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  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725</id><updated>2024-04-20T09:41:20.815+02:00</updated><category term="decision"/><category term="fly"/><category term="goal"/><category term="paradox"/><category term="zen"/><category term="attitude"/><category term="bible"/><category term="boss"/><category term="career"/><category term="client lifetime value"/><category term="control"/><category term="core competence"/><category term="core quadrant"/><category term="credit crisis"/><category term="effect"/><category term="experience"/><category term="feedback"/><category 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floe"/><category term="iceberg"/><category term="idea"/><category term="if"/><category term="imaginary"/><category term="influence"/><category term="interpret"/><category term="intuition"/><category term="irwin"/><category term="jesus"/><category term="job"/><category term="job interview"/><category term="keep smiling"/><category term="kipling"/><category term="knot"/><category term="knowledge"/><category term="langton"/><category term="langton&#39;s ant"/><category term="law"/><category term="laws"/><category term="length"/><category term="life"/><category term="lion"/><category term="manageable"/><category term="manager"/><category term="mark"/><category term="mbti"/><category term="monkeys"/><category term="morality"/><category term="motivation"/><category term="move"/><category term="notes"/><category term="novices"/><category term="numbers"/><category term="ofman"/><category term="on course"/><category term="origin"/><category term="our beat"/><category term="parachute"/><category term="parrot"/><category term="past"/><category term="pdf"/><category term="peanuts"/><category term="perceived you"/><category term="permission paradox"/><category term="philosophy"/><category term="pig"/><category term="pitfall"/><category term="positive sum thinking"/><category term="power"/><category term="powerpoint"/><category term="preparation"/><category term="present"/><category term="presentation"/><category term="price"/><category term="principles"/><category term="promotion"/><category term="proof"/><category term="purcell"/><category term="quality"/><category term="quantum"/><category term="reach"/><category term="real you"/><category term="reality"/><category term="reason"/><category term="relationship"/><category term="response"/><category term="retention"/><category term="reward"/><category term="risk fatal"/><category term="risk reality"/><category term="route"/><category term="rules"/><category term="seesaw"/><category term="selfbetterment"/><category term="sensing"/><category term="share"/><category term="ship"/><category term="shit happens"/><category term="shortest route"/><category term="simple"/><category term="sing"/><category term="spencer stuart"/><category term="stock index"/><category term="strategy"/><category term="style"/><category term="table"/><category term="table converter"/><category term="targets"/><category term="thinking"/><category term="thinkstyle"/><category term="threat"/><category term="time perspective"/><category term="top"/><category term="try me"/><category term="tune"/><category term="unfair"/><category term="unfriendly"/><category term="view"/><category term="viskarervaring"/><category term="vroom"/><category term="wing"/><category term="you"/><category term="zero sum thinking"/><title type='text'>Selfbetterment</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default?alt=atom&amp;redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default?alt=atom&amp;start-index=26&amp;max-results=25&amp;redirect=false'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>65</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-6161428289859985344</id><published>2014-01-19T00:09:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2014-02-08T22:34:45.072+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="idea"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="imaginary"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="mathematics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="thoughts"/><title type='text'>Something from Nothing</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;
  2. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  3. Finally I&#39;ve decided to blog-out my - still not mature - thoughts on how Something can be created from Nothing.&lt;/div&gt;
  4. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  5. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  6. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; float: right; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  7. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5Bxgs03qvrdOERqrcCgcQMHLB9xsim5ccD0MhKrd8U4bju-3kaY_vw8adSyZURjQ91vAWq8LSMLnj8aaacJ6uFtqlLGtPr09TBYEREp9z9qs3uYouqR8__RWqu5YhmzkmNIn34wPDxc/s1600/create-sometging-nothing.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5Bxgs03qvrdOERqrcCgcQMHLB9xsim5ccD0MhKrd8U4bju-3kaY_vw8adSyZURjQ91vAWq8LSMLnj8aaacJ6uFtqlLGtPr09TBYEREp9z9qs3uYouqR8__RWqu5YhmzkmNIn34wPDxc/s1600/create-sometging-nothing.png&quot; height=&quot;133&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  8. &lt;div&gt;
  9. It&#39;s all about philosophy and Math, but I&#39;ll try to keep it simple, as the most fundamental things in life &lt;i&gt;are&lt;/i&gt; simple.&lt;/div&gt;
  10. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  11. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  12. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  13. Also keep in mind that what follows is not necessarily &#39;true&#39;, but more a &#39;&lt;i&gt;thought model&lt;/i&gt;&#39; helping to explain and to grasp the phenomenon of creating &#39;something out of nothing&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  14. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  15. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  16. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  17. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  18. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  19. &lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #073763;&quot;&gt;Basic Thoughts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  20. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  21. Try to &lt;i&gt;imagine&lt;/i&gt; Nothing....&lt;/div&gt;
  22. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  23. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  24. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  25. After a few minutes of philosophizing you&#39;ll notice, it&#39;s not possible to imagine Nothing. All we can come up with, is the &#39;&lt;i&gt;idea&#39;&lt;/i&gt; of Nothing, as Nothing is in fact &#39;No Thing&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  26. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  27. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  28. &lt;div&gt;
  29. Now, this &lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; is exactly what &#39;was&#39;, &#39;is&#39;, and for ever &#39;will be&#39;: an &#39;&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;idea&#39;. &lt;/i&gt;Not a specific idea, but the concept of an &lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;. That&#39;s enough. The concept of an&amp;nbsp;&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;doesn&#39;t exist in space or time, it&#39;s simply there. It&#39;s the metaphor of the concept of Nothing. It&#39;s &lt;i&gt;potential&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;
  30. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  31. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  32. &lt;div&gt;
  33. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; float: right; font-style: normal; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  34. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0kyTW0UNGm6-P7w-8XEUTGtUYKbhmrkJEQmJV58Y2RHjN14E8_BiDJNSEIMSPU4yd7VXXcPlAmUADRr-tl_Km6OYNzS-xW1Dj3UNmgyP7mXEAX_aCkiFRwwUtHDREyf2A5exW5wPMjVY/s1600/image-imagination.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0kyTW0UNGm6-P7w-8XEUTGtUYKbhmrkJEQmJV58Y2RHjN14E8_BiDJNSEIMSPU4yd7VXXcPlAmUADRr-tl_Km6OYNzS-xW1Dj3UNmgyP7mXEAX_aCkiFRwwUtHDREyf2A5exW5wPMjVY/s1600/image-imagination.png&quot; height=&quot;185&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  35. &lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;&#39;Idea&#39;&lt;/i&gt; is the only word that not only is defined as a noun (passive, object), but &#39;&lt;i&gt;at the same time&lt;/i&gt;&#39; also as a kind of verb (operator, action), as an&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt; idea&lt;/i&gt; is &#39;that what can be&amp;nbsp;&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;imagined&#39;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;You&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;also &#39;have&#39;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;an idea.&lt;br /&gt;
  36. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  37. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  38. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  39. Hence, an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; is passive and active at the same &lt;i&gt;time&lt;/i&gt;. In self-reference terms the&lt;i&gt; idea&lt;/i&gt; is the imagination of an&lt;i&gt;&amp;nbsp;idea&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;
  40. &lt;/div&gt;
  41. &lt;div&gt;
  42. &lt;br /&gt;
  43. This&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;idea&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;is in fact what we call &#39;&lt;i&gt;spirit&#39;&lt;/i&gt; in the wider sense of the word. It&#39;s an &lt;i&gt;intention&lt;/i&gt;, it has the &#39;potential&#39; (power) of &#39;creativity&#39;, of creating a (positive)&lt;i&gt;&amp;nbsp;illusion&lt;/i&gt;. In other words: it&#39;s the basis of &#39;creation&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  44. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  45. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  46. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  47. Let&#39;s define this general concept of &amp;nbsp;&#39;&lt;i&gt;idea&#39;&lt;/i&gt; by the symbol &#39;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  48. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  49. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  50. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  51. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  52. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  53. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #073763;&quot;&gt;The idea Mathematically expressed&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  54. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  55. As an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; is &#39;not real&#39; but &lt;i&gt;imaginary&lt;/i&gt;, the most logical mathematical translation of an&lt;i&gt; idea &lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;) is the mathematical &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_unit&quot;&gt;unit imaginary number&lt;/a&gt;, denoted as well as: &#39;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;&#39;&lt;/div&gt;
  56. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  57. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  58. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  59. &#39;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;&#39; is a so called &#39;complex number&#39; in mathematics with the core property that if you multiply it with itself, the product is &quot;−1&quot;.&lt;/div&gt;
  60. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  61. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  62. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  63. So &lt;i&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/sup&gt;= −1.&lt;/div&gt;
  64. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  65. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  66. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  67. As we all now there&#39;s no real number that multiplied with itself is a negative number (−1). So&amp;nbsp;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;)&amp;nbsp;will do perfectly as mathematical translation, as we&#39;ll see further on.&lt;/div&gt;
  68. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  69. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  70. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  71. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  72. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  73. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #073763;&quot;&gt;Next Step: How to create &#39;Something&#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  74. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  75. Now we&#39;ve accepted the general concept of an idea (&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;), the question is : how to get from an idea (of Nothing) to Something if we have &lt;i&gt;Nothing&lt;/i&gt; else but an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;).&lt;/div&gt;
  76. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  77. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  78. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  79. The problem, or better expressed &#39;our luck&#39; is &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; we have nothing else but an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;). Fortunately the concept of the &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;)&amp;nbsp;is as well singular as (not literally) plural and also object as well as operator, as the&amp;nbsp;concept of ideas is still an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; and the imagination of an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; is also an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;
  80. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  81. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  82. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  83. So all it takes for an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; to create a &#39;next stage idea&#39; is to apply the idea-concept on itself as an object and operator. It doesn&#39;t &lt;i&gt;matter&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;which one is the object or the operator, as object and operator on the idea-level are the same.&lt;/div&gt;
  84. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  85. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  86. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  87. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;Creating Antimatter&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  88. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  89. O.K. Let&#39;s demonstrate what happens if we imply (the concept of) an &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; on itself while applying some basic simple &#39;complex mathematics&#39; as defined above:&lt;/div&gt;
  90. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  91. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  92. &lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;&quot;&gt;
  93. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #20124d;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;i i&lt;/i&gt; = &lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;) =&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/sup&gt;= &amp;nbsp;−1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  94. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  95. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  96. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  97. As we can see, the result is a &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_number&quot;&gt;real number&lt;/a&gt;&#39;. Not only is it real, but it&#39;s also negative.&lt;/div&gt;
  98. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  99. We can and will interpret a positive real number as what we perceive in our world as &#39;space&#39;. We can touch it and see it, it&#39;s real...&lt;/div&gt;
  100. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  101. Therefore a negative real number can be interpreted as &#39;antimatter&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  102. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  103. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  104. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  105. So applying an idea on itself generates &#39;antimatter&#39;&lt;/div&gt;
  106. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  107. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  108. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  109. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;Creating Time&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  110. &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Now let&#39;s go on by applying an &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; on antimatter&lt;br /&gt;
  111. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  112. Here it is:&lt;/div&gt;
  113. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  114. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  115. &lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;&quot;&gt;
  116. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #20124d;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;i i&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;=&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;)) = &lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;) = &lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(−1) = −&lt;i&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  117. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  118. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  119. &lt;div&gt;
  120. This result &#39;&amp;nbsp;−&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;&#39; can be interpreted as &#39;&lt;i&gt;time&lt;/i&gt;&#39;, as is also the case in the definition with regard to space-time by &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_space&quot; style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;Minkowski.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  121. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  122. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  123. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  124. As &#39;time&#39; &amp;nbsp;= &lt;span style=&quot;color: #20124d;&quot;&gt;−&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: #20124d;&quot;&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;we can also express time as a kind of idea (thought) in the past (as the sign of time is negative). In other words (free interpreted): time is the perception of thoughts in the past.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
  125. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  126. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  127. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  128. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #7f6000;&quot;&gt;Creating Space&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  129. Now, in the last step we finally we can apply the concept of&lt;i&gt; idea&lt;/i&gt; on &#39;time&#39;, resulting in:&lt;br /&gt;
  130. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  131. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  132. &lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;&quot;&gt;
  133. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #20124d;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;i i&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;i&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;=&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i i&lt;/i&gt;) =&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(-&lt;i&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;) = −&lt;i&gt;i&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: xx-small;&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;nbsp;= 1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  134. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  135. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  136. &lt;div&gt;
  137. This result can - as defined - be interpreted as &#39;&lt;i&gt;space&lt;/i&gt;&#39; or &#39;matter&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  138. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  139. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  140. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  141. So &#39;space&#39; or &#39;matter&#39; is more or less the result of thinking or thoughts about time.&lt;br /&gt;
  142. In other words, &#39;space&#39; or &#39;matter&#39; is our perception (= projected idea) of time in the &#39;present&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;
  143. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  144. &lt;div&gt;
  145. Applying the &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; on &lt;i&gt;space&lt;/i&gt; again [ &lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/i&gt;(1) = &lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/i&gt; ] would result in the concept of &#39;&lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;&#39;&lt;/i&gt; again, which starts the cycle of creation from beginning again.&lt;/div&gt;
  146. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  147. &lt;br /&gt;
  148. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  149. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  150. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #073763;&quot;&gt;Conclusion&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  151. As I&#39;ve demonstrated by applying a very simple model, we can construct a thought model that subsequently creates antimatter, time and space from the basic imaginary general concept of an &#39;idea&#39;.&lt;/div&gt;
  152. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  153. &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #073763;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
  154. &lt;/div&gt;
  155. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; float: left; font-style: normal; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  156. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZHVxws7twtWRIXHUT61OmCZYiRjHS0wFoKAvhyphenhyphenvPTmNK-NXQEDjuD6bOl5lbxU5ytSMPRVUYXNuz7CoHcUAR2Htqq-BwFXtiRovOvA8OCnz3sjBTW1zdo5cUcOrjYsyRqL2L4Mo5KWg/s1600/something-from-nothing.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZHVxws7twtWRIXHUT61OmCZYiRjHS0wFoKAvhyphenhyphenvPTmNK-NXQEDjuD6bOl5lbxU5ytSMPRVUYXNuz7CoHcUAR2Htqq-BwFXtiRovOvA8OCnz3sjBTW1zdo5cUcOrjYsyRqL2L4Mo5KWg/s1600/something-from-nothing.png&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  157. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-style: normal; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  158. &lt;/div&gt;
  159. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  160. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  161. &lt;div&gt;
  162. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  163. So all we need for creation is to apply and multiply our ideas.&lt;/div&gt;
  164. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  165. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  166. Realize and appreciate that you as a human being are also a &#39;divine&#39; product of idea-creation. By applying &amp;nbsp;your ideas in the real world, you contribute to this &#39;world&#39;. Hopefully a &#39;better&#39; world in line with the &lt;i&gt;idea&lt;/i&gt; ..... Just Do It!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
  167. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  168. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  169. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  170. Hope you liked this &#39;philosophy blog&#39;. Please comment your thoughts and &lt;i&gt;ideas&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;on this!&lt;/div&gt;
  171. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  172. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  173. &lt;div style=&quot;font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;
  174. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  175. &lt;/div&gt;
  176. </content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/6161428289859985344/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=6161428289859985344&amp;isPopup=true' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6161428289859985344'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6161428289859985344'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2014/01/something-from-nothing.html' title='Something from Nothing'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5Bxgs03qvrdOERqrcCgcQMHLB9xsim5ccD0MhKrd8U4bju-3kaY_vw8adSyZURjQ91vAWq8LSMLnj8aaacJ6uFtqlLGtPr09TBYEREp9z9qs3uYouqR8__RWqu5YhmzkmNIn34wPDxc/s72-c/create-sometging-nothing.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-5561244649998680280</id><published>2012-07-24T14:11:00.001+02:00</published><updated>2013-04-14T21:56:56.551+02:00</updated><title type='text'>Best Choice</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;
  177.  
  178.  
  179. &lt;script language=&quot;JavaScript1.2&quot;&gt;
  180. &lt;!-- Original:  J.N. Berkemeijer --&gt;
  181.  
  182. &lt;!-- Subroutines --&gt;
  183.  
  184. function printround(xnumber,xwidth, xdecimals) {
  185. // rounds xnumber to xdecimals places and puts result in string of xwidth length
  186. // J.N. Berkemeijer 2002
  187.  
  188. xnumber = Math.round(xnumber*Math.pow(10,xdecimals))/Math.pow(10,xdecimals);
  189.  
  190. var strnu = &#39;&#39; + xnumber;
  191.  
  192. if ((-1 ==strnu.indexOf(&quot;.&quot;)) &amp;&amp; (xdecimals !== 0) )
  193. {strnu = strnu+&quot;.&quot;;}
  194.  
  195. while((strnu.length - (1+strnu.indexOf(&quot;.&quot;))) &lt; xdecimals)
  196. {strnu = strnu+&quot;0&quot;;}
  197.  
  198. var wid = xwidth - strnu.length;
  199.  
  200. for (p=1; p &lt; wid; p++) {
  201. strnu = &quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&quot; + strnu;
  202. }
  203. return strnu;
  204. }
  205.  
  206.  
  207.  
  208. function checkInput(inp,chkfor) {
  209. // checking if input variable &quot;inp&quot; contains only
  210. // characters that are concluded in &quot;chkfor&quot;
  211. // returns 1 if this is so, else returns 0
  212. var cumchk,wrong,ret;
  213. ret=0;
  215. for (k=0; k &lt; inp.length; k++) {  
  216. cumchk=0; wrong=0;
  217. for (i=0; i &lt; chkfor.length; i++) {
  218. if (!(inp.charAt(k)==chkfor.charAt(i))) { cumchk=cumchk+1; }
  219. if (cumchk==chkfor.length) {i=chkfor.length; k=inp.length; wrong=1;}
  220. }
  221. if ((k==(inp.length-1)) &amp;&amp; (wrong==0)) { ret=1;
  222. }
  223. else {ret=0;
  224. }
  225. }
  226. return ret;
  227. }
  228.  
  229. function checkandcalculate() {
  230. &lt;!--Checks for right input and then calculates--&gt;
  231. maxnum = document.socform.num.value * 1;
  232. if(1==checkInput((&quot;&quot;+document.socform.num.value),&quot;0123456789&quot;)) { calculate();}
  233. else { comm=&quot;Please enter only numbers (integers) between 2 and 1000 &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&quot;;
  234. comm = &#39;&lt;TABLE BORDER=&quot;3&quot; STYLE=&quot;background-color: rgb(255,30,0)&quot; BORDERCOLOR=&quot;#0000FF&quot; CELLSPACING=&quot;4&quot; CELLPADDING=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&lt;TR&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&#39;+comm+&quot;&lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;&quot;;
  235.  
  236. frame2.document.close();
  237. frame2.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  238. frame2.document.write(comm);
  239. frame2.document.close();
  240. frame1.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;No output !&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  241. frame1.document.close();
  242. }
  243. }
  244.  
  245. function calculate() {
  246. maxnum = document.socform.num.value * 1;
  247.  
