Saturday, March 31, 2007

Using Your Unconscious Mind

Let your unconscious mind do your problem-solving,
using one of several techniques. First, try outlining a
problem in your mind before going to sleep, and telling
your brain to go to work. 

Sounds weird, huh?
Albert Einstein used this technique, sometimes getting
the "ah-ha" insight while shaving the next morning.
Next, instruct your mind to keep working on the
problem while you are doing other things. That's
delegating responsibility. Lol. There is more than we
know going on inside our heads.

Finally, work on problems when you are in a drowsy
state. This can result in more creative solutions.

Systematic Problem-Solving Techniques


Challenge your assumptions. For example, if you aren't
making enough money and you assume you need
another job, ask "do I really need a better job?" Maybe
you can get a raise, or you can make the job that you
already have better. A business on the side might be
another option. Don't let your assumptions limit your
possible solutions.

Break big problems down into smaller ones. Relocating
to another part of town is a big move that is really a
bunch of small steps. This is true of many problems. Start
by addressing all of the components of a problem individually,
and it may not seem so overwhelming. This makes it easier to
motivate yourself.

Ask three people for their opinions and/or advice.
They may have good ideas, but in any case this helps
you be sure that you are not overlooking anything obvious.

Write down the problem. Then find another way to
express it and write that down. Continue with all the
possible solutions and any ideas that come to mind.
Write EVERYTHING, then come back to it later to pick
the diamonds out of the dirt.

Change your perspective. Pretend you are very rich,
very poor, a child, a visitor from another planet. How
would you see the problem from this new perspective.
Einstein imagined riding on a beam of light to come up
with his theory of relativity, so this technique has been
known to work.

Quote of the day
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."
- Albert Einstein

Friday, March 30, 2007

In memory of Ayomipo

I wonder why you had to pass so soon
Just 2 months ago you had your second child
The life you lived was a beautiful one
The people you touched will ne’er forget
The warmth of your encouraging words
The brotherly love you showed to all

We’ll remember the nice times we had
And the fun things we all did together
You’ll always be in our hearts forever
Memories are all we’ll have with us now
Images of your smiles playing back
Filling our eyes with sorrow’s tears

If only tears could make you wake
If only this was another bad dream
If only death is just a day’s demise
The day will pass and then you’ll be here
How I wish we could bring you back
And make things go to how they were

I remember how you were there for me
When life seemed so bleak and still
I’ll always miss the warmth brought
That lingered still we weren’t in touch
I wonder why you had to be taken from us
Life was so sweet with you around

Sleep in the bosom of the Lord
Till the day we meet again.

- Segun Adedokun

Thursday, March 29, 2007

What exactly is this box?!

When innovators talk about thinking outside the box,
they mean coming up with creative ways to solve
problems - new ways to look at things. How do they
do it? How can you do it too? We first have to ask what
the "box" is. Then we can look at how to get outside of it.

The box is anything that limits your mind from soaring
– traditions, norms, self imposed barricades like low
self-esteem, inferiority…the list goes on. But the fact that
a human like you has done something is more than enough
proof that you can do something too.

The "box" is the normal way of doing things and looking at
things. It is the assumptions that almost everyone involved
is making. The best way to start thinking out of the box then,
is to identify and challenge all the assumptions that make up
thinking inside the box.

One of the major liquor brands was faltering years ago, and
they couldn't seem to boost their sales. Promotions, lowering
the price, getting better shelf placement - these were the "in
the box" solutions. Then someone challenged the assumptions,
by asking "What if we stopped the promotions and just raised
the price?"

The price was raised as an experiment, and sales soon doubled.
As it turns out, some types of liquor are bought quite often as
gifts. Buyers don't want to buy the most expensive one, but they
also don't want to seem cheap, so they won't buy products that
don't cost enough. Now imagine what happens to your profit
margins when you raise the price and double the sales. That's
the power of thinking outside of the box.

