Awesomeness

At first glance it is an unremarkable piece of equipment.
Encased in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no
more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators.

link

In other news, I told you so.

Tales from the Crypt

This sounds cool:

For those of you who have a car that can be unlocked
by that remote button on your key ring: If you lock your
keys in the car and the spare keys are home, and you
don't have "OnStar," here's your answer to the
problem:

If someone has access to the spare remote at your
home, call them on your cell phone (or borrow one from
someone if the cell phone is locked in the car too!)
Hold your (or anyone's) cell phone about a foot from
your car door and have the other person at your home
press the unlock button, holding it near the phone on
their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from
having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no
object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if
you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for
your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk, or
have the "horn" signal go off, or whatever!)

(Editor's Note * It works fine! We tried it out and it
unlocked our car over a cell phone!) Distance doesn't
seem to be a factor.

René Magritte's
La condition humaine


linked from: National Gallery of Art

Okay here are the links http://www.niitholeinthewall.com/

Link The "Hole-in-the-wall" home
Link
PBS Reportage

Here's the idea behind this computer device via PBS:

Mitra has some provocative ideas on the connection between learning and poverty. "Poverty has two different definitions," he tells me. "Poverty of information is one kind of poverty; poverty of materials is another kind of poverty. The same method may not apply to solve the two problems."

Mitra observes that the developed world has spent billions of dollars over decades trying to solve the problem of "material poverty" with little success. He speculates that if the problem of "information poverty" is addressed instead -- by providing poor people with access to information they need and can use -- then the poor "might just figure out how to solve the problem of material poverty by themselves."

Here's how the idea got turned into a computer kiosk:

Like many great ideas, Mitra's was essentially simple. He cut a hole in the boundary wall separating NIIT from the adjacent slum, put a high-speed computer connected to the Internet in the hole, and turned it on.

I'm intrigued by the physical metaphor of a window, in reality a rear window into a tech company, for people who have not had opportunities to be involved in India's ongoing tech boom. I hope it works as planned but I have a feeling that setting someone loose on the internet without guidance is like dumping a lifeboat in the ocean without a compass. I think I'll write about this more after I think on it for a little while.

Rene Magritte is an artist

Corporate Lesson #2:
A priest was driving along and saw a nun on the on the
side of the road. He stopped and offered her a lift,
which she accepted. She got in and crossed her legs,
forcing her gown to open and reveal a lovely leg. The
priest had a look and nearly had an accident.

After regaining control of the car, he stealthily slid
his hand up her leg. The nun looked at him and
immediately said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The
priest was flustered and apologized profusely. He
forced himself to remove his hand. Changing gear, he
let his hand slide up her leg again.

The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"
Once again, the priest apologized. "Sorry, Sister,
but the flesh is weak." Arriving at the convent, the
nun got out gave him a meaningful glance and went on
her way.

Upon his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to
retrieve a bible and looked up Psalm 129. It Said "Go
forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in
your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

One more image.

Link to birdhouses built into buildings by Ottoman Empire architects during the 16th-18th century.

http://www.turkishculture.org/architecture/birdhouses.html
http://www.kulturturizm.gov.tr/portal/tarih_en.asp?belgeno=3990

Folks might be interested in seeing how different cultures throughout history construct different relationships with non-human nature.Constructing these additions required that the architects think outside their own experience, imagining what a bird might desire including "runways for landing and take-off, and even balconies where the birds can venture out and survey their surroundings." Although the ornate decoration reflects the convention for human architecture of the time it seems that it was meant as a gesture of respect for the importance of birds within Turkish culture.

I liked this poem from the site:

Mehmet Zaman Sacliolu’s poem, ‘Bird Houses’;
The outer walls of houses should be bird houses
That take wing when children laugh.
Even if it’s winter outside,
The summer sun should rise inside the walls
And happiness will also warm the birds.

I am an undercover monk

In early january upon my return from Italy I was invited to partake in a seminar on my friend's island, located on the Potomac River opposite of Old Angler's Inn. I spent a solid three day weekend there discussing how to preserve an individual philosophy in a world of perverse intrusiveness. The head of the seminar, Ed Binns, was an educated man who started this group of Urban Coyotes, as he likes to call them, so that we would be encouraged to consider this damn important question.

It just so happens that I am pretty stubborn in my religious beliefs and he just as stubborn in his areligoius beliefs, so arguing with him was lots of fun. It seems, ironically, that taking a break from society brings you only closer to your fellow man. Anyhow I won't bore you kiddies with my old geezer stories (and by kiddies I mean Jonathan Brodsky), but I will be posting a few 'corporate parables' which Ed shared with us.

Corporate Lesson #1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is
finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings.
After a few seconds of arguing over which one should
go and answer the doorbell, the wife gives up, quickly
wraps herself up in a towel, and runs downstairs.
When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the
next-door neighbor. Before she could say a word, Bob
says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel that you
have on." After thinking for a moment, the woman
drops her towel and stands totally naked in front of
Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her 800 dollars
and leaves.

Confused, but excited about her good fortune, the
woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back
upstairs. When she gets back to the bathroom, her
husband asks from the shower, "Who was that?? "It was
Bob the next door neighbor," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "Did he give you the $800
he borrowed from me?"

Moral of the story: If you share critical information
pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders
in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable
exposure.