Beauty of uncertainty


Seen quoted in Word magazine, but actually in HoBo mag; funnily enough there’s a book on this very subject too which Stephen Guastello pointed me in the direction of:

“For those of us more fortunate, the beauty of uncertainty is that it motivates us to seek certainty. We are compelled to replace doubt with conviction, to replace confusion with clarity, to be more fearful of old ideas instead of new ones. Nothing is more disparaged than the person who is lost, hesitant, and anxious.

“Yet the true path to fulfillment comes from these conditions. Uncertainty becomes truly beautiful when connected with the certainty that there is a better life beyond the life that is known. The artist, scientist, entrepreneur, athlete, and traveller: all embrace uncertainty as their muse. What is going to happen next is more enticing than what is happening now. The thrill of anticipation, the mystery of the unknown, the open road, mistakes as portals of discovery, the inevitability of change, purpose from chaos, questions leading to answers, failure as the threshold of knowledge.

“All of these conditions inform the life of the adventurer, the human being who is engaged in becoming. The beauty of uncertainty is that it prepares us to embrace life in the face of death. Allows us the strength to deal with the freedom to choose. To willingly exchange the fear of uncertainty for the security of certainty is to admit defeat. To surrender to the fear of actually living your life. As T. S. Eliot observed, “Where is the life we have lost in living?”

“Nothing moves forward except by the craving to seek certainty from uncertainty.”

Stone Balls


Explorer Semir Osmanagic has recently returned from a visit to Mexico, in the town of Gudalahare, where he has been investigating the presence of stone balls, resembling those found across regions of Bosnia.

He found hundreds of stone balls on the Cerra Piedras Bollas hill. There was only one reference to these stone balls, reported in the National Geographic magazine in 1968. The archaologist who found and reported the stone balls could not believe that primitive Indian hands could have created the objects, which were up to 4m diametre and weighed as much as 50 tonnes.

He visited a geologist in the region who told him the local theory that the balls were thrown by a volcano, some 30km away, millions of years previously. However, most of these balls are concentrated on one hill in the region, so discounting that theory, in addition to the geometric shape of the balls.

Another local belief, that there was gold at the centre of the balls, has resulted in damage to many of the stone balls Osmanagic saw. All these balls must be the product of intelligent human beings, yet historians have all but ignored their presence – these objects have only, for example, received one small mention in National Geographic, several years before.

Little significance has been placed on their existence. On examining one of the balls in the village of Ahualulco del Mercado, Osmanavic concluded that it was created by the same methodology as that used to create stone balls in Costa Rica and Bosnia and using the same material. There is nothing in our current understanding of history that explains the presence of these stone balls.

Minority Report Medicine


Liked Doug Krell, M.D’s blog report on HealthNex about how you’d display a whole load of complex information to a clincian. Can you imagien the guys back at the UK’s Connecting for Health grappling with this one?! But maybe there’s a simple solution (I was thinking about this creatively in my post on 13 Feb) which used virtual whiteboard technology?

Wouldn’t it be great if when a patient came in, I could have all the data literally at my fingertips. Call up the x-rays, the ultrasound reports, the current EKG, order some tests and have all prior data, current data, and all interventions on a big screen right in front of my face and be able to wave my arms around and re-arrange all the information instantly just as I’d like to see it. Then be able to make a decision and document why that decision was made. One of those large computer displays like in Minority Report would be perfect.

“So how do I get one of those “decision boards” like in Minority Report? Right now our computers are so cumbersome. A small screen just doesn’t do it. Typing is time consuming. Even the mouse is less than optimal. You have to click here, close this and open that. Then it’s hard to move data and images all around like a story and put it in a format that other Doctors can understand and it takes too much time. So then what ARE the right devices for physicians for data input, data display, and documentation?

“For one thing, I believe that larger or multiple screen displays would be better for medicine. Voice recognition and transcription software needs to continue to improve. Touch-screen technology needs to be employed. If I could design software for medicine I would develop modules that would mimic the way physicians think and the way we like to see data. These modules would be like elements of a history, physical findings, test results, treatments and outcomes. Any or all elements could be combined at a particular patient encounter to support a diagnosis or treatment recommendation”.

Valentine’s Day


Happy Valentine’s Day. I went with Shirls to a restaurant on Drury Lane which had a live violin show, pretty good fun. Funnily enough the best bit was the photo I got with the phone camera. I’d like to share it but the downloading keeps crashing the computer!

Wiki-based whiteboard?


I had an idea a while back for using the web to create a limitless ‘whiteboard’ for online brainstorming. Then I thought it would also be for personal use maybe, maybe a space for ‘social graffiti’ like Graffiti Playdo? In fact the concept is pretty extendable/scalable, and cross-market as a wiki-based whiteboard:

1. Personal, professional, educational

>It would be your own personal space – so it’s down to you to police it; the space would include such tools like an eraser etc. Plus you could restrict contributors to mates etc on personal sites. or leave it wide open.

>It would be a business brainstorming tool, allowing collaborative creation and linking of non-linear outputs in an easy to use/easy to access medium.

<It would be an online educational whiteboard, a tool to exchange ideas in a fluid medium.

2. Legal issues
Myself as the provider would then just provide the virtual ‘pen and paper’ thus removing the dangers of legal action. In fact it would be up to the user to find their own server space too to completely avoid that. Perhaps for businesses their would be a hosted version though to enable more control/tighter controls?

3. Basic business model
Both personal and business versions would take advertising; obviously the type of advert would have to very tightly fit the medium etc..

4. Technical functionality
On Graffiti Playdo you are limited by the page, my suggestion is to allow the space to extend outwards, as content is added (not allowing content too far from existing graffiti) – with the possibility of linking up individual/business graffiti sites. Perhaps based on existing wiki tools? Dunno, need to ask a developer on this one.

Over in Street


We caught up with Charlie Parsons in Street on the weekend to talk handbags and websites. Apparently, says Charlie, the phrase ‘the dogs bollocks” comes from the packaging title ‘box deluxe’ which is transformed into the former when spoken with a fast East end accent? Try it and see..

From Belgrade to Barking


Had Michael Bowring from Belgrade in town. Apparently he’s me the King of Serbia for tea through his girlfriend Sacha, who only speaks English, which is nice. Told him about the Bosnian pyramids so maybe he’ll cover that, though unlikely his photo agency Panos will take an interest.

Anyhow I got him to take a few pics, as he’s a photographer, and here’s one from Barking station which I liked the look of:

Marketing sucks/rocks/


The one downside of traveling on the tube is that you are bombarded with advertising and marketing.

Saw the standard slogan ‘join the revolution’ on some film poster and thought ‘no thank you very much’! But then thought lets bring it up to date, so here’s my version:

You are the revolution, you don’t know why, you don’t know how..so go figure – become an entrepreneur!

Euan Semple’s in the news


It took a while but I have finally caught up with Euan Semple’s blog The Obvious?

He’s the guy behind behind social software at the BBC, though I hear from Information World Review this week he’s been given the chop thanks to the cuts there, and is off to pastures new.

Funnily enough didn’t I write an earlier blog piece on what is obvious?