Some more ways to get outside the Box

Challenging assumptions is a powerful creative problem solving
technique. The difficult part is to identify the assumptions. If you
are designing a new motorcycle, write down assumptions like
"speed matters," "it has to run on gas" and "it needs two wheels,"
not because you expect to prove these wrong, but because
challenging these can lead to creative possibilities. Maybe the
time has come for an electric three-wheeled motorcycle.

Another way to get to creative solutions is to "assume the absurd."
This is either fun or annoying, depending on how open-minded
you can be. All you do is start making absurd assumptions, then
finding ways to make sense of them. The easiest way to do it is by
asking "what if."

What if a carpet cleaning business was better off with half as
many customers? It seems absurd, but work with it.
Hmm...less stressful,perhaps. More profitable if each customer
was worth three times as much. Is that possible? Commercial jobs
that involve large easy-to-clean spaces make more money in a
day than houses, with fewer headaches. Focusing ongetting those
accounts could be the most profitable way to go - not so absurd.

Another way to more innovative ideas is to literally do your thinking
out of the box. Get out of the house or the office. Look around at
how others are doing things. On buses in Ecuador, salesmen put a
product into everyones hands and let them hold it while they do a
sales pitch. Then you have to give back "your" product or pay for it.
It is very effective. How could you use the principle in your business?


Thanks to Steve Gillman for some of his thoughts. 
He is one of my role models in this thinking thing.

Quote of the post
"Dare to think differently" - Segun Adedokun

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Thinking outside the box.






In the next two posts, I’ll be bringing the thoughts of
Ed bernacki and Steven Gillman along with mine to us.


What exactly does thinking outside the box really mean?
Well according to wikipedia, “Thinking outside the box is a
cliché or catchphrase used to refer to looking at a problem
from a new perspective without preconceptions, sometimes
called a process of lateral thought. The catchphrase has
become widely used in business environments, especially by
management consultants, and has spawned a number of
advertising slogans.”

Well to me, it is as simple as thinking the unusual. Those
simple thoughts we just don’t allow ourselves to think because
of our stereotyped mindset. Why should you block any thought
that is unconventional anyway? There’s no rule against living in
a fantasy world remember? So why don’t we just avail ourselves
the opportunity to dream?


Inside The Box

Thinking inside the box means accepting the status quo. For
example, Charles H. Duell, Director of the US Patent Office, said,
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." That was in
1899: clearly he was in the box!

In-the-box thinkers find it difficult to recognize the quality of an
idea. An idea is an idea. A solution is a solution. In fact, they can
be quite pigheaded when it comes to valuing an idea. They rarely
invest time to turn a mediocre solution into a great solution.

More importantly, in-the-box thinkers are skillful at killing ideas.
They are masters of the creativity killer attitude such as "that'll
never work" or "it's too risky." Does someone you know come to
mind? Avoid him or her like a plague as from now on.

The best in-the-box thinkers are unaware that they drain the
enthusiasm and passion of innovative thinkers while they kill their
innovative ideas.

They also believe that every problem needs only one solution;
therefore, finding more than one possible solution is a waste of time.
They often say,"There is no time for creative solutions. We just need
THE solution."

Even great creative people can become in-the-box thinkers when
they stop  trying. Apathy and indifference can turn an innovator into an
in-the-box thinker.

In only one case is in-the-box thinking necessary. This comes from
a cartoon: a man talks to his cat and points to the kitty litter box. He says,
"Never ever think outside the box!"

Outside the Box
Thinking outside the box requires different attributes that include:
  • Willingness to take new perspectives to day-to-day work.
  • Openness to do different things and to do things differently.
  • Focusing on the value of finding new ideas and acting on them.
  • Striving to create value in new ways.
  • Listening to others.
  • Supporting and respecting others when they come up with new ideas.

