Do you have trouble remembering details and instructions?
Do you love positive feedback, yet not desire to conform to the cultural mold of expectations?
You are not alone.
Lately, I have been doing reading about cognitive styles. Primarily, there is plenty of information about strong-willed children/adults and High-D personalities as well as compliant children/adults. Yet, there is little information out about “Dreamers.”
Dr. Dana Spears and Dr. Ron Braund have a very interesting book on Dreamers, the passionate-creative-culture-changers of the world. Join me soon for a more in depth look at this type of individual and see if you are a mold breaker.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a wreid mnid too. Seped rnadieg sluohd be a bezere!
Who’d have thought a sci-fi television show could have profound thoughts and quotes? Funny how some things stick with you over the years. I can remember these quotes from when I was a kid. They seemed applicable then and they seem so now. These can apply to life, business, and politics. Enjoy!
After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. –Spock in ‘Amok Time’
It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want. –Spock in ‘Errand of Mercy’
I just stumbled upon this site while visiting, Moving at The Speed of Creativity. The site is Wordle. They have created a cool little app that allows you to create word clouds from your delicious tags or blog rss feed. You can then customize the fonts, colors, and layout to your choosing.
Ah, this reminds me of the days I used to subscribe to U&lc (Upper & lowercase) Magazine. Now you can see the online version. But, the print edition was a thing of beauty. Never had type or the crafting of words looked so sexy. Type designers would draw inspiration and just a little envy from the over-sized newsprint periodical. I loved to look at the use of words and letters to create textures and patterns.
Good times…
It’s hard not to get just a little nostalgic. Here is the blog feed in Wordle. Enjoy!
If you noticed the recent addition of the Jaggedsmile widget in the sidebar, you may be wondering what the heck is going on? Need I remind you, this blog is dedicated to:
…common sense leadership/management, innovative developments in training, creativity, out-of-the-box ideas and business solutions, fun in learning and at work, tips and how-to’s, community building, and personal change. My desire is to present information that inspires readers to apply what they learn — and to have fun while doing so.
Call me optimistic, or as some, call me weird, but I believe that these areas (common sense leadership, creativity, fun learning, and personal change), working together, have untapped potential for impacting the future.
- From the WG page
If the visual display of content is something that you ponder over on a regular basis (and what good e-Learning developer or Instructional Designer doesn’t?), be sure to visit Visual Literacy today. There are all kinds of fun things to discover. One of my favorites was the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Check it out!
This explains why I like to sleep so much! Fascinating and fun information, books, DVD’s, online movies and more at Brain Rules.
Oh, and ever wonder why stress is literally killing people? No, I am not talking about “going postal,” although this gives some credence as to why some people fall of the sanity wagon. Find out why prolonged stress is harmful to you and those around you. This could save your life. Check it out today!
…all play and intertwine in the composition of great photos.
They draw the viewer in and beg the questions,
“Who is this?”
“What is happening?”
“What has happened?”
“Where is this?”
“Why?”
And, in so doing draw us into introspection…
I’ll be taking a week off to focus on closing out a project (July 28-August 1). More to come from the lessons learned during this engagement. It’s a really cool online course with custom hooks into a client app. The back-end was designed as “plug and play” so content can quickly and easily be swapped out while still being applicable to the course testing and grading scenarios.
On Madams tombstone (of Whelan’s and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice…loved it both times!
2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down. (keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches)
3. Keep learning!
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s!
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long, and loud.
Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.
6. The tears happen.
Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love.
Whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health.
If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don’t take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity!
11. Forgive now those who made you cry…you might not get a second time.
How’s this for creative computing? To see all the steps in detail, visit Random Access. Now, go build your own and send me your images to post here. Have fun!
Body armor for the case?
I wanted this case to incorporate aspects of several types of Iron Man armor, starting with his original dull gray steel. Although rivets were not always in evidence, these would add to the effect of heavy plate on the panels. Starting with the case itself, I anchored short lengths of aluminum angle (L brackets) to the top and front edges of the chassis. These were used as anchor points to attach two curved steel panels at the bottom front and top rear of the case. To strengthen the sheet metal, I riveted ribs of aluminum bar stock to the outer edges using two rows of heavy nickel wire for the pins.
To create a layered articulated armor on the top, sections of PVC plastic were cut and then anchored to the aluminum angle with sheet metal screws. A final PVC panel was attached to the front and a piece of foam rubber trimmed to fill the gap between the sections. The foam was trimmed to a smooth shape with a razor blade, and then covered with a layer of epoxy
Several layers of shredded fiberglass-reinforced epoxy were built up over the surface of the PVC with only a light sanding in between. I wanted a slight ripple effect to simulate hammered metal. I prefer to add pigment to the epoxy so that if the surface gets scratched, there is a solid color exposed. The color layers also make it easier to visualize the final effect and in some cases, can be used as the final finish instead of paint.
Ribs made from strips of half-round wood trim were cut to fit the drive bay opening. Two at the top were glued in place; one was attached to the front of the DVD drawer; the fourth rib was attached to the front of the DVD drive using foam mounting tape (this allowed the rib to flex; pressing on the right edge opens the drive tray).
