Category Archives: Book Review

Janet Devlin vs. Janet Devlin

07 Monday Sep 2020

Posted by in Arts, Book Review, Entertainment, habits, Health, Lessons of Life, Life, Mental Health, Passionate People, Public Image, review, Women, Writing

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Album and Book REVIEW:  Confessional [album] and My Confessional [book] by Janet Devlin

The Case For and Against Janet Devlin

Your Honor, if it pleases the court, I would like to prove that Janet Devlin is highly intelligent and that she deliberately and systematically has used her intelligence to attack and humiliate Janet Devlin to cause both mental and physical harm.

Someone who produces both an album, titled Confessional and a corresponding book, titled My Confessional, as Ms. Devlin has done, is not of below-average nor even average intelligence. The feat itself proves my contention of higher than average intelligence, brilliant creativity, and an artistic skillset that exceeds the capabilities of most humans. 

In 2011, Ms. Devlin, at the age of 16, gained worldwide fame with a viral performance of Elton John’s, Your Song on Britain’s The X Factor television show. The official video of this performance has over 40 million views. Again, proof of her outstanding intelligence and abilities.

I contend that Ms. Devlin has used her intelligence against Janet. I contend that Ms. Devlin knows that Janet is so intelligent and talented that she perceives almost limitless possibilities and that Ms. Devlin has deceived Janet into believing that if she does not succeed at everything she might see as a possibility, then she has failed.

Further, Ms. Devlin has relentlessly humiliated and shamed Janet by degrading her, forcing her into addictive coping behaviors, and instilling a belief in failure.

The Evidence

Ms. Devlin has admitted to her acts against Janet. In her album, Ms. Devlin admits her sins against Janet. In her book, Janet details the acts that Ms. Devlin convinced her to do to herself.

Of the twelve songs in the album, almost all expose, in raw emotion, the savage cruelty beset upon a child and then a woman by Ms. Devlin. Her mind driven into depression by the belief of failure. In this album alone there is ample proof that Ms. Devlin has tortured Janet for most of her life.

In the twelve chapters of the book, Ms. Devlin writes of using self-doubt to cripple the efforts of Janet to the point that she took to seclusion and alcohol to cope with her feelings of inadequacy. One only has to listen to the music and read the words to know the truth.

The Defense For Janet Devlin

Your Honor, as I represent both the Plaintiff and the Defendant, I must admit that Ms. Devlin admits to her behavior. She has confessed in both word and song to her crimes. She, in fact, has used both the album and book to not only reveal the truth to all that will listen, but she has also gone so far as to bring awareness of how a highly intelligent and talented person can be lost in depression and self-abuse.

Though her actions are reprehensible, the final act of exposing the truth to the world may have a greater impact on Janet and anyone who faces the emotional and physical trauma caused by depression and addiction.

For this reason, I ask that the court grant a reconciliation between Ms. Devlin and Janet on the condition that any further acts of abuse, humiliation, or shame be dealt with quickly and severely. The Prosecution and Defense rest…so that we may listen to the album again. 

Review – Album:  Confessional, Book:  My Confessional

Release: 5 June 2020 Album:  Insomnia Music, Book by Omnibus Press 

Album Category:  Pop, some Gaelic influences

The raw truth of Janet Devlin’s life is disturbing; however, the album, Confessional, that lyrically exposes her internal battle is not a collection of morose songs. The listener might not realize that some songs deal with dark subjects of depression, self-harm, and addiction. This makes the album more than just a confessional, but a highly crafted artistic canvas of emotion and music.

The album begins with an anthem that announces the scope and purpose of the music collection. With one exception, the tracks lyrically stay true to the theme of the anthem. The exception is Big Wide World that is almost a giddy emotional outburst from the rest of the album. Musically, songs such as Cinema Screen, Away With The Fairies, and Holy Water, have an upbeat feel, while other songs carry a softer and/or somber tone. This gives the album a balanced feel that combats the serious, and sometimes disturbing, lyrics of many of the songs. 

Book Category:  Autobiography  [Book Format: Hardcover]

The twelve chapters of the book share the title and order of the songs on the album; however, this is not a “why-I-wrote-this-song” book. Each chapter seems to loosely relate to the album but not in a way that is overt. Ms. Devlin uses prose to tell the story of her life in the book and uses lyrical poetry and music on the album to give an emotional feel to that story. 

