Just because I have a degree in computer science (health warning – it was in 1984 when Turbo Pascal was all the rage), various relatives and friends think I have a magical ability to solve all computer problems.
Having wasted far too many hours grappling with various computer ‘challenges’ over the years, I was intrigued to be shown this catch all solution from xkcd by a friend who does know his IT onions.
I think it is great that the answer to almost any IT problem is out there on the internet, and all you have to do is find it.
A colleague has recently been using the following brilliant line quite a bit recently, with regard to people who keep making the same mistakes. It didn’t take much research to find it came from that wonderful scientist and philosopher Albert Einstein.
* Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Einstein also came up with quite a few quotable quotes on the topic of knowledge:
* Information is not knowledge.
* The only source of knowledge is experience.
* Imagination is more important than knowledge.
* The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
Hedley started the show off with an exotic quiz in the shape of a black and white photo of a European looking woman wearing a belly dancer’s outfit. After a short pause while the audience considered their options I blurted out, “is she Mata Hari?” I was rewarded with a knowing smile from Hedley and the appearance of an original letter from 1917 from an agent of the French secret service to their British equivalent. The letter identified her as a double agent for the Germans. Soon after in October Mata Hari (which was Indonesian for ‘eye of the day’), was executed by firing squad as a spy. It turned out she was in fact a Dutch subject and her original name was Margaretha Zelle.
Pat Shipman one of her biographers argues that Mata Hari was never a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage. The fact that she was seen by some as a ‘wanton and promiscuous woman, and perhaps a dangerous seductress’, may not have helped her case.
Next Hedley showed off what appeared to be an ancient religious text hailing from the famous Dunhuang Archaeological Sites in Xinjiang China. In fact it turns out this was actually a sophisticated fake, and part of a cottage industry which flourished in that part of China around the late 1800’s. The items were produced in response to an invasion of European collectors eager to get hold of historical documents from the area preserved for hundreds of years by the desert conditions.
This led on to a discussion about the the International Dunhuang Project, which is an international collaboration to make information and images of all manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road freely available on the Internet.
Next we were shown a surprisingly recent publication, which turned out to be a new (and limited print run) version of the Szyk Haggadah.
The Szyk Haggadah is a Passover Haggadah illustrated by Arthur Szyk in Poland in the 1930s. According to the The Times it is ‘worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has ever produced’.
What makes the beautiful illustrations so unusual is Szyk’s approach of portraying contemporary political issues in medieval style. His first set of illustrations were clear and unfavourable references to the Nazis, including such detail as Nazi armbands on the Egyptians oppressing and murdering the Israelites, and the faces of Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring on two snakes.
As well as showing that adversity is often a motivator for setting up business (69 per cent of respondents), nearly 60 per cent voted voted determination as the most important characteristic in running your own business.
Although climbing Ben Nevis does not compare to the serious mountains of Europe and the Americas, it does feel good to have finally conquered the highest mountain in Britain. Especially as my two previous attempts had to be abandoned due to bad weather, leading to dangerous conditions on top.
It made me think about how much perseverance entrepreneurs need in order to succeed in business. They will need to overcome a great many obstacles and challenges on the way if they are to succeed in the long term.
Apologies to any fans of the great Bard for my heading above, but given the growing number of both alive and dead blogs, I feel this is an important topic.
By Vicki's Nature at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickisnature/4194708333/
According to Caslon Analytics, several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated.
My thoughts about blogging were triggered by a conversation during the recent Business Librarians’ Association (formally BBSLG) annual conference in Dublin. The initial topic was mental illness and how it is still such a taboo subject. I recalled the negative reaction I received from publishing an article in the staff newsletter I used to edit. It was written by a senior economist who wanted to help dispel some of the myths around Bipolar disorder from which he suffered. I edited out some of his more lurid stories, but was still met with a mainly negative reaction from my readers.
My new friend (who also happens to be an amazing nature photographer) explained how she had suffered with Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) for many years and had finally decided to write about her experiences in a blog. She had many misgivings about going public with her disorder, but felt a duty to help explain and publicise, as well as indicate sources of support such as OCD Action. I’m glad to report that so far the feed-back she has received has been almost entirely positive. So perhaps this is an indication that attitudes are beginning to change.
These links take you to my descriptions of mental illness. For many years I remained very secretive about my battles, but I am now determined to help overcome the stigmas and misconceptions; I cannot do this if I continue to be ashamed.
