...........
Give me the gift to blend and bond with a friend.
Give me the brains to stay away from love.
Give me the strength to challenge my own fate.
Give me the feet to walk from this tangled state.
Friday, February 10, 2006
What a difference a day makes
Why is it so hard.
Bravery and cowardice seem such close bed fellows. Not to mention stupidity, weakness and self loathing...........
Bravery and cowardice seem such close bed fellows. Not to mention stupidity, weakness and self loathing...........
Malnourished
The Malaise has descended. The fog in clear. I am alone in my boat. Without direction or line of sight, free and unable to escape.
The worlds Longest URL
Now this is Cool!
http://twas.brillig.and.the.slithy.toves.did.gyre.and.gimble.in.the.wabe.all.mimsy.were.the.borogoves.and.the.mome.raths.outgrabe.jabberwocky.com/
ok, not really cool, but kind of fun
http://twas.brillig.and.the.slithy.toves.did.gyre.and.gimble.in.the.wabe.all.mimsy.were.the.borogoves.and.the.mome.raths.outgrabe.jabberwocky.com/
ok, not really cool, but kind of fun
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Jabberwocky
"It seems very pretty," she said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas--only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate---"
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
The Bellman carrying the Banker
"by a finger entwined in his hair"
Seems like a good way to carry a banker. This banker looks strangely familiar. An ex CEO perhaps.
Seems like a good way to carry a banker. This banker looks strangely familiar. An ex CEO perhaps.
Tennessee Williams Thought for the day
"There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go."
Monday, February 06, 2006
Friday, February 03, 2006
Get A Human on the phone
Hey this is cool and a cool use of the web.
http://gethuman.com/
I recently had to make an insurance claim and discovered the IVR at the insurance broker was set up to go in circles so that you could not make a claim by IVR. Quick frustrating given the time urgency.
(From WSJ)
http://gethuman.com/
I recently had to make an insurance claim and discovered the IVR at the insurance broker was set up to go in circles so that you could not make a claim by IVR. Quick frustrating given the time urgency.
(From WSJ)
Jet Lagged
Little angels Whisper softly While my heart melts For you and I'll see Only sunshine Only moonlight For the first time its real And the higher you take me The more that you make me Feel so hazy Tell me what this means I got jet lag and I never even left the ground See it's like that every time you come around Oh, I'm so hung over and I never even touched a drop See I can't get enough This must be love How the time flies When you're near me Get those butterflies Inside and I'll be Where the stars shine Where the birds fly'Till the next time you're mine And the higher you take me The more that you make me Feel so hazy Tell me what this means I got jet lag and I never even left the ground See it's like that every time you come around Oh, I'm so hung over and I never even touched a drop See I can't get enough This must be love Whenever you're with me It feels like gravity Ain't got no hold on me Tell me what does this mean This must be love Love I got jet lag and I never even left the ground And it's like that every time you come around I'm so hung over and I never even touched one drop See I got jet lag Baby don't cha know You really really got it goin' on Baby don't cha know You really really got it goin' on Baby don't cha know You really really got it goin' on Baby don't you know Baby don't you know I got jet lag and I never even left the ground See it's like that every time you come around Oh, I'm so hung over and I never even touched a drop I never even left the ground I never no no Jet lag, jet leg
Humm Humm
Humm Humm
- Existentialism - the ultimate, certain, indubitable reality is not thinking consciousness but, according to Heidegger, "being in the world.
- Rationalism - states that the only authentic knowledge is the scientific knowledge. humanism is centered on the dignity and worth of people. While rationalism is a key component of humanism, there is also a strong ethical component in humanism that rationalism does not require. As a result, being a rationalist does not necessarily mean being a humanist.
- Positivism - the only authentic knowledge is the scientific knowledge, a natural law exists
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Every Breath you take
Ok I am off true crime novels now. This was a good book, but Ann Rule is no Capote.
Well Written, but you know the answer at the beginning and so the story unwinds slowly and inevitably......
Well Written, but you know the answer at the beginning and so the story unwinds slowly and inevitably......
Friday, January 27, 2006
Now more than ever.....
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Something is Rotten
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
More power to the people from beyond
More to give to the rightful only one
You look at me then you look into the sky
I lie I lie I lie
I keep on searching for a better way to live
The hardest time is the hate I always give
I wanna hold you, but there ain't no other way
I pray I pray I pray
Can that be right, have I lost so many times
Is this the fight where I'm facing all my crimes
Or is there someone who's only left for me
You'll see you'll see you'll see
What you say, becomes me
All I am, don't you see
To the people from beyond
Living life isn't always all that fun
In your domain, you only hear my cry
I die I die I die
http://www.allshakespeare.com/hamlet/309
More power to the people from beyond
More to give to the rightful only one
You look at me then you look into the sky
I lie I lie I lie
I keep on searching for a better way to live
The hardest time is the hate I always give
I wanna hold you, but there ain't no other way
I pray I pray I pray
Can that be right, have I lost so many times
Is this the fight where I'm facing all my crimes
Or is there someone who's only left for me
You'll see you'll see you'll see
What you say, becomes me
All I am, don't you see
To the people from beyond
Living life isn't always all that fun
In your domain, you only hear my cry
I die I die I die
http://www.allshakespeare.com/hamlet/309
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
On Being Woven
On Being Woven by Rumi
The way is full of genuine sacrifice.
The thickets blocking the path are anything
that keeps you from that, any fear that you may be broken
to bits like a glass bottle.
This road demands courage and stamina,
yet it 's full of footprints!
Who are these companions?
They are rungs in your ladder. Use them!
With company you quicken your ascent.
You may be happy enough going along, but with others you
will go farther and faster.
Someone who goes cheerfully by himself
to the customs house to pay his traveler's tax
will go even more lightheartedly when friends are with him.
Every prophet sought out companions.
A wall standing alone is useless, but put three or four walls together,
and they'll support a roof and keep the grain dry and safe.
When ink joins with a pen, then the blank paper
can say something. Rushes and reeds must be woven
to be useful as a mat. If they weren't interlaced,
the wind would blow them away.
Like that God paired up creatures and gave them friendship."
The way is full of genuine sacrifice.
The thickets blocking the path are anything
that keeps you from that, any fear that you may be broken
to bits like a glass bottle.
This road demands courage and stamina,
yet it 's full of footprints!
Who are these companions?
They are rungs in your ladder. Use them!
With company you quicken your ascent.
You may be happy enough going along, but with others you
will go farther and faster.
Someone who goes cheerfully by himself
to the customs house to pay his traveler's tax
will go even more lightheartedly when friends are with him.
Every prophet sought out companions.
A wall standing alone is useless, but put three or four walls together,
and they'll support a roof and keep the grain dry and safe.
When ink joins with a pen, then the blank paper
can say something. Rushes and reeds must be woven
to be useful as a mat. If they weren't interlaced,
the wind would blow them away.
Like that God paired up creatures and gave them friendship."
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Anthem for Doomed Employees
Anthem for Doomed Employees
What passing-bells for these who leave as cattle?
- Only the monstruous anger of the rest.
Only the stuttering hum of the hearing
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
-No shrill, demented mummbles of coffee shop heros;
And no bugles calling for them from sad floors.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of managers, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of the exited' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Not by Wilfred Owen
What passing-bells for these who leave as cattle?