The blending of the album and book creates a deep connection to the hidden life of someone betrayed and shredded by a twisted reflection of herself. The book doesn’t allow the reader to be a casual participant. The experiences of depression, cutting, anorexia, isolation all are exposed, but not as the evil afflictions that we think of them. Ms. Devlin becomes the Siren that takes the reader into dangerous waters of mental oddities and self-destruction and gives us a glimpse of how our brains can twist self-harm into a release from self-loathing.

There is no clear explanation for the cause of the type of behavior that Ms. Devlin has lived with since she was a child; however, it is not just a reaction to external trauma, nor an issue of a ‘defective’ brain. What Ms. Devlin accomplishes with the blending of the album and book is an inside view of how a highly intelligent person can be mired in a world of self-loathing and addiction…and perhaps a map of how to get out of that world.   

BOOK:
Informative  ★★★★★
Relevancy  ★★★★★
Readability  ★★★★★
Visuals  ★★★☆☆

Astrophysics Book Review – Space: 10 Things You Should Know

11 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in Astronomy, Book Review, Communication, Education, Entertainment, Exploration, Higher Education, Information Technology, Internet, NASA, Passionate People, Photography, Print Media, review, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Space, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, Women, Writing

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Minding the Gap of Knowledge

Sharing the knowledge of scholars (e.g.; astrophysicists) with non-scholars is difficult. Astrophysics scholars have spent years obtaining a foundational understanding of the dynamics of our universe that is not obviously known to the public. They also have a working knowledge of special terms, acronyms, and highly cited authors. This creates a chasm with scholars on one side, who are advancing human knowledge, and non-scholars on the other side, unaware of the progress and activities of those in the field.

As scholars tend to be focused on their work and the work of their peers, it is rare to have a scholar attempt to bridge the chasm and help non-scholars have access to the secrets that have been uncovered and the challenges to be overcome. 

Dr. Becky Smethurst, astrophysics researcher, educator, YouTuber, and author

Dr. Rebecca Smethurst, or Dr. Becky as she is known on her YouTube channel, is one of those rare scholars who is diligently immersed in sharing new knowledge and discoveries in astrophysics with the public as she actively participates in furthering our understanding of it. In her new book, Space:  10 Things You Should Know, (2019) Dr. Smethurst continues to inform and enlighten us about what humans know and don’t know about the development of galaxies and the stars within them.

Review – Space:  10 Things You Should Know

Category:  Nonfiction, Science, Non-Textbook

UK/Europe Release: 5 September 2019 by Seven Dials Publishing
North America Release:  Summer 2020 by Ten Speed Press

Informative  ★★★★★
Relevancy  ★★★★★
Readability  ★★★★☆
Half-Life  ★★★☆☆
Expertise  ★★★★★
Visuals  ★☆☆☆☆

[Formats: Hardcover, Audio]

Dr. Smethurst has written multiple scholarly articles; however, this is her first book. It is a short, easy-to-read work of 10 chapters. Each chapter reveals information about our universe that may not be part of public awareness. 

The book is written in conversational language, not scholar-speak. It provides a basic knowledge of what we know about the formation of the universe, galaxies, and planets (including the Earth.) Amateur astronomers likely know most of this information, but Dr. Smethurst provides nuggets of new information that make the book worthwhile to read.

She begins with a view of how gravity is critical to how the universe functions. Because her work deals with supermassive black holes, Dr. Smethurst discusses what we know about black holes and theories of how supermassive black holes impact the galaxy they’re located in.

Dr. Becky also discusses Dark Matter, why scientists believe it is real, and what it means in the grand scheme of the universe. Two other chapters talk about the hunt for planets outside of our solar system and the practicality and current limitations of human space travel.

This book could serve as a unit in a middle or high school science class, but it is just as functional as a broad-based survey of current astrophysics knowledge for adults who can read above a sixth-grade level. As a first book by a doctorate-level scholar for consumption by the general public, it is brilliant.

As one might expect with a book of this nature, the subject matter is fleeting. As Dr. Smethurst states in her preface, “…science moves quickly…” Though this is not a textbook, it encounters the same problem as most textbooks in that research and discovery move forward while the printed book remains unchanged.

My projection is that the half-life of this is about seven to ten years. After that, about half of the information will become less relevant as new discoveries push astrophysics forward. That said, this book is certainly not a wasted effort and the need to persevere with updated information is critical.

If this book were a second or third book by this author I would expect to see a more expansive book and more visually stimulating. Both Carl Sagan and Brian Cox have used television and print to ignite a passion for science in the minds of the public. Their books are filled with images that help the reader to see science as a living entity filled with wonder and adventure.

