It's always best to put a negative in between two positives. Like so: "Your shoes are nice. I caught your kid banging some guy. I found a great pasta place."

---

I like to call that the compliment sandwich. Which is a different type of sandwich then the one the girl was involved in.

This groundbreaking new series about the psychology and science of eating scrutinises the eating habits of overweight families by putting them under 24-hour camera surveillance

Eataly rooftop
200 5th Ave (btwn W. 23rd and W. 24th St)
New York, NY 10010

Midtown rooftop bar
Library Hotel
299 Madison Ave #14(ntwn 41st and 42nd St.)

Midtown rooftop bar
653 11th Ave
(between 47th St & 48th St)

Soho rooftop bar
15 Thompson St
(at Grand St)
New York, NY 10013

Midtown rooftop bar
145 E 50th St
31st Fl
(between Lexington Ave & 3rd Ave)

Spicy NYC version of SF restaurant, some cool-looking dishes

Surprisingly accurate list of SF neighborhoods

A fair amount of startups (and other small businesses) don't have a clue about who their average customer is. They go and build their MVP without ever thinking about how the sell the darn thing. After the code is written they set out to find someone who will pay for their product.
This just leads to them creating some ridiculous pricing schemes that will never prove to be sustainable. They think this is some sort of loss-leader strategy, but its not. Loss-leaders must actually turn a profit to be considered as such. Add in the highly used but seldomnly tested freemium model, and what you get is a bunch of people who are great at writing code, but are pretty bad at selling.
And how can you improve your selling skills if you don't even know who you are selling to?

Frugalistas stop apologizing for being frugal, says Wisebread.com senior editor Meg Favreau. She told Tess she's noticed a lot of meek, apologetic writing about frugality lately.

"And one thing that I see a lot is writers writing from this place of 'Hey, having a board game night isn't maybe as fun as going out to a bar, but you'll learn to like it,'" Favreau said. "And it's just like the worst sales pitch ever!"

All this price manipulation is really an information war, he says. Shoppers hunt for the tricks that let them save money. Stores hide booby traps that let them take money. It's a bad system, one I've labeled "Gotcha Capitalism." But it is the system we have now.
And it's simply impossible, Gabaix argues, to be the one company that attempts to bridge this information gap. If a firm tries to educate consumers on tricks and traps, and tries to offer an honest product, a funny thing happens: Consumers say, "Thank you for the tips," and go back to the tricky companies, where they exploit the new knowledge to get cheaper prices, leaving the "honest" firm in the dust.
Advertise | AdChoices

“Once you educate consumers on the right way to shop, they will seek out the lowest cost store, and that will be the one with the shrouded prices,” he said. “Once they are savvier consumers, you make less money from them.”

"I sometimes find myself judging overweight people, and it bothers me. I consider myself a pretty empathetic and accepting person. Age, gender, race, class, sexuality, etc. mean very little to me. But when I see overweight people, I can't help but wonder how they got that way, and I tend to judge them for it. I know they're not all just lazy or irresponsible (though many doubtless are), because the majority of Americans are overweight, so there's more going on than strictly personal choices. So, overweight people, how did you become overweight? Did it seem to happen suddenly, or did it take years? Did you at any point try to reverse the process? Are you trying to lose weight? If not, why? And if so, are you succeeding? Why or why not? Are you unhappy with your weight, or are you content that your lifestyle is worth the price of admission? Do you think there's anything wrong with you at all? I'm trying to lose this prejudice, so I really appreciate any honest answers. It's hard to talk"

Even though I hate animals, this is one of the best sales pages I have ever seen. AWESOME job. Totally customer-focused.

Another, more comprehensive answer to "Why does cold coffee cost more"?

The era of medical miracles has created a new phase of aging, as far from living as it is from dying. A son’s plea to let his mother go.

It is among the most reductive facts in this story: Women take care of the old. They can’t shake it because they are left with it. In the end, it is a game of musical chairs. The girl is the one almost invariably caught out.

Guy makes awesome movie/art posters

Alright, listen up, people. My dignity has been on the run for 3 years. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. My dignity was all I had. Go find it.

Interview I did on how to earn more as a freelancer

@ramit I met you at 1015 Folsom last Friday! I asked you to marry me. Can't remember your response.. please DM me your answer ASAP

Dude, Ants are fucking AMAZING
They're the second most socially developed creatures (after humans), some breeds can wage wars, take slaves, farm caterpillers like we farm cows, make alliances, and actually have a planned city designs rather than the haphazard tunnels we'd expect ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozkBd2p2piU )
I FUCKING LOVE ANTS

What blows my mind is that some ants that are taken as slaves, will actively sabotage their captors. Like, hiding young where they'll die, etc. Freakin' awesome.

SLAVE ANTS OK THIS BLOWS MY MIND

Good article on long-term marriages

Surprising mistakes using commas

Speaking of spending money, if you and yourself or someone you know is
wrestling with a pile of debt, it’s time to take action. With our “Money
File” tonight, Ramit Sethi, author of “I Will Teach You to Be Rich.”

