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Monday, October 15, 2007 |
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman. It's budget-planning season for lots of people I know. That's the time of year when goals and strategies developed using Excel spreadsheets are translated into pie charts and graphs and imported into scintillating Power Point presentations. Here's a poem for you to contemplate the next time you[base ']re sitting through such a presentation:
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
by Walt Whitman
 When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured
with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
[rexblog.com: Rex Hammock's weblog]
10:25:28 AM 
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Consumer-style marketing doesn't show up often in business-to-business markets. There is one strategy that seems to be crossing over well, though. Over the weekend, I wrote about the initial success of Projity and its free software downloads. A contact at GE Fanuc told me that its offer of free downloads of a reduced set of its latest HMI software garnered much interest. Now come two more.
Schneider Electric is offering municipalities a chance for a "complete energy audit" valued at up to $30,000. Candidates can apply at this Web site and the company will choose one. According to the release, the audit will examine various energy-saving opportunities including production process scheduling, pump system optimization, variable frequency drives, peak shaving/load shedding, renewable fuel sources, lighting controls and other operational considerations.
Meanwhile, Moore Industries is giving away a free WORM flexible RTD or thermocouple sensor to any qualified person who requests one. The offer includes a choice of thermocouple or RTD sensor, 24 in. of extension wire and an installation kit with all necessary mounting components, including a spring, spacers and a clip. Visit this Web site and fill out the form. This flexible sensor is said to fit in difficult locations where a rigid sensor won't and since it can be cut to fit, a technician need only take one WORM out on a location rather than a handful of rigid sensors.
7:40:19 AM
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The other day I heard a report on a study on student achievement on an NPR station, but I didn't get the lead in to the story. I can't find it on the NPR Web site, now. But essentially the study confirmed what just about any teacher will tell you--the two most important factors in a child's development are parental involvement and parental expectations.
My daughter deals with very troubled kids. And she also interviews their parents. It's caused her to reflect on why she turned out the way she did--working hard for a masters and certification as a counselor. She says that even though we didn't nag her every day about it, she always felt our expectations that she would succeed at whatever she wanted to do in a socially useful way. In her professional life, all she sees are things such as spiraling negativity or neglect.
Give your kids a hug, help them with their studies and problems (without doing their work for them) and let them know that you expect them to succeed just because of who they are. They may not succeed at what you want them to, but they stand a good chance of succeeding on their own terms.
7:24:30 AM
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I saw a link to this post on creativity at Lifehacker. Good thoughts.
7:14:45 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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