Dr. Becky uses imagery extensively on her YouTube channel so it is likely that we can expect future books to have a greater visual element.

Still, as a first book, coupled with her YouTube work, Dr. Smethurst has built an impressive bridge to reach out to the public. As an active researcher, she offers a unique opportunity for non-scholars to access scientific information from a knowledgeable source rather than the entertainment-based news media.

Dr. Rebecca Smethurst is the one to keep a telescopic eye on.

Dr. Becky’s Astrophysics Work

Understanding The Life and Times of a Galaxy

In the last 100 years, our ability to visualize the stars has vastly improved but the galaxies we see today have changed very little in the past 10,000 years. Changes in the shape and location of a galaxy take millions of years to occur so what astronomers see today isn’t that much different than what they could have seen thousands of years ago.

What astrophysicists do know is the relative age of a galaxy. When we image a galaxy that is ten million light-years away we are seeing how it looked ten million years ago. By using the relative age of a galaxy and the characteristics of that galaxy, astrophysicists can identify group traits of similar galaxies and begin to understand how galaxies develop and eventually die.

The work of Dr. Smethurst has been to increase our understanding of the role of a galaxy’s core black hole (supermassive black hole) in the development of a galaxy and of its ability to establish new generations of stars. The current theory is that as the galaxy matures the core supermassive black hole sucks much of the free hydrogen out of the galaxy. Without an adequate source of hydrogen, the fuel for the formation of new stars is depleted and the galaxy becomes inactive. 

Dr. Smethurst’s Scholarly Astrophysics Linage

Dr. Smethurst’s advising faculty for her doctorate program was Dr. Chris Lintott. Since 2013, Dr. Lintott has been a co-presenter for the BBC’s enduring documentary astronomy television program, The Sky At Night and is a co-founder of Galaxy Zoo, an online crowdsourced project to engage the public in helping to categorize millions of galaxies for research purposes. Dr. Lintott’s advising faculty included the highly published and cited cosmologist Dr. Ofer Lahav.

Dr. Becky earned her Master’s degree in Physics with Astronomy at the University of Durham and her Doctorate degree in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford. Currently, she is a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church College at Oxford University. Her focus is on studying galaxies and their interactions with their core supermassive black hole.

In 2014, [23 April 2014] Dr. Smethhurst was asked where she saw herself in five years. Her response was, “I’d look to reach the most amount of people as possible…to spread the word about the amazing things that people have no idea about.”

…to spread the word about the amazing things that people have no idea about…

Dr. Rebecca Smethurst – 23 April 2014

Now, five years later, Dr. Smethurst is achieving that goal through her new book, her YouTube channel, and her outreach work.  

Dr. Becky Smethurst

Dr. Becky on:

Sample of co-authored published work:

 

J. K. Rowling: The Unexpected Author

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Book Review, College, Communication, Education, Ethics, Fiction, Generational, Higher Education, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Opinion, parenting, Passionate People, Public Relations, Science Fiction, Traditional Media, Universities, Women

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jkr-photo_new_debra-hurford-brown-j.k.-rowling

Jo Rowling A.K.A: J. K. Rowling

This week my son’s Elementary school is engaged in a venture into the world of Harry Potter. The teachers of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have divided the students into the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is an opportunity to look back on the single person who created a series of fictional children’s books that revitalized reading for millions of people of all ages.

Any story of great personal success is characterized by being the correct person, in the correct place, at the correct time. That is a requirement. The story of J. K. Rowling is more compelling for why she was the correct person.

Her birth name is Joanne Rowling and she uses “Jo” in casual environments. She has no given middle name but was asked by her publisher to disguise her name so that young boys would not know that Harry Potter was written by a woman. Since she had no middle name she used her grandmother’s name, ‘Kathleen,’ and thus became, “J. K. Rowling (her last name is pronounced, ‘rolling.’) 

Rowling accomplished the unthinkable. At a time when reading books was declining and the Internet was blossoming, the idea that one person could ignite a renaissance of book reading was considered absurd. Rowling’s first publisher told her to get a day job because writing children’s books would never provide enough income.

