A rather tongue-in-cheek yet entertaining account of an Indian visitor's experience of the recent blackout in New York City, in the Mumbai edition of MidDay this evening :

It was kind of neat to be a part of a piece of history.î History? A power cut? I guess. Worth a T-shirt if you werenít there for the ë65 or í77 ëblackout blockbustersí! I guess. We make history everyday too. Except, rival tabloids do not incessantly debate on which came up with a better coverage (New York Post or Daily News) and no one scoffs at the International Herald Tribune for missing out on the ëcover storyí completely!
In fact, ëlights on for a few hoursí may make it to Indian small town ëní village dailies (Malgudi Times, for sure).

And Iíve just pressed ëControl + Sí on the keyboard the nth time (like most of my colleagues), lest a power cut wipe away all Iíve muttered so far. Mr Basu in Kolkata or Chadha Saab at Delhi meet ëblackoutsí with a daily yawn, ìOh load shedding? Bring out the ëGood Knight matí or ëKatchua Chhaapí. Turn on the inverter, damn Iíll miss the 9íO Clock newsÖî

And here was me, a ëThird Worlderí in a dark, sweaty, yet swanky New York, revelling on how Thomas Alva Edison, not death, is the world's (or indeed, life's) greatest leveller. And it is really that simple.

Einstein, quizzed on what weapons was World War III likely to be fought with, admitted, ìI know not with what weapons WW III will be fought. But World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Before, I never fully grasped what he meant. Now I do.

And here was me, a ëThird Worlderí in a dark, sweaty, yet swanky New York, revelling on how Thomas Alva Edison, not death, is the world's (or indeed, life's) greatest leveller. And it is really that simple.

Einstein, quizzed on what weapons was World War III likely to be fought with, admitted, ìI know not with what weapons WW III will be fought. But World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Before, I never fully grasped what he meant. Now I do.

11:52:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

The Oxford English Dictionary' draft definition of 'weblog' from March 2003

"A frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically run by a single person, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary."

[plasticbag.org]

Neat, concise but incomplete and restricted.  I'd  add, its an updated website organised by time, used for publishing, networking, collaboration, dialogue and content management. 

12:13:41 PM    comment []  trackback []

Discovered another good resource for creative thinking techniques.  This piece lists out some techniques and is a basic primer on how they can be used and applied, with easy-to-follow DIY casework.  Useful for people starting out on a creative thinking journey.  It covers techniques like brainstorming, idea generation questioning, blocking and block busting, and checklists.

What interested me was the approach to checklists, where the author lists out some interesting checklists borrowed based a creative thinker can add to his or her own.  Will be adding them to my toolkit! 

Checklists

A checklist is a standard collection of items (things, verbs, questions, approaches, attributes) used to remind the creative thinker of possible ways to approach a problem or shape a solution. When running through a typical checklist, the creative thinker might ask, "Have I taken this into account? How might I change or use this aspect? What effect will this attribute have on my problem or solution or idea?"

Here are a few checklists, which you should supplement with your own customized ones, developed for your particular problem, or the kind of work your do. You might also locate or develop some additional general lists like these: 

I. The Five Senses

1. Touch. Feeling, texture, pressure, temperature, vibration.
2. Taste. Flavor, sweet/salt/bitter.
3. Smell. Aroma, odor.
4. Sound. Hearing, speech, noise, music.
5. Sight. Vision, brightness, color, movement, symbol.

II. Human Needs

1. Physical Comfort. Food, clothing, shelter, warmth, health.
2. Emotional Comfort. Safety, security, freedom from fear, love.
3. Social Comfort. Fellowship, friendship, group activity.
4. Psychological Comfort. Self-esteem, praise, recognition, power, self-determination, life control.
5. Spiritual Comfort. Belief structure, cosmic organizing principle.
(Note: some needs cross boundaries. These include: pleasure, recreation, activity.)

III. Physical Attributes

1. Shape.
2. Color.
3. Texture.
4. Material.
5. Weight.
6. Hardness/Softness.
7. Flexibility.
8. Stability. (rolls, evaporates, decomposes, discolors, etc.)
9. Usefulness. (edible, tool, esthetic, etc.)
10. State. (powdered, melted, carved, painted, etc.)

IV. Aristotle's Categories

1. Substance or essence. What is it and what makes it unique or individual?
2. Quantity or magnitude. How many, how much, what degree?
3. Relation. Rank, comparison, derivation.
4. Quality. Value, attributes, shape, habits.
5. Action. What is it doing or does it do?
6. Affection. Reputation, attitudes toward.
7. Place. Where is it?
8. Time. When? (now? historical? future?)
9. Position. Sitting, standing, displayed, hidden
10. State. Planned, broken, untried, changing.

V. General Comments

Customized checklists should be developed for individual problems or ideas when several factors must be considered. Listing each condition to be met or part to be covered will assure that none are overlooked. The mind can attend to only about seven items at one time; more than that will have to be recalled from memory, either by force of will or through a checklist. Checklists help enormously in keeping the idea maker or problem solver alert to multiple aspects of the issue at hand.

11:24:57 AM    comment []  trackback []

Ross Mayfield reports that Stowe Boyd has launched a new Corante blog on the Instant Messaging industry. He is launching with two scoops: on Oracle's late entry into IM and Tipic's early entry into IM Blogging. 

Here's an excerpt from Stowe's post :

"The idea of persistent chat rooms -- like Yahoo Chat, for example -- is similar to the persistence around blogs. How many times when you were reading a blog have you wondered who else was there, virtually next to you, reading the same story? Posting a comment is not quite the same as conversing with a concurrent blog reader.  And as a blog author, I would like to see much more integration of IM with blogging: for example, a one click ability to post an IM session to a blog."

I like this idea.  It makes sense.  By enabling users to post to their blogs and by providing instant notifications about blog updates or when a visitor leaves a comment.

Would also be wonderful in :

• encouraging and facilitating conversational blogging by allowing bloggers to communicate better in real time and spontaneously
• a useful tool for corporates who wish to blog by providing an instant feedback system in the loop that is not disruptive, and as an effective supplement for telephone calls and email
• setting up an integrated space, a one-stop shop where discussion and debate takes a thought forward
• or simply connecting more easily with people who have something to contribute to the thought or discussion - and often hesitate to leave a comment

Thinking more thoughts of blogging as a new paradigm of communications.

10:17:54 AM    comment []  trackback []