Sane New World

Ruby Wax is known as an American stand-up comedian who got herself a career in the UK. Partly to her own surprise she became the face in a campaign of people with a mental illness especially in her new country. Since she was outed as a victim of regular and severe depressions, she quit her TV career, got an Oxford degree, did a TED talk and wrote a book.

Sane New World
Ruby Wax

The book is called Sane New World: Taming the Mind and tells the story about how the brain works and how 21st century challenges can cause all kind of troubles in a brain that was evolved for a completely different purpose and hardly equipped for today's stimuli-rich and information overloaded society. And although some fellow human beings seem to cope with that quite reasonably, a staggering 1 in 4 is diagnosed with a form of mental illness.

Ruby Wax is a professional comedian and has a story to tell from the inside out. The humour and the openness about her own situation make the book very readable and even outright funny despite the subject. The in-depth study she made (getting an Oxford degree in the process) gives the topic the substance it deserves. And for those who want every book to have an happy ending, the author describes her success in dealing with depressions through a technique called mindfulness.

I can recommend the book to anyone who interacts with mental patients on a regular basis (and given the ratios, who doesn't?) and to those struggling with depressions in particular. If you can't find the time to read the whole book, there is her TED Talk: "what's so funny about a mental illness?" as a first introduction. I like to conclude with quoting the closing statement from her TED Talk when talking about people with a mental illness: "..can we please stop the stigma?".

ERegoS

Racism is not a joke, the hassle about the UN investigating on "Zwarte Piet" is

When autumn approaches, the Netherlands get prepared for Sinterklaas. Wikipedia describes it as a large traditional ancient winter holiday celebrated in the Low Countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as some parts of Germany, French Flanders, Lorraine and Artois. The rest of the world usually mixes it up with Santa Claus but apart from the presents, this is something completely different. Sinterklaas is earlier in December (5th) and he is supported by a legion of Zwarte Pieten (Black Pete's) where Santa has his elves and is associated with Christmas.

Almost as traditional as the festival itself is the repeating discussion about the alleged racist tendencies in Sinterklaas given the fact that his helpers are all black. Some claim the roots for this go back to slavery while others are of the opinion that Zwarte Piet is black due to his work in chimneys (since that's how the presents get delivered to the children).
What made this years discussion different from last year is that it escalated to international levels by a UN investigator expressing her advice to the Dutch government to abolish Sinterklaas altogether. In the Netherlands this was all over the papers, several times it was an item in the evening news and international media picked up on it. But what was the fuzz al about? When assessing the facts, this turn out to be a storm in a teacup.

The original letter from Verene Shepherd dates back to the 17th of January of this year. Apparently someone raised his/her concerns with the High Commissioner  for Human Rights of the UN and this ended up at the desk of the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on people of African descent being Verene Shepherd. After describing the complaint and some general remarks, she has 5 questions for the Dutch government. The worst you could say about the tone-of-voice is that it seems to anticipate on the answers when posing judgement but it seems a polite letter altogether.

On behalf of the Dutch Government Roderick van Schreven (Ambassador, Permanent Representative) replies on all 5 questions in 3 pages: there is no outstanding request to have Sinterklaas on the UNESCO World Heritage list, some complaints have come to the attention of Dutch authorities as well and the Dutch Government is "fully committed to combating discrimination" and legislation to that extend is in place and functions well. Again a very civilized letter apart from the fact that "an answer within 60 days" as requested has not been achieved, the letter dates 10th July 2013.

Two polite letters, one from January and a response in July of this year created an avalanche of opinions (in October!) including the nowadays regretfully unavoidable social media hype and obscenities in the direction of Verene Shepherd.
It took me less than 15 minutes to find and read the letters that started all this. Fact finding is not that difficult especially if the relevant information is available on-line. A lot of the emotion in our small country could have been avoided and the time wasted could have been used for writing some beautiful poems with the Sinterklaas-presents.

I hope people of all race and colour enjoy a happy Sinterklaas!

ERegoS

Ender's game

In 1985 Orson Scott Card wrote a book called Ender's Game. In that year it won both the Hugo and Nebula Award for best Science Fiction novel. A year later Speaker for the Dead was published by the same author and again won both prizes. Since then several sequels and prequels have been published creating what the fans call The Ender Saga. Now almost twenty years later the first book has been the basis for a movie with a cast including Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. The movie was launched in early 2013 in the US but in the Netherlands our patience is tested until January 2014.

