Pandas explained in ten minutes http://vimeo.com/59324550

If you're sad that wasn't a video of baby pandas, here is a bucket of sloths http://vimeo.com/59234110

$1.5M

I've been working on a thought experiment where I derive paths to get $1.5M*. Or, rather, what exactly does it take to create $1.5M of value. Take t-shirt sales, for example. (I'm making these numbers up. I'm sure they're naive. Try not to get hung up on them.) Say you make $1.30 profit on each shirt sold. Assuming a 30% tax rate, you'd have to sell 1.5 million shirts. How can you sell that many shirts? It will take herculean combination of marketing and luck no doubt, but what about manufacturing and distribution? What kind of support would you need (server capacity, call center, physical warehouse, employees) What kind of pains are bound to happen at that sort of scale? What are your quantifiable risks?

Sure, it is silly but it takes me way outside my comfort zone. That has got to be good, right?. In the future I'm going to apply that sort of framework to the ideas I think of or get pitched. A sad part of it is applying it to most of my ideas lead to the whole, "You'll make more money opening a couple of Dunkin' Donuts and it will be way easier." conclusion. I call it "The Dunkin' Donuts Test" ®

Maybe I should write a self-help how to book based on the Dunkin' Donuts Test. Could that book net me $1.5M? How long would it take to write the book? What does it take to market a $1.5M book? What are the risks involved? Take an objective look at existing book sales, publishing figures and the number of starving authors out there... What's the back of the envelope conclusion? It would be eaiser and less risky to open a few Dunkin' Donuts...

And why Dunkin' Donuts? My grandfather was a baker so it is in my blood. Sadly, I can't bake so I'd needsort of a turnkey franchise to set everything up and I'd need to hire people who can deal with mixers and whatever it takes to make food.

done

The first thread on this HN post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3816350 (which is about Gabe's argument for a single co-founder) is a nice conversation about diversifying with several, small, monthly income type projects.

The Show is the Rainbow is now Touch People and after checking his twitter feed it seems like he is a big gamer. Cool story, brah.

* - this is what I consider the lowest rung of f-you money. Enough to retire on some rocky land in the Ozarks and not do anything except maybe learn to hunt.