Your Moment Of Zen

Complexity

Quote of the day:

No, the real lesson is that under conditions of true complexity—where the knowledge required exceeds that of any individual and unpredictability reigns—efforts to dictate every step from the center will fail. People need room to act and adapt. Yet they cannot succeed as isolated individuals, either—that is anarchy. Instead, they require a seemingly contradictory mix of freedom and expectation—expectation to coordinate, for example, and also to measure progress toward common goals.

My takeaway from this is the idea of managing from a center.That's what'll end up kicking your but.
Buy and read this book, it's truly excellent.

Adverts

Or commercials are you provincials know them. As in: almost all US adverts suck rotten eggs. Luckily, the Brits are incredibly marvelous at producing imaginative and above all, ironic commercials.

So if there are any of you ‘Ad Men’ or women reading this (fat chance, I know), allow me to point you in the direction of the Top Gear ‘Best Car Ads’. Notice the almost effortless, simple, sometimes bizarre way these commercials transfer the need and want to buy via the TV.

Also: notice with what aplomb the accompanying descriptions simply introduce then with that light touch of Englishness, for lack of a better description, snarkily tosses it your way. Now go and do likewise.

Enough jibber jabber, go forth.

Very Nice

Via A Cup of Jo, a very cool birth announcement:

Jokerack

"I am sure there are some FBI people assigned to finding out who is behind this. This pres. is such a douche bag baby among other things, I picture him sitting behind his desk pounding his fist like a 2 year old demanding to know who is making fun of him. Waaaahhhhh!"

One Idea Per Slide

Want to drive me up a wall?

Make me sit in on a presentation in which the presenter packs enough verbiage into one slide to make an eye chart. I’ve seen and heard presenters boast or apologize for the number of slides they have; boast if they have “only” 20 slides or apologize if they have some arbitrary number, say 40.

Ironically, I’m for MORE slides. First because they’re free and second, anything to get away from posting up those eye charts.

Duarte has this incredible post on their blog from February that I just love! Of the five lessons, the one dearest to my heart is number four, One Idea per Slide:

4. One idea per slide

This was a key improvement we made to this presentation. Presenters often include many ideas on one slide, doing their best to be efficient with their slide real estate. An honorable gesture, but totally unnecessary in a digital world.

During a live presentation, visuals exist in time as well as space. The audience doesn’t need to stare at the same four points while the speaker weaves his story around each of them. So we turned this single bullet slide into four different slides, letting the audience absorb them one at a time and (once again) highlighting the speaker’s voice as the most important part of the experience.

KISS!

Slidumentation

“Blah, blah, blah.”
Click!
“Blah, blah, blah.”
Click!

I was out of it yesterday (some sort of food poisoning) so I didn’t see the email from TEC 2009 proclaiming the availability of the slides from the conference sessions until this morning.

I groaned, partly because I was still a bit queasy from all those hours in the bathroom, but also because I was about to be annoyed all over again by TEC. The problem is an easy one to make—no, not annoying me—and TEC was knee-deep in it: mistaking slides for documentation.

Pretty Bad

Bata

The shoemaker is a staple in the local artisan scene in Nigeria. At least it was when I was growing up. There was a shoemaker who lived a few blocks away that could for cheap, repair any shoe. He had a little hole-in-the-wall shop that smelled wonderful and was filled with all sorts of delightful, miniature tools.

The centerpiece of the brown store was the workbench that had a large wooden block from which somehow a metal “fist” protruded. The dimly lit store had its walls covered with leather from which the shoemaker would cut strips for working on whatever shoe was currently resting on the fist. If the leather weren't the right color, he'd darken it with various dyes and other chemicals until it matched then, using little nails, this wonderful little hammer and various punches and needles, he'd go to work fixing and repairing.

I call it a brown store because everything in it was brown or a shade of it. The only other color was black, including the shoemaker himself. He was the color of coal on a dark night, a feeling intensified by his spotless white eyes and teeth which dazzled when he laughed, and he laughed often.

