Culture

On Consumption

November 29, 2024Ernie Gray

Today is Black Friday, the day where most of the citizens of the United States, after participating in a day of gorging on food and disposing most of it into the garbage get into their automobiles and swarm to various department stores to buy stuff they don’t need and justify it because the goods are supposedly deeply discounted, marking the beginning our annual mania of consumption of mass consumer products. In a 2019 study, it was estimated that 80% of these goods will end up in landfills.

Baseline: A Steady Diet Of Nothing

June 16, 2024Ernie Gray

From straight-edge hardcore punk to modern wellness social media influencers, it’s been a long journey to make clean living cool again.

The Power of Empathetic Leadership

June 1, 2024Ernie Gray

The ability to step into another’s shoes and understand their situation and challenges is a powerful trait that builds trust, faith and cohesion that is essential to the success of teams and organizations.

Healing the Digitally Distressed Mind

February 29, 2024Ernie Gray

It’s not until you schedule an intentional “digital detox” that you’ll see how much compulsive behavior punctuates your life and how much willpower it will take to permanently change it.

1987: The Year U2 Broke The Big 80s

August 27, 2023Ernie Gray

It’s difficult to appreciate now, but from an audio production standpoint, almost everything about “The Joshua Tree” was antithetical to the prevailing norms of 1987.

Creativity, Models & Archetypes

April 1, 2023Ernie Gray

Comparing AI models to human creative processes, considering why people like certain styles of music, and how lateral thinking tools can help us create more original music.

You Don’t Believe This Sounds

March 25, 2023Ernie Gray

Perhaps the most important bias in our tone is the cognitive one.

Interview: Brian Shulman on music pioneer and businessman, Stan Shulman

October 22, 2016Ernie Gray

Brian Shulman is a business colleague and friend who’s been a profound influence in my life both professionally, as a software innovator and businessman, and personally, as a mentor of tremendous character. Brian is not involved in the music industry himself, but I was fascinated to learn about his late father, Stan Shulman, who was … Continue reading Interview: Brian Shulman on music pioneer and businessman, Stan Shulman

Trimming the Bloat: A Dearth of Elegant Code

January 27, 2015Ernie Gray

Moore’s law is a curse. In 2005 I built yet another computer in a long line of homebrew PCs. I don’t recall the exact specs, but it was a single core Pentium4 with about 1GB of initial RAM. The computer ran an optimized XP operating system, surfed the web at light speed using Firefox with … Continue reading Trimming the Bloat: A Dearth of Elegant Code

Professional Advertising Is Dead. Long Live Advertising.

December 30, 2011Ernie Gray

About eight years ago, I started to notice a bizarre phenomenon. I was paid by people to make things look “professional,” yet I repeatedly noticed that consumers were suspicious or oblivious to much of the visual language that was established by the past century of professional ad design. I looked around for some theorist to … Continue reading Professional Advertising Is Dead. Long Live Advertising.

Social Media Marketing Genius In Ten Minutes

December 27, 2011Ernie Gray

Jumping off of bridges, wearing your pants below your underwear, investing in any stock with a .com in the name, credit default swaps, the atkins diet, asking people to follow their business on facebook out of nowhere — there are a lot of things that people do in great numbers because everyone else is doing … Continue reading Social Media Marketing Genius In Ten Minutes

Coaching As Service

April 27, 2011Ernie Gray

I was never much of an athlete. I recall an episode around 1982 where dad bought me a glove, took me out to toss the ball around in the big backyard where all the neighbors could see. It didn’t go very well. The glove was heavy for my diminutive frame and the ball ended up making more … Continue reading Coaching As Service

To The Maverick Go The Spoils

August 21, 2010Ernie Gray

The biggest challenge for businesses of all types these days is greater competition for dwindling market share. Unless you have a completely exclusive product or service that has an uncontested monopoly, you probably find yourself having to take less for what you sell. As a friend said during lunch the other day, “people just aren’t … Continue reading To The Maverick Go The Spoils

Sportsmanship Program Aimed at Bettering Sun Belt Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Administrators

September 18, 2009Ernie Gray

I’m pleased to announce that Learning Through Sports has launched their online Sportsmanship Learning Platform for the Sun Belt Conference Universities. My team and I were honored to play a central part in the design and actionscript programming. Entering its 34th year of athletic competition the Sun Belt Conference and its member institutions continue to … Continue reading Sportsmanship Program Aimed at Bettering Sun Belt Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Administrators

Three Common Traps For New Websites

September 11, 2009Ernie Gray

There are few deadly traps that almost every business falls into on their web campaign, and your developer may not steer you clear of them. Even though I’ve produced or collaborated on hundreds of websites, I still like a good reality check to keep me on my toes. The web development community has been playing … Continue reading Three Common Traps For New Websites