Out-of-the box thinking requires openness to new ways of seeing the world
and a willingness to explore. Out-of-the box thinkers know that new ideas
need nurturing and support. They also know that having an idea is good but
acting on it is more important. Results are what count.

Thanks to Ed Bernacki for some contribution.

Quote of the post
"The eccentric thinkers are the ones that have been
shaping our world ever since. One thing is certain,
they always will"- Segun Adedokun

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The little things of life

Have you ever wondered if the things we take for
granted suddenly becomes so hard to do?

Things like breathing and peeing?

I was thinking of the little pleasures of life earlier today
and I am still so grateful.

The pleasures of ease that we experience - when we are
so pressed and have to go and pee or poo!

The pleasures of breathing freely… almost unconsciously
(Try counting every time you inhale and see how
uncomfortable it gets when we breathe consciously)

The pleasures of eating and savoring the taste. Imagine
eating and not tasting anything!!!! Those buds on our
tongues do wonders you know?

The pleasures of smell…especially when it’s nice …ever
smelled Angel by Thierry Mugler? We can also move away
when it’s a foul odor. Believe me that’s grace.

I’m grateful for the ability to see beauty around me - nature
and all things bright and beautiful…and the ugly ones too
because it gives the opportunity to figure out how to make
a change.

Most of all, I am grateful for the ability to think and imagine.

The Grace to create a world – my own world and try to bring
it out of my mind to this realm. The grace to be able to seat
down and strategize, create scenarios and figure out what to
do in each.

The ability to connect with the Eternal - the maker
of all things seen and unseen and perceive what can be.
The unseen never ceases to fascinate me. Those things 
are but seem to be not.


For me, there’s nothing better and this… being able to
think and imagine and then go ahead and make. That’s
being the creator that you were made to be!

Let’s all be grateful for our minds without which none of
this would have been possible.

Quote of the post
"...the things unseen are eternal" -The Bible

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

When Presidents and their Vices don't think....

Presidents
"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."
- Former French President Charles De Gaulle

"When more and more people are thrown out of work,
unemployment results."

- Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."

- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"I don't know of anyone who wants this to be over more than me,
except maybe everyone else in America."

- President William Jefferson Clinton

"This is a great day for France!"
- Richard Nixon, during Charles De Gaulle's funeral

"Now, like, I'm President. It would be pretty hard for
some drug guy to come into the White House and start
offering it up, you know? ... I bet if they did, I hope I
would say, 'Hey, get lost. We don't want any of that.'’

- George Bush, talking about drug abuse to a group of students

"The caribou love it. They rub against it and they have babies.
There are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at.”

- George Bush, on the Alaska pipeline

"I hope I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, anti-racism.
This is what drives me."
- George Bush

"If I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough I would be
convinced that we're in an economic downturn and people
are homeless and going without food and medical attention
and that we've got to do something about the unemployed."

- Ronald Reagan

"My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw
Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

- Ronald Reagan, about to go on the air for a radio broadcast,
unaware that the microphone was already on

"Now we are trying to get unemployment to go up and I think
we're going to succeed."
- Ronald Reagan

"Facts are stupid things."
- Ronald Reagan, misquoting John Adams in a speech

"The United States has much to offer the third world war."
- Ronald Reagan, in a speech about what the US has to offer
the third world. The error was repeated 9 times in the same
speech!

"I desire the Poles carnally."- President Jimmy Carter’s
mistranslation in a ‘77 speech in Poland

"A tree’s a tree. How many more do you need to look at."
- President Ronald Reagan

"Special note to all the press from the highest authority:
don’t touch the cat again."
- written statement from Bill Clinton

"There is no reason for that. I don’t think they gave me a
lobotomy because it’s not at that end that this happened."

- French President Francois Mitterrand, on potential
resignation after surgery for prostate cancer.