Like William Shakespeare, there is no significant indicator in Rowling’s pre-Potter life of her eventual rise to the top of the literary world. Still, there are earlier experiences that probably contributed to her success. Among them are the following:

  • Her parents met at King’s Cross Station in London, which became the fictional departure point for the fictional train station departure point to Hogwarts. [Potter influences]
  • As a child she was known to write out a story and read it to her sister, Dianne. [Early fiction writing]
  • Her mother, Anne, was a science technician and also taught science at the Secondary school that Rowling attended. [Priority of education]
  • She speaks English, French and studied German in Secondary school. [Broad-based education]
  • She read and is an admirer of Jessica Mitford, a British-turned-American journalist, author, and political activist. [Ethics, writing, and honor]
  • She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in French and the Classics from the University of Exeter. [Writing and knowledge]
  • She studied a year in Paris. [Broad-based education]
  • She taught English in Portugal [Life experience]
  • Her mother had multiple sclerosis (MS) and died while she was writing her first Harry Potter book. [Life experience]
  • Rowling suffered from depression triggered by several life events (Unemployed, her mother’s death, her divorce, etc.) [Life experience]Harry Potter Covers

The idea for Harry Potter apparently came in 1990, during a four-hour train delay to London. She began writing as soon as she reached home and among the first chapters written was the final chapter of the last book. The first book was not finished until 1995. It was submitted and rejected by twelve publishers before it was finally accepted by Bloomsbury Publishing in England the follow year. 

She went from living off of State benefits to a millionaire in five years. Since then, she has devoted a large portion of her fortune to philanthropic causes. 

Though remarkable, Rowling’s financial success is not as significant as what she did for slowing the decline of children reading for fun during the period her books were published (1996-2007.) According to a study by Common Sense Media, 9-year-olds reading for fun at least one to two per week dropped only one percent from 1984 to 2004; however, by 2012 that dropped by another four percent (76% in 2012.) For 13-year-olds the decline in reading for fun from 1984 to 2004, was six percent, but that decline nearly doubled five years after the last Harry Potter book was published (down an additional eleven percent in 2012 to 53%.) 

No one, including possibly Rowling, herself, could have expected anyone to capture a worldwide audience, as did the Harry Potter series. She brought new readers into the literary market that had no interest in reading. Her unexpected achievement is a reminder that what is possible extends beyond the impossible.  

The Hunger Games Trilogy: 11 Things I Learned

23 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Book Review, Fiction, Lessons of Life

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(NOTE:Spoiler Alert – This list may reveal story details of the entire trilogy, not just the first book.)

The Hunger Games Movie Poster

The film version of The Hunger Games will appear in theatres worldwide this week. I just finished reading the trilogy and here are eleven things I learned from the Scholastic Press books by Suzanne Collins:

  1. If your younger sister is selected for certain death, do not volunteer in her place! You’ll save countless lives and 80 chapters of angst. Let her go.
  2. Girls, if you have a choice between the Baker’s son and a really good hunter you should move. There are better options than the dregs living in your District and hopefully they won’t come with all the baggage.
  3. Katniss Everdeen needs a really good health plan.

    Katniss Everdeen - Poor little poor girl

  4. Presidents should use Victors at their own risk….especially ones with a really good aim.
  5. A marketing plan built around the concept of ‘the girl on fire’ is a bad idea, especially in fiction. Writers love irony.
  6. A society built around  government-imposed, segmented industries is a really stupid idea. Just ask U.S.S.R., East Germany, and China.
  7. Reality shows suck…but I knew that before I read this trilogy.
  8. Not everything that falls from Heaven is good.
  9. Well-ordered books may be a sign of a compulsive author. (3 books, each book with 3 sections, each section with 9 chapters…somebody has a color coded underwear drawer.)
  10. Fashion designers should avoid pissing off the Man.
  11. Books that infer minors involved in graphic violence, nudity, and prostitution can be best sellers…as long as the author keeps the main character celibate.

A version of this article first published as
The Hunger Games Trilogy: 11 Things I Learned

on Technorati.com

Paul Kiser

USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype: 775.624.5679]

Rotary@105: Grieving Change

07 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by in Book Review, Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media, Website

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

On October 16th, our Rotary District (5190) will hold the second annual Public Relations (PR) seminar. It is a difficult topic because PR is a vital component to all aspects of Club operations, especially Membership recruitment and retention; however, for very ‘human’ reasons many members/clubs may not ready to listen to many of the key concepts because they are not ready to face the reality of the current situation.

To understand the resistance to the topic I need to refer to the 1969 book by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying and her model of the grieving process. Her book became a major work in the fields of psychology and counseling for decades and while many experts now reject the idea of ‘stages’ of grieving, her model serves to remind us that people are influenced by their emotional state and some information will not be easily accepted when change intersects with tradition.

