Counting

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Einstein

Just One Glass of Wine

Maybe it's because I was never a drinker. I've never really had much desire. I would catch a buzz a couple of times a year, if the situation crept up on me. If I did drink, I would usually have a terrific time for the first half hour or so, but soon after I'd start to feel kind of lousy. I guess I would drink too fast or maybe I have low tolerance (as they say). Hey it's just the way it seemed to happen. I'd find myself saying I wish I hadn't. As a result, I've stayed almost totally away.

Recently I've discovered what a single glass of wine does to me. Just one glass, not two. A glass just before, during or after dinner is pretty darn good. I nurse it, let myself taste it and make it last a while. I definitely feel something, but I like the depth of the effect. I can still think and function, but I'm "chilled out", the edge is off.

Maybe I'll work my way up to a needing a couple of glasses to achieve the same results. Perhaps that's the beginning of a bad idea. Hmmm... I think I would like to see how long I can savor a single glass. Yup - just one glass of wine.

Some people will say, "What are you some kind of wussy?"

I don't know what I am - - - cheers!

Quantum Physics - The Double Slit Experiment... What?

No say...

Steve Jobs - June 12, 2005 Commencement Speech

This is interesting. Not shocking, just interesting. It's a commencement speech given by Steve Jobs - June 12, 2005

...and arguably worth ten bucks.

You decide.

Steve Jobs - June 12, 2005

Fakes

I saw this and thought it might be worth ten bucks...


As many often would, a dealer came by one day to show Picasso a painting that was supposed to be an original Picasso. He wanted to see if it was genuine or a fake.

Picasso glanced at it and without hesitating said, "fake." Later that day, two more were identified as fakes.

The second day, a different dealer came by. Picasso hardly looked up. "Fake!" he bellowed.

After the dealer left, a visiting friend asked, "Picasso, why did you say that painting was a fake? I was here, in this studio, last year when I saw you paint it."

Picasso didn't hesitate. He turned to his friend and said, "I often paint fakes."

Grasshopper... Hey you there - Mr. Tight Pants

Exclude your residence (home with no mortgage), the amount of money you need to fund your children's college education, and one year's survival cash. Work to get past this point. For many, this will seem like an impossible task. You have to pay attention to the ways you accumulate and spend money. I'm certainly not saying it's easy. These milestones are worthy goals themselves. However, it is after you get to this point that you have a chance to "go big".

What's left is what I'll define as "Working Assets". If you are fortunate enough to get here and have something to work with, we can make something happen.

With your "Working Assets":

• Take almost no risk with 1/3 - Low
• Take moderate risk with 1/3 - Medium
• Be willing to take high risk with 1/3 - High
• Become intimately and enthusiastically involved in the care and feeding of the 1/3 that is considered high risk investment.
• When / if using leverage (debt) to fuel positions within the high risk category, limit your exposure such that no more than half of your Medium Risk position and none of your Low Risk position is in play.

How about some "Rawhide" to gnaw? Are you living high and wide?

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rawhide!

Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Though the streams are swollen.

Keep them doggies rollin'.

Rawhide!

Through rain and wind and weather.

Hell bent for leather.

Wishin' my gal was by my side.

All the things I'm missin',

good fiddles, love and kissin',

are waiting at the end of the line!

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Head 'em up, move 'em on.

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Rawhide!

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Ride 'em in, cut 'em out.

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Rawhide!

Keep movin', movin', movin'.

though they're disapprovin'.

Keep them doggies movin',

Rawhide!

Don't try to understand 'em.

Just rope 'n throw 'n and brand 'em.

Soon we'll be livin' high and wide.

My heart's palpalatin',

my true love will be waitin',

be waitin' at the end of my ride!

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Head 'em up, move 'em on.

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Rawhide!

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Ride 'em in, cut 'em out.

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Rawhide!

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Head 'em up, move 'em on.

Move 'em on, head 'em up.

Rawhide!

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Ride 'em in, cut 'em out.

Cut 'em out, ride 'em in.

Rawhide!

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.
Rawhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!

No Say... A calorie is a calorie? Wait... What?

