Thanks to my wonderful spouse, we were able to check out John Legend at the Ryman Auditorium.
Yes, I understand I’m not exactly his target demographic
But hey, he puts on a great show.
Image courtesy of goodson_kristin via Flickr
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So I attended Bloblive last night at Belmont, which was a lot of fun. Here were my favorites:
1) Green Lawn Care
Create a scalable lawn care system using old fashioned non-motor powered lawn mowers loaded onto bicycle carts. Less overhead in terms of gasoline and equipment, but obvious scale issues when it comes to little human-powered lawn mowers (I should know, I own one). Charge a luxury tax to these newfangled urban living communities.
2) Chart Your Career Path
Using sophisticated tagging and meta data, create a job search and career advice site that matches young and experienced professionals based on similar career paths/trajectories. (I think of it as the untapped social graph of LinkedIn - come to think of it, what a great idea for an app!)
3) Airport Strollers (thanks to a friend for this one)
Install airport stroller rentals in major U.S. airports (akin to those in amusement parks or large shopping malls) that are designed for better mobility and to go through security. Check them out upon arrival, use them to easily balance carry on luggage with laptop case plus your kid, and then return them at the gate. Charge $5.
4) Wiimote Smartboard Consultancy (In full discretion, this idea is mine!)
I’ve blogged about this over at my personal Web site, but basically here’s the idea. A graduate student in California, Johnny Lee, developed a Smartboard that can be used together with a Wiimote (that’s right, from the Nintendo Wii) and any PC with Bluetooth capability. (A smartboard, of course, is a fancy interactive whiteboard commonly used by teachers in classrooms).
What’s the point? Well, Lee’s Smartboard is about 80 percent as good as the professional ones at about 1 percent of the cost. (The big boys retail from $3,000-$5,000.)
Of course, the biggest problem with Smartboards, aside from getting the funding, is training teachers to integrate them into their courses. My idea for a company would be a full-service Wiimote Smartboard installation and support service for Metro schools.
(And I got a great comment from someone there suggesting I try to get in business with the big Smartboard retailers and see if they’d want to help fund it. The idea would be, if enough schools adopt this simpler, albeit more rudimentary technology, more would in turn upgrade to the real deal when they received the funds).
5) Bloblive!
At the end, the host stood up and once again explained the idea of Bloblive. Anyone and everyone convenes, volunteers stand before the crowd and take 2-3 minutes to explain an idea, and then people give feedback.
Unlike some other entrepreneurial gatherings I’ve been to, this one was really refreshing. No expectations. No pretense. Just some big thinkers with some big ideas, a bit of free food and a lot of fun. The thing I liked about Bloblive is that it didn’t pretend to be anything more.
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I’m thinking of heading over to Bloblive at Belmont this week.
Any of you out-of-towners who occasionally read this blog have any world-changing business ideas?
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It all seemed so straightforward at first. “Free lessons for newcomers.” “Come check out the dance studio.” For some reason the National Dance Clubs at Belle Meade doesn’t advertise “The Most Awkward Situation of Your New Life in Nashville.”
Don’t believe me? Keep reading (or check out these three City Search reviews).
In the beginning
When we first arrived at National Dance Clubs we were greeted by an extremely friendly and warm dance instructor. In fact, we were pretty unprepared for the atmosphere at the studio, and, having planned to play tennis afterward, we were pretty under dressed. Despite our embarrassment, our instructor made us feel exceedingly welcome. We did some very basic preparations, nothing much compared with other places I’ve been, and our instructor emphasized the importance of nailing the fundamentals. While I personally felt we could have progressed a touch quicker, hey, they’re the experts. And we were having fun…
Then came the “mini-sell”
Before we’d had much of a chance to enjoy our two free lessons, our instructor moved in quickly to convince us to sign up for a block of six additional sessions. She was slick about it, coupled with the fact that we, like many couples, “have always wanted to take dance lessons, but never had the time,” so we said, “Let’s do this.” It was a hefty chunk of change, especially for so few lessons. But it came with a number of additional events (at which the main attraction was an open bar). So if you don’t feel like you’re dancing your money’s worth, you can be darn sure that you can drink it.
