TGIF! Or is it? It's the last Friday in August. I woke up this morning before daylight absolutely freezing. Summer is almost over and in Michigan that means winter is almost here. It's a thought that depresses me but at the same time I realize how fortunate I am to be able to witness the changing seasons every year. The beautiful leaves changing color then falling to the ground revealing living tree branches that seem dead but still breath life. The beauty and brightness of snow and the upcoming winter holidays. But summer is still here and I plan to enjoy it a bit more before it's gone. So I'm out for a bit! Here's a dose of quotes that will last you until September.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
I asked for a Kindle but secretly want an iPad.
My take on the Kindle versus iPad.
It's like ereader verusus laptop. I wouldn't mind having a laptop though. But an iPad 16g is priced at $499 much closer to what I'm willing to spend for a laptop than an ebook reader. As of right now a Kindle 3 is priced at $139, closer to what I could see myself, or someone spending for me. Yes 16g looks like a huge difference between 3g but these are supposed to be ebook readers. Do you comprehend how many books take up 3 gigabytes of space? Can I?
So will the iPad be the "Kindle killer"? Is the ebook reader I've been asking for as a present the last 3 Christmases already outdated? I'm not too sure about that yet. Why can't I get one of each and compare for a month? Maybe that's what I'll do.
The way I look at it is; The iPhone was $600 when it came out a few years back. It's already down to $99. If it wasn't jailbreakable/unlockable and other companies didn't now carry it the price probably wouldn't of come down so much. Face it, the name and technology the phone has is something people are willing to pay for. Now that the iPad is jailbreakable/unlockable already (Way sooner than the iPhone faced it when it first arrived) will the prices come down sooner than later? Or will technology expand? Will Apple upgrade the reading capabilities and soft/hardware and keep the price high? I'm really debating this one. Guess I need to sit down with a cup of coffee and rack my brain, read everything I can to compare these 2 and either edit my Christmas list or take satisfaction that I'm asking for the right thing.
This reminds me of something I've been wanting to post anyways. About innovation. Some company will always come out with something different and better. Usually I'm all about it, all for it but sometimes I find myself shying away from shiny new things. Like they are spoiling all the glory of the other things that were once new and the best.
The five stages of innovation
1. People deny that the innovation is required.
2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
3. People deny that the innovation is important.
4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.
©AC 2005. Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt's 'Three Stages Of Scientific Discovery', as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything'.
Not applicable of course to courageous early adopters of innovation everywhere.
Early adoption of innovation might not be natural to everyone - but it is an option worth considering, especially if you have a feeling that the present situation can be improved.
It's like ereader verusus laptop. I wouldn't mind having a laptop though. But an iPad 16g is priced at $499 much closer to what I'm willing to spend for a laptop than an ebook reader. As of right now a Kindle 3 is priced at $139, closer to what I could see myself, or someone spending for me. Yes 16g looks like a huge difference between 3g but these are supposed to be ebook readers. Do you comprehend how many books take up 3 gigabytes of space? Can I?
So will the iPad be the "Kindle killer"? Is the ebook reader I've been asking for as a present the last 3 Christmases already outdated? I'm not too sure about that yet. Why can't I get one of each and compare for a month? Maybe that's what I'll do.
The way I look at it is; The iPhone was $600 when it came out a few years back. It's already down to $99. If it wasn't jailbreakable/unlockable and other companies didn't now carry it the price probably wouldn't of come down so much. Face it, the name and technology the phone has is something people are willing to pay for. Now that the iPad is jailbreakable/unlockable already (Way sooner than the iPhone faced it when it first arrived) will the prices come down sooner than later? Or will technology expand? Will Apple upgrade the reading capabilities and soft/hardware and keep the price high? I'm really debating this one. Guess I need to sit down with a cup of coffee and rack my brain, read everything I can to compare these 2 and either edit my Christmas list or take satisfaction that I'm asking for the right thing.
This reminds me of something I've been wanting to post anyways. About innovation. Some company will always come out with something different and better. Usually I'm all about it, all for it but sometimes I find myself shying away from shiny new things. Like they are spoiling all the glory of the other things that were once new and the best.