HearAndPlay -
SUMMARY: Online retailers and consumer marketers might turn a deaf ear to automation and lead scoring, but these tactics apply beyond B2B. In this article, a complex-sales strategy earned great results for one consumer-facing company.

See how the company's system of 170 automated emails earned a 416% increase in average customer lifetime value, alongside the tactics that make the automated sends more personal and effective.

This is not at all a trivial expense. The company has used its own empirical research to not only understand the customer but also to understand the frame of reference of the manufactures and the desire to feature the products in advertising and in stores. They did this to the tune of over $14 Million. We can thus conclude that this very, very successful company is not guessing at this, they know it because they empirically research it.

Guy's drawings on money are hilarious

Absolutely hilarious guy picks up girls on OKC and posts transcripts

See esp PREGNANT CHICK and CHICK WITH A SERIOUS PRINCES-COMPLEX

Dark Patterns: User Interfaces Designed to Trick People

Normally when you think of "bad design", you think of laziness or mistakes. These are known as design anti-patterns. Dark Patterns are different – they are not mistakes, they are carefully crafted with a solid understanding of human psychology, and they do not have the user’s interests in mind.

At a well-known five-star hotel, I asked if I could extend my checkout time by two hours. I was told no; the hotel was full. Unless I paid for a half day; then they'd accommodate me.

Huh?

If the hotel was full and needed my room, why would it make a difference if I paid them? And if they did have the ability to extend my checkout, why would they charge me? I spoke with the manager. Same answer.

That was the last time I stayed at that hotel franchise.

Contrast that to my recent experience at the Four Seasons in Dallas, TX, a hotel where I've stayed several times.

Four Seasons service is unstinting-and priced accordingly

Hilarious understatements about how bad the vast majority of VC funds are compared to the market.

Funny Korean/English lesson, of course Anton found this

Marie Forleo lost $64,000 in revenue after one-fifth of her clients asked for refunds, so she learned how to keep more customers, lowering the refund rate to 2.97% and increasing revenue three times over to $1.36 million. It was all done using customer service and marketing techniques, so we invited her to teach you how to do it.

Is this the movie

Awesome site shows you best movies on Netflix and iTunes

During payment, the user is presented with three default buttons for tipping: 20%, 25%, and 30%. When cabs were cash only, the average tip was roughly 10%. After the introduction of this system, the tip percentage jumped to 22%.

Awesome advice on how to avoid bee stings. Great writing style.

at first I was like wtf just break up with him but then I had a sad.

she sounds sorta stupid... sorry just had to put it out there

The list below includes some of these folks I know personally, some just by reputation- but collectively they’ve grown products up to millions, 10s of millions, and in some cases, 100M+ users. Typically they use quantitatively-oriented techniques centered on virality across different channels such as iOS, Facebook, email, etc. There’s lots of iteration, A/B testing, and experimentation involved. There’s also really great growth hackers centered around SEO, SEM/ad arb, and other techniques, but for the most part I’m just listing out the folks around quant-based virality. The important thing about virality is, it’s free So it’s an important skill for startups.

Great Mother's Day video

Near the end of the application process, an I.O.C. evaluation committee was permitted to visit London. Bid-committee officials knew that London’s transportation system was a weak spot on the city’s application. “Our nightmare was it would take forever to get to the venues,” Mills recalled. A bid-committee team planned the routes that I.O.C. members would travel around the city, and G.P.S. transmitters were planted in all of the I.O.C. members’ vehicles so they could be tracked. From the London Traffic Control Center, near Victoria Station, where hundreds of monitors display live feeds from London’s comprehensive CCTV surveillance system, each vehicle was followed, from camera to camera, “and when they came up to traffic lights,” Mills said, “we turned them green.

“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

In the true Hacker spirit, you want to automate your money management.
Ramit Sethi is the expert on this. The book is I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I will gladly credit Ramit with earning me tens of thousands of dollars.

At some point during the afternoon, Kyle got a text from one of his female friends that said "i feel like hanging out." I told him that if he needed to go, I'd understand.

"No. I already texted her back, but she doesn't want to come over. She just meant, literally, that she feels like hanging out."

