Advanced ramblings of the 3rd kind

An IT company...upside down

2006-09-04T18:24:00.000+02:00

I'm looking for some advice, and maybe some affirmation. In four weeks' time I'll be working fulltime for my own company. This is quite exciting, but also daunting if you consider the amount of choices, responsibilities and potential head-aches.

I'm a software engineer, and my company will also be involved in software development. One of my key objectives, and this is where I'd like some comment, is to really focus on personel development of all my in-house nerds and nerdettes. Allow me to explain:

Most software companies tend to really abuse their geeks, and end up stunting their personal growth big-time. That's why most students tend to be quite sociable, but turn totally anti-social after two or three years of working as a slave. Since these technically minded individuals are usually quite brilliant, I want to get more out of them than just their job descriptions...and help them to fulfill their potential as human beings.

I intend to do this by focussing on leadership development for every employee. The type of leadership I'm talking about is not the managerial type, but rather pro actively taking charge of your own life...identifying a vision, learning how to prioritize, knowing how to make sacrifices and understanding the concept of influence (the list is long).

Am I dishing out pie in the sky? Would it be possible to convince computer addicts to step out of their comfort zones? Would you apply for a job at my company?

I'd love to hear your comments!

Anita Strikes

2006-08-16T10:03:00.000+02:00

Anita, my sister, is now officially engaged!

Picasso Strikes

2006-05-02T20:01:00.000+02:00

Thailand is absolutely amazing!

After spending two timeless weeks there I've fallen in love with the place. The people are fantastic: always smiling, respectful, self-controlled and great with their kids and pets. They also love their plants...accounting for the countless orchids and potplants lining the streets!

On our arrival in Chiang Mae (in the north of Thailand) we were ambushed by water crazed zealots! We managed to catch the sonkran festival, which marks the Thai newyear. Traditionally water was poured down the backs of loved ones, signifying a kind of cleansing for the new year...but this has radically evolved into a water fight of epic proportions! On our arrival at our hotel we were soaked to the bone. Hectic I tell you, and one piece of advice:

"Avoid tuk-tuk's (3-wheel open air taxis) during Sonkran!!!"

The islands are very laid back and you get teleported to another world. Rice fields, buffalo's, thai boxing and fishing boats all paint the picture of a people non-plussed about status and chasing rats...mind you they do fancy their cockroaches!

The coral reefs are amazing! We did some scuba diving, but I retired hurt after a trigger fish attacked me!

It was absolutely crazy. I heard a loud clank on my tank and looked around. There these two beautiful fish were staring at me?! Ok, so I look back at them. BAMM! It felt like someone assaulted me with a hammer as the stealthy predator careered into the side of my head. Ouch. (look at those K9's)

But that opened the door to a bunch of other experiences. Health spas, kyak trips, offroad scootering and loads of chilling were all on the menu. Talking about menus, the food is excellent...and dirt cheap! You get the feeling that people really take pride in preparing a meal, and that spills over in the presentation. You end up feeling quite special.

Probably 90% of the fruits we ate in Thailand were completely new to us. Durians, Jackfruit, Tamarin seeds and Dragonfruit were amongst the favourites. My wife also loved every moment...but she promptly drew the line when I started munching cockroaches!

Bangkok is an amazing city. It's a smooth mix of old and modern Thailand. You'll see elephants walking on the busy sidewalks and walk into the most modern mall you've ever seen the next moment. People remain friendly and warm, despite the huge amount of bodies.

This 2 weeks has fealt like 2 months and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The perspective I've gained is priceless, and I hope this fuel injection will last me a few months. The travel bug has bitten with the force of a territorial trigger fish!

Growing your network

2005-11-26T10:52:00.000+02:00

Keeping track of all your friends and business contacts can become quite an impossible task!

Luckily the web provides us with tools to make this process a bit easier. I've started using LinkedIn to keep track of my network. It's pretty cool, and allows you to see which contacts your contacts have. If you need to get in touch with one of those 2nd tier contacts, you can ask one of your direct contacts to provide you with an introduction.