The five stages of innovation
1. People deny that the innovation is required.
2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
3. People deny that the innovation is important.
4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.
©AC 2005. Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt's 'Three Stages Of Scientific Discovery', as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything'.
Not applicable of course to courageous early adopters of innovation everywhere.
Early adoption of innovation might not be natural to everyone - but it is an option worth considering, especially if you have a feeling that the present situation can be improved.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Awesomely bad pickup lines show.
I like making and reading "The worst..." lists Hearing some very corny pickup lines over the last few days (especially today!) has prompted me to make up some images containing some of the worst one's I've heard.
The images are in my Photobucket and you can save them or send them if you'd like.
The guest password for the album is: pickup
If you have any awesomely bad lines to add please comment!
Below is the show, lines in no particular order.
The images are in my Photobucket and you can save them or send them if you'd like.
The guest password for the album is: pickup
If you have any awesomely bad lines to add please comment!
Below is the show, lines in no particular order.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Some funny and interesting Google street views.
A guy carrying an inflatable sex doll.
Attack of the Post-It Notes.
Taken out of context, this rifle-toting man sporting a Harley Davidson sweatshirt looks pretty sinister. But who knows, maybe he raises puppies for a living.
Girl who pee'd her pants.
2 guys getting busted.
Interesting name for a bar.
An interesting party.
A drunken man keeled over outside.
Undercover Superhero Convention.
Angry Norwegians in scuba gear chase after Google Street View car.
Just to let you know google is spying on you.
Here's the link
That had to hurt.
More just for fun:
He might have forgotten his keys.
A girl bending over, and two guys watching her…
"It’s alright son, no one can see you".
“Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys.” – The Google Street Views Version of the TV Show COPS
Guy going into an adult book store.
Yup, that’s a strip club behind him.
Unaware he’s been caught on camera, a man walks into a sex shop.
Guy Pervert Caught In The Act.
Pull up your britches dear.
Strange and interesting views
This Google map satellite pic of a swastika-shaped building on a US Navy base in Coronado, California.
The Osmington White Horse, outside Sutton Poyntz, UK. This prehistoric figure is carved into the white chalk
of the hillside – such horse carved shapes are called “Leucippotomy”.
Man-shaped lake in Brazil.
Some of the best-documented messages found in Google Maps have been marriage proposals like this one.
Google publicly announced they were planning to send a plane over locations in Australia to update Google Maps images. Quite a few people attempted to communicate messages by displaying large text on the ground for the “Australia Day Flyover” as it was called, but very few actually accomplished it due to a miscommunication over the date of the flight. However, the Tourism Australia ministry
managed it by paying a sand sculptor to form the letters of their domain name
on Bondi Beach near Sydney.
People are increasingly trying to get their messages seen in Google Maps satellite view, but most aerial messages already appearing in the pics were originally intended for people viewing from airplanes. For instance, this message written in a field adjacent to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
Giant thumbprint in a park in Great Britain.
This thumbprint is actually a large maze designed by Chris Drury.
Not so funny...
'Corpse' Is Just Latest Weird Sight on Google Street View
Aol News article along with links to more unusual findings.
If you ever happen to find a picture of yourself on Google Street View you would rather not stay online here's what you can do.
Click on Google Street View 'Help' or 'Report a problem' You will be brought to a page that allows you to fill out some fields about the infringing or inappropriate nature of the photo and then Google will consider its removal.
They allow you to report a face that has not been blurred, an identifiable photo of your face or your child face, your legible license plate that has not been blurred, a picture of your car, your house, inappropriate offensive or NSFW images, bad image quality, security concerns etc. Report your Street View problem in detail and fill in your email
They may provide an detailed Street View Image you reported. Adjust the red box in 3D by moving your mouse and clearly focus on the part of the image you are reporting.
Submit it and you are done. Check the neighborhood around your house on Google Maps Street View, and if you find yourself there, unblurred and easily identifiable, report to Google and get yourself blurred or removed. Unless you want to link the image to all of your friends and become a star in your social circle.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Is the glass half full or half empty?
The optimist says the glass is half full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The project manager says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
And the cynic... wonders who drank the other half.
The school teacher says it's not about whether the glass is half empty or half full, it's whether there is something in the glass at all.