Pitt says, "I remember two years ago you were after Clooney. I would tell you as your friend: 'Don't do it. Don't ever go near it. He'll kill you and everything you love.' I know it's tempting, but don't do it."

good drinks/happy hr, vivek recommends
58 E 1 St ( btwn 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)

cocktails
217 E 3rd St
(between Avenue B & Avenue C)

A touching essay by the Times' Ron Lieber highlights what financial gurus like Zac Bissonette and "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" blogger Ramit Sethi have in common: stubborn parents who really gave a damn about saving their money.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-personal-finance-skill-that-made-ramit-sethi-a-star-2012-5#ixzz1uHlZPfJr

56 Irving Pl
(between 17th St & 18th St)

50 Ave B ( between E. 3rd St & E. 4th St)

date spot- 48 W 17th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)

date spot - 217 E 3rd St
(between Avenue B & Avenue C)

date spot- 34 8th Ave
(between Jane St & 12th St)

date spot - 3 Bleecker St
(between Bowery & Elizabeth St)

date spot- 77 W Houston St ( btwn 6th Ave & Broadway

Date spot - Village Yokocho
8 Stuyvesant St ( at East 9th)

75 E 7th St
(between 1st Ave & 2nd Ave)

haha

19th btwn 5th and 6th, happy hr esp

Need to hit this Thai place, came recommended from Raghav, looks pretty traditional, 51st and 9th

BEST ARTICLE ON THE INTERNET!! My parents (and a huge photo) in NYTimes.

God this guy is so awesome at stationery. Found this guy in Four Seasons Magazine. NYC-based. Does custom stationery too.

Cocktails

I've talked a number of times about our subscription metrics here at SEOmoz, but given this fundraising, I know there may be additional interest and scrutiny, so I'll try to describe them with a bit more depth:

On an average weekday, ~150 marketers take a free trial
Approximately 56% of those 150 free trials will convert into paid memberships
Of those, ~40% cancel their membership in the first 3 paying months
The remaining 60% (~50 out of our 150) keep their PRO subscription 13+ months on average (meaning the monthly cancellation rate is ~2.5%)
Approximately half of those (~25) retain PRO membership for 18+ months
Note: historically we've counted upgrades/downgrades, billing changes and some other dumb stuff in "churn" which likely inflates those figures.

Good socks

Genius verticalization of Etsy: weddings

Results after the first couple of months:

Biggest revenue increase I’ve ever had in a single month
Average revenue per customer more than doubled
Very minor drop in visitor to trial conversions
Trial to paid conversions stayed the same
Churn stayed the same

Boutique, hand-picked/curated high-end hotels for people. Julie recommends.

Disney Institute Consulting, do this

So true

WHEN researchers ask cohabitors these questions, partners often have different, unspoken — even unconscious — agendas. Women are more likely to view cohabitation as a step toward marriage, while men are more likely to see it as a way to test a relationship or postpone commitment, and this gender asymmetry is associated with negative interactions and lower levels of commitment even after the relationship progresses to marriage.

Sliding into cohabitation wouldn’t be a problem if sliding out were as easy. But it isn’t. Too often, young adults enter into what they imagine will be low-cost, low-risk living situations only to find themselves unable to get out months, even years, later. It’s like signing up for a credit card with 0 percent interest. At the end of 12 months when the interest goes up to 23 percent you feel stuck because your balance is too high to p

French parents teach their children to eat like we teach our kids to read: with love, patience and firm persistence they expose their children to a wide variety of tastes, flavors and textures that are the building blocks of a varied, healthy diet. Pediatrician-recommended first foods for French babies are leek soup, endive, spinach and beets. (Not bland rice cereal — have you ever tasted that stuff?) They teach their children that “good for you foods” taste good (broccoli – yum!), whereas we often do the opposite.

French children are also trained to think about how to eat. The French won’t ask a child, for e

As an aside: one other thing I noticed which was quite prevalent in the bschool crowd was this dream to do your own thing and run your own business. I would hear people say "my goal is to start a company" or "I want to join a startup." The odd thing is that none of these people actually took direct steps toward trying to start a business. They felt pressure from their peers getting lucrative offers from consulting firms and such and said things like "I'm going to work for a few

17th st

Hilarious that the comments say "Where yuppy types come to die" since it came highly recommended by Julie. Will check it out

Site has awesome hand-picked gifts and decorative items

Enter Politico Pro, the pricey premium news service, launched last year with the goal of doing for policy coverage what Politico set out to do for political coverage five years ago.

On the night of March 7, paid subscribers to Politico Pro got the news about the Senate transportation deal almost immediately. Anyone signed up for the service’s energy coverage would have received this email at 10:41 p.m.:

Sixteen minutes later, Politico Pro published a story about the deal, including a full list of the amendments. Here’s a partial screenshot:

For an individual subscribing to one of Pro’s verticals, pricing starts at $3,295 per year. But most Pro subscribers are part of a group membership, and those start at around $8,000 per year for licensing content from a single vertical to five people. Pro bans subscribers from sharing or forwarding content. Add more employees to an organizational membership and the “price becomes more fluid,” says Miki King, Pro’s executive director of business d

According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of "six seconds before they make the initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on candidates. 
The study used a scientific technique called “eye tracking” on 30 professional recruiters and examined their eye movements during a 10-week period to "record and analyze where and how long someone focuses when digesting a piece of information or completing a task."
In the short time that they spend with your resume, the study showed recruiters will look at your name, current title and company, current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education.
The two resumes below include a heat map of recruiters' eye movements. The one on the right was looked at more thoroughly than the one of the left because of its clear and concise format: