Worldsong

Working with a client at a very nice coffee shop in Somerset...

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:46:00 +0300

Working with a client at a very nice coffee shop in Somerset West.

The Graduates - of my latest Idea Workshop at the Barn.

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:00:00 +0300

The Graduates - of my latest Idea Workshop at the Barn.

Start of another day…

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:15:18 +0300

Start of another day…

Running another Idea Workshop at the Barn.

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:18:25 +0300

Running another Idea Workshop at the Barn.

Displaying photos from an iPhone or iPad on a TV

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:23:24 +0300

I was talking to a cellgroup last night about our kids church in the township, and wanted to share some photos with them.

The logical way was to connect my iPhone to their livingroom TV (using the special Apple AV-out cable for this) and then show them the photos on my phone.

The problem that then arises though is that the only standard way on an iPhone or iPad to then display photos on the TV is run them as a slideshow. This means the photos keep zooming by, and if you pause the slideshow to talk about a pic, you get a blank screen!

Fortunately some research turned up a couple of apps that can help with this.

TVOut Genie is a very simple app that lets you display photos quite well, once you figure out the somewhat confusing interface (an irritation is that the default setting for TV-out is Off; you have to keep going into settings to switch this back On). It costs $4.

2Screens is a far more comprehensive offering that allows you to project all kinds of material and presentations, including photos, on a TV or projector. It took a moment to find the photo option (click on the Home icon) and you also need to set TV-out to on (in the Options menu).

It costs $3 for the iPhone version and $5 for the iPad version.

Giving a motivational talk on study skills to the matrics at...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:24:28 +0300

Giving a motivational talk on study skills to the matrics at Knysna Secondary

"The Structural Revolution" - NYT

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:35:32 +0300

"The Structural Revolution" - NYT:

Excellent article by David Brooks on what is needed to fix the economy in the US (and elsewhere).

While the evidence is overwhelming that imposing austerity measures on depressed economies is disastrous, it is also clear that simply pumping money back into a system that is so clearly structurally broken will also lead to another disaster.

The only solution is coupling renewed spending with a wide range of needed political and structural reforms, many of which are being espoused by the OWS movement.

Watching soccer in Bongani

Sun, 06 May 2012 18:31:57 +0300

Watching soccer in Bongani

What I'm Reading: The Family Fang

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:39:15 +0300

Annie and Buster had an unusual childhood. Their parents are dedicated performance artists who involved their children (as Child A and Child B) in all their performance pieces.

Both being at low points in their adult lives, Annie and Buster move home for a while - and are soon drawn back into their parents’ bizarre world. Not long after moving back, their parents go missing. Are they dead, the victims of a robbery - or is this yet another elaborate piece of performance art?

Ferociously funny, and a look at the consequences of putting art-for-art’s-sake above all else, this novel was one of those in the running for the Pulitzer Prize for Literature that was not awarded this year.

Dining in Pretoria; spending the next two days helping an...

Tue, 01 May 2012 20:56:20 +0300

Dining in Pretoria; spending the next two days helping an engineering concern to renew their company strategy.

What I'm Reading: Interesting Articles

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:29:00 +0300

I was able to use some of the downtime last week to catch up on reading. Some interesting articles:

AMERICA

I have been researching the roots of the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) movement for some time. This excellent article on the staggering growth of inequality in America (where the upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year, and in terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent) by Joseph Stiglitz led me to this equally interesting article by him last year

EUROPE

Two articles, one looking to the past and the other to the future, both agree that financially the euro has proved a disaster and that its survival will depend on political factors, but come to different answers as to whether the euro can survive:

this article (part of the superb Five Books series) argues that the euro is fundamental to Europe’s dream of unification to escape the terrors of the past, and that “Europe will be forged in crisis” and that the euro will come through this
the chief foreign-affairs columnist at the Financial Times argues that northern Europeans, especially Germany, will baulk at continually bailing out weaker members unless they can exert more and more control over those countries’ finances. Meanwhile their southern neighbours will resent ‘jackboot Germans’ infringing on their national sovereignty until things reach a breaking point (see already the rise of nationalist-sentiment parties in these countries)

AFRICA

superb article by Richard Dowden (author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles) on the state of Africa today
for a different take from an old Africa hand, see Paul Theroux’s take on “What’s Really Wrong With Africa”. (I’m looking forward to reading his new book The Lower River when it is released at the end of May)