On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

In the book, Kübler-Ross proposes that the grieving process involves five stages that help us recover from personal crisis back to a more balanced life where the incident or loss does not rule our lives and influence our decision-making. The stages are: 1) Denial, 2) Anger, 3) Bargaining, 4) Depression, and finally, 5) Acceptance.

So what is happening in Rotary that would cause a member or a club to be in crisis? Two issues come to mind.

Membership in Crisis
First, Rotary has been battling a significant membership issue for almost 15 years. For example, in 2005, Rotary Zone 23 (now re-zoned as Zone 25) had 568 clubs consisting of 33,921 members and five years later (2009) Zone 23 consisted of 33,304 members in 588 clubs.  While the number of clubs had increased by 20, total membership had decreased by over 600 people. This is only about a two percent loss over five years; however, the problem is that, 1) this has been a consistent trend for most of the last 15 years, and 2) every Rotary International President for the last nine years has pushed for increased membership as part of the key programs for his year.

The facts are simple: Rotary is bleeding membership and clubs are getting smaller (in Zone 23, an average of 3 members smaller over five years.) In seven years Rotary has brought in 1.2 million members…and lost 1.2 million members. Membership in North America, and many other western countries is on the decline. If current trends continue, over the next 15 to 20 years many community Rotary clubs will shrink until they are no longer relevant and then disband. Many small clubs are already facing this problem today and have less than five years to solve their membership crisis.

A New Business World
The second issue is external to the Rotary club. Business and communication is undergoing a rapid change and all the rules are changing. The Internet and, in particular, Social Media have challenged how business operates in a world where one person can be heard by millions, and if that person is talking about your product or service you have to be plugged in and listening or be lost in ignorance of what your customers and potential customers know about you. This new world demands personal involvement, yet many people (especially older business people) don’t want to be forced to participate in Social Media tools that put them and their company up for public scrutiny. There is a growing division between older professionals that tend to reject Social Media tools and younger professionals that tend to accept them. Guess in which category most Rotarians fit?

Action Obstructed by Grieving
Public Relations offers potential solutions to both issues. By becoming aware of the Club’s public image (how non-members perceive Rotary) the members can adapt their PR plan to maximize the value of the club projects and programs to help non-members understand the purpose and scope of Rotary. Members can also be aware of behaviors and information that reinforce negative stereotypes that non-members may have about Rotary, then avoid situations that might damage the reputation of the club. PR can also help members understand and adapt to the Social Media tools and use them to the best advantage for the club…and their business.

The problem is that discussion of these solutions is premature when someone is grieving. It is akin to telling the man who just lost his wife that, “there are plenty of fish in the ocean.” The combination of scrambling to understand a new business environment while facing a slow bleed of Rotary club members has many Rotarians in the one of the stages of grieving.

For some it is the first stage: Denial:

Stages of Coping with Loss

“There is no membership crisis. The world is the same today as it always has been. Our club is fine, we’ve been around for decades and we will continue to be here for decades to come.”

For others it is Anger:

“This is our club! We don’t need to change, if someone wants to belong to our club they need to change to our way of doing things! Don’t tell me what to do, I’ve been around a lot longer than you! Most of our members aren’t even on Facebook!”

For some it is Bargaining:

“We need QUALITY members, not more members. What help are we going to get to make these changes? How do you know this will work? How do I know this is not just a waste of time?”

And for some it is Depression:

“….”

Of all of the stages, a club should fear depression the most. Apathy and membership are never good combinations; however, for some members who are overwhelmed by change, the depression over the issues will open the door for them to quietly leave Rotary. In some cases, a member who is entrenched in tradition may not be able to accept change and leaving Rotary is the only option, but hopefully we can be aware that grieving change is part of the process and present the message in a way that will help members to the final stage of grieving, Acceptance.

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Physics in 2010: The more we understand, the less we know

27 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Book Review, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Print Media, Random, Relationships, Science

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Several years ago I decided to update my limited knowledge of physics. I took my high school physics class in the early 1970’s and it was taught by a man who probably learned physics 20 years before he taught me, using a textbook that was a least 10 years old. Needless to say, I was out-of-date before my crash course in 21st Century physics.

I read Brian Greene’s book, The Elegant Universe, and his follow-up book, The Fabric of the Cosmos. I found that even though Greene’s did an excellent job of writing for the common person, my brain would still hurt while trying to grasp the concepts of String Theory, Special Relativity, and General Relativity.

