Keith O'Brien

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • The Definitive Low (Duluth, MN band) Rankings and Playlist

    There are few bands that have consistently produced compelling and adventurous music at such slow a speed than Low. Though the band is on record as disdaining the genre attributed to them (Slowcore), it’s apt. Their music oscillates between brooding and menacing, claustrophobia and sparseness, often without changing much in between. A reason why they […]

  • How to Recover From Your Worst Mistake

    How to Recover From Your Worst Mistake

    There are a few absolutes in corporate life. You will feel from time-to-time that things would run so much smoother if you were the boss of everyone. You will pour your soul into a particular project that either gets shelved or doesn’t make the impact you thought it would And one experience will stand out […]

  • The Mastery of Jurgen Klopp

    Last week, football (or soccer) fans were treated to two of the most exciting Champions League matches of all time. In both, the team who lost the first leg won the second and the round (in the knockout phase of the Champions League, each round is contested in a home-and-away, two-match split, so each team […]

  • A Media Play In Two Acts

    A Media Play In Two Acts

    JULY 10, 2018 Writer pals! @MTVNews is seeking contributors on social justice and issue-oriented news topics: #BLM, #LGBTQ, #meToo, #resist, #DACA, #midterms, #environment, #WomensRights, #GunControlNow, #politics, youth mental and sexual health, breaking news, and more. DM me for more info! — Matthew Breen (@matbreen) July 10, 2018   MTV News Shifts Toward Video, Targets Younger […]

  • The Great Trending Topics Debacle

    Facebook officially killed the Trending Topics program.  It may have been the most foolhardy decision they have made recently (which is amidst a fair share of recent foolhardy steps). Facebook (through Mark Zuckerberg) famously crystalized the prevalent Silicon Valley thinking into a quotable slogan: Move Fast and Break Things. Of course, the impetus behind the […]

  • Twitter on TV Was Always a Bad Idea

    Twitter just announced that it is killing off its smart screen and box apps. Some of you may not have realized these even existed or believe they had died an ignominious death years ago. But it was not long ago that many were touting this as the next big thing in building community around the […]

  • The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy

    These are definitely fracturing times. Humanity is prone to hyperbole, but there seems to be a consensus that recent times are <all caps>NOT NORMAL</all caps> and the world is losing its collective mind. Kanye West has somehow come to the judgment that George W. Bush was not deserving of our trust and patience, but Donald […]

  • We Go Back

    We Go Back

    That meal kit startups are having some issues might come to some as a surprise. Most people who have tried the kits appreciate the simplicity and the convenience of not thinking about their meals. Until the convenience feels stifling and the simplicity feels like a negative instead of a positive. People then yearn for the […]

  • How Do You Fix Facebook When It Was Probably Born Broken?

    How Do You Fix Facebook When It Was Probably Born Broken?

    Famous for issuing himself idiosyncratic personal challenges, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg realizes his billion-dollar company needs his full attention this year. Zuck recently addressed – let’s be real – the world with some mea culpa and to inform it of changes to the services. The company is awash in trouble, which is perhaps unavoidable when you’re this […]

  • Experimentation Losing Its Appeal

    Reading this Q&A with the CEO of Der Spiegel is a very interesting case of the glass half-empty/half-full problem. A charitable reading could find a company that is comfortable with experimentation and with a lot of different avenues in which they could devote their resources. But a less charitable view, and I think the correct one, […]

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