"Things are more like they are now than they ever were before."
- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"It is necessary for me to establish a winner image.
Therefore, I have to beat somebody."
- Richard M. Nixon

Their Vices
"For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan.
We've had triumphs, made some mistakes.
We've had some sex ... uh ... setbacks."
- VP George Bush

"When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the
riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple:
Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to
blame for the killings? The killers are to blame"

- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle on the complex social
issues behind the Los Angeles Riots

"The loss of life will be irreplaceable." - Former U.S. Vice-President
Dan Quayle on the San Francisco earthquake

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
in our air and water that are doing it."

- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle

"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle

"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a
mother and child."
-Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
on Republican family values

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle

"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret
I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so Icould
converse with those people"
- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle

"The loss of life will be irreplaceable."- Former U.S. VP Dan Quayle
on the San Francisco earthquake

"You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy
campers you have been, and as far as I’m concerned, happy campers
you will always be."
- VP Dan Quayle, addressing Samoans.

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy. But that could change."
- Dan Quayle

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same
distance from the sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures
where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that
means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."

- Dan Quayle

"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history...this
century's history.... We all lived in this century. I didn't live in this
century."
- Dan Quayle

"Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in
the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is
right here.
- Dan Quayle during a visit to Hawaii in 1989

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being
very wasteful. How true that is."

- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle during a fundraising event
for the United Negro College Fund. He was attempting to quote the
line "a mind is a terrible thing to waste"

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."- Danforth Quayle.

"Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president,
and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Vice President Dan Quayle

"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"I have made good judgments in the Past. I have made good
judgments in the Future."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"The future will be better tomorrow."- Vice President Dan Quayle

"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions
and havea tremendous impact on history."

- Vice President Dan Quayle

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
- Vice President Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a *part* of NATO.
We havea firm commitment to Europe. We are a *part* of Europe."

- Vice President Dan Quayle

"I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not
having it."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"Murphy Brown is doing better than I am. At least she knows she
still has a job next year."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our
children."

- Vice President Dan Quayle

"The American people would not want to know of any misquotes
that Dan Quayle may or may not make."
- Vice President Dan Quayle

"We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
mistakes we may or may not have made.
-"Vice President Dan Quayle

Quote of the post
"..."

Comment
Dan Quayle isn't all that smart, is he?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Everything we need to know about life.

 

"Those woodpeckers will have to go..."

The Lessons
One: Don't miss the boat.

Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.

Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built
the Ark.

Four:
Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone
may ask you to do something really big.

Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job
that needs to be done.

Six: Build your future on high ground.

Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were
on board with the cheetahs.

Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.

Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the
Titanic by professionals.

Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God,
there's always a rainbow waiting.

Quote of the post
"Wisdom is profitable to direct" - The Bible

Easy 7000 pounds



“Be good at what you do”.” Do just one thing and do it well”.

we've all heard these sayings at one time or the other.

These words are easier said than done especially for someone
like me but a friend I met recently made me have a rethink on
those words.

This was what he said happened…

A friend of his went to Jand for holidays and stayed with her
auntie. For a while she was just at home and bored and then
providence smiled on her.

One of her auntie’s friends came to show off her newly-plaited
hair and hear her friend sing its praises but to her dismay, her
friend’s niece wouldn’t even let her enter before she started
saying all the things wrong with the hairstyle.


After a few minutes of “nagging”, she asked her auntie’s friend
if she wouldn’t mind sitting down and having her hair made
allover again because “I hate it when people pay for hairstyles
that are poorly done” she retorted. Her Auntie's friend didn’t
object and the undoing of the hairstyle began. Before 30 minutes
of gisting and having fun elapsed, the girl asked her auntie’s friend
to look in the mirror! She was so impressed with what she saw and
straight away handed the girl 30 pounds. She refused at first
but later accepted when the woman asked if she wasn’t capable
of giving her such amount. (You know the way African elders do
to make do their bidding).

The auntie’s friend not only stopped there, she also said she’ll see
to it that friend of hers come and fix their hair with the girl.