- Only the monstruous anger of the rest.
Only the stuttering hum of the hearing
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
-No shrill, demented mummbles of coffee shop heros;
And no bugles calling for them from sad floors.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of managers, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of the exited' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Not by Wilfred Owen
Monday, January 23, 2006
Brokeback Mountain
Entirely believable, really well acted, beautifully shot, tediously paced, Heath Ledger's performance is amazing as a despairing man with limited circumstance. Great job by Ang Lee and the gang.
Personal Boundaries - knowing where you are and stop. Being able to deal with world knowing this. Why did people act so violently to Gay? Fear, not knowing who that are. Dogma.
In a slightly strange "twist" Heath Ledge and Michelle Williams are in real life living together and have had a child, having met on the set of Brokeback Mountain.
Personal Boundaries - knowing where you are and stop. Being able to deal with world knowing this. Why did people act so violently to Gay? Fear, not knowing who that are. Dogma.
In a slightly strange "twist" Heath Ledge and Michelle Williams are in real life living together and have had a child, having met on the set of Brokeback Mountain.
The Alchemist
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho, just finished, here is a summary.
Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure and ancient wise voices, Medieval mysticism with the song of the desert. Follow our dreams, to find our "Personal Myth" meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.
By the end of the novel, he discovers that "treasure lies where your heart belongs", and that the treasure was the journey itself, the discoveries he made, and the wisdom he acquired.
"simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".
"when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true".
Those who do not have the courage to follow their " Personal Myth", are doomed to a life of emptiness, misery, and unfulfillment. Fear of failure is the greatest obstacle to happiness.
Santiago finds his soul-mate, and the secrets of wisdom in the wilderness of the desert. The "wilderness" is a symbol. In the desert, Santiago meets his "twin-soul" and discovers that love is the core of existence and creation.
When we love, we always try to improve ourselves, and that's when everything is possible. "I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."We can all identify with Santiago: all of us have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. words of wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of meaning and language, which makes it particularly readable and accounts for its bestselling status.
“Every search begins with beginners luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested”
“I am learning the Language of the World and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me…”
Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure and ancient wise voices, Medieval mysticism with the song of the desert. Follow our dreams, to find our "Personal Myth" meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation.
By the end of the novel, he discovers that "treasure lies where your heart belongs", and that the treasure was the journey itself, the discoveries he made, and the wisdom he acquired.
"simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".
"when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true".
Those who do not have the courage to follow their " Personal Myth", are doomed to a life of emptiness, misery, and unfulfillment. Fear of failure is the greatest obstacle to happiness.
Santiago finds his soul-mate, and the secrets of wisdom in the wilderness of the desert. The "wilderness" is a symbol. In the desert, Santiago meets his "twin-soul" and discovers that love is the core of existence and creation.
When we love, we always try to improve ourselves, and that's when everything is possible. "I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."We can all identify with Santiago: all of us have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. words of wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of meaning and language, which makes it particularly readable and accounts for its bestselling status.
“Every search begins with beginners luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested”
“I am learning the Language of the World and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me…”
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Found quote closes a generational gap
I found this in the back of 2 of my Grandmothers poetry books
Blake
It did not appear in the actual print in either books so I am assuming is was a bit of a favouritee as she obviously took the time to write it out. What was she doing and thinking when she did this? I have read it several time and not sure I really understand all that it means
(blackberry)
| He who bends to himself a joy |
| Does the winged life destroy; |
| But he who kisses the joy as it flies |
| Lives in eternity's sunrise. |
Blake
It did not appear in the actual print in either books so I am assuming is was a bit of a favouritee as she obviously took the time to write it out. What was she doing and thinking when she did this? I have read it several time and not sure I really understand all that it means
(blackberry)
Friday, January 20, 2006
In the Moment
In the moment a world is changed.
In the moment roads are taken, lives and feelings exposed.
In the moment the glance gives the feelings away.
In the moment is silence
In the moment a pattern is broken, a history forgiven and future held
In the moment nothing else matters
In the moment we are real and nothing else matters
In the moment the real is despair and the despair is real
In the moment a life is created
In the moment a heart bears and a spirit runs
In the moment life is lived and the death passes
In the moment we are exposed for who we are
In the moment control is gone, we are what we are
In the moment roads are taken, lives and feelings exposed.
In the moment the glance gives the feelings away.
In the moment is silence
In the moment a pattern is broken, a history forgiven and future held
In the moment nothing else matters
In the moment we are real and nothing else matters
In the moment the real is despair and the despair is real
In the moment a life is created
In the moment a heart bears and a spirit runs
In the moment life is lived and the death passes
In the moment we are exposed for who we are
In the moment control is gone, we are what we are
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The History of Violence meets Capote
The History of Violence in Cold Blood
“More Tiers are shed from prayers that are answered than from prayers that are not”
In Cold Blood, the Book by Truman Capote
Truman Capote the Movie (based on Book by Gerald Clarke)
The history of Violence the Movie (based on Book John Wagner and Vince Locke
Summary
An interesting Trilogy
“More Tiers are shed from prayers that are answered than from prayers that are not”
In Cold Blood, the Book by Truman Capote
- Perry Smith - The lack of family, different, talented, disconnected, grandiosity disillusioned, able to kill without feeling, disconnected, dreams of fame and superhuman, the rooms in his head, normal
- Kind and confused and week and abandoned
- Unable to form human connections, desperate for such a connection
- Written ilyricalal Verse and song to tell a storey
Truman Capote the Movie (based on Book by Gerald Clarke)
- Lonely, knew the words, did not care really, did not open up, no family, disconnected, centre of attention, different
- “He is the best thing about you”
- Not a loving person, very self-centered
- we grow up in the same house, I (Truman) walked out the front and Perry walked out the back
- Very believable, but also a fraud and unbelievable, melodramatic
The history of Violence the Movie (based on Book John Wagner and Vince Locke
- Escaping the past by abandoning it and moving on
- Violence that cannot be escaped from
- Ordinary people can be violent
- the past meets the present in a moment, an instant everything changes
- Violence is attractive, it is how we are
- Kind sweet people can be violent
- Does the violence, once experienced change everything, anything? What does it change?
- Great jobbuildingding the tension as the movie moves on
Summary
An interesting Trilogy
Monday, January 16, 2006
Goodbye my Lover by James Blunt
Did I disappoint you or let you down?
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
Should I be feeling guilty or let the judges frown?
'Cause I saw the end before we'd begun,
Yes I saw you were blinded and I knew I had won.
So I took what's mine by eternal right.
Took your soul out into the night.
It may be over but it won't stop there,
I am here for you if you'd only care.
You touched my heart you touched my soul.
You changed my life and all my goals.
And love is blind and that I knew when,
My heart was blinded by you.
I've kissed your lips and held your head.
Shared your dreams and shared your bed.
I know you well, I know your smell.
I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I am a dreamer but when I wake,
You can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take.
And as you move on, remember me,
Remember us and all we used to be
I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile.
I've watched you sleeping for a while.
I'd be the father of your child.
I'd spend a lifetime with you.
I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
And I still hold your hand in mine.
In mine when I'm asleep.
And I will bear my soul in time,
When I'm kneeling at your feet.
Goodbye my lover.
Goodbye my friend.
