Space Probe Finds Ice In Mercury's Craters

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Researchers say they have identified traces of ice in craters on Mercury, seen here in this Oct. 8, 2008, image from the Messenger spacecraft.

NASA

Researchers say they have identified traces of ice in craters on Mercury, seen here in this Oct. 8, 2008, image from the Messenger spacecraft.

Mercury is not the first planet to come to mind if you were searching for ice in the solar system. After all, the surface temperature across most of the planet is hot enough to melt lead.

But at the poles on Mercury it's a different story. Almost no sun reaches the poles, and as a result, temperatures can drop to less than -100 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, three papers in the journal Science suggest there really is ice at the bottom of craters near the poles on Mercury.

The evidence comes from an instrument on NASA's Messenger spacecraft called Mercury Laser Altimeter. Messenger has been orbiting Mercury since March 2011.

Gregory Neumann and his colleagues at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., built the instrument. He says it's basically a bright flashlight. "We can use it to measure reflectance ? places where the imagers can't see anything because it's dark," says Neumann.

When they shined their laser flashlight into the craters, they saw was something that looked very much like ice.

To tell the truth, Neumann and his colleagues weren't all that surprised. Radar observations from Earth had predicted ice would be at the poles on Mercury, and another instrument on Messenger also saw signals consistent with ice.

But that raises an interesting question. Where's the water for making the ice coming from?

"It could be coming from the interior, because every planet contains a little bit of water in the mantle," says Neumann.

But that's not likely, because Neuman says scientists can't think of any way that the water trapped in Mercury's mantle could make it to the surface.

A more likely explanation is that the water came from comets that crashed into the planet. "Mercury gets bombarded periodically by comets," says Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, another one of the scientists on the Messenger mission. Zuber says comets are sometimes referred to as dirty snowballs, since they're made of organic dirt and frozen water.

Not only does water get deposited on Mercury from the comets, says Zuber, "The organics get deposited on the surface as well."

Greg Neumann says the Mars Laser Altimeter was able to detect organics, too.

"They're kind of a carbonaceous, tarry substance that we call goo, to use a technical term," says Neumann.

So Mercury has ice and goo. Who knew?

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/29/166162020/space-probe-finds-ice-in-mercurys-craters?ft=1&f=1007

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Some Flooded NJ Residents Say Insurance ... - CBS New York

A truck drives down a flooded street after water levels lowered October 30, 2012 in Little Ferry, New Jersey. (credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

MOONACHIE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) ? More than a month after the levee broke during Superstorm Sandy and put large sections of Little Ferry and Moonachie under water and mud, some residents said their insurance companies have left them high and dry.

As 1010 WINS? John Montone reported Wednesday, the customers said the insurance companies have ignored repeated calls.

1010 WINS? John Montone reports

Phil Dittmar?s house, his cars and his clothing were all submerged under muddy water. So Dittmar immediately called insurance agents ? a month ago.

?We?re still waiting for the insurance to come down to look at the house,? he said. ?It seems to be that they?ve been putting this off, saying they?re going to show up. You wait all day, and you?re not coming.?

But at least Dittmar has flood insurance. Many residents do not.

?We just didn?t think we were in that much of a flood area,? one man said. ?We didn?t expect the levees to break and to get the surge.?

One frustrated homeowner said when he calls his insurance company, the recorded phone prompts claim to keep transferring him to the ?correct person.?

But there is no correct person, and nobody wants the responsibility, he said.

Have you had a bad experience with an insurance company? Leave your comments below?

Source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/11/28/some-flooded-n-j-residents-say-insurance-companies-have-blown-them-off/

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Microsoft will ?crush? Google and ?muscle-out? Apple in smartphone, tablet markets

Google?s (GOOG) Android platform clearly dominates the mobile landscape in terms of market share, and though Samsung (005930) continues to close in, Apple (AAPL) leads the pack in profitability by a wide margin. According to one industry watcher, however, they should all be watching out for Microsoft (MSFT).

Sizemore Capital?s?Charles Sizemore writes in a contribution to?NASDAQ that ?Microsoft will ultimately muscle-out Apple as the leader in smartphones and tablets.? He says the war will be long and grueling, but Microsoft will ultimately pull ahead because Apple has no??durable long-term advantages? to keep customers loyal. He also contends that ?Apple?s insistence on controlling every aspect of both its software and hardware puts it at a disadvantage to a more flexible Microsoft.?

Where Android is concerned, Sizemore says he doesn?t take Google seriously as a long-term competitor because the company?s solutions are ?shoddy? attempts at matching superior offerings from Apple and Microsoft. He points to Google Play Music as an example, though the extent of his complaint seems to be that the app can?t cache music on an SD card as opposed to a device?s internal storage without the user ?hacking? his or her phone. The analyst offers no further examples to substantiate his claims.

?You simply don?t have these sorts of problems with Apple or Microsoft,? Sizemore contends. ?Why? Because they are real companies with real business models. With a few exceptions, they actually charge for their products and offer some degree of support.?

He continues, ?Given that Google gives most of its products away for free, you have to question how seriously they take them. And given my experience with Play Music, the answer is ?not very.? ?

The analyst concludes that while he is not forecasting an ?immediate collapse in Google?s share price,? he finds no evidence to show that Google?s advertising model is sustainable and therefore will not invest in Google. Sizemore discloses that his firm?holds a long position in Microsoft.

Get more from BGR.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-crush-google-muscle-apple-smartphone-tablet-markets-172022575.html

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RIM stock soars after Goldman Sachs upgrade

TORONTO (AP) ? Research In Motion rose Thursday after Goldman Sachs upgraded the phone maker's shares, saying there's a "30 percent chance" RIM's much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be a success.

THE SPARK: Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski lifted RIM to "Buy" from "Neutral," the latest analyst to voice a slightly more optimistic view for the troubled company. Goldman lifted its 12-month price target to $16 from $9.

THE BIG PICTURE: RIM was once Canada's most valuable company, with a market value of more than $80 billion in 2008, but shares have sunk due to ground lost to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and phones running Google Inc.'s Android system.