I'd spend hours watching him work, holding nails arrayed in a line between his inward curled lips, the SMACK, SMACK of the wide-head tiny hammer banging the nail he held between his black fingers into the shoe. Two hits would send that nail into the sole and the next nail would appear as if by magic but really a deft movement of his hand to his mouth and back again. SMACK, SMACK!

His other mini-tools were hanging on bare nails pounded into the cement walls and what a variety! There were lots of needles, knives of all shapes although all small, and awls and other punching tools and reels of twine and other cords.

Here's a video I first saw on A Suitable Wardrobe showing a shoe being hand made. It results in some really good, really expensive shoes. Paradoxically, I wore custom made shoes in Nigeria which fit like a glove and lasted for years. I now wear machine-made pieces of shit that fall apart within a few months. Sigh.

Enjoy:

Oh by the way, I'll explain the title of the post. The shoes commercially available were made by a company called Bata, I believe it was Italian? Anyway, for school we'd buy the Bata Cortinas which were these clunky but extremely sturdy shoes that were only for school. We'd have to take them off after because they were so expensive. The ritual was to take these Cortinas to the shoemaker so he could fortify them or their soles (only) would quickly fall apart. The untreated soles were usually flapping underfoot within a few weeks if left untreated by Sule the Shoemaker.

We soon took to calling all shoes Batas.

Presentation Zen

I was excited to read the new book on presentations by Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen.  I have to confess myself disappointed this evening as I spent about two hours reading it.  I had a $5 off coupon with an additional 30% coupon so I could have bought the book for only $22.  I chose to buy something else instead.

Here's my review of it on Amazon.com:

Like many others, I have grown (very) weary of the so-called "death by PowerPoint" culture which saturates the IT sector in which I work.  I would gladly substitute every minute of mindless suffering sitting through too many presentations by sales persons and various “engineers” with 150% more time at the Dentist's.  Much as I hate visiting my Dentist, at least I'll be healthier afterwards.

Also like many others, I wager, I found out about Presentation Zen the book from Presentation Zen the blog of which I am a fan.  I am sorry to report that I am a bigger fan of the blog than I am of the book.  First, the good.

The book itself is pleasing with good binding and great color.  It's easy to read with clear type and an attractive layout.  Chapter heading and sub-headings are clear and the flow of the book's content is harmonious.  The reader can tell that good quality work went into the typesetting and publishing--kudos to New Riders.

How about content?  Well here a few shortcomings appear and although not enough to dismiss the book outright are enough to cause me wonder.  At 230 odd pages, the first impression as I flipped through is how “light” it is, literally and metaphorically.  There is a surprising amount of white space and while that's understandable from a design perspective, from a reader's however, it falls short of fulfilling the promise of content a similarly priced book should deliver on.

Focused reading reveals surprisingly little that is original.  I stopped counting at 12 the number of books by other authors referenced and quoted from; and while that isn't a crime per se, it's certainly a shortcoming.  At best, it looks like Reynolds did a great job of editing, creating a pastiche of content from other authors and the reader might as well do the same thing: amass a large enough library and perform the acquisition of knowledge himself.  That, at least, comes with the advantage that reader will be getting it wholesale from the source instead of the Presentation Zen précis.

There is some practical and usable advice (start with analog brainstorming then proceed to the digital, keep the lights on, use a remote) but it's inadequately fleshed out.  This information is better presented and with a heightened emphasis on practicality in other books--Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson comes to mind, one of the many cited as reference for further instruction.

A possible defense to the accusation of being light is that Reynolds' wrote the book, as the subtitle hints, as more of a philosophical treatise on presentation design.  Fine, but even then, it's still light on those points as well.  Reynolds is content to regurgitate some Japanese aphorisms and quotes from various personages that, while certainly inspirational, possess little value beyond that.  The book ends up reading like a "pop psychology" cheer leading tome than what it means to be: a book instructing on presenting information to an audience.

Some of the subtext I noticed from reading is that Reynolds is a dye in the wool fan of Apple products with little if any regard for PC and PC software (from Windows to PowerPoint) including them as an afterthought, perhaps to sell more books.  There is also a subtle but discernable thread of condescension toward American society--the number of "fat" Americans appearing in example slides started getting a little tired after a while.  I don't know if this was purposeful and I doubt it, but nevertheless it's there.

