The exponential 'pants graph' and the historical filter of humour.

The year was 1984. I was the 'breakdance champion' of my town - not only could I 'pop the moves', I also looked the part! I was wearing a cut off shirt (showing my navel, and a few other parts of my torso through the holes in the shirt), I wore 'balloon' pants (they were tight at the ankles and ballooned out, tightening once again when they got to my waist), and to top it all off I had one luminous yellow sock, and one luminous pink sock, protected from the pavement by a pair of black, thin soled, 'Chinese slippers'... I won't even begin to tell you about my hairstyle, cut off left glove and the other 'fashion accessories'... It was a pretty dire situation!

This photo is of me in 1989 (or so) with our band. I am the guy in the blue T Shirt with the bad hairdo and the Raybans.... Yes, silly, I know!

When I look back on it now I laugh at my appearance! Of course at that stage I thought that I was the epitome of fashion. Now, however, I have to laugh, and blush, in order to process how ridiculous I looked! Of course that judgement is comparative in nature - I tend to judge my appearance at that stage against my current state of 'coolness'! I think we all tend to do that. We think that our level of coolness, our tastes, fashion choices, and appearance has become more sophisticated (and perhaps subtle) over time! Of course if you fast-forward 10 years to my wedding in 1994 you'll see a picture of me wearing a black double-breasted suit with a floral tie (I think) and a mullet! Yup, business on the front and rock and roll down the back baby! At that stage I also thought I was quite cool! This picture of me giving my beautiful wife a kiss with my mullet blowing in the wind is a source of constant amusement to my daughter and her friends!

Imagine, for a moment, a graph. On the vertical axis you rate coolness (from ridiculous at the bottom to ultra cool at the top). On the horizontal axis you have the date, ranging from 1972 to today... I'm sure that most of us will picture our 'coolness' graph as rising (with an occasional REALY low dip) as time passes. And, in order to cope with how uncool we were we will laugh at our old photographs, and justify our appearance with something akin to "... yup, looks silly doesn't it!? But it used to be quite cool back then!"

I wonder what I will think about my current appearance in 10 years time!?

The inspiration for this post comes from a podcast that I listened to - I subscribe to the Mars Hill Bible Church podcast (and NO it is not the Mark Driscoll 'Mars Hill', I don't quite relate to Mark Driscoll's style (although his doctrine is largely spot on), no this is the Rob Bell of Nooma 'Mars Hill' Church). The podcast was called 'Blocks and Boards' and you can download it here:

http://www.marshill.org/teaching/download.mp3?filename=MTEwMjA4Lm1wMw%3D%3D.mp3

In it he considers Paul's admonition about forgetting the past and straining towards the future (Phil 3:12-14)... The truth is that Christ does help us to make peace with our past, almost like looking back on an old photograph, we find that we can tolerate what we were, and feel better about what we are, but also strive for what we are to become!

You can sing up here: http://www.marshill.org/teaching/podcast.php

It is well worth downloading some of their sermons.

Miriam Makeba - rest in peace!

The great South African musician and human rights activist Miriam Makeba has passed away. "Mama Africa" was 76 years old, and died of a heart attack after a performance in Italy. Link to New York Times Obituary. Above: In 1960, a very young Miriam Makeba performs the song "Into Yam", in the movie "Come Back, Africa."

Ethics, values, clean living and what I like most about traveling with my Macbook Air!

Today I flew to Johannesburg for some meetings about our 'Unashamedly Ethical' campaign - it was not a very long day. We flew out of Cape Town at 6am, had meetings set up from 10am (thankfully we gave ourselves a little extra time since the flight was delayed, as is often the case on a Monday morning flight out of Cape Town). We met with the folks from 'Heartlines' plus some folks from a number of other values and ethics based organisations (including the South African government). Our aim and intention is to address the scourge of systemic corruption in order to deal with systemic poverty.

After the morning meeting we made our way back to OR Tambo airport where we met with some folks who have developed a great idea to connect Christian businesses and business people - God's business. I like what they do and would love to see something for persons of all different faith persuasions who choose to operate according to the principles of the Kingdom of God (whether they know they are doing so, or not) so that we can deal with the rising levels of corruption in the private sector and public sector in South Africa. I firmly believe that in order to honour God's will and desire to see society transformed it will take more than the average 'nominal' Christian to do so! In fact, I think that it will take ALL of the people whom God loves, even those who don't yet know that God loves them, or have not yet experienced that love through Jesus! God's principles are good, regardless of who follows them, and God's love for all people is the same regardless of who they are!

Anyway, the day was productive and worthwhile. I truly feel like I am part of something great! I feel a sense of excitement about the scope of what we're doing. The potential of this project, and the manner in which it is being done, is so much bigger than anything that I have ever been a part of! It is bigger than one group, or Church, or denomination, it is about different sectors of society working together to achieve something truly good - I have frequently 'dreamed' about how incredible it would be if we could significantly alter the economic and social systems of our country to uplift the poorest of the poor and help the richest citizens to find freedom from their wealth and influence through becoming truly generous. What a wonderful place that would be!

