Ideeahs

I just finished watching Germany trounce England 4-1. A well deserved win by the Germans whose passing and ball control was precise and carried much originality. England failed to impress with the one exception of Lampard who was the only player that showed up for the English. Could it all have ended differently? Those two second-half German goals in four minutes certainly helped to silence the doubters of the result. Technology has helped the officiating of events for decades. Whether it be hundredths of seconds in 100 metre sprints, millimetres on tennis serves or reviews of the trajectory of a puck in hockey, it has helped human beings correct their errors. This technology has allowed competitors rather than officials decide games. In this case we are talking about a ball that convincingly crossed a goal line by close to a metre. One can't blame the line judge as he was too far to see. In addition it was a blistering fast pinball-type bounce that had many people wond...

I have asked myself that question a few times over the last two weeks. It has been just about that long since my first book -- " Avoiding the Blues " -- was published. Now I am by no means famous and I have no expectation that this book will bring me any fame whatsoever. But in a minute way I am feeling the elixir of fame. Writing this book was very therapeutic for me. It had resided in my head, in words on this blog and in notebooks for at least two or three years. Writing it was at times emotional and never boring. I relived the moments detailed within the book as I typed the words. I hope that those who read it feel this as they turn the pages of my book. Now that it is published the hard work is done. My job now is to market it and spread the word and to, more importantly, have people read it and hopefully recommend it to friends and colleagues. So what is the elixir, this drug, that I am becoming addicted to? Sitting back and watching this amazing story un...

This is one of the better articles I have read on the issue of technology and how it might be affecting our brains. The irony is that while I was reading it I was interrupted by the New York Times itself. Between pages 2 and 3 a request for feedback popped up and distracted me from the article on....what was it? Here is the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html The bottom-line is that we have now learnt that our brains do not stop developing at a young age. Our grey matter continues to adapt to the stimulus it faces on a daily basis. With the ever increasing bombardment of information -- and the resulting interruptions -- a growing number seem to be concluding that our brains are indeed adapting to the influx. How? By limiting our creativity, our empathy, our memory, our concentration. As I have said before, while I was working at IBM we often had discussions about Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. We were constantly bombarded by emails, chat me...

I have often commented on my blog about how worried society has become. Our creativity often needs to be explained or, even worse, stunted by a society that seems to fear people that stand out or the wrath of someone's legal team. These thoughts have again popped into my head as I watched an advert for McDonald's restaurants. The ad is one that I've seen quite a few times over the last nine days or so. You see, McDonald's is advertising heavily during World Cup broadcasts. The viewer sees a bunch of twenty-somethings sitting around a campground munching on their burgers, shakes and fries. A massive bear comes strolling into the middle of their site and the campers all remain cool as cucumbers. Still biting down on their food they turn their heads and calmly look at the bear doing its thing. Not worried for a second that their lives are in danger they continue to enjoy the junk. How is this all related to worries and lawyers? Well, if you look closely at the...

My family and I watched the first episode of the BBC Earth series entitled "Life" a few days back. If the first episode is any guide of those that follow it will be a truly amazing and inspiring series. We have enjoyed the "Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth" series by BBC Earth as well and have often gone back to view them a second and, in the case of some episodes, a fifth or sixth time. This is the kind of educational television that I do not mind my children watching. They get a glimpse of the beauty, power, indifference, struggle, delicacy and variety of nature. I imagine that from the amazing video footage and narrative they get a sense of the balance that is so important and that they may also grow to appreciate that, while humans may currently be the dominant animal, we are part of a larger system that could not care less about this dominance. Tonight we saw an introduction to some of the amazing and creative ways that animals have adapted to t...

The world is whining. By whining I am not referring to the b-flat that the now famous (and previously unheard of) vuvuzelas are making at the 2010 World Cup. I am referring to the racket that sport commentators, journalists and fans are making around the world. Let us put some things in perspective. Start by comparing the vuvuzelas to the various horns used at games in Latin America. Then compare vuvuzelas to the toilet paper rolls and paper bits that cover fields in Argentina delaying game starts. Compare vuvuzelas to the flares, firecrackers and smoke producing gimmicks of Spanish and Portuguese fans which put fans at risk. Compare vuvuzelas to the hooliganism of northern European teams (I am thinking England and Denmark here). Now compare a stadium filled with cheering fans blowing into vuvuzelas to playing a match to an empty stadium as has happened in the Italian league due to the behaviour of fans. Think about the most recent event, on May 29th, and compare vuvuzelas t...

