2006 October | Hunter of Genius

Monthly Archive for October, 2006

more than words can say.. serious play

Published

on October 30, 2006

. 4 Comments

I love a little social subversion if it helps to tease life back into our being. Reviving the numbness set in by constant busyness, the thrusted assault of advertising or frustrated impotence as we’re bludgeoned with increasing horrifying news we can do nothing about.

Progressive complexity and ever more wonderous tools and toys avalanche towards us at an acceleration unprecedented >>
which is why when really simple human moments happen, they are all the more precious and sweet.

Nothing complicated, just ordinary things that remind us to breathe in.. look up and smile, or laugh uproariously with mates or play on the beach with a wiggly puppy.
As deep as our affinity for tech can run, stepping out from behind the screens is imperative or we’ll all start succumbing to the singularity polarity insanity (this is a note to self BTW who happens to be far to entranced by the prospect of transhumanism and AI)

So while you’re still behind your screen, I recommend a little inspiration (if you haven’t seen it.. it’s a gift to your hassled heart, so just bloody well watch it!)

PS. taking this onto the hard-core city streets may be a little more than heads can cope with though so be gentle.

* body language at it’s best - the simple sign-language ” I love you”

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Tempus Fugit

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 27, 2006

in Heisenberg and great questions

. 4 Comments

..words emblazoned on my spirit, that I shared with some bravehearted entreprenial escapees from corporate slavery, angel investors and inspiring beings who refuse to squander their youth & fire to the smothering comfort of safe employment..

From poetess Mary Oliver, discovered thanks to the fiesty force of nature Tom Peters

(beautiful poppy petal thanks to the staggeringly beautiful lens of Miss HP)

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What makes Genius : Part 2 : Curiosity!

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 18, 2006

in What makes GENIUS?

. 12 Comments

The late Isaac Asimov once observed that “the most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ..”that’s funny“

..how often do you look at the world curiously and ask
WHAT IF… WHY DO THEY.. DO YOU THINK WE COULD.. WOW, WHAT’S THAT.. WHY ? ? ? Challenge reality. Question everything.

“Great Questions lead to Great Quests” - me :-P

(inspired of course by the legendary quizzmaster of all-time.. none other than the originator of true learning and didactic genius.. Socrates)

All matter is just raw material waiting to be interpreted. It’s our filters :: inherited and self-defined :: that tweak the quality of the show we get to see, the game we get to play.

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Neoleisure

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 17, 2006

in Cape Town, Geek Gatherings and Opensource

. 6 Comments

You know the feeling when something fairly small and relatively insignificant just confirms your suspicions that you made a really good choice? Continue reading ‘Neoleisure’

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Paris who? Bill & Steve oooh

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 13, 2006

in Heisenberg

. 3 Comments

(a quick visual follow on from yesterday).. for the celeb spotter in us all.. this really did it for me (don’t think you’re immune BTW). We all have our heroes and villians who populate the ancient story, which appears to be deeply embedded into every human OS.

If you haven’t read what I believe may well be the most important books on cracking the code, grab a copy of Joseph Cambell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces or hunt one down.. promise it’s WORTH IT!

..and figure out why Harvard’s deeply revered Howard Gardner (he of the theory of multiple intelligences) said:

Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal

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Google.YouTube vs Myspace

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 12, 2006

in Economic Factors and social.media

. 0 Comments

Take the ringside seat as the billion $$ behemoths battle it out.
Such fun! our very own pantheon of the gods.
Those who hold sway in this peculiar parallel dimension of online reality, do so by sheer weight of those who believe in them.. (in Google we trust). Once again the big boys are out to play. The brave young hero YouTube has been deified and given a seat on Mount Olympus.. and the writhing shape-shifting adolescent-hormone fueled MySpace is getting edgy. oooh too delicious.

We’ll be sure not to myth out on the next installment: soap-opera for geeks and market-analysts alike, as we all try to predict the next move and extrapolate what cool.tool gifts the benign ones will bless us with tomorrow..

This is one of those moments where you realise that we’re oddly tracking toward the outer edges of capitalism, where peculiarly, in it’s full bloom: with the means of production truly in the hands of the people: it starts looking a lot like true socialism -? without the crappy cumbersome side effects of poverty, scarcity and shocking food that tends to accompany communism.

Hmm.. wonder how my mind wondered off here, anyway, just a thought and perhaps a little hint to the leaders of our beloved South Africa that it’s worth holding the evolving and devolving models from the economic experiments conducted in other countries - side by side - and extract some wisdom thereby. Anyway as I was saying, just a thought.

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the geek shall inherit the earth 2.0

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 10, 2006

in Heisenberg

. 4 Comments

In a few days Cape Town will be welcoming a new coder to our fold (or is that strand/helix whatnot).. JazCook.. dad of Dr Don. Already infusing wit to preface his arrival:

I quoth in his stead: “..The geek shall inherit the earth.. or at the very least the mirth“

(digg you already Jaz, welcome to our beautiful shores) JazCook

PS. just got the upd8.. “Jaz by name Jazz by nature,
The ancient geek is also a former member of the African Jazz Pioneers.
A little pic, showning him in full swing” (thanks Dr Don)

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JoziGeekDinner - more delight with less delirium this time

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 9, 2006

in Geek Dinner, Geek Gatherings, Heisenberg and South Africa

. 12 Comments

THANK YOU MIKE!! Huge thanks to that force of nature: Stopforth wentforth and magicked up a brilliant evening for the Jozi geeks to map their network offline.

