Bloomberg Noir is back

I thought Bloomberg had removed Noir. Very pleasantly surprised when I gave it a shot and it succeed. Of course, one will not know how long it would continue to be available. If many users support this, I think it would have a longer life. Perhaps by then there is something better.

Learning from "Made to Stick"

What to take away from the Heath brothers book, "Made to Stick"?

SUCCESs

S: Simple

U: Unexpected

C: Concrete

C: Credible

E: Emotion

S: Stories

The theory is easy, the practice is far harder. The elements must not stand out equally. They must blend synergistically. It is easy to say the human body is made of the following chemical elements but it provides no understanding of how it is wonderfully brought together, not to mention the spirit that indwells the body as a result. 

Now I have an incredibly hard task of building a system for NaviMap communication around these elements. It is very creative work.

The authors emphasis had been on identifying ideas with the potential to stick. They are must less hopeful about ideas creation. From experience they know how hard that is. 

Birthday ice-cream

We have been doing this for years especially when the girls are not fond of birthday cakes. An ice cream sundae; one each at Swensens' IMM.

As usual I have my simple and wholesome Clam Chowder

SMS in CL

Wrote my first sms in CL today! No big deal to most people here actually but it is to me. I was responding to the girls' CL tutor. She messaged to tell me when she can make it back to Singapore so that we can resume lessons. I hope her mom is well.

Bonus from YouTube

Got this message from YouTube after I uploaded "Pascal's Prayer" moments ago. Not bad!

Sotong Contractor

Wow, why so many stories to blog about today?

Just entertained the contractors of my new neighbors upstairs. The wanted to inspect the bathroom in the master bedroom because they needed to learn how to do it right for their client upstairs! I mean something as basic as this, they do not know. Our apartments are commodities.

I wasn't very patient with them. It is my way of helping and also wanting them to get it over and done with quickly.

Their mistake: They should have shown more empathy of the dreadful noise they caused when the hacking work was going on.

In my years living here, I have received many letters from the contractors of new neighbors. Some were so well worded, but this contractor's one is just like a notice from the town council. They need to do better.

NLB e-library

Do I feel like over night everyone has discovered the treasure trove of books at our NLB e-library!

So many of the books on my watch list are now tagged with "Place a reservation"

Really feels like I am witnessing a Gladwell's Tipping Point in progress.