You have been the one.
You have been the one for me.
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Some Neat ideas
Hey this is Cool (especially the later stuff) :-)
http://www.antonygormley.com/menu.htm
1000 ways to look at a human figure.
http://www.antonygormley.com/menu.htm
1000 ways to look at a human figure.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Yesterday
Yesterday, the very word brings the sadness of lost childhoods that you cannot escape.
The pull is strong, relentless, unfoolable and inevitable. Oh you can run, boy you can run, but the pull will get you in the end. Scared, not me, not while I can run.
To stop and think and face the child, is the most difficult thing. It hurts more that you know hurt could hurt, is more lonely than you know lonely could be. The wound is an abyss, an endless void.
Somehow life goes on. My head explodes and we carry on scared.
The pull is strong, relentless, unfoolable and inevitable. Oh you can run, boy you can run, but the pull will get you in the end. Scared, not me, not while I can run.
To stop and think and face the child, is the most difficult thing. It hurts more that you know hurt could hurt, is more lonely than you know lonely could be. The wound is an abyss, an endless void.
Somehow life goes on. My head explodes and we carry on scared.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Strategies for Creating your own best Future
- Realize that no matter how good youget you can ALWAYS get better
- Make a COMMITMENT to be your absolute best at what you do and who you are
- Practice living "Above and Beyond" the line
- Become the President of CEO if "Me Inc"
- Life is Difficult. Life is not fair
- Make fun and laughter a daily practice
- Be a conscieous team member and leader
- Develop and maintain a healthy perspective
Saturday, January 07, 2006
"FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY DEATH"
"FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY DEATH" by W.S. Merwin
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star
Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And boding not knowing to what
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star
Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And boding not knowing to what
Friday, January 06, 2006
The Tipping Point
The Tipping Point - Notes and Review
3 key factors discussed:
The law of the few
Connectors
Mavens
Salesman
6 degress of separation – does not mean that we are all linked to everyone else in just 6 steps, it means a very small number of people are linked to everyone else and the rest of us are linked to them.
Proximity more powerful that age and race when picking friends
Activities more important than attitudes in friendship
Connectors
People that know people and People that work at knowing people. People that put people together.
Mavens
How to find a maven – 1800 number of soap
Salesman
Who is influential - Salesmen
Power of influence
Head nodding thing
News caster vs votes thing
Context key in influence – News vs advert
Non verbal clues as or more important than verbal ones (Nodding heads and Bounding Balls!!!)
Conversation as sync dance
Emotion is Contagious – emotion going outside in as well and inside out
Some people (Charismatic) are carries some are receptors
The Stickiness Factor
Sesame Street
Small but critical adjustments made it sticky (Devil in the detail)
Making Advertising Stick – ie making is turn to a sale
Key Learnings re stickiness:
Hard Sell Does not nec work (College tetanus case)
Gold box vs high profile ads
Cleverness and originality don’t matter either (blue clues vs Sesame Street)
You want to believe that the inherent quality of the ideas we present as an impact – tinkering on the margin with the presentation is key
The Power of Context
Prison example, people changed, very quickly when the context changed
Fatal Attribution Error – Don’t make assumptions. Kids test examples – Kid cheat, but only sometimes and in odd inconsistent ways.
150 key number.
Translation – moving up the product curve from early adaptors to Majority.
In a word or month world you need to keep you word – always
3 key factors discussed:
- THE LAW OF THE FEW
- THE STICKINESS FACTOR
- THE POWER OF CONTEXT
The law of the few
Connectors
Mavens
Salesman
6 degress of separation – does not mean that we are all linked to everyone else in just 6 steps, it means a very small number of people are linked to everyone else and the rest of us are linked to them.
Proximity more powerful that age and race when picking friends
Activities more important than attitudes in friendship
Connectors
People that know people and People that work at knowing people. People that put people together.
Mavens
How to find a maven – 1800 number of soap
Salesman
Who is influential - Salesmen
Power of influence
Head nodding thing
News caster vs votes thing
Context key in influence – News vs advert
Non verbal clues as or more important than verbal ones (Nodding heads and Bounding Balls!!!)
Conversation as sync dance
Emotion is Contagious – emotion going outside in as well and inside out
Some people (Charismatic) are carries some are receptors
The Stickiness Factor
Sesame Street
Small but critical adjustments made it sticky (Devil in the detail)
Making Advertising Stick – ie making is turn to a sale
Key Learnings re stickiness:
Hard Sell Does not nec work (College tetanus case)
Gold box vs high profile ads
Cleverness and originality don’t matter either (blue clues vs Sesame Street)
You want to believe that the inherent quality of the ideas we present as an impact – tinkering on the margin with the presentation is key
The Power of Context
Prison example, people changed, very quickly when the context changed
Fatal Attribution Error – Don’t make assumptions. Kids test examples – Kid cheat, but only sometimes and in odd inconsistent ways.
150 key number.
Translation – moving up the product curve from early adaptors to Majority.
In a word or month world you need to keep you word – always
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
2005 In Review
So I figured several years ago that I wanted 10 years on experiences in 10 years not 1 years of experiences 10 times. 2005 was definitely a new year of experiences.
Did not leave Canada much or change jobs or get a new house or new car but traveled to new places and saw new things in myself and in others.
I cannot remember a year that was so divergent. From truly amazing and enlightening to scarely and terrible and devastating.
The highlights and lowlights to remember and learn from (in no particular order):
Did not leave Canada much or change jobs or get a new house or new car but traveled to new places and saw new things in myself and in others.
I cannot remember a year that was so divergent. From truly amazing and enlightening to scarely and terrible and devastating.
The highlights and lowlights to remember and learn from (in no particular order):
- Discovering Taoism
- Inner understandings and why they are so important
- Beautiful conversations
- Insights into how I am and why I am and some beginnings of who I want to be
- How amazing and warm and kind people are
- Rediscovering music
- Experiencing real love, unconditional love
- Yoga
- Seeing self esteem for what it is
- Reclaiming realizations of re-cycled repeats to break from
- Blogging
- Reading for relaxation
- Buddhism
- iPods and Podcasts
- Understanding intimacy
- How truly warming and wonderful relationships can be. The need to put in what you want to get out
- New highs in relaxation of gentle comfort and assurance
- New lows in loneliness and despair and confronting self
Limbo abstract
Limbo abstract - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
First read this peom when about 13, at Pam Clarkes house (Kronos). At the time is seems scarely, but theoretical, today I am not so sure.
'Tis a strange place, this Limbo !--not a Place,
Yet name it so ;--where Time & weary Space
Fettered from flight, with night-mair sense of fleeing,
Strive for their last crepuscular half-being ;--
Lank Space, and scytheless Time with branny hands
Barren and soundless as the measuring sands,
Not mark'd by flit of Shades,--unmeaning they
As Moonlight on the dial of the day !
But that is lovely--looks like Human Time,--
An Old Man with a steady Look sublime,
That stops his earthly Task to watch the skies ;
But he is blind--a Statue hath such Eyes ;--
Yet having moon-ward turn'd his face by chance,
Gazes the orb with moon-like countenance,
With scant white hairs, with foretop bald & high,
He gazes still,--his eyeless Face all Eye ;--
As 'twere an organ full of silent Sight,
His whole Face seemeth to rejoice in Light !
