One of the TV shows that always makes me laugh is "Top Gear".  It’s nominally a car show, but that’s a very loose framework within which they have a lot of fun.

Case in point, an episode I saw a few weeks back where they tried to turn a small car into a low budget Space Shuttle…

Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Categories: Tip O' the Hat
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We like schwag.  You probably like schwag too. At my last company, we used to print a lot of fun t-shirts and early on we took a liking to CustomInk.  They have reasonable pricing, decent minimums and good turn-around times.  Above all, they consistently deliver a high quality product.

Just before Christmas, we did our very first short run of T-shirts (less than 30 were made, so if you have one, you’re very special) and I went back to CustomInk to get the job done. 

You can upload artwork and design your shirt online with their flash app.  Their site will give you a realtime quote and the ordering process is quick and easy.  Personally, I like the Hanes Beefy-T — it’s a high quality cotton shirt available in a bunch of colors at a good price.  I have shirts from CustomInk that are several years old and still holding up pretty well.

Another reason I like CustomInk is that their customer service is excellent.  For example, when I submitted the last job, they called and suggested a minor change to the artwork which would reduce the cost of the order by $50 or so.

And that brings me to the reason for the post.  CustomInk emailed me and asked if I’d post a review and a link on my blog.  In exchange for that they’re offering a coupon/discount towards our next order.

So, first of all, take a look at T-Shirt Design at CustomInk.com. 

Second, if you’d like a super exclusive disruptorMonkey t-shirt, leave a comment below.  We’ll put the coupon they sent towards a new, never seen before t-shirt just for readers of this blog.  Not sure when we’ll get them made, but we’ll try and do it soon.

Make sure you (a) play to our fragile egos and (b) tell us what size you’d like (their shirts run a little small so err on the side of safety).

May the best commenters win!

Categories: Tip O' the Hat
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In my last post of 2007, I put together a list of the 10 best bits of the year.  At #1 was the support I get from my wife.  She’s a lot more modest than me (one of her many charms) and was less than convinced that she deserved Rockstar status.

When you’re on the startup roller-coaster, the support of those around you can play a big role in your determination and willingness to keep going.  No matter how good the idea and how fervently you believe in it, there are always some dark days that you really have to dig deep to fight through.

10+ years ago, I was in a different relationship and up to my neck in a very challenging turnaround.  It was effectively a startup, except that we had none of the goodwill that comes with being a new company and were burdened with some serious debt and overhead.  My partner at the time was initially supportive, but as the hours climbed and the wall between work and home crumbled, that support evaporated.  To be fair, the workload was ridiculous and I didn’t know then as well as I know now just what was going to be involved.  In other words, I probably didn’t set expectations very well.  But that lack of support made a heavy burden worse and contributed mightily to the demise of that relationship.

In contrast, having the support of someone you know and trust (in good times and in bad, no less) can transform even the heaviest burden into a salvageable situation.

The Rockstar status I give to my wife is based on a long list of qualities and actions.  In no particular order, here are some highlights:

• An incredible tolerance for my lack of a paycheck (and the impact that has on our personal finances and spending habits)
• A willingness to help out, including taking a job to help pay the bills
• The strength to read some 30+ iterations of the same damn business plan (and listen to the related Powerpoint pitches)
• A continuous and active interest in what I’m doing and how things are going
• A well tuned ear for listening when I need to talk something through, combined with a willingness to tell me to "suck it up" when that’s what I need to hear
• An obvious sense of pride in what we’re doing and the things we accomplish
• Patience with long hours, odd schedules and milestones that move around constantly

Like any normal human being, she has days when she would just like me to have a paycheck and a normal schedule.  But she knows that I love what I do, and in a Rainman-esque way, it’s what I’m wired for. 

That kind of support makes all the difference in the world.  And boy am I going to owe her some serious shoe indulgence when we get funded…

Categories: Inside My Twisted Start Up Brain..., Thought o' the Day, Tip O' the Hat
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I just heard that Todd Barr has started blogging.

Todd is a senior marketing guy with a tiny company you may have heard of called Red Hat. 

Those of you that know me will doubtless have heard me talk about how dumb/useless/bogus most marketing/marketers can be.  Todd is one of the very few marketing people that I’m continually impressed by. 

If you have any interest in reading about marketing done right, his blog is well worth your time.