Ender's Game 

In a way it is a pity the story is labelled as science fiction because for a lot of people that might be a reason not to read the book or watch the movie while this story deserves a wider audience than just SF fans. The SF-label is correct however since the story has all the characteristics: it includes futuristic technologies, space battles, travelling to distant planets and alien civilizations. The movie will probably include spectacular effects and I intend to see the 3D version if for no other reason than to experience the scenes about training in zero-gravity.

But for me the story most certainly is not just another SF-story and the awards are an indication that others feel the same way. The author uses the future technology and space-elements as a canvas for a story about leadership, loneliness, politics and building character. And also about how to relate to others especially with whom you have hardly any common ground. All of that in multiple layers and with several unexpected turns where things are not what they seem at first sight. The book is a real page turner and all the ingredients are in there for a great movie. I'm looking forward to it!

Getting through traffic (and life): the DP-principle

As with everything in life, there are several ways of behavior when participating in today’s traffic. Being fortunate enough to live in one of the more prosperous parts of the world, almost all of my fellow countrymen own a car. And at times when I drive to work, it seems most of them are using it on a piece of highway very near to where I have to be. I mention this as an introduction just to indicate that the following is based on multiple observations, some of them in quite stressful situations.
The goal of participating in traffic is easy: to get from A to B in one piece and in a predictable amount of time. But although everyone has the same goal, the approach varies in two very distinct ways:

• One option is to concentrate on moving your own vehicle (and thereby yourself) as quickly to a location that is closer to your destination (in this example: B). Irrespective of the average speed in any lane, a driver with this type of behavior seems to drive always a bit faster and leave hardly any space between himself and the car in front of him. Let’s conveniently call this type of behavior Type I.

(When stating ‘he’ or ‘his’, the reader can also substitute ’she’ or ‘her’ since Type I behavior in traffic is predominantly but not exclusively male.)

• By definition the alternative will be Type II. Type II drivers have a completely different frame of reference: it is their intention to make the traffic flow as quickly as possible. Type II behavior may be inspired by altruistic motives but can also be explained easily from a position of self interest: when traffic is flowing easily, all participants will benefit and reach their respective B’s sooner. Type II is most discriminate at a crossing with multiple cars coming from at least three directions at the same time. A Type II driver (as opposed to his Type I counterpart) will never enter a crossing when the result of that action is a complete jam that can only be solved when at least one driver (usually a Type II) shifts in reverse. Nevertheless, crossings are jammed quite regularly in today’s traffic.

These types of behavior are not only observed in traffic but seem to describe a more general human condition. Describing Type I as the bold and ambitious and Type II as the shy and easy-going people is too easy and furthermore proves obviously incorrect in some very distinct Type I or Type II individuals. Personally, I think the main difference is the chosen frame of reference. In the traffic example, Type I is moving a car, Type II is facilitating traffic and using his car to do this; which in a given situation may cause similar or quite opposite behavior. Alternatively stated: Type I acts from his own frame of reference, Type II from a perspective outside himself (/herself) and I think it would be nice to perceive this as a Divine Perspective (hence the DP-principle).

The Divine Perspective on any traffic jam on a particular crossing rephrases a question like ‘how do I get across immediately?‘ to the frame of reference of an angel who asks ‘which car should I move to help this jam start flowing again?‘. (I suspect this divine role to be taken by a more operational angel-like-figure, since I cannot imagine any god to start guiding traffic.)

The beautiful thing of consciousness (that what separates us from the animals) is that we all can chose to act according to the DP-principle to assess any future course of action and decide on our own direction.
Although people will have a natural tendency towards Type I or Type II behavior, I have found some clear examples of both, and sometimes combined in one person. Some clear Type II colleagues (in the office) turn into severe Type I drivers when going home. Furthermore it seems that there is also a dependency on emotions or state of mind. Without doing the full scientific double-blind research, it seems fair to say that Type I/II behavior is connected to roles in specific situations, rather than to individuals.

Any scientific research in this area should be aimed on investigating the right mix of the two Types. Experience learns that having only one type of behavior seldom creates the best outcome. Hundred percent Type I behavior might get lucky but usually ends in sheer chaos or even war. On the other hand, while a Type II environment will not easily fall into internal conflict, it has only a small chance of actually getting things done. When we perceive the current state of civilization as an achievement, it is clear that is has flourished from both Type I and Type II behavior.
Research may in the end also prove that there are subcategories as well, since a Divine Perspective can of course be taken at several levels. From an even different perspective on traffic it is causing stress and pollution and should therefore be banned altogether.