The latter section of the book truly runs out of steam replete as it is with examples (with little to no analysis of them) filling page after page of slideware.  It peters out with some feel-good advice from the author about creativity, etc. in what felt like padding.

In summary, Presentation Zen owes its existence (with apologies to Isaac Newton) to standing on the shoulders of giants on which it stands.  Amazon has it for sale at a great price so definitely get it from here.  Otherwise, there's no way I see of plunking down full price for this book at your local bookstore.

It's too bad really, I did want to like the book.  Instead, I spent my money and coupons on The Elements of Typographical Style by Robert Bringhurst.

Infographics

Entertaining and informative.  Great design (click on image).

Air Traffic Patterns

Incredible animation to show air traffic patterns over a 24-hour period in the United States.

More here.

Danger?

WYME?

At first I thought, not another geekoid tool. Then, eh … why not?

Bravo:

We Are All Bitches

Why do men have nipples?

Since our editor thought this question made the best title for this book, we racked our brains to come up with a hilarious, witty, and informative answer to this question. Our attempts proved futile, so, in order to finish this book so another brilliant title wouldn’t go to waste, we went for the boring, straight scientific response. Sorry.

We are mammals and blessed with body hair, three middle ear bones, and the ability to nourish our young with milk that females produce in modified sweat glands called mammary glands. Although females have the mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo. During development, the embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in for a male embryo. The embryo then begins to develop all of its male characteristics. Men are thus left with nipples and also with some breast tissue. Men can even get breast cancer and there are some medical conditions that can cause male breasts to enlarge. Abnormal enlargement of the breasts in a male is known as  gynecomastia.  Gynecomastia  can  be  caused  by  using  anabolic  steroids.  So,  if  Barry Bonds ends up coming to the old-timers game with a pair of sagging 44DD man boobs, then I  think we will finally have our answer to the steroid controversy.

—from Why Do Men Have Nipples by Mark Leyner and Bill Goldberg

Morse Code

Oh wow, I just learned Morse Code in half an hour!

So there I was at my desk, reading an excerpt from a book, Mind Performance Hacks by Ron Hale-Evans. Hack #53 to be precise and damned if I didn't actually learn the thing almost as an afterthought.

Thing is, I've been trying to find a way to learn Morse Code almost all my life, and never actually needing it (except when I was a student pilot, that is—Morse Code is used to identify navigation radios such as VORs) I didn't waste time doing any serious study. I tried instead to find a pattern that would make it easy to learn. It didn't seem to have any so I dropped it.

But this system, mein Gott!

Here it is, in PDF: Hack 53: Learn Morse Code Like an Efficiency Expert.

--. --- --- -.. .-.. ..- -.- and have fun!

Adverts

I love these:

Clever!

Religion

By rights and tradition, I'm a Christian. An utterly non-functioning one, with many doubts. Oh, I believe in God all right. But sometimes, on certain days, when the wind stops blowing and the sun grinds to a halt, a flitting doubt raises its head and asks, what if? like an antithetical Still Small Voice.

If I were anything else religious, I'd have been a Buddhist. I am attracted to the almost philosophical (read logical) approach to religion, two bitter enemies ordinarily. Well, maybe not bitter, but certainly strange bedfellows.

Then I realized that in many ways, Buddhism's central tenets take control out of one's hands. It's too easy to say eh, toss up the hands and settle down into some deep lotus position, eight muthafuckin' path, deep meditation and let the world spin on. Karma, neh?

I appreciate the futility of keeping too hard a grip on life which is like attempting to hold on to a spinning top, but yea gods, surely, we can do something? Like the American I have become, I am intensely uncomfortable doing something by doing nothing.

I dabbled with atheism for all of a few months. Again, it appealed to a deeply held sense and love of logic, and that flitting doubt I spoke of earlier seemed satisfied when I answered no god. However, I believe Man is incomplete without a spirituality; a need, if you will, to believe in something or someone Greater Than oneself. I don't recall who originally said it, but if God didn't exist, it would have been necessary to invent him. Of course, the staunch atheist would say that is exactly the case. More power to them.