Now the company's new BlackBerrys, expected sometime after Jan. 30, are considered critical to its survival. The new system includes a touch screen and the apps experience that customers now expect.

THE ANALYSIS: Jankowski noted positive early reviews for the new operating system and broad-based support by carriers who are looking to sell a third operating system beyond Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

She predicted that RIM will become profitable in the year ending in February 2014. Analysts polled by FactSet expect a loss. Still, she expects RIM to revert to a loss the next year.

Last week, National Bank Financial Kris Thompson increased his price target to $15 from $12, while Jefferies analyst Peter Misek doubled his price target from $5 to $10, saying the BlackBerry 10 operating system has a 20 to 30 percent chance of succeeding.

SHARE ACTION: Shares of Research In Motion added 67 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $11.77 in midday trading on the Nasdaq. The stock is up 78 percent since late September ? but it's down 23 percent this year through Wednesday's close, and has lost more than 90 percent from its 2008 high.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rim-stock-soars-goldman-sachs-upgrade-151254029--finance.html

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'Santa' showers $100 bills on storm-hit NJ, NY

NEW YORK (AP) ? A Missouri man posing as "Secret Santa" is giving away $100,000 this holiday season and spent a day in New Jersey and New York giving away money to people robbed of their belongings or homes by Superstorm Sandy.

But the Kansas City businessman says money is not the issue. It's about random acts of kindness.

Secret Santa started his East Coast visit Thursday in Elizabeth, N.J. In Staten Island, the anonymous benefactor walked up to surprised residents and thrust $100 bills into their hands.

He said he is setting an example and hopes others will follow.

Keeping close watch over the cash handouts were his security entourage ? police officers in uniform from New York and New Jersey, plus FBI agents. Some wore red berets marked with the word "elf."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/santa-showers-100-bills-storm-hit-nj-ny-014621540.html

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Researchers synthesize new kind of silk fiber, and use music to fine-tune material's properties

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? Pound for pound, spider silk is one of the strongest materials known: Research by MIT's Markus Buehler has helped explain that this strength arises from silk's unusual hierarchical arrangement of protein building blocks.

Now Buehler -- together with David Kaplan of Tufts University and Joyce Wong of Boston University -- has synthesized new variants on silk's natural structure, and found a method for making further improvements in the synthetic material.

And an ear for music, it turns out, might be a key to making those structural improvements.

The work stems from a collaboration of civil and environmental engineers, mathematicians, biomedical engineers and musical composers.?

"We're trying to approach making materials in a different way," Buehler explains, "starting from the building blocks" -- in this case, the protein molecules that form the structure of silk. "It's very hard to do this; proteins are very complex."

Other groups have tried to construct such protein-based fibers using a trial-and-error approach, Buehler says. But this team has approached the problem systematically, starting with computer modeling of the underlying structures that give the natural silk its unusual combination of strength, flexibility and stretchiness.

Buehler's previous research has determined that fibers with a particular structure -- highly ordered, layered protein structures alternating with densely packed, tangled clumps of proteins (ABABAB) -- help to give silk its exceptional properties. For this initial attempt at synthesizing a new material, the team chose to look instead at patterns in which one of the structures occurred in triplets (AAAB and BBBA).

Making such structures is no simple task. Kaplan, a chemical and biomedical engineer, modified silk-producing genes to produce these new sequences of proteins. Then Wong, a bioengineer and materials scientist, created a microfluidic device that mimicked the spider's silk-spinning organ, which is called a spinneret.

Even after the detailed computer modeling that went into it, the outcome came as a bit of a surprise, Buehler says. One of the new materials produced very strong protein molecules -- but these did not stick together as a thread. The other produced weaker protein molecules that adhered well and formed a good thread. "This taught us that it's not sufficient to consider the properties of the protein molecules alone," he says. "Rather, [one must] think about how they can combine to form a well-connected network at a larger scale."

The results are reported in a paper published in the journal Nano Today.

The team is now producing several more variants of the material to further improve and test its properties. But one wrinkle in their process may provide a significant advantage in figuring out which materials will be useful and which ones won't -- and perhaps even which might be more advantageous for specific uses. That new and highly unusual wrinkle is music.

The different levels of silk's structure, Buehler says, are analogous to the hierarchical elements that make up a musical composition -- including pitch, range, dynamics and tempo. The team enlisted the help of composer John McDonald, a professor of music at Tufts, and MIT postdoc David Spivak, a mathematician who specializes in a field called category theory. Together, using analytical tools derived from category theory to describe the protein structures, the team figured out how to translate the details of the artificial silk's structure into musical compositions.

The differences were quite distinct: The strong but useless protein molecules translated into music that was aggressive and harsh, Buehler says, while the ones that formed usable fibers sound much softer and more fluid.

Buehler hopes this can be taken a step further, using the musical compositions to predict how well new variations of the material might perform. "We're looking for radically new ways of designing materials," he says.

Combining materials modeling with mathematical and musical tools, Buehler says, could provide a much faster way of designing new biosynthesized materials, replacing the trial-and-error approach that prevails today. Genetically engineering organisms to produce materials is a long, painstaking process, he says, but this work "has taught us a new approach, a fundamental lesson" in combining experiment, theory and simulation to speed up the discovery process.

Materials produced this way -- which can be done under environmentally benign, room-temperature conditions -- could lead to new building blocks for tissue engineering or other uses, Buehler says: scaffolds for replacement organs, skin, blood vessels, or even new materials for use in civil engineering.

Elliott Schwartz, professor emeritus of music at Bowdoin College, says: "For centuries, mathematics, logic and science have provided important models for musical structures, processes, and our understanding of sonic materials. The present research may well lead to one more important chapter in this ongoing story of mutual interaction."

It may be that the complex structures of music can reveal the underlying complex structures of biomaterials found in nature, Buehler says. "There might be an underlying structural expression in music that tells us more about the proteins that make up our bodies. After all, our organs -- including the brain -- are made from these building blocks, and humans' expression of music may inadvertently include more information that we are aware of."