  248. var ia,ma,ta,p,q;
  249. frame1.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#63F8F8&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  250.  
  251. &lt;!--First create s &amp; p for each m--&gt;
  252. var s= Array() , p=Array()
  253. s[0]=0; p[0]=0; maxm=1;
  254. for (k=1; k &lt; maxnum; k++) {  
  255. s[k]=s[k-1]+1/(maxnum-k);
  256. p[k]=s[k]*(maxnum-k)/maxnum;
  257.  
  258. &lt;!--Determ. maximum p--&gt;
  259.  
  260. if (p[k]&lt;p[k-1]) {
  261. if (p[k-1]&gt;p[k-2] &amp;&amp; k&gt;1) {
  262. maxp=p[k-1];
  263. maxm=1+maxnum-k;
  264. }
  265. }
  266. }
  267. &lt;!--Correct &amp; Add maxp &amp; p[0]--&gt;
  268. maxp=p[maxnum-maxm];
  269. p[maxnum]=1/maxnum;
  270.  
  271. &lt;!--Make output &amp; write-------------------------- --&gt;
  272. for (m=0; m &lt; s.length; m++) {  
  273. stro=&quot;&quot;
  274.  
  275. &lt;!--Set colors--&gt;
  276. var rgbcl;
  277. rgbcl=Math.round(p[maxnum-m]*255/maxp);
  278. rgbcla=255;
  279. if (m==maxm) {rgbcla=170};
  280. if (m==maxm-1) {rgbcla=210};
  281. if (m==maxm+1) {rgbcla=210};
  282. if (m==maxm-2) {rgbcla=230};
  283. if (m==maxm+2) {rgbcla=230};
  284.  
  285. stro= stro+&quot;&lt;SPAN STYLE=\&quot;width:246px;background-color: rgb(&quot; + rgbcla + &quot;,&quot; + rgbcl + &quot;,&quot; + 20 + &quot;)\&quot;&gt;&quot;;
  286. stro=stro+printround(m,4,0)+&quot; &quot;+printround(100*p[maxnum-m],9,1)+&quot;%&quot;+ &quot;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&quot;;
  287.  
  288.  
  289. if (m==maxm) {stro = stro + &quot;&lt;FONT FACE=&#39;Arial Narrow&#39; SIZE=&#39;2&#39; &gt;[Max.Value]&lt;/FONT&gt;&quot;};
  290. stro= stro+&quot;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&quot;;
  291. stro= stro+&quot;&lt;br&gt;&quot;
  292.  
  293. &lt;!--Write result to output-area in IFRAME frame[0] --&gt;
  294. frame1.document.write(stro);
  295. }
  296.  
  297. &lt;!--Write comment to comment-area in IFRAME frame[1] --&gt;
  298.  
  299.  
  300. maxmd=maxm; posd=&quot;ies&quot;
  301. if (maxm==1) {maxmd=&quot;&quot;; posd=&quot;y&quot;;};
  302.  
  303. comm=&#39;&lt;FONT SIZE=&quot;4&quot; COLOR=&quot;#00008b&quot;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Conclusion&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&#39;+
  304. &#39;&lt;FONT SIZE=&quot;2&quot; COLOR=&quot;#000000&quot;&gt;&#39;+&quot;Skip the first &quot;+maxmd+ &quot; possibilit&quot;+posd+&quot; and take the best one thereafter, to reach the highest possible probability of P=&quot;+printround(100*maxp,5,1)+&quot; % to get the &amp;quot;best&amp;quot; solution in the total of &quot;+ maxnum +&quot; possibilities you are offered.&lt;br&gt;&quot;+
  305. &quot;So there is always a change of &quot;+printround((100-100*maxp),5,1)+ &quot; % that you don&#39;t succeed in selecting &amp;quot;the best one&amp;quot; and that the best solution was part of the first &quot;+maxmd+ &quot; opportunit&quot;+posd+ &quot;.&lt;/FONT&gt;&quot;  
  306.  
  307. frame2.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  308. frame2.document.write(comm);
  309. &lt;!--Outputareas closed to obtain a clear screen with the next write --&gt;
  310. frame1.document.close();
  311. frame2.document.close();
  312. }
  313.  
  314.  
  315. &lt;!--Calculation &amp; check of cumul-Calc--&gt;
  316. function checkandcalculatet(){
  317. maxnum = 1+document.socform.numt.value * 1;
  318. tota=&#39;&lt;TABLE BORDER=&quot;1&quot; WIDTH=&quot;100%&quot; CELLPADDING=&quot;0&quot; CELLSPACING=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&#39;;
  319. maxk=maxnum;
  320. for (kk=1; kk &lt; maxk; kk++) {  
  321. maxnum=kk;
  322. var ia,ma,ta,p,q;
  323. &lt;!--First create s &amp; p for each m --&gt;
  324. var s= Array() , p=Array()
  325. s[0]=0; p[0]=0; maxm=1;
  326. for (k=1; k &lt; maxnum; k++) {  
  327. s[k]=s[k-1]+1/(maxnum-k);
  328. p[k]=s[k]*(maxnum-k)/maxnum;
  329. &lt;!--Determ. maximum p--&gt;
  330. if (p[k]&lt;p[k-1]) {
  331. if (p[k-1]&gt;p[k-2] &amp;&amp; k&gt;1) {
  332. maxp=p[k-1];
  333. maxm=1+maxnum-k;
  334. }}}
  335. &lt;!--Correct &amp; Add maxp &amp; p[0]--&gt;
  336.  
  337. maxp=p[maxnum-maxm];
  338. if (maxnum==1) {maxp=1}
  339. tota=tota+&quot;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&quot;+printround(maxnum,8,0)+&quot;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&quot;+printround(maxm,8,0)+&quot;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&quot;+printround(maxp*100,9,1)+&quot;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&quot;
  340. }
  341. tota=tota+&quot;&lt;/TABLE&gt;&quot;
  342. &lt;!--Write result to output-area in IFRAME frame[0] --&gt;
  343. frame3.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  344. frame3.document.write(tota);
  345. frame3.document.close();
  346. }
  347.  
  348.  
  349. &lt;/script&gt;
  350.  
  351.  
  352. &lt;/head&gt;
  353.  
  354. &lt;body&gt;
  355. &lt;table align=&quot;right&quot; &gt;
  356.  
  357.  &lt;tr&gt;
  358. &lt;td&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;!--First dump-frame to pick up unwanted messages--&gt;
  359. &lt;iframe src=&quot;blankframe.htm&quot; bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot; frameborder=&quot;Yes&quot; height=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; name=&quot;frame0&quot;&gt;
  360. &lt;/iframe&gt;
  361. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  362. &lt;/table&gt;
  363.  
  364. &lt;p&gt;In real life you often have to take a decision in a situation were you have to pick out &quot;the best&quot; opportunity out of &quot;n&quot; possibilities in a situation were you (ex ante) do not know much about what you can expect in terms of quality or quantity. &lt;/p&gt;
  365. &lt;p&gt;For example:&lt;/p&gt;
  366.  
  367. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot;type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  368.  
  369. &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Making the right investment&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  370. &lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  371. You want to make an investment today. From your stockbroker you get each day about 20 opportunities to invest. But you want to make only one investment this day and it should be the best one. How can you be sure to pick the right one?&lt;br&gt;
  372. You have only limited time (say about 10 minutes) for
  373.  each investment to decide; after that, you’ll have to wait for the next offer.
  374.  
  375. &lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;
  376. &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Choosing the best candidate for the job&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  377. &lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;You’re the
  378.  personnel-manager of a certain company. You make a deal with your external
  379.  HRM-advisor that he will deliver you this month 10 potential candidates for
  380.  the vacancy you have. After each candidate you have to decide wetter you
  381.  accept him or wetter you go one for a possible better candidate. You want the
  382.  best candidate. What can you do?
  383. &lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;
  384. &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Applying for the best job&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  385. &lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;You solicited for a new
  386.  job. Six companies have given you an invitation for a visit. After each visit
  387.  you are obliged to say wetter you take the job or don’t. You want the best
  388.  Job. What is wise to do?
  389. &lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;
  390. &lt;b&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot; color=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Buying a new car&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  391. &lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;You want to buy a new car. Although the price of that car is fixed, every dealer gives a quick-decision discount.&lt;br&gt;
  392. You decide to visit 7 dealers. After each visit you have to decide wetter you &quot;buy&quot; or &quot;let go&quot; (the dealer wont accept that you come back later after you came to the conclusion that he was after all the cheapest).&lt;br&gt;
  393. You want the
  394.  highest discount; How can you manage?
  395. &lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
  396.  
  397.  
  398. &lt;p&gt;In each of these cases you can ask yourself: what is the optimal strategy? Take the first opportunity or wait until the last? Skipping the first 2 opportunities and than take the next one that is better?&lt;/p&gt;
  399. &lt;p&gt;In literature (management science) these kind of problems are known as &quot;Best Choice Problems&quot; (BCP&#39;s). BCP&#39;s are packaged in descriptions like &quot;The Sultan&#39;s Dowry Problem&quot; or &quot;The Secretary Problem&quot;.&lt;br&gt;
  400. &lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  401. &lt;p&gt;BCP&#39;s are characterised by the following assumptions:&lt;/p&gt;
  402. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot;type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  403. &lt;li&gt;You want &quot;the best&quot; choice out of &quot;n&quot; possibilities
  404.  
  405. &lt;li&gt;You handle each opportunity after another. After each
  406.  opportunity you have to decide wetter you take the offer or go further (you
  407.  can’t go back and take an earlier opportunity after all).
  408.  
  409. &lt;li&gt;You don’t have enough knowledge about the group of &quot;n&quot; possibilities self (in terms of quality or quantity)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
  410.  
  411. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr size=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  412.  
  413. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  414. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;5&quot; color=&quot;#800000&quot;&gt;
  415. &lt;p&gt;Solution&lt;/p&gt;
  416. &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
  417. &lt;p&gt;The best strategy in these kind of cases is to wait (don’t choose) until the first &quot;m&quot; possibilities of the total number of opportunities &quot;n&quot; have passed. After these &quot;m&quot; possibilities you accept the first offer that is &quot;better&quot; than the one you’ve had until the moment of decision. The word &quot;better&quot; stands for &quot;better candidate&quot;, &quot;better financial offer&quot;, etc.&lt;/p&gt;
  418. &lt;p&gt;If you’re interested in the mathematical theory behind this kind of problems, click on one of the links below:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  419.  
  420. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot;type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  421. &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www25.brinkster.com/ranmath/problems/secy.htm&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;The Secretary Problem &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
  422. &lt;li&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SultansDowryProblem.html&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;Mathworld Sultans Dowry Problem&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
  423. &lt;li&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tom/Stopping/sr2.pdf&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;UCLA (pdf)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
  424.  
  425.  
  426. &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
  427. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr size=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  428.  
  429. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  430. &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  431.  
  432. &lt;center&gt;
  433. &lt;form name=&quot;socform&quot;&gt;
  434. &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#000080&quot; width=&quot;450&quot;&gt;
  435. &lt;tr&gt;
  436. &lt;td&gt;
  437.  
  438. &lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;10&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#ffffcc&quot; bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot; width=&quot;500&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  439.  
  440. &lt;tr&gt;
  441. &lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
  442. &lt;center&gt;
  443. &lt;br&gt;
  444. &lt;table bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot; border=&quot;2&quot;
  445. BGCOLOR=&quot;#008000&quot; NOWRAP CELLSPACING=&quot;1&quot; CELLPADDING=&quot;15&quot;
  446.            &lt;tr&gt;
  447.              
  448.              &lt;tr&gt;
  449. &lt;td&gt;
  450. &lt;font face=&quot;Tahoma&quot; size=&quot;6&quot; color=&quot;#ffffff&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Best Choice Calculator&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  451. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  452. &lt;/table&gt;
  453. &lt;/center&gt;
  454. &lt;/td&gt;
  455. &lt;/tr&gt;
  456.  
  457. &lt;tr&gt;
  458. &lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;
  459. &lt;left&gt;
  460. &lt;p&gt;The Best Choice Calculator calculates the optimal number of possibilities that you have to let pass [m] before taking the best one thereafter, to achieve the maximum probability [P] that you indeed will realise the best choice from a given total number of possibilities [n].  Try it out!&lt;/p&gt;
  461. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot;type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  462. &lt;li&gt;The first column returns &quot;m&quot; &lt;br&gt;
  463. &lt;li&gt;The second column returns &quot;P&quot; &lt;br&gt;
  464. &lt;li&gt;The input-variable &quot;n&quot; is the total number of possibilities &lt;br&gt;
  465. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  466.  
  467. &lt;tr&gt;
  468. &lt;td&gt;
  469. &lt;b&gt;Total number of possibilities [n] = &amp;nbsp;&lt;input value=&quot;10&quot; name=&quot;num&quot; size=&quot;4&quot; onclick=&quot;checkandcalculate()&quot; onchange=&quot;checkandcalculate()&quot; &gt;&lt;/b&gt;
  470. &lt;/td&gt;
  471. &lt;/tr&gt;
  472.  
  473. &lt;tr&gt;
  474. &lt;td &gt;
  475. &lt;center&gt;
  476. &lt;b&gt;
  477. &lt;input type=&quot;button&quot; value=&quot;Calculate The Best Choice&quot; onclick=&quot;checkandcalculate()&quot;&gt;
  478. &lt;/center&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
  479. &lt;/td&gt;
  480. &lt;/tr&gt;
  481.  
  482. &lt;tr&gt;
  483. &lt;td &gt;
  484.  
  485. &lt;center&gt;
  486. &lt;/center&gt;
  487.  
  488.  
  489. &lt;tr&gt;
  490. &lt;td &gt;
  491.  
  492. &lt;table align=&quot;left&quot; &gt;
  493.  
  494. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;[m]&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;[P]&lt;/b&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  495. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;!--Define output-area &quot;frame1&quot;  -------------  --&gt;
  496. &lt;iframe
  497. src=&quot;blankframe.htm&quot; marginwidth=&quot;5&quot; bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot; frameborder=&quot;Yes&quot; height=&quot;250&quot; width=&quot;260&quot; border=&quot;2&quot; marginheight=&quot;10&quot;    
  498.                  ALIGN=&quot;left&quot; NAME=&quot;frame1&quot;&gt;
  499. &lt;/iframe&gt;
  500. &lt;script&gt;
  501. frame1.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  502. frame1.document.write(&quot; &quot;);
  503. &lt;/script&gt;
  504. &lt;!--Define comment-area &quot;frame2&quot;  ------------  --&gt;
  505. &lt;iframe
  506. marginwidth=&quot;5&quot;  FRAMEBORDER=&quot;No&quot; HEIGHT=&quot;250&quot; WIDTH=&quot;184&quot;  MARGINHEIGHT=&quot;10&quot;  
  507.                  ALIGN=&quot;middle&quot; FRAMESPACING=&quot;10&quot; NAME=&quot;frame2&quot;&gt;
  508. &lt;/iframe&gt;
  509. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  510. &lt;/table&gt;&lt;!--Write the right color to comment-area --&gt;
  511. &lt;script&gt;
  512. frame2.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  513. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  514.          &lt;center&gt;&lt;/center&gt;
  515. &lt;/td&gt;
  516. &lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  517.  
  518.  
  519. &lt;p&gt;&lt;hr size=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  520.  
  521. &lt;u&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;5&quot; color=&quot;#800000&quot;&gt;
  522. &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Rule of thumb&lt;/p&gt;
  523. &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  524.  
  525.  
  526. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  527.  
  528. &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;As you perhaps noticed in using The Best Choice Calculator, there is a close relation between the number op possibilities [n] and the number of opportunities you had to skip [m].&lt;/p&gt;
  529.  
  530. &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;When we have to take decisions in &quot;real life&quot;, we do not (yet) have a build-in computer-chip in our head to calculate for each [n] the corresponding value [m]. But don’t worry, all you have to do is to memorise the next rule of thumb:&lt;/p&gt;
  531.  
  532.  
  533.  
  534. &lt;font face=&quot;Tahoma&quot; size=&quot;5&quot; color=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;
  535. &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rule of Thumb&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  536. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;!--Display formula (table in table)--&gt;
  537. &lt;table border=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; cellpadding=&quot;15&quot; cellspacing=&quot;5&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#e2e2e2&quot; bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;
  538.  
  539.  &lt;tr&gt;
  540. &lt;td&gt;
  541. &lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  542. &lt;tr&gt;
  543. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  544. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  545. &lt;td&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot; &gt;Number of possibilities&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  546. &lt;/tr&gt;
  547. &lt;tr&gt;
  548. &lt;td width=&quot;30%&quot;&gt;Number of possibilities to skip&lt;/td&gt;
  549. &lt;td&gt;&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;=&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  550. &lt;td&gt;&lt;hr width=&quot;100%&quot; size=&quot;4&quot; NOSHADE COLOR=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  551. &lt;/tr&gt;
  552. &lt;tr&gt;
  553. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  554. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  555. &lt;td&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot; &gt;3&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  556. &lt;/tr&gt;
  557. &lt;/table&gt;
  558. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  559. &lt;/table&gt;
  560.  
  561. &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Or, in plain mathematics:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  562.  
  563.  
  564. &lt;table border=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100&quot; cellpadding=&quot;15&quot; cellspacing=&quot;5&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#e2e2e2&quot; bordercolor=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt;
  565.  
  566.  &lt;tr&gt;
  567. &lt;td&gt;
  568. &lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;
  569. &lt;tr&gt;
  570. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  571. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  572. &lt;td&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot; &gt;n&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  573. &lt;/tr&gt;
  574. &lt;tr&gt;
  575. &lt;td width=&quot;30%&quot;&gt;m&lt;/td&gt;
  576. &lt;td width=&quot;30%&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;=&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
  577. &lt;td&gt;&lt;hr width=&quot;100%&quot; size=&quot;4&quot; NOSHADE COLOR=&quot;#000080&quot;&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  578. &lt;/tr&gt;
  579. &lt;tr&gt;
  580. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  581. &lt;td&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  582. &lt;td&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot; &gt;3&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/td&gt;
  583. &lt;/tr&gt;
  584. &lt;/table&gt;
  585. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  586. &lt;/table&gt;
  587.  
  588.  
  589. &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Of course the rule of thumb is an approximation. &lt;br&gt;
  590. In the next table you see how [n] and [m] are exactly related for
  591. values of n from n=1 to n=&lt;input value=&quot;10&quot; name=&quot;numt&quot; size=&quot;3&quot; maxlength=&quot;4&quot; onchange=&quot;&quot; &gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  592. &lt;input type=&quot;button&quot; value=&quot;Press to Calc&quot; onclick=&quot;checkandcalculatet();document.getElementById(&#39;kop&#39;).innerHTML=&#39;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; n &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; m &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; probability in %&#39;&quot; align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
  593.  
