Started talking about the tree line in the Alps and looked up this page and this page.
Factors:
Depends on aspect of slope, rain, and distance to the poles (or how close it is to the equator), and in some cases vegetation…
Swiss Alps: 2100 m
Mount Kilmanjaro, Tanzania: 3000 m
Andes, South America: 3900 to 5200 m
i went a’ photowalking (again)
Newspaper column by Peter Godwin in an Australian newspaper:
“Did you know that Zimbabweans have the highest IQ in the world?” she says. Hmm, that seems a little over-patriotic. “Yes,” she continues, “I queue for sugar, I queue for salt, I queue for fuel, I queue for cooking oil.” And she bursts into peals of laughter at her joke.
(…)
It’s estimated that nearly 75 per cent of Zimbabweans between the ages of 18 and 65 have now left the country. That’s getting up to Irish Potato Famine ratios. It’s a veritable exodus. Imagine any city – imagine Adelaide – suddenly losing that proportion of its population. That’s how bad things have become in my homeland.
Godwin’s proposal: Set up an international conference and plan for the time after Mugabe.
This is a way to unlock our imagination on how reconstruction could start. The amounts pledged would help harness greed to good effect, signalling to the local Zimbabwean elite (who are wondering when to dismount the current horse) how well everyone can do under a new dispensation.
Such a conference, with its resultant document, can also begin the debate on how to fund specific reconstruction areas: agriculture (and different models of resuscitating commercial agriculture), education, health, currency stabilisation, energy, infrastructure, and so on. It also gets us away from a hectoring, negative binary on Zimbabwe to one where we lay out upon a heaving table the glittering goodies that will be available as soon as the venal autocrat is gone.
I think that this would help establish a profound paradigm shift, and change our attitude from one that is purely reactive to Mugabe’s latest felonies, to one that sees beyond him, by writing the tyrant out of the script for Zimbabwe’s future.
Peter Godwin is the author of Mukiwa and When the Crocodile eats the Sun, 2 books I enjoyed reading.
I don’t want to comment. I’d just like to encourage you to read the article (or the books for that matter), whatever your political background is…
No more work for today. I’m heading home to watch Tatort.
Note to myself:
alles wird gut
never give up
learn the unforced rhythms of grace
Check out this music video by John Legend. It’s part of the Show Me Campaign.
John (…) recently shot and released a music video in Tanzania for the Show Me Campaign to introduce his fans to critical global issues. Watch this story of a young boy overwhelmed by the weight of the world who is asking questions and searching for answers.
For more see: http://www.showmecampaign.org/index1.html
I read this in one of my Google Reader links:
http://twitter.com/nchenga/statuses/768186400
On the other hand the very same people will complain that blogs are boring, describing everyday routines.
Don’t think any of the two adjectives describe the low key, reserved aims of this blog.
Daniel Libeskind on architects working in China:
“I won’t work for totalitarian regimes,” (…) “Architects should take a more ethical stance.”
today’s fave
A short video explaining Twitter:
At lunch we started talking about fish, and how you shouldn’t buy some kinds ‘cos of over-fishing and conservation reasons.
Which reminded me of a TV report on EU fish factory ships fishing legally and illegally of the coast of West Africa.
I wondered out loud if improved European buyer habits will make a difference at all. Considering the fact that China is buying up Africa’s resources in a huge way and probably has far less misgivings than its Western counterparts.
Reminded me of one report on Zaire’s collapse into disarray many years ago, which stated that the lack of a strong government means easier access to resources.
But there’s no way around conscientious shopping in today’s global world:
Check the packaging before buying groceries and buy local. Fact is, if the real environmental costs of production and transport are added to the pricing, local products would be competitive again.
(start tweet)
Twitter isn’t loading, updates to the latest photo of my Flickr contacts is currently disabled.
A work colleague would say “It’s software”.
Anyway, WP-powered Chip is up and running.
The return of the micro-site.
Yay, it’s Friday.
(end of tweet)
A non-Twitter-based tweet
I enjoyed this talk by Bill Cockayne:
“Die Ästhetik ist bereits in der Wirklichkeit vorhanden.”
Saw the Helen Levitt show at the Sprengel Museum today. I liked it very much and can recommend it.
Delicious
(start of yesterday’s train journey notes, pêle-mêle off the top of my head, unsorted)
Longer weekend ahead…
I’m sitting in a train to Mannheim and have some time to write a longer blog post and reflect on stuff that happened this week.
Somehow this week went by crazily fast and my todo list decreased by one item and increased by 456 items. Inwardly I’ve switched to turbo output mode.
