Monday, January 28, 2013

The Business January 30th 2013, The "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Graduate Management Admission Test" Edition

 
This week, you’re either on the bus or off the bus as we take off on a tripped out psychedelic adventure, man!

Come experience a perception of the comic unity of a higher level. And a feeling of timelessness, the feeling that what we know as time is only the result of a naive faith in causality - the notion that A in the past caused B in the present, which will cause C in the future, when actually A, B, and C are all part of a pattern that can be truly understood only by opening the doors of perception and experiencing it... in this moment... this supreme moment... this Kairos. I mean comedy. Yeah, comedy.

This week, The Business welcome’s two guests, freshly returned from tours through the gates of inner-consciousness.

Josh Androsky is one of the clowns behind Hamclown: Los Angeles comedy hotspot and a Skateboard Rabbi on Shrooms that OWNED the Price is Right.

Keith D’Souza is a rare and beautiful bird. We will cage him for you and let you laugh at him.

Your regulars will be there as well Alex “Furthur” Koll, Sean “Kesey” Keane, Bucky “Hysterical Realism” Sinister, Nato “Prankster” Green and Caitlin “whoa man… when we were in the womb was all breathed through a” Gill.

We are also happy to have founding member Chris "Passed the Acid Test" Garcia back for the week! Come see him before he heads back to The Business LA!

BYOBurrito into the unknown.

This whole freaky trip is just $5! AND you can bring a friend for free with one of our 2-for-1 coupons.

We sell out! Get there early for a seat.

YOU ARE HEREBY EMPOWERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Business January 23rd 2013, The "Mrs. Doubtfire 2: Revenge of the Fallen" Edition

San Francisco loves a home-grown star, and even though our guest this week now lives in London, he will always be the dude from SF that was in that movie where Robin Williams wore a dress.
 
Scott Capurro was reared in Daly City, California; at age 3, he swam the English Channel. Since 1993, he's avoided AIDS by telling unsavory jokes in every English speaking country. Described by San Francisco Weekly (free press, edited by lesbians and designed by trannys with large hands and hidden agendas) as "stand-up in the very best possible sense - deadpan, ever-alert and hilarious". Scott has appeared in Mrs. Doubtfire, where, effortlessly, he played a homosexual; and Star Wars: Phantom Menace, where, breathlessly, he wore a body stocking.

We are also happy to welcome one of Fresno’s finest, Raphi Barakat!

And your regulars! Caitlin “Mrs. Apprehensionflame” Gill, Sean “Mrs. Concernedblaze” Keane, Bucky “Mrs. Badfeelingaboutthatspark” Sinister and Alex “Mrs. Incredulouscoals” Koll.

WE SELL OUT so get there early if you want a seat.

This whole show is just $5!! Just $5!!! Plus you can bring a friend for free with one of our 2 for 1 coupons up top.

BYOBurrito and instagram it.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Snuggly Lap Quilt

Our weather has been awfully dreary here lately. Lots and lots of rain. Perfect weather for reading, board games, and snuggling.
As I was cleaning out my craft room, I ran across some quilt squares I had cut out a couple of years ago...yes, years:o)
I decided to make a quick quilt out of them...who knows why it took me this long!
 The fabric for the backing was given to me, and how lucky was it that it matched my squares? 
This quilt was meant to be:o)
 It has become THE favorite blanket in the house...too bad it isn't big enough to fit all four of us under it.
However, it's perfect for a day like this, when it's cold and rainy outside.
I hope you all are staying warm and dry!

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Business January 16th 2013, The "Night Of January 16th- A Comedy Show by Ayn Rand" Edition

A night of passion and intrigue! Marvel at the legal spectacle as a jury decides if Bjorn Faulkner threw himself out of his penthouse or if he was pushed to his death by his secretary, Karen Andre!!!

Contemplate the heady moral nuances of contrasting ideas of individualism versus conformity! Wonder at which verdict the jury will return, IT CHANGES WITH EACH PERFORMANCE OF THE PLAY!! HOW NOVEL!!!! (It was also a novel.)

…or we can just have a fun comedy show instead.

The verdict is in on Brendan Lynch. He has been found funny by a jury of his peers (though we’re not sure they were really his peers, as they were all shorter than he is).

Brendan Lynch has established himself as a comedian to look out for in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a regular performer at clubs all over the Northern California and has performed in the San Francisco SketchFest for the last two years. Don't be deceived by Brendan's low-key manner. Prepare yourself for an outrageous slice outside the cookie cutter of life. Brendan's astute observational comedy will surprise you with its bold sarcasm, absurd twists, and hilarious punchlines.

