The World is Starting to Get a Little More Understandable

Michel Totten writes in "Commentary Magazine":

It’s hard for most of us in the West to believe that some people prefer war to peace when they could have either, but they do.

Now beginning to understand; yet I don't.

Viewing a Project on a Mobile Phone

On a recent posting on the Microsoft Project Newsgroup (microsoft.public.project), Daniel Howden asked about the availability of a Project viewer program for WM6 (Windows Mobile 6). So far nobody on the newsgroup has reported such a best.

Jim Askel replied that it it would be possible to prepare a PDF to display on the mobile phone, or publishing to a SharePoint Site. I contributed that I've satisfied some executives who were using iPhone to view projects this way. I thought I would show here the some screen shots of my demo project published in SharePoint. I like this approach much better than a "project viewer" because it is not raw data. Even better would be a summary of project status to for reading on the SharePoint site.

Unintended Consequences Yet Again

As reported in today's New York Times, "Egypt Discovers the Flaws in Killing all its Pigs" is a story about unintended consequences happening on managing risk.

"When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash.

The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba."

Concern about "swine flu", which despite the name apparently has nothing really to do with swines, is the result of flaw risk and controls management.

"What started out as an impulsive response to the swine flu threat has turned into a social, environmental and political problem for the Arab world’s most populous nation.

It has exposed the failings of a government where the power is concentrated at the top, where decisions are often carried out with little consideration for their consequences and where follow-up is often nonexistent, according to social commentators and government officials."

This article should be required reading for all decision-making executives and managers.

Found a Bug in Snow Leopard which Apple Acknowledges

I apparently am the first person in the world (!) to report this real bug to Apple regarding their newest version of OS/X (Snow Leopard): cannot drag and drop photo into Address Book.

I noticed it when trying to drag and drop from iPhoto, but it also doesn't work when doing it from the Desktop. Apple didn't promise to fix it, but I suspect they will.

Meantime, the work-around is to drag the photo out of iPhoto (if there) onto the Desktop. Then in Address Book, double click on the space for the photo and go through the buttons presented to "choose" the file from the desktop copy.

Update 11 Nov 2009: Apple's update to OS X Version 10.6.2 fixes this problem.

Strange BBC Headine

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC)--you know, the one based in the UK--has a headline on their web site "Obama tackles UK PM on Lockerbie".

Why not say:

"US President tackles UK PM on Lockerbie"?

or

"Obama tackles Brown on Lockerbie"?

or

"US President Obama tackles UK Prim Minister Brown" on Lockerbie?

Interesting.

Snow Leopard Upgrade

Reports on the internet were clear: it's ok to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Further, it's a "great" upgrade that really makes a difference, they said.

Upgrade went as expected. The computer asked me a few questions and then took about 40 minutes or so of chugging away. I frankly could not tell if the performance was any better and everything pretty much looked the same to me. I did get back about 7 gb of disk space which I suppose is ok. Despite rumours to contrary, Office works just fine as far as I can tell.

The upgrade did kill my installation of MySQL database server and Django--both of which are required for some work I'm doing with further automation of the things I do to run the Scottish Oil Club. I guess this was caused when the upgrade over-wrote the symbolic links in /usr/local and included an upgrade to Python 2.6. Following easy instructions at the links below got MySQL and Django back in operation.

MySQL: http://cd34.com/blog/programming/python/mysql-python-and-snow-leopard/

Django: http://breakthesystem.org/2009/django-on-snow-leopard

MacBook Battery Life Less than I'm satisfied with

I am enjoying my new Apple MacBook--a change of technology a choice deliberately made following the crash of my Sony Vaio laptop hard disk crash. However, it is disappointing how short-lived the battery is.

As I write this the machine is just off being powered with a full charge, and it reports 2 hrs 36 minutes of power left. I could get 3-5 hours on the regular Sony battery, and up to about 6-7 using the over-sized one I bought.

I'm pleased this is the "old" MacBook that has replaceable batteries. I've bought 2 extra.

Galileo Recognized

Originating my my childhood reading (and I read a lot then), I have a number of heros. One was and is Galileo Galilei. It was refreshing to read about him again in The Economist. He used the power of his telescope and his mind to recognize that the "accepted" science--the science that was not under debate, had "been decided", and was no longer is an issue of "debate"--was wrong. He changed the world, and paid a price for his understanding of that world.

