July 2010
21 posts
3 tags
Race Face
Race Face is a performance bicycle components company based in Vancouver, BC. They design, manufacture, and distribute beautiful, high end products. So, what qualifies them to be nominated? Well, first is that they do it all themselves. Not only do they hold their own against “giants” in the industry (billions of dollars a year companies like Shimano and SRAM) they also frequently...
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Outlier Clothing Company
Abe and Tyler make incredible cycling clothing. Their philosophy (http://outlier.cc/philosophy.php):
The sun is rising, the air clear, the city unfolds below you as you reach the top of the bridge. Your legs are spinning fast, heart pumping, maybe you are sweating just a touch. It’s a magical feeling of exhilaration and liberation that comes from riding a bike in a city. Inside trains,...
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Blazin Brittle
I’m nominating my wife, Marie-Clare Prisco. Maybe you automatically toss out spousal nominations. Go ahead. But thanks for the opportunity to stop a moment and write about her anyway. Marie-Clare has been trying to find a way into her own life for many years. She’s worked for Caterpillar, Abbott Labs, and American Hospital Association as a corporate communicator. She’s also...
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Hip-Hop Word Count
The Hip-Hop Word Count is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database is the heart of an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas.
The next development phase of the Hip-Hop Word Count includes adding: data, a basic visual...
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Cube grenade for Renew Adelaide
Hugh - I’d like to nominate Renew Adelaide for a free cube grenade - they are into rejuvenating inner-city locations by organising to use vacated buildings, shops and offices for short-term projects such as art exhibitions. The idea is to bring some life and activity back into parts of the city that are run-down/seedy/unloved with the hope that increased temporary activity will lead to...
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Small Town EMS
This isn’t a grand cause, it isn’t a brilliant start-up idea, it is a request to help 4500 people in the rural northern part of Sumner County Kansas. It is an effort started by a few people at Belle Plaine Emergency Medical Services in Belle Plaine, Kansas to provide the best possible care to the people living in and traveling through their service area.
The service is trying to...
4 tags
"I Love Your Guys" - submitted on behalf of a...
http://www.iloveuguys.org/
The last contact he had with his daughter was via a text message saying I love you guys sent to both his wife and his own cell phone. His daughter was being held captive by an armed gunman who eventually turned the gun on himself but only after killing the girl.
And then his life changed. I mean, here was a very successful developer who lieterally dropped EVERYTHING...
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VerdeStrategy Helps Clarify Lasting Value
VerdeStrategy believes in the power of the entrepreneur. We also believe entrepreneurs can be even more powerful if they can communicate with clarity and purpose. Investors look for entrepreneurs with a clear sense of purpose and vision — and clarity in communicating that purpose and vision. Too often, however, words get in the way of good ideas. Investors look for companies that have the...
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Calling for a reform in business education
Here’s an overview of the manifesto for a new generation of business schools. We think we need revolution in business education, not evolution. Cheers Hugh!
The evidence is explicit: achievement in business school is not correlated in any way with success in business.
In fact, even holding a business degree at all does not increase likelihood of success, increase either starting or ongoing...
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Gangplank and the Cube Grenade
Gangplank Collective is a collaborative workspace and tech incubator devoted to helping talented individuals and innovative companies create the new economy in Chandler, AZ. Yes, we’re starting small, because that’s how great things happen. Start small and tight, grow large and powerful.
We are a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity...
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Whistleblowers - or - The Sami Parliament
I run the only website for whistleblowers in Norway Ad:varsel, and start my redesign-process and the cooperation with a new partner Vox Publica this autum. In this re-opening of the site, it would be cool to have a Cube Grenade.
The Sami Parliament in Norway sure could use a cube grenade, both for internal motivation and external buzz. The Sámediggi is the parliament of the indigenous sami...
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Newhall Coffee for a Cause
Mitch McMullen lost his older brother, Corey, to leukemia. And since then, it’s been his mission to use his Newhall Coffee Roasting Company business to serve his community.
Leukemia is a cause close to his heart. And through that passion arose the Newhall Coffee for a Cause program.
The program, which launches July 4th is McMullen’s brain child and launched in order to redirect...
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Crazypenny
Wanting to help people sell their stuff and make a buck, a friend and I are launching Crazypenny: a combo consignment & auction house. People will put stuff on consignment with us, and we’ll do our darndest to sell it. Anything not selling quickly gets the price dropped. Eventually, it gets put on auction, opening bid: $0.01. We take pride in the sell, not the selling price!
[Note:...
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SharePlus, take SharePoint anywhere with you!
We are a young startup from Uruguay, South America, called SouthLabs. We are behind the development of the first iPad client app for SharePoint, SharePlus (http://tinyurl.com/39srqla). SharePlus stores in the device all the navigated information of a SharePoint repository (docs, tasks, events, images, wikis) enabling offline browsing, real mobility of the data.
We are basically a bunch of geeks...
