettiest, by Nancy Etcoff, a book I keep reading good things about...

Rogers Cadenhead ponders how movie trailers are all alike, starting from a great article in the Guardian, To Cut a Long Story Short.  They all start with "in a world", they all have the same guy doing the voiceover, and they all use the same music.  Wow.  When test marketing goes bad :) 

Early or right on time?  Twinmac is your dual-boot x86 Mac resource.  So be it. 

Eric Sink reports on his trip to the Tech-Ed conference.  The best part was dinner at the Moonfish restaurant in Orlando.  "For future reference, I'll have to remember this guideline for identifying a truly amazing seafood restaurant: The menu lists the name of the person who caught each fish."  Excellent!