Lip touching lip, all moveless, bust and limb,
He seems to gaze at that which seems to gaze on him !
No such sweet sights doth Limbo Den immure,
First read this peom when about 13, at Pam Clarkes house (Kronos). At the time is seems scarely, but theoretical, today I am not so sure.
'Tis a strange place, this Limbo !--not a Place,
Yet name it so ;--where Time & weary Space
Fettered from flight, with night-mair sense of fleeing,
Strive for their last crepuscular half-being ;--
Lank Space, and scytheless Time with branny hands
Barren and soundless as the measuring sands,
Not mark'd by flit of Shades,--unmeaning they
As Moonlight on the dial of the day !
But that is lovely--looks like Human Time,--
An Old Man with a steady Look sublime,
That stops his earthly Task to watch the skies ;
But he is blind--a Statue hath such Eyes ;--
Yet having moon-ward turn'd his face by chance,
Gazes the orb with moon-like countenance,
With scant white hairs, with foretop bald & high,
He gazes still,--his eyeless Face all Eye ;--
As 'twere an organ full of silent Sight,
His whole Face seemeth to rejoice in Light !
Lip touching lip, all moveless, bust and limb,
He seems to gaze at that which seems to gaze on him !
No such sweet sights doth Limbo Den immure,
Great Books from December
December was a good month for reading. What with Christmas etc.
Reviews to come
- The Tipping point by Malcolm Galdwell
- Wiston Churchill biography by John Keegan
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
- The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe by C S Lewis
- The Rainmaker - John Grisham
Reviews to come
Monday, January 02, 2006
Why Post and the New Year
When I started this 7 months about ago I tried to figure out why i would do this. The best I came up with was -
"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." Anais Nin - http://www.anaisnin.com/booktastings/index.html
As the new year starts I realize I had forgotten this and so as the year begins I want to renew this was as the Goal. On the journey progress must be made to bring meaning, for myself, progress must be measured, here is where it is measured.
"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." Anais Nin - http://www.anaisnin.com/booktastings/index.html
As the new year starts I realize I had forgotten this and so as the year begins I want to renew this was as the Goal. On the journey progress must be made to bring meaning, for myself, progress must be measured, here is where it is measured.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
New Years Thought (as we all get a little older)
"Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age"
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Friday, December 30, 2005
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Anyother Cool Book - The Toyota Way
The Toyota Way
What does the customer really really want – defines value
Define Waste – 8 ways – all equally important:
Principles:
Flow
Personal Leanings
Web links:
http://www.fredharriman.com/services/glossary/jidoka.html
http://www.strategosinc.com/jidoka.htm
http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/gemba.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemawashi
http://www.si.umich.edu/
What does the customer really really want – defines value
Define Waste – 8 ways – all equally important:
- Overproduction
- Waiting (time on hand)
- Unnecessary transport
- Over processing / Incorrect processing
- Excess inventory
- Unnecessary movement in the process of completing the work
- Defects in manufacture – repair / rework costs
- Unused employee creativity
Principles:
- Long term philosophy vs short term goals (Mission – contribute to country economy, well being of stakeholders, and Toyotas growth)
- With the right process the results will follow – trust it
- Continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface (link operations together)
- Use pull systems to avoid over production
- Level out work load (production control and management people) - heijunka
- Culture of stopping to fix problems to get quality right the first time -Judoka ( and Quality – Jidoka)
- Standardise tasks are the basis for continuous improvement and employee empowerment – balance rigid procedures vs challenge to improve
- Visual control so problems not hidden – Just in time information
- Use only reliable tested technology
- Grow leaders who understand the philosophy
- Develop exceptional people that will follow the philosophy
- Learn by doing
- Go and see for yourself (GENCHI GENBUTSU -)
- Make decisions slowly by consensus - Implement Rapidly - Nemawashi – a technique is employed to reduce misunderstanding
- Become a learning organisation through relentless reflection (Hansei) and continuous improvement (CI can only work with stable and standardised processes) –and KAIZEN
Flow
- ID customer and added value
- Separate repetitive from unique processes
- Map flow – value add and no value add
- Future state value stream map
- Learn by doing (Plan do act)
Personal Leanings
- Balance standardisation with individual autonomy – Currently more standardization would create greater efficiency and quality.
- Standardisation is a Core and Key base for CI – without it there is no CI
- Take the time get it right
- How to principles become common?
Web links:
http://www.fredharriman.com/services/glossary/jidoka.html
http://www.strategosinc.com/jidoka.htm
http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/gemba.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemawashi
http://www.si.umich.edu/
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Broken Love
By William Blake (1757–1827)
MY Spectre around me night and day
Like a wild beast guards my way;
My Emanation far within
Weeps incessantly for my sin.
‘A fathomless and boundless deep,
There we wander, there we weep;
On the hungry craving wind
My Spectre follows thee behind.
‘He scents thy footsteps in the snow
Wheresoever thou dost go,
Thro’ the wintry hail and rain.
When wilt thou return again?
’Dost thou not in pride and scorn
Fill with tempests all my morn,
And with jealousies and fears
Fill my pleasant nights with tears?
‘Seven of my sweet loves thy knife
Has bereavèd of their life.
Their marble tombs I built with tears,
And with cold and shuddering fears.
‘Seven more loves weep night and day
Round the tombs where my loves lay,
And seven more loves attend each night
Around my couch with torches bright.
‘And seven more loves in my bed
Crown with wine my mournful head,
Pitying and forgiving all
Thy transgressions great and small.
‘When wilt thou return and view
My loves, and them to life renew?
When wilt thou return and live?
When wilt thou pity as I forgive?’
‘O’er my sins thou sit and moan:
Hast thou no sins of thy own?
O’er my sins thou sit and weep,
And lull thy own sins fast asleep.
‘What transgressions I commit
Are for thy transgressions fit.
They thy harlots, thou their slave;
And my bed becomes their grave.
‘Never, never, I return:
Still for victory I burn.
Living, thee alone I’ll have;
And when dead I’ll be thy grave.
‘Thro’ the Heaven and Earth and Hell
Thou shalt never, quell:
I will fly and thou pursue:
Night and morn the flight renew.’
‘Poor, pale, pitiable form
That I follow in a storm;
Iron tears and groans of lead
Bind around my aching head.
‘Till I turn from Female love
And root up the Infernal Grove,
I shall never worthy be
To step into Eternity.
‘And, to end thy cruel mocks,
Annihilate thee on the rocks,
And another form create
To be subservient to my fate.
‘Let us agree to give up love,
And root up the Infernal Grove;
Then shall we return and see
The worlds of happy Eternity.
‘And throughout all Eternity
I forgive you, you forgive me.
As our dear Redeemer said:
“This the Wine, and this the Bread.”’
By William Blake (1757–1827)
MY Spectre around me night and day
Like a wild beast guards my way;
My Emanation far within
Weeps incessantly for my sin.
‘A fathomless and boundless deep,
There we wander, there we weep;
On the hungry craving wind
My Spectre follows thee behind.
‘He scents thy footsteps in the snow
Wheresoever thou dost go,
Thro’ the wintry hail and rain.
When wilt thou return again?
’Dost thou not in pride and scorn
Fill with tempests all my morn,
And with jealousies and fears
Fill my pleasant nights with tears?