ERegoS

Fundamental choices: to Vista or not to Vista

Life is all about priorities and making choices. The launch of Microsoft Vista for me is (again) a moment to evaluate whether Open Source software has matured to such a level that it is useful in a SoHo environment. Microsoft intends to spend millions of dollars to convince us, the public, that we need an upgrade of the Operating System (OS) on our computer. If they succeed (and no doubt they will) that is a major achievement since over 50% of its (potential) users does not understand the concept of an OS and close to a 100% lacks the IT-skills to evaluate in depth the features and benefits of Vista compared to for instance Windows XP. Selling something as conceptually complex as an upgrade of an OS with only emotions to go on; and making billions of dollar in profits while doing it, is something to be proud of from a marketing point of view.

So the market will probably in some time be ‘convinced’ but as an individual, I still have the choice. Condition nr.1 for any alternative desktop environment is that all home users (wife and kids) can do anything they currently do in Windows XP. My first attempts a couple of years ago to install RedHat version 5 did definitely not meet that requirement. A book like “RedHat 6 Unlimited” could be positioned on at least 5 sides without falling over and the upgrade from 5 to 6 in a Unix shell was a small disaster. So RedHat gathered dust on an unused PC and Linux was down at least 1-0 with the rest of the family.

Moving from RedHat to SuSE 9 made live a bit easier since SuSE had YaST: Yet another Setup Tool was a small step for man but a giant leap for mankind since Linuxconf which was in itself a breakthrough in its era. By this time I spent so much money on Linux-literature that I could have subscribed to Vista for life, but using Open Source software is not about license fees; it is about principle and about joining a world-wide community.

The combined launch of Microsoft Vista and to much time at hand due to the Christmas holidays initiated another go. And now I am Ubuntu, or for the in-crowd: Kubuntu, which is the KDE version of this. From their website: Ubuntu - an African word, meaning “humanity to others” or “I am what I am because of who we all are”. That is the true spirit of Open Source and far, far away from Microsoft marketing speak. This was to become my new Operating System! And more, so much more than that…
Lessons learned from earlier attempts to implement a new OS made me keep an internet-enabled-laptop at hand when trying to install Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) which helped me through the first setback: during the installation process, my screen went black never to return to live again. Temporary changing a TFT-monitor to an old-fashioned CRT (always have a spare!) killed this issue almost instantly.

Upgrading to the latest version of Firefox and OpenOffice went automatically and understanding that Ubuntu is Debian-based got me the right Skype installation. Since my family is not to be bothered with any one-time-installation-activities, I came close to meeting the family-compliant condition. Even the Firefox Add-ons and Plug-ins went smooth and fully automatic.

A few small issues to be solved now: being able to access the (Windows) file-server and installing printing facilities. Prior Linux engagements learned me that sharing files over a network was implemented by Microsoft using the SMB protocol. This was re-engineered in Open Source and called Samba. Key search items as Ubuntu and Samba and the beloved guidance of the Google search engine did the trick. Tip for the newbies out there: search in Google on “the exact text of that constantly repeating and f&*ing annoying error message” because somebody out there did have the same frustration and most likely entered it with the solution in one of the dozens of communities or forums on the internet.
Printing was easy: System | Administration | Printing | Printers => New Printer | x Network Printer | Unix Printer (LPD) | host: IP address printserver, queue: lp1 | Driver for HP DeskJet 970C was default selected | Description and location are the icing on the cake. Under 5 minutes including the successful print of a Test page!
And that’s where I am today: I can listen to my mp3’s, write CD’s, open, edit and save documents with OpenOffice, even the ones from my Microsoft Office days and I can browse the web.

Still some small dreams: finding an alternative for iTunes to update my iPod, Shockwave for Linux would be nice for the Daily Jigsaw but get real, we are talking a complete royalty free community experience; there must be dreams left!
Now the trial period for family compliancy starts. Since most of the functionality used is web-based, I look forward to this ultimate test with confidence. This post will therefore definitely be continued…

ERegoS

Leadership in politics

Contrary to popular belief, democracy is not about politicians doing what the people want.

In several places in the world are elections these days. When writing this, Brazilians recently have chosen their president, and inhabitants of the USA (those eligible to vote that is) can do their democratic duty soon. It is this time of year that the quote of Sir Winston Churchill comes to mind: “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried”. Another one of his statements: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”.

Especially the last one appeals to me. Government elections tend to be a once in a four or five year event especially if the result lasts the full term. In other fields, opinion polls have a much higher frequency. In commercial television (or any marketing driven field), the preference of viewers is measured at a daily basis and see what that does to the quality of what is on the screen every night. If a parallel with politics could be drawn, we should have elections even more apart then we have now.

