XDR-TB

The Power of a Signature

Amnesty International has a cartoon campaign, using stark black and white imagery to portray suffering in the world, and how a signature can relieve that suffering. It is powerful stuff. It is simply yet starkly communicated.

The power of individuals to change the world.

Happiness is....

Real Insurance launched Pay As You Drive this week. If you're wondering what Pay As You Drive is all about, then Wikipedia to the rescue. The cool thing about Real Insurance's Pay As You Drive is that it does not require a black box. So no device being fitted to the car, and no-one watching over you. So it avoids the privacy concerns. It is also an interesting exercise in trust between a company and private individuals. The product should cause quite a bit of turmoil and interest. Will be good to watch!

I listened to an amazing TED talk the other day. It dealt with the new side to psychology: The psychology of happiness. Up to 10 years ago psychologists asked you what is wrong with you, and then they spent many hours trying to fix it, while you are lying on the couch staring at the ceiling. The new type of psychology today deals with happiness. In other words it studies what makes you happy and why. The intervention: How can the science make you happier? So how cool is that!

Here's the basic sources of happiness (pretty compelling stuff):

1. Pleasure. That is worldly pleasures like material possessions, a good meal, good wine, etc.
2. Good work. This the type of work where you get into the flow. Time stands still. It is typically something you do really well.
   
3. Meaningful work. This is doing something bigger than yourself. Doing something to benefit someone other than yourself.

No surprises: Number 1 does not give lasting happiness, only short term happiness. That's why rich people who don't have to work are so unhappy. This is an amazing discovery to be made by rich wives I think...

True happiness is if you experience both number 2 and 3. If you then add number 1 on top of that, it is like the proverbial cherry on top.

Three steps to happiness if you ask me...

So what do the psychologists do? They help you do all 3 better. For 1 it means savouring life. For 2 and 3 it means finding what you do really well, and then design your work around it in a way that benefits someone other than yourself. Quite biblical really.

Do No Evil

I was at a breakfast hosted by Google today. Our host was an account manager at Google, and he made for fascinating conversation. I mean, being at a Google breakfast is exciting to begin with. It just is. I got a really cool pen for one thing. A stainless steel pen with a 1GB memory stick in it, and a laser pointer that gets recharged through the USB plug of the memory stick! How cool is that! And I've never liked getting pens, because I always lose them. I hope to keep this one.

So back to the conversation. I asked him what they think about the talked about merger between Microsoft and Yahoo. He said they don't have a problem with it, as long as these guys don't fall behind. He is worried that it takes Microsoft so long to integrate acquisitions, that the integration will make them fall behind in search, and that is not good for the internet. What is not good for the internet is not good for Google. "Do no evil". He believes that. He really really does. How amazing is that!

I must say I am really frustrated with my laptop (again). It just goes slower and slower as time goes on, and it lost its indexing. That makes it very hard to find documents. Don't you think it will be time well spent by Microsoft just fixing their software? Forget for a moment about enhancing and adding features: Just fix what you have. Make it stable. So that it does not break. And while you're at it, make my computer start-up faster. I hate sitting their in the morning for 10 minutes waiting for it to start-up and do all its early morning exercises. It is such a waste of time. Open the laptop, on. How difficult can that be? I see that is what the Macbook Air does... I think I should get one of those.

Let's see, what else did not work today. O yes: The ferry had to drop about 5 people off at the Taronga Zoo before going to Rose Bay. Everyone was most annoyed. When we moved to Sydney from Johannesburg, something became quite clear. People need things to stress about. It does not really matter what. Whether it is rape and murder, or the toll fees for the cross city tunnel going from $1.50 to $1.85, it creates stress in people's lives. Maybe the rape and murder in Johannesburg creates a little more stress, but relatively the excitement levels about the stress are not all that different.

Walk into a news agent in Sydney, and look at what graces the front pages, and then do the same in Johannesburg. Different planet.