HEALTH

superb NYT article surveys the very latest thinking on depression, which goes far beyond the role of serotonin. See also this WSJ article on how depression is now being seen as an illness of the whole body
in an age where more and more viruses are becoming antibiotic-resistant, it is good to know that an alternative approach developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War may now be able to help
the classic killer diseases - cancer and heart disease - are rapidly being joined by a third: diabetes. The CDC predicts that by 2050, one in three Americans will develop diabetes if current trends continue. Diabetes can silently lead to a slew of serious health problems: dental disease, kidney disease, nervous-system disorders, blindness, limb amputation, heart disease, and strokes. So it is great to see innovative work being done on diabetes treatment

YOUTH

new research shows that many kids diagnosed with ADHD may in fact be suffering from sleep deprivation, whose symptoms resemble those of ADHD. The treatment for ADHD may then exacerbate sleeplessness, the real problem, as the drugs used to treat DHD, like Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta, can cause insomnia - causing a vicious circle. Hopefully this will lead to increased screening for sleep disorders like snoring
this comes as no surprise to me, given the already extensive literature on the effects of even small amounts of sleep loss (with texting a frequent culprit) on the moods and capabilities of teenagers - research that has led many high schools across America to now start later in the morning

TECHNOLOGY

this Atlantic article says it’s “Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future” - a refreshing viewpoint in an era where as a mentor to many tech startups I grow increasingly weary of hearing yet another social networking idea
in this vein, it is good to look back and revisit the original thinking by Kuhn on how paradigm shifts occur - they are not single ideas, but whole new contexts that come into view…

Wiped Out!

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:55:45 +0300

Drove back from Cape Town to Knysna on Wednesday, feeling terrible by the time I got home, spent the next two days battling a killer gastro virus.

Back on my feet now but still feeling totally exhausted.

What I'm Watching: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:00:00 +0300

Warm, witty, wonderful movie about a group of older Brits who end up up living in a hotel in India has great characters and acting, lots of laugh-out-loud humour and some profound moments.

Great evening learning to cook pizza with the latest Bandwidth...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:42:24 +0300

Great evening learning to cook pizza with the latest Bandwidth Barn VeloCITI Y group at their graduation evening

Start of another day consulting

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:11:45 +0300

Start of another day consulting

Early start! In at 6.45 for another day of consulting at the...

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:45:00 +0300

Early start! In at 6.45 for another day of consulting at the Bandwidth Barn.

The Two Economies

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:22:49 +0300

The Two Economies:

David Brooks of the NYT speculates that today’s economic problems are rooted in growing structural rifts between “two interrelated American economies:

On the one hand, there is the globalized tradable sector — companies that have to compete with everybody everywhere. These companies, with the sword of foreign competition hanging over them, have become relentlessly dynamic and very (sometimes brutally) efficient.

On the other hand, there is a large sector of the economy that does not face this global competition — health care, education and government. Leaders in this economy try to improve productivity and use new technologies, but they are not compelled by do-or-die pressure, and their pace of change is slower.”

The Gullible Center - a budget proposal that would worsen the inequality in America

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:10:51 +0300

The Gullible Center - a budget proposal that would worsen the inequality in America:

NYT editorial by economist Paul Krugman on a supposedly centrist budget proposal that would deny health care (and many other essentials) to millions of Americans, while lavishing tax cuts on corporations and the wealthy — all while failing to reduce the budget deficit.

Can Coffee Kick-Start an Economy?

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:49:05 +0300

Can Coffee Kick-Start an Economy?:

Tremendously inspiring story about one African entrepreneur’s long journey to selling his coffee internationally while helping to uplift the farmers who supply him, and about the the bigger picture of “trade vs aid” and the implications for Africa…

Well worth reading!

What I'm Watching: Midnight in Paris

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:24:00 +0300

I don’t like most of Woody Allen’s movies, but this lighthearted comedy was a delight.

A young American writer (Owen Wilson) holidaying in Paris with his fiancee, finds himself transported back into 1920’s Paris during his midnight strolls, in the company of the Fizgeralds, Cole Porter, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso … and a bewitching young woman. Witty and wonderful, and a paean to Paris, one of my favourite cities.