‘Seven of my sweet loves thy knife
Has bereavèd of their life.
Their marble tombs I built with tears,
And with cold and shuddering fears.
‘Seven more loves weep night and day
Round the tombs where my loves lay,
And seven more loves attend each night
Around my couch with torches bright.
‘And seven more loves in my bed
Crown with wine my mournful head,
Pitying and forgiving all
Thy transgressions great and small.
‘When wilt thou return and view
My loves, and them to life renew?
When wilt thou return and live?
When wilt thou pity as I forgive?’
‘O’er my sins thou sit and moan:
Hast thou no sins of thy own?
O’er my sins thou sit and weep,
And lull thy own sins fast asleep.
‘What transgressions I commit
Are for thy transgressions fit.
They thy harlots, thou their slave;
And my bed becomes their grave.
‘Never, never, I return:
Still for victory I burn.
Living, thee alone I’ll have;
And when dead I’ll be thy grave.
‘Thro’ the Heaven and Earth and Hell
Thou shalt never, quell:
I will fly and thou pursue:
Night and morn the flight renew.’
‘Poor, pale, pitiable form
That I follow in a storm;
Iron tears and groans of lead
Bind around my aching head.
‘Till I turn from Female love
And root up the Infernal Grove,
I shall never worthy be
To step into Eternity.
‘And, to end thy cruel mocks,
Annihilate thee on the rocks,
And another form create
To be subservient to my fate.
‘Let us agree to give up love,
And root up the Infernal Grove;
Then shall we return and see
The worlds of happy Eternity.
‘And throughout all Eternity
I forgive you, you forgive me.
As our dear Redeemer said:
“This the Wine, and this the Bread.”’
Sunday, November 20, 2005
music master
You that love lovers
This is your home. Welcome!
In the midst of making form, love
Made this love that melts form
With love for the door
Soul the vestibule
Watch the dust grains moving
In the light near the window
Their dance is our dance.
We rarely hear the inward music
But were all dancing to it nevertheless
Directed by the one who reaches us
The pure joy of the sun
Our music master
Rumi?
This is your home. Welcome!
In the midst of making form, love
Made this love that melts form
With love for the door
Soul the vestibule
Watch the dust grains moving
In the light near the window
Their dance is our dance.
We rarely hear the inward music
But were all dancing to it nevertheless
Directed by the one who reaches us
The pure joy of the sun
Our music master
Rumi?
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Dale Chihuly
Just watched a dvd of his work. What and amazing process and vision. This really lifts the sole. This is a person who is free, confident, leader and carisma and vision. And how beautiful are the things that he and the team create.
Surprises for me are:
How team it is (chihuly does not appear to actually blow any glass).
How fast it is per piece (no reheat practice)
How much glass gets made (hundred annd hundred of pieces)
How many people (over one hundred)
The unlimited imagination.
How casually pieces get broken.
http://www.chihuly.com/ for more magic
Surprises for me are:
How team it is (chihuly does not appear to actually blow any glass).
How fast it is per piece (no reheat practice)
How much glass gets made (hundred annd hundred of pieces)
How many people (over one hundred)
The unlimited imagination.
How casually pieces get broken.
http://www.chihuly.com/ for more magic
Sunday, November 06, 2005
The subway train
In front darkness, speeding, deafening clatter, rambunctious movement.
Lights peek into the permanent night.
Surprises turn and swing.
Unaccustomed speed, relaxing and fulfilling.
Behind being, lit by fluorescent flicking, still live debris, nothingness staring.
No less clear although past.
Advertising impresses life.
Questions unanswered,
The future becomes the past apparently without notice to the present.
Lights peek into the permanent night.
Surprises turn and swing.
Unaccustomed speed, relaxing and fulfilling.
Behind being, lit by fluorescent flicking, still live debris, nothingness staring.
No less clear although past.
Advertising impresses life.
Questions unanswered,
The future becomes the past apparently without notice to the present.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Kind of Fun
This guys site is kind of fun
http://shmoovio.blogspot.com/
Movie and Picture blog is good in particular.
http://shmoovio.blogspot.com/
Movie and Picture blog is good in particular.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Día de los Muertos
What an interesting mix of religous and fock law this is.
It is nice to examine the edges of an issue or event and realise how grey it is and how little that matters. All that matters is that people enjoy it and welcome it and it brings them comfirt.
It is nice to examine the edges of an issue or event and realise how grey it is and how little that matters. All that matters is that people enjoy it and welcome it and it brings them comfirt.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
cbc and sun and canvas
Listened to the cbc all afternoon while attempting to paint. How great it is to really look at something, decompose it, look at all its parts and then the whole. See it for the first time.
Chosen subject - leaves. Having racked up countless millions this seems reasonable.
Results are mixed although I notice that the result is improved when I paint each piece and move on and temporarily forgot what it is just paint what I see.
Overall a nice day to fall back.
Chosen subject - leaves. Having racked up countless millions this seems reasonable.
Results are mixed although I notice that the result is improved when I paint each piece and move on and temporarily forgot what it is just paint what I see.
Overall a nice day to fall back.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Christopher Pratt for a today
Christopher Pratt (Canadian Painter):
“Somehow or other the greatest gift we have is the gift of our own consciousness, and that is worth savouring. Just to be in a place that’s so silent that you can hear the blood going through your arteries and be aware of your own existence, that you are matter that knows it is matter, and that this is the ultimate miracle.”
“Somehow or other the greatest gift we have is the gift of our own consciousness, and that is worth savouring. Just to be in a place that’s so silent that you can hear the blood going through your arteries and be aware of your own existence, that you are matter that knows it is matter, and that this is the ultimate miracle.”
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Food for thought
Real turkeys are heavier than imagined turkeys
Ontological Arguments:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/
Ontological Arguments:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Today's :-)
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
- Quoted by Rudyard Kipling in From Sea to Shining Sea
Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
– Ogden Nash
- Quoted by Rudyard Kipling in From Sea to Shining Sea
Middle age is when you've met so many people that every new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
– Ogden Nash
He who knows Love
By Elsa Barker
He who knows Love—becomes Love, and his eyes
Behold Love in the heart of everyone,
Even the loveless: as the light of the sun
Is one with all it touches. He is wise
With undivided wisdom, for he lies
In Wisdom’s arms. His wanderings are done,
For he has found the Source whence all things run—
The guerdon of the quest, that satisfies.
He who knows Love becomes Love, and he knows
All beings are himself, twin-born of Love.
Melted in Love’s own fire, his spirit flows
Into all earthly forms, below, above;
He is the breath and glamour of the rose,
He is the benediction of the dove.
He who knows Love—becomes Love, and his eyes
Behold Love in the heart of everyone,
Even the loveless: as the light of the sun
Is one with all it touches. He is wise
With undivided wisdom, for he lies
In Wisdom’s arms. His wanderings are done,
For he has found the Source whence all things run—
The guerdon of the quest, that satisfies.
He who knows Love becomes Love, and he knows
All beings are himself, twin-born of Love.
Melted in Love’s own fire, his spirit flows
Into all earthly forms, below, above;
He is the breath and glamour of the rose,
He is the benediction of the dove.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
scenes from today
Starting badly with drunken sleeps and sleepless wakes
Rain
Amazing doods dressed for halloween taking photos in the subway.
