Disqus - Latest Comments for AllenTucker

Re: TechShop Closes Doors, Files Bankruptcy

Allen — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:21:46 -0000

Oh, it's the business model, not that they spent a million dollars moving an unprofitable San Jose location to a historic building downtown (with no parking), which required massive amounts of construction to mount machines to a wood floor they can't drill through. All of this while knowing San Jose was unprofitable to begin with.
It's not the total lack of marketing, nor the fact that some locations didn't even have a manager.
It wasn't that they were buying new equipment to replace perfectly working equipment, while basic things like the sinks where shut down for months.
It wasn't the fact that no one in corporate ever visited the locations, knew any of the people there, and didn't ask any of the hundreds of people at their disposal for help.
It wasn't that they didn't legally structure the company to insulate unprofitable locations from profitable ones.
It wasn't that they over expanded a business that was swimming in debt from location to location before any one location was profitable.
It wasn't that they rented some of the most expensive real estate in the country, but didn't bother to ensure there was enough power to run their machines, nor that they could renew those leases for more than a few years.

I unloaded my locker today with people who would have gladly written a check to keep our location open another couple months so they could run their business. No one at corporate new these people because they don't spend any time at the actual techshop, doing their jobs. They didn't know the marketing experts, legal experts, real estate experts walking around working on random projects. They didn't know the millionaires unloading their stuff this morning, who will just go and buy their own place now. They had all the resources in the world to keep this place running.

Instead of managing the actual shops they had, they spent all this time "pivoting" and hoping someone new would just give them more money to burn on expansion.

When I suggested to Jim Newton today, that maybe he should call the people who are paying to store their stuff there so they can get it out before the place is locked up for the next 6 months during bankruptcy, he basically told me it wasn't his problem. I think that pretty much captures why their "business model" didn't work.

Re: Hiking in Finland

Allen — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 21:10:16 -0000

Some suggestions: maybe there's a way to crowd source or otherwise have someone else reduce the workload of TWIR. Even if TWIR doesn't itself generate income, it generates traffic...which generates income as people navigate to other articles. It also spreads good will to other sites which then link back to you. Perhaps have readers submit links and find someone to volunteer to condense and edit them. You've got 30,000 people who might be willing to help.

Next up I would caution starting a new site for the sake of a new site. Your domain name is largely irrelevant to readers. People come here because they like outdoor stuff. A new domain lacks domain authority, domain age, backlinks, and so on, so it will be an uphill battle to get traffic, most of which will come from this blog anyway.

If you are set on the new domain, I would move everything to that domain using redirects so that you retain all the old links, SEO, and so on. You don't want to have a bunch of 404 pages on this site, killing rankings here, while starting a new site which will have no rankings at the start.

The need for challenge is good, but don't kill what you've built if you don't have to. I've seen this many times with people updating their sites. Think of it this way. If you want to change something, it's much easier to make small changes, test those changes, and see what works, rather than to make many changes and not know which ones were beneficial or not.

Don't get caught up in the branding or the naming. Create the content you want to create and keep building.

We're all here to help so don't think you have to do all of this on your own.

Re: How Should I Learn Cognitive Science?

Allen — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 21:38:11 -0000

This is one area the most difficult university systems do right. In my girlfriend's psychology phd program they were forced to do a qualifying exam in addition to their dissertation. The qualifying exam requires them to memorize virtually the entire body of research within their specialization (say cognitive psychology or social psychology), as well as more generally any important research within the larger field of psychology.
So they needed to know the rough details of the study, the results, dates, who did the study, what university they went to, who they worked with, etc.
Most use notecards that they create themselves in addition to prior note cards made by others.
They're then given test questions which they have to answer with citations and then give a verbal defense in front of 3 professors. Basically you write 40 pages in 2-3 hours. Absolutely brutal. People fail outright after 5 years of grad school.
What this does though is it forces you to go beyond a vague understanding of the principles, to understanding the body of research those principles are based on, and to know what's changed over time, what's been replicated or not, who every is, what constitutes good research, and how to implement these principles.
What you will forget over time are the details, which don't matter, but you will still understand the body of research as a whole much better.
Another thing they did really well was they created an environment for intellectual sparring. They brought in researchers from other universities to talk about their research, they argue about ideas, professors who really know their stuff challenge you, etc. As a result you know both the material, but you know the people, you know the gossip.
Were I designing my own system, I would want to interject as much of this as possible to my study. So obvious things would be to study and read the research. I would join the organizations that hold conferences and I would attend as many as possible. Then go talk to people about their research. Meet them in person look at their posters.
Get on the email lists for those organizations and watch people argue.
Finally the "doing" of neuroscience is research. Learning statistics, analysis, how to write research, etc. is the doing. Even if you have to plan to be a researcher, you will likely need to understand research in depth to understand neuroscience or even read the research.
Maybe after you've done your studying I would reach out to the people you meet at conferences and ask them to give you hard questions to defend. Then write papers. Perhaps someone will "grade" it for you even.