Something we should remember in the 21st century.

Healthcare Debate in USA

I have been following, from afar, the debate in USA about healthcare. This is of great interest to me for a number of reasons--the most significant being that I have experience with both the UK and USA "system". It is disappointing to read in the USA media about what some in USA say is so terrible about other countries including the UK.

I understand the need for politicians to create issues; alas, but what a waste of time to create issues based on false information and lies. And shame on the large number of people who appear to believe these lies.

Paul Krugman writes on this more eloquently than I in today's NY Times in a article entitled "Swiss Menace". Killer point:

But a Swiss-style system of universal coverage would be a vast improvement on what we have now. And we already know that such systems work. So we can do this. At this point, all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical-industrial complex, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies.

James Fallows also nails it today http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/08/on_selling_death_panels.php

This illustrates the biggest change in the rhetoric of health care reform over the past year. Last summer, during the campaign, Obama succeeded in focusing attention on the real problems of the patchwork insurance-and-care system as it actually exists: rising costs, bureaucratic inflexibility, perverse incentives, inevitable delays and de facto rationing, implicit decisions about life and death. Now, various opponents of a reform plan have succeeded in shifting attention to the imagined problems of a post-reform system: rising costs, bureaucratic inflexibility, perverse incentives, inevitable delays and de facto rationing, implicit decisions about life and death. It is an achievement to ponder.

SharePoint Explained Simply

A very creative video which explains what Microsoft SharePoint is all about.

Project Planning

Been using Microsoft Project for years. It's a great tool. One reason it stays in my repertoire is that I am continually learning new things about it. That being said it's a stagnant product. While Microsoft has grown the market by building and selling Project Server, Project is pretty much the same as it was in the last century. But still with many things to learn about!

I learned recently there are a few competing tools out there that until now I didn't know anything about. Yes, Primavera is out there (too big, expensive, with much legacy) and now that Oracle has bought it who knows where it will go.

Two recent discoveries: OmniPlan by the folks who brought me OmniFocus and OmniGraffle--both of which I use daily. US$150. And a "free" open source project which produces OpenProj which appears to be using Microsoft Project as their design basis.

I also really like and use Risky Project as it changes everything. I consider it "Project Planning 3.0" and has a great future.

I'm going to be experimenting with OmniPlan and OpenProject over the next few weeks in prep for attending the Microsoft Project Conference in September. [I am still a little puzzled why Microsoft, a global player, is limiting the "free" licensed copy of Project Professional 2010 to only those participants at the Conference who are from USA or Canada!.}

Physics for Future Presidents

I am reading a tremendous book. It was written by Richard A. Muller, a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. The book jacket does not mislead when it says "Physics for Future Presidents is a fascinating, lively, and nontechnical primer on precisely those topics that a future president and the electorate must master." And since I can't say it any better than the book jacket already does, "After treating the physics behind terrorist weapons, from airplanes to anthrax, Muller goes on to examine energy, nukes, space, and global warming. He turns many previously held assumptions on their ear, assumptions which, if uncorrected, could lead policy makers to serious mistakes."

I'm about half way through and I'm fascinated with his explanations of what radioactivity is, how it works, how it decays, how it disperses, how it affects human tissue, how human tissue responds, and how it is measured. He is explaining the physics of it. What's even more fascinating is how the physics is complete different that how I believe most people believe. And that leads to the large risk of mistaken political decisions.

Highly recommended.

Upgraded Apple Safari, Killed my Access to my bank

Apple released a small upgrade to Safari this week and from I read includes security improvements. My bank has decided they don't like that version and report "we do not support this browser". Sigh.

NY Times Notices SharePoint

The New York Times has an interesting article about Microsoft SharePoint in today's edition. Probably the result of good PR by Microsoft, but the truth as I understand it.

I introduce SharePoint to teams as a way to get a "single version of the truth".

Burma with Nuclear Capability

Mentioned by Secretary of State Clinton a few weeks back as I recall. Now a newspaper report. The world remains bonkers.

(first noticed at James Fallows's blog).