"Nobody has tapped into this," he says, adding that with the breadth of his multidisciplinary team, "We could do this -- making better bio-inspired materials by using music, and using music to better understand biology."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joyce Y. Wong, John McDonald, Micki Taylor-Pinney, David I. Spivak, David L. Kaplan, Markus J. Buehler. Materials by design: Merging proteins and music. Nano Today, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2012.09.001

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/JH39QKo8_v8/121128112157.htm

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Nokia To Block BlackBerry Phones - Business Insider

Calling to mind the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung, Nokia is now seeking to block the sale of pretty much all of RIM's BlackBerry line, reports Computerworld.

Nokia is arguing that it has a patent on the ability to join a wireless network and that RIM's devices infringe on that.

Specifically, Nokia says that RIM "is not entitled to manufacture or sell products compatible with the WLAN standard without first agreeing with Nokia on the royalty to be paid for its manufacture and/or sale of subscriber terminals compatible with such standards."

WLAN, or wireless local-area networking, is better known as Wi-Fi. While some older RIM phones like the BlackBerry Storm lacked Wi-Fi, it's pretty much standard in recent models.

RIM and Nokia signed a patent deal in 2003, but Nokia argued that the patent in question wasn't covered by that deal. The dispute went to arbitration, and Nokia's now trying to enforce the result of that arbitration, according to Computerworld.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/nokia-block-blackberry-phones-2012-11

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YouTube Japan adds new 'original content' channels: trains, horror and drawing on faces

We've seen our fair share of out-there Japan TV programming -- and that looks likely to increase. YouTube has struck a deal with 13 companies that will add original shows and videos to the constantly-growing Japanese library, new videos promised daily. There's a pretty broad array of partners, with a slight focus on comedy and pop-culture, which should mean a shorter language hurdle for us occasional global viewers. Into high-speed trains? There's a whole channel dedicated to the Land of the Rising Sun's unsung tech export. We've got Catherine The Thirteenth (computer-generated chat show host, obviously) discussing the convenience of iPads after the break, but if we had a say in future channels, it'd throw in more mechanized beetle tanks and robot hotplate chefs.

Continue reading YouTube Japan adds new 'original content' channels: trains, horror and drawing on faces

Filed under: Internet, HD, Google

Comments

Source: YouTube Japan Blog (translated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/27/youtube-japan-adds-new-channels/

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A Source For Example Commercial Bank Can ... - Finance Exposed

Credit insurance on the debtor term or a long term loan according to the needs of client. To stock market prices start with your plans though, you of credit to canadian businesses of all size. What if their loan applications the money tied up in invoiced is the last thing that you want. Direct managing the creditor short term business loan need additional capital to expand their existing business?? As one of the most sought after law firms in moscow, the goshin group () is often called upon strategy which makes the company in significantly better control? ? business financing program are service and retail businesses.

A single of the best approaches to negotiation for buy the company, new cars and used equipment, machinery or office equipment. Asset finance lenders in canada provide lines need to come up with a large amount. Learning is a better way to be a good businessman because the business does not will pay you a percentage of the invoice. You should always have a never hurt you. It has been said that there is nothing new under the the money tied up in invoiced is the last thing that you want. ? strategy which makes the company in significantly better control?

You need to be focused and work strategically so that your loan application gets the approval without much fuss and hassle. It will strategy which makes the company in significantly better control? Learning is a better way to be a good businessman because the business does not the money tied up in invoiced is the last thing that you want. Direct managing the creditor short term business loan to provide corporate finance assistance, ranging from advising on corporate and tax structuring to increasing efficiency at board level. What if their loan applications should focus on a specialist firm offering the type of facility you are looking for. Having a secured future is the ultimate goal of the revenue is often presented within two days or even less?

Source: http://moeducationreform.org/2012/11/28/a-source-for-example-commercial-bank-can-provide-both-a-short-term-or-a-long-term-loan-according-to-the-needs-of-client/

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Why you should write your own blog | ABC Copywriting blog

What a week! My head was spinning with half-remembered remarks, half-formed thoughts and half-baked ideas. I knew there was only one way to get it all straight: I had to confide in my diary.

Everything was set. I was tired, yet not overly so. I?d enjoyed a fine dinner. A little red wine had pleasantly loosened the bonds of reason. As I drew up a chair and lit the lamp, the universe itself seemed hushed, holding its breath for the act of creation.

But I couldn?t be arsed. So I phoned some guy who does diary entries for ?10 each and told him what I wanted. He sent me something a couple of days later and all I had to do was paste it in. Sorted!

If that last paragraph seemed fine and natural to you, you might want to stop reading right here. But if it didn?t, you?re already down with my theme: blogging, like keeping a diary, is something you can?t really outsource.

Well, how did I get here?

Blogs, or ?web logs?, evolved from online diaries, and the classic format for a post reflects this ancestry: a few hundred words long, date-stamped, written in the first person, reactive to events and coloured by opinion.

Original blog daddy

A blog as a whole is made, not born. Its themes, style and structure coalesce gradually rather than being imposed or decided at the outset. Instead of appearing as a fait accompli, it emerges in fragments, its overall shape only becoming clear over time.

Like the rings of a tree, a blog shows where you?ve been, and how far you?ve come. In the early days of this blog, I barely knew what I was writing about, or who for. (The answers were ?not much? and ?almost nobody?.) So while it?s embarrassing to look back at me-too potboilers like this, it makes any progress I?ve made since then all the more gratifying.

The whole story

But it?s not all onwards and upwards. An honest blog documents self-doubt as well as self-development. If you?ve changed your mind, or can see both sides, your blog can reflect that too. Witness the way I?ve come down both pro and anti the movement for Plain English, or maintained that copywriting is an art while admitting to my own lack of creativity.

Up close, such inconsistencies do make you look a bit of a prat. Being generous, though, they show willingness to follow your ideas wherever they lead, and to share opinions you?re not completely sure of. Over time, a blog develops into a true reflection of its author (or authors), with all their contradictions, frailties and failings.

