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Showing posts from November, 2009

Charles Leadbeater on innovation

“So the more radical the innovation, the more the uncertainty; the more you need innovation in use to work out what a technology is for. Our entire approach to patents and invention is based on the idea that the inventor knows what the invention is for; we can say what it’s for. It will be worked out in use , in collaboration with users . So, you’re in a big corporation; you’re obviously keen to go up the corporate ladder. Do you go into your board and say, look, I’ve got a fantastic idea for an embryonic product in a marginal market, with consumers we’ve never dealt with before, and I’m not sure it’s going to have a big payoff, but it could be really, really big in the future? No, what you do, is you go in and you say, I’ve got a fantastic idea for an incremental innovation to an existing product we sell through existing channels to existing users, and I can guarantee you get this much return out of it over the next three years. Big corporations have an in-built tendency to reinf

Selling sex, outrage over temporary decriminalisation of prostitution

sex work is openly selling sex for money advertising industry sells sex for money, how come sex work is criminalised we all sell sex, we spend money on vaginal rejuvenation, breast reconstruction, buying boots, we are buying to lure sex, giving out money to get sex decriminalize just during the 2010 World Cup, says Jackie Selebe. Dr Eve says this is outrageous, sexist, usury, insulting (I do too) consenting adults caller blames family breakups on sex workers... (not on the men who go to sex workers), the man chooses to go to a sex worker, he chooses to betray his wife sex workers are doing an honest day's work, why focus on them

Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars - an interview with John Gray

when women are silent, it's the silent treatment; when men are silent; they are thinking men have to be coddled - women must say please hold my hand, please take me out, please hold me don't leave (erhhh.... I know he is saying understand each other and change your behaviors for each other, but really! On the other hand, thanks to Dan, I always say - communicated!) stress hormones make men sleep, don't make women sleep stressors have to be 8 times more serious for men to react to a thing as a 'problem' - men look at them as if they are mad when they get stressed out over small things menopause is much more difficult nowadays because of all the stress, take oxytocin getting men to listen - 'Honey, just talk to me for five minutes.' If you put a end time on it, they are more likely to be engaged while doing it.

Solutions to in-law battles

don't confront the in-law directly, have to do it through the spouse respect does not mean submission, you can be assertive without being confrontational have boundaries from the beginning in-laws should not expect to be supported by the family consider that the couple's decisions are their own and should be respected both sides should consider what their expectations are, and delete them

Movie: Last chance Harvey

Strangely, this movie was about Harvey. I guess there are rarely films of gravity and wit about men's lives, but you know I was there for the Emma Thompson's character's backstory. That would have been far more interesting to me. You know I love Emma, she can do anything! And frequently does. I love her expanding middle and I love her crows feet. Perfect realness. Real perfection. And this is not vitriol, just admiration. The film is 'nice', I don't always want to see issuemovies. And yet there were issues, just well disguised. Tangible. Not too funny, not too sad, not too surprising. Britishly well-restrained.

Grahamstown - Africa Trek, a video, lecture and Q&A by Alexandre & Sonia Poussin

French people who walked from CT. Alex cycled around the world. Became a travel writer because of their adventure.  They did it slowly, didn’t know where they would sleep. Wanted to not rush through. 1002 days of walking. In SA they were passed from person to person like a rugby ball. Tribute lecture for the people here who helped them. Video of Wynne Green singing. Domestic playing with on the drum. Emotional sharing. Wynne died of cancer after they left him. 14000 km. CT to Sea of Galilee. Along Great Rift Valley, like the original people. No sponsorship. Alex was an adventurer. Had walked in the Himalayas. He was experienced at asking for hospitality. Sonia was embarrassed to ask. So Sonia left Alex to ask and he just pressed the intercom and asked. White guy. Gold chains. Wife and braai by the pool. Millionaires of Africa are all in the Cape. Tried to learn the language of every country. Went with a handheld video camera with a reversible screen so people could see themse

Tweeting on Twitter, Just Do It

I know... from now on when people say give it a bash, and I give it a bash and I can't figure out why, then I have to work on it again and again until I figure it out. This is my lesson to learn. You MUST read this Time article by Steven Johnson - How Twitter will change the way we live . Now don't be lazy. Focus on what he says about that conference, and pretend that we, you me and our groepie are a conference, let's call our conference 'Facebook', or 'South Africa', or other things we have in common. Why do you read my status updates? Same reason you should read my tweets. In fact, Facebook and Twitter and Google have all got their eye on the statuses. You can be patient and wait, they will probably become one. But Twitter is for those statuses that want to stream out into the world, that don't want to be confined. That want to be Clouded, Tagged and Aggregated. So that people can see patterns in what we are talking about.   Come play. It's n