Categories: Marketing and Sales, Thought o' the Day, Tip O' the Hat
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I guess this is rant week…  Last night, I was watching Nova — something I rarely do.  The show was
"Judgement Day: Intelligent Design On Trial".  You can see much of it
at the PBS website. 

In general, I made a conscious decision that this blog would not be political or religious in nature, and in general, that’s something I’ll stick to.  But I do have a new personal hero: U.S. District Court Judge John E.
Jones III. 

First, some background…  To me, Intelligent Design has always been thinly veiled creationism.  But my personal objections to intelligent design have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with science.

Any Scientist knows that they are working with a theory that is an approximation
of reality that seems to hold true under rigorous and repeated testing.  For something to be considered a
valid theory, there are two simple criteria that have to be met:

1. The theory must make predictions that can be objectively (and repeatedly) tested
2. The theory must clearly explain previously observed phenomena
    

These tenets of science are non-negotiable — they form the basis of everything Science has ever achieved.  I.D. fails miserably at #1, making few, if any, testable predictions.  In contrast, Darwinian Evolution specifically and accurately predicts transitional fossils such as Tiktaalik
rosae (a fishy thing from 375 Million years ago that is clearly a mid-way point between a fish and a land-based tetrapod).

But back to the story.  Judge Jones was the appointed judge for the 2005 trial of Tammy
Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al, AKA the Dover School District Intelligent Design case. 

As some of you are doubtless aware, in 2004, the Dover, Pennsylvania
school board established a policy that science teachers would have to read a
statement to biology students suggesting that there is an alternative to
Darwin’s theory of evolution called intelligent design. ID claims that certain features of life are too complex to have
evolved naturally, and therefore must have been designed by an intelligent
agent. A group of parents eventually filed a suit demanding the statement be withdrawn.

Personally, I think the world would be a better place if more people understood the idea of a scientific theory, and I see nothing wrong in opening people’s minds to the fact that new theories may arise that provide a better explanation of the world we live in.  But that clearly was not what was going on here.

What’s interesting is that Judge Jones’s background is rather conservative.  He is a Lutheran and lifelong Republican.  He was appointed to the District Court by George W. Bush (a man quoted as saying that the jury was still out on Evolution).  Prior to the District Court, he was the chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board where he banned Bad Frog Beer after determining that its label (a frog giving the finger) was in bad taste.  In short, he’d be a perfect candidate to support a religious, rather than fully objective viewpoint.

But Judge Jones pursued the case rationally, dealing only with the issues directly relevant to the case.  Ultimately,  he decided for the plaintiffs, writing in his decision that
intelligent design "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus
religious, antecedents."

Here are some other quotes from his 139 page ruling:

"After a searching review of the
record and applicable case law, we find that while intelligent design arguments
may be true, a proposition on which the Court takes no position, intelligent
design is not science. We find that intelligent design fails on three different
levels, any one of which is sufficient to preclude a determination that
intelligent design is science. They are: (1) intelligent design violates the
centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking and permitting supernatural
causation; (2) the argument of irreducible complexity, central to intelligent
design, employs the same flawed and illogical contrived dualism that doomed
creation science in the 1980s; and (3) intelligent design’s negative
attacks on evolution have been refuted by the scientific community."

"The disclaimer written by the Dover
School Board singles out the theory of evolution for special treatment,
misrepresents its status in the scientific community, causes students to doubt
its validity without scientific justification, presents students with a
religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory, directs them to
consult a creationist text as though it were a science resource, and instructs
students to forego scientific inquiry in the public school classroom and
instead to seek out religious instruction elsewhere."

and finally:

"We do not question that many of the
leading advocates of intelligent design have bona fide and deeply held beliefs
which drive their scholarly endeavors. Nor do we controvert that intelligent
design should continue to be studied, debated, and discussed. As stated, our
conclusion today is that it is unconstitutional to teach intelligent design as
an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom."

The Nova documentary is great — well worth watching — with some fantastic interviews and in-depth information.  It was co-produced with Paul Allen’s Vulcan Productions.  I tip my hat to both of them.

But I’d like to single out Judge Jones as someone worthy of respect.  He’s since endured death threats and blistering attacks in conservative media.  But I’m guessing he sleeps well at night, knowing full well that he approached the case with an open mind, thoughtfully weighing the presented evidence and making his decision accordingly… 

Categories: Thought o' the Day, Tip O' the Hat
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