I think this is hilarious:

Libby was an infamous prison in Richmond in the Civil War.

“If it says Libby, Libby, Libby
On his prison label
You will like it, like it, like it
On your jailble, jailble, jailbe,”

(Old Libby TV jingle, to new words)

But, obviously, the indictment is not funny. Check out my post over at Fresh Politics, and the ensuing commentary.

I recently took part in a focus group yesterday on campus run by Mathematica, which sought to measure how effective Wake was using the Kauffman grant; namely how students perceived the Entrepreneurship Center, what events and organizations were being formed, how significantly entrepreneurship was being publicized, etc.. (For those who don’t know what that is, the Kauffman foundation gives money to schools to start entrepreneurship programs, etc. Wake received about $2M two years ago).

A participant made a comment that resonated with me: so many people have ideas floating around. But only a small percentage implement them.

That’s a shame (even though I’m guilty of the same thing), especially when considering how much money is out there and how willing people are to help young entrepreneurs.

So here are some tips on starting something:

1. Realize that ideas are a dime a dozen.

2. But realize that most ideas don’t get implemented. What differentiates you is execution. Did you try it? Did you devote yourself to it? Did you want to succeed? Those are questions that will be asked. Lots of bad ideas have turned out to be successful businesses, i.e. selling plastic dog crap. Now that’s crappy. (ha ha).

3. But attempting to implement a decent concept is a lot better then trying out a crappy one, for sure.

4. Talk about it. To everyone. Don’t keep it on a piece of paper stuck under your mattress, or locked in your safe. Ideas get better through refinement, and since ideas are a dime a dozen, you won’t lose anything by sharing it. In fact, you’ll talk about it so much that you’ll improve it without knowing it.

5. To borrow a notion from Guy Kawasaki, an early Apple employee and “product evangelist,” close Microsoft Word and pick up a soldering iron, open up your graphics program, take out your hammer. In other words, start using whatever tools you need to implement your concept. Now. You can only write about it so much. Just do it! Once you get started, you’re past the hard part. A natural inertia will set in.

6. Have a vision, but be adaptable in ways to implement it. Be simultaneously flexible yet focused.

7. Have fun.

8. Be realistic.

I’ve spoken a little bit about Tripolit, the project on which I’m working in this space. As of now, I’ve talked about to what it’s vaguely related and some problems/ideas I have about the so-called online social networking industry.

So let’s talk about it some more. What is it? In a product paper I submitted for the WFU Chambers Grant, I say that:

Tripolit aspires to become the Google of political information. Google strives to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Tripolit, in turn, aims to be the best one-source solution for the discovery of political people and political intelligence.

For me, the political industry faces two problems:

1. The political marketplace sees an incredibly high rate of turnover. Practically every two years we see places like Washington, D.C. change drastically. Moreover, creating, maintaining and establishing new relationships is a must for any politically-motivated individual.

2. Knowledge is power. And there is a heck of a lot of information through which to wade to make effective decisions. The issue today isn’t the availability of information — it’s the ability to pick out the most relevant pieces.

Seeing this, I wondered why there wasn’t a better way not only to network, but to stay aware of how your contacts were linked to actual happenings. Yes, word of mouth keeps people up to date, but there’s got to be a better way. Why not make a concerted effort to bridge the gap between news stories, blogs, podcasts, journals, etc. — that is, who wrote it? who worked on it? who’s in it?

I’ve made a lot of progress. Now more than just a formulated concept, I’m beginning to generate some material results.

More later.

This is hilarious: “Getting tired of that old Windows Start-Up Sound? How about trying on a serious Mac Start-Up Symphony?”

Via Feld Thoughts.

So it happens everyday, and we don’t even think about it: we get receipts from stuff we buy. We get an invoice for services rendered by a provider.

Why don’t we get the same from government?

Here’s what I want: after citizens pay their taxes, they get an explicit invoice of not only how much they paid, but for what exactly they paid. It shows how much of your money goes to which agency and program and when, by percentage. Moreover, we’d be able to track how that changed from YTY and the overall budget of that program or agency.

Imagine how government would change. We’d be able to say “I paid x amount for y program, and I can’t stand it!” We’d be able to make educated guesses. And we’d see firsthand the magnitude of government waste.

Just a thought.