How have I never heard of Frank Harris?
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Jump to: navigation, searchFor other persons named Frank Harris, see Frank Harris (disambiguation).Frank Harris (February 14, 1856 – August 27, 1931) was an Irish author, editor, journalist and publisher who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Though he attracted much attention during his life for his irascible, aggressive personality, editorship of famous periodicals, and friendship with the talented and famous, he is remembered mainly for his multiple-volume memoir My Life and Loves, which was banned in countries around the world for its sexual explicitness.
via en.wikipedia.org
And I would never have heard of him but from the quote on the front of “My Wicked Wicked Ways”, Errol Flynn’s autobiography (which is excellent).
“A major autobiography in the tradition of Cellini, Casanova and Frank Harris” – Guardian.
How could someone belonging to this list have originated in Galway and I have never heard of him?
Have you heard of him?
Dave Keune
I’d love to be able to build this.
before you click through, can you figure out what it is?
Be hard to tire for the hands!
Berry Engrish!
Actually, I am on the look out for a good laptop holder. I use it ~10 hours per day and its beginning to mess with my back. Any pointers?
I told the little monkey not to do it!
Months ago, (like last November), Joe Scanlon asked for my opinion on a web-based business idea. I was delighted to give my opinion, and told him it would never work. He’d never get the required number of users and it would never make money. My main problem with the idea was that it wasn’t different enough.
Several months later, and it turns out Joe has been busy.
LittleQuiz.com
Take a wander over to LittleQuiz.com – The fruit of his labours. Nice fruit eh?
Will it work? Not usually. But Joe has brought an amazing amount of energy and determination to bear on this problem. It is that energy will define the success or failure of the venture. Even “ok” ideas can be hugely successful in the right hands and good ideas reduced to muck by a lack of the right people.
The key becomes the person and not the idea.
Best of luck Joe.
(By the way, some background on the development of the gorgeous site is available here).#
Update: “Don’t worry if someone else is already working on your idea. I’m certain they are, but they are decidedly not you and it’s the you that makes your idea unique.” – Read this two hours after writing about Joe’s site. Its from the brilliant RandsInRepose blog.
I hate soccer.
I really do. I literally had no idea what Soccer was until I was about 11 and thought as a youngster that “The Red Devils” sounded like something I should definitely be afraid of.
I hate Soccer.
But I love Kevin Coleman’s new project: http://backpagefootball.com/
Kevin is a 42 year old Web genius/millionaire who is the secret brains behind many of the greatest web brands we use every day. He divides his time between Silicon Vally, London and Dublin 4, but is only really at home on the web. For the last 15 years he has delivered success after success, selling many of the sites on, always looking for a bigger success. Determined and hard working and all the other usual flaws one finds in real achievers.
Look at his latest effort, its beautiful.
Among those flaws I mentioned earlier, Kevin detests the spotlight and also has a flare for mis-direction. Hence his disguise as a Teenage Tipperary Student enjoying his summer holidays.
Weird, but hilarious. Typical Kevin. Although, I am not sure how he expects us to believe that a mere kid could get a really excellent team to commit to a years worth of writing and create such a beautiful looking product on F*** all resources. Gas.
The downside to a new business.
Anyone who has actually gone out and started a business will be well aware of the wonderful feeling of independence, the rush of doing something new for one’s self and the market, the hunger to do it all as fast as possible. Unfortunately it is the last point that can often lead to tears later on.
This morning I attended a presentation at the Cork OCC given by David Reilly, Solicitor, on some legal issues that face new businesses, especially those involved in software. It was illuminating and depressing simultaneously. And that is because starting a business, losing your entrepreneurial virginity, can be a harrowing exsperience.
It would be great to maintain the enthusiasm and avoid the boring work : finance, tax, compliance, legal and so on. But in so doing, you are only creating larger problems that will have to be dealt with later. As David put it so well, “I would prefer to get all the fights out of the way at the start, than have to deal with them later”.
A major point that David brought up was that of Copyright and Software. You may have a brilliant idea, and hire a contractor to express that idea through software – In which case, the copyright is with the Contractor. Try selling that amazing web app a few months down the line and see how far you get in Due Diligence without the appropriate agreements having been signed by the contractor. Messy!
Photo owned by Jesse Michael Nix (cc)
David has a load more good information on his site on Intellectual Property, Contracts etc… Good stuff.
Learn Something New!
After another long day, where lots got done, but at the end of it I can’t say if I achieved much. So desperate not to let the day go without a fight, I set out to learn something new…
And that led me to this magical link. (Just click on the question mark… don’t be scared).
?
So where did you end up? Click it again, its different everytime.
(I feel like Willy Wonka all of a sudden).
I got…
- A french song from Glenn Medeiros.
- A Sydney based engineering company who specialised in railway locomotives.
- A Mexican singer from a Musical Reality Show (Does that consitute reality? West Side Story was a drama was it?)
Crikey, but Wikipedia does have a load of crap in it. But I love the randomness.
So what is the ratio of Crap to Useful information (The crufo quotient), I guess that will depend on who finds something interesting first. Be sure to let me know.
Twitter Fixed My Shower.
Well nearly… A big thanks to @plumbtweets for helping me out with some plumbing queries tonight.
I have the good Golez crew from Limerick to thank for providing such an excellent service.
This is the most valuable thing Twitter has done for me in a while… I may not get a job through it or anything drastic like that, but I got professional advice when I needed it.
Am tempted to do something similar myself in my own field of expertise… We’ll see.
Code Name Ginger – An Excellent Read.
“Code Name Ginger – The story behind SEGWAY and Dean Kamen’s quest to invent a new world” by Steve Kemper.
I found it to be an excellent read. Its product development and adventure in one. Covering engineering, leadership, finance, people – Its got the lot. A “Lord of the Rings” for business.
And for Gandalf, we have Dean Kamen, the absolute stereotype of Inventor and Innovator – Genius, but hard to live with. But the hero of the story for me, the Frodo, the man doing the unglamourous miles, was Doug Field – The man who led the engineering team and produced the Segway. The inventor may get the credit when a prototype is wheeled out, but its the likes of Doug who convert the idea into a mass-produced reality. Signs on, Doug is currently VP of Product Design at Apple.
Photo owned by nichol alexander (cc)
The book was originally written around the time the Segway was released in 2003. Many people might wonder why such an insignificant product deserves much attention, but prior to launch, everyone who saw and rode the Segway thought it would change the world, with the result that Dean Kamen was turning down offers of money from the likes of Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.
Lucky for me, there is now a Segway agency in Ireland. And more importantly, as they can be expensive, they run Segway tours of Dublin. Woo! I am going to try this first chance I get, if you want to join me, leave a comment, and we can get organised.
Thanks to Jackie Danicki for the original lead on this book.