Lo and behold, that what how she went out and about showing
anyone who cared to look and the news spread all over the
neighborhood like a raging tsunami.


Before her 3 month holiday was over, she had made 7000 pounds
tax-free in London!!!

Quote of the post
“Jack of all trades, master of none” - unknown

Monday, March 19, 2007

What happens if the internet packs up???!!!!









I wonder what my life was like before the internet
became an inseparable part of it. How did I ever cope?

But then, what will my life be without the internet??
I shudder at the thought of this. God knows the number
of hours I spend online daily.

This is the life of the 21st century human being – sitting
behind some screen connecting to the virtual world. A
world that has become so real, that almost everything
from making money (whether legit or not),
meeting people, getting a degree, touring and even getting
the whole world as an audience… can be done at the click
of a button.

Now you don’t have to go anywhere to be there as long
as you’ve got internet access …full stop.

How come we are so dependent on the internet? A lot of
times I just wonder where we’re going with this
E-everything? E-money, e-government, e-business, e-this, e-that.

I don’t want to sound all bad because I’m neither a pessimist
nor an optimist. I think both are extremes that a wise person
should avoid.

I am a realistic possibilist (I take all credit for that combo by
the way).

What happens if it all goes wrong?! Lives will be messed up,
economies will collapse etc - A terrible nightmare for all
involved or not.

You know, I think everyone should go and learn how to
program.

The internet is a platform that runs on programs! We
shouldn’t just know how to use the platform we should
be able to modify it to suit our needs. The future, I think
belongs to those who do can program and/or
those who do not have anything to do with the internet!

But the fact of the matter is that all the things we put on our
web pages are being stored in some servers that have other
servers as backup in some underground bunker somewhere.

But with the rate at which we are churning out information,
we had better ensure that we have enough storage space!

Check this out…

(BOSTON) — A new study that estimates how much
digital information the world is generating finds that
for the first time, there's not enough storage space to
hold it all.

The report, assembled by the technology research firm
IDC, sought to account for all the ones and zeros that make
up photos, videos, e-mails, Web pages, instant messages,
phone calls and other digital content zipping around. The
researchers also assumed that on average, each digital
file gets replicated three times.

Add it all up and IDC determined that the world generated
161 billion gigabytes — 161 exabytes — of digital
information last year. That's the equivalent of 12 stacks of
books that each reach from the Earth to the sun.
Or you might think of it as 3 million times the information
in all the books ever written, according to IDC. You'd need
more than 2 billion of the most capacious iPods on the
market to get 161 exabytes.

The previous best estimate came from researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley, who totaled the globe's
information production at 5 exabytes in 2003.

But that report followed a different trail. It included
non-electronic information, such as analog radio
broadcasts or printed office memos, and tallied how much
space that would consume if digitized. And it counted
original data only, not all the times things got copied.

In comparison, the IDC numbers were made much higher
by including content as it was created and as it was
reproduced — for example, as a digital TV file was made
and every time it landed on a screen. If IDC tracked original
data only, its result would have been 40 exabytes.

Still, even the 2003 figure of 5 exabytes is enormous
— it was said at the time to be 37,000 Libraries of
Congress  — so why does it matter how much more
enormous the number is now?

For one thing, said IDC analyst John Gantz, it's
important to understand the effects of the factors
behind the information explosion — such as the profusion
of surveillance cameras and regulatory rules for corporate
data retention. In fact, the supply of data technically
outstrips the supply of places to put it.

IDC estimates that the world had 185 exabytes of
storage available last year and will have 601
exabytes in 2010. But the amount of stuff generated is
expected to jump from 161 exabytes last year to 988
exabytes (closing in on 1 zettabyte) in 2010. "If you had
a run on the bank, you'd be in trouble," Gantz said. "If
everybody stored every digital bit, there wouldn't
be enough room."

