How to organize your streaming schedule.

I am writing this post for you guys, who enjoy streaming videos.

Streaming a video has the major advantage of providing a fast way to view your favorite TV series or movies as compared to direct or peer-to-peer downloading.
The major drawback is that it is hard to find streaming sources for old series or movies.

In fact, if you follow several series, it becomes quite hard to keep track with whatever is coming up. And when you know it's been aired you still have to find your sources.
For the record, I'd like to mention that streaming can be legal, if you use Hulu, for example. (Bad news, it only works in the US).

Here's what I use : Sidereel.



I can follow airing dates in real time, and all I had to do was to input my favourite series. And within two clicks, I am watching it.




Here shown is only one fourth of everything I keep track with. (Too bad I can not put Animes).

With that method, my streaming experience is more viewing and less searching.
More watching series and less socializing.
But, hey, that's my life :)

Audit and consulting firms use a PONZI scheme.

That's what I came up with, based on the observation of French companies.

You must have heard about the Madoff scheme, also called pyramidal scheme or PONZI scheme.
It's been known for a long time, and the basic principle is:
The last people entering the scheme pay for the others. And the system works only if more and more people keep coming.

One common example is the typical mail telling you to send 5 euros to the sender and forward the same mail to 4 people. If the 4 people send you 5 euros each, you make 15 euros in the end. So as long as people join the system, the first entrants profit from it. And they can always say "We just ask you to do what we already did."

The similarity is striking:
Audit and consulting firms use a pyramidal PONZI scheme, so that partners profit from latest entrants.
This works very well for the very big consulting or auditing company. I will focus more on auditing companies.

Here is the global career path in one of those big companies as explained by their HR.



Nothing wrong with that. A typical career path and you have something to aim for.

But let's take a closer look.



There are few partners for an army of juniors and interns. And I don't even want to talk about the salary.
As well, the hours are very tough at the beginning, as "It's UP or OUT!!". You have to prove your worth to access the next step of the pyramid. And the longer you have stayed in the system, the more you have to work as competition increases and the amount of time already invested.

Not to mention that because of the long hours, you have spent more and more time with your co-workers and lost contact with external acquaintances... in the end you become more and more productive for the company. And nobody else would hire you for such a competitive salary. You're stuck there.

So what is it like to be an auditor?



Finally, we can all agree that those firms have created a pyramidal system that only profits to the first entrants, and that can only work if people keep coming.

It is therefore a PONZI scheme.

I rest my case.

Disclaimer// no company of my knowledge is targeted her...

It's 26 year, 8 months. Do you know where your life is?

I must be asking myself too many questions.
But I guess there's nothing wrong with making a reality check and looking forward.

Let's consider that on a theoretical point of view.





















Those are the 3 pillars of life.
If one of them goes bad, then your life goes bad. (3 is always a good number for marketing).

HEALTH: I'm 26. I'm in the decaying slope, but still full of life. Hope it lasts.
LOVE : Doing my best to improve that. Replace LOVE with SEX and I'm almost good.
WEALTH : Huh. Working on creating assets.

I guess I have not really optimized those three pillars.
But hey what? I don't care about the 3 pillars. I'm having fun.

I guess there's one thing I am sure of. Everything IS possible.
Being a millionaire before 30 IS possible. I met some entrepreneurs who managed. 30 year old entrepreneurs, with 4 month holidays.
I have seen people so devoted on reaching their goals, they would eventually do.

But hey, there's the rub...
There's a price for that. Focus on one pillar, and the others will fall.
Finding balance is so boring. Boring is so cool.
Could wisdom be the ability to withstand boredom?

Songsmith... and then what?

You guys all know I am an algorithm fanatic.
Some of you might even know I try to put everything I stumble across into an algorithm... or a process.

Lately, Raphael showed me a very interesting product of Microsoft Research.

It is supposed to be easy and simple:
- You choose a rythm which makes a drum base.
- You sing along, with a song you made up (or not)
- The music is automatically generated from your voice.

I imagine artists and mathematicians have been working together on that project.

Lots of users actually used the produt in another interesting way.
They take a classic hit, then remove the background music. Then generate the new music with songsmith.

Here's the result with Eye of the Tiger.



Ok, quite good isn't it? Well, the others are epic fails.

Anyway, this takes me to other considerations...
If the music is no longer an issue for a wannabee artist, then the voice will no longer be an issue neither.
I imagine softwares of the futures will be able to generate any voice you like and add those effects you would have to take years to master.
And sentences are difficult to make... why not use tags that would generate the sentence ?

In the future, you will be able to give a few tags, and a targeted audience, and it will generate thousands of possible songs. You could even add a virtual singer.
That's a bit like what Animoto does with the pictures into a video clip.

We're definitely heading somewhere with all those algorithms.

Maybe T-800 the new terminator robot, will be a singing robot.

A tribute to Edward Bernays

Little known to the common folks is Edward Bernays, who is really considered to be the father of Public Relations (Propaganda).

Sigmund Freud being his uncle, he promoted a new way to reach consumers, that is, using their unconscious minds.

As I read about him, I was astonished by the number of changes Bernays had created in consumer behavior. He would call that consent engineering.

- He made women smoke. While working for american tobacco, he managed to use the the phallic symbol of the cigarette, so that women could FEEL they reach the same level of power as men. When marching, women would say to the journalists that they were smoking torches of freedom.
As well he made green become the trendy color, so that any women could have a Lucky Strike pack that matched her clothes, the wallpaper and everything.

- He sold soap that did not clean anyone. While working for Procter & Gamble, he created a contest which would reward the best carved bar of soap. That created one million extra sales per year. And give extensive brand reach.


"Children, the enemies of soap, would be conditioned to enjoy using Ivory".

- He made americans eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. While working for the pork industry, he surveyed few doctors and got the results he wanted: doctors recommend people take a heavy breakfast. From there, he associated the bacon and egg.

- He made people have a piano at home. And shelves as well. Bernays was a master at shaping public opinions.

We obviously could go on and on, talking about Bernays. He worked for the biggest corporations and never stopped bragging about his achievements. That's what you call marketing.

His methods were modern: adressing the leaders to change public opinion.
He said he couldn't change someone's mind alone, but he could change those of a whole population. Two chapters of Mein Kampf are directly inspired by his work, and Goebbles would not hide his admirations for him.

Read more about Edward Bernays.