But the parallel is wrong: politics is not about what people want, not even in a democracy. That statement may need some explanation but in my mind it is very simple: democracy is about politicians who have a view on society, the economy and world order. Based on those views, they formulate a program and make plans to be achieved over the next election period and beyond. Voters should decide to vote for a politician based on two things:

• beforehand: does this politician have a view that is consistent with my own ideas;
• afterward: has this politician acted according to his ideas and was (s)he successful in realizing his/her vision?

Especially running closer to elections, a lot of discussion is going on about the gap between politicians and the electorate. Or better stated: that the existence of that gap poses a problem that can (and should!) be solved by talking more to ‘the ordinary guy in the street’. Direct elections for a lot of roles, referendums for a multitude of topics and endless discussion with citizens, listeners to radio stations and groups of people in TV studio’s are the result. And all in vain.
The more individuals can express their personal opinion and formulate their self interest to the ones close to (political) power, the more disappointed they will be when the government does not act on it immediately. Going in this direction has one certain result: the shift to the opposing parties will be even bigger next time.
Elections nowadays turn into a personality contest, which politician looks most like the understanding, listening, parent-like figure and will (s)he continuously make the effort to hear my individual opinion when decisions have to be made? It is this kind of thinking that is behind the daily opinion polls about what could have been if today were elections. But 999 out of a 1000 days there are no elections today and with a good reason: politics can be viewed on commercial television but is in itself something completely different and should therefore be evaluated on different time scales.

The same way a patient does not tell his doctor how to cure him or the plumber how to fix his sink, a voter should not tell a politician how to act or what to do. But the same way a patient wants his doctor to explain the surgery to him, a voter should demand from a politician to tell what his/her plans are and how (s)he is going to achieve the intended results. But after that it is a delegated authority with an ‘interval of trust’ of four or five years until the next elections. Communications in politics is (and therefore should be) mostly one way: politicians explaining their views, plans and actions. The answer from the electorate is very important and can only be effective when used with discretion: a once every view year well contemplated vote based on the above evaluation criteria.

Only with this common understanding about what politics is, do politicians have a chance to show the leadership that is required to solve the issues of our time.

ERegoS

Coffee machine

Standardisation as a concept is highly underestimated in day-to-day life.

Once upon a time, a ‘coffee machine’ was just that: a machine that produced coffee or at least a fluid with a vague similarity to coffee. The early machines I encountered in various office environments resembled closely the ones at home. The best one was in university: it consumed a full kilogram of coffee beans, needed some mechanical action to grind the beans and then consumed a flood of water. The end product came in quantities to support the entire community to drink something that made them think about coffee; at least they complained about coffee, which can be seen as a success in my book.

But life goes on and a lack of change is a lack of progress. The next generation of coffee machines falls in one of two distinct categories: it either has coffee cups inside or it doesn’t. The cups-included machine has the advantage that the Facilities Department (we are talking coffee machine in the corporation league here) can completely prepare the whole coffee experience. The number of cups is usually not the limiting factor so for all practical purposes these machines can be considered to have an endless cup supply.

The cups-excluded machine can be much smaller since an endless supply of cups is quite bulky. The plastic cups are now stacked around it, so this does not change the spatial impact of the whole thing, but it gives some more flexibility: you can now use your own mug. Apart from the lifestyle component, it is this kind of behaviour that eventually will save our planet.
The worst thing that can happen to you is changing jobs from a cups-included to a cups-excluded type of organisation. Not having to place a coffee cup after making your choice of coffee (cream or sugar or from a whole [XXXX]-load of specialty choices) is something that is handled on a very low conscious level in your limbic system and almost impossible to get right again in the new situation. I personally think it can be argued that learning to ride a bicycle with your arms crossed is easier than making this kind of shift. Having to actually think on a conscious level about cups when standing in front of a coffee machine is beyond me. Please confirm that I am not alone in this…

My point is that intelligent coffee machine designers from all over the world could (and should!) have foreseen this problem. And since in the end we will all evolve to be cupless-coffee-machine-users (due to lifestyle and planet) early standardisation would have been highly preferable. Wasting an entire generation, not to mention rivers of coffee running by when no cup is placed, seems to be close to criminal neglect. The fact that all civil servants in the European Union were not able to prevent this, poses serious questions on their competence in general and their ability to contribute to standardisation in particular.

ERegoS