The War on Lemonade - Rich Lowry - National Review Online

The War on Lemonade - Rich Lowry - National Review Online: "In various localities around the country this summer, cops have raided and shut down lemonade stands. The incidents get — and deserve — national attention as telling collisions between classic Americana and the senseless pettifogging that is increasingly the American Way. There should be an easy rule of thumb for when enforcement of a regulation has gone too far: when it makes kids cry"

Scott Adams on the benefits of "soul-crushing boredom"

The Benefits of Soul-Crushing Boredom

online.wsj.com

Is constant stimulation hurting our creativity—and the economy? The Dilbert creator on his dull childhood and the power of tedium.

The creator of Dilbert argues that boredom provides fuel for creativity. Since we are never bored, the argument goes, we have become less creative. Anecdotal evidence includes people acting more dogmatically, more sequels and derivative products of movies, more reality TV, and most importantly, a flat-lining economy starving for industry-transforming innovation. I'd say he's mostly got it right, but the reason why we're less creative is because we are more distracted than ever. As a result, our attention spans have diminished to 10-minute windows of focus - if we can't find creative insights inside that window, no creativity emerges. Also, creativity comes from useful problems. Scott Adams' boredom as a child was a problem that he was able to solve creatively because he was so undistracted. 

Blue Plate iPad Special

At least once in every other entrepreneurship class I've taught, students present an idea for automating their food ordering experience in sit-down restaurants. Their arguments are for making (1) wait time for a table more productive, (2) orders more accurate and personalized, (3) menus more flexible and changeable, and (4) inventory and billing more accurate. The start-up costs of implementing such a technology are usually the biggest roadblock to making this idea a reality. Now, the iPad's wide level of adoption has finally made this service possible. As this CNN news report shows, two owners of an Atlanta restaurant have become one of the first to use iPads for orders.

Interestingly, the wait staff seems to spend as much time explaining the iPad concept as they might have spent describing the night's special and taking the order. Plus, does it seem to you like the patrons are a bit awestruck by the iPad and slower in deciding what they want? I imagine that restaurants and customers will begin to use social media with the iPads for Groupons, reviews, and promotions - maybe even a surveillance video of their food being prepared - and kill the social pleasures of dining with family and friends [Do not look for this to be adopted in the near future by any restaurant in Italy] How can you shape and reshape this idea to create value for the dining customer?