Fortunately, storage space is not actually scarce and
continues to get cheaper. That's because not everything
gets warehoused. Not only do e-mails get deleted,
but some digital signals are not made to linger, like the
contents of phone calls. (Although, you can’t be sure those
conversations don't get catalogued someplace, by some
Security Agency?

But even if the IDC findings don't raise the prospect that
disk drives will be virtually bursting at the seams, the study
has intriguing implications. Among them: We'll need
better technologies to help secure, parse, find and recover
usable material in this universe of data.

Chuck Hollis, vice president of technology alliances at EMC
Corp., the data-management company that sponsored
the IDC research and the earlier Berkeley studies,
said the new report made him wonder whether enough is
being done to save the digital data for posterity.

"Someone has to make a decision about what to store and
what not," Hollis said. "How do we preserve our heritage?
Who's responsible for keeping all of this stuff around so our
kids can look at it, so historians can look at it? It's not
clear."

If the internet should crash even for one hour, do you know
how many lives will be affected? Let’s not even allow that
to happen.

Quote of the post
“A wise man prepares for war in times of peace”
- unknown



Saturday, March 17, 2007



 
The law of conservation of energy states that
"the total amount of energy in an isolated system
remains constant, although it may change forms."

In thermodynamics, the first law of thermodynamics
is a statement of the conservation of energy for
thermodynamic systems. Put simply, the law of
conservation of energy states that energy can not be
created or destroyed but can be changed from one
form to another.

The energy conservation law is a mathematical
consequence of the shift symmetry of time; energy
conservation is implied by the empirical fact
that physical laws remain the same over time.

Reflections on the law...
When I was thinking about this law, it just occurred to
me that it means all the energy needed in the universe
has already been created and no more can be added no
matter what anybody does. It also means the total energy
of the universe is constant regardless of the fact that
scientist have proven that the universe is expanding.
This is understandable when you consider the facts that
stars are born and others die somewhere in the cosmos but
the most fascinating of thing I got was that every other
form of energy can be converted into electricity.

That sounds simple right? Well, not exactly.

Electricity is the most relevant form of energy to
humankind more or less. This means we are harnessing
every other form of energy and converting them
to electricity – solar, chemical, nuclear, thermal, hydro,
wind, biogas etc.

But what about the unconsidered forms of energy like
the one we expend in the gym when we push those weights
and body heat and water …

Remember the movie “chain reaction” starring Keanu Reeves?

Well..., thinkThunderstorms

They generate about 1.21 gigawatts of electricity!!!!!

The challenge here is how to harness it. The rate at which
the amount of electrical power in a bolt of lightning hits the
groung (or any unfortunate thing in between) is awesome!
- Up to 300,000 Amps of current is transfered between cloud
and ground at potentials of over 1,000,000,000 Volts in
under 100 MicroSeconds... Even if you did manage to get the
lightning to hit your collector you have on a tower out in a field
or with a conductive trailer  or whatever method you used...
there just isn't any way to collect and harness that amount of
electrical transfer that quickly... yet.

But we all know impossibilities are just stuff nobody's ever
done.

The craziest thing is that all the energy from all the
thunderstorms on the planet are all solar powered... people
think of hurricanes and tornados and
thunderstorms as strong and solar power as weak... when
they all are powered by the sun...

I am not an expert - i'm just sharing what've read over
some time.
 
The opportunities to convert other forms of energy to
electricity are without limit.

"HOW DO WE HARNESS THIS THINGY?"

To all the geeks on the blog, let's get the ball rolling.

Quote of the post
"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without
vision is a nightmare." - Japanese Proverb

The Greatest thinkers of our time?!


There is nothing more powerful than an idea in the
mind of man. At some point in time the thinking of
a single man puts things together a new way and an
idea is born. That idea can change the world and
the lives of everyone living in the world. Something
as insubstantial as thinking, someone as ”unimportant”
as a single person can have this effect. That is the
fascination of thinking and ideas.