Re: Should You Know Your IQ?

Allen — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 19:26:49 -0000

The largest problem with IQ are people's misconceptions about the predictions it makes. While we see correlations between higher IQ and many positive qualities, this ignores many of the negatives.

Those with very high IQs often have difficulty forming relationships, they feel isolated, and they can experience depression just as anyone else and often more so. They have fewer peers and fewer suitable mates simply because there are few people statistically similar to them.

Knowing your IQ is only useful in that you have a good understanding of what it really means and what it really predicts. For some it may be a relief which explains some of their experiences, for others it may be meaningless.

Finding out that you have a higher than expected IQ is no more likely to make you lazy than having the experience of a high IQ where things come to you easily.

On the flip side, many people who do poorly in school and may be told there is something wrong with them often have very high IQs. This knowledge may change the perception of themselves to a more positive and also more accurate picture of their own capability.

Re: Kit-A-Day Giveaway: MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer (#5 of 5!)

Allen — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:47:37 -0000

I need this!

Re: Kit-A-Day Giveaway: MakerBot Thing-O-Matic (#4 of 5)

Allen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:29:21 -0000

Awesome!

Re: Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi on Blogging Techniques and Self-Publishing vs. Big Publishers

Allen — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:51:10 -0000

Great stuff Tim.

The obvious solution to virtually any problem is just to write great content. I've found the way to write better content is to write for yourself first and your audience second. We generally don't as much about our readers as we would like, but if we write about things we find interesting or important, usually others will to.

Once you've got great stuff, it's just a matter of making it easy to read. You're blog is great example of taking a lot of information and chopping it up to only what's necessary; using lists, videos, subheadings, etc. Length is only a problem when you have boring content or a wall of text.

Re: Is Venture Capitalism Dead? Not Yet. Advice from Kleiner Perkins, Hummer Winblad, Shasta Ventures, and Clearstone Venture Partners

Allen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:03:23 -0000

I would argue that now is a better time to be a high tech entrepreneur than ever before. With social networking exploding as it is, it's much easier to find advice, money, and customers than even in the height of the dot-com bubble. Perhaps yogafordogs.com isn't going to get funding, but those with real innovation have much better odds.

Great stuff as always Tim!

Re: Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs

Allen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:07:16 -0000

Looks like RTW travel is becoming more mainstream http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

Re: Loic Le Meur and Tim Ferriss Discuss E-mail, Entrepreneurship, and Practical Philosophies

Allen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:32:27 -0000

@Alex, in the US everyone who's not a CEO or entrepreneur is spending all their time working for CEO's and entrepreneurs so you never hear from them as they have no time.

Re: Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss Discuss Angel Investing and Naming Companies

Allen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:09:35 -0000

Any advice on breaking into the high tech VC realm. Move to SF, show up at conferences? Any other tips.

Re: Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss Discuss Angel Investing and Naming Companies

Allen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:45:19 -0000

Fantastic. More vids please!

Re: How to Lose 30 Pounds in 24 Hours: The Definitive Guide to Cutting Weight

Allen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:40:04 -0000

Tim I applaud your efforts. We need more people with accurate scientifically tested methods for meeting goals like this. Otherwise kids will continue using methods solely based on worth of mouth or methods they develop themselves.

In many cases people will go to extremes with little results because they are using one method that causes rapid dehydration (running on treadmills in saunas) while using another that causes hydration (taking creatine for example). The end result is a lot of wasted effort as best, death at worst.

Re: Rethinking Investing - Part 3 - Spotting Mistakes in Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer

Allen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:50:44 -0000

The real mistake here is believing that a company is worth any more than the dividends it will pay out minus the risk that those dividends will stop.

Participating in the market on a short term basis is a huge mistake for anyone without the resources to manipulate that market. There will always be someone else with those resources. It is very easy to force a stock down in price, and still relatively easy to pump it up. These moves up and down do not necessarily have anything to do with the value of the company or more particularly it's future revenue. This is why all those big financial institutions were making their 30% year after year.

I watched one of my stocks this year drop to below cash value (the company had more cash than in the bank than all of their stock was worth). This all happened while their sales where increasing. How did it happen? Simply shorting the stock systematically to drive the price down. Then after it sits at the bottom for a while, someone will take it over, to make a killing. Joe investor can't expect to hold this stock for a little while and not get smashed.