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Free the data!
I am recommending Todd Park for a cube grenade. Todd is the Chief Technology Officer at the US Department of Health and Human Services. He has been a dynamic force and leader in pushing this Federal agency to open up it datasets and health surveys for all to play in (or as he says, ‘unlocking the inner mojo’ of the agency). His strong belief, followed up by his nonstop action, is to...
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The Dalit Freedom Network Australia (DFN)
The Dalit’s are unknown in Australia. Blank faces appear when you mention them. However 22million Australians (total population) is less than the 250million Dalits in India: men & women who according to the caste system are treated less than animals. Less than animals! DFN aims to educate Australians about the 250million Indians who cannot educate themselves. Through education, school...
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500+
The Perfect Drug
Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a bountiful and busy society. And people of this society decided that if they were to be more bountiful they would need to be more busy. So they slept less, ate less, they even cut back on breathing and stretching. How could that be? Well they had discovered the perfect drug. It didn’t interfere, much, with busyness: it stimulated...
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Wake up the solution is out there - what's your...
Wake up…
Why is it business owners are happy being busy but not being productive (me included)?
Busy is easy. Productive is harder.
Business owners who invest in themselves are more likely to be productive. Invest in themselves training, breathing, exercising, reading and they’ll become more and more and more productive.
Ignorance is not bliss. It’s stupid.
Reading great...
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Employer Of The Future
I’ve met dozens of unemployed middle aged men and women; they used to be VP’s and Sales Directors. They used to travel and had a great deal of responsibility; some were married to their jobs. I know, I was one of them but it still hurts me to see the ones with desperation in their eyes at networking events.
Then late last year I met a man with a different idea. He is unemployed, middle aged...
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Design on the Dirty. For the Truly Wicked.
No wasting time. Here it is:
I created Design on the Dirty. I provide virtual interior design services for the wickedly stylish. I listen. I translate. I initiate. And then I deliver you You.
I do that by getting what’s in your head, into your space… all at a fraction of the cost of working with a designer in the traditional way. And frankly, it’s sexy as all hell.
I’ve spun a bit...
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Little shop of happiness
This could make a movie.
Hungary, 2006. A retired teacher of French and Italian (Diane Keaton) and a retired ear-nose-and-throat specialist (Meryl Streep) open a pastry shop. They can’t afford the rent anywhere in the city, so they open it in a small town (Solymár), beside the highway.
It’s not your typical pastry shop, however.
It’s more like something you would find in the...
June 2010
21 posts
3 tags
ME/CFS needs a cube grenade
You’ve probably never heard of ME/CFS, which is why it needs a cube grenade. Here’s a brief introduction, in handy FAQ format. What the heck is ME/CFS? A disease. The “ME” part stands for myalgic encephalomyelitis. The “CFS” part stands for chronic fatigue syndrome. Oh, chronic fatigue syndrome! Yeah, I’ve heard of that. I don’t get what the big...
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e(vil)-government
After 20 years, a new political party got into the presidency and even though i hated the candidate, i worked for them.
I worked with them and i helped them win, with a little bit of BI and a lot of community listening. I was their community manager in charged of more than 2000 people raging on the WEB making comments everywhere, was like a live cube grenade.
The guy won and HE IS AN AWFUL...
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Cute outside. Dead inside.
Death Piglet is a middling pantomime comic which subverts the hollow icons spewed out by Sanrio and others. There is a book, an animated teaser currently doing the festival rounds (by agent), and 200+ free strips to read at www.deathpiglet.com. A cube grenade would earn you a place at the pig’s right hand side after his world domination/destruction, whichever comes first.
[Note: this is...
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New Therapist Magazine seeks $10,000 cubed...
New Therapist Magazine
Cubed Grenade
Give us a cubed grenade. Please. Here is a real opportunity to engage in cultural transformation. Not only are we a noble, good cause. Not only is it the morally correct thing to do, but we sell a magazine for psychologists that is fun, creative, enticing and exciting: New Therapist (NT) Magazine (http://www.newtherapist.com)
NT has been published every two...
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Men in suits.
I was thinking this:
This World wasn´t made by men in suit and tie, they just fucked up it.
I am Gabriel Sancho from Argentina, I haven´t any story to tell you, just this thought, sorry.
[Note: this is one of the Cube Grenade entries. Share your story for a chance to win a commissioned piece of art.]
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The Textbook Industry is Screwing Students!
The textbook industry is bloated and screwing students in so many areas:
Updating versions with minimal text & graphics changes, then…
Charging out the ass for a single textbook.
They are using a 27,000,000 TPY (trees per year).
Traditional textbooks aren’t using current technology to it’s fullest potential. I’m sorry, PDFs & ePub are 1990’s standards.
We...