Your regulars, Alex Koll, Sean Keane, Bucky Sinister and Caitlin Gill will be there as well.

We SELL OUT. Get there early for a seat.

Reserved seating for Paul Ryan (it’s a workout bench).

BYOBurrito but don’t share it with anyone else. It is your individual right to possess your burrito.

Craft Room Clean-Out Sale

Today I posted some fabric bundles on Facebook that I have cleared out of my craft room.
Head over to my Facebook Page to see if something catches your eye.
Here are a few of the bundles I have available.



Hopefully your day isn't as dreary as it is here:o) Happy Monday!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Do Firms Trust Universities?

Earlier this week, I attended a seminar at the London Business School by Michaël Bikard – a PhD candidate at MIT – who presented his research on technological inventions. Such inventions are, of course, often patented. Examining these patents allowed Michaël to determine on which technological breakthrough discoveries these inventions were based. Hence, these inventions are basically commercial applications of the more fundamental discoveries.

Fairly regularly, a university or a firm builds on and commercializes its own discoveries but, quite often, such an organisation may also be building on the discoveries of others. That is possible because such fundamental discoveries will often be published, in academic journals such as Nature or Science, and hence are accessible to everyone. And that’s when it gets interesting; because on whose discoveries are firms more likely to build when working on applied inventions: on the discoveries of universities or of other companies?

It matters where a discovery was made

Past research on the topic has basically been comparing apples and oranges, because the discoveries coming out of universities are often fundamentally different from the breakthroughs achieved in firms. Michaël, however, wanted to know whether it mattered to companies where the breakthrough had taken place – regardless of the actual content of the breakthrough. Therefore, he analysed a unique yet fascinating set of technological discoveries, namely the instances where the exact same breakthrough happened at the exact same time in a university and in a firm.

This happens surprisingly often. For example, in the winter of 1999, two teams of scientists simultaneously discovered VR1 (vanilloid receptor1), the receptor for the pain caused by excessive heat. The first team of scientists – who published the finding in Science in May 2000 – was from the University of California in San Francisco. The second team, however, worked at SmithKline Beecham. Hence, the same idea originated simultaneously in a university and in a firm. In total, there were 39 of such simultaneous discoveries in firms and universities between 1970 and 2009.

Then, through patent analysis, Michaël tracked all commercial inventions that built on one of the 39 fundamental discoveries, such as VR1. And he found out that the patenting companies much more often had picked up on the discovery from the publication by the firms. Now, note that these companies could have picked up on the exact same idea from the publication by the universities, but they didn’t – apparently companies scanning for fundamental knowledge pay more attention to the discoveries of other firms. In comparison, they don’t bother with stuff coming out of universities. And that begs the question: why?

Firms do not monitor universities

Why do firms not pay attention to the discoveries by universities? It’s not about the content of the discovery; that, in this case, is the exact same thing. To find out, Michaël started interviewing people; the R&D folk that had worked on the commercial inventions.

And they confirmed that they basically did not bother much looking at the stuff coming out of universities. The first reason is because that is simply what companies are used to doing: indeed, most firms I know obsessively monitor their competitors, so if such a competitor comes up with a new discovery, they will notice. They don’t habitually look at universities. Therefore, they miss stuff. And that’s their loss.

The second reason is more worrying (at least, to me, as an academic): The interviewees proclaimed that they don’t pay much attention to the publications about fundamental discoveries by universities because they don’t trust them. Some feel that academics are too heavily incentivised and put under pressure to publish stuff; i.e. the infamous “publish or perish” culture. This, in their view, increases the chance that the publications are dubious, flawed, or outright fraudulent. And they’re not taking any chances with them.

One inventor proclaimed: “It’s a much higher bar [for industry], higher standards, because every error, or every piece of fraud along the way, the end game is going to fail. … Therefore, I have more faith in what industry puts out there as a publication”. Firms don’t pay attention to published discoveries by universities because they think chances are that it is bogus.

I remember that the company MORI used to run surveys on “who do you trust?” – and they probably still do – dividing, among others, the results by profession. Ten years ago, priests and professors used to come out on top; businessmen and politicians near the bottom. I don’t know exactly what people nowadays think of the trustworthiness of businessmen and politicians, but I have a fair idea what happened to the faith in priests and professors.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

New Year, New List of Things to Do..