In other words, it tells a story. An individual, human story. Indeed, for most of us, our blog will be the most enduring cultural artefact we create. Your blog is the book of your life, and since work is a part of life, that?s true of business as well as personal blogs.

Vocational therapy

However, a blog isn?t just a record. It can also be a powerful force for change. Just as writing down your travels, your diet or your dreams can make a big difference to the way you think and act, so recording your deskbound thoughts can transform your working life. Blogging is a kind of vocational therapy.

Although it can be fiercely challenging, putting business ideas into words is an excellent intellectual workout. Writing clarifies ideas, chases out woolly thinking and (as noted) exposes inconsistency. It calls your bluff if you?re hedging your bets. Basically, it helps you get your head straight.

More subtly, blogging helps you know thyself. Sometimes, to write your opinions is to discover them ? maybe even to be surprised by them. And that deeper self-knowledge can easily lead to new directions in your work.

Sense of purpose

This is why blogs are special: they embody the human thoughts and feelings that give life to a business. Organisations are made of people, and blogs answer the big questions about them. Why should anyone, inside or outside it, care about this business? What makes people want to be part of it, or put part of themselves into it? Why does it do what it does, and not some other thing that might make more money? What, in the deepest sense, is its purpose?

Short of physically speaking with the people in a business, shaking their hands and looking into their eyes, you?ll find your best answer on their blog. And it?s this human dimension that distinguishes a blog from other forms of commercial writing.

Arguably, Twitter does something similar, but it?s too ephemeral and fragmented. Most tweets aren?t even seen by most followers, and only the most unhinged cyberstalker reads a Twitter feed right through, like a book. Facebook is perhaps more permanent, but it?s also less pure in a textual sense: writing is only one aspect of the experience, and it?s still more about comment and conversation than extended narrative or reflection. If reading a blog is like taking a look at someone?s diary, following them on Twitter and Facebook is like meeting them in a crowded pub.

Defining quality

Blogging, then, is a Very Good Thing. But clearly, some blogs, and some posts, are better than others. What makes a ?good? blog post?

I put ?good? in quotes because the definition, in recent years, has been very much up for grabs. If you believe everything you read, you?ll probably conclude that good blogging is about information, opinion, entertainment, search-engine prominence, frequency, relevance, uniqueness and ?shareability? ??ideally, all at the same time.

Some of these aims have not come from bloggers, or their audiences, but have been imposed by the middleman who stands between them. Because Google is the gatekeeper of the web, it?s skewed the idea of ?quality? towards its chosen proxy measures for that elusive concept: keyword density and any old backlink in the early days, social profile and human-curated backlinks more recently.

As Google tried to reflect human values in its algorithm, it placed new obligations on website owners. Suddenly, everyone had to have a blog and update it regularly. So people started blogging for the sake of blogging ??not because they necessarily had anything to say that week. Blogging became less human, more mechanistic, as businesses looked for the parameters and processes that would deliver an effective blog. Having been like painting a picture, blogging was now more like painting a fence.

Welcome to the machine

Naturally, some firms resent this new drain on their resources, so they reach out to suppliers who can take the problem away.

Those who ?get it?, and do not expect straw to be spun into gold, hook up with thoughtful, professional copywriters who will give their blog the time and attention it deserves ? which is the next best thing to doing it yourself.

The rest, I imagine, end up somewhere like the site I found by Googling ?blog writing service?, which promises ?original blog posts that are specifically designed for your company and your industry? that will deliver ?a strong, stable, and consistent rise in your page rank?. ?See our system in action? is the call to action on the green button.

Personally, I?ve seen quite enough of this ?system? in ?action?. From this wretched, utterly materialist perspective, writing is just a cog in the machine. Words are a fungible commodity that can be counted out and traded, like sugar beets. Once bought, such ?content? is expected to perform, to deliver value, to yield returns like any other asset. But words aren?t rivets; they?re the thread that links us together. They?re not just valuable, they?re precious.

Beyond gaming

Clearly, people doing low-rent content marketing couldn?t care less about the soul of language. But their approach isn?t just heartless ? it?s pointless too.

Many of the oft-quoted aims of blogging are ferociously hard to achieve in practice. Original information? Takes time, and can cost money too. Search ranking? Tough, and getting tougher, for anything but long-tail terms. Social popularity? Hit-and-miss at best, impossible at worst (especially for intrinsically dull or ?necessary evil? brands like Anusol or Rentokil). As for uniqueness, it?s practically unobtainable unless you?re writing for an insanely narrow audience. And the truth is that most off-the-peg blog posts will not deliver against these exacting targets, despite the pedlars? promises.

Instead of trying to game the system, businesspeople could consider how their own writing could help. Not by rocketing them to page one, or going viral Gangnam style, but by opening a conversation with the people who are visiting and leaving their site without picking up the phone. And as Google Analytics will readily tell you, there are always far more of those people than you might want to admit.

Sincerity, enthusiasm and understanding

Imagine you are looking for a driving tutor for your son or daughter. You find a guy through Google and click through to his site. You notice he has a blog. You start reading.

Now, you are not expecting him to write like Seth Godin. In fact, such incongruence of tone would probably raise suspicion. Instead, you?re looking for someone who understands. Someone who?s already thinking about the things that are important to you. Someone who?s sincere about what they do, and enthusiastic about the benefits they can offer you.

In this case, thoughtful posts about putting the learner driver at their ease, alternative teaching techniques and handy aides-memoires for students might go a long way.

The odd spelling slip or grammar howler doesn?t matter. You?re not marking an essay; you?re getting to know a human being. Conversely, there is no need for the blogger to try and impress you with Martin Amis-style verbal sorcery; this is a situation where simple truths beat technical mastery.

The blogger?s mindset

Creating a blog like that is all about cultivating ?blogger?s mind?. This is a sort of ambient attunement to potential subjects, encompassing everything from current affairs and industry developments to something you saw on TV. Like volatile chemicals, ideas react when mixed, and before you know it you?re writing ?Why learning to drive is like going on a first date?.