My depression and OCD are caused by a chemical imbalance in my brain; I am not selfish and I do not feel sorry for myself. I cannot be cured by looking at all that is good in my life, or by considering others who have far less than me. Depression is not about feeling very fed up, and it is not an exaggeration of this normal aspect of human behaviour. I strongly feel that people should not judge those who suffer, particularly if they have never felt mental pain.
I had considered publishing a separate website for this aspect of my life, but it is part of my world. Without it I do not believe that I would be exploring my creativity to the extent that I do, and I shouldn’t hide it. Everything that I have been through has made me the person I am today.
This is only a part of me and only a part of my website; I am more than my illness.
It is often said that men are just boys in adult bodies. This seems to be the approach taken by Männerspielplatz, an amusement park for men that lets them get in touch with their inner construction worker (thanks to SpringWise for the tip-off).
For EUR 219, visitors to Männerspielplatz can shed their office trappings and get seriously dirty while playing with excavators, wheel loaders, Caterpillars, quads, Jeeps and more.
The park, which is situated in an old factory site just outside Kassel, Germany, offers 18 stations for visitors to enjoy to their heart’s content. Challenges include using a Komatsu Hanomag excavator to move huge stones; leveling the ground with a bulldozer; off-road riding on a Quad Unimog; and participating in an archery course.
Participants must be at least 18 years old. A Class B license is required, and admission is limited to minimize waiting times.
Although not in the same league as Lucy Kellaway’s recent trauma, and resulting life affirming experience (How a thief gave me 10 reasons to be grateful), my newly acquired torn calf muscle has led to unexpected kindness from strangers.
Not exactly how I sustained my injury - but a nice footy photo
As I have limped around a sometimes hostile (or frequently indifferent) London I have come across instance after instance of help and thoughtfulness. My first experience was a ticket inspector at the entrance to my train station. Instead of his usual approach of not even bothering to make eye contact, this time as I struggled to retrieve the ticket from my pocket, he rushed forward to open the automatic gate for me. Later on, as I crept at snail’s pass a red London bus waiting to begin its journey, I asked if they were going my way. The driver’s initial response was a rather shirty, ‘this isn’t a bus stop you know’, but after seeing my painfully slow limping progress (painful and slow), she relented and invited me on board.
Friends and acquaintances at work have also expressed great concern as they see me leaning heavily on my walking stick. And even when they discover the injury was sustained during a veterans football match, and their initial laughter has died down, they still ask what they can do to help.
All in all a very positive feeling which has gone some way to ameliorating the stinging pain of the injury itself.
It is becoming a common complaint that too many of us are bringing work home (the almost ubiquitous spread of Blackberry devices is a factor in this).
However, this took an unexpected turn for me this weekend, as I ended up cleaning my two large local authority wheelie bins as a result showing a colleague around the Business & IP Centre on Friday.
I was demonstrating the brilliant Cobra database and the thousands of Business Opportunity Profiles it contains. As I mentioned in a previous blog (Wheelie cleaning up in business), I like to surprise my visitors by pulling up the Wheelie Bin Cleaner report.
So when emptying my re-cycling boxes into the wheelie bins I realised today was the day to clean them out.
On the topic of unusual business opportunities, one of my colleagues stumbled across a Business Opportunity Profile for Life Model, but I have no plans following up on the advice in this guide at home.
I spent a few hours this weekend painting part of my kitchen. Historically I have had a love hate relationship with decorating using a roller.
The system is an incredibly quick and efficient way of getting paint onto a flat surface, whether it be a wall or ceiling. I certainly don’t recommend using anything else for a ceiling, having had paint dripped in my eye whilst using a brush in the past.
However, the advantages of the roller based approach come crashing down when it comes to cleaning up at the end of the job. In theory you can dismantle the roller and just rinse it under a cold tap. In practice you get paint all over yourself and spend tens of minutes desperately trying to get the roller clean of paint. Eventually you give up and leave it somewhere warm to dry. The next day you discover the roller is rock hard from residual paint and has to be thrown away. Sometimes you can’t even keep the roller usable between coats of paint.
But now thanks to an incredibly simple invention I can clean and re-use my rollers to my hearts content. I need to thank Ed Adamson (the inventor) and the Harris paint brush company for making roller painting an almost completely pain-free experience. Apart of course from those times when one leans against a still wet wall.
It could just be coincidence, or an example of great minds thinking alike, but the September issue of 