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Some of the things I’ve learned:

The Speed and Time Connection
Speed and time are connected and they have an inverse relationship. The faster a person, let’s call him ‘Bob’ goes, the slower time flows in relation to an observer, let’s call her ‘Audrey’. It’s important to note that 1) Bob or Audrey won’t see the change in the passage of time unless Bob returns to Audrey and, 2) the time difference isn’t noticeable until Bob gets near light speed (670 million miles per hour.) If Bob took a quick one hour trip at 99% of the speed of light he would find that upon his return Audrey will have spent 54 days waiting for him. I would advise that you just accept this concept because it’s the explanation that will make the brain hurt.

The Speed and Mass/Energy Connection
This is where things get interesting. Mass has a relationship with speed. The faster an object moves, the more mass it has, but like the time/speed relationship, it isn’t really noticeable until you get near light speed. The important thing to note is that mass grows to infinity as the object reaches light speed, which means it would take and infinite amount of energy to make the object go faster than the speed of light, which is not possible. Thus an object can’t go faster than light speed.

Here is what I find most interesting. Everything is in motion..the Earth is revolving and orbiting the Sun, the Sun is orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy, all the galaxies are in motion, etc., therefore, everything we can see, feel, and detect (i.e., everything that has mass) is traveling at a speed. If we could figure out the absolute vector and velocity for an object and send it in an opposite vector perfectly matching its forward velocity (i.e.; decelerate it) the object would drop to zero speed. Would that mean that it would lose all its mass and that time (for the object) would pass at an infinitely fast rate?

Gravity and Space
This is where things get fuzzy. Imagine a movie screen. Now imagine the movie screen is invisible unless light hits it. Now imagine that instead of the light reflecting off of the screen surface, the light causes the material of the screen to compress and concentrate in the areas where light hits it and the material reacts the strongest to the brighter the light. A flashlight would cause some compression, but a laser pointer light would cause a higher compression. Still with me?

The universe is made of an invisible, undetectable material that reacts to energy and mass. The greater the mass the more the fabric of space concentrates (gravity) causing a deformation in space/time that influences the path of other objects of mass and can influence the path of even electromagnetic energy, like light. Gravity is a component of the fabric of space/time and yet we, as of yet, cannot determine what gravity is in a physical sense. We can see the result of gravity, but we still really don’t know gravity.

Matter, Mass, and Strings
Scientists can no longer perform experiments on the elemental matter of which everything is made. It is just too small. Atoms  are giants in the new world of physics. Protons and neutrons are made of quarks and quarks and electrons are made of vibrating strings that exist in multiple time/space dimensions. Experimental scientists have had to give way to mathematicians who are able to sort out this micro-micro world, often by mathematically proving what the strings can’t be, based on what we already know.

It is unsettling for many that we have gone beyond easy experiments and analogies to understand this bizarre new world, but the simple fact is that unless you want to become a scholarly mathematician and learn all the proofs and formulas, you have to accept the work of those who are capable of seeing reality through numbers as easily as we see the fly on the fruit. If it makes you feel any better, most of us don’t how to perform brain surgery, and yet we accept a professional neurosurgeon understands what he or she is doing when they perform brain surgery. Physics reached the level of brain surgery in the 1960’s and now they have gone way beyond it.

What’s Next?
I don’t know what we will be able to do once the secrets of String Theory are fully understood. Once we understood Relativity we realized that we could make a bomb that was more devastating than we every had imagined possible. We also learned we could create new elements out of other elements. I suspect that String Theory will open new opportunities that will again go beyond our imagination, both wonderful and terrible. For now, I just marvel at the fact that everything consists of little strings of energy, including the hands and the connected mind writing this, as well as the eyes that read it. Amazing.

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Relationships and Thin Slicing: Why the Other Person Knows What You’re Really Thinking

28 Friday May 2010

Posted by in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Book Review, Branding, Communication, Customer Relations, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Retention, parenting, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Science, Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Violence in the Workplace

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by Paul Kiser [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype: kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

You’ve been warned about ‘this person’ and now you’re being introduced to them. You smile and shake his hand and say, “nice to meet you.” Visibly, you are polite and friendly; however, inside your hoping to be able to move on because even though you’ve never met him before you are preconditioned to not like him. The introduction ends and you move on believing that went things went smoothly. He walks away knowing that you dislike him and he begins to form a negative impression of you. In less than five seconds you have cemented a negative relationship…and you didn’t even know it. What happened?