Rain
Leaf stained sidewalks
Rain and walking in the rain
Silence and loneliness exposed and shared.
Rain
So so sad babies handed over in public, from poor to well groomed and smart and smug.
Rain
Dark and work. A day is gone. Good.
Rain
Amazing doods dressed for halloween taking photos in the subway.
Rain
Leaf stained sidewalks
Rain and walking in the rain
Silence and loneliness exposed and shared.
Rain
So so sad babies handed over in public, from poor to well groomed and smart and smug.
Rain
Dark and work. A day is gone. Good.
Alabaster Blues
Calcium not Copper Concentrates and crystallizes
Fun in store as the crystal grows, silently, unseen
The winds of change are still and
quiet as timeless pressure and erosion
forms the translucent purely hard and softly still.
Waiting, waiting.
When the time is right, with patients and love
the beauty emerges, joyful and whole
Fun in store as the crystal grows, silently, unseen
The winds of change are still and
quiet as timeless pressure and erosion
forms the translucent purely hard and softly still.
Waiting, waiting.
When the time is right, with patients and love
the beauty emerges, joyful and whole
Saturday, October 22, 2005
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life
By Robert Buchanan (1841–1901)
THE MASTER said:
‘I have planted the Seed of a Tree,
It shall be strangely fed
With white dew and with red,
And the Gardeners shall be three—
Regret, Hope, Memory!’
The Master smiled:
For the Seed that He had set
Broke presently thro’ the mould,
With a glimmer of green and gold,
And the Angels’ eyes were wet—
Hope, Memory, Regret.
The Master cried:
‘It liveth—breatheth—see!
Its soft lips open wide—
It looks from side to side—
How strange they gleam on me,
The little dim eyes of the Tree!’
The Master said:
‘After a million years,
The Seed I set and fed
To itself hath gatherèd
All the world’s smiles and tears—
How mighty it appears!’
The Master said:
‘At last, at last, I see
A Blossom, a Blossom o’ red
From the heart of the Tree is shed.
’Tis fairer certainly
Than the Tree, or the leaves of the Tree.’
The Master cried:
‘O Angels, that guard the Tree,
A Blossom, a Blossom divine
Grows on this greenwood of mine:
What may this Blossom be?
Name this Blossom to me!’
The Master smiled;
For the Angels answered thus:
‘Our tears have nourish’d the same,
We have given it a name
That seemeth fit to us—
We have called it Spiritus.’
The Master said:
‘This Flower no Seed shall bear;
But hither on a day
My beautiful Son shall stray,
And shall snatch it unaware,
And wreath it in his hair.’
The Master smiled:
‘The Tree shall never bear—
Seedless shall perish the Tree,
But the Flower my Son’s shall be;
He will pluck the Flower and wear,
Till it withers in his hair!’
By Robert Buchanan (1841–1901)
THE MASTER said:
‘I have planted the Seed of a Tree,
It shall be strangely fed
With white dew and with red,
And the Gardeners shall be three—
Regret, Hope, Memory!’
The Master smiled:
For the Seed that He had set
Broke presently thro’ the mould,
With a glimmer of green and gold,
And the Angels’ eyes were wet—
Hope, Memory, Regret.
The Master cried:
‘It liveth—breatheth—see!
Its soft lips open wide—
It looks from side to side—
How strange they gleam on me,
The little dim eyes of the Tree!’
The Master said:
‘After a million years,
The Seed I set and fed
To itself hath gatherèd
All the world’s smiles and tears—
How mighty it appears!’
The Master said:
‘At last, at last, I see
A Blossom, a Blossom o’ red
From the heart of the Tree is shed.
’Tis fairer certainly
Than the Tree, or the leaves of the Tree.’
The Master cried:
‘O Angels, that guard the Tree,
A Blossom, a Blossom divine
Grows on this greenwood of mine:
What may this Blossom be?
Name this Blossom to me!’
The Master smiled;
For the Angels answered thus:
‘Our tears have nourish’d the same,
We have given it a name
That seemeth fit to us—
We have called it Spiritus.’
The Master said:
‘This Flower no Seed shall bear;
But hither on a day
My beautiful Son shall stray,
And shall snatch it unaware,
And wreath it in his hair.’
The Master smiled:
‘The Tree shall never bear—
Seedless shall perish the Tree,
But the Flower my Son’s shall be;
He will pluck the Flower and wear,
Till it withers in his hair!’
Monday, October 17, 2005
Wedding wilderness part 2
Memories:
How great it is to dress up
The calm and involved groom
The smiles
Everyone dressed up
The relaxed bar drink
Chatting with new strangers and new perspectives.
The glimpse into lower class American life
The roads and the traffic
The healthcare and healthcare everywhere
The religious dogma and the spiritual peace it brings
How great it is to dress up
The calm and involved groom
The smiles
Everyone dressed up
The relaxed bar drink
Chatting with new strangers and new perspectives.
The glimpse into lower class American life
The roads and the traffic
The healthcare and healthcare everywhere
The religious dogma and the spiritual peace it brings
wedding weekend in the wilderness
Thud thud bump bump bump werrr werrr whale werr. The road noises are endless and the miles disappear so slowly.
Eventually:
The wedding day is beautiful and the motherly details busy, the bride calm and the groom unusually chaty.
10 minute ceromony and the drinking begins.
Cricket and football fans mingle and tell each other stories
The nite is young and then suddenly done....
Eventually:
The wedding day is beautiful and the motherly details busy, the bride calm and the groom unusually chaty.
10 minute ceromony and the drinking begins.
Cricket and football fans mingle and tell each other stories
The nite is young and then suddenly done....
Saturday, October 15, 2005
"vigilance and service"
A border experience.
14 - the number of immigration staff apparently doing nothing.
25 - minutes of time to process 1 person
0 - amount of organization obvious. Only the use of hand cream tells me they have actually done this before. Hand cream to make the finger print stand out of course.
How much I feel safe now knowing these guys are in charge: zero
The Return Trip - Guns and Gifts
US Guy wanted to know did I have any guns
Canadian Guy - did I have any gifts
Conclusion - Americans don't want you leaving with any of their precious guns and Canada's don't care about guns but want you to pay Taxes.
14 - the number of immigration staff apparently doing nothing.
25 - minutes of time to process 1 person
0 - amount of organization obvious. Only the use of hand cream tells me they have actually done this before. Hand cream to make the finger print stand out of course.
How much I feel safe now knowing these guys are in charge: zero
The Return Trip - Guns and Gifts
US Guy wanted to know did I have any guns
Canadian Guy - did I have any gifts
Conclusion - Americans don't want you leaving with any of their precious guns and Canada's don't care about guns but want you to pay Taxes.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Found this
Found this on a blog - like it -
"In the ecology of spirit, just as in the ecology of matter, one eventually discovers that one cannot simply throw something away.
The corollary is that, with regard to both matter and spirit, there is no such thing as junk."
"In the ecology of spirit, just as in the ecology of matter, one eventually discovers that one cannot simply throw something away.
The corollary is that, with regard to both matter and spirit, there is no such thing as junk."
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Ode to a Nightingale - first 2 verses
MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Dont think about the War in Iraq much
This was interesting -
http://costofwar.com/
What else we could have done with the money - of course we would not have, but wow we could have changed the world
http://costofwar.com/
What else we could have done with the money - of course we would not have, but wow we could have changed the world
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Quote for today
There are people who make things happen, there are people at watch what happens , and those who wonder what happened.
