Could someone please clone that man?

sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants

in the face of doubt, openness prevails

Lots and lots of organizations, both corporations and public administrations, could learn from these quotes. Taken from a memo by Barack Obama for the heads of executive departments and agencies. I bet that my honeymoon phase will be over sooner or later... but, in the meanwhile, would you dear lucky Americans mind cloning several hundred POTUS and sending them all over the place?

Yay for transparency!

Mapa del Mar de Dudas

Mapa del Mar de Dudas, originally uploaded by -Xv.

Este es uno de los 287 mapas que el Almirante Salomon Dudas dibujó intentando describir la cambiante geografía del mar que lleva su nombre.

De Wikipedia:

El Mar de Dudas fue descubierto por Sir Salomon Dudas durante su última expedición. Su ubicación exacta permanece deconocida, puesto que el cuaderno de bitácora de Dudas sólo contenía interminables ensayos sobre cuál era el mejor tipo de letra para detallar con claridad la ruta. Se tiene muy poca información sobre la última expedición de Dudas y su final. La única documentación disponible son los 287 mapas, el inútil cuaderno de bitácora y el diario personal del segundo de a bordo.

Después de ocho semanas explorando la zona, Dudas decidió volver a puerto. Dos días después, cambió de opinión y cambio ciento ochenta grados el rumbo, para hacerlo de nuevo tres veces más. Harta de este rumbo errático, la tripulación de Dudas se amotinó y le abandonó en un bote cerca de los Islas de Buridán. Mientras el HMS Zigzag se alejaba en un viaje de cuyo trágico final se desconocen los detalles, la tripulación pudo observar como Dudas remaba alternativamente hacia la Isla Norte y la Isla Sur, cayendo exhausto antes de alcanzar ninguna de las dos.

Change

(via Phil Whitehouse's twitter stream)

Advertència

Per un motiu o altre, la meva filla està plorant com una boja al meu costat mentre jo l'intento consolar. Entenc que això pugui trencar-li el cor i vulgui ajudar, però, si us plau, si vostè no disposa d'habilitats extraordinàries (com ara volar o treure's pilotes de ping pong del nas) no cal que s'acosti i ens interrompi.
És altament improbable que un "no ploris, maca" d'un desconegut tingui cap altre efecte que una mirada assassina per part meva, que espero em sabrà disculpar.
Agraint-li la seva bona intenció i les ganes d'ajudar,
-Xavier

A button to make it simpler to paste notes: urls

I often paste links to Lotus Notes documents (mostly mail messages) in my tiddlywikis. Creating a toolbar button that puts the notes: url in a field makes it simpler. Unfortunately, LotusScript does not provide a way to access the clipboard, so you have to manually select the text and copy it there.
Create a new toolbar button and paste this code inside:

dn := @Subset(@DbName; 1);
linkType:= "Document";
nsfPath := @WebDbName;
qualifiedHost := @If(@Length(dn) = 0; ""; @DbLookup("":""; dn:"names.nsf"; "($ServersLookup)"; dn; "SMTPFullHostDomain"));
dbUrl := "Notes://"  + qualifiedHost+ "/" + nsfPath;
viewUrl := dbUrl +  "/";
docUrl := viewUrl + "/" + @Text(@DocumentUniqueID);
docTitle := @If(@IsAvailable(Subject);Subject;@IsAvailable(Title);Title;@IsAvailable(FullName);FullName;@Name([CN];@Author));
clipboardTxt := "[[" + docTitle + "|" + docUrl + "]]";
@Prompt([OkCancelEdit]; "TiddlyWiki link"; "Copy the text below to the clipboard."; clipboardTxt)

I posted this long ago in my intranet blog, and looks that can also be useful outside. The code was adapted from something that Jonathan Feinberg, of Wordle fame, wrote for a then young and great Dogear, a bookmarking service that ended up being one of the key components of Lotus Connections.

Change we must

Professionally, I'm always advocating for change and innovation.
Politically, I never vote for the party that is ruling in a given administration.

Then, why oh why do I get so annoyed when I'm unable to shop the exact same model of running shorts that I bough five years ago? Or was it ten years ago?

Update:
Luis, in a comment to my original post, tries to make me feel better and invites me to put the blame on the usual suspects: politicians, executives and managers.

I started to feel better until, what started as a joke became an interesting lesson for myself: am I not showing the exact same attitude that I often and loudly complain about? The we-have-always-done-things-like-this-here automatic response? The who-cares-if-the-alternative is-better mindset? Check Ferran Rodena's Eliminating Waste: Lessons From The Trenches for an example of this attitude from a group that does not belong to the usual suspects

I was offered some more technologically advanced shorts and I did not even consider its possible advantages! I must remember this the next time that I want to push some change!

Teachers and teachers

From an article in The New Yorker by Malcom Gladwell (via Bil Sherrin's intranet blog):

Eric Hanushek, an economist at Stanford, estimates that the students of a very bad teacher will learn, on average, half a year’s worth of material in one school year. The students in the class of a very good teacher will learn a year and a half’s worth of material. That difference amounts to a year’s worth of learning in a single year.

It's a good article, focused on how hard is to predict new hires performance in some fields.

Unfortunately, I don't think this kind of metrics are obtained in the education system in my country. In fact, several teacher unions here consider teaching evaluation as something to oppose as it promotes competition over collaboration. Yep. Feedback? Who needs it?

2009 User's guide. First draft

2009 User's guide. First draft, originally uploaded by -Xv.

A first draft of my 2009 resolutions/guidelines. Inspired by Sacha Chua.

make eyes shine, awe, patience, focus, simplify
start early, meditation, run, food, quit
play, listen, notes, realistic drawing, hack

Dows simplifica

Vem anar a petar a Dows, a la secció de video-jocs. Sorpresa molt agradable. Ple de jocs per fer-hi un tast.
Algunes idees simplísimes però molt pràctiques: no et donen una targeta de client (millor per a tu i la teva engreixada cartera, i millor per a ells) i et guarden els tickets i les garanties (no cal conservar aquests paperets de tinta tèrmica que s'han tornat blancs quan els vas a mirar després de tres mesos).
Estava jo tan encantat quan, a la tele, veig una anunci d'un joc que havia comprat amb un preu recomanat inferior al que jo havia pagat. Ahir els vaig enviar un correu electrònic explicant-ho, i, aquets matí,

Sr. Vergés,
Com a responsable del centre de la secció de videojocs, sento el malentés que hi ha hagut amb aquest joc. Fins fa ben poc, el PVP recomanat de l’article que vosté va adquirir era 39,90 €, i malauradament el fabricant no ens va comunicar la baixada de preu dels articles a 29,90€, d’aquí l’error.
El convido a que es passi per la botiga per a que li retornem la diferencia, amb el nostre “preu mínim garantit”, i aprofito per saludarlo atentament,

Que durin!