The greatest thinkers are the minds that have shaped
our civilization. Edward de Bono (This guy has written
quite a number of books on thinking) wrote a book
published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson London in 1976
called The Greatest Thinkers - the thirty minds that
shaped our civilization (I’m not sure it’s still in print).
From Moses, through such diverse figures as Jesus Christ,
Columbus, Descartes, Marx and Freud, to Sartre, the book
ranges across the wide field of human achievement and
perhaps surprisingly includes few philosophers. A particularly
original feature of the book is the visualization of each
thinker's achievement and the way it changed the
existing line of thought. The book is fully illustrated with
portraits and other documentary material.

The thirty people in the book
  1. Jesus Christ
  2. Moses
  3. Confucius
  4. Plato
  5. Aristotle
  6. Euclid
  7. St. Augustine
  8. Aquinas
  9. Columbus
  10. Machiavelli
  11. Copernicus
  12. Martin Luther
  13. Bacon
  14. René Descartes
  15. Isaac Newton
  16. Rousseau
  17. Kant
  18. Malthus
  19. Clausewitz
  20. Charles Darwin
  21. Karl Marx
  22. Clerk Maxwell
  23. William James
  24. Nietzsche
  25. Pavlov
  26. Sigmund Freud
  27. Albert Einstein
  28. Keynes
  29. Wiener
  30. Sartre

These are the people Ed de Bono thinks have
shaped our lives forever - His opinion in a world of
6.5 billion humans. I don’t totally agree with
his list though.

Quote of the day
"Minds are like parachutes, they only function
when they are open." - Thomas Dewar


Friday, March 16, 2007

Anti-theft security?!!


Haha…, this is really funny!!!

The picture was taken at the entrance of a religious centre.

Just imagine the way we think atimes?. Which is more expensive?
That brand of padlock or the pair of slippers?

But in reality this is what a lot of do when we don't think. We major
in the minor and waste precious time and resources on things that
do not benefit.

Personally, i have decided to stop watching movies for a while when i
realized it is an entertaining way for me to waste my life! Come to
think of it what do we really benefit from movies? The actors get paid
doing what they love, the producer and directors too and investors get 
huge Return on Investment (or why has Universal pictures been
investing in Hollywood for 85 years and why would Transcorp think
of investing inNollywood,huh?). 

Even video clubs rent out blockbusters or mediocre films as the case 
may be for a fee. The only party that does not get paid are the
viewers - You and me.

Instead, I have chosen to devote my time to more important things 
like investing in my Mind and making positive impact on humanity 
in my own unique way. Opportunities to do these have never been 
this available thanks to the internet, free blogsites and unbelievably
cheap webhosting fees.

Even as we laugh at the "ingenuity"of the guy that thought he's protected his slippers above, let's not do similar stuffs.

Quote of the post
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are!"
-Teddy Roosevelt

 

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Imagining

 
A lot of our thinking, and even our perception, has
to do not only with what is, but what might be, and
what would have been. That is, the imagining things
is an important part of our intellectual life. And
learning to use our imaginations without losing sight
of reality is part of growing up.

What is the imagination, and what led The Creator
to make it such an important part of our make-up?

Our imaginations are pictures that we create in our
minds. It is the beginning of possibilities… and there
is nothing impossible to him that believes.

Imagination is considered "a power of the mind,"
"a creative faculty of the mind," "the mind" itself
when in use, and a "process" of the mind used for
thinking, scheming, contriving, remembering,
creating, fantasizing, and forming opinion. The term
imagination comes from the Latin verb imaginari
meaning "to picture oneself."

This root definition of the term indicates the
self-reflexive property of imagination, emphasizing
the imagination as a private sphere. As a medium,
imagination is a world where thought and images are
nested in the mind to "form a mental concept of what
is not actually present to the senses." In the sense of
the word as a process, imagination is a form of mediation
between what is considered "externalized" reality and
internalized man. The term is considered "often with
the implication that the (mental) conception does not
correspond to the reality of things."