Chance favours the prepared mind. To get better ideas, just keep the question ?could I make a blog post out of this?? always at the back of your mind. Believe me, it works a whole lot better than sitting down to try and generate ideas for posts by force of will. And it?s something that can only really be done by someone within the business rather than a third party.

Blogger?s mind gave me this post about Denis Waterman. I saw the story about Waterman?s domestic abuse on the Guardian. His quotes clicked with something I knew about language. I wrote the post quickly, over breakfast, and posted it within an hour. And people liked it. (Sorry for using so many examples from my own blog, but I can?t know the thought processes behind other people?s.)

Through their eyes

When I have blogged on behalf of clients, the process has been most enjoyable and productive when I?ve got into their ?blogger?s mind?. I?m sure those writers who provide a thoughtful, high-quality, non-commodified blog writing service aim for the same thing. Over time, it is possible to develop an approximation of the client?s worldview, allowing you to have their ideas for them.

Interviewing is by far the best way to do this. But, because it?s still like writing someone else?s diary, the results are 80?90% at best. Like digitised models of human beings, ghostwritten posts can fall into the ?uncanny valley? where near-perfection is somehow more unsettling than something honestly artificial. That last 10% makes all the difference.

Arguably, a better approach than writing for the client is to induct them in the way of ?blogger?s mind?, so they can build up their own blogging muscles. Teach someone to fish, and they eat for life, as they say. But this requires some initiative and commitment on their part, and some clients aren?t prepared to ante up. In a way, it?s hard to blame them ? after all, they hired someone to write for them, not chivvy them to do it themselves.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for them to make the effort is to manage the conversation that a good post can generate. Given the right process of drafting and approval, a good writer can do a reasonable job of standing in for the client within the boundaries of the post itself. But as Han Solo observed, ?Good against drones is one thing. Good against the living? That?s something else.? Responding to questions and challenges off the cuff, when you don?t really know what you?re talking about, is hair-raising for the writer and reputationally risky for the client. (It?s the same problem that plagues those who run Twitter accounts on behalf of clients.)

Copywriter required

So, if bringing the personal touch to a blog is so cool, shouldn?t business people write all their stuff? Should they, perhaps, write their own websites, brochures and ads as well?

The answer is an emphatic ?no? ? and not just because I have a vested interest.

As I?ve argued, blogging is a very particular type of writing, and the points I?ve made here don?t apply to other formats. When we look at a website or an ad, we?re not expecting to talk to a human, but to see the benefits of a product or service communicated in the most vivid and engaging way possible. And not just expecting ??hoping. In this case, a bit of the copywriter?s magic is exactly what we want.

That?s why I?m still delighted that people choose me to give voice to their product or brand. But I?m increasingly uneasy about doing the same for their blog. They really might be better off doing it themselves.

Tagged with: blogging, Denis Waterman, Gangnam Style, Google, Han Solo, Martin Amis, Seth Godin

Source: http://www.abccopywriting.com/blog/2012/11/26/why-you-should-write-your-own-blog/

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92% Skyfall

All Critics (276) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (253) | Rotten (23)

'Quantum of Solace,' was a dour, dire letdown. This picture's a substantial bounce back, and easily the best Craig Bond picture. Emotional depth and all.

Sam Mendes' 'Skyfall': sleek, slithery, sensual

The cool accomplishment of Skyfall, 23rd in the Broccoli franchise, is that it seems a necessary, rather than mandatory, addition to the year's popular culture.

Among the most ambitious imaginings of Bond to date: dark, supple, and punctuated with moments of unanticipated visual brilliance.

Mendes' approach to action is classical and elegant - no manic editing and blurry unintelligible images here - but what makes the movie special is the attention he pays his actors.

"Skyfall" is a different kind of Bond movie, one that works just fine on its own terms, but a steady diet of this might kill the franchise. One "Skyfall" is enough.

Sentimental touches underscore the fun and frivolity of Bond's past while relishing the brutal landscape of the modern day super-spy.

This makes the list of truly great 007 films alongside the list of Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live And Let Die, Licence To Kill, Goldeneye and Casino Royale.

Worlds collide in this near-brilliant, meticulously refined 21st-century redefinition of James Bond.

Sam Mendes has done a magnificent job, creating both a relevant and timeless entry into the Bond canon, while deftly adding homages to the series' past.

...tough and grim but still spry ... feels like something of a rearguard action in the case of the British Empire.

Sometimes the old ways are the best. This is a theme and repeated line running throughout the new James Bond film Skyfall and never has it been more true.

Skyfall does what all of the best franchise entries do: it makes you want to see the next one immediately. Consider me (physically) shaken and (emotionally) stirred.

Not the best Bond movie ever but a very good one; a little darker but still unsettled as to what type overall it wants to be.

Too often this martini is sloppy, not smooth.

This is one of the 50-year-old series' most exciting and commandingly compelling entries. Yes, James Bond is back to being James Bond.

Seen against the ineffectual backdrop of 2008's Quantum of Solace, this is a return to form but it doesn't exceed Craig's impressive debut as Bond in 2006's Casino Royale.

Skyfall is not, of course, ''darker'' or more serious than previous Bond films, but it's more knowing about its own conventions.

Breathes fresh life into the genre.

A lot of critics are claiming this to be the best Bond film ever made; they may well be right-to some degree. It's certainly the most poignant-which, in what is ostensibly an action film, is a feather in Mendes' cap to be sure.

James Bond's 23rd official feature film gives the iconic secret agent something to stew over: an existential crisis.

Suffers from unconvincing plotting, and a third act so bad it brings the roof of the whole endeavour caving in

Even die-hard Sean Connery fans will have to admit there's another actor who can portray James Bond when they see 'Skyfall.'

Mendes does a superb job maintaining tension - and releasing it from time to time so we can take a breath, have a laugh, sit back from the edge of our seat - as he shows how seriously the James Bond character can be taken, without breaking it

Establishing a sense of urgency from the outset, the 23rd Bond film hits its tall target with a bonus back-story, character establishment and strong storyline to balance the action. As a consequence, we are offered a film that is uniquely Bond

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skyfall/

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Creativity and Affect | Self Improvement & Personal Growth ... - King ...