Google has also spotted the potential of this kind of system, and acquired Orkut. Orkut is more targeted at growing and maintaining a network of friends, as opposed to business contacts. To get an orkut account, you need to be introduced by a current member (boy Google knows how to market!). I did a blog search, and begged Darnell Clayton, author of the Hidden Nook, to give me an invite.

Thanks a lot Darnell, your generosity is greatly appreciated! I can also really recommend his blog, and will add it to my bookmarks on the right.

I want to spread the love...and grow my network. So if there's anyone who wants to join my linkedIn or Orkut network, feel free to drop me a line.

Life is beautiful

2005-11-12T15:02:00.000+02:00

It's been almost a month! What kept me busy:

In one of my previous posts I rave on about how cool "Wild Cams" are. Well this very wildcam at Pete's Pond drained all my bandwidth last month. It took me over my 3Gig cap (that's how it works in SA), which made my international browsing impossible.
We celebrated our first wedding annerversary! My wife, Lienke, is truly amazing. Our first year has been fantastic and we are really blessed.
Business is booming. I've got so much work that I can barely breathe. South Africa is really starting to attract some foreign investment, resulting in all-round expansion and development.

Bonsai Trees rock. I've planted a whole range of Acacia seeds about a month ago. They're about 15 cm tall now, so I'm starting to repot them. Our garden is quite small, and already well established. This has encouraged me to opt for the Bonsai route. I didn't know the first thing about Bonsais, but after a bit of research I've come to appreciate it's beauty.

What I find particularly fascinating is the way the Japanese hand down their Bonsais through generations. Imagine being given a 500 year old tree by your dad, guarded and cared for by previous generations. It's more than just a tree - it almost becomes a part of each of it's caretakers.

The photo at the top was taken at Blouberg Strand near Cape Town...by me! Summer is in the air, and I can say with confidence: La Vita e Bella!

The cosmic merry-go-round

2005-10-06T16:39:00.000+02:00

In the light of the current Evolution vs. Intelligent Design debate I’ve decided to post my thoughts.

Evolution needs to be defined.
(1) Cosmic evolution - origin of time, space and matter
(2) Chemical evolution - origin of higher elements from hydrogen
(3) Stellar and planetary evolution - origin of stars and planets
(4) Organic evolution - origin of life
(5) Macro evolution - changing from one kind to another
(6) Micro evolution - variations within same kind

According to Google, Science is systematically acquired knowledge that is verifiable or systematized knowledge derived from observation or observed results of experimentation, (observable or experimentally repeatable).

To me the (1) to (5) is not science. Not one of them has ever been observed, or experimentally repeated. This boils down to a form of religion. Micro evolution, on the other hand, is true science, and also accepted by proponents of Intelligent Design (ID)!

I therefore find it interesting that the recent debate has been labelled "Science vs. Religion".

Something that's been making headlines is the fact that the ID guys say evolution is simply a "theory". They don't refer to a theory like gravity (which can be observed and experimentally repeated) or micro evolution...what they are referring to is (1) to (5) being taught as "gospel" - because it simply is not good science.

OK - I'm coming accross very biased! Just balancing the blogosphere a bit.

Godel's Incompleteness theorem leeds us to believe that ID cannot be provable, and is therefore also not good science.

I am a Christian and a scientist. I feel strongly about Evolutionists/Creationists/ID respecting each other. Unfortunately the spokesman are allways so defensive and inflexible that they'll allways be fighting away. I'm sure they can co-exist: as long as guys are willing to admit their weaknesses.

My open system needs input from clued up readers in order to fine tune my control system. Feel free to engage me in debate, or make a comment. Just to make things clear:

I'm not choosing a side, but simply trying to understand and formulate an informed opinion. This post is my view, which is obviously biased in some way.

Looking back from the past

2005-09-27T14:09:00.000+02:00

I've allways thought it would be great if you could physically send a movie clip, birthday present or simple letter by post - specifying the exact date on which the parcel should be delivered. (say 20 years time)

To a lot of folks this is gonna be old news, but there's a website that facilitates this process for post-dated email. The website is called "Future Me", and the idea is that you write an email to yourself, only to be delivered on a date as chosen by you.