What it does…
The concept of imagination challenges our sense of
what we consider private and essentially humanistic.
Imagination challenges our very ways of life to explore
what we can do:

How far inside man can he extend himself, and
how far outside man can man bring what isconsidered
his internalized self?

Are these processes transmutable, and if so, what kinds?

Can imagination be coded?

How do we employ imagination in our productive and
innovative capabilities?

Or is imagination a human faculty only?

If the latter, than to what extent can we mimic
imaginative functions and/or expressions

And, if we can mimic 'products' of the imagination,
what is the essential difference between 'having'
imagination and producing imaginative qualities?
In Aristotle, the imagination bridges the gap between
"images" and "ideas," implying that rational thought
takes place in the form of images, and are stored and
combined in the imagination. Thus, imagination is
implied as an actual space or medium in the individual's
mind, and in this space it has a power to combine images
and ideas to do the work of reason.

Enough of boring literature.

Dare to dream.

What are those things you want in your life but at
the moment are out of reach? Picture them in
your mind and enjoy them there because if you
don’t see it (in your mind), you can’t see it (in real life).

Do you know Bill Gates saw a PC in every home while
Microsoft was still in a garage office? He saw it before
he’s seeing it now and just imagine…not every home
has gotten a PC yet!

Quote of the day
"Imagination is more important than knowledge...."
– Albert Einstein

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The Genesis - why don't we wanna think, huh?

Today, I begin my life as a blogger...a thinking blogger...an imagining blogger. It took me some time to actually decide to do this - despite blogging being one of the latest online fads. Why's that? I wondered. The best answer I could come up with is…because I’m not sure I’ll update my blog daily!

I'll try.
 
Welcome to my blog

Anyway, this blog's purpose is to inspire us to think and imagine! Duh..., who doesn't do that? Believe me a staggering lot. I mean human beings like me and you and going by Mr. Pareto’s principle, only 20% of the world’s population thought of 80% of the things that have made life so easy now and the rest of us sing their praises!

A times I wonder why the creator gave us all brains! It got to a point that I had to voice this issue out among some buddies. One of us said “so that we won’t always trouble him with our problems”. “Well, that’s if we use them” another person remarked and we all laughed it off.

Now don’t get me wrong. I know the number of times a day I tap my head and say to myself “Think, Think, Think” before I actually take a moment to sit down, think and plan ahead for whatever.

We generally just wanna wake up and be on the move… Runs man…Action chick. Most times, we do this to our disadvantage.

But really, why don’t we take some time out to think – especially before we commit a spontaneous and stupid, emotional act??

Generally, people who think things through seem to be in control, they fare better and usually have some sought of back up plan and we tend to look at them as smart guys. In reality, the ability to think it’s something we’ve all been blessed with!

I remember the movie “The Odyssey” when the goddess Athena was praising Odysseus for not rushing home to his wife and kingdom that were on the verge of being taken over by another. She said if it were other men they would have and this act (that seems like the right thing to do after 17years of absence) would have led to their deaths.

Earlier also, another god (of the Wind) was saying they’ve all heard of Odysseus because he is the only mortal that uses his mind!

The thing about thinking is that it stretches the Mind and the human mind has something in common with the Universe…the potential to expand.

Anyway, before I say Au revior, lemme just add some quotes on thinking

“As a man thinketh in his Heart, so his he” – The Bible

"The mind is everything. What you think you become." – Buddha

"As you think, so shall you become." - Bruce Lee

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."- Origin Unknown


Anway 'nuff quoted, I hope I spend sometime to think before I do anything for the rest of today. Ah ah! It’s so easy to blog about thinking and not think you know!

Meanwhile, am I the last person to notice I’ve not said anything about imagining?

Let’s leave that for another day.

Bye … I mean Au revior.