I see, with a shock of surprise, that today marks the first anniversary of my retirement. The year has dashed past so quickly. And I thought that I would have all the time in the world to do all the things that I’d put on hold while I was working. Yet, I seem to be busier than ever, and there are still loads of things that I haven’t got around to. I could swear that time is speeding up. Shades of Alice and the Red Queen.
Category: Uncategorized
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Guestbook
One of the features missing from MSN Spaces at the moment is a way to comment on the space itself. There is a workaround and this is it: I am creating this entry as an "off-topic" area, or a Guestbook.
Post about anything in the comments here!
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Martin’s Birthday
Today is Martin’s birthday. We cycled around the lakes in Reeuwijk together with his sister and brother-in-law and had lunch at ‘t Vaantje – a cafe-restaurant in the area. I see that ‘t Vaantje’s web site is now boasting that they have Wi-Fi access. The march of technology – like the march of time – is apparently an unstoppable force…
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Gaudi’s Casa Batlló
Gaudi’s Casa Batlló house in Barcelona is a magnificent machine for living in. The amalgam between organic design and technology is perfect. Since we were last there in 2003, the attic space has been opened to the public. The whole house is well worth a visit. Pure genius.
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Talking about Video comes to blogs
Paul Stamp writes:
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Google is expected to enable video blogging in its next generation service for blogger.com
Sounds like a good idea, maybe something Microsoft will anable in its next gen spaces.
BBC Article >>
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A good idea? Hmm, I’m not sure about that. As Theodore Sturgeon once said: "90% of everything is crud". I feel on safe ground when I claim that blogging has pushed that figure up, and that video blogging will push the percentage even higher.
Data is not the same as information; information is not the same as knowledge, and knowledge is not the same as wisdom.
Unfortunately, too many humans (and I include myself in this) conflate data and wisdom as being the same thing. That misconception will probably lead to our inevitable extinction ahead of any external factors.
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Talking about Rights at Work
Vincent Creelan writes movingly about the incident that propelled him to come out as being gay.
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Some time ago, years in fact, a young police officer I knew well, one I was supervising, was shot dead in a gay bar in Belfast. Murdered by terrorists as he sat drinking a pint waiting for a friend, set up by people he knew and trusted.
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That is often the way – out of the destruction of a forest fire comes new growth; a prison sentence forges a Mandela. The tension between good and evil is always present in the human condition, and they spark off each other down the centuries.
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Talking about MSN Spaces Tips, Tricks, Gods and More
I’m gradually getting into the way of Blogging. Not only is it a question of mindset change, but there’s also the need to learn new tools. I decided that I would make that latter hurdle as low as possible by using the beta of Microsoft’s MSN Spaces blogging environment. I liked the fact that it was easy to get started, yet had some nice features. Of course nothing’s perfect (it is a Beta, after all), but it’s good to see that others are starting to push the envelope. Abbie has started to collect tips and tricks about MSN Spaces on her blog:
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MSN Spaces Tips, Tricks, Gods and More
I have decided, for the sake of convenience, to keep this entry as a link on my space simply because I was coming across soooo many great posts about Spaces, tips, ideas, and more that I needed a better way to organize them all for my own information as well as to share with all the wonderful Spaces users. I shall update this often with new links and information as I come across them. If you have a post or know of a post that offers great information on spaces, please let me know in my comments.
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Understanding RSS and Using BlogLines! – RSS confusing? Want some info on using Bloglines? Look here!
Give Your FeedBack and Ideas for Spaces – Have an idea for Spaces? Get it heard here!
Who Owns Your Spaces Content – a small but great FYI post regarding your content
Spaces Factoids by Ryan – some information about the bones of Spaces
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The link above to Feedback and Ideas leads to a Wiki on Channel 9. Worth visiting – and Channel 9 itself gives an insider’s view on Microsofties; their work and their culture
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Two Nations Divided by a Common Training Video
Michael Platt points out something that had struck me as well: the difference between a typical US training video and a typical UK training video. The former is usually squeaky clean and perfect teeth, while the latter is often lovably ramshackle and altogether more human (and I agree with Michael: more memorable).
The cultural differences that exist between the UK and the US (and indeed with other countries and cultures) are something that often derail the best laid plans of global enterprises. One of the better books on the traps and minefields that exist here is Nancy J. Adler’s "International Dimensions of Organizational Behaviour"
Geoff Coupe's Blog 