For the mask, I went to a recent version of Iron Man – the 2005 and 2006 release of “Extremis” (also available as a graphic novel of the same name). I used the circuit-style lettering in the title for the IMD plaque. To make the case more than just an armored shell, I wanted to give it a purpose – even a fictional one. Readers rarely see Tony Stark testing his armor. He always seems to rush off, slap something together that works perfectly and is well finished, miniaturized, and usually violating several laws of physics – but hey, it’s fiction, right?
But what if he had to troubleshoot something? That’s what we do in real life… so I came up with the concept of an Iron Man Diagnostic Unit. Since Tony no longer keeps his identity secret, it means we needed to identify that the unit came from Stark Laboratories. Letters were cut from sheet brass, then dots drilled, edges filed, and lines chiseled. The background was printed on a laser printer, then glued between two sheets of 1/8″ high impact plastic. The brass letters received a soft satin finish, then were glued to the plastic. Four small magnets (Tony has always been big on magnets, although his are usually transistor-powered) were glued to the back to allow placement of the plaque on any flat ferrous surface. I was going to stick this on the top of the CPU heat sink, but there wasn’t enough clearance between it and the side panel. So that became the title – Stark Industries IMD.
But what to run diagnostics on? The Iron Man mask is probably one of the most characteristic parts that while frequently changed still has similar features, such as no nose, slitted glowing white eyes, and a slash of a mouth.
The mask was attached to the mesh panel, then the clamps positioned and anchored from the rear with short screws. Two holes were drilled in the mesh behind the eyes. A pair of white LEDs were hot glued onto the mesh to cause the eyes to flicker when the hard drive is accessed. A heavy duty stainless steel switch was located in the side panel, presumably to open and close the clamps (or turn on the power in reality). The bottom of the case was anchored to the base plate treads. The rest of the system components were installed, and cables organized a bit, but spiffed up with some chrome convoluted (AKA split loom) tubing. Then it was time to tear it all down and switch out the stock Intel heatsink with a big blocky Peltier cooled one. Then I stuffed it all back together, and took these final pics.
I just saw this slide show on Communication Nation. As I have stated before, you do not have to be an artist to be creative and exercise your creativity. The author, Kelsy Ruger of PopLabs, explores many of the popular myths about creativity in the workplace and how to overcome them.
It’s free vector time again, and I’ve got some tree silhouettes to share with everyone. Download ‘em and stick ‘em in your archive. Hopefully they’ll be of good use! Details after the jump.
I will make fun of the drama and dysfunction of the shows she watches and she will give me a hard time about the geeky sci-fi make-believe shows I watch. Granted, we watch some of each others shows, but the tell tale sign is that I can busy myself with others things while Brothers & Sisters is on (heck, I can skip it all together) and she can do likewise with my enjoyed programming.
Yet, it occurred to me the other day….
The Difference
The shows I like are make-believe and that is why they are compelling to me. I do not want to watch “real to life” drama because I get enough real world drama every day. Through the news I read, or watch, I understand there is a great amount of hurt, brokenness, and dysfunction within the world without having to watch it. This is voyeurism.
Does this mean I am trying to escape reality? No, there is no way to accomplish that outside of mind altering prescriptions. Call me optimistic, but I like shows were the characters are pitted against challenges that I can relate to, set in creative and imaginative “worlds” where they rise above the pains and sorrows they face. Better to stimulate imagination.
Loss Of Imagination
I have tried to instill in my children the joy of reading. Taking the descriptive language of the author and using their imaginations to create the characters and worlds within their minds-eye. We have been reading such classics as:
Journey To The Center Of The Earth
Around The World In 80 Days
Moby Dick
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Silver Chair, and others.
Why is there a loss of wonder and imagination amongst many today? Could it be we are bombarded by the “real world” so much we lose the ability and turn to coping mechanisms because of stress?
Imagine
Imagination is defined as:
the action of forming new ideas and concepts or images; the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.
Imagination reduces stress. It breeds innovation across vocational fields. It stimulates mental activity. Imagination is fun. It breaks new ground. It looks at issues and problems in a creative new way.
So, how about you? Are you voyeuristic or imaginistic? Let me know in the comments area below.
Gareth says: “Hey, elephants and chimps (and children) can do a pretty good job of abstract painting, so why not bugs? Artist Steven R. Kutcher dips the creepy crawlers in (watercolor) paint, or has them traipse through it, and then he lets them scurry across the canvas (watercolor paper).” Link
The important thing is not to stop questioning… Never lose a holy curiosity. Albert Einstein
Curiosity is an important trait of a genius. I don’t think you can find an intellectual giant who is not a curious person. Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, they are all curious characters. Richard Feynman was especially known for his adventures which came from his curiosity.
At first glance, this article may seem off topic, but being a Dad has shown me that you have to be willing to learn, be creative, resourceful, balanced, and a good leader. These are all the topics covered in this blog,
A great father makes all the difference in their child’s life. He’s a pillar of strength, support and discipline. His work is never-ending and, oftentimes, thankless. But in the end, it shows in the sound, well-grounded children he raises.
Posted by ebrown 
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