Tinker, Tailor

It must have been the black and screaming red on the shelf that caught my eye as I drifted aimlessly at Kinokuniya.

While the cover designs reminded me of those children’s bedtime books (which I’ve been secretly reading), it was also quite obvious from the colours that only the most disturbed parents would be reading these to their sleepy 3 year olds for bedtime.

Opening the first book Emily the Strange confirmed to me that this series of books is a dark parody of the children’s bedtime storybook - full picture page, with a few words in large print.

Emily believes…

Seeing is deceiving.

By the time I finished the first book, I was already hooked.
Hooked by this morose little girl who’s into goth and black cats. Or really, hooked by the beautiful but somewhat sinister artwork and the twisted sayings…

It doesn’t matter which way you go…

as long as you get lost.

I was soon done with Emily’s Book of Strange as well as Emily’s Good Nightmares.

There’s no place like alone…

I won’t be surprised if Emily already has a cult following among angsty teenage girls who wear black nail polish.

Check out the Emily the Strange website too.

Update: A friend tells me that Emily was quite popular a while back and that I’m out of touch. Oh well…

Read with emotional detachment…

If abortion is legal, then is it legal to eat human fetuses as well?

Just a random thought, albeit an unpleasant one.

Books:
Deep smarts : how to cultivate and transfer enduring business wisdom by Dorothy Leonard, Walter Swap
Rapid problem solving with Post-it Notes by David Straker

Others:
Reith Lectures 2003 - The Emerging Mind
Because Wisdom Can’t be Told

I just realised that my last book post was more than a month ago. And that last book was a comic (albeit a more ’serious’ one).

Well, it’s hard to be productive in your reading when you’re in the midst of a storm. I actually started on two other books, but couldn’t quite complete them yet. I hope to get back to those books soon, before the library starts to fine me.

Also, I’ve since developed or renewed other interests, such as cartooning (yes, only one cartoon so far), which leaves me with less reading time.

I’ve been trying to do a bit of photography too. Been bringing the camera around more often these days, which hopefully will translate into more pictures. Hopefully because I just came back from an overseas trip, camera in bag, camera never left bag.

A Whole New Mind comes along, advocating the so-called right-brain activities like art and design to complement the more logical and sequencial left, striking a chord in me.

You see, I’ve been realising the importance of creative/artistic activities for a while now, especially of recent days (thus my recent interest in cartoons and photography), and this book came at the right time to reinforce my beliefs. How convenient.

The book is subtitled Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. According to Daniel Pink the author, we’ve moved from the Agriculture Age of farmers to the Industrial Age of factory workers to the Information Age of knowledge workers (nothing new so far), and now to the Conceptual Age of creators and empathizers.

Thus it’s not just about information these days, or even knowledge; it’s how you connect and combine knowledge to create something that’s greater than the sum of the parts. Pink also brought up something I hadn’t really thought much of, at least in this context - empathy. This fits in very beautifully with my post a month ago on the Autism Spectrum Quotient test.

So are we ready for the “Conceptual Age of creators and empathizers”?

In the chapter High Concept, High Touch,

To survive in this age, individuals and organizations must examine what they’re doing to earn a living and ask themselves three questions:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

If your answer to question 1 or 2 is yes, or if your answer to question 3 is no, you’re in deep trouble.

Looks like not everyone will like this book.

Pink devotes the second part of the book on the 6 “high-concept, high-touch” senses or aptitudes necessary for this conceptual age:

1. Not just function but also DESIGN.
2. Not just argument but also STORY.
3. Not just focus but also SYMPHONY.
4. Not just logic but also EMPATHY.
5. Not just seriousness but also PLAY.
6. Not just accumulation but also MEANING.

Tell me about it.

What intrigued me most in the book is on the androgynous mind (incidentally Pink has nothing original to offer on this, as he’s only quoting Csikszentmihalyi):

Csikszentmihalyi has also uncovered a related dimension of the boundary crosser’s talent: those who posses it often elude traditional gender role stereotyping. In his research, he found that “when tests of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.” This bestows unique advantages, according to Csikszentmihalyi. “A psychologically androgynous person in effect doubles his or her repertoire of responses and can interact with the world in terms of a much richer and varied spectrum of opportunities.”

Intruiging, but not surprising.

