clips of logic

I just found out about this 3 year old Youtube video, Charlie the unicorn that has something like 40+ million views and 110k+ comments. It is ridiculously funny and random. I was curious about how this 3 1/2 minutes long cartoon became so viral. So I took the risk and watched the other episodes. Thankfully, I think I’m still sane and these are the things I noticed in all 3 episodes.

1. Charlie’s friends will invite him on a magical adventure
2. Along the journey, Charlie’s friends will make random noises/conversations that annoys him
3. Also along the journey, they will encounter things you can’t expect in your wildest imagination which will annoy and humor you (and Charlie) at the same time
4. Near the end of the adventure, there will be a song which is surprisingly pretty catchy and of course random
5. At the end, Charlie will be screwed in some way by his friends

Not sure if this is the formula to create a viral clip but one thing I’m sure of. This thing is pretty darn addictive to watch and probably explains the massive amount of views. Whatever it is, I need to get away from it now.

Wow this guy’s tape measure skill is definitely superhuman. Credits: 37signals

In Zombieland, the main character, Columbus adhere strictly to a set of rules in order to survive the zombie apocalypse. It worked pretty well for him so I decided to have a set of rules for the new year. Here’s my list:

1. Learn something new everyday
2. Share what you learned with others whenever possible
3. Experience things beyond my comfort zone
4. Blog more often and hopefully consistently
5. / 32. Enjoy the little things

What’s yours? Share it in the comments.

A while ago, Seth Godin posted about an ebook with ideas and insights from many influential individuals and great thinkers of our time. Here’s an excerpt from his post.

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O’Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Fred Wilson, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

It is so good and thought provoking that I just had share this to everyone. You can download it here or view it online on Scribd or wepapers.

This is an example from The Black Swan that highlights how we can not rely on the past to predict the future. I find it extremely funny and pretty disturbing at the same time.

Farmer feeds his turkey everyday. He makes sure the turkey is well-fed and taken care of.
The turkey is happy because it’s well fed and loved.

As time goes by, the act of being fed and loved makes the Turkey feel that this is how things should and will be. Looking back into the past, this is how it has always been. Fed and loved. This is the life of a turkey. Each passing day reinforces this thought.

Come thanksgiving, farmer butchers the turkey

Woops. If you are the turkey, you will be confused because you thought the future is bright and filled with love. But if you were the farmer, you knew this day will come. You fed the turkey for this day. Each passing day reinforces your belief that one day you will have the turkey for dinner.

What comes as a surprise to the Turkey is not for the farmer. Thanksgiving is an event that’s completely random and unexpected (Black Swan) if observed from the Turkey’s perspective but to the farmer that’s what happen every year.

So what should we do? For starters, realize that there is a lot of things that we can’t predict using data from the past. If you need to make a prediction, try to identify areas that are vulnerable to these Black Swans. Minimize the negative impact of random events and position yourself to benefit from the positive ones. If you are interested in this subject, read the book and remember, don’t be a turkey.