links for 2008-08-20

August 20, 2008 in Links

• Tom Wolfe's 2006 Jefferson Lecture
  Speech gave the human beast far more than an ingenious tool. Speech was a veritable nuclear weapon! It gave the human beast the powers of reason, complex memory, and long-term planning, eventually in the form of print and engineering plans. Speech gave him the power to enlarge his food supply at will through an artifice called farming. Speech ended not only the evolution of man, by making it no longer necessary, but also the evolution of animals!
  (tags: sociology politics philosophy neuroscience history lecture tom_wolfe wolfe)
• Entrepreneurship: it?s all about the big idea, not the money – Economy and Politics – livemint.com
  Entrepreneurship is about freedom, creating, a chance to build a brand, an institution, showing the world a new way of doing something, being your own boss, creating a legacy that will outlive you, identity, making a difference, obsession, ego, having a shot at something big, doing what you love, innovating, doing things your way…
  Whichever way you want to put it, it is about finding meaning in your life.
  Yes, it is an irrational thing to do—if you are well educated and you have a good career ahead of you as a professional manager.
  It is an article of faith. A bit like religion. Or as my friend Nikesh Sinha eloquently put it: “It is like falling in love”.
  It’s an irrational choice.
  (tags: entrepreneurship sanjeevbikhchandani love job career)
• Political Joke of the Day
  I have no idea where this joke came from, but I couldn't resist posting it because it combined Alaska, Massachusetts, Democrats, Republicans, Guns, the Pope, and a Grizzly Bear
  (tags: joke humor politics)