Happy New Year to you all. I realize I'm a week late, but better late than never, right?
For the past week and a half, I have been in purge mode. You wouldn't believe the amount of junk I have cleared out of closets and our attic. I still have a few areas I haven't hit yet. 
I have been working on my craft room too, and I'm going to have some crafty bundles in my Etsy shop here in the next few days.

I have decided that my motto for 2013 is to SIMPLIFY. 

The hubs is definitely on board:o) We are clearing out clutter, junk and debt. 
 One of our next DIY's will be to update the kids' bathroom. If you follow me on Facebook, I may have said that I was going to tackle that this past weekend...well, it didn't exactly happen:o) The supplies have been purchased though, so all we have to do is get the motivation to make it happen.

Another item on my list of things to do is to make S.R. a quilt for her bed. She LOVES purple, and has asked a couple of times if I would make her room purple. I'm sticking with the green, but will replace the pink with purple. A quilt, some new curtains, new lamp shades, and a new canopy will do the trick. Things that I can do over time. My goal is to get the quilt done before her birthday...which is the beginning of March. Daunting, I know!
These are the fabrics I chose. They are from Riley Blake and it's the Dress Up Days line. I'm really excited about this really cute fabric! 
This is the one I fell in love with...isn't it adorable?!?!

This is the quilt that I will be fashioning out of the above fabrics....crazy I know. I'm sure my "crafty ADD" will be able to manage all of these scallops(NOT), but I'm going to go in with eyes wide shut;o) HA!

The quilt pattern is from this book and you can find it at Amazon.
Click here to purchase from Amazon
I am really excited about this quilt. I just have to be like the Little Engine That Could, and do it!!

Have a great Tuesday!!

The Business January 9th 2013, The "There’s GOLD in This Here Show!!" Edition

 The Business has elemental riches! Our lush lands are bursting with precious metals. You can’t dip a pan in our rivers without coming up with gold. ..

HEATHER GOLD!

Our guest this week is none other than sweet cookie Heather Gold.
Heather Gold is a writer, performer and audience involver whom boingboing calls "brilliant" and "one of our favourite comedians." She scales conversation and public intimacy. Her mission is to create a space and a world where we can be ourselves together. Heather emcees and performs for venues and clients across North America, and contributes to magazines and newspapers like The San Jose Mercury News, the Toronto Globe & Mail and CBC Radio. Heather hosts the weekly podcast Tummelvision.tv the leading show about social engagement in a networked world. She’s been quoted and covered in places like WIRED, Salon and NPR.

Of course, your regulars will be there as well. Though Mike Drucker will always be IN The Business, he is off to New York to make TV funny, so he can’t be in The Business every week anymore. We are very pleased to welcome our new Businessman, Nato Green! Nato has long been a favorite guest of The Business, he will continue to delight as a regular member.

Come join us! Sean “Silver” Keane, Bucky “Bismuth” Sinister, Alex “Mercury” Koll, Caitlin “Palladium” Gill and “PLATINUM” Nato Green.
We sell out! Get there early.

BYOBeryllium.

(JK BYOBURRRRRRITO!!!!)

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Business January 2nd 2013, The “2013- the Exciting Sequel to 2012 Starring John Cusack” Edition

Roland Emmerich guest directs this very exciting edition of The Business, in which we will face off with Godzilla in a terrible storm that happened cause we flooded the atmosphere with carbons while we were fighting aliens for our Independence.

We have guest stars to help us! (and they are the good kind that will survive til the end of the movie!


… OR WILL THEY?!?!)

Jules Posner!

Jules Posner is a stand up comedian and San Francisco native. He has been described as a comedian who, “puts the ‘b’ in subtle”. Jules performs all over the country and is a regular at the SF Punchline. Jules Posner has been featured on Jokes.com, Hulu, and SF Sketchfest 2011-2012.

Tony Camin!

Tony has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Real Time with Bill Maher, and lots of others that have been cancelled. He's has performed at The Just For Laughs festival in Montreal as well as The HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, as well as the Melbourne Comedy festival in Australia. Tony has written for programs on NBC, VH1, and Comedy Central. In addition to being co-creator/ performer of "The Marijuana-Logues", he can also be seen as a correspondent for "The Media Project", on IFC.

This Big Big show is just $5. You can even bring a friend for free!!!!!!!$!!! with one of our two-for-one coupons.
http://thebusinesscomedy.blogspot.com/

We sell out, get there early for a seat!

BYONYBurrito