Re: How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders

Allen — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:46:28 -0000

Tim it seems that you are my long lost brother. I decided years ago that I wanted to become a bad ass while watching the first Borne movies; learn lock picking, shooting, be able to swim for miles, etc. I think there's an entire nation of guys out there who don't want white picket fences and cubes.

Now that the cats out of the bag, I hope we get a whole series of posts on becoming Jason Borne.

Re: Seeking Suggestions and Case Studies for New 4HWW (Plus: Twitter Giveaway Winners)

Allen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:29:12 -0000

Pavel: 80/20 Powerlifting and How to Add 110+ Pounds to Your Lifts - My favorite.

Re: George Carlin vs. Mark Twain - Can You Pick? (plus: Exclusive TV Preview)

Allen — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:25:48 -0000

I was fortunate enough to see Carlin when he came to IU. I wish our politicians had half as much sense as our comedians.

Re: Finding the Perfect Office Chair: Aeron vs. Swiss Ball vs. the FBI’s Pick…

Allen — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:21:47 -0000

Another huge improvement in posture can be made by simply buying a monitor to accompany your laptop. Put it on a couple of phone books to elevated it so you're not looking down all the time. Straitening out the neck will help with upper back/shoulder pain. It also removes the tenancy to hunch forward on the desk negating a lot of benefits of fancy chairs.

Re: How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months

Allen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:38:48 -0000

Tim, great stuff as always. You need your own language books/cd's/videos etc. Let travel or tech be the subject matter for adherence and put out your own word lists, and materials.

Re: The Power of Less: Changing Behavior with Leo Babauta

Allen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:38:39 -0000

Although Leo suggests smaller easier initial challenges, I've found that lasting change usually happens when you have to do something huge. You have to have a big enough reason to change. Massive action, to steal from Anthony Robbins, is what give you the motivation to keep going. Getting real results quickly is what does it.

Often if you tackle it all at once, and you tackle it with extreme intensity, you'll find that most problems, and most difficulties in your life are interrelated. You hate you job, spend 60 hours there, you then eat garbage, don't have time to work out, etc. Change the big one (usually your job/time) and everything else changes with it.

Re: Things I’ve Learned and Loved in 2008

Allen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:39:09 -0000

2008 was a tough year for me. Fortunately much of it was tough because of change that I brought on.

Re: How to Feel Like the Incredible Hulk in 2009

Allen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:38:41 -0000

Tim,

Aside from the show, have you considered putting materials out there for helping people learn the stuff you are doing? You could put out a "Learn Italian with Tim Ferriss" book, or a "Tim Ferris teaches Surfing", etc. Your notes and the real content would be priceless.

Keep the videos coming. May I suggest a video/presentations tab at the top. This would make tracking all your videos a little easier as the blog grows in size.

Re: Pavel: 80/20 Powerlifting and How to Add 110+ Pounds to Your Lifts

Allen — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:16:35 -0000

I think the thing that may have not been clear in the article is why squats, dead lifts, and bench. These three exercises recruit the largest amount of muscle in the body. They use all your stabilizers and therefore cause a larger response by your body. They dump more testosterone (to over simplify). They are intense.

If you're doing squats and dead lifts girls, you don't need 2 hours of aerobics every week, unless your preparing for a specific endurance sport. Abs are made in the kitchen, strength is made in the gym.

Re: Live Post-Show Q&A at 12 midnight ET and 12 midnight PT

Allen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:38:47 -0000

Just to ecco a lot of others. Can we get the show on-line? If anyone can bring TV out of the dark ages you can. To many of your viewers don't plan their schedule around television, which is definitely the exception to the rule.

Heck, I'd pay a monthly subscription if I could get a Timtv every week on-line.

Ignore traditional television all together, you could probably just get a camera man (struggling college student perhaps) to follow you around just doing crazy stuff and put that into a couple shows per week. With the number of visitors you get, it wouldn't be a stretch to get regular subscribers. Increased book sales alone would probably pay for the show.

Re: BIG NEWS and Sneak Peek - Tim Ferriss TV Show Debut 12/4

Allen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:12:18 -0000

Also if the show does get picked up consider putting together longer term projects that cumulatively require ~5 days of actual time, similar to the weight loss article. So maybe you'll prep for a triathlon (ironman?) which takes months, but your training time is condensed into 120 hours over those months. You could have a kick off show and spread updates over the course of other shows, or simply do a single time laps of all your training in a single show.