Big smiles and lots of surprised people, whose illusions/delusions of what geekery is, have been soundly smashed. It rocked.
Mike & I are now veterans of the SA Geek Dinner scene, and give bountiful thanks to Graham Knox of Stormhoek Wines for starting the meme (you’re a legend dude!) along with the blogging behemoth Hugh MacLeod (Gaping Void) for making it sooo sexycool to get out from behind our screens and play realtime : where LOL actually has an associated sound component.

I was completely staggered by the fact that right at the moment I’d been waiting for all damn week - the Seth Godin surprise (the real Free Prize Inside of this event) - I went to pee.. charming. (thank you Mike for the replay mate.. and respect to Seth for potent inspiration that gave us renewed fire under our broeks!) Especially love Seth because of Small is the New Big meme - if you’ve ever met me you’ll know why :-P

Met so many bloody brilliant beings, and reconnected with buds that I haven’t seen in ages who I seriously digg: From dazzling mate Christof & his real sillybilly (yes I do mean boy-goat) story that celebrated South African quirkiness to the sobering strength of storyteller supremo Aiden; the incisive clarity of Gabi the sharp brutha (sorry I didn’t get to chat more to you, and Adriano); Roger the macgeek who introduced me to young visionary Thando, and assaulted by Jacques who tagged me a hippie (hahaha.. I only wish!); all too briefly pinged Heinrich; my bud Mark (who was 1 of the surprised fellows that we geeks don’t look like troglodytes); readjusted the Scott awhile by asserting the fact that I’m actually a girl version; blazed by Metacognitive Carl (you’re a keeper bru!); rapped about nanotech, RPG’s, math, arcane Egyptian philosophy and other scruptious brainsnacks with Andrew; am determined to discover more about leadership with George; got lots of love from the irrepressible Tumi; did the quick connect-in with the Missing Links who I think looked at the rest of us pretty disdainfully.. but went to their office next day and was blown away - you guys are too damn cool for school, especially Rich who may well be one of the scarysmartest peops I’ve met in a while (if you get a chance, wangle your way to their playspace you wont be disappointed)..

I missed my Cape Town geeks madly.. maybe we come up with a crazyass way to do this gig in the air next time. Thanks to all of you for making me feel so welcome back in gold-veined Jozi.. I loved it, and think I may actually have been well-behaved this time!

The beginning of many outstanding collaborative projects will emerge, like Bar Camp, from this dinner. I’ve seen the power of loosly banding brilliant people with brave ideas together and allowing for freeplay; which is why my impassioned rant was heartfelt >> go explore beyond your boundaries and discover that there are many more wild ones out there to support your own crazy ideas than you ever imagined.

PS. hugest thanks to my mate Dee (fellow F8r, beautiful, brilliant friend and generally outstanding being) who marvelled at the bright jozigeek (jeek - thx Mike) mindsparkings (we’ll make a geek of her yet!)

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Double Lucky

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 9, 2006

in Cape Town, Geolocating, Heisenberg and South Africa

. 2 Comments

Beautiful little Cape Town this morning, wrapped in cool drizzly morning serenity is almost a different country from the vast thumping snarling sexy confident Joburg that I have just left. To say I love one more than the other would be a lie.. Jozi is a muse and her people heartpoundingly strong, some intoxicatingly inspiring. Wish I could take the potency of Joburg’s energy and counterweight it with the peace of Cape Town - but like falling in love with 2 wonderful yet utterly different beings at the same time - it’s a paradox I’ll have to bear.

franschhoek ..and I’m going to have to choose who I am to live with now. No matter which of the cities I decide to make home I’ll always be craving the other.
The choice staggeringly hard, because the pace of emerging technology keeps reducing relative distance between humans, no matter where they live on the giant ball.. it’s become easier than ever to live local and work global. Flying back over the Hex Mountains, over the winelands at sunset wobbled my resolve: Jozi may have to be mistress to my two-timing soul.

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factoring pretty girls into economic forecasts

Published

Maximillian Kaizen

on October 1, 2006

in Economic Factors and Heisenberg

. 3 Comments

For those of you who didn’t believe me the other night at Toastmasters >> you thought I was just being silly: but NO!

In the interests of ensuring that we get a clearer understanding of the economic and social determinants that drive our future, we sometimes need to pay attention to peculiar and surprising forces that skew the trends and introduce randomness and seeming chaos to financial markets, or bewilder political analysts.

I was being utterly serious: pretty ladies are indeed a hazard to sane & rational thought processes.. in men. Women it seems are blissfully exempt from going goofy no matter what the fellow looks like (yippee secret weapon for the ladies ;-) with built-in immunity)

Here’s the proof: from New Scientist . Beautiful women “scramble men’s ability to assess the future”.. The experiment is the grown-up version of the Marshmallow Test.
The prolific adaption of this within marketing or sales is a very old cliche : sex sells : if you want men to make big heroic or potentially hazardous leaps of faith then derail their sensible long-term orientated thinking (mmm.. suddenly I understand why particularly strategic negotiators will use stripclubs to their almost unfair advantage). So whether it’s buying an “investment” car or investing large sums of money (ever find it odd that Investec hire so many beautiful women?!), engaging in battle or negotiating a big deal - short-circuiting the initial decision with lovely ladies around could be just the tipping point you need.

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