Anyway... Attitude is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it's about who is paying for the next round.
The professional trainer does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his powerpoint presentation is not working.
The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it's whatever you want it to be, just please let mummy have five minutes peace and quiet.
The consultant says let's examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of...
The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what's in the glass anyhow... and wants the rest of it.
The homebuilder sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away in a custom oak and etched glass cabinet that he built himself using only hand tools.
The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.
The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn't.
The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer.
The first engineer says the glass is over-designed for the quantity of water.
The second engineer says (when the half is tainted) he's glad he put the other half in a redundant glass. (Based on a Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams)
The computer programmer says the glass is full-empty.
The Buddhist says don't worry, remember the glass is already broken.
The logician says that where the glass is in process of being filled then it is half full; where it is in the process of being emptied then it is half empty; and where its status in terms of being filled or emptied is unknown then the glass is one in which a boundary between liquid and gas lies exactly midway between the inside bottom and the upper rim, assuming that the glass has parallel sides and rests on a level surface, and where it does not then the liquid/gas boundary lies exactly midway between the upper and lower equal halves of the available total volume of said glass.
The scientist says a guess based on a visual cue is inaccurate, so mark the glass at the bottom of the meniscus of the content, pour the content into a bigger glass; fill the empty glass with fresh content up to the mark; add the original content back in; if the combined content overflows the lip, the glass was more than half full; if it doesn't reach the top, the glass was more than half empty; if it neither overflows nor fails to reach the top then it was either half-full or half-empty. Now what was the question again?
The Dutchman would suggest to both pay for the glass and share the content. Then tells you he will have the bottom half.
The personal coach knows that the glass goes from full to empty depending on the circumstances, and reminds the drinker that he can always fill the glass when he wishes.
The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way.
The auditor first checks whether the empty half is material and then designs the audit procedures to obtain sufficient evidence to conclude that the glass is indeed empty.
The waiter will hurry to replace the glass with a full one. For him there are no doubts: the glass was empty when he took it away; it is full in the bill that he brings you.
The magician will show you the glass with the full half at the top.
The physician says that the glass is not empty at all - it is half-filled with water and half-filled with air - hence, fully filled on the whole!
The musician says he/she is unimpressed with the promoter of the concert for not providing more alcohol.
The ineffective organization would discuss the question during the board of directors meeting, convene a committee to research the problem, and assign tasks for a root cause analysis, usually without a complete explanation of the problem to those assigned the tasks. The directors would consider the problem to be above the pay grade of those assigned root cause analysis tasks.
And more strangely:
The dog just wonders: can he eat the glass or will you throw it so he can bring it back... The cat wonders why the glass is only half full (or empty)... is it a trick... poison perhaps...
The eternally optimistic eccentric would say, the glass is consistently overflowing (or is that the neurotic?...)
The person who is no longer trapped in The Matrix (whatever one might call him/her) says: "There is no glass..."
More generationally:
The adolescent student says the glass is just another dirty trick played by the teacher to prove that students are dumb.
More scientifically:
The research scientist says that following initial observation and testing a working hypothesis for further research is: "The glass is both half full and half empty," and that these findings warrant further investigation with a more representative sample of glasses and contents, which may or may not be liquid.
The algebraic simultaneous equation theorist says that if the glass is equally half full and half empty, then half full = half empty; therefore ½ x F = ½ x E; therefore (by multiplying both sides of the equation by 2) we show that F = E; i.e. Full equals Empty!
The efficiency analyst says the glass is operating substantially below optimization level, being consistently exactly 50% under-utilized during the period of assessment, corresponding to an over-resourcing in meeting demand equating to precisely 200% of requisite capacity in volume terms, not accounting for seasonal trends and shrinkage, and that if the situation continues there is in theory opportunity for savings or expansion.
The 'perfect' 1950s housewife would not leave the glass sitting there long enough for anyone to consider the question, but would scoop it up, wash it up, dry it to a gleaming shine and put it back in the glass cabinet in a jiffy. No half-full or half-empty in her world... just a full glass or an untidy one.
www.businessballs.com
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The project manager says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
And the cynic... wonders who drank the other half.