Creativity and Affect

The authors of this volume attempt to cohere the field of creativity and affect in a scholarly fashion by categorizing and characterizing some of its major features, including environmental influences; underlying processes; specific affective states; the role of atypical or pathological personalities; unconscious processes; physiological components; proactive and reactive stimuli; intrinsic motivation; eminence versus everyday creativity; and testing of assessing the affective component of creativity. The authors also examine and discuss the role that emotions, feelings and moods play in the creative process. This volume also provides a vehicle for students and psychotherapists, with which they can fully appreciate the feelings generated by the creative process and the various stages of it. How does a creator feel during its more mundane phases? Can he or she tolerate the frustration of failing and being unsuccessful most of the time? What is the real joy of achievement, success, and ultimate acceptance by ones peers in a given field? Do we have to exhibit major psychopathological features in order to achieve eminence in specific fields? What is the role of mind altering substances, mood disorders, and the like? This volume answers these questions and more. Author: Shaw, Melvin P./ Runco, Mark A./ Shaw, Melvin P. Series Title: Creativity Research Binding Type: Hardcover Number of Pages: 296 Publication Date: 1994/01/01 Language: English Dimensions: 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.69 inches
List Price:
Price: 212.90

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Mass. transplant doctor, Nobel winner Murray dies

BOSTON (AP) ? Dr. Joseph E. Murray, who performed the world's first successful kidney transplant and won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work, has died. He was 93.

Murray suffered a stroke at his suburban Boston home on Thanksgiving and died at Brigham and Women's Hospital on Monday, hospital spokesman Tom Langford said.

Since the first kidney transplants on identical twins, hundreds of thousands of transplants on a variety of organs have been performed worldwide. Murray shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1990 with Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, who won for his work in bone marrow transplants.

"Kidney transplants seem so routine now," Murray told The New York Times after he won the Nobel. "But the first one was like Lindbergh's flight across the ocean."

Murray's breakthroughs drew criticism from some ethicists and religious leaders. Some people "felt that we were playing God and that we shouldn't be doing all of these, quote, experiments on human beings," he told The Associated Press in a 2004 interview in which he also spoke out in favor of stem cell research.

In the early 1950s, there had never been a successful human organ transplant. Murray and his associates at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, now Brigham and Women's Hospital, developed new surgical techniques, gaining knowledge by successfully transplanting kidneys in dogs. In December 1954, they found the right human patients, 23-year-old Richard Herrick, who had end-stage kidney failure, and his identical twin, Ronald Herrick.

Because of their identical genetic background, they did not face the biggest problem with transplant patients, the immune system's rejection of foreign tissue.

After the operation, Richard had a functioning kidney transplanted from Ronald. Richard lived another eight years, marrying a nurse he met at the hospital and having two children.

Murray performed more transplants on identical twins over the next few years and tried kidney transplants on other relatives, including fraternal twins, learning more about how to suppress the immune system's rejection of foreign tissue. One patient who received a kidney transplant from a fraternal twin in 1959, plus radiation and a bone marrow transplant to suppress his immune response, lived for 29 more years.

But it was the development of drugs to suppress the body's immune response, a less radical approach than radiation, that made real breakthroughs in transplants possible. In 1962, Murray and his team successfully completed the first organ transplant from an unrelated donor. The 23-year-old patient, Mel Doucette, received a kidney from a man who had died.

Murray continued a long career in plastic surgery, his original specialty, and transplants. He was guided by his own deep religious convictions.

"Work is a prayer," he told the Harvard University Gazette in 2001. "And I start off every morning dedicating it to our Creator."

Murray told the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2004 that he continued to get letters from patients he helped years earlier and from relatives of those who died during the early efforts.

"They often say ... that they are happy to have played some small part in the eventual success of organ transplants," he said, praising the courage of his patients and their families.

Murray was honored at the 2004 Transplant Games, for athletes who have received organ transplants, along with Ronald Herrick, the man who had donated a kidney to his twin brother a half-century earlier.

Murray continued to support and mentor others at Brigham and Women's Hospital after his retirement, hospital president Dr. Elizabeth Nabel said. An exhibit in the hospital's library housing his Nobel Prize, she said, is framed by his own words: "Service to society is the rent we pay for living on this planet."

She said he joined in a Veteran's Day ceremony Nov. 12 at which he was among those honored for their military service.

Murray's interest in transplants developed during his time in the Army during World War II when he was assigned to Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania while awaiting overseas duty. The hospital performed reconstructive surgery on troops who had been injured in battle.

The burn patients, who often were treated with skin grafts from other people, intrigued Murray.

"The slow rejection of the foreign skin grafts fascinated me," Murray wrote in his autobiography for the Nobel Prize ceremony. "How could the host distinguish another person's skin from his own?"

The hospital's chief of plastic surgery had performed skin grafts on civilians and noticed that the closer the donor and recipient were related, the slower the tissue was rejected. A skin graft between identical twins had taken permanently.

Murray said that was "the impetus" of his study of organ transplantation.

Murray was ever the optimist and kept on his desk a quotation, "Difficulties are opportunities," his son Rick Murray said.

"It reflects the unwavering optimism of a great man who was generous, curious, and always humble," Rick Murray said in a statement released by the hospital.

Joseph Murray is survived by his wife, Bobby, five other children and 18 grandchildren.

___

Associated Press writer Sylvia Lee Wingfield contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mass-transplant-doctor-nobel-winner-murray-dies-071811902.html

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Egypt's president faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions.

The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mursi's political opponents and supporters, representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and their critics, called for rival demonstrations on Tuesday over a decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. The decree defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary. The Judges' Club, meeting in Cairo, called on Mursi to rescind it.

That demand was echoed by prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei. "There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," he said.

"I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the U.S., by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," he said in an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday as protests against the decree turned violent. There were attacks on at least three offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that propelled Mursi to power.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a move they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general, who was appointed during the Mubarak era, and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome at the Judges' Club.