Fascinating!

What would you write to yourself...knowing that you'll probably be a completely different person in 10 years time?

I think I'll start by listing my short and longterm goals, as well as a few of my stone-clad principles. Then I'll give a snapshot of my life at this point in time - think that'll be amusing reading. Then I'm gonna look into my crystal ball and make a couple of wild predictions (like the "Internet" changing to "GoogleNet").

If my email address survives for 5 years - I'm going to be completely gobsmacked by this unexpected email...that's if I'm not filtered out as SPAM!~[ Humour me...

Waking up with Africa...

2005-09-25T12:39:00.000+02:00

Click here if you are using a MAC. You'll need to have realplayer installed to view this content.

It's quite nice to view this in full-screen mode (play around with your realplayer). The best time to "tune-in" would be early in the mornings, Africa time. National Geographic are the guys facilitating this wildcam.

This pond is situated in Botswana and the area looks a wee bit dry. They've hired someone to operate the camera all day long. I think this concept has a lot of potential - especially once the end-user has the option of taking full controll of the camera!

Google Earth

2005-09-21T22:06:00.000+02:00

For those of you who haven't played around with Google Earth - brief intro:

Google Earth is software that allows you to view sattelite images of the earth. You can drag the earth around, zoom in/out, change your angle of view and measure distances. Non-free versions have added features such as GPS.

What is really cool is the different layers that you can experiment with. To illustrate: If you select the "Borders" layer, you'll see all the country borders in yellow.

What I'm raving about is the newest additions: National Geographic Layers. This basically links specific spots on earth to specific nature articles and images. You also get access to high-resolution arial images of interesting natural phenomenon, and the coolest part: Live-wildcams situated in Africa, South America etc can be easily located and viewed.

There are also "overlays" available of natural disasters such as hurricane katrina. BTW - an interesting blog on what's going on in the gulf.

It's a real pity this kinda stuff wasn't around when I was at school. This should take geography to a completely new level. Imagine using Google Earth in 20 years time...I reckon you'll be able to view the whole earth in realtime...and this will in all likelihood not be restricted to terra firma only!(footprints)

What other applications for this technology do you envisage?

Redundancy in nature?

2005-09-17T10:03:00.000+02:00

Nature is mindblowing! Everything is so extremely complex, and yet perfect. There are no mistakes...or are there?

I have been hard-pressed to find elements in nature that are completely redundant. (just a thought that crept into my mind) My list is short, but this one has been bugging me for a long time:

Why do men have nipples?

The link takes you to a book I saw on Amazon - Looks like a worthy read. Do you know of any other perceived redundancies in nature? Feel free to enlighten me...

Wanted - Creative Genius

2005-09-13T21:58:00.000+02:00

Pondering on my blog's success, or the lack thereof, has led me to believe that hiring a creative genius should propel my blog into the upper echelons of the blogosphere!

The equation is actually quite simple: The blogosphere can be likened to a 400 000 ha farm. This farm stretches across various vegetative regions and is inhabited by millions of sheep.

These sheep know when they've found a good piece of grass, and the herd will usually follow the initial explorers onto the lush patches - gobbling up all the grass that they so cherish.

Luckily this will ensure the survival of the "good-tasting" grass, since its seeds will be returned to the earth accompanied by oodles of growth incentive. The bad tasting grass doesn't get eaten, but it also doesn't propagate.

Creativity is the man-made "manure" that results in "sweet-as" patches...and it is exactly this that we should be rolling in like pot-belly pigs! How do pigs create this lovely environment?

By not holding back!

We have to be prepared to go out on a limb if we want to roll in our own creative efforts. Holding back - for whatsoever reason - will only result in constipation.

Let her rip!

[this equation is riddled with faults, contradictions and inacuracies. The blogger and/or any related parties daren't take any responsibility for injuries, negativity, bowel-related abberations or insomnia that could be in any way construed as being attributed to the reading of this literature]

My first e-ncentive!