It turns out that a calorie is a calorie. It doesn't matter if it comes from a mango or a cookie. Yes, there are other nutritional issues to consider, but as far as calories go - they all do the same thing. This is not necessarily big news, but it is quite important to understand.

Miyamoto Musashi - 1643 "The Nine Ways of Strategy"

One must be - then two - then three.

The Nine Ways of Strategy - 1643 - Musashi

1. Do not think dishonestly
2. The way is in training
3. Become acquainted with the arts
4. Know the ways of all professions
5. Distinguish between true gain and loss
6. Develop intuitive judgement
7. Perceive things not seen
8. Pay attention - even to trifles
9. Do nothing which is of no use

There you have it...

Grande Red-eye please

At Starbucks, to get a medium sized strong coffee that has an extra shot of espresso (making it a strong coffee) you say, "I'd like a Grande red-eye please." If you want it to have two shots of espresso - it's a black-eye.

This was part of the instant customer training course I received when I asked for a medium coffee (please) - I added; "something fairly strong".

It was communicated in a nice way. I was in a pretty good mood so I wasn't offended. Hey now I know. Maybe the coffee dude (I know they have some other cool title, but I can't remember it) was just taking his stuff too seriously and took it upon himself to share.

If Starbucks has a strategy to train the customers to speak "Starbuckian", that's a "Wow."

I saw this quote attributed to George Carlin - "New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.

Simple - Complex - Simple, and the next big thing

We've seen the value in the organized resource that the Internet has become. The truth is that it is far from organized. In my opinion, it is still relative chaos. Google (search capability in general) represents the single most important evolutionary influence on the Internet. Establishing routes (search results) and "Monetizing" search with advertising makes sense and has produced big winners, big bucks (world's greatest understatment) and big improvements for users. There is however, a long way to go and more to to.

I think there should be a more clever way of describing it, but someone coined the phrase "Web 2.0" . Others have tried to define 3.0 and 4.0 etc. At best, it's an abstract way to bring up the idea that there is more to do.

It essentially means: "The next wave of benefit to be realized by a network of limitless proportions." The idea is that we would create applications, systems and processes that get richer / smarter / better, the more people use them. This would evolve to "harness the collective intelligence" of huge numbers of contributors. This would include the ability to evaluate relevancy, filter noise and sharpen conclusions. Yes, it has to repackage things. We can't deal with the volume.

This idea has a conceptual shape right now. I can imagine it. The idea is simple, but the mechanics present outrageous complexity. On the other side of this complexity lies the other kind of "simple" that will pull this off.

Yup...

The cure for winter bla

Unless physical activity is a part of your daily activity (work life), it's hard to get enough exercise in a cold climate winter. If you're stuck in a frigid zone, it's easy to find yourself indoors and sedentary. This lack of activity / exercise adds to (may even be the major ingredient) for the seasonal lack of enthusiasm and energy. Some people head for warmer weather - even for a week. This does help.

You can fix the winter bla (yes - there is such a thing) with exercise. Find a way.

Or, be miserable and hope the time passes quickly. But remember - time is all we have.

Momentum

Momentum is the amount of mass moving, which can be written as the product of the mass and velocity of an object.

In general the momentum of an object can be thought of as the tendency of an object to continue to move in its direction of travel, unless acted on by a net external force. As such, it is a natural consequence of Newton's laws of motion.

Momentum is a conserved quantity, meaning that the total momentum of any closed system (one not affected by external forces) cannot be changed.

Risk, Reward and Capacity

A small idea with small risk will likely produce small results - etc. etc. etc. Let's climb the ladder and see how much capacity (the combination of vision and competency) paired with our tolerance for risk - we can accept as reasonable.

How much is our ability to come up with a reasonable assessment of the risk a part of our capacity and level of tolerance?

The higher we climb, the greater the potential outcome right?

Isn't capacity and the accuracy of its appraisal a risk factor? It sure is.

Maybe we should stay on the ground.

No - not the ground.

Don't be a "think past your idea - my turn now" person

Don't be a "think past your idea - my turn now" person. At the very least be perceived as someone who is listening. That means the person speaking thinks you're hearing them and trying to understand what they're saying. You're waiting to hear what they have to say before you respond. You're giving their point / story /argument adequate consideration before you race past the message and go on to your own thinking and speaking agenda. Don't appear to have your next idea and a set of urgent words on your lips when people are speaking to you; as if you're quite anxious for them to stop talking so you can have your turn.