  594. &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;!--Define comment-area &quot;frame2&quot;  ------------  --&gt;
  595. &lt;div id=&quot;kop&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  596. &lt;iframe
  597. marginwidth=&quot;5&quot;  FRAMEBORDER=&quot;No&quot; HEIGHT=&quot;200&quot; WIDTH=&quot;330&quot;  MARGINHEIGHT=&quot;10&quot;  ALIGN=&quot;middle&quot; FRAMESPACING=&quot;10&quot; NAME=&quot;frame3&quot;&gt;
  598. &lt;/iframe&gt;
  599. &lt;script&gt;
  600. frame3.document.write(&#39;&lt;BODY  BGCOLOR=&quot;#FFFFCC&quot; &gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&#39;)
  601. frame3.document.close();
  602.  
  603.  
  604.  
  605. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/form&gt;
  606.  
  607. &lt;/center&gt;
  608.  
  609.  
  610. &lt;left&gt;
  611. &lt;p&gt;Although it’s nice to have a &quot;rule of thumb&quot;, don’t forget to decide on your gutfeeling as well. &lt;/p&gt;
  612. &lt;p&gt;Mixing intuition, experience and rules of thumb, guarantees the ultimate best choice.&lt;/p&gt;
  613. &lt;left&gt;
  614. &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
  615.  
  616. &lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;
  617. &lt;font COLOR=&quot;#0000ff&quot;&gt;J.N. Berkemeijer / July 2002&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  618. &lt;font&gt;&lt;i&gt;Free to copy &amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/mix/brides/bestchoice.html&quot;&gt;Making Decisions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;
  619. &lt;/center&gt;
  620.  
  621.  
  622.  
  623.  
  624.  
  625.  
  626.  
  627. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/5561244649998680280/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=5561244649998680280&amp;isPopup=true' title='133 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5561244649998680280'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5561244649998680280'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2012/07/best-choice.html' title='Best Choice'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>133</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2579503029210491857</id><published>2011-10-15T18:42:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2011-10-15T18:42:35.334+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="reality"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="view"/><title type='text'>What you see is true</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;If your colleague, friend or relative disagrees with you, how do you respond?&lt;br /&gt;
  628. &lt;br /&gt;
  629. &lt;u style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Your reality&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  630. When we view or perceive (hear, smell, taste) something, this is reality to us.&lt;br /&gt;
  631. And indeed it is a kind of reality, &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;your&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; reality! As, given your &#39;&lt;i&gt;filters&lt;/i&gt;&#39; like genes, education, physical (health) condition, background, position, circumstances, consciousness, and experiences (etc....), every human being can only perceive a small and often different glimpse of what reality really is.&lt;br /&gt;
  632. &lt;br /&gt;
  633. So, to put it in an other way: &lt;br /&gt;
  634. &lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  635. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  636. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #cc0000;&quot;&gt;What you&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #b45f06;&quot;&gt;see is true&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #bf9000;&quot;&gt;, but&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #38761d;&quot;&gt;what others&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #351c75;&quot;&gt;see&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: #741b47;&quot;&gt;too!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  637. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6NdlUb8sK1uIh6st-_-Tf5zq3qT03hmq4qr1nRM6HeVVQtngg6sRbVKdHTQwSX_z6NhNJI0BB5d0YssodXSDpUZ68Qvb3lIP15OPocsKZbmrtUOFuUz-W33vgPaZxJ9eRhZ01q9_l90/s1600/different-view-on-the-world.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6NdlUb8sK1uIh6st-_-Tf5zq3qT03hmq4qr1nRM6HeVVQtngg6sRbVKdHTQwSX_z6NhNJI0BB5d0YssodXSDpUZ68Qvb3lIP15OPocsKZbmrtUOFuUz-W33vgPaZxJ9eRhZ01q9_l90/s1600/different-view-on-the-world.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  638. &lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;Consequences&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  639. This implies that instead of trying to convince the other that your point of view is right, it&#39;s more constructive and fruitful to ask the other about his view and opinion. &lt;br /&gt;
  640. &lt;br /&gt;
  641. At first it will be difficult to understand the other and perhaps it even arouses aversion, but eventually you&#39;ll be able to better understand the other&#39;s point of view without the obligation that it necessarily has to become &lt;i&gt;your&lt;/i&gt; point of view. &lt;br /&gt;
  642. &lt;br /&gt;
  643. This way you&#39;ll be able to enrich, grow and develop yourself to a more complete human being. This way of thinking opens new doors and gives space for new solutions and breakthroughs in a growing controversial world.&lt;br /&gt;
  644. &lt;br /&gt;
  645. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2579503029210491857/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2579503029210491857&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2579503029210491857'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2579503029210491857'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-you-see-is-true.html' title='What you see is true'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6NdlUb8sK1uIh6st-_-Tf5zq3qT03hmq4qr1nRM6HeVVQtngg6sRbVKdHTQwSX_z6NhNJI0BB5d0YssodXSDpUZ68Qvb3lIP15OPocsKZbmrtUOFuUz-W33vgPaZxJ9eRhZ01q9_l90/s72-c/different-view-on-the-world.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-1750970626755057266</id><published>2011-09-09T10:14:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2011-09-09T10:14:46.606+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="risk"/><title type='text'>Risk Perception</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Risk is all about perception, as the next story illustrates...&lt;br /&gt;
  646. &lt;br /&gt;
  647. Finally you arrive at your hotel late that night.... &amp;nbsp; The hotel manager has only two rooms left. These two rooms are exactly the same, except for one aspect: The fire alarm.....&lt;br /&gt;
  648. &lt;br /&gt;
  649. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/2010/09/06/demotivational-posters-in-case-of-fire/&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBdsZMEK7P7NNlnk5ACsFlJyIrMOJz_bmXJSMo9GMgv-Dsgxyd5LDwEEklimet85CigxAH9aKLlH_-O7TpsQoLUVo5sQQJMN6NAlFeqeQPAVxsZgSjE46lsbo7IIEegqOxmLNP8qqloY/s1600/philos-fire-exit.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;The manager tells you that in the event of a nighttime fire due to the usual causes, guests in Room 1, equipped with Alarm 1, have a&amp;nbsp; 2% chance of dying. Guests in Room 2, equipped with Alarm 2, have only a 1% chance of dying.&lt;br /&gt;
  650. &lt;br /&gt;
  651. However - things in life are always complicated -&amp;nbsp; there&#39;s a slight problem.....&lt;br /&gt;
  652. &lt;br /&gt;
  653. According to the manager...... The wiring of Alarm 2 is such that it sometimes causes electrical fires that increase the risk of dying in a nighttime fire by an additional 0.01%.&lt;br /&gt;
  654. &lt;br /&gt;
  655. In other words, Alarm 1 is associated with a 2% risk of death and Alarm 2 is associated with a 1% + 0.01% (betrayal) risk of death.&lt;br /&gt;
  656. &lt;br /&gt;
  657. &lt;div style=&quot;color: #990000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 120%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;What room do you choose?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  658. &lt;b style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;Outcome&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  659. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101061204,00.html&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;200&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitR_qey2c7otUhyphenhyphenM2O0ls4h87SLrkFLUP7bJaDR4_r-dcNFCEREB5MQHW1ZRozhhBgNBc28wz1Jvt3mauH13C4QFRQB1ntt3Qmh4zstAoiSY_bgCwVV71eFxvvi6xyz6YuPBroL01VKPE/s200/time-cover-worry.jpg&quot; width=&quot;150&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;According to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1755667&quot;&gt;study by Gershoff and Koehler&lt;/a&gt;, most participants choose the room with Alarm 1. This,&amp;nbsp; even though this room 1 has double the increased risk of fire death. Reason: most participants found the tiny risk of &quot;betrayal&quot; (product malfunction) much more frightening than the much larger risk of actually dying.&amp;nbsp; When people get upset by a tiny risk, they often paradoxically choose the much larger risk. &lt;br /&gt;
  660. &lt;br /&gt;
  661. Personally I think a more imaginable risk &#39;weighs&#39; stronger than a non-specific abstract risk......&lt;br /&gt;
  662. &lt;div style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  663. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;Conclusion &lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  664. This simple example proofs that perception or emotion has a strong influence on risk decisions.&lt;br /&gt;
  665. &lt;br /&gt;
  666. Next time you have to make a decision on risk, try to make a rational guess. Than, act on this calculated guess and not on your &#39;risk feeling&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;
  667. Nevertheless, keep in mind &#39;risk decisions&#39; are often irrational, no matter how strong you prove that they are not. It seems we have to live with the fact that, regarding risk, we&#39;re all victim of the same emotional bias....&lt;br /&gt;
  668. &lt;br /&gt;
  669. Read more about this interesting subject on:&lt;br /&gt;
  670. &lt;br /&gt;
  671. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://skepticalob.blogspot.com/2011/03/vaccination-and-betrayal-aversion.html&quot;&gt;Vaccination and betrayal aversion (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  672. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1755667&quot;&gt;Safety First? The Role of Emotion in Safety Product Betrayal Aversion (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://journal.sjdm.org/9811/jdm9811.pdf&quot;&gt;The Risk-as-feelings hypothesis in a Theory-of-planned-behaviour&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  673. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6323299,00.html&quot;&gt;Behavioral economics: the missing link in the financial crisis-&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  674. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://sharondrewmorgen.com/2009/10/decisions-are-never-emotional/&quot;&gt;Decisions are Never Emotional&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  675. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/09/irrational-risk.html&quot;&gt;Irrational Risk&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/1750970626755057266/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=1750970626755057266&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1750970626755057266'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1750970626755057266'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2011/09/risk-perception.html' title='Risk Perception'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBdsZMEK7P7NNlnk5ACsFlJyIrMOJz_bmXJSMo9GMgv-Dsgxyd5LDwEEklimet85CigxAH9aKLlH_-O7TpsQoLUVo5sQQJMN6NAlFeqeQPAVxsZgSjE46lsbo7IIEegqOxmLNP8qqloY/s72-c/philos-fire-exit.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-7075803071848509693</id><published>2011-07-01T16:55:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2011-07-09T13:26:30.012+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="risk"/><title type='text'>The Risk of bicycling</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;You decided to start a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mathematics-with-statistics&quot;&gt;3 year math study&lt;/a&gt; at City University in London. From your brand new apartment in Southall, it&#39;s a &lt;a href=&quot;http://maps.google.nl/maps?saddr=New+Barnet,+Barnet,+London,+Verenigd+Koninkrijk&amp;amp;daddr=Northampton+square,+London&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;sll=51.587736,-0.140762&amp;amp;sspn=0.165956,0.593262&amp;amp;geocode=FeoVFAMdwlb9_ykRFhxMJRh2SDFLS6AzzSjyRQ%3BFTA_EgMdEnP-_ykH9KtDWht2SDEUwVIgf3xHVQ&amp;amp;mra=luc&amp;amp;dirflg=w&amp;amp;doflg=ptk&amp;amp;z=11&quot;&gt;12.5 mile drive&lt;/a&gt;  to the University at Southhampton Street.&amp;nbsp; As a passionate cyclist you  consider the risk of cycling through London for the next three years. &lt;br /&gt;
  676. &lt;br /&gt;
  677. Based on your googled &quot; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221549/227755/rrcgb2009.pdf&quot;&gt;DFT&#39;s Reported Road Casualties 2009&lt;/a&gt;&quot;  research (resulting in a cycling death rate of 36 per billion vehicle  miles), you first conclude that the probability of getting killed in a  cycle accident during your three year study is relatively &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm&quot;&gt;low&lt;/a&gt; : 0.1% (≈ 3[years] × 365[days] × 25[miles] × (36 [Killed]&amp;nbsp; &lt;span class=&quot;st&quot;&gt;÷ &lt;/span&gt;10&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;[vehicle miles]).&lt;br /&gt;
  678. &lt;br /&gt;
  679. &lt;u style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;S&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;ubjective probability&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  680. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/03/cartoon-boris-promotes-london-cycle-hire-scheme.html&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhOI07ZAt7Lg9kIvN3z7cC4Q53OSGgjqS0hIobYre0dKbM449QdbxtolnZcpgIQqJS24jpxuhHt_iGKvIGubf8gffAv3uPtKBF90V-5OraPPQ4klvdYXn1bCpzkpbu6o6eWdgMtxtItc/s1600/biking-death-rate.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;After this factfinding you start to realize it&#39;s &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;YOU&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; getting on the bike and it&#39;s &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;YOUR&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; 0.1% risk of &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;DYING&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt; &lt;/i&gt;in the next three years of your study....&lt;br /&gt;
  681. &lt;br /&gt;
  682. Hmmmm...this comes closer; it makes things a little different, doesn&#39;t it?&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;
  683. &lt;br /&gt;
  684. Its looks like &#39;&lt;b&gt;subjective probability&lt;/b&gt;&#39; - on reflection - is perhaps somewhat different from &#39;&lt;b&gt;objective probability&lt;/b&gt;&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;
  685. &lt;br /&gt;
  686. While your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.web-us.com/brain/lrbrain.html&quot;&gt;left and right brain&lt;/a&gt;  are still in a dormant paradoxical state of confusion, your left  (logical) brain already starts to cope with the needs of the right  (emotional) half that wants you on that bike at all costs!&lt;br /&gt;
  687. &lt;br /&gt;
  688. &lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;Russian Roulette&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  689. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZdMJtPYj6NnsRvbmFXprwGRCxjrsU7ECySxlMHY2J4Nr-qldINfKe3aaWZH2TcDFVOvFs-YJGBykLSUQtkuVWvtcjZP2T54tZLvoHRsTUI0dBqI8ekvaooaIoWtqc9_pKWADu-0bJf0/s1600/risk-russian-roulette-orig.jpg&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZdMJtPYj6NnsRvbmFXprwGRCxjrsU7ECySxlMHY2J4Nr-qldINfKe3aaWZH2TcDFVOvFs-YJGBykLSUQtkuVWvtcjZP2T54tZLvoHRsTUI0dBqI8ekvaooaIoWtqc9_pKWADu-0bJf0/s1600/risk-russian-roulette-orig.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Now  your left brain tells you not to get emotional, after all it is &#39;only&#39;  an additional 0.1% risk. Already your left brain starts searching for  reference material to legitimate the decision you&#39;re about to take. &lt;br /&gt;
  690. &lt;br /&gt;
  691. Aha!....  Let&#39;s compare it with &#39;Russian Roulette&#39;, your left brain suggests.  Instead of 6 chambers we have thousand chambers with one bullet. Heeee,  that makes sense, you talk to yourself. &lt;br /&gt;
  692. &lt;br /&gt;
  693. With such a  1000 chambers Russian gun against my head I would pull the trigger&amp;nbsp;  without hesitating....&amp;nbsp; Or wouldn&#39;t I?..... No.., to be completely  honest, &lt;i&gt;&#39;I wouldn&#39;t risk it&lt;/i&gt;&#39;, my right brain tells me.&lt;br /&gt;
  694. &lt;br /&gt;
  695. Hé...  my left brain now tells me my right brain is inconsistent: It wants me  on the bike but not to take part in a equal &#39;death probability game&#39; of  Russian roulette. Why not?&lt;br /&gt;
  696. &lt;br /&gt;
  697. &lt;u style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;In Control&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  698. My  left half concludes it must be the &#39;feeling&#39; of my right side that  makes me feel I&#39;m &#39;in control&#39; on my bike, but not in case of Russian  Roulette. That makes sense, tells my left brain me. Of course! Problem  solved! My right and left brain finally agree: It&#39;s only a small risk  and it&#39;s &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;I&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; who can &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;contro&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;l&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; the  outcome of a healthy drive.&amp;nbsp; Besides, this way the health benefits of  cycling massively outweigh the risks as well, my right brain convinces  me superfluous.&lt;br /&gt;
  699. &lt;br /&gt;
  700. &lt;br /&gt;
  701. A final check by my right brain tells me: If I can&#39;t trust myself, who can I?&lt;br /&gt;
  702. This rhetorical question is the smashing argument in stepping on the bike and to enjoy a wonderful ride through London City.&lt;br /&gt;
  703. As ever..., &lt;br /&gt;
  704. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 120%;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://riskquotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-left-brain-is-always-right.html&quot;&gt;My left brain is always right!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  705. &lt;br /&gt;
  706. &lt;u style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Aftermathematics&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  707. After returning from my accidentless bike trip, I enjoy a drink with a colleague of mine, the&amp;nbsp; famous actuary &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogymate.com/post.aspx?BlogID=276&amp;amp;t=Beautiful-404-page&quot;&gt;Will Strike&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; [who doesn&#39;t know him? ;-)].&lt;br /&gt;
  708. &lt;br /&gt;
  709. &lt;br /&gt;
  710. After  telling him my &#39;bike decision story&#39; he friendly criticizes me for my  non-professional approach in this private decision problem. Will tells  me that I should not only have analyzed the probability (P), but also  the Impact (I) of my decision. Remember the equation: Risk=P×I?&lt;br /&gt;
  711. &lt;br /&gt;
  712. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cycle-heaven.co.uk/&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQGFoGY4YKdBl81xaR3b1Xk8AOcUbzDZxE4DxDTnrcR9aLM7FuNHhyE4HqaAhKUmWTySl9hJFbLk-NaExrV-vfHfhu0Nx800E9yCMfSSJMxcRTVkS0L4ddHAY_HV4h8XsH_jns8R40oI/s1600/cycle-heaven.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Yes of course, Will is right. How could I forget? ..., the probability of getting a deathly accident was only 0.1%. &lt;br /&gt;
  713. &lt;br /&gt;
  714. Yet, &lt;i&gt;&#39;when&#39;&lt;/i&gt;  a car hits you full, the probability of meeting St. Petrus at heaven&#39;s  gate is 100% and the Impact (I) is maximal (I=1; you&#39;re dead ...) &lt;br /&gt;
  715. &lt;br /&gt;
  716. Summarized:&lt;br /&gt;
  717. &lt;br /&gt;
  718. &lt;div style=&quot;color: blue; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Risk[death on bike;25 miles/day; 3 years] = &lt;br /&gt;
  719. Probability × Impact = 0.1% × 1=0.1%&lt;br /&gt;
  720. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;From this outcome it&#39;s clear that, even though the  Impact is maximal (1=100%)  , on a &#39;0% to 100% Risk scale&#39; this 3 year  &#39;London-Bike Risk Project&#39; seems negligible  and by no means a risk that  would urge my full attention.&lt;br /&gt;
  721. &lt;br /&gt;
  722. I&#39;m finally relieved...  it always makes a case stronger to have a taken decision verified by  another method. In this case the Risk=P×I method confirmed my decision  taken on basis of my left-right brain discussion.&amp;nbsp; Pff....&lt;br /&gt;
  723. &lt;br /&gt;
  724. &lt;u style=&quot;color: #783f04;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Afteraftermath&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  725. The  next morning, after my subconscious brain washed the &#39;bike dishes&#39; of  the day before, I wake up with new insights. Suddenly I realize I tried  to take my biking decision on the wrong variable: Probability, instead  of Impact. &lt;br /&gt;
  726. &lt;br /&gt;
  727. Actually, in both cases and without  realizing, I took my decision finally on basis of the Impact and the  possible &#39;Preventional Control&#39; (not damage control !!!) I&amp;nbsp; could exert  before and during my bike trip.&lt;br /&gt;
  728. &lt;br /&gt;
  729. I had to conclude that  in cases of high Impact (I&amp;gt;0.9), nor my left-right brain chat,  nor the &#39;Risk=PxI&#39; formula lead to a sound decision, because both are  too much based on probability instead of Impact. In other words:&lt;br /&gt;
  730. &lt;br /&gt;
  731. &lt;div style=&quot;color: red; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 120%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;In case of high Impact, probability is irrelevant&lt;br /&gt;
  732. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  733. &lt;br /&gt;
  734. &lt;div style=&quot;color: red; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 120%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;In case of high Impact, only control counts&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  735. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  736. From now on this &#39;bike conclusion&#39; will be engraved in my memory and I will apply it in my professional work as well. &lt;br /&gt;
  737. &lt;br /&gt;
  738. &lt;br /&gt;
  739. &lt;div style=&quot;color: red;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  740. &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid red; padding: 5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: red;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;P.S. for disbelievers, the tough ones&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;
  741. If you&#39;re convinced you &lt;u&gt;would&lt;/u&gt;  take the risk of firing the 1000 chamber&amp;nbsp; Russian gun against your  head, you probably valuate the fun of the bicycle trip higher than  probability of the loss of your life or good health. &lt;br /&gt;
  742. &lt;br /&gt;
  743. In  this case, suppose someone would offer you an amount of money if you  would take part in a 1000 chamber Russian roulette instead of a bicycle  tour. At which amount would you settle?&lt;br /&gt;
  744. &lt;br /&gt;
  745. Let&#39;s assume  you would settle at € 10.000.000 (I wouldn&#39;t settle for less). In this  case you really value your bicycle trip!!!!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  746. Interested? read more at &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/06/impact-or-probability.html&quot;&gt;Actuary-Info&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/7075803071848509693/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=7075803071848509693&amp;isPopup=true' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/7075803071848509693'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/7075803071848509693'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2011/07/risk-of-bicycling.html' title='The Risk of bicycling'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhOI07ZAt7Lg9kIvN3z7cC4Q53OSGgjqS0hIobYre0dKbM449QdbxtolnZcpgIQqJS24jpxuhHt_iGKvIGubf8gffAv3uPtKBF90V-5OraPPQ4klvdYXn1bCpzkpbu6o6eWdgMtxtItc/s72-c/biking-death-rate.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-6382957018072295027</id><published>2011-03-04T10:43:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2012-04-01T16:45:29.718+02:00</updated><title type='text'>Are you a B.C. Manager ?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;
  747. Yes.... Are you a B.C. Manager ?&lt;br /&gt;
  748. No this is not about whether you have a &#39;Before Christ Managementstyle&#39;.....&lt;br /&gt;
  749. The question actually is:&lt;br /&gt;
  750. &lt;br /&gt;
  751. &lt;br /&gt;
  752. &lt;br /&gt;
  753. &lt;br /&gt;
  754. &lt;center&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: midnightblue;&quot;&gt;Are you a Border Collie Manager ?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  755. &lt;br /&gt;
  756. &lt;br /&gt;
  757. &lt;br /&gt;
  758. &lt;br /&gt;
  759. &lt;center&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; src=&quot;http://farm1.staticflickr.com/3/4472962_e1fe801c09.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  760. &lt;br /&gt;
  761. But seriously now.. let&#39;s start with...&lt;br /&gt;
  762. &lt;br /&gt;