But I did manage to go running twice. Yay. I’m twittering my jogging experiences. Before dissing Twitter, remember at all times that my tweets could be part of a bigger art project.
Is twittering art?
Since Twittervision is being exhibited at the MoMA in NYC, one of my tweets might display!
And incidentally if secondary scientific literature makes a book rise into the
hallowed ranks of literature studies, doesn’t an exhibition at the MoMA have at least the same “it is art” effect?
MacBook and Meetings
I need to improve my presentation skills on the MacBook. Couldn’t get the MacBook to display on the screen and the overhead simultaneously today. Don’t know if it’s linked to last weekend’s Leopard upgrade, but usually it auto-detects the projector. Aargh.
I’m thinking a lot about leadership. And how it differs from management. And how unsettling/unnerving/disorientating/frustrating it is to get different signals depending on the time of day or type of situation or who else is in the meeting. Reminds me of an old John C. Maxwell book I read many years ago how important it is to be people person leader.
(i’m sitting close to the train restaurant = smell of food)
(pause to find Swiss to German plug adapter and hook up power supply)
(just got hit on the arm by a huge white cello case walking by)
Things to do in Hannover:
Shop
Go to library (I miss Hannover libraries)
Go jogging on my old routes (che nostalgia!)
I might attend the BarCamp if i find some time
(pause to change trains in Mannheim)
I detect an over-use of cheap over-sweet perfume somewhere in my vicinity. Aaargh. My tip: Never ever save on perfume. Mi da’ veramente fastidio….
At least i found another seat with a power plug. Life is not getting easier with all of the devices and power cables and battery chargers. Half of my back pack is full of tech equipment.
(end of train journey notes)
Unfortunately all of the power plugs were out of order in the train compartment I was sitting in…
Weather is grey and wet. Planning to go see a show on Street Photography at the Sprengel Museum this afternoon.
I liked this velo poster… in Geneva.
I noticed a new website on Malawi: http://malawiweb.net/
Upgraded my MacBook to Leopard overnight. Looks like everything went well.
A friend and I went for a Probetraining (free trial session) at one of the fitness centers close to work.
This is just a quick note to say that we’ve launched the evaluation process.
useful comparison (for future reference):
Blogs vs. Email
Here’s a Lift talk by Genevieve Bell that I enjoyed:
Here are some of my Lift 08 notes, pêle-mêle:
This year I tried to provide a running commentary on Twitter. Unfortunately the wifi was patchy and a number of valuable text snippets were lost… 😉 I got one Tweet response – all the way from Malawi – that appreciated my effort.
I tuned in to the Lift backchannel on Skype:
The Skype backchannel was an interesting experience with live comments, opinions and background links. BTW, Skype was the most resilient of all Internet apps and managed to stay online throughout.
The format of this year’s Lift was a little different. There was one main track, i.e. we were all blogging and twittering about the same presentations. But I didn’t even notice it until we started discussing differences between ’07 and ’08. I liked the new format. I liked following the flow, without having to decide which session I’d need to move to next.
There was a red flashing light to indicate that the speaker’s time had run out… a neat feature.
At any one time, there were an incredible number of cameras in use. Automatic de-lurking.
I met a lot of new people from diverse backgrounds. And I met lots of ’07 attendees (there must have been a high degree of returnees).
My favorite talks:
Younghee Jung – she presented design ideas from Mumbai, Rio, and Accra regarding their vision of a suitable mobile device for their needs. I hope Nokia hears the request for cheap, sturdy and waterproof mobile phones.
Genevieve Bell – I liked the Australian humor.
Eric Favre – even though I don’t like Nespresso, I respect the perseverance.
Noel Hidalgo – a 5 min talk on traveling around the world in 7 months, sponsored by bloggers.
Kevin Warwick – scary but fascinating. He said “tremendously exciting” several times during the talk.
Holm Friebe and Phillip Albers – two Germans with a dry sense of humor described their creative way of doing business. For example, they don’t wait the usual 30 to 60 days to pay their bills but pay them up front.
Henriette Weber Andersen – enjoyed this refreshing 5 minute reminder that the marketer’s dream world has changed.
Robin Hunicke – great talk. She managed to link her presentation to other content we had heard. I particularly liked her slides that use small sketches as icons. A good idea. I had met her and Souris in the Lift workshop on Forgetful Interfaces and enjoyed their constructive input.
Finally the last sessions on Foresight inspired me. I can recommend watching the videos of Scott Smith and Bill Cockayne.
The corresponding Lift videos are available at: http://www.nouvo.ch/liftvideo
Nassim Taleb, “The Black Swan”
via
http://www.liftconference.com/black-swan