The school teacher says it's not about whether the glass is half empty or half full, it's whether there is something in the glass at all.
Anyway... Attitude is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it's about who is paying for the next round.
The professional trainer does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his powerpoint presentation is not working.
The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it's whatever you want it to be, just please let mummy have five minutes peace and quiet.
The consultant says let's examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of...
The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what's in the glass anyhow... and wants the rest of it.
The homebuilder sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away in a custom oak and etched glass cabinet that he built himself using only hand tools.
The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.
The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn't.
The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer.
The first engineer says the glass is over-designed for the quantity of water.
The second engineer says (when the half is tainted) he's glad he put the other half in a redundant glass. (Based on a Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams)
The computer programmer says the glass is full-empty.
The Buddhist says don't worry, remember the glass is already broken.
The logician says that where the glass is in process of being filled then it is half full; where it is in the process of being emptied then it is half empty; and where its status in terms of being filled or emptied is unknown then the glass is one in which a boundary between liquid and gas lies exactly midway between the inside bottom and the upper rim, assuming that the glass has parallel sides and rests on a level surface, and where it does not then the liquid/gas boundary lies exactly midway between the upper and lower equal halves of the available total volume of said glass.
The scientist says a guess based on a visual cue is inaccurate, so mark the glass at the bottom of the meniscus of the content, pour the content into a bigger glass; fill the empty glass with fresh content up to the mark; add the original content back in; if the combined content overflows the lip, the glass was more than half full; if it doesn't reach the top, the glass was more than half empty; if it neither overflows nor fails to reach the top then it was either half-full or half-empty. Now what was the question again?
The Dutchman would suggest to both pay for the glass and share the content. Then tells you he will have the bottom half.
The personal coach knows that the glass goes from full to empty depending on the circumstances, and reminds the drinker that he can always fill the glass when he wishes.
The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way.
The auditor first checks whether the empty half is material and then designs the audit procedures to obtain sufficient evidence to conclude that the glass is indeed empty.
The waiter will hurry to replace the glass with a full one. For him there are no doubts: the glass was empty when he took it away; it is full in the bill that he brings you.
The magician will show you the glass with the full half at the top.
The physician says that the glass is not empty at all - it is half-filled with water and half-filled with air - hence, fully filled on the whole!
The musician says he/she is unimpressed with the promoter of the concert for not providing more alcohol.
The ineffective organization would discuss the question during the board of directors meeting, convene a committee to research the problem, and assign tasks for a root cause analysis, usually without a complete explanation of the problem to those assigned the tasks. The directors would consider the problem to be above the pay grade of those assigned root cause analysis tasks.
And more strangely:
The dog just wonders: can he eat the glass or will you throw it so he can bring it back... The cat wonders why the glass is only half full (or empty)... is it a trick... poison perhaps...
The eternally optimistic eccentric would say, the glass is consistently overflowing (or is that the neurotic?...)
The person who is no longer trapped in The Matrix (whatever one might call him/her) says: "There is no glass..."
More generationally:
The adolescent student says the glass is just another dirty trick played by the teacher to prove that students are dumb.
More scientifically:
The research scientist says that following initial observation and testing a working hypothesis for further research is: "The glass is both half full and half empty," and that these findings warrant further investigation with a more representative sample of glasses and contents, which may or may not be liquid.
The algebraic simultaneous equation theorist says that if the glass is equally half full and half empty, then half full = half empty; therefore ½ x F = ½ x E; therefore (by multiplying both sides of the equation by 2) we show that F = E; i.e. Full equals Empty!
The efficiency analyst says the glass is operating substantially below optimization level, being consistently exactly 50% under-utilized during the period of assessment, corresponding to an over-resourcing in meeting demand equating to precisely 200% of requisite capacity in volume terms, not accounting for seasonal trends and shrinkage, and that if the situation continues there is in theory opportunity for savings or expansion.
The 'perfect' 1950s housewife would not leave the glass sitting there long enough for anyone to consider the question, but would scoop it up, wash it up, dry it to a gleaming shine and put it back in the glass cabinet in a jiffy. No half-full or half-empty in her world... just a full glass or an untidy one.
www.businessballs.com
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