  763. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bcrescue.org/bcwarning.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; title=&quot;Read more about a border collie !&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: darkmagenta;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;What is a Border Collie?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  764. A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bcrescue.org/bcwarning.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Border Collie&lt;/a&gt; is a special kind of dog, trained to herd sheep. &lt;br /&gt;
  765. The herding instinct of Border Collies is in fact the&lt;i&gt; original killing instinct of a wolf&lt;/i&gt; that - over the past two hundred years - has been toned down through &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding&quot;&gt;selective breeding&lt;/a&gt;. Border Collies circle the livestock at the far end and bring it back to the handler. &lt;br /&gt;
  766. &lt;br /&gt;
  767. &lt;b style=&quot;color: darkmagenta;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;How do Border collies manage?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  768. Border Collies tend:&lt;br /&gt;
  769. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  770. &lt;li&gt;not to use force (initially) to drive the livestock where they want to&lt;/li&gt;
  771. &lt;li&gt;use what is known as &quot;eye&quot;, a sort of threatening stare-down that intimidates the stock into moving in the desired direction&lt;/li&gt;
  772. &lt;li&gt;If the non-physical means of moving stock doesn&#39;t work, his natural instinct is to slowly escalate the encounter into an ever-increasing use of force. &lt;/li&gt;
  773. &lt;li&gt;Barking, nipping, and eventually gripping (biting) are used to get the point across to the more stubborn sheep.&lt;/li&gt;
  774. &lt;/ul&gt;
  775. &lt;br /&gt;
  776. &lt;b style=&quot;color: darkmagenta;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Comparison&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  777. Now let&#39;s translate this behavior into a management environment.&lt;br /&gt;
  778. Think of yourself in the position of a CEO who has to manage his managers (border collies) in the managementteam.&lt;br /&gt;
  779. Your managers have &#39;to deal&#39; with your employers (with all respect: the sheep in this example).&lt;br /&gt;
  780. &lt;br /&gt;
  781. Now, please think about the next considerations:&lt;br /&gt;
  782. &lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;
  783. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: firebrick;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Would you like your managers to operate like border collies&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  784. At first site it may look like your managers don&#39;t have their own opinion. They act on your whistle. But looking closer, managers - like border collies - have a clear goal, make their own decisions and act as a coherent team without mutual competition to achieve their goal.&lt;br /&gt;
  785. &lt;br /&gt;
  786. &lt;/li&gt;
  787. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: firebrick;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Would you like your employees to be treated like sheep by your managers?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  788. Of course you wouldn&#39;t! Your employees are the &lt;a href=&quot;http://humanresources.about.com/cs/strategicplanning1/a/strategicplan_4.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;key factors&lt;/a&gt; in achieving the success of the company. And looking closer, your managers - like border collies - treat your employees (the sheep) intentionally with dignity en gradually build an adequate approach for each employee. So each employee (sheep) has the possibility to learn and develop itself.&lt;/li&gt;
  789. &lt;/ul&gt;
  790. &lt;br /&gt;
  791. Of course, every comparison (this one too) has its limits.In practice you&#39;ld probably some of your best &quot;sheep&quot; to operate as border collies too. You as the CEO of the company are responsible for the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.corporatecollies.co.uk/TeamBuildingAndLeadership.php&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; title=&quot;Learn more about this&quot;&gt;Corporate Teambuilding &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  792. of you border collies.&lt;br /&gt;
  793. &lt;br /&gt;
  794. The principals of border collie management are trained by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bordercollies.co.uk/corporate.php&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;TLC&lt;/a&gt; according to the next two managementprinciples&lt;br /&gt;
  795. &lt;br /&gt;
  796. &lt;br /&gt;
  797. &lt;br /&gt;
  798. &lt;br /&gt;
  799. &lt;center&gt;&lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#F5F5DC&quot; cellpadding=&quot;8&quot; clear=&quot;ALL&quot; style=&quot;border-color: #500050; border-style: outset; font-family: verdana; font-size: 8pt; width: 400px;&quot; valign=&quot;TOP&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  800. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  801. &lt;br /&gt;
  802. &lt;br /&gt;
  803. &lt;center&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: darkblue;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.corporatecollies.co.uk/indexCorpCollies.php&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;TLC Management Principles&lt;br /&gt;
  804. &lt;br /&gt;
  805. &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  806. &lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: maroon;&quot;&gt;Body Language and the Boardroom &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  807. You don’t have to be a mountaineer or orienteer to learn about team spirit, body language and leadership skills. In fact you don’t need to run, climb, or engage in any strenuous exercise. Sheepdogs are excellent teachers of patience, understanding, tolerance and teamwork. They have their own form of ‘language,’ and learning the communication skills of a ‘thinking dog’ is fascinating.&lt;br /&gt;
  808. &lt;br /&gt;
  809. &lt;br /&gt;
  810. &lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: maroon;&quot;&gt;TLC - Think Like Canines  &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  811. Dogs in a pack work together in harmony for the good of the pack. They don’t argue about their position, they accept and respect leadership but use their initiative whenever the need arises. &lt;br /&gt;
  812. &lt;br /&gt;
  813. For years shepherds and their dogs have worked together, neither one afraid to take responsibility, to delegate or to question a decision that could ultimately save time and energy. Is it any wonder that the humble sheepdog is proving invaluable as a role model for the corporate world? &lt;br /&gt;
  814. &lt;br /&gt;
  815. From the managing director to the tea maker everyone is important and everyone is part of a team. &lt;br /&gt;
  816. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  817. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
  818. &lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  819. &lt;br /&gt;
  820. You, as a CEO Super Border Collie of course handle this process with dignity and respect. Be conscious, be a border collie manager if the situation demands to be one.&lt;br /&gt;
  821. &lt;br /&gt;
  822. Links:&lt;br /&gt;
  823. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.corporatecollies.co.uk/indexCorpCollies.php&quot;&gt;TLC : Thinking Like Canines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  824. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.anatbird.com/bev/detail.cfm?BirdEyeViewID=39&quot;&gt;The Ten Management Principles of Supercommunity Banking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/6382957018072295027/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=6382957018072295027&amp;isPopup=true' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6382957018072295027'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6382957018072295027'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-you-bc-manager.html' title='Are you a B.C. Manager ?'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-7139239356240256355</id><published>2010-11-01T11:03:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2010-11-01T11:03:02.999+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="if"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="kipling"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Wordle"/><title type='text'>IF</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;One of the best inspirational poems ever written, is &#39;&lt;i style=&quot;color: blue; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Georgia,&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;IF&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&#39; , by Rudyard Kipling (1895):&lt;br /&gt;
  825. &lt;br /&gt;
  826. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbU_3AEYCBUXJcDKBSIGJddYza6xNpPuz47nc9mwW1OScSosHtJcyIqBv0-6sRSdrp1KQFImzQhv9-78ymmAUcXgFs99_i-0GY7Y4bwbBCOVP6nlJ6cRnD_hyphenhyphenoEeLkRTKne1im18MHZ-A/s1600/if-kipling.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbU_3AEYCBUXJcDKBSIGJddYza6xNpPuz47nc9mwW1OScSosHtJcyIqBv0-6sRSdrp1KQFImzQhv9-78ymmAUcXgFs99_i-0GY7Y4bwbBCOVP6nlJ6cRnD_hyphenhyphenoEeLkRTKne1im18MHZ-A/s1600/if-kipling.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  827. So..., &lt;i&gt;&#39;If&#39;&lt;/i&gt; you ever feel down or depressed, take up this poem, read it again and feel the energy coming back into your blood vessels....&lt;br /&gt;
  828. &lt;div style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  829. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;color: blue;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;Word Empowerment&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/div&gt;This empowerment by words is also visible when a text, document or url is translated into Word-Picture. A wonderful application called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordle.net/&quot;&gt;Wordle&lt;/a&gt;, helps you to build these word-clouds.&lt;br /&gt;
  830. &lt;br /&gt;
  831. Here is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2655920/IF_%28Rudyard_Kipling_1865-1936%29_&quot;&gt;Wordle example from Kipling&#39;s poem IF&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
  832. &lt;br /&gt;
  833. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2655920/IF_%28Rudyard_Kipling_1865-1936%29_&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; title=&quot;Wordle: IF (Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936) &quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFVLsSEt8Msu_YKz_iL_FAfJF5F6IfP4kM8bdbAmcqiIaTiVUosPT0cdNQj4Xz6lm6ZlHJcxnLMISojQuPS8bXpcE6Gglgqz7ayfs00sW5auwHoNXi4qMTZZJK9LIDlBAeJhb080s2A8/s1600/kipling-if-poem-wordle.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Enjoy the IFs in your life!&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/7139239356240256355/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=7139239356240256355&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/7139239356240256355'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/7139239356240256355'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2010/11/if.html' title='IF'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbU_3AEYCBUXJcDKBSIGJddYza6xNpPuz47nc9mwW1OScSosHtJcyIqBv0-6sRSdrp1KQFImzQhv9-78ymmAUcXgFs99_i-0GY7Y4bwbBCOVP6nlJ6cRnD_hyphenhyphenoEeLkRTKne1im18MHZ-A/s72-c/if-kipling.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2829534073032538366</id><published>2010-04-30T09:52:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2010-04-30T09:53:51.498+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="boss"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="parrot"/><title type='text'>Are you the boss</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width:490px;font-family:Georgia,Serif;background-color:white;&quot;&gt;What does it takes to be the boss?&lt;br /&gt;
  834. &lt;br /&gt;
  835. &lt;br /&gt;
  836. &lt;center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  837. &lt;br /&gt;
  838. &lt;br /&gt;
  839. &lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#f5f5dc&quot; cellpadding=&quot;8&quot; clear=&quot;ALL&quot; style=&quot;border-color: rgb(80, 0, 80); border-style: outset; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; width: 400px;&quot; valign=&quot;TOP&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
  840. &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: darkblue;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;The Parrot&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  841. One day a man goes to a parrot shop to buy a parrot. The assistant takes the man to the special parrots section and asks the man to choose one. &lt;br /&gt;
  842. &lt;br /&gt;
  843. The man asks, &#39;&#39;How much is the one on the right?&#39;&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  844. The assistant says, &#39;a $ 100.&#39;&#39; The man is surprised and asks the assistant why this parrot is so expensive. The assistant explains, &#39;This parrot is very special. He whistles and sings&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  845. &lt;br /&gt;
  846. &#39;What about the other two the left?&#39; the man asks. &lt;br /&gt;
  847. The assistant says, &#39;They costs $ 200 a piece, because they also speak, answer incoming telephone calls and takes notes.&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  848. &lt;br /&gt;
  849. &#39;What about the gray one in the middle?&#39; the man asks. &lt;br /&gt;
  850. The assistant says, &#39;That one&#39;s $900 !&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  851. The man says, &#39;&#39;What does HE do?&#39;&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  852. &lt;br /&gt;
  853. The assistant says, &#39;I don&#39;t know, but the other parrots call him boss.&#39; &lt;br /&gt;
  854. &lt;br /&gt;
  855. &lt;br /&gt;
  856. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
  857. &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  858. &lt;br /&gt;
  859. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1I8cS8p30ZBrRybxrsJp81uXVOSZqgW5qTprncAQcwUjBMiWAbfrQZO4BY-zOKJGHwD8tmOXk8y33TNXTqvY9zddl2WILRWWNpx9O8DcEOpNqLx026mSM8gAg2FfyvmfcnDqWQbIz7M/s1600/parrot-boss.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2829534073032538366/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2829534073032538366&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2829534073032538366'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2829534073032538366'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2010/04/are-you-boss.html' title='Are you the boss'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1I8cS8p30ZBrRybxrsJp81uXVOSZqgW5qTprncAQcwUjBMiWAbfrQZO4BY-zOKJGHwD8tmOXk8y33TNXTqvY9zddl2WILRWWNpx9O8DcEOpNqLx026mSM8gAg2FfyvmfcnDqWQbIz7M/s72-c/parrot-boss.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-5112851230416516454</id><published>2010-02-21T09:45:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2010-02-21T09:53:08.600+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="freeware"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="powerpoint"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="preparation"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="presentation"/><title type='text'>Powerpoint Mortality</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px; font-family: Georgia,Serif; background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_L0QkO6KEMhrI38cty37Pv4_QeRrn-a-e8Ua-uQkfIMMsDFKRCrwuqlmmt8XX2LBWwRCzJqU1tsbRa6nPFurzpfaf3Wuw0glzpKG3Z0A4QQw-03tGZ4JWeFtcWlxNIr01zeim9DHfjo/s1600-h/dobbelsteen.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 200px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_L0QkO6KEMhrI38cty37Pv4_QeRrn-a-e8Ua-uQkfIMMsDFKRCrwuqlmmt8XX2LBWwRCzJqU1tsbRa6nPFurzpfaf3Wuw0glzpKG3Z0A4QQw-03tGZ4JWeFtcWlxNIr01zeim9DHfjo/s400/dobbelsteen.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440464971967016354&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Whether you&#39;re an accountant, consultant, student or salesman, when we take up a new challenging project, we&#39;re inclined to spend most of our time on data mining, modeling, reconsidering, detailing, arguing, making things perfect and finally, drawing the conclusions and writing the exhaustive proposal report....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fortunately - in this case - your right on schedule! You&#39;ve got exactly one day left before your &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mercersec.org/resources/docs/Creating%20an%20Effective%20Board%20Presentation.ppt&quot;&gt;Board presentation&lt;/a&gt; of the project. Still completely in a rush and overexcited about the stunning results of your successful investigation, you start up your laptop to wrap up your proposal report in a full flash Powerpoint presentation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That night at 01.00 AM, you successfully finish your ppt presentation. Just in time! Completely satisfied about this phenomenal achievement, you e-mail the ppt to Nosica, the Board&#39;s secretary you know well. She, as well as the Board, will be impressed by your &#39;night shift work&#39;. Who said you were doing a 9 to 5 job?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7fOyX3awnQM2otveIXce-TPe-ve5xk4pu8kBWty2Lq9D3kn2Jl9HSw7qgjBKhVVhfxqBUeYoxnMXlid4YiU_JT04S8wZQtoSiQlVukmnJ_Z7yaCUE7bw6yQr0Rr7RyTRUrCd5bOsla8/s1600-h/presentation.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 170px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7fOyX3awnQM2otveIXce-TPe-ve5xk4pu8kBWty2Lq9D3kn2Jl9HSw7qgjBKhVVhfxqBUeYoxnMXlid4YiU_JT04S8wZQtoSiQlVukmnJ_Z7yaCUE7bw6yQr0Rr7RyTRUrCd5bOsla8/s400/presentation.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440464747666225522&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The next day, at 14.00 AM you enter the Board room, full of confidence. Your presentation is start-ready, the beamer glows, you&#39;re fully concentrated on your audience and in a &#39;cashing&#39; flow....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After 20 minutes of presentation, including your ten recommended practices and some questions, you leave the 26th floor. All went well...&lt;br /&gt;Time for a drink and a well earned good night sleep...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next morning, 09.00 AM, the Board&#39;s secretary replacement calls you: &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Your proposal has been declined&lt;/span&gt;....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You&#39;re flabbergasted, how could this happen? After all this work you&#39;ve been through.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:180%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;What went wrong?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The answer is simple, you denied &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogger.com/%22It%20takes%20one%20hour%20of%20preparation%20for%20each%20minute%20of%20presentation%20time.%22&quot;&gt;Wayne Burggraff&#39;s&lt;/a&gt;  Law of Presentation:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&quot;It takes one hour of preparation for each minute of presentation time.&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So next time, in case of a 20 minutes presentation,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.presentation-pointers.com/showarticle/articleid/195/&quot;&gt;invest&lt;/a&gt; 20 hours of your time in research, development, organizing, outlining, fleshing out, and rehearsing your presentation.&lt;br /&gt;In essence: if you fail to prepare well, you are well prepared to fail.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Tips.....&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are some practical &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.presentationmagazine.com/Forum/speeches/31-presentation-quotations.html&quot;&gt;tips&lt;/a&gt; that might help you with your preparation:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 23px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Ask yourself:  &#39;&#39;If I had only &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;sixty seconds&lt;/span&gt; on the stage, what would I absolutely have to say to get my message across.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;-- Jeff Dewar --&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The simplest way to customize is to phone members of the audience in advance and &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;ask them what they expect&lt;/span&gt; from your session and why they expect it. Then use their quotes throughout your presentation.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;-- Alan Pease -- &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;No one can remember more than three points.&lt;br /&gt;-- Philip Crosby  --&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Fear of presentation&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;It&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/media/media,154301,en.ppt&quot;&gt;surprising to see&lt;/a&gt; that people are more afraid (41%) of &#39;speaking to a group&#39; than of death (19%).&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwuoxhRA_eECJdZAF7EhcucWChH5RmvVE9VtQBL50JvwjdbZl7A_Z1POhRNDiWfV2ZwFNyE8I7sdLeJiZ5MPptgQtTl7Lb5sdB3jeL0T-iCC29sbyFqY3zoaOQZ7t048h5atjyE4GzKpA/s1600-h/fear.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 326px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwuoxhRA_eECJdZAF7EhcucWChH5RmvVE9VtQBL50JvwjdbZl7A_Z1POhRNDiWfV2ZwFNyE8I7sdLeJiZ5MPptgQtTl7Lb5sdB3jeL0T-iCC29sbyFqY3zoaOQZ7t048h5atjyE4GzKpA/s400/fear.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440453892375654930&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now it&#39;s clear why we search the help of Powerpoint to &#39;survive&#39; on stage.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Powerpoint Mortality&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We all know Powerpoint.....  Powerpoint itself is not good or bad, it&#39;s the way you use it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The mortality rate of Powerpoint  is humorously demonstrated by Don McMillan:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/lpvgfmEU2Ck&amp;amp;hl=nl_NL&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;amp;color2=0x6b8ab6&amp;amp;border=1&quot;&gt;Life after death by Powerpoint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object height=&quot;302&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/lpvgfmEU2Ck&amp;amp;hl=nl_NL&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;amp;color2=0x6b8ab6&amp;amp;border=1&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/lpvgfmEU2Ck&amp;amp;hl=nl_NL&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;amp;color2=0x6b8ab6&amp;amp;border=1&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; height=&quot;302&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who Needs Powerpoint?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last January I was heading for a presentation with the help of Powerpoint. Full house. However, on the supreme moment the local beamer gave up. I simply decided to bring my message in an interactive session with my audience, without the help of Powerpoint.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, it was different, challenging and even fun! Because of my thorough preparation - I was able to concentrate on almost everyone of my audience. So...., another Maggid&#39;s tip could be:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Prepare your presentation without Powerpoint!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;A presentation try out&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the mid nineties my employer&#39;s company was heading to get listed at the stock exchange. I remember I had to give a presentation before a panel of 70 international analysts, who would probably raise all kind of difficult questions. In order to prepare &#39;&lt;span title=&quot;as best as possible&quot;&gt;abap&lt;/span&gt;&#39;, I called my strategy director as well as my CFO and asked them to act as my &#39;try out analysts audience&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I told my colleagues I would give the presentation three times in a row. In the first two presentations they were obliged to interrupt me as much as possible, to raise difficult or weird questions and to put me to test (keeping my humor and concentration). During the third presentation they had to act as normal audience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To make a long story short: after three presentations, my two colleagues kept their breath in combination with a desperate look in their eyes. I told them not to worry and reassured them my presentation at the analyst session would be successful.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And so it was, as I was fully prepared on every possible question and  didn&#39;t had the need to look at my ppt presentation, I could fully focus on my audience. Lesson: Make the preparation tough, you&#39;ll benefit from it in the final presentation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The powerpoint master&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, there are a lot of rules, regarding the use of Powerpoint.&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.blogger.com/The%20Golden%20Rule%20is%20that%20all%20PowerPoint%20presentation%20rules,%20principles,%20and%20guidelines%20are%20secondary%20to%20doing%20what%20is%20right%20for%20your%20audience.&quot;&gt;Golden Rule&lt;/a&gt; is that all PowerPoint presentation rules, principles, and guidelines are just secondary to doing what is ultimately right for your audience. Critical point is, you can only break the presentation rules if you know them .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s just like in other sciences, once you&#39;ve become a master, the real art of your profession is not anymore in applying equations and methods &#39;by the book&#39;. Now it comes down to break the existing rules and conventions in a such a professional way, that new problems and social challenges are being (re)solved in a different way.  