I think you know people who do this. Watch for it next time you're in a conversation. It could be that you do this all the time so you're also less aware when others are doing it to you. After all, you're busy preparing while this is going on and you're anxious for the other person to finish. If both people have this trait, it is likely that neither one of them is aware. It's actually quite common - especially for bright minded people - to behave this way. The witty and the quick among us process things faster and they often race ahead. Some awareness can be quite helpful. If you sell for a living or manage people (we all do in some way - don't kid yourself), consider this idea and develop your awareness. When you slow down you'll be surprised how useful this is.

Zero-sum

What does "Zero-sum" or "Zero-sum" game mean?

Zero-sum describes a situation in which a participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participant(s). It is so named because when the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Chess and Go are examples of a zero-sum game: it is impossible for both players to win. Zero-sum can be thought of more generally as constant sum where the benefits and losses to all players sum to the same value. Cutting a cake is zero- or constant-sum because taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others.

Situations where participants can all gain or suffer together, such as a country with an excess of bananas trading with another country for their excess of apples, where both benefit from the transaction, are referred to as non-zero-sum. Other non-zero-sum games are games in which the sum of gains and losses by the players are always more or less than what they began with. For example, a game of poker played in a casino is a zero-sum game unless the pleasure of gambling or the cost of operating a casino is taken into account, making it a non-zero-sum game.

There you have it.

Explaining concepts & "things" - diagrams etc.

People have come up with a lot of ways to "illustrate" the point or the process. Some techniques work pretty well, while others makes eyes cross. Still, if you choose the appropriate method and get it to make sense, you can really help your case.

I like this stuff.

Here is a link (somebody please tell me when or if it breaks) to a clever basket of formats, diagrams and methods of communicating ideas. It's set up like a periodic table and a mouse-over reveals a look at the method. Pretty clever. It's definitely not as clever as the table of elements (it just borrows the layout), but it's worth a look.

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html


For more than 10 years, I've had a period table of elements on the wall of my office. Not because I want to have a handy reference to the elements - I mean, I get the idea but it's not something I use. I think it's an elegant piece of work. Hey - "everything" is there. Literally everything, all on one chart that you can put on your wall. How's that for a comprehensive document?

Lord baby

I do like Will Ferrell. I think he's pretty funny - for the most part. The hedge in my comment isn't really about his talent, but about the movies in general. After all, comedy is very hard to do well and the somewhat "campy" gags are risky.

The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - the movie (the story) is just the foundation for the gags. Don't look for anything too spectacular there. Anyway, there were some very funny ideas. Ricky says grace by praying to the "lord baby Jesus". There's a whole thing about the fact that Jesus grew up and was no longer a baby. This was pretty funny stuff. That and few other scenes (really must have been tough to do with a straight face) make the movie worth the effort.

Throw some Cash to CHS - GIVE TO CHS (Child Health Services)

Here's a good place to throw some dough: CHS (Child Health Services) , a non-profit organization running a clinic and resource center in Manchester NH.

"Founded in 1980, Child Health Services is dedicated to providing comprehensive medical care, social support services and nutrition consultation to more than 2,000 infants, children and adolescents from low-income families in the Greater Manchester area."

This is truly a quality effort. Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Books on Risk

Neither of these is new, but if you haven't read them, you're missing something.

"Against the Gods", by Peter Bernstein
The subtitle is "The Remarkable Story of Risk"
A well presented description of the role risk plays and how man's relationship with understanding it has evolved. I really enjoyed reading it. It was great fun. Everyone I've talked to that has read this book is quite pleased to recommend it.

"Fooled by Randomness", by Nassam Nicholas Taleb
It's like seeing for the first time (well maybe not quite that good). People who have read it, know something important that others don't. Whether that helps anyone is another matter. The author is probably not a fun guy to hang out with (maybe that's unfair), but he makes perfect sense. Some of this stuff is very funny - in a geek sort of way. Yup - you must read it.