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Love Everyone More
I just my acceptance letter to an MBA program in the fall, and I really want my focus in the business world to emphasize ethics. I am really inspired by businesses like Southwest Airlines and Zappos who seem to really love what they are doing, and are trying to make that obvious to their customers. I’ve latched on to this idea of loving everyone more, not because I think I can make the world...
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Well here I go.
This is a bit of a different type of submission.
I’m not submitting this to request a cube for my business.
Instead, I’m requesting a cube grenade for my unborn child. Wait, even better, not just my own child, but ALL children entering the world.
My wife and I recently found out we’re expecting our first child this December.
I’ve had a realization...
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If you an i don't care for the fuckers who will?
I’m in education. I’m thinking about a program that runs for a semester on a community project that challenges the thinking that allows the abuse of basic human rights. They (the kids) research it, they feel it, they get motivated, they design their own assessments and they mark their own contribution themselves and the work they do is designed to make a real contribution to changing...
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The Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery...
Our Planetarium and Space Discovery Center has had the misfortune of undertaking a capital campaign in the worst recession since men would cook their leather shoes. (We’ve tried Starbury’s, not tasty.)
We need some traction. NASA is halting manned spaceflights and this pivotal move to not go beyond, to not invent, create and seek more is stifling us as a society.
We wish to...
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Can I be happy *and* sad?
We’re moving across the country. My seven year old daughter, who was born in New York and raised in NJ, is trying to grapple with her emotions concerning the move. By moving West she will be right near one set of grandparents and tons closer to the others as well. However, she will be leaving friends that she has literally grown up alongside - in many ways her surrogate extended family. So...
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Yep, I want a cube grenade
We are in full start up mode and I am struggling to find my ass with two hands and a mirror. My partner and I have started a medical marijuana edibles company in sunny Boulder, Colorado.
We’re up against the city, state, property management companies, etc., trying to figure out what the rules are and how to play the game. This is a game I am going to win. White Box Edibles is going to...
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Creating the Future (formerly the Community-Driven...
What if everything we assume about creating social change is wrong? And what if THAT’s the reason social change happens SO FRUSTRATINGLY SLOWLY?
We are taught that social change takes time. In reality, social change can happen rapidly!
We are taught that social change happens with incremental baby steps. In reality, social change can happen in dramatic leaps forward.
We are taught that change...
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The Day I Learned to Ignore Everybody
I worked at a book store over the last Christmas season, and wanting to start a freelance design business, decided that I should probably read a business book or two.
Scouring the racks, I only found one that grabbed my attention ‘Ignore Everybody’. This is a statement that I’ve been practicing for a number of years, but thought wouldn’t be the best plan of attack when...
Foundry Coworking - Innovation in Iowa
We created Foundry Coworking, a shared workspace for startups and creative professionals, in November of 2009. What started out as a space for creative workers and success-driven startups turned into a real community asset where events are held, businesses are formed/grown, and people connect.
While most think of Iowa as a place full of cornfields, we’re proud to be a visible showcase of...
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In Response to Hugh
If you define Art as a process or activity that purposefully seeks to affect the senses or emotions, I challenge you to remain un-inspired by the provocative Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void. Hugh’s eloquence with the jagged line and cutting commentary is pure artistry. Clearly – his gift to the world is to make us think and have fun at the same time.
Therefore, when he recently laid down the...
My 168 Project
Having participated in The 168 Project the last three years running, and since 2005, I have come to the conclusion that at least for me, this should be a year round ministry. I’ve concluded that to make a competitive 10 minute short film based on a Bible verse in a week, takes a lot of donations from those that feel spreading the word of God through film is a good idea. I have already...
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Career Day, Every Day: How Careersters recreates...
We’re inventing a career discovery platform for kids and young adults where they can create and share custom career plans based on their developing interests. With Careersters, parents & teachers will finally have an online destination built expressly for kids and young adults where they can:
(1) navigate video vignettes of professionals sharing the “how-tos” of their success...
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Helping Musicians Spread Their Messages Through...
The web has made it easier than ever for artists anywhere to collaborate as they start a movement.
The Cluetrain Manifesto, arguably the first major movement sparked online, was apparently built from email.
Since then, applications have been built to help thinkers and artists anywhere build and spread their message: forums, instant messaging, blogs (both personal and group ones), Google...
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Books [digital or otherwise] Are Fucking Sick
In the very near future we may see individuals looking to convert their existing physical library into digital ones. With product offerings like the iPad and Kindle seeing phenomenal demand there is going to be a whole lot of dusty books laying around in offices, homes, and libraries. I suspect this will leave a big gaping hole in the book market. Here’s my idea: setup a non-profit web...
how to get a $10,000 cube grenade for free
[The Cube Grenade for Shit Creek Consulting ]
[UPDATE: Looks like we’ve got our first submission from YouPhonics.com. If you’re submitting something, please leave a link to it in the comments below so we won’t have any trouble finding you, Thanks.]
gapingvoid is giving away a free commissioned Cube Grenade to the business or organization with the most interesting idea.
I...