Well, I travelled with my Macbook Air again today. It is a remarkable little machine. Mine is not the latest iteration of this superb piece of engineering from the Apple corporation - I have one of the first generation Air's, a 1.6Ghz, 80 Gig (hard drive) based model. Regardless, it is fast, light, and so useful!

So, what do I like most about travelling with my Macbook Air!? Well, the answer is EVERYTHING! I get at least 5 hours of battery life (with wifi off and the power settings cranked up), so I could work for most of the day in and out of my meetings as well as working on the flights to and from Johannesburg. Another great feature is that it is very thin and light. It weighs just over 1kg... I have an neoprene sleeve in which it gets zipped (with a thin Moleskine paper notebook inside the sleeve with the computer). Carrying this into a meeting draws no attention and I have my WHOLE computer with me all the time (ALL of my email, documents and a whole lot more). It is great to be able to refer to something, call up my calendar, and do everything that I need on hand (and not worry about how much battery life I have left, or suffer from a broken back for carrying a HUGE laptop). The screen is lovely, it is bright, clear and large enough for word processing. I spent about three hours (in the airport and on the flight home) editing a paper for Prof. Jan van der Watt to publish in a journal. It is comfortable in an economy class seat, and since the keyboard is full size I can type for ages without even noticing it.

On Wednesday I go back to Johannesburg to speak at a Christian business gathering with my friend Graham Power. I'll take my Air with me. It will be loaded with my notes, powerpoint slides, and the videos that we use. Perfect!

I'm grateful that I have such a useful tool! It sure makes life easier when I am away from home! Oh, and did I mention that I can use Skype video to chat to Megie, Courtney and Liam at home (with wifi, or 3G via my USB modem)?

What matters most, all on one couch!

These are the people who matter most to me! My wife Megan, daughter Courtney and son Liam. I got a special gift today - my last meeting in Johannesburg ended two hours early so I managed to fly home early and see my kids awake. It's a special gift to be able to spend this evening with them!
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Where to register for the 2009 South African elections (8 November 2008)

Yesterday I spent a few minutes trying to figure out where to register for the 2009 elections in South Africa. You see, if you've moved to a new area since the last elections you will need to take your bar-coded ID book and get registered to vote in your area for 2009!

Sadly, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) website is of not help whatsoever!

So, here's what I did, I simply drove to one or two schools and Churches in our area. I soon found that the local voter registration station was at Beaumont Primary school, down the road from us. I would venture that you are likely to find a voter registration at a Church, community hall, library, municipal building, or school in your area. So simply take your ID book and go for a little drive!

Wouldn't it be GREAT if the IEC actually served us by telling us where to go? Perhaps a Google Map with locations pinned on it, or even simpler, a searchable database on their website! Ah, but alas, we'll get it right IN SPITE of the civil service (or should that be civil masters!)

Please register to vote! There is a lot at stake in our land, and let us never forget the incredible price of human lives that ways paid so that we have the freedom to participate in the shaping of our future!

A perfect ride to Stellenbosch! Life is good!

A perfect ride to Stellenbosch
Originally uploaded by digitaldion.

It is a perfect day in Cape Town! Clear skies, not much wind, and of course the incredible scenery, mountains and ocean!

We decided to ride to Stellenbosch and back today. In the group are Dawie Spangenberg and his son Dawie Jnr, Graham Power, Etienne Piek and his son Stephan, and then myself.

It is a 30km round trip with a lot of hill work! The good news is that my leg is getting so much stronger! I managed to get all the way there and back without stopping once - I even managed to get back before two of the guys (no names mentioned!)

It is a fantastic group to ride with! I am truly blessed with good friends, good health, and a great place to live! Live is good and God is good to me!

Ah, hope, sweet hope!

My new job causes me to engage on a daily basis with American sisters and brothers. Some of them are older, some are younger, some are conservative and other liberal in their religious and political outlooks.

But, the one thing that seems to be a common characteristic among all of the persons that I have had the chance to speak to is the sense of HOPE for the future of America!

This website, flickr, one of my favourite websites has been asking people to post pictures with a message for the president elect. Here's a collage of a few of them.

I pray that Obama will exceed all of our very high expectations! And that if he is not able to reach quite so high, that we will have the grace to celebrate what is good and the courage to challenge what is not.

Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. 

- Martin Luther King Jr.,
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Dec. 11, 1964.

Lord I thank you for my loving wife Megan, for our children Courtney and Liam, and for the joy of knowing you and privilege of serving those whom you love.  My heart is glad!

Subtle communication and how it shapes our world

I have had a tacit awareness of the fact that subtle (and frequently not even consciously noticeable) elements of one's body language, tone of voice, or mannerisms have a profound effect on the manner in which persons perceive you and react to you. I first became aware of this when I was training student ministers for the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. The students had to preach 'trial sermons' in front of a group of their peers. No matter how well researched and carefully delivered the message, some students simply could not illicit an appropriately proportionate response to the quality of their sermon. It was almost as if there was something about them that stopped their congregation from 'hearing' and 'accepting' the truth of their message.

Well, here's some research which gives account of just such situations.