Hummus Diplomacy →

A year later, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists threatened legal action to prevent Israel from selling hummus under the hummus name, which means chickpea in Arabic; the argument, in essence, was that as it goes for sparkling wine, where only bottles of a precise provenance qualify as Champagne, so it should for the tangy ­purée. By 2009, Lebanon and Israel had found a different way to settle their hummus differences: a competition to build the world’s single largest dish of the stuff. Israel whipped up an 8,993-pound batch, only to have Lebanon strike back with a decisive 23,042-pounder.

1. New York magazine

The J-Curve →

Most online reviewers, the data show, are either cranks or starry-eyed fanatics—and in this supposedly snarky age there are a lot more of the latter than the former. In 2009, The Wall Street Journal found that the average rating in a five-star system, Internet-wide, was a 4.3, suggesting a world of uniformly awesome products, services, and experiences.

User-feedback expert Randy Farmer, co-author of Building Web Reputation Systems, calls this pattern “the J-curve.” (Picture a chart with ratings along the x-axis and the number of users choosing that rating along the y-axis. A few ones, a dip in the two-to-four region, and a proliferation of fives gives you a J-shape.) YouTube used to be an egregious J-curve offender; a few years ago, product manager Shiva Rajaraman posted a graph on the company’s blog indicating that the average rating on the site was roughly 4.8. The company’s solution was to replace the star system with “like” and “dislike” options.

1. NY Mag

Bob Gill on Inspiration →

The perfect intersection between a recent curiosity about Inspiration and where it comes from, and carrying around the brilliant, funny Bob Gill, So Far as if it were a religious tome

“When you get a job – say an ad for a drycleaner – many images come to mind, we all have preconceptions,” Gill said. “My suggestion is to forget every image that comes to mind, forget everything you know about dry-cleaning.

“Instead of sitting at your computer, and looking at books, go to a drycleaner, and sit there. The way to get an interesting idea is to go to the source. Stay there until you have thought of something interesting about drycleaning. Then, listen to that idea and it will design itself.”

1. Creative Review

Missy Elliott on Inspiration →

I was at a talk the other day and someone asked the speaker where they got their inspiration. The speaker didn’t quite know how to answer so the audience member gave the example of how, being a fashion designer, she finds inspiration in looking at couture dresses. Following conventional wisdom, people want to get ideas from within their medium, industry or peer-group. This seems like a good process if your goal is to create derivative works.

I often think about something I heard about Missy Elliot’s creative process. Supposedly, before she starts recording she locks herself inside for a few days with no outside influences – no visitors, no TV, no other music, nothing.

That’s about as contrary a view of where inspiration comes from as I know of. And it sounds real.

Ron Paul’s Fan Base →

Photographs by Lauren Lancaster.

1. New Yorker