No....I mean salt!! It is essential to our body's proper functioning. While not essential to eating, it does bring out tastes and, for certain recipes, is a requirement to the chemical reaction that occurs in cooking. Salt can also be detrimental to our health. Various cancers are associated with it as is high-blood pressure. So we can't live without it but we need to watch our intake - just like all other food stuffs and ingredients. I tend to watch what I eat. I watch ingredients, ensure that I eat balanced (well, fairly balanced) meals. I have to admit though that eating the recommended amount of fruits and veggies proves hard on many days. But, no matter how careful you are the fact is that if you eat processed foods you will eat too much salt and sugar. What I ate for lunch yesterday is an example. It was seemingly a fairly healthy meal. One can of salmon with one tablespoon of mayonnaise mixed in. Four pitted, red pepper-stuffed green olives. About eight...

My book first book, Avoiding the Blues, is now available on Amazon.com. Other Amazon sites around the world to follow soon. Here is the link to my book on the Amazon.com site. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

In "The Long Tail" Chris Anderson describes how, in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, markets for many goods were turned on their heads. What I have been experiencing for the last seven days supports his premise. If this continues for months (or rather, and hopefully, years!) I will have proved the theory. My gut tells me I will. My readers know by now that I have published my first book - " Avoiding the Blues ". I did not know what to expect. Yes, I imagined that mostly I'd be selling to people I know. But what started happening in the last two days has suddenly awakened me to the amazing possibility of the world we live in. Strangers have started buying. In his book Chris talks about how, with the cost of inventory having dropped to zero for most media (music, video, written word), online retailers can now offer immense catalogues of media to consumers around the world. No longer are we limited to choosing from the narrow selection...

You gotta love children. You gotta love them for their honesty, their inability to keep a secret and their obliviousness to political correctness. As a result of these pure character traits they sometimes come up with very poignant comments and make the listening adults most uncomfortable. This particular entry got its inspiration from an article I read on Yahoo News last week. Michelle Obama was visiting an elementary school.  One of the children asked the First Lady why her husband was taking away people who did not have the correct papers (ie. immigration papers).  Mrs. Obama responded by saying that it was important that people had the correct papers.  The little girl then went on to state that her mum did not have the correct papers. Oops! Clearly this little girl's mother would never have posed this question to the First Lady of the country that requires the papers being discussed.  There are many adults who express themselves on the issue but few who...

Well it was faster than I was expecting. The paperback edition of "Avoiding the Blues" is now available for order directly from Creatspace, an Amazon.com company, for US$19.95. The link to my book's page is: https://www.createspace.com/3449045 The PDF version continues to be available for US$12 off of my personal website . It should be available from worldwide Amazon sites in a couple of weeks and for order by libraries, bookstores and other retail outlets shortly after. Thanks in advance to everyone for their support. Once you have read it please send me your comments at: olivier@olivierdesousa.com Cheers, Olivier Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

Walmart is big. They have influence. Their 2009 revenues were $405 billion. They employ over two million employees. Their influence over the purchasing decisions of North Americans is large. Consequently, their corporate announcements often make the news. The positive ones around business greening have gotten good press. One that springs to mind was when they announced an initiative to reduce the amount of packaging in the goods they sell. They created a packaging scorecard for their suppliers. By sensitizing their supply chain to the issue of packaging Walmart can make a big difference. So when it decided to lower prices on soda pop in the United States it, in my opinion, used its clout in a negative way. Twenty-four cans of pop now cost $5 - though as low as $3.77 in some US markets. That is 15¢ per can. Not surprisingly pop flew off store shelves during the Memorial Day long weekend in the United States. With this action Walmart indirectly contributed to the health ...