The fun...
The next four to five lessons were great - no complaints there. Our instructor was both professional and fun, and we had a blast learning the basic steps to the waltz, rumba, push/pull, tango and foxtrot.
The hard sell...
Now this is equal parts art and science and it spanned two sessions. Here’s the breakdown, as best as I can remember it:
$1,800
$1,800? We practically burst out laughing. “I had thought our second round of lessons might be a bit out of our price range,” I start, “but this, this is way, way out of our price range.”
“We need to pay a mortgage,” my wife adds.
They insist. They plead. They persist. They’ll lower the price to $1,650 if we pay right now.
“I can count on one hand,” the manager says, “the people who say they’ll come back and continue lessons, and then actually do.”
“And you know what?” my wife counters. “We’re one of those people. So if we have any interest, we’ll let you know. But right now, we can’t.”
The moral of the story...
The National Dance Clubs at Belle Meade is stacked with professional dancers. They’ll teach you how to dance, and it’ll be a good time. But they’re a business, and as such, they need to keep the lights on. They’re going to hard sell you, and it’s going to be awkward. I’ve often joked that I have a pretty high tolerance for awkward situations, much higher than friends and family, so while I think the whole situation was kind of funny, I’m OK with it. After reading our story, you need to make up your own mind. Newcomers beware…
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(Image courtesy of jon a ross via Flickr)
Lipscomb University is hosting a free E-waste recycling event today and tomorrow.
When
October 3rd-4th
8am-4pm
Where
Lipscomb High School
Football Field Parking Lot
1029 Caldwell Ln,
Nashville, TN 37204
What
Everything but refrigerators and air conditioning units!
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As I said, I attended Bruce Cole’s speech at Vanderbilt University Friday on the state of the humanities in American society. (Video available here, although I didn’t have the correct plug in to view it).
Cole began by explaining how the humanities is often typified by the stodgy old academic, pouring over manuscripts in the back room of a library, scribbling feverishly by candlelight. But then he went on to describe a few of the latest trends affecting the field. Here are a few pullouts from my perspective I found interesting.
Digitization, Wikipedia and Tools for Collaboration
At one point, Cole said that if he knew that issues of interoperability would be at the forefront of his work, or that a head scientist at the Department of Energy would ask him to explore using his supercomputer, he would not have believed it even a few years ago. But that’s the reality. As the National Endowment for the Humanities (Cole’s group), other government agencies, and society at large struggles to convert a mountain of data from analog format (old newspapers, artwork, etc.) to digital databases, those databases have to be both searchable and interoperable with newer, more robust databases once the old ones fall into obsolescence (usually within 12-18 months these days).
As for Wikipedia, Cole tread lightly (probably for fear of fueling a debate on accuracy), but admitted that the humanities has been much slower to adopt new (participatory, collaborative, computational) media for their work, Wikipedia, controversy notwithstanding, being the notable exception.
Questions that remained unanswered
The Q&A session lasted entirely too short, and I still had a number of questions relating specifically to some of the things he mentioned (paraphrased below).
“Books Will Never Die”
In a tone of reassurance, Cole told the audience that books would never die. He then smartly quipped that he picked one up just a week or so ago.
Am I the only one who detects a touch of ominous irony in that? A rush of examples come to mind that question how right he is to reassure. Take the Kindle, Amazon’s latest e-book. As the price comes down, would I rather have on book in my back pocket, or a hundred? Or a thousand? And yes, the tactile experience of a book trumps electronic paper. But will that protect the book publishing industry? Ask Kodak if the poor quality of early consumer digital cameras insulated their bottom line. It’s like the argument about horses. Sure, they didn’t go extinct with the advent of the automobile - they’re just not the most efficient way for personal transportation.