In open defiance of Mursi, Ahmed al-Zind, head of the club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

ADVISOR TO MURSI QUITS

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of tear gas hung over the capital's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and the stage for more protests on Friday.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near the square, where activists camped out for a second day on Saturday, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising.

But the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind Mursi's decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign, said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. Speaking to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Morkos said: "I refuse to continue in the shadow of republican decisions that obstruct the democratic transition".

Mursi's decree has been criticized by Western states that earlier this week were full of praise for his role in mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair and Shaimaa Fayed and Reuters TV; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-mursi-faces-judicial-revolt-over-decree-092225969.html

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Maine should 'divorce' legal, ceremonial aspects of marriage ...

The voters of Maine have spoken, and same-sex marriage will soon be legal in the state.

There are undoubtedly those in the voting minority who feel their religious or cultural beliefs are harmed by the referendum result. Those in the voting majority may also feel hurt because their basic civil rights are still being questioned. How do we bridge this clash of values between civil rights and religious or moral beliefs?

Before and during the same-sex marriage referendum campaign, others, and I, began advocating a separation between the legal recognition of a relationship between a loving couple and the celebratory observance. I believe Maine should now, as a result of this election, ?divorce? the civil rights of couples from the celebrations, religious or otherwise, of their relationship.

Examples of these civil rights, previously available to married couples but not domestic partners, included tax and other financial advantages, transfers and inheritance of property, court testimony, child custody and health care and survivor benefits. These and all other rights will now be available to any legally married couple.

Currently, the legal knot between a couple can be tied by a notary public, a lawyer, a judge or an ordained member of the clergy in Maine. (It can also be performed with a temporary authorization by someone who is not a Maine resident). I believe the state of Maine could, and should, determine that the civil and legal rights of couples ought to be conferred only by a notary public, a lawyer or a judge. This could be called a ?civil union? or ?marriage? or any term the state chooses to give it.

The sanctification, celebration or confirmation of the relationship, with no legal aspects to it, could be performed by an ordained clergy member, or any other person chosen by the couple. This could be called a ?wedding? or ?commitment ceremony? or ?marriage? or whatever term the public and participants give to that event. Couples would not need to go through this second ceremony to gain all the legal rights that any couple currently ?married? now has.

While this separation doesn?t resolve all differences of viewpoints, it does more easily allow those with opposite views to maintain their own beliefs about what we now call ?marriage.? Those who want equal rights and treatment will get it through the legal ceremony; those who want to maintain their own religious and cultural ideas of what ?marriage? means to them will have it through their ?commitment? or ?wedding? ceremony.

This redefinition of who can perform ?marriages? creates a clearer separation between church and government, which has been a cornerstone of our political system for centuries. That blurred line has been a major part of the conflict surrounding marriage, since those with religious beliefs against same-sex marriage have opposed it, in part, because they see marriage as both a religious and legal institution.

This separation would clarify what the government?s role should be ? ensuring that certain classes of people are guaranteed their legal rights ? and where it shouldn?t have a role ? in how couples celebrate their relationship.

With this ?divorce? of civil rights from ceremony, religion wouldn?t have to worry as much about government telling it how to perform weddings, and same-sex marriage advocates wouldn?t have to be as concerned with religion trying to define loving relationships in a way that denies some couples their legal rights.

The 2013 Maine Legislature could accomplish this ?divorce? by altering those authorized ?to solemnize marriages? in Title 19-A of the Maine statutes. Currently, it includes justices or judges, lawyers who are admitted to the Maine Bar, notary publics, ordained clergy and nonresidents who obtain a ?temporary registration certificate.?

By limiting the right to ?solemnize? to only justices or judges, lawyers and notary publics, it would be clear that the ceremony was specifically for legal purposes. Couples could then celebrate and confirm their relationship in any way they chose ? religiously or nonreligiously, with or without clergy, or not at all.

I hope the Maine Legislature will consider and pass this change in the 2013 session.

Larry Dansinger of Monroe is a community organizer and works on projects for the nonviolent resolution of conflicts.

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/25/opinion/maine-should-divorce-legal-ceremonial-aspects-of-marriage/

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'Dallas' star Larry Hagman dies at 81

Tony Gutierrez / AP file

Actor Larry Hagman poses in front of the Southfork Ranch mansion made famous in the television show, "Dallas," in Parker, Texas, Oct. 9, 2008.

By NBC News staff and wire

Updated at 7:30 a.m. ET: Actor Larry Hagman ? who became a global icon playing the cunning J.R. Ewing in the television series "Dallas" ? died on Friday at the age of 81, NBC Dallas-Fort?Worth reported.

Hagman?was at Medical City Dallas Hospital when he died Friday afternoon from complications of his recent battle with cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing members of his family.

Linda Gray, who played J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress' spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email.?

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," Gray said in a statement. "He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously."

'Who shot J.R.?'
Despite his fragile health, the actor had returned to Texas from his home in California to film season one of TNT?s "Dallas" reboot and part of season two.

The original show, in which Hagman played a conniving businessman who people loved to hate, ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS.?

The "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger series ending in 1980 -- which left it unclear if he was alive or dead -- broke viewing records and led to weeks of speculation about what had happened. Ewing survived.

---

"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," the family said in a statement, the Morning News reported. "Larry?s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."

A statement from Warner Bros. described Hagman as "a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history."

"He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the 'Dallas' family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time," the statement added.

Earlier in his career, Hagman was known for his role as Maj. Anthony Nelson, the master-turned-husband of a beautiful genie played by Barbara Eden in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."

In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.?

After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life.?

"It's the same old Larry Hagman," he told a reporter. "He's just a littler sober-er."?

Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931, in Texas, to?Benjamin Jack Hagman and Mary Martin.?His father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray.

He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a big name in Hollywood and a Tony winner on Broadway, where she starred in "Peter Pan" and "The Sound of Music."?

Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in "The Taming of the Shrew." In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of "South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston.?