All I know is, there are a ton of atheists who scream like petulant children seeking attention, each one bearing some puerile, half-baked grudge against God. Cries of You Don't Exist! with shaking fists litter in their wake along with mostly unfunny attempts to shock(!) those fucking Christians, as if that were so brave. I'd really like to see one of them put their money where their mouth was and utter the same in front of your friendly neighborhood Islamofascist.

Sheesh, way to go off trail. This all started because I saw that one of my favorite blogs, Dark Roasted Blend, featured the construction and destruction of a Mandala:

Incredibly intricate, monks traditionally constructed these with finely-ground colored stones after creating a design on a surface.

After back-breaking work and intense concentration, the monks simply and ritualistically destroy the work:

Signifying the transience and futility (perhaps?) of life.

Zhaozhou questioned two new arrivals at his temple.

He asked the first monk, “Have you been here before?”

The monk said, “No, I haven't.”

Zhaozhou said, “Have a cup of tea.”

Then he asked the second monk, “Have you been here before?”

The monk said, “Yes, I have.”

Zhaozhou said, “Have a cup of tea.”

The head monk asked, “Setting aside the fact that you told the one who'd never been here before to have a cup of tea, why did you tell the one who had been here before the same thing?”

Zhaozhou said, “Head monk!”

The head monk responded, “Yes?”

Zhaozhou said, “Have a cup of tea.”

Monday, Monday

Hope everyone's weekends were fun-filled and interesting. Mine wasn't, and that's the way I like it. To me, life's like a plane ride: I want the most boring flight possible, no “funny stuff.”

Food

Once again this weekend, P. F. Chang delivers. Is it even possible to get a bad meal there? I don't think so—highly recommended, especially the Mongolian Beef, cooked well (crispy) and spicy with white rice. Yum.

Movies

Saturday saw me, R, and my in-laws watching the new animated movie from Pixar: Ratatouille. Marred though it was by the inevitable presence of pesky, loud, sniveling, unruly children, I thought it was well-done.

The animation itself was par excellent and the voice work was really good, especially Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a food critic extraordinaire. The story unfolded nicely and with good pace and though far-fetched in certain areas, I had to remember it was geared toward children after all.

This quote from the movie, spoken in O'Toole's inimitable voice stands out:

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

This is Anton Ego:

If you watch this, poison all the children (and their fucking idiot parents) first.

Books

Once again my disease, Bookaphilia Nervosa, reared its ugly head and I bought two: Michael Timo's Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters and Clear and to The Point by Stephen M. Kosslyn.

In addition, I'm reading a most interesting book by Robert Kagan, Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order. To call this work superlative is inadequate. There are very few books that produce Aha! moments for me, this is one of them. I will produce a full-length post on its contents soon.

Clear and to The Point is a fascinating work about information transfer using PowerPoint by a Psychologist, a Harvard Psychologist no less. In the few pages I was able to read in between munching away at a godawful muffin at Borders (great bookstore, terrible cafe, coffee, and food; Barnes & Noble is much better), he mentions the guru of visual communication (Tufte) thrice, alas, each time to poohpooh Tufte's principles. In one example, he criticizes one of Tufte's well-known examples of superlative data transfer, Minard's chart. I didn't find his argument compelling on the surface and were that it for content, I wouldn't have purchased it.

Luckily, there's a lot of original work in the book. Essentially, like the sub-title says, the book explains 8 psychological principles for compelling PowerPoint presentations. I'm looking forward to finishing this one.

SOTD

Chez Bond, superb. By the way, Wal-Mart has a 1-oz. bottle of Unforgivable by (spit!) Puff Daddy for $16!

Web Trend Map

This is kinda cool: The 200 most successful websites on the Internet, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity, and perspective.

I really like this kind of information visualization. The only thing I would criticize is the requirement to tear one's attention away from the map and on to the key at the bottom right and then back to the map for interpretation, a concept I got from reading Tufte.