Malcolm Gladwell

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, it is called it thin-slicing and it is based on solid research. Gladwell uses many examples of how the human brain picks up seemingly unseen and unheard clues and can accurately identify what is going on in a given situation. In one example, researcher John Gottman and his team coded conversations between married couples using 14 emotional identifiers (1=contempt, 2=anger, etc.) and found that they could accurately predict whether or not the couple was heading for a divorce by the subtle clues that betrayed the inner thoughts and attitudes of each person. Most of these signals lasted a second or less, but the signal clearly indicated the inner feelings of the person and the pattern of their relationship.

Gladwell argues that in a thin-slice experience we usually do not know what we know, nor why we know it, but the evidence is conclusive, we do know it. It is often described as a ‘feeling’ and people usually cannot explain it to others, so it is usually dismissed as being oversensitive. Gladwell‘s research suggests that the feeling is real and that our unconscious mind is the source of the analysis that creates a tangible, and accurate feeling and/or assessment of the situation.

Conversations Are Never Just Casual

Based on the information in Blink one can conclude that when someone has a dislike for someone, or when people discuss someone else behind their back, the attitudes felt or expressed privately will be exposed in subtle hints the next time we meet the subject of the gossip. We are taught as children to not gossip about others, which was a valuable lesson based on what we now know; however, in the business world people often discuss work performance of subordinates with their peers or superiors. Those discussions then shape our attitudes about the subordinate, which are then revealed in our next interaction with the worker. The same can be said of any relationship, whether it be a superior/subordinate, peer/peer, Club member/member, parent/child, spouse/spouse, or any interaction between two people. Simply put, strong attitudes and opinions about another person can and will be read by that person at the next meeting.

But what is worse is once a negative relationship is formed it is almost impossible to revert it to a positive relationship. Gladwell says that if a person has contempt or other negative attitudes towards someone, even a kind or reconciliatory gesture will be misread as manipulation or motivated by a hidden agenda. That idea is reinforced by the theory of cognitive dissonance, which suggests that once we have an opinion or belief about something we will reject evidence that contradicts our opinion or belief and will even go so far as to manufacture evidence or examples to support our version of the truth.

Do We Have to Like Everyone?
Certainly we don’t have to have a positive relationship with everyone, but negative relationships tend to expend more of our energy and time. This is especially true for people in positions of leadership. Consider the time spent on emails, meetings, phone calls, and emotional stress that involve interactions with people who we have an adversarial relationship versus the support and positive reinforcement we receive through friendly relationships. It is obvious that a negative relationship that is based on our preconditioning to dislike them is not only counterproductive, but also an unnecessary waste of time and emotion.

The first step in avoiding the downward spiral of negative relationships is to recognize that our internal dislike for someone is not hidden from that person. Our actions, behaviors, and responses will be picked up and will, in turn, dictate their response to us. Gossip, whether it is causally done with friends, or professionally sanctioned as part of ‘assessment’ of subordinates is dangerous to our relationship with that person and will ultimately make our life more difficult. Most of us were taught at some point to never say anything about anyone unless you are prepared to say it to their face….it is a good rule in the home, at work, or anywhere else.

Rotary's Four-Way Test

Rotary has a Four-Way Test that is a guide to any relationship. It is meant to take Rotarians to a higher standard in business and in life. The ‘test’ is as follows:

  • First, is it the Truth?
  • Second, is it fair to all concerned?
  • Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships?
  • Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Great words that can help us to build great relationships…even when sliced thin.

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The Tipping Point Explains How Twitter Works

20 Thursday May 2010

Posted by in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Book Review, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, History, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO of Enterprise Technologies, inc.

People will often to say to me, “I just don’t get Twitter.” What people have to understand is that Twitter functions like a thunderstorm in the world of ideas. In the summer, air (including water vapor) heats and rises. The water vapor in the air is wrung out of the rising air (water vapor condenses to water droplets) and clouds form. For reasons not exactly understood, a discharge of electricity leaps between the positive and negative regions. FLASH! BAM! A thunderstorm is born.

Like a summer thunderstorm, 40404* provides the environment for ideas to flash across the Internet. Jack Dorsey, the Chairman and one of the creators of Twitter eludes to this ‘electricity’ when explaining how they arrived at the name:

Ideas: Lightning on the grassy plains of Twitter

“…we wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you’re buzzing your friend’s pocket. It’s like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word “twitch,” because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves. But “twitch” is not a good product name because it doesn’t bring up the right imagery. So we looked in the dictionary for words around it, and we came across the word “twitter,” and it was just perfect.