Anon
Anon
Friday, October 07, 2005
up and down - from the film fest and Intermission from no where
A view of life in the check republic.
Nationalists, white supremacy, cancer, wasted lives from small mistakes, the need to recreate in the world in their own image. Humm, I am sure I have seen this film before.
Intermission
Story of nothing, no where and somewhere. Everyday, real time, real life, nicely told, depressingly told, already I cannot remember it.
Nationalists, white supremacy, cancer, wasted lives from small mistakes, the need to recreate in the world in their own image. Humm, I am sure I have seen this film before.
Intermission
Story of nothing, no where and somewhere. Everyday, real time, real life, nicely told, depressingly told, already I cannot remember it.
Beauty a formula? The Golden Ratio
X^2=X-1. X= 1.6180339887 - the Golden Ratio
Found in nation and Art and all over. Why is this case?
What is Beauty? Is that a good question? Do we need to know what it is? Why is Beauty? Japanese have Wabi-sabi.
Others thougths:
My favourate: Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness. Stemdhal
Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." Confusius
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms -- this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness." Eistein
Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful." Emerson
Found in nation and Art and all over. Why is this case?
What is Beauty? Is that a good question? Do we need to know what it is? Why is Beauty? Japanese have Wabi-sabi.
Others thougths:
My favourate: Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness. Stemdhal
Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." Confusius
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms -- this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness." Eistein
Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful." Emerson
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Day to day
What was my vision for today?
A life is gone, for $21.40 and an empty travel bag in and empty elevator. The soft wet noise is not, the late night cries for attention have been met with more attention than desired or deserved. A life is gone. Just like that. A hole is left.
What was my vision for today? No.
A life is gone, for $21.40 and an empty travel bag in and empty elevator. The soft wet noise is not, the late night cries for attention have been met with more attention than desired or deserved. A life is gone. Just like that. A hole is left.
What was my vision for today? No.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
October weekend
What a beautiful sunny and warm weekend.
The signs that winter approaches are clear.
The leaves have appeared on the grass and leaf stains on the sidewalk. The chipmunks are busy and cheeks full. A woodpecker rests on the deck on its way south.
My first attempts at oil painting in 30 years. A really relaxing 4 hours and 3 paintings later.......
Yoga outside was really cool, in the open air, so refreshing and warm
The signs that winter approaches are clear.
The leaves have appeared on the grass and leaf stains on the sidewalk. The chipmunks are busy and cheeks full. A woodpecker rests on the deck on its way south.
My first attempts at oil painting in 30 years. A really relaxing 4 hours and 3 paintings later.......
Yoga outside was really cool, in the open air, so refreshing and warm
Saturday, October 01, 2005
layer cake
Lock, stock, smoldering and then going out.
Apparently complex plot on reflection turns out to be no plot at all really. Some great performances saving this otherwise uninteresting movie. The scenes and sets are nicely filmed and created.
It you are desparate for something reminding you of England, like me, go ahead and rent otherwise rent the motor cycle diaries.
Apparently complex plot on reflection turns out to be no plot at all really. Some great performances saving this otherwise uninteresting movie. The scenes and sets are nicely filmed and created.
It you are desparate for something reminding you of England, like me, go ahead and rent otherwise rent the motor cycle diaries.
The Aristocrats
I try to be open minded and I have reportedly a strange sense of humour based on feedback I receive from time to time.
The Aristocrats causes me to wonder about funny, while I did giggle a little I also fell alseep at the end. Partly figured north americans do have a sense of humour after all, partly concluded they really don't.
In the end this just deosn't seem that funny
The Aristocrats causes me to wonder about funny, while I did giggle a little I also fell alseep at the end. Partly figured north americans do have a sense of humour after all, partly concluded they really don't.
In the end this just deosn't seem that funny
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Imagination
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination circles the world.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
For Today
Close your eyes and recall ten distincy smells. Keep each smell in mind for a few minutes. It is amazing how strong some smells are and how long they stay around and how easily they can be recalled.
Any memories you thought you'd forgotten?
Possible: grass, spicy, perfume, a particular person.
Any memories you thought you'd forgotten?
Possible: grass, spicy, perfume, a particular person.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Grease monkey - taking control back, orders of magnitude change
Back when I was doing my MBA in ITManagement we learned about the value of bringing information together, being an exponential vs mulitple.
ie Information + Information = Information squared (not 2 X information)
Here is a real example of some technology that should the world, slowing perhaps and in ways that we do not realise -
http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/
I think is may only possible does to xml and a bunch of other applications. Anyway very COOL
ie Information + Information = Information squared (not 2 X information)
Here is a real example of some technology that should the world, slowing perhaps and in ways that we do not realise -
http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/
I think is may only possible does to xml and a bunch of other applications. Anyway very COOL
Life as a TV show
If your life was a TV show, which one would it be and why? Which one would you want it to be?
Suggestions please.
Possible ideas:
Gilmore girls
House
CSI
The office
Cracker
Coronation street
Friends
Law and order
Reba
Suggestions please.
Possible ideas:
Gilmore girls
House
CSI
The office
Cracker
Coronation street
Friends
Law and order
Reba
Sunday, September 25, 2005
What's in a birthday
There is life, full on
There is change, measured and unavoidable
There is friendship, pure and simple
There are dreams, filled and real dreams
There peach blush, smiling, knowing
There is pride, prudence and old spice gathered
There is anticipation, abundant and wasted
There is appreciation and love unlimited, unconditionally
There is it all, face to face, figured and final.
There is change, measured and unavoidable
There is friendship, pure and simple
There are dreams, filled and real dreams
There peach blush, smiling, knowing
There is pride, prudence and old spice gathered
There is anticipation, abundant and wasted
There is appreciation and love unlimited, unconditionally
There is it all, face to face, figured and final.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
non-verbalize
Too early expression may commit an idea to a pattern of development it may not naturally have followed
- Edward de Bono
- Edward de Bono
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
budism and me
Budism does not have answers, but is has good questions....
We are thinking all of the time, the question is what do you want to think about- Bmw's, boats, angry or pure and happy and acceptance.
We are always inter-conected to people so we have to do the best here and now.
The unenlightened life is suffering. Unenlightened means not knowing who you are, not having the operating manual for your life.
I am not the only one, I am one of the ones.
Surf the life wave dont try to change it.
Infinite Life by, Robert A. F. Thurman - http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594480699/qid=1127179201/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/701-8042309-0585917
We are thinking all of the time, the question is what do you want to think about- Bmw's, boats, angry or pure and happy and acceptance.
We are always inter-conected to people so we have to do the best here and now.
The unenlightened life is suffering. Unenlightened means not knowing who you are, not having the operating manual for your life.
I am not the only one, I am one of the ones.
Surf the life wave dont try to change it.
Infinite Life by, Robert A. F. Thurman - http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594480699/qid=1127179201/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/701-8042309-0585917
a good day
The primary determinor for if we have a good day is us or our attitude. It is not the news, food, cars, air conditioning.
So we should spend time on us now as that is what matters not anything else.