To quote Samuel Taylor Coleridge,

I have known strong minds, with imposing, undoubting, Cobbett-like manners, but I have never met a great mind of this sort. The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous.

Reading and thinking about why we feel ticklish, in an expensive coffee joint at Raffles Place.

The Ethnologue probably has the largest collection of information about the world’s languages. Interestingly, it’s owned by SIL.

Via NYTimes.com: How Linguists and Missionaries Share a Bible of 6,912 Languages

For some reason I slept well the night before, but I couldn’t sleep a wink the night after it was over, and I didn’t sleep very much the next night.

Bad case of blain blisters.

* most names changed

1100-1159
hey jay, how’s everything? how many chairs do we have here? are we gonna have more chairs? how about upstairs? aren’t there gonna be more chairs upstairs? what are those tables for? can we have chairs all the way here? we’re gonna need both the rooms upstairs. the sound upstairs ok? how many people can we fit in altogether? how long are they gonna take to setup the wifi? the stage is a little narrow don’t you think? tell the panelists not to lean back? is this the only cable? we can put 2 rows of chairs here, with the stools behind. yes of course we’ll need space to walk. great you’ve widened the stage. can you shift the whole platform back all the way, so the cable can reach the last seat and the front row audience don’t have to strain their necks to much? yes i’m mr ong. oh the food is here already? jay, can we move the tables outside for the refreshments? are there enough chairs to fill up this area? ok we’ll have the refreshments inside. excuse me, can you open that door so that they can push in a trolley? can we have someone open the rooms upstairs please? where are the power points? where are the microphones? oh you’re mr low, nice to meet you. can we go through the food checklist? so the pizza is the vegetarian dish? the food is very cramped don’t you think? jay, can we use this portion of the bar counter to put the refreshment drinks? mr low, go ahead and put the drinks here. hey jean you’re early! you can put your stuff there and wait for the rest to come. who said we have to move the drinks away? let me speak to him. sam, jay told me we could use the bar counter - we really need the space as we don’t have enough space on the table - it’s just the drinks don’t worry your bar will be safe.

1200-1259
hey shan you’re on time! when are the ink and paper coming? you need someone to help you carry the printers? where do you propose we should put them? let’s see how big it is. jay, can we use the console counter for the printers? we’ll just use the power from there? shan we can put the printers there. hey guys, you can settle down here - andrea will be a little late. you guys can look around the place if you want. hey kim you’re here - the t-shirst all sorted out? andrea you’re finally here - take care of the volunteers please! thanks mr low this arrangement looks so much better! do i have to sign something first? ok here’s 900 bucks gimme a sec i’ll get some change. who’s got 20 bucks to lend me? andrea you can give them a tour of the place. jay, can we use the counters outside? we need to sell t-shirts and all. kim are we ready to set up the t-shirt counter. excuse me you can close this door now. what the rooms upstairs are still locked? sam, i’ll need you to open the rooms soon. no 2 o’clock is too late - we need to use the rooms soon. no we’re letting people in at 1:30, not 2. yes i understand - we also have expensive equipment like laptops we need to put there and i’ll have people guarding the room. anything goes wrong come and look for me. thanks a lot sam i appreciate that. oh yes thank you darren i’ll need lunch. anyone here needs lunch? andrea the rooms are open - can let the volunteers put their stuff in. hey everyone don’t touch anything here that looks remotely expensive - i had a hard time convincing the guy to unlock the door. we need someone to guard this place. andrea does everyone know their roles? great shan the printers are ok? sam how about the drink tickets? no pete agreed that your side would be printing the tickets. 2 drink coupons for 500 people. we’ll only let them claim the drink coupons after the event. oh great lunch is here - i’m starving! andrea can you stick some signs on the rooms upstairs?