(*40404 is the SMS Code for Twitter – Read more here)

I was re-reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and he compares mass social events/phenomenons to epidemics.  He offers three factors that are common to all mass social behaviors.

  1. The Law of the Few
  2. The Stickiness Factor
  3. The Power of Context

Note that Gladwell’s book was first published in 2000, six years before Twitter was launched, but his three factors perfectly describe the workings of Twitter. The Law of the Few suggests that a few ‘extraordinary’ people tend to trigger mass social events. In the case of Twitter, we have users who the ability to attract masses of followers that fan out information to their followers, who continue the ‘retweets’ to their followers. A few people who have a large impact and influence throughout the world.

Not every tweet or URL of a blog, becomes a ‘Viral Tweet’ but those that do have a Stickiness Factor. They hit upon an idea or thought that causes an emotional reaction among other users, which leads to the final factor of The Power of Context. A Tweet that races across the Twitter world like lightning manages to ignite something that has been brewing in a person’s mind…more specifically brewing in the minds of many people, but somehow the Tweet or blog is the perfect polarity to cause a reaction in mass.

That is why Twitter is like a thunderstorm in the world of ideas. It provides the conditions and media for ideas and thoughts to leap out of one mind and into millions…in the flash of …well, enough with the analogy.

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Social Media Book Review: The Zen of Social Media Marketing

10 Monday May 2010

Posted by in 2020 Enterprise Technologies, Book Review, Branding, Consulting, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, SEO, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Website, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

  • Book Cover

    Book: The Zen of Social Media Marketing

  • Author: Shama Hyder Kabani
  • Publisher:  Benbella Books
  • Published: April 2010
  • Audience: Primary: Message professionals involved in organizational internal and external communication. Also, individuals seeking to create a personal brand. Secondary: Seekers of enlightenment regarding Social Media and Professors and Teachers in many fields (e.g.; business, arts, education, communication, etc.)
  • Rating: (Out of 5*)
    • Overall ***** (5-Must Read)
    • Content ***** (5)
    • Relevancy ***** (5)
    • Style **** (4-down to business tone)
    • Readability *** (3-read on a Kindle computer download)
    • Value***** (5)
  • Thesis:  A presentation of key aspects of Social Media and how it functions with organizational marketing.

Social Interactive Media is a very complex and variable subject.  It is unreasonable for anyone to expect one book can adequately cover this topic because the Social Media tools and their use are changing daily. It is akin to asking someone to explain Art in one book….and the request is made after the Renaissance. There is much to discuss and there is still more to come. The reality is that we are still in early childhood of Social Media, but even today it can make or break governments and businesses.

Shama Hyder Kabani

Despite the impossible task the author, Shama Hyder Kabani has not only written a great book on the subject of Social Media, she is offering a solution to the problem of keeping her book relevant by updating and revising the book on the Internet.  It is truly a book born in the Social Media era of handling difficult problems with New World solutions.

Teasers

  • Introduction – Nice comparison between Social Media and the spoon lesson in the movie ‘The Matrix”.
  • Chapter 1 – a) Learn how to A-C-T using a great B-O-D in Social Media. b) Strangers to Consumers to Clients.
  • Chapter 2 – a) What is Website 911 EMS? b) What a blog does for your website. c) Relevancy versus Content…or not
  • Chapter 3 – Use and abuse of Social Media.
  • Chapter 4 – Facebook, the coffee shop of the Internet. (I love that analogy!)
  • Chapter 5 – a) Twitter, it’s about the dialogue, not about you. b) What #ff means.
  • Chapter 6 – LinkedIn, the conference room of the Internet.
  • Chapter 7 – Video on Internet: a) About, b) How to, c) Why.
  • Chapter 8 – Social Media meets Corporate Policy.
  • Chapter 9 – Icing on the Social Media cake.

I discovered new information on Social Media through Shama’s book, but mostly this was a great read because she validated what I have learned, read, and witnessed in my exploration of Social Media. For me, it allows me to say to someone, if you don’t believe me, read the book. The Social Media Doubting Thomas’ need a hard copy book for information to be legitimate and that is what Shama Hyder Kabani provides to the world. She also confirmed for me that age does not equal wisdom in the world of Social Media. My experience has been that the older the Social Media ‘expert’ the more cynical and off-target the information. Shama knows her stuff and people of all ages should sit up and listen….or just leave.

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