So we should spend time on us now as that is what matters not anything else.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Civilization as Experientation
Civilization is an experiment. Civilizations died out, often every quickly where the people seemed to have no understanding of the problem they faced. What was going throught the heads of the Easter island people as they cut the last tree down? Do we have a last tree? Will we know when we cut it down? Have we cut it down already? Is it possible that progress in genetics and material sciences will enable us to break the cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations? What part with culture play?
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Self-experimentation
Self-experimentation seems like a path to life and learning
Here is one that was not -
The 19th-century German medical researcher Max von Pettenkofer once drank a test tube of cholera bacteria to try to disprove the emerging theory that diseases are caused by germs. Von Pettenkofer managed to not get cholera, but he did commit suicide after a cholera outbreak proved his anti-germ hypothesis disastrously wrong.
Here is one that was not -
The 19th-century German medical researcher Max von Pettenkofer once drank a test tube of cholera bacteria to try to disprove the emerging theory that diseases are caused by germs. Von Pettenkofer managed to not get cholera, but he did commit suicide after a cholera outbreak proved his anti-germ hypothesis disastrously wrong.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Chemical Engineers Rule
Chemical Engineers are bright and funny
Examples include:
Arthur D. Little - started 1st consulting company
Dolph Lundgren - IQ 160
Nancy Pimental - Writer for South Park
Jack Welch
Examples include:
Arthur D. Little - started 1st consulting company
Dolph Lundgren - IQ 160
Nancy Pimental - Writer for South Park
Jack Welch
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
bikram yoga
Just discovered this type of yoga. Yoga in the sauna. Amazing.
It is the hardest workout I have every done. After you feel energised and peaceful in a whole new way.
http://www.bikramyogacentre.com/
It is the hardest workout I have every done. After you feel energised and peaceful in a whole new way.
http://www.bikramyogacentre.com/
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Music Master
You that love lovers
This is your home. Welcome.
In the midst of making form, love
made this form that melts form,
With love for the door
Soul the vestibule.
Watch the dust grains moving
In the light near the window
Their dance is our dance
We rarely hear the inward music,
But we're all dancing to it nevertheless
Direct by the one who teaches us. The pure joy of the sun
Our music master
When I am with you we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I cannot go to sleep.
Praise for these two insomnias!
And the diference between then.
Rumi
(Blackberry)
This is your home. Welcome.
In the midst of making form, love
made this form that melts form,
With love for the door
Soul the vestibule.
Watch the dust grains moving
In the light near the window
Their dance is our dance
We rarely hear the inward music,
But we're all dancing to it nevertheless
Direct by the one who teaches us. The pure joy of the sun
Our music master
When I am with you we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I cannot go to sleep.
Praise for these two insomnias!
And the diference between then.
Rumi
(Blackberry)
Thursday, August 18, 2005
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
O WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
"I love thee true.”
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill’s side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
"I love thee true.”
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill’s side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Advise Please......
Advice is like snow - the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in sinks into the mind.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
thought for the day
I began to understand that self-esteem is not everything.
It is just that there's nothing without it.
Gloria Steinem
American journalist and feminist leader
It is just that there's nothing without it.
Gloria Steinem
American journalist and feminist leader
Friday, August 12, 2005
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Monday, August 01, 2005
New York New York weekend weekend - Part 3
Moma magic, magnificant, magnified, miraclous.
The new space is timeless, although not extravagant.
Integrity
Emotion
Movement
Idea
Composition
Intimacy
Vocabulary
The new space is timeless, although not extravagant.
Integrity
Emotion
Movement
Idea
Composition
Intimacy
Vocabulary
Saturday, July 30, 2005
New York New York weekend weekend - Part 1
Igniting the sole with variety, imagination, images and exhaustion.
A day in new York.
People, hot and people, struggling
Subway stops that aren't
Yellow fords invade
A to z of J walking, New York style, where the people have all the power and revel in it
People are crazy, people omnipotent
Selling blooms that last only moments,
Washington square full of jazz and memorial comedy in the still night
Princesses, pints, pictures, paint as Gothic gotham grins and grinds. To good to be true but wariness lives on.
Why not time spend with traipse schools by the water or with chess champions, or sailing from the school? People every where as the city creeks and cracks and breaths.
(Blackberry)
Friday, July 29, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
picture of the day
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16974
went here a couple of years ago - what a spirit full place
went here a couple of years ago - what a spirit full place
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Monday, July 25, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Elevation
High, higher than the sun
You shoot me from a gun
I need you to evalate me here
At the corner of your lips
As the orbit of your hips
Eclipse, you elevate my soul
I've lost all self control
Been living like a mole
Now going down, excavation
I and in the sky
You make me feel like I can fly
So high, elevation
A star lit up like a cigar
Strung out like a guitar
Maybe you could educate my mind
Explain all these controls
I can't sing but I've got soul
The goal is elevation
A mole, living in a hole
Digging up my soul
Going down, excavation
I and I in the sky
You make me feel like I can fly
So high, elevation
Love, lift me out of these blues
Won't you tell me something true
So high, elevation
(Blackberry)
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Chicago Chicago - I recall
- The customs line coordinator who was really doing the job. Hussle and bussle and all our security is checked.
- David at the ritz carlton for being sensitive and hearing me and for walking me to the elavator.
- This is one clean, cool, confident,exciting, modern, old, proud, futuristic city.
- Nessa for her great, straight forward and sassy attitude.
- Sidestreet Sidewalk restaurants.
- The global concepts group for bring together the people and the sharing and ideas.
- Steve levitt for being brave enough to address the issues where he finds them.
- Sunshades and blindfolds that help you see.
- Small people with limited experiences
- Public places for us to share. Water fountains.
- The reasonless laugh shared with the security scanner guy.
- Reminding myself to report what I see.
- Blues and jazz and the dreams they invoke...........
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Bass and Fire flys
As twilight becomes a reality, the bass fisherman buzz and steer.
The orange glow of dust and at once the fisherman are gone.
Replaced by loon, heron and bull frog. Fireflys begin the ritual courtship
This is a wonderland, a vision, a waking dream.
(Blackberry)
Friday, July 08, 2005
Read the news today oh, boy
Read the news today oh, boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire...
Difficult not to be effected by the news yesterday from London, although every time this happens it seems like there is less physical and emotional reaction. The terror that they seek is doomed to fail if this is all they have.
Still without actually talking to my Mother (living in London), you do wonder if the world changed for me yesterday and I dont know it yet.
"And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall"
Difficult not to be effected by the news yesterday from London, although every time this happens it seems like there is less physical and emotional reaction. The terror that they seek is doomed to fail if this is all they have.
Still without actually talking to my Mother (living in London), you do wonder if the world changed for me yesterday and I dont know it yet.
"And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall"
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
An oldy, but a goody and a bit fluffy:
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -and gazed -but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -and gazed -but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Banff web sites
Found locally.
Rockie mountain raft tours -web tbd
Mountain climbing - www.yamnuska.com
Hiking/sightseeing- www.banfftours.com
House riding- www.boundaryranch.com
Places to go (soft wilderness experience)
Jasper seems like a great town - good local walks
Ice fields tour
Lake Louise hike to upper tea room
Emerald lake
Petyo is great
Banff springs
Sulphur mountain
Anthabasca falls
Multiple stops on the highway
(Blackberry)
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