1300-1359
kim we can set up the t-shirt counter already - go ahead and use the counters outisde. we can’t use the counter for the t-shirts? but jay said it was ok. sam can we use the counter outside to sell our t-shirts? ok can we have the tables now then? cos we need to setup the t-shirt booth now. the floor here is slippery? i’ll get someone to take care of it. hi you’re from? so early? excuse me there’s a slippery spot of the floor there can you take care of that? hey we can’t use the counter to sell the t-shirts - they’ll be bringing some tables here. hey kim don’t let anyone in. ok the ink and paper are here? sam, how’s everything here? these are all the chairs you have? where are you guys from? i’m sorry you’ll have to wait out here it’s still a big mess inside. hey jems you’re finally here! no i didn’t check the wifi cos i didn’t bring my laptop. check with the guy over there for the wifi. sam, how are the drink tickets? hey brown you’re finally here! how was the morning session? hey guys help to keep some order outside - get them to queue up or something. ok lock this entrance and move to the main one. sorry man can’t let you in yet. andrea, everything ok? sure sam, your guys can sell drinks at the bar. jems, how’s the wifi? you need to show the volunteers the settings for the wifi. hey there’s a queue outside already - shall we let them in? kim, everything ok out here? we’ll let them in around 1:45. they’ve bought the t-shirts already? free flow in the evening? sounds good to me. are we ready to let everyone in? ok let everyone in.

1400-1459
jay can you increase the volume? people can’t hear at the back.
excuse me can you speak up??

1500-1559
we can have the break soon the refreshments are behind.
brown, it’s time for the break.
ben you ready to take the legal panel? jems can you check where’s minliang? minliang got stuck in a jam?
ben, minliang is here - you need to go up. ben, we need to go now. excuse me, he needs to go now.
brown, ben wants you upstairs. brown, ben wants you upstairs NOW. sorry can you talk to him later? he needs to go.

1600-1659
what happened to the slides? did you email to everyone? get jems to load it on his computer or something.

1700-1759
jems, bellydancers are still on their way. take your time.
great they’re here? pass the cd to the backstage guys.
bellydancers are changing.
no i don’t know what happened to the slides.
excuse me who’s your ic? hi are you all set and ready?
jems can you tell the audience to help move back the chairs?
ok can you load the slide onto your laptop?

1800-1859
sam, what time is the free flow? are you going to stamp the people going out? brown can you announce this?
what, no one doing the stamps yet? i’ll go check. sam, people are leaving - we need to stamp the people.

In the eye of the hurricane.

If only more teachers and trainers read this.

I myself could learn something from this:

5) Do group exercises whenever possible, no matter what you’ve heard.

I’ve heard every excuse, “Adults don’t like to do group exercises.” or “Professional developers don’t like to do group exercises.” or “People don’t like to do group exercises when they’re paying big bucks to be here.” or “People from outside the US don’t like to do group exercises… “. They’re all bulls***. There is a huge social component to learning, regardless of how much we try to eliminate it in the classroom. There’s a way to do interactive group exercises that works surprisingly well, and is usually quite easy.

I heard that there’s a vacancy at NKF for the position of CEO.

I’d better start working on my resumé. I’ll just ask for half the previous CEO’s pay. Titanium taps are good enough.

I hate animated GIFs, but some I hate a lot less than others.

Some I don’t even mind posting it on this blog.

This one’s created by Yuhui. Not bad.

My first feeble attempt at cartooning.

Why is it that when you’re most busy, and you know you need to finish that task by yesterday, you still have this urge to do something else, and you actually go ahead and do it?

Like blogging.

I get excited when the angmoh comes
I smile sweetly, and show my best side
I suppress my Singlish
I bring him to the best places
I hide everything I’m not proud of
I’m so proud of him
I show him off like a trophy
I forget those whom I’ve grown up with
I’m a Sarong Party Girl.

+ + +

This post was inspired by the IOC.
We are all Sarong Party Girls.

Canon recently launched a new site for beginners to learn about photography using a DSLR.

Not bad.

So we’re gonna have t-shirts for Bloggers.SG. Here’s a nice post on T-shirts and passion.

Maybe we should have car decals too. But not mugs. Enough of mugs.

According to About, “ephemeris” is the Latin word for “blog”. This nugget will prove useful if ever I start a Latin blog.

I think I should learn some Latin first.

Latin vocabulary is probably quite easy to pick up, since many English words have their roots in Latin. In fact, during lunch with a catholic colleague a few days ago, I surprised myself when I could actually translate his recital of “in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Santi” (in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit).

He was less surprised because he thought I’d learnt it from watching too many movies with exorcism scenes (not true).

Knowledge of Latin will also make the visit to the museum much more fun, especially when you’re viewing exhibits from the Vatican.