Key point here is that not only your professional skills have to be outrageous, but your presentation skills as well. As the success of a good peace of master craftsmanship, is completely dependent on the way it is presented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Mindmapping&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s conclude with some practical free(ware) presentation tip.&lt;br /&gt;Although you&#39;re probably aware not to overuse clip art, it&#39;s good practice to set up your presentation in a consistent and well polished style.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of course you can use expensive business packages to illustrate your presentations, but there&#39;s also an excellent freeware application called:&lt;a href=&quot;http://edraw-mindmap.en.softonic.com/&quot;&gt; EDraw Mindmap 4&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSkBfQAr6BbPnezycL_e82f9_Agd3ypNYcMii7EM6h4oQxNDQI8WvnJs7tbFyYjyOq-j3JNJ9DJcdydKUaUeFMRSZ1zZFV42oq4zU6DniFNOvYpN5u6SvtPPg4h4GxXv_1dVvaagzGvYk/s1600-h/actuary-info-edraw.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 205px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSkBfQAr6BbPnezycL_e82f9_Agd3ypNYcMii7EM6h4oQxNDQI8WvnJs7tbFyYjyOq-j3JNJ9DJcdydKUaUeFMRSZ1zZFV42oq4zU6DniFNOvYpN5u6SvtPPg4h4GxXv_1dVvaagzGvYk/s400/actuary-info-edraw.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440457556274679810&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;With the help of Edraw, creating presentations and mind-mapping is a question of minutes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy preparing and giving presentations, learn to be(come) yourself on stage and overcome any possible fear of speaking to groups......&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Related links:&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://edraw-mindmap.en.softonic.com/&quot;&gt;EDraw Mindmap 4&lt;/a&gt; (Completely freeware!)&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://download.cnet.com/EDraw-Mind-Map/3000-12565_4-197599.html&quot;&gt;EDraw Mind Map 1.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.edrawsoft.com/EDrawMax.php&quot;&gt;Edraw Max&lt;/a&gt; (not freeware)&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://my.lovelycharts.com/&quot;&gt;Lovelycharts&lt;/a&gt; (free, one application; online)&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG4ZIJg&amp;amp;feature=PlayList&amp;amp;p=FC3F6F99DA336301&amp;amp;playnext=1&amp;amp;playnext_from=PL&amp;amp;index=14&quot;&gt;Presentation skills (youtube)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gLKG80Vsw&quot;&gt;The New Office Math (youtube;Don McMillan )&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/media/media,154301,en.ppt&quot;&gt;Presentation skills (ppt)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/5112851230416516454/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=5112851230416516454&amp;isPopup=true' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5112851230416516454'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5112851230416516454'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2010/02/powerpoint-mortality.html' title='Powerpoint Mortality'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_L0QkO6KEMhrI38cty37Pv4_QeRrn-a-e8Ua-uQkfIMMsDFKRCrwuqlmmt8XX2LBWwRCzJqU1tsbRa6nPFurzpfaf3Wuw0glzpKG3Z0A4QQw-03tGZ4JWeFtcWlxNIr01zeim9DHfjo/s72-c/dobbelsteen.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-4902898902799380518</id><published>2010-01-02T12:53:00.018+01:00</published><updated>2010-01-02T18:51:14.038+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bumblebee"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="feedback"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fly"/><title type='text'>Bumblebee Feedback</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px; font-family: Georgia,Serif; background-color: white;&quot;&gt;We all know those plump Bumblebees that fly around. Until now scientists have been unable to develop a sound theory on how Bumblebees fly. Traditional aerodynamic theories (e.g. theories that explain how airplanes fly) are inadequate to explain the lift or fast forward flight of a Bumblebee. Yet, Bumblebees fly!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWeWBftOLhNEi7J02HO-81WnDI0_3voxNBbwgonhdbmUD49n9OJZfXxX7sN53qQPYK2l5pXJmYifYVjalEEkIJp0ClABqbhOlPmNpoOwspTGH6JNL811ltykWQ9jDvi_WO2NCFNfeHVQ/s1600-h/bumblebee.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWeWBftOLhNEi7J02HO-81WnDI0_3voxNBbwgonhdbmUD49n9OJZfXxX7sN53qQPYK2l5pXJmYifYVjalEEkIJp0ClABqbhOlPmNpoOwspTGH6JNL811ltykWQ9jDvi_WO2NCFNfeHVQ/s400/bumblebee.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422117427101881714&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Clue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although it&#39;s hard to fit into mathematical formulas, scientist have a clue on how insects, Bumblebees in particular, are able to fly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Contrary to an airplane, insects are flapping their wings.&lt;br /&gt;Bees beat their wings approximately 200 times a second (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGhjFGKdTEM&quot;&gt;video&lt;/a&gt;), which is 10–20 times as fast as nerve impulses can fire. They achieve this because their thorax muscles do not expand and contract on each nerve firing, but rather vibrate like a plucked rubber band.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The clue can be found in&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt; the way&lt;/span&gt; insects flap their wings.  The flapping motion causes the leading edge vortex to spiral out to the wingtip, siphoning off the vortex and delaying stall. One way or the other, the augmented lift, coupled with the delayed stall, is the principle mechanism that insects use for generating &#39;lift&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Until this very moment (2009) we are unable to explain the exact principles behind this complex lift effect. Perhaps there isn&#39;t a single simple theory and is the only &#39;explanation&#39; found in a process called &#39;Feedback Dynamics&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://www.ima.umn.edu/2007-2008/W4.21-25.08/activities/Murray-Richard/ima_fbktut-21apr08_s.pdf&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkJ6OivNWOkxE6vo65O0uVRtGENxXtRwfVjQqaQyFevK_klHP4CpoCwvfIid8mrGdr_puTx19KCQhW0wDQHIJUAJNXh7shnQ-mHp2xT0wLEfvFgb_mjklGQ-NiBw6G97Awj3oiAT7lPyo/s400/feedback.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422188046423128754&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Feedback Dynamics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9mybMFtXS6PkBK4q0kIl6U8nc2GsYZIoJuq2sRVkGaMyDatelKXS2d6kdw9xW4xA3K2g-7etZwlQOVGafypUU9-COMaziajLZohnht7mVgA99spgdbqlD3yOCoaoGjs2WKJF1VedVfY/s1600-h/bumble_bee.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 274px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9mybMFtXS6PkBK4q0kIl6U8nc2GsYZIoJuq2sRVkGaMyDatelKXS2d6kdw9xW4xA3K2g-7etZwlQOVGafypUU9-COMaziajLZohnht7mVgA99spgdbqlD3yOCoaoGjs2WKJF1VedVfY/s400/bumble_bee.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422173905359573650&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;In the world of Feedback Dynamics we adapt and adjust &#39;our&#39; behavior - without any conscious handling or direct nerve interference - in small rapid steps until the desired goal (e.g. &#39;lift&#39;) has been attained.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Feedback Dynamics doesn&#39;t ask &#39;how&#39; or &#39;why&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Counting in the dynamic influence of the continuously changing environment, Feedback Dynamics simply persistently adjusts behavior in the direction of the defined goal (e.g. I want to fly).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;What can we learn from the Bumblebee?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our bumblebee lessons could be summarized as follows:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Logic &amp;amp; Science&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even if you think you don&#39;t qualify or are unable to achieve things in life because &#39;logic&#39; tells you so, the doctor (specialist) has told you or your family tells you you can&#39;t: Don&#39;t accept this &#39;science&#39; for an answer. Find new ways to achieve your goals, show your environment it can be done, although perhaps in a different way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Stop How &amp;amp; Why?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you want to achieve extraordinary new results and you found out they couldn&#39;t be achieved &#39;the normal way&#39;, don&#39;t count anymore on your history of &#39;how&#39; and &#39;why&#39;, but trust on your gut-feeling. Take a few small steps in a arbitrary direction and see if you can get away from your current position. This - strange at it might seem - preferably isn&#39;t necessarily in the direction of your predefined goal. From this new achieved position, repeat small steps again. Enjoy the journey and soon you&#39;ll learn to discovered Nova Terra or have learned to fly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Math Models&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most things in life can&#39;t be fully explained by mathematical models.  A math model helps to explain to describe reality. It is, at its best, a simplified projection of reality, but must not be &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_09_13_04.html&quot;&gt;confused&lt;/a&gt; with reality itself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Flap your wings&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you get stuck in life, never sit down in despair too long, but flap your wings: Take action!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Believe in yourself&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like the Bumblebee, always keep believing in yourself. Never (unhealthy) doubt yourself or don&#39;t ever let anybody bring you down who can &#39;proof&#39; you can&#39;t fly or tells you that you aren&#39;t good in &#39;this&#39; or &#39;that&#39;.  You don&#39;t need proof, you Are the proof. Even if you&#39;re now and then wrong, that doesn&#39;t mean you&#39;re totally wrong. It shows you&#39;re human. Try to learn from it (if possible) and in any case don&#39;t give up on yourself!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Enjoy life and apply Feedback Dynamics in it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sources:&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.physics.upenn.edu/%7Ehaxton/journal_club/jwang.pdf&quot;&gt;Dissecting Insect Flight&lt;/a&gt; (2005)&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/148/1/53.pdf&quot;&gt;Mechanics of Forward Flight of Bumblebees&lt;/a&gt; (1989)&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ima.umn.edu/2007-2008/W4.21-25.08/activities/Murray-Richard/ima_fbktut-21apr08_s.pdf&quot;&gt;Control Theory: Design and Analysis of Feedback Systems&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee&quot;&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://knol.google.com/k/why-bumblebees-can-fly#&quot;&gt;Why bumblebees can fly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/4902898902799380518/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=4902898902799380518&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/4902898902799380518'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/4902898902799380518'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2010/01/bumblebee-feedback.html' title='Bumblebee Feedback'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifWeWBftOLhNEi7J02HO-81WnDI0_3voxNBbwgonhdbmUD49n9OJZfXxX7sN53qQPYK2l5pXJmYifYVjalEEkIJp0ClABqbhOlPmNpoOwspTGH6JNL811ltykWQ9jDvi_WO2NCFNfeHVQ/s72-c/bumblebee.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-8042375199424864033</id><published>2009-12-30T12:05:00.008+01:00</published><updated>2009-12-30T16:24:25.348+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bible"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ethics."/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="golden rule"/><title type='text'>The Golden Rule</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px; font-family: Georgia,Serif; background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the end of 2009 I would like to quote  &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dematerialism.net/ops.htm#_Toc173388613&quot;&gt;Unexamined Assumptions&lt;/a&gt;&#39;, a subpart of a chapter called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dematerialism.net/Chapter%208a.html&quot;&gt;Falsity&lt;/a&gt;, from the interesting on-line book :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; margin: 0px 5px; padding: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.dematerialism.net/ops.htm&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;On the Preservation of Species&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;A Logical Argument in Support of a Rational Basis for Community including Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Sustainable Happiness for All Sentient Beings in a Hypothetical World&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1989 - 2007 , by Thomas L Wayburn&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;Unexamined Assumptions&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;We think we know almost everything; what we actually know is almost nothing – and most of that is false.  The most pernicious type of ignorance is belief in falsehood.  We are ignorant, but our minds are filled with something.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;In the beginning, our minds begin to be filled by words, which represent ideas.  Next, our minds begin to be filled with notions, i.e., unexamined assumptions, promulgated or inculcated by parents, teachers, government, business, etc.  Some of these notions we hear repeated everyday, but others are buried so deeply that never are we aware of their existence.  In either case they are prejudices, by definition, since they have been assimilated without the exercise of judgment or reason, i.e., from Latin: prejudicium – before judgment.  Some are true, but most are false.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Social institutions are willing to go to great lengths to prevent falsehood from being exposed.  Heterodox views are everywhere repressed.  The world stands on the brink of the Orwellian abyss.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;People who are unwilling to examine their prejudices are said to be closed-minded.  The notion that all fundamental philosophical questions have been answered is the ultimate mind closer.  The world is filled with closed-minded people and most of them will never be influenced by appeals to reason, but that does not excuse any one of us as individuals from dragging out and examining under the cold light of reason even our most cherished prejudices.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;The world may not be ready to give up its myths, but there is no law of the universe that says we cannot understand something merely because our ability to make a living depends on our not understanding it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;As soon as one of our assumptions is questioned or its opposite averred by even one solitary soul, it becomes incumbent upon us to drop the contested claim as an assumption and provide for it, instead, a proof.  If the claim be metaphysical, it must be supported by reasonableness, aesthetics, and utility.  That’s what I believe.  None of us is completely open-minded.  I am curious to know, however, why there is such a great disparity between what one can say to an individual and what one can say to the general public.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;To summarize, we accept much falsehood for two important reasons:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 23px; padding: 0px; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;most of what we believe was learned before we were able to examine its reasonableness critically&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;we are bombarded by lies every single day of our lives&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Adding remarks: The Golden Rule&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENf7aGoFquu7kVqRIA4uh-Fw8cBNDIxU7ji6ez6ZQl20_kuUcJ55N_u9qKya3WAUxPnS8fs4jwiZ_kGhxK73VU2BPmSHWAZMM96RWK7Vo_EZSdjVSnggmgvHXtWcbpNFzmZsOp-LfOtY/s1600-h/fantasy-world-60482760_2ad1382b7a_b.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 5px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENf7aGoFquu7kVqRIA4uh-Fw8cBNDIxU7ji6ez6ZQl20_kuUcJ55N_u9qKya3WAUxPnS8fs4jwiZ_kGhxK73VU2BPmSHWAZMM96RWK7Vo_EZSdjVSnggmgvHXtWcbpNFzmZsOp-LfOtY/s400/fantasy-world-60482760_2ad1382b7a_b.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421008997414560850&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We&#39;ve ended up in a society that is aware of itself, but unable to change it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The awareness has created a &#39;happy schizophrenic&#39; attitude on an individual level, often combined with an increasing lack or willingness to invest in each other or collective and social initiatives.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is - without any guarantee- a way out. Live your life according to the principle&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&#39;Do unto others as you would have them do unto you&#39;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Try to live up to this principle &#39;by heart&#39; and not just because of fear. This principle is the leading principle, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule_%28ethics%29&quot;&gt;the Golden Rule&lt;/a&gt;,  in most cultures, philosophies and religions [Christianity (&lt;a href=&quot;http://scripturetext.com/luke/6-31.htm&quot;&gt;Luke 6:31&lt;/a&gt;), Confucius (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.musulhak.com/art/philosophy/analects/analects_15.html&quot;&gt;Analects 15:23&lt;/a&gt;), Buddhism (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udanavarga&quot;&gt;UdanaVarga&lt;/a&gt; 5:18) ], &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_golden_rule_in_the_Quran&quot;&gt;except for the Islam&lt;/a&gt;, as it is not mentioned in the Quran. However, a very restricted version of the principle of reciprocity can be found in Imam al-Nawawi&#39;s  Forty Hadiths (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hadith.8m.com/Hadith4.html&quot;&gt;Number 13&lt;/a&gt;) where the Golden Rule only applies only among &quot;brother&quot; Muslims.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still the golden rule is a basic relativistic-logic ethic and one of the most universal moral codes known.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyhow, let&#39;s go for a better world and start with ourselves....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sources:&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.humanreligions.info/golden.html&quot;&gt;Ethics Of Reciprocity&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm&quot;&gt;Versions of the Golden Rule in 21 world religions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_golden_rule_in_the_Quran&quot;&gt;Where is the golden rule in the Quran?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/8042375199424864033/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=8042375199424864033&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/8042375199424864033'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/8042375199424864033'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/12/golden-rule.html' title='The Golden Rule'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENf7aGoFquu7kVqRIA4uh-Fw8cBNDIxU7ji6ez6ZQl20_kuUcJ55N_u9qKya3WAUxPnS8fs4jwiZ_kGhxK73VU2BPmSHWAZMM96RWK7Vo_EZSdjVSnggmgvHXtWcbpNFzmZsOp-LfOtY/s72-c/fantasy-world-60482760_2ad1382b7a_b.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-5555751813342258274</id><published>2009-08-27T21:00:00.004+02:00</published><updated>2009-08-27T21:15:27.769+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="client lifetime value"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="optimal route"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paradox"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="shortest route"/><title type='text'>Route in Life</title><content type='html'>&lt;div  style=&quot;width: 490px;font-family:Georgia,Serif;&quot;&gt;Do you also intent to follow the simplest, direct or easiest route in Life?&lt;br /&gt;Right you are....&lt;br /&gt;Going from A to B in life is like a risk management game.&lt;br /&gt;As the captain of your Body&amp;amp;Mind-Ship (BMS) heading for a New Land at Port Novaya Zemlya, you&#39;ll have three starting issues:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Three starting issues&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 0px;&quot; type=&quot;I&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your target (B): Know where you want to go in life&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your starting point (A): Know Where an Who you are in life&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your Route: Know How you want to go from A to B&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In terms of risk management there are two main targets:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Main Risk Management Targets&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 0px;&quot; type=&quot;I&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Long term Target&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reach your final target (Novvaya Zemlya)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Short term Target&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Avoid short time risks, tackle problems along the way (avoid ice floes)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, what kind of approach is right for reaching your goal?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you concentrate too much in life on your &#39;final goal&#39; or you want to achieve your goals too fast or too direct, you&#39;ll certainly hit a short term problem, like an ice floe, and end up crashed as a hero or a martyr.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt; If you concentrate too much on the short term problems in your life, you&#39;ll loose sight on your final goal and certainly fail to reach Novaya Zemlya.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;width: 500px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The solution of this paradox is (of course) to concentrate on the short term goals as well as keep an eye on the long term goal at the same time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;The optimal route?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what is the best strategy for finding the optimal route in life?&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at the next map to find out the best strategy for this ship. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-route.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy I: Don&#39;t think, go to your target in a straight line&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The most logical route from A to B would of course be a straight line. However following this line as a blind man would certainly lead to failure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy II: Keep as much is possible to the straight line&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As BMS captain might look like the &#39;best strategy&#39; solution. This is how we often directly respond in life when we do not succeed in getting what we want the way we planned it.&lt;br /&gt;Often this route is 2 to 3 times longer than the &#39;straight line route&#39; and does not always guarantee that you reach your goal in the labyrinth of life.&lt;br /&gt;As mostly in life , the best advice is....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy III: Get help and plan!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As BMS captain with the right attitude and perseverance to succeed, you consult your friends and foes and draw yourself the best possible &lt;a href=&quot;http://earth.esa.int/workshops/ers97/papers/sandven2/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;satellite map&lt;/a&gt;, so that you&#39;ll be able to oversee the &#39;seascape&#39; of your life, with all relevant problems, like ice foes ahead.&lt;br /&gt;Often this &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-ice-routing.gif&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;optimal ice route&lt;/a&gt; is 1.5 times longer than the &#39;straight line route&#39;, but it guarantees the highest success rate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-ice-routing.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what to do if you have no information at all? That&#39;s when thinking and mathematics come in, or it gets time for an alternative approach before you freeze in reaching for Novvaya Zemlya....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/5555751813342258274/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=5555751813342258274&amp;isPopup=true' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5555751813342258274'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5555751813342258274'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/08/route-in-life.html' title='Route in Life'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-3450651849943264768</id><published>2009-08-27T20:53:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2012-04-01T16:47:25.621+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="keep moving"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="on course"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="targets"/><title type='text'>Moving targets</title><content type='html'>I once asked one of my business unit managers with regard to an important project, if he was still on course and how things were going.&lt;br /&gt;