The Internationalization of the Humanities
In one breath, Cole explained that, as a federally funded program, his endowment’s first and first and foremost task was to ensure that all of their research is completely and fully open to the American public. Each and every United States citizen, he exclaimed, should enjoy open access to any and all research. In the next moment, however, he talked about the increasing collaboration among his group and similar ones in China, Italy, Great Britain and Germany, to name a few.
It begs the question, how does the mission of the Endowment change? The fact of the matter is, there’s no way to make every bit of research available to the American public without making it available to the whole world. On the flip side, I can enjoy access to anything produced by the British organization partnering with the U.S. Endowment for the Humanities, or any other country’s for that matter, my only limitations being Internet access and language skills. Does that change the mission? How we get funding? Probably not, and the only immediate outgrowth of global access to information will be what is already taking place, namely, increased collaboration among different groups across the country. But they are interesting questions to ask.
Your thoughts? Is Wikipedia an attack on the Humanities? Or an opportunity to harness the expertise of the many? Any other takeaways from the speech?
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(Photo courtesy of ntang via Flickr)
I’ll be out of town this weekend so I’ll miss Ben Folds perform with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra Sunday at the Laura Turner Concert Hall (tickets are $40.00 so it may be a blessing in disguise).
Anyone going? I’ll be checking YouTube/Flickr for videos and photos of the performance.
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Bruce Cole, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will give a lecture titled “The State of the Humanities” at Vanderbilt’s campus on Friday, September 5th, 2008 from 5:00-7:00 p.m.
Cole is well known in education circles for launching We The People, and, more specifically, its “Picturing America” initiative. The program aims to help children understand U.S. history through art, quite a novel concept, in my opinion.
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Jimmy Fallon is playing at Zanie’s all weekend. Even though Fallon has never quite experienced the break out success of other SNL greats, I’ve always enjoyed him for his honesty.
Here’s my favorite clips of his. He just can’t quite keep it together, and that’s what I love about him:
(Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled on this YouTube video, but it’s always worth a watch.)
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(OK, so I realize this isn’t exactly “news,” but hey, I’m new, so it’s news to me. How awesome).
So you can’t get any tickets, but there are a number of awesome events leading up to it.
Are there any huge viewings taking place?
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(Image courtesy of mulmatsherm via Flickr)
Jackson, TN, that is…
Inspired by my friend (and Southern Living writer) Kelsey Blackwell over at Tales From the Road, I’ve decided to share the link and solicit feedback for what I should do in Jackson, Tennessee?
The agenda thus far
Word is there’s live music, open art galleries and later than normal restaurant hours for Fabulous Fridays.
Jackson boasts two wineries: the Century Farm Winery and the Old Medina Winery.
The Cypress Grove Nature Park, an urban wetland, offers more than 7,000 feet of elevated boardwalk.
And, thanks to my friend Kels, I’ll have to go check out the art deco-style Greyhound station.
Anything else I’m missing?
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“The Dragon Roars Again!” Anyone ever been?
It starts at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow and runs all day. Here are the details:
Nashville Dragon Boat Races and Festival
Saturday, August 23, 2008Riverfront Park, Nashville, Tennessee
Opening Ceremony 8:30 AM
Races Start at 9:00 AMTeams of 22 people will race along the Cumberland and need your help to cheer them along. Bring your friends and family down for a fun day celebrating our wonderful Cumberland River. Opening ceremony at 8:30. Races begin at 9:00 with the Grand Championship Finale at approximately 3:45.
I guess this is what we can expect:
I’d prefer this view, but it’s probably too late to register:
NSide Nashville calls it “no flugtag,” but worth checking out.
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New to Nashville chronicles my thoughts and tips as I stumble my way through the Music City. Feel free to comment with questions or concerns, or e-mail me at newbie at nashville dot net.
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