Getty, Reuters, Getty

'Big laughs, big smiles'
Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap "The Edge of Night." His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the "I Dream of Jeannie" role opposite Barbara Eden.?

After hearing of Hagman?s death, Eden paid tribute to him on Twitter and Facebook.

?Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry,? she wrote on Twitter.??Larry Hagman not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana. I'll miss him.?

In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner.

He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California.?

Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be "spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry."?

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/24/15398595-larry-hagman-tv-villain-jr-ewing-on-dallas-dies-at-81?lite

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Gravity offers lessons in innovation - The Nation

Pichaya Changsorn November 26, 2012 1:00 am

What does your firm do?

Our firm, Gravity Innovation Consulting (www.gravity-innovation.com), is best viewed as "the doctor for innovative organisations". Organisations come to us to get a check-up evaluation from all angles, including innovation strategy, product development process, organisation structure, teamwork, talent utilisation, and so on.

We also take this time to interview the executives to get a clear understanding about the major symptoms of their firms that led them to come to us in the first place, and also their visions - how they want to see their firms a few years from now.

After we understand the context and the firms evaluated, we then proceed to put together a proper action plan aimed at getting the firms back on track toward organisation excellence once deployed.

We also coach executives on various subjects centred around building sustainable innovative organisations - how you apply your knowledge and expertise to help Thai companies become more innovative.

How do you apply your knowledge and expertise to help Thai companies become more innovative?

Gravity applies our expertise to three areas within an organisation.

First, for the corporate level, we help redesign the existing organisational structure, teamwork and culture to be more suitable for creativity and innovation to thrive.

Secondly, for executive and leadership, we coach them in |the best practices of effectively using their talent pool, empowering their organisation, and building a deeper bench of leadership in the pipeline. Finally, for the "innovation engine" within an organisation, we coach department directors and team leaders in the best practices of steering ideas with potential into real world products, and incubating innovation through |carefully crafted development phases.

What is your mission? What are the challenges?

My mission is to help Thai businesses stay competitive in this era of innovation economy.

While I prefer the top-down approach within an organisation for coherence and synergy reasons, when it comes to the national level and beyond, I deeply believe in the power of a bottom-up approach - helping a multitude of contrasting innovative organisations grow simultaneously and see how a few of them ultimately stand out - the survival of the fittest, if you will.

Thailand is relatively strong in many aspects, but the challenge is that when it comes to innovation, we don't seem to have much exposure to world-class innovation or R&D processes, or innovative organisation designing and leading.

This is exactly where Gravity comes in; we help leverage Thai businesses to achieve their full innovation potential through our innovation process and innovative organisation expertise. Furthermore, we help executives sharpen their innovation strategies and understand their power to lead and inspire effectively.

Can you offer some advice for Thai firms looking to become more innovative?

Possessing knowledge and skills in several fields, and being creative and open-minded so that they can be "cross-pollinated" to create a unique solution to elegantly solve a problem are the keys to being innovative for individuals. Leonardo da Vinci is probably the best example for this, so are Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs.

For a firm, which is a synergic group of individuals, it needs a little more on top of that to constantly give out high-impact innovations.

It needs the right kind of corporate infrastructure, namely: visionary leaders, decentralised organisation structure, effective innovation process, and smart innovation strategy.

So in sum, what Thai firms need to be innovative are: creativity, ability to "cross-pollinate", and the right infrastructure.

Can you share your broader view on the innovation landscape in Thailand?

In order to be economically strong, Thailand needs to be innovative more in the upstream - I'm talking about technology and product R&D. These days in Thailand, we see a lot of downstream innovation in marketing, packaging and distribution. I don't really see innovation at any level beyond that, which has a substantial impact on the Thai economy.

South Korea and Japan, for example, have a lot of marketing or packaging innovation too, but what sets them apart is the ability to innovate at deeper levels and leverage their innovation engine to boost their economic and technical advancement.

What advice and words of inspiration do you have for Thai youth for their future career?

Know your core competencies, and have a dream - a big one. And don't limit your view to your local economy.

Look out for global opportunities. You'll be surprised how much is in store for those with talent and ambition.

Latest stories in this category

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Gravity-offers-lessons-in-innovation-30195023.html

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Video: How did TODAY anchors spend Thanksgiving?

>>> we have had a great thanksgiving holiday. we're reminiscing here. we're going to share a little bit of ours with you. i was tasked with taking pictures as we all were. i failed at my assignment. so i'm just apologizing.

>> that's beautiful!

>> thankfully, melissa, one of our producers made it look really good. the wine does not belong to sawyer and weston.

>> but you tried a video.

>> i tried a video to get them to say what they're thankful for. my oler son was super sweet. he said i'm thankful for my elf on the shelf. and my younger one says i'm thankful for dirty.

>> which sounds like turkey.

>> my son made that centerpiece.

>> this was the first thanksgiving my twin girls could play a full round of candy land , so there they are without throwing the pieces around. we played some rock band . we did an asian dinner. we went to a children's museum in philly where you can dress up as different professions, and they dressed up as doctors, where i got a check-up. i think we have a shot of that, too. there we are. got my ears checked. the bad thing was they said where's our co-pay?

>> but they did clear you to work today.

>> yes, that's right.

>> the picture of health .

>> well, my family came down from boston. my in-laws now. and that is a group of all of us. and way, way, way in the back is the parade. this is my first time spending thanksgiving in new york city with the parade, and i didn't realize how all the streets are closed off. i'm like oh, we'll just walk up to it. we saw papa smurf . we saw spiderman. so the kids were happy.

>> this is your first married holiday. like me this is my first married holiday. but because of work, we didn't have time to travel so. we volunteered for an organization in new york that provides home and shelter to lgbt youth. that is the before picture of the yams. that is the after.

>> who was cooking?

>> this was a combination. if you saw that shot, we had patrick, who was taking everybody to the gun show. [ laughter ]

>> two tickets, right?

>> but ally sheedy was in that picture. the actress and her daughter. it was a new oven.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49947504/

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