  860. &lt;br /&gt;
  861. He answered friendly:&lt;br /&gt;
  862. &lt;br /&gt;
  863. &lt;center&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: #cc3300;&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;My ship&#39;s on course......&lt;br /&gt;But the port moves !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  864. &lt;br /&gt;
  865. &lt;center&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; src=&quot;http://farm1.staticflickr.com/3/3768752_e8d3697715.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  866. Sometimes, when you are totally focused on achieving your predefined goals, when you&#39;re right on schedule and your project looks perfect...... You can be sure your project will fail. Why? Because while working on your project the &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;environment changes&lt;/span&gt;, so you need somebody in your project that constantly checks the defined project targets against the changing environment.&lt;br /&gt;
  867. &lt;br /&gt;
  868. So always, while working keep your head up!</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/3450651849943264768/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=3450651849943264768&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/3450651849943264768'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/3450651849943264768'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/08/moving-targets.html' title='Moving targets'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-651694239044969287</id><published>2009-08-15T23:39:00.001+02:00</published><updated>2009-08-16T08:36:02.334+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="definition"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="success"/><title type='text'>Success</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;We all want to be successful. But what is success?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Success could perhaps be defined as &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;achieving the Result you want&lt;/span&gt; by using your &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2009/07/actuary-core-qualities.html&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;core Qualities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; at the &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;right Time&lt;/span&gt; given the &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;right Circumstances&lt;/span&gt; (place,people,weather, atmosphere).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In formula: &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;R = Q x T x C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another way of looking at success has been defined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.hevizi.com/archives/100&quot;&gt;Hevizi&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It’s not WHAT you know.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It is not WHO you know.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It is not HOW you deliver.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;b&gt;It is ALL of it.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the new world of tough competition for positions, careers and recognition it is important to remind ourselves that it takes 3 to be successful and compete.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We can look at this as the following formula:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;SUCCESS = IQ * EQ * XQ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Success explained&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A more sophisticated, humorous yet interesting approach of success has been defined by Alain de Botton in the next TED video. Alain examines our ideas of success and failure:&lt;br /&gt;Is what you define as success really your personal defined success or perhaps the unconscious copied succes definition of somebody else?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He points out that believing in winners and loosers is a narrow and wrong way of defining the world. On top of this, he gives randomness a place in the definition of success and stresses that there can be no success without loss....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html&quot;&gt;Philosophy of Success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object height=&quot;326&quot; width=&quot;446&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;wmode&quot; value=&quot;transparent&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;bgColor&quot; value=&quot;#ffffff&quot;&gt; &lt;param name=&quot;flashvars&quot; value=&quot;vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/AlaindeBotton_2009G-embed_high.flv&amp;amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlaindeBotton-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;amp;vw=432&amp;amp;vh=240&amp;amp;ap=0&amp;amp;ti=605&quot;&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf&quot; pluginspace=&quot;http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; wmode=&quot;transparent&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#ffffff&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; flashvars=&quot;vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/AlaindeBotton_2009G-embed_high.flv&amp;amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlaindeBotton-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;amp;vw=432&amp;amp;vh=240&amp;amp;ap=0&amp;amp;ti=605&quot; height=&quot;326&quot; width=&quot;446&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wrapped up, success could be defined as being satisfied and happy with your choices, actions, gains and losses.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So never give up, discover the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.1000advices.com/guru/success_secrets.html&quot;&gt;secrets of success&lt;/a&gt; and enjoy it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Youtube Success Links:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s2G2C3Ts9A&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;Quest for success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwMXtWwqv6k&amp;amp;feature=channel&quot;&gt;Success by Deepak Chopra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-family:&#39;Times New Roman&#39;;font-size:16;&quot;  &gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;;font-family:Arial;font-size:18;&quot;  &gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:18;&quot;  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/651694239044969287/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=651694239044969287&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/651694239044969287'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/651694239044969287'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/08/success.html' title='Success'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2536038298340735508</id><published>2009-06-21T09:05:00.001+02:00</published><updated>2009-06-21T09:05:50.886+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="accelerate"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="brake"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="credit crisis"/><title type='text'>Crisis: Don&#39;t slam the brakes on</title><content type='html'>Dutch Minister of Health, Ab Klink, recently stated the Dutch Cabinet:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);&quot;&gt;My father always said: As your caravan starts to snake (roll), don&#39;t slam the breaks on, but (gently) accelerate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although this wisdom could apply in certain circumstances, generally it&#39;s not true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIpT16n_ObmqZnkr-zsfcm9ogKQEsnoDcwb2c1n96D1pRchIDNinKubD_OOGJB9bfk0yUXFTo7PxPfSuwj9HPcQAAd1hf6xxy3BbJkchmjsq7d6uC4hpgOZYTNr4om_knf-ZJgOkX7Jb4/s1600-h/caravan-accident.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 156px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIpT16n_ObmqZnkr-zsfcm9ogKQEsnoDcwb2c1n96D1pRchIDNinKubD_OOGJB9bfk0yUXFTo7PxPfSuwj9HPcQAAd1hf6xxy3BbJkchmjsq7d6uC4hpgOZYTNr4om_knf-ZJgOkX7Jb4/s400/caravan-accident.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349671680726903218&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;When your caravan is snaking, it&#39;s best to follow the next &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.nl/books?id=uEu50Mpx_i0C&amp;amp;pg=PA363&amp;amp;lpg=PA363&amp;amp;dq=caravan+snake++%22increase+*+speed%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=9qDA2dOQ9B&amp;amp;sig=Ok-pr2I4UIzBAX68StWwbkvvqRo&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;ei=6oUvSu-jKtjLjAfVwOiSCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&quot;&gt;DSA advice&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Don&#39;t brake harshly or you could loose control completely. Don&#39;t accelerate either, for the same reasons. Just simply ease off the accelerator until the unit is brought back under control.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes in relationships, with heart/mind problems or in crisis situations this is the best advice as well. Don&#39;t drop down or let go all things around you and don&#39;t try to force your way out. Simply let go the accelerator and wait for things to stabilize until you&#39;ll get grip on the situation again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In general, to prevent snaking life situations as much as possible, surround yourself with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/stabilisers.html&quot;&gt;stabilizers&lt;/a&gt;, e.g. &#39;good advice friends&#39;. Good friends keep each other on the road.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Links:&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/stabilisers.html&quot;&gt;Caravan Rules of thumb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://people.bath.ac.uk/en8cjk/Caravan.pdf&quot;&gt;Caravan Formules&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2536038298340735508/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2536038298340735508&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2536038298340735508'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2536038298340735508'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/06/crisis-dont-slam-brakes-on.html' title='Crisis: Don&#39;t slam the brakes on'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIpT16n_ObmqZnkr-zsfcm9ogKQEsnoDcwb2c1n96D1pRchIDNinKubD_OOGJB9bfk0yUXFTo7PxPfSuwj9HPcQAAd1hf6xxy3BbJkchmjsq7d6uC4hpgOZYTNr4om_knf-ZJgOkX7Jb4/s72-c/caravan-accident.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-1820178786560438560</id><published>2009-06-21T00:19:00.004+02:00</published><updated>2009-06-21T08:04:32.224+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ariely"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="biased"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="decision"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="dummy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fun"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="influence"/><title type='text'>Influenced Decisions</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;We all think our decisions are made in a professional and rational manner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Too bad, nothing is less is true! Decisions are strongly influenced by the way we present our proposals.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Influenced Decisions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6uaRgpNyHSOVBbg202xUMXy-qtrO66WMPm81jQ7XfxvlNzF3ZSFtopz9RGe93S7xgswBOYh94wbZdn60x34q-qyyzgWKNBEhGYoCHf5lr4QIFkCSwNvDzvcU6rmv18sM5TGAjiAlRDdE/s1600-h/ariely.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 98px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6uaRgpNyHSOVBbg202xUMXy-qtrO66WMPm81jQ7XfxvlNzF3ZSFtopz9RGe93S7xgswBOYh94wbZdn60x34q-qyyzgWKNBEhGYoCHf5lr4QIFkCSwNvDzvcU6rmv18sM5TGAjiAlRDdE/s400/ariely.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349511653863637362&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;In a splendid TED Video Presentation called &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html&quot;&gt;Are we in control of our own decisions&lt;/a&gt;&#39; (half an our fun and learning!) , &lt;a href=&quot;http://wapedia.mobi/en/Dan_ariely&quot;&gt;Dan Ariely&lt;/a&gt;, an Israeli professor of behavioral economics and head of the eRationality research group at the MIT Media Lab, shows the astonishing effect of how decisions can be fundamentally changed by adding dummies in proposals:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;First experiment&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ariely tested the next ad on the website of the Economist.com on a group of 100 MIT students:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxc4tFQpxI8whF7SQsUmhyphenhyphen8roaOl4Q7qiOD8EMAqX8raNRTuU-ciG2PSgcoLi1_bxjOVRW1f6qXyM9knuGYwwxnXkAjiU4qlUBu8idFLARkZfMXSSyv1mpplS2GAIhNwDL8b9VqyaPuE/s1600/economist1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349504615735893506&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;As expected, most students wanted the combo deal (84%). Students can read, so nobody wanted the middle option.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But now, if you have an option nobody wants, you can take it off. Right? So Ariely tested another version of this ad on another group of students, eliminating the middle option. This is what happened:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT7oCSb0n4fGtFg9F2SqdhOZJccZRfQkADZebUbMzsRLLuYfDvaf0AHlnmK6BpOCizoH1hNhBeq4j6uVJx_cbg_gAKkqMwPDtCS7G3dHS0wxszaxwHRL8kjQz1PYgGlGk-T9Os6GUJbt8/s1600/economist2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349505063876648002&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;Now the most popular option (84%) suddenly became the least popular (32%). And the least popular (16%) became the most popular (68%) option.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What happened was that the &#39;useless&#39; option in the middle, was useless in the sense that nobody wanted it. But it wasn&#39;t useless in the sense that it helped people figure out what they wanted. In fact, relative to the option in the middle, which was get only the print for $125, the print and web for $125 looked like a fantastic deal. And as a consequence, people chose it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The general idea here is that we actually don&#39;t know our preferences that well. And because we don&#39;t know our preferences that well we&#39;re susceptible to all of these influences from the external forces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Second experiment&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People believe that when they see somebody, they immediately know whether they like that person or not. Ariely decided to put this statement to the test.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He showed his students a picture of Tom and a picture of Jerry (real people in practice). Then he asked &quot;Who do you want to date? Tom or Jerry?&quot; But for half the people he added a slightly less attractive (photoshopped) version of Jerry. For the other half of the students he added a slightly less attractive (ugly) version of Tom.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now the question was, will ugly Jerry and ugly Tom help their respective, more attractive brothers?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4aKs6JRBWKcBbktnMin5w0WamzJ426mK8NVmpJPcc3gcUtMAqgjGrRzmCDBuIz8F3R24jwSnMCaaX2KueyA1r79bvStdXIFWjZ44vY0V0P3Kz31pGR0_Ou-ovE3d8KMvdejpteghIERE/s1600/ted_dan_ariely-tom-jerry.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349505542600685106&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;The answer was absolutely &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;YES&lt;/span&gt;. When ugly Jerry was around, Jerry was popular. When ugly Tom was around, Tom was popular.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Conclusions: The Dummy Effect&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What can we conclude from these two experiments?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;When you let people chose between two options, their decision might be positively influenced by adding a third &#39;slightly less attractive version&#39; (the dummy) of the option you value as most favorable. So decisions are susceptible to options manipulation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Be aware of the Dummy-Effect when someone adds a dummy option in a choice you&#39;ll have to make. If your decision without the dummy is not the same as with the dummy option, try to investigate why. Don&#39;t take a decision until you&#39;ve found out why.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Both decisions, with or without dummies, are &#39;rational&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Therefore your &#39;rational decision&#39; depends more than you&#39;re inclined you think on the character, the completeness and the description of the options. Your personal preference becomes more or less irrelevant if the options are incomplete. So think twice about possible &#39;missing options&#39; before you take a final decision.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;From now on...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now that you&#39;ve become aware of this dummy-effect, life will never be the same again. You&#39;ve become conscious of the way the options in a proposal can influence a decision. This gives you the opportunity to take more enriched decisions. It also places you in a more responsible position when you develop proposals for others. Straight proposals will be &#39;cleaner&#39; than before (&#39;undummied&#39;) and also include an explanation about the way a proposal is structured and presented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Links&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Book  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.predictablyirrational.com/&quot;&gt;Predictably Irrational&lt;/a&gt; by Dan Ariely&lt;br /&gt;- MIT &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfb.media.mit.edu/research/erationality&quot;&gt;Center for future banking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/1820178786560438560/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=1820178786560438560&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1820178786560438560'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1820178786560438560'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/06/influenced-decisions.html' title='Influenced Decisions'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6uaRgpNyHSOVBbg202xUMXy-qtrO66WMPm81jQ7XfxvlNzF3ZSFtopz9RGe93S7xgswBOYh94wbZdn60x34q-qyyzgWKNBEhGYoCHf5lr4QIFkCSwNvDzvcU6rmv18sM5TGAjiAlRDdE/s72-c/ariely.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2254943986930336767</id><published>2009-04-25T23:45:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-25T23:48:48.045+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="application"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="feedback"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="job interview"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Negatives"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="notes"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Positives"/><title type='text'>Job Application Interview</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt; Do you recognize the flabbergasted feeling that occurs when, after a &#39;splendid&#39; job interview, you come home with a positive feeling and the day after you are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.black-collegian.com/career/rejected2006-2nd.shtml&quot;&gt;rejected&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although you thought you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/intervw.htm&quot;&gt;performed well&lt;/a&gt; in the interview, somewhere, somehow, you missed the boat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;What went wrong?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, apart from the general &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/132524/top_5_interview_pitfalls.html&quot;&gt;pitfalls&lt;/a&gt; in a job interview and the trivial explanations of a rejection, most probably things went wrong due to lack of proper communication.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Probably, when you&#39;re having an interview, you&#39;ll take notes.&lt;br /&gt;Because you&#39;re focused on getting the job, you&#39;re inclined to (only) write down the positive aspects of the job and the conversation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This will definitely give you a biased view on the outcome of the interview. You simply miss or underestimate the minor or negative remarks in the interview.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;How to solve this?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/actuary/application-curve.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is what you can do to get a more realistic idea about the outcome of the interview.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Listen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First of all, make sure you listen well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Take Notes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be careful not just to write down your personally important or spectacular issues (e.g salary, benefits, car, etc), but especially note (and write down!) small remarks, advices or &#39;used adjectives&#39; of the interviewer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Split in Negatives and Positives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Split your note paper in left and right, and put the positive issues (the Positives) on one side and the negative issues (the Negatives) on the other side.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Manage the Negatives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Make sure to write down every single negative issue or negative adjective, no matter how small. Don&#39;t ignore these Negatives. By questioning, make sure you understand them right and manage them one by one. If you&#39;re not able to get those negatives from the table or to put them in quarantine, they might kill you in the end without you realizing it. So:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);&quot;&gt;Manage the Negatives instead of counting the Positives&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Feedback&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the end of the conversation ask for feedback and check by asking the interviewer to summarize your Positives and Negatives. If any Negatives are left, handle them with care right there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Don&#39;t fake&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t try to reason away negatives that are clear facts. If that would imply a rejection, be happy, because you are not qualified for this job and therefor wouldn&#39;t  be happy in this job as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Evaluating an interview is not simply balancing Positives with Negatives. Even a single Negative can screw it up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;P/N-Method&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, this Positives/Negatives Method is not only applicable in case of a job interview, but can be used in every &quot;beauty parade&quot;, contract negotiation or proposal you try to defend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next time, with a positive attitude, keep your &#39;sixth sense&#39; on the potential Negatives and manage them!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2254943986930336767/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2254943986930336767&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2254943986930336767'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2254943986930336767'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/04/job-application-interview.html' title='Job Application Interview'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-753569365951161430</id><published>2009-04-16T23:13:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-17T08:40:12.841+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="future"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="past"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="present"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="thinkstyle"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="time perspective"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zen"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Zimbardo"/><title type='text'>Time Perspective</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;According to Philip Zimbardo, we all develop a specific attitude towards time (Time perspective).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Past, present or future orientated?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://fora.tv/2008/11/12/Philip_Zimbardo_Time_Paradox#chapter_11&quot;&gt;The Time paradox&lt;/a&gt; Zimbardo explains that people turn out to be primarily past, present or future orientated. Each perspective has a detailed possible orientation (focus):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot; onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiId-THo-Hsr_MRhEMaoFfwhycMmk8bvG_EmqBfQeijYCauSzlQM6aDSUbwIa8Ey34R7edHyblHtENruL4yCDcYJRVc84cWJkFfdVlatym7GeIHhXuyNn-LK24dciGdaOBBAOpOlu1Oi10/s1600-h/focustime.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 391px; height: 127px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiId-THo-Hsr_MRhEMaoFfwhycMmk8bvG_EmqBfQeijYCauSzlQM6aDSUbwIa8Ey34R7edHyblHtENruL4yCDcYJRVc84cWJkFfdVlatym7GeIHhXuyNn-LK24dciGdaOBBAOpOlu1Oi10/s400/focustime.