blink, Chapter Six, Section 2. The Theory of Mind Reading. I enjoyed reading "blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. The book is about the processes that we all follow to make snap decisions. Whether it is deciding that a particular piece of art is one we like, or a particular person someone we just will not get along with, there are certain decision making processes that we can't control. Or can we? The book talks about the difference between the snap decisions of experts in a field vs. those of laypeople. It talks about how we can be primed to answer a question in a specific way by being shown certain images or words prior to filling out a questionnaire. It talks about how when confronted with certain emotions we tunnel (or narrow) the field of interpretation to the very basic ones required for survival. It shows that while some of what happens in the blink of an eye is not controllable, we can, if we are aware of the fact that we have automatic reactions, have some im...

Hello everyone. This is an exciting day for me. My first book, "Avoiding the Blues", is now available for purchase. It is currently available only as a PDF file download . The paperback version should be available for order within one month or so. Here is the back cover blurb describing what "Avoiding the Blues" is about: Olivier de Sousa is a son of two, husband of one and father of two. He currently lives in Montreal, his hometown. His twenty-one year career in services at IBM enriched him with many experiences as a technical resource, a project manager and a personnel manager. His hope is to wake people up to the possibilities within them, to have them gain the confidence to live their dreams and to have an impact on the world. “Avoiding the Blues” is his first book and recounts how, through his own unique path through life, one regular person was taught life-changing lessons that we all are exposed to at some point. An easy to read memoir recapping ...

In my upcoming book, Avoiding the Blues , I speak loudly about my feeling of being but a cog in a wheel - unmotivated and with no feeling of purpose. Daniel Pink was one of the people that inspired me to make a difference. Yesterday I received an email with a link to this video. Corporations, employers and, most importantly, employees.....watch and, even more importantly, enact what Daniel is speaking about. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

I went grocery shopping today at the local Loblaws supermarket. I have been going to that market since October when we moved into this neighbourhood. After eight months of visiting this store and pushing my cart up and down the aisles I noticed something that I had noticed before. I looked down at my two hands grasping the handle of the shopping cart and saw a warning label. Yep, a warning label. It said something along these lines: Customer warning. Caution, the cart you are now driving handles differently from regular carts. It is wider. Please be careful. OK then, some comments: 1) since the aisles at Loblaws are North-American sized it would seem that driving SUV sized food carts should be manageable. 2) if you can't drive a shopping cart around you should not have driven your car to Loblaws to start off with. 3) is this message meant to be cover-your-ass lawyer speak? "I will sue your behind if I so much as get nicked by some crazed cart driver." 4...

As the water poured over my naked body in the shower this morning I started thinking about the amount of water that is wasted. The previous night I had turned on our sprinkler system to water our lawn and garden. The earth was cracking in some parts so I figured I could the plants a reprieve from the heat. I knew rain was in the forecast but, not knowing how much, I decided to water anyways. It is pouring outside now. Last year I wrote about how surprised I was that the previous owners of our house had consumed over 1000 litres of water a day during the previous twelve month period. As I finished my shower (quickly!!) my mind wandered a bit more and started thinking about how much of our daily life is set to automatic. By allowing our actions, reactions and thoughts to be automatically acted out and formed for us we take decisions and act in ways that are out of context. It prevents us from taking the time to look, hear, feel, smell and touch the moment. To understand its ...

Yesterday the city of Montreal was touched by a plume of smoke that was at least 400 km long. About that far north there were (are) many forest fires burning out of control. This smoke did not have much of an impact on the citizens of the city. People with severe asthma and respiratory issues were told that they should limit their physical exertion - but that was about it. Some of the fifty fires were started by lightning but some were caused by man. Further south, in the Gulf of Mexico, there has been talk of other plumes. These particular ones all caused by man. Two oil plumes have been discovered by scientists from various institutions. The latest, discovered on May 27, is thirty-five kilometres long and close to ten kilometres wide. Not surprisingly these have been disputed by the CEO of BP. "There aren't any plumes". Ya....OK...whatever Tony. What scientists are saying is that these underwater plumes risk getting caught up in undersea currents. The re...