2005-09-08T22:43:00.000+02:00

It's my blog's 3rd birthday today! (I count like they do with dogs)

A few interesting stats of what my 3day old blog has achieved:

It's hauled in $0.40 through ad-revenue

At this rate I'll be a millionaire by the time I'm 10000 years old

Next year this time I should have about $50, which in SA terms equates to about 6 cases of beer! (Nifty)

My 'site-counter' tells me I can expect about 1500 page views per month

People from allmost every continent have viewed my humble blog (the internet hasn't really caught on in antartica yet)

I've published 5 blog entries...which means that by the time I'm a millionaire I'll have published about 520000 posts! (serious carpal tunnel syndrome candidate)

I'm really enjoying this! Don't get me wrong - It's not about the money or the fame that I've become privy to recently - but rather a sense of having fun and seeing how the engine of a well-oiled machine works.

Aint life grand...

Nothing is free!

2005-09-06T23:24:00.000+02:00

I wouldn't like to dishearten any would-be bloggers just waiting to make their fortunes through peer-production...but nothing in life is free!

David Gibbons has an interesting entry in his blog regarding the sweat equity that is needed to establish yourself in the Blogging market.

This same principle holds true for the whole of the peer-production system:
What you get out depends on what you put in!

This has sent me thinking. What happens if everyone has a blog? Don't we run a great risk of becoming completely anonymous - lost between millions and millions of blogs!!

My only answer to that is that we must establish a blogging culture whereby we try to link to as many interesting sites and blogs as possible, and continuously explore links provided by other sites. If we become content to sit in our own little sandboxes we will soon dissapear into obscurity.

Let me know what you think!

The concept of peer-production!

2005-09-06T09:43:00.000+02:00

How can we make money by pursuing our passions?

The internet serves as a nice means for passionate people to specialize in what they love and make money doing it!

A few examples should illustrate this view:

If I'm passionate about my blog, specialize in Artificial Intelligence, and get a lot of people to visit my site - I own a soapbox! If I now tell the people visiting my site that my favourite book is GEB - The Eternal Golden Braid, there might just be a few patrons who click on the link and buy it. Amazon will reward me with approximately $2 for every purchase!

One of my links on the right hand side of this page points to iStockPhoto. This is a site that allows people who love photography to share their photo's with the world. If someone likes a photo, they buy it for about $3, and the photographer gets $1 for the sale. If you just happen to like photography - click on that link and sign up for free...I'll receive $5!

Soon you'll be seeing google ads on my site! If anyone simply clicks on one of these adds I'll be earning money! (so make a habit of doing so!->)

This concept basically resolves to nodes on the internet (people) becoming stronger and stronger by being referenced by more and more sites (v.v). You become a node by starting to participate in an online community of your choice (your passion). This is called peer-production, and you'll find a nice link in my bookmark list!

Is it just me, or is this exciting stuff!!

China in all its glory

2005-09-06T08:57:00.000+02:00

I wanna import Powerballs to South Africa!

The best price that I can get from legit manufacturers is around $7 per unit. This sounded great until I came across this trading website, Alibaba! You type in any phrase, and it produces all the possible manufacturers.

So I locate these guys in China and give them a ping. Guess what they want per unit...$1.50!!! At first I was ecstatic! This will help me become a millionaire before I'm 26.

Heck, wait a second. How can these guys make it so cheaply. I wonder if they're paying any patent royalties...

Turns out they don't! That means that if I import their products and distribute it in SA, I'm liable for IP theft.

The funniest thing was the amuzing english the Chinese contact used. I asked him how much it would cost to send me some samples. He replied with:
"you send me sample cost $40"

Man these guys are scary.

Small Beginnings

2005-09-05T11:03:00.000+02:00

Hello World!

I don't know if I'm interesting, provocative, meaningful, extravagant, obese, idiotic, politically correct or downright silly! You be the judge.

I'm gonna be posting my thoughts on the world, my life and all that I find interesting and news-worthy.

Love me or hate me! And feel free to let me know.