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325256959865063170&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;It&#39;s clear that our now-actions strongly depend on our perception of the present and the future. This perception has has been influenced by how we perceived the past. Therefore, our future actions will be influenced by how we perceive the present - as it appears to us right now - as well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Form this we may conclude that our future happiness is strongly defined by how (positive) we experience the &#39;now&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Experiencing the &#39;now&#39; as a positive and constructive phase in your life, even in times of &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/adversity-helps.html&quot;&gt;adversities&lt;/a&gt;, demands a conscious mind and a healthy style of thinking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Healthy thinkstyle perspective&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Based on research and his own definition of a &#39;healthy thinkstyle&#39; in life , Zimbardo developed an ideal time perspective score (red dots):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEa4yVVAy7uuyahYfGziipGzc0HIfM9tmyXFjUdwfDlW_t6IJoUROr70WeXlZncRQiFluPCvsQGFuk_PKbo4Csr6F5qJd3UrbDsmyCgUuBJPuF7_zRXdsfBEOLoYXcdS8qYwq8OtcBbSI/s1600-h/graph.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEa4yVVAy7uuyahYfGziipGzc0HIfM9tmyXFjUdwfDlW_t6IJoUROr70WeXlZncRQiFluPCvsQGFuk_PKbo4Csr6F5qJd3UrbDsmyCgUuBJPuF7_zRXdsfBEOLoYXcdS8qYwq8OtcBbSI/s320/graph.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325260212138627346&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Take the test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you wonder what your Time perspective score is, take the test:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thetimeparadox.com/surveys/&quot;&gt;Take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Changing Time Perspective&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you grow up, your Time-perspective changes.&lt;br /&gt;When you&#39;re young, you&#39;re almost not influenced by your past and you don&#39;t worry about your future, you just live in the present and simply take what comes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you grow up, you&#39;ve learned from the past and become conscious of the consequences of your actions. You think about your future, feel responsibility and are able to postpone actual benefits in exchange for (more or increased) future benefits.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;http://jos.blogspot.googlepages.com/past-present-future.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;When we grow old, the past will influence and determine our actions more and more until our last phase in life, where future and present transform in a kind of transcendental state. In this stage your present and &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-to-decide.html&quot;&gt;decisions&lt;/a&gt; are from another order. Physically you&#39;re here on good old earth, but in a spiritual way you&#39;ve already risen to your new destiny.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Zen-Present&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, back to the present., Zimbardo continues that living in the present can also be in a Zen-like perspective, illustrated by the next sanskrit verse:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow but a vision&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;But today &#39;well lived&#39; makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So it&#39;s you who can create a  heaven on earth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Use Zimbardo&#39;s time-perspective to be(come) like you wanna be.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/753569365951161430/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=753569365951161430&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/753569365951161430'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/753569365951161430'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/04/time-perspective.html' title='Time Perspective'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiId-THo-Hsr_MRhEMaoFfwhycMmk8bvG_EmqBfQeijYCauSzlQM6aDSUbwIa8Ey34R7edHyblHtENruL4yCDcYJRVc84cWJkFfdVlatym7GeIHhXuyNn-LK24dciGdaOBBAOpOlu1Oi10/s72-c/focustime.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2340032256562109414</id><published>2009-03-30T12:20:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2009-03-30T12:21:26.050+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="collective behavior"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="first mover period"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="morality"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="origin"/><title type='text'>Collective Behavior</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Understanding collective and individual behavior are key to a successful life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at the next picture:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSF-8x9SrByXqrgBifz3qVRUUdMPBjLTfJySGjo4h8wAprHFa7LGt7pEcFfOIgC1cs14NL0qQg85n0XrHwFcFjy-pzICuNooZluapcDuokUJYNC6C8lYdCVrgPQPomjhdq9jwqPkhJhA/s1600-h/fish-big-eat-small.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSF-8x9SrByXqrgBifz3qVRUUdMPBjLTfJySGjo4h8wAprHFa7LGt7pEcFfOIgC1cs14NL0qQg85n0XrHwFcFjy-pzICuNooZluapcDuokUJYNC6C8lYdCVrgPQPomjhdq9jwqPkhJhA/s400/fish-big-eat-small.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318335811909233746&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It&#39;s clear that the little fish here, have a problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What&#39;s also clear, is that random actions of an individual fish are not likely going to change the situation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the next picture, by coordinating behavior, a way has been found to solve &#39;the problem&#39; :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2es3kj4xUMGhpiAZKGtugp7aJmFMcQhl_I2QBJrINX0pZJpdgSqiOo_zd4HzaX4WX474iO8z8eTA9TUXQ9mlHesu-11Gs_JUBD09SYyCEewi2IxhyR1kFAp6B2xLBRvE-1G5wk04PWrg/s400/fish-small-eat-big.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318337216798719074&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This solution looks very simple, the question is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citizenjury.org/essays/collective.html&quot;&gt;how&lt;/a&gt; to organize this kind of collective &quot;big fish&quot; behavior?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The problem is that often first movers don&#39;t benefit from a collective approach in the first stage:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.neohouston.com/2009/03/antanas-mockus-and-a-multi-regulated-society/&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.neohouston.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/benefits-of-collective-action.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First movers  take a risk by sticking out their neck. The are not sure that their fellows will follow. They also take the risk that their actions turns against themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It turns out that one way to get individuals to coordinate their behavior is through morality.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Morality&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our natural sympathy for other people, our fear of shame and even our feelings of guilt, are often enough to stimulate us to participate in a successful collective action.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Albeit it&#39;s discussable what the&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10559a.htm&quot;&gt; origins of morality&lt;/a&gt; are, it&#39;s clear that morality can help us to overcome that &#39;first mover period&#39;. Groups that use concepts like fairness, reciprocity, trust, guilt, and shame, often do better than rival groups.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Interested? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an excellent essay called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citizenjury.org/essays/collective.html&quot;&gt;A Business Plan for Catalyzing Collective Action&lt;/a&gt; , &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepoint.com/&quot;&gt;The Point&lt;/a&gt; explanes how how these cooperative mechanisms can be created.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Examples&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Collective rational or even emotional behavior often plays a decisive role in our society, as may be clear from the 2009 credit crisis turmoil and the escalating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-discusses-outrage_b_176130.html&quot;&gt;bonus madness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/creating-a-life-plan.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;&quot; src=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/creating-a-life-plan.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Be aware of individual and collective behavior.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Study &quot;collective behavior mechanisms&quot; and certainly don&#39;t forget to integrate the key principles of this collective behavior into your personal &lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/2008/06/creating-a-life-plan.html&quot;&gt;Life Plan&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2340032256562109414/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2340032256562109414&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2340032256562109414'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2340032256562109414'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/03/collective-behavior.html' title='Collective Behavior'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSF-8x9SrByXqrgBifz3qVRUUdMPBjLTfJySGjo4h8wAprHFa7LGt7pEcFfOIgC1cs14NL0qQg85n0XrHwFcFjy-pzICuNooZluapcDuokUJYNC6C8lYdCVrgPQPomjhdq9jwqPkhJhA/s72-c/fish-big-eat-small.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-1044925044181606023</id><published>2009-02-28T11:31:00.003+01:00</published><updated>2012-04-01T16:56:36.886+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="boundaries"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bounded freedom"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="laws"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="relationship"/><title type='text'>Bounded Freedom</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;
  869. Freedom is great. But there&#39;s no freedom or liberty without borders.&lt;br /&gt;
  870. Too much freedom will cause chaos, will damage others or even yourself.&lt;br /&gt;
  871. &lt;br /&gt;
  872. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPsUsT6UabsnzWklbu8DKAaIki1zVcZlPFzQH0Lmm6M5SMg13uUUrB-ebn3JRXEFokrq56fsCucrFwGUK3agmxCRakAdGxbm3qRmT0MOWAXdiilsYucw4HDgEaiGZalDssltXYP4j2Yk/s1600-h/liberty.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307615308216948738&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPsUsT6UabsnzWklbu8DKAaIki1zVcZlPFzQH0Lmm6M5SMg13uUUrB-ebn3JRXEFokrq56fsCucrFwGUK3agmxCRakAdGxbm3qRmT0MOWAXdiilsYucw4HDgEaiGZalDssltXYP4j2Yk/s400/liberty.jpg&quot; style=&quot;cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  873. Boundaries are essential for developing ourselves and relationships with each other, for our ability to give and receive love, for spiritual growth, and for a healthy, balanced lifestyle.&lt;br /&gt;
  874. &lt;br /&gt;
  875. However, boundaries are often violated and we ask ourselves what we can do about it.&lt;br /&gt;
  876. &lt;br /&gt;
  877. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  878. &lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoO0-ye0D920WzEs9lNYJZHQjVQemv6juxEz91NTcSL2jPlQ9xbd0sIIv0xuG57Rq7LBksssJGxP-cmjYNXy6TqN1aymMTbmKzpc-6RpNz44pBkCFW8hXGc60xDoyKzm90l6MHE7z3fYY/s1600/bound.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoO0-ye0D920WzEs9lNYJZHQjVQemv6juxEz91NTcSL2jPlQ9xbd0sIIv0xuG57Rq7LBksssJGxP-cmjYNXy6TqN1aymMTbmKzpc-6RpNz44pBkCFW8hXGc60xDoyKzm90l6MHE7z3fYY/s1600/bound.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  879. In their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310585902&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; &#39;When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life&#39;,  psychologists Cloud and Townsend show how to set reasonable boundaries in relationships.&lt;br /&gt;
  880. &lt;br /&gt;
  881. On their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cloudtownsend.com/&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;  you&#39;ll gain sound advice on boundary matters. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On their website, just fill in a search word, click and simply watch the correspondent video (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cloudtownsend.com/videoserver/video.php?clip=CCNT2495&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) !&lt;br /&gt;
  882. &lt;br /&gt;
  883. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #660000; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Example&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  884. In &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.nl/books?id=2taIXjSFXwsC&amp;amp;pg=PA189&amp;amp;lpg=PA189&amp;amp;dq=%22you+allow+someone+to+do+something+you%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=vwNDusSVpo&amp;amp;sig=_II7J82RwYAegEo6QdBB8LFV73A&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;ei=3hapSfbJIcLm-AaIvMC0Ag&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;resnum=5&amp;amp;ct=result#PPA191,M1&quot;&gt;How to Have That Difficult Conversation You&#39;ve Been Avoiding&lt;/a&gt;&#39; the next example  has been given:&lt;br /&gt;
  885. &lt;br /&gt;
  886. &lt;div dir=&quot;ltr&quot; id=&quot;result_box&quot;&gt;
  887. Leviticus 19:17 states: &quot;Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt&quot;&lt;br /&gt;
  888. &lt;br /&gt;
  889. The word rebuke here is not necessarily an adversarial word. It can mean to &quot;reason together&quot; or to &quot;correct.&quot; This verse directly ties our resentment to our failure to talk to someone about something.&lt;br /&gt;
  890. &lt;br /&gt;
  891. In addition, if we avoid confrontation, we share guilt in the problem, we are enabling the problem. To the extent that we are not talking to someone, we are part of the problem and have very little right to be as angry as we sometimes get.&lt;br /&gt;
  892. &lt;br /&gt;
  893. Therefore you should hold someone accountable, when he does something you do not want.&lt;br /&gt;
  894. &lt;br /&gt;
  895. Going one step further:&lt;br /&gt;
  896. &lt;br /&gt;
  897. &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;
  898. &lt;span style=&quot;color: #000099; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;To the extent you allow someone to do something you resent, you are responsible for the consequences.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  899. &lt;/div&gt;
  900. &lt;br /&gt;
  901. &lt;br /&gt;
  902. &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #660000; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Laws&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  903. Cloud and Townsend have als developed some boundary principles.&lt;br /&gt;
  904. &lt;br /&gt;
  905. As a shortcut, their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kreitz/Christian/Boundaries/04ten_laws.pdf&quot;&gt;Ten Laws of Boundaries &lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
  906. &lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 24px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  907. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Sowing and Reaping&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our actions have consequences. Someone will bear them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;Don’t interrupt this law by regularly bailing others out.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  908. &lt;br /&gt;
  909. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Responsibility&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are responsible &#39;to&#39;, not &#39;for&#39; each other. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are to love one another, not be one another.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  910. &lt;br /&gt;
  911. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Power&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We do not have power over other people. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We hardly have enough power over ourselves&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  912. &lt;br /&gt;
  913. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Respect&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If we wish our boundaries to be respected we must respect those of others. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For with the measure you use, you will be measured.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  914. &lt;br /&gt;
  915. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Motivation&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We must be free to say &#39;no&#39; before we can wholeheartedly say &#39;yes&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;“Acts of love” are worthless if we don’t feel to have a choice&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  916. &lt;br /&gt;
  917. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Evaluation&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We need to evaluate the effects our boundaries cause others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;Hurt and harm are not the same – pain may eventually lead to growth&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  918. &lt;br /&gt;
  919. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Proactivity&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boundaries must express what you stand for, not just what you are against. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Solve problems on the basis of your values, wants, and needs&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  920. &lt;br /&gt;
  921. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Envy&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We will never get what we want if we focus on what others have. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Envy keeps us empty and unfulfilled&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  922. &lt;br /&gt;
  923. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Activity&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We need to take the initiative to solve our problems. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don’t wait for your partner to take the first step&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  924. &lt;br /&gt;
  925. &lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Exposure&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boundaries must be communicated. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Otherwise they are invisible to others&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  926. &lt;/ol&gt;
  927. Applying these rules, looks simple, but is hard to do. However, they make the difference in life.&lt;br /&gt;
  928. &lt;br /&gt;
  929. The best freedom is &#39;Bounded Freedom&#39; !&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/1044925044181606023/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=1044925044181606023&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1044925044181606023'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/1044925044181606023'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/02/bounded-freedom.html' title='Bounded Freedom'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPsUsT6UabsnzWklbu8DKAaIki1zVcZlPFzQH0Lmm6M5SMg13uUUrB-ebn3JRXEFokrq56fsCucrFwGUK3agmxCRakAdGxbm3qRmT0MOWAXdiilsYucw4HDgEaiGZalDssltXYP4j2Yk/s72-c/liberty.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2866864510391039382</id><published>2009-02-21T11:27:00.012+01:00</published><updated>2009-02-21T15:31:59.695+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="context"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="perceived you"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="quantum"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="real you"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="you"/><title type='text'>The Real YOU</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Perhaps it&#39;ll be disappointing and hard to acknowledge, but there&#39;s no objective &#39;Real  YOU&#39;. There&#39;s only the &#39;Perceived YOU&#39;, perceived by others or yourself and strongly dependent on the context you&#39;re operating in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&#39;s the simple proof.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read out loud, from top to bottom, the next three characters:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrNt2T860boMJwcug765pzQr0ehFDuBeZmg_cWCuH_GjI6ICecU8b58wkcFH6CgcBhiNZQRO4KvU96EWuu2Kzsd15njArCKXyoCnSKaC842RXDgxDp22v-9bHxnce-U73PJ_M7GXbW8c/s1600/abc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305197682473631634&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This was quite simple, wasn&#39;t it?&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s go to step two.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now read out loud, from left to right, the next three characters:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDb-zjM_rTkrp8Hsh4u-kx4sIy3ZFBEr-NE9aZg9-knKnFlhmmLJPBpHQ5xJ9rBcBP9dUmGbRP484sxwCCtiO_9k2nwB5bu64FWsJuQIq7JvgAfHgsWH7X2gRFPJUL5CWaCRb_CaRQe04/s1600/121314.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305198852724760210&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now read out loud the character in the middle:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZ_HSH6DouFlnIOR31DwW_CMzJFGitBfnhLw2jjgPqiTCYqoKQGGdzq2giHnmJbMeqRW1Ekis7QCYm0NPvXLCPIb9DWRQ51-wRTlFwXYrn0IfITVS6kkqAOEJT0P7KmW15TSo_Vq49eI/s1600/abc121314.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305200022753363586&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The middle character&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The character in the middle isn&#39;t just the letter &#39;B&#39; nor is it the number &#39;13&#39;, it has the potention of being both. Only when it is &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement1.html&quot;&gt;perceived&lt;/a&gt;&#39;, it takes a definitive value (appearance), depending on the character context and the characteristics of the perceiver.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the context is a story or a literal phrase, the character will be perceived as the letter &quot;B&quot;. If the context consists of numbers, the character will be perceived as number &quot;13&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;No context?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What if there is no context (not possible) or very little and we show up just the character in the middle?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In general, apart from context, a perceiver P Rates or measures a target T on an attribute X can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/ReconceptualizingIndividualDifferencesinSelf-EnhancementBias_AnInterpersonalApproach%282004%29.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;R&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;(P,T,R) = Perceiver effect + Target effect + Relationship effect + Constant&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In case with no context and very little Target- or Relationship Effect, the perception depends (almost) totally on the identity and experiences of the perceiver (Perceiver Effect).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the perceiver is a writer or has a non-science background, the character will probabely be perceived as the letter &quot;B&quot;. In case of a scientist, or mathematician, the character will mostly be seen as the number &quot;13&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The Real YOU&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now with you, yourself, it&#39;s just the same. There is no objective or context-independent &quot;Real YOU&quot;. There is no YOU without others. There&#39;s only the YOU that&#39;s perceived by others or yourself (self reflection).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So think twice about how you pick your context (friends, social environment, employer, town). If you don&#39;t like the way people perceive you, change or reprogram your habits and consider picking a new &#39;context&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Quantum mechanics&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact the same principles as in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/Ryan_Lee.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;quantum mechanics&lt;/a&gt;&quot; apply:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you measure &#39;light&#39; as a wave, you&#39;ll perceive it as a wave. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you measure &#39;light&#39; as a particle, you&#39;ll perceive it as a particle. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you would have &#39;measured&#39; it as anything els, like &#39;weight&#39;, &#39;energy&#39; or a &#39;potato&#39;, it would have been perceived as &#39;that&#39; as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;So the question is not whether &#39;light&#39; is a wave or a particle.  &#39;Light&#39; is neither, it has only &#39;wave&#39; of &#39;particle&#39; properties (attributes).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Back to YOU&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s the same with people that have a perception of YOU. They&#39;ll value you at their biased percepted properties. Just like yourself, they&#39;ll never get to know the ultimate &#39;real you&#39;, it simply isn&#39;t there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So this means the real YOU is mainly the YOU IN OTHERS (apart from your &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/ReconceptualizingIndividualDifferencesinSelf-EnhancementBias_AnInterpersonalApproach%282004%29.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;narcissistic biased self&lt;/a&gt;). That&#39;s why it&#39;s so important to choose friends in life that believe in YOU.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Only real friends will accept you without conditions. They recognize and reflect your initial intentions in life ( You=Me principle) and therefore accept to live an fight with all of your good an bad (perceived) &#39;properties&#39; (personality, habits, etc).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The real you is &#39;there&#39;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t get mixed up now you found out the &#39;real you&#39; doesn&#39;t &#39;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);&quot;&gt;exist&lt;/span&gt;&#39;. It only means the &#39;real you&#39; isn&#39;t perceivable, visible or knowable (only the attributes).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The real you is out there where no living human being has access to (let&#39;s cal it the &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/span&gt;-dimension). It&#39;s very valuable, enjoy it in life, it&#39;s a gift.......&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2866864510391039382/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2866864510391039382&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2866864510391039382'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2866864510391039382'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/02/real-you.html' title='The Real YOU'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrNt2T860boMJwcug765pzQr0ehFDuBeZmg_cWCuH_GjI6ICecU8b58wkcFH6CgcBhiNZQRO4KvU96EWuu2Kzsd15njArCKXyoCnSKaC842RXDgxDp22v-9bHxnce-U73PJ_M7GXbW8c/s72-c/abc.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-5164988757672216666</id><published>2009-02-01T16:11:00.012+01:00</published><updated>2009-02-02T00:52:53.186+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="boss"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="core competence"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="core quadrant"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cross view"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="CVQ"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="friend"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="quality"/><title type='text'>Cross View Quadrants</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When you&#39;re balanced in life, the &#39;art&#39; is to keep it that way.&lt;br /&gt;The Cross View Quadrant (CVQ) helps you to stay dynamically balanced.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/selfbettermentpics/Home/view-on-yourself.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is how CVQ helps:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Just ask your best friend(s) to write down your best and improvable (worst) capabilities (character, skills, competences) on paper.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Independently, write down yourself, what you think your best and most improvable capabilities are.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Now draw a cross table (4 quadrants) of the two papers.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How to deal with the four quadrants to keep balanced or improve your relationship?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;A.  Quadrant ++&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;font-size:85%;&quot; &gt;This quadrant contains your positive capabilities that you and your friend agree on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy those capabilities and be sure to spend enough time with each other to keep sharing them with your friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, if both of you only find positive points and no differences, be aware. The risk that both of you are too entangled and have developed a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.nl/books?id=hroFzzxW88cC&amp;amp;pg=PT269&amp;amp;lpg=PT269&amp;amp;dq=%22follies+a+deux%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=zrBe0sPKrp&amp;amp;sig=jc2ZtnEjrfvKPKAE3L3JOXHN9MY&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ct=result&quot;&gt;follies a deux&lt;/a&gt; is substantial. If, in the future, the environment changes, differences will show up.&lt;br /&gt;Go back and try to find minor or weak qualities, if necessary &lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/search?q=core+quadrant&quot;&gt;discover yourself&lt;/a&gt; with help of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/core-quality/core-quadrant-a.html&quot;&gt;core quality test&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;B.  Quadrant - -&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains your negative or most improvable capabilities you and your friend agree on.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Together with your friend try to find out, if it&#39;s realistic or desirable to improve your capabilities or not. If not, confirm, accept - and sometimes - even learn to enjoy them. If improvable, ask for your friends help and feedback to improve your capabilities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;C.  Quadrant + -&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains positive capabilities that you think you have. However your friend doesn&#39;t recognize or mention them, or even thinks they&#39;re your weakest points.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are several ways to deal with this:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 0px 2px 3px 22px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You&#39;re sure of this strong point, but your friend doesn&#39;t like it&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be sure this is really a strong capability, by checking with other friends. If so, learn to accept and respect your friends flavor. Keep this point in your pocket and save it for other friends. Don&#39;t try to convince your friend (in hours of discussions) of this strong quality of yours, it could start to undermine your relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Your friend criticizes your best quality as weak&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Try to find out if you&#39;re &#39;over the hill&#39; and what originally was a fine quality has become &#39;too much of a good thing&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Anyhow, keep more of this quality respectful in your pocket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You haven&#39;t been able to demonstrate your strong point yet&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Simply show it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;D.  Quadrant - +&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains positive capabilities your friend recognizes in you, but you don&#39;t think you have them, experience them as negative or are unconscious  about them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is the most trickiest quadrant. Let&#39;s discuss the options:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 0px 2px 3px 22px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You&#39;re unconscious of the strong points addressed&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you were unconscious of the strong points addressed by your friend, think why? Now you are aware of this quality, enjoy it, don&#39;t go &#39;demonstrating&#39; it, but keep using it spontaneously and in a relaxed way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You think this positive point is not (that of) a quality of yours&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s tricky to mention and discuss this, certainly in a business relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most promotions and appointments are done by &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Boss-is-Calling---Understanding-the-Psychology-of-Bossism&amp;amp;id=1868387&quot;&gt;bossing&lt;/a&gt; bosses who think they know you well. They have a positive biased view on your capabilities. Moreover, they often select you because they notice that you have the same qualities as they have.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By discussing your qualities,  your boss could become disappointed because it now turns out he had the wrong view. He might also think that you and he are not &#39;on the same page&#39;, or he might even be offended.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if your boss thinks you&#39;re super intelligent, a top sales executive or a born leader, think twice before you disappoint him by denying or discussing it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Try to listen and find out why your boss thinks the way he does. This might give you a new sight on yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;Success in applying the CVQ in business and life!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/5164988757672216666/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=5164988757672216666&amp;isPopup=true' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5164988757672216666'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5164988757672216666'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/02/cross-view-quadrants.html' title='Cross View Quadrants'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-6036753669446352431</id><published>2009-01-19T18:56:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2009-01-19T19:01:26.489+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="excel"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="html"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="pdf"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="table"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="table converter"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Word"/><title type='text'>Freeware: Table to Excel  converter</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Do you recognize this? Sometimes you spend hours copying a simple table from a WORD-document, Internet Page or PDF-file to your (Excel) spreadsheet.&lt;br /&gt;What should take about two minutes work, ends in frustration. Finally you decide to fill your spreadsheet by hand.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These times are over. With the next simple javascript application, called&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:180%;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/mix/convert/table-converter.html&quot;&gt;Table Converter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;, you&#39;ll be able to copy most tables to your spreadsheet in minutes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Success!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe src=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/mix/convert/table-converter.html&quot; marginwidth=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; marginheight=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot; 800px=&quot;&quot; frameborder=&quot;no&quot; height=&quot;800&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; width=&quot;490&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/6036753669446352431/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=6036753669446352431&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6036753669446352431'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/6036753669446352431'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/01/freew-table-to-excel-converter.html' title='Freeware: Table to Excel  converter'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-5463306504666061695</id><published>2009-01-09T20:22:00.006+01:00</published><updated>2009-01-09T22:06:49.418+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="advice"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="experience"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="knowledge"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="monkeys"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="peanuts"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="price"/><title type='text'>The price of knowledge</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Sometimes difficult questions have easy answers, just like some complex problems have simple solutions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last night the TV-set got stuck. No signal, nothing. Self fixing failed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Within 15 minutes &#39;TV Repair Services&#39; knocked at my door. An old guy came in. After a short &quot;Where?&quot; I showed him my antique TV-set. For a moment he glanced at the dead set and after a simple &quot;Ah..&quot; he took a small hammer out of his bag and precisely tapped on the top left side of the set. Within a second the TV was back on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;That&#39;ll be $ 25.25&quot; he said dryly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/25dollar25.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;$ 25,25 !&quot;, I stuttered back, &quot;Just for tapping with this hammer? Can you specify that?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Yeh&quot;, he replied, &quot;that&#39;s  25 cents for tapping with the hammer and 25 dollar for knowing where to tap&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As always in life: &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Knowledge has its price&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next time you have a TV breakdown, don&#39;t mix things up by hammering yourself or hiring a next door &#39;hammer man&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s not about the hammer, it&#39;s about the knowledge and experience of people that help you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if you take advice for a complex (financial) matter, don&#39;t bother paying a substantial fee for a sound and simple advice. And never ever hire amateurs. Remember the old saying:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/If+you+pay+peanuts,+you+get+monkeys&quot;&gt;If you pay peanuts, you&#39;ll get monkeys&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the other hand, just paying respectable fees doesn&#39;t guarantee a sound advice at all. So always hire a real trusted professional and  ask for credentials.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes even free advices raise our level of knowledge.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Picture source: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ci.arlington.tx.us/articles/2008/articles_0108_05.html&quot;&gt;Arlington&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/5463306504666061695/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=5463306504666061695&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5463306504666061695'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/5463306504666061695'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2009/01/price-of-knowledge.html' title='The price of knowledge'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2178547774720412725.post-2583529701022980522</id><published>2008-12-24T10:34:00.030+01:00</published><updated>2008-12-31T14:21:02.617+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bad"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="born"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="calculate"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="good"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="mathematics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Polya"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Polya&#39;s urn"/><title type='text'>Born Good or Bad? Polya helps</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Were you born &#39;Good&#39; or &#39;Bad&#39;? The answer to this question can be given with help of mathematics!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s start with a simple model. When you were born, you had only a limited number of experiences. Let&#39;s assume you came to earth quite neutral, with one &#39;Good&#39; (G) and one &quot;Bad&quot; (B) experience.&lt;br /&gt;At this point in time, your (still unconscious) attitude and therefore expectation of a &#39;Good&#39; (B) outcome of your next experience, will be 50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In line with the expression &quot;You&#39;ll always reap what you sow&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://net.bible.org/verse.php?book=Gal&amp;amp;chapter=6&amp;amp;verse=7#&quot;&gt;Gal 6:7&lt;/a&gt;),  or associative translated &quot;You&#39;ll become what you X&quot; (with X =&#39;Think&#39;, &#39;Eat&#39;, &#39;Are&#39;, etc.)&quot;, your next experience will indeed turn out to be equally G or B.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s assume that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Providence&quot;&gt;providence&lt;/a&gt; decided, the outcome is G. Now you&#39;ve become a more optimistic person. Your experience-bucket is filled with two G&#39;s and one B (experience), so your subjective &#39;colored&#39; outlook on G&#39;s is 66,66% (2/3=[2 G&#39;s/(2 G&#39;s + 1 B)]) . You also look back on a relatively Positive Life Score of PLS=66,66% G&#39;s.&lt;br /&gt;Would you have experienced a &#39;B score&#39; instead, it would be the other way around and as a potential pessimist your outlook and PLS would have been lowered to 33,33% .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But happily you&#39;re a 66,66% (!) G-Score-optimist and life goes on. According to the same principles, the probability of scoring a new G-experience is now 66,66% instead of 50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you may already notice, your PLS will more and more develop according your personal historical G- an B-experience track record.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few questions that may rise, are:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Does your Positive Life Score (PLS) has a limit? And if so, what&#39;s that limit?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Once you&#39;re in a pessimistic phase, what are the changes of getting out?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&#39;s were the help of a great mathematician, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Polya&quot;&gt;George Pólya&lt;/a&gt;, comes in, by modeling the above situation in what is called:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urn_problem&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Polya&#39;s Urn model&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An urn contains G&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; Green (Good) and B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; Black (Bad) balls. One ball is drawn randomly from the urn and is then placed back in the urn together with an (extra) ball of the same color.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our Good&amp;amp;Bad exercise turns out to be a simplified two color Polya Urn Model (G&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;=1,B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;=1) that is part of a large family of General Urn Models.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Properties&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It turns out that this model has the following (translated)properties:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;On any given moment in your life &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;if you do not know what kind of balls have been drawing before&lt;/span&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://catlin.casinocitytimes.com/articles/43829.html&quot;&gt;expectation&lt;/a&gt; of drawing a Good or Bad ball (experience)  is&lt;a href=&quot;http://everything2.com/e2node/Polya%2520urn%2520scheme&quot;&gt; always&lt;/a&gt; G&lt;sub&gt;0  &lt;/sub&gt;=G0/(G&lt;sub&gt;0 &lt;/sub&gt;+B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;) =50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;On any given moment in your life, gaining a Good or a Bad experience depends on the track record of G&amp;amp;B experiences in your life. So if you&#39;ve experienced G Good experiences and B Bad experiences, your changes of experiencing a next Good experience are equal to the track record of your Positive Life Score : PLS&lt;sub&gt;(G+B)&lt;/sub&gt;=G/(G+B)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The relative influence of a G or B experience on the PLS decreases rapidly as the number of total experiences increases. Your PLS has a definitive &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/Home/polya-urn/urn-model-matrix-337copy.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;limit&lt;/a&gt; in (life)time with equal changes of outcome on the interval [0,1].&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;As is clear from some simulations, the first 10 to 20 experiences in our life determine whether we&#39;ll become an optimist (PLS&lt;sub&gt;(∞)&lt;/sub&gt;&gt; 0.75) or an pessimist  (PLS&lt;sub&gt;(∞)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;0,25). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lxy&amp;amp;chd=s:,fUfYUafilnjhjlmopprrpoppomnoppqrrqqrrsttt&amp;amp;chs=450x200&amp;amp;chxt=x,y&amp;amp;chm=o,D2B48C,0,-1,5,0&amp;amp;chxr=0,0,40%7C1,0,1&amp;amp;chds=0,40,0,1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lxy&amp;amp;chd=s:,fUPMUSPNMLKOSQPSRUVUUSSRQSUVUUTSUTTUUUUUT&amp;amp;chs=450x200&amp;amp;chxt=x,y&amp;amp;chm=o,D2B48C,0,-1,5,0&amp;amp;chxr=0,0,40%7C1,0,1&amp;amp;chds=0,40,0,1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Moreover, the first 5 to 10 experiences in your life already determine the direction of our PLS in life. This means that our parents and teachers have an important role in guiding us in our baby and youngster phase to a positive balanced number of experiences (a more than average PLS).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For example if on a given moment in life you have had 4 Bad experiences and 1 Good, the probability of having a next Good experience is 20%. What&#39;s more frustrating is that the probability in this case to get in three steps to a 50% level is only about 3% (=1/5*2/6*3/7) . This illustrates the heavy responsibility of our parents and teachers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s why it&#39;s for example so difficult to change your religion. Once the first 50 religion experiences have been brought in by your parents, it&#39;s hard to change from Budha to Allah or Christ, or the other way around.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Once a more than average PLS is achieved, we&#39;re more likely to absorb a Bad experience without getting unbalanced. Parents and teachers can &#39;let go&#39;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Keep in mind, Polya&#39;s Urn is only a think-model to help you to become aware of the important mechanisms that play a role in becoming &#39;who you are&#39; or &#39;what you&#39;ll be&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Change?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once you become experienced in life and your PLS direction has been set, you can only change this by either a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprogramming&quot;&gt;Professional De or Re-programming&lt;/a&gt; (PDR) or a, what is called, Life Changing Experience (LCE). In PDR Bad experiences are taken away (i.e. out of the urn) and replaced by Good experiences, to regain trust and a higher confidence (PLS) level. In LCE&#39;s, your environmental or physical circumstances suddenly chance in such a way that you are forced to experience only just B (or just G) experiences. Another LCE  is created by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/%7Etanguay/7intro.htm&quot;&gt;change of context&lt;/a&gt;. What before were B experiences now turn out to be G experiences (or the other way around).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;What if?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are many other aspects that could be studied in relation to the Polya model. For example:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;What would be the effect if an experience is not just only Good or Bad, but a mix. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What if a &#39;Good experience&#39; doesn&#39;t trigger extra positive confidence (an extra G) but a negative experience (an extra B). &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The answer in both cases is that almost always the PLS-limit=50% !, in other words: You&#39;ll become average.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But how does a little bit of extra Bad (or Good) influence the PLS limit? If you want to experiment and learn more about Good and Bad, go and visit &lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/mix/Polya/polya_friedman-urn.html&quot;&gt;Polya&#39;s Urn Experiment&lt;/a&gt; or look up the &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/Home/polya-urn&quot;&gt;Math behind Polya&#39;s Urn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Math helps us to discover who we are or what we become...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/feeds/2583529701022980522/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2178547774720412725&amp;postID=2583529701022980522&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2583529701022980522'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2178547774720412725/posts/default/2583529701022980522'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/2008/12/born-good-or-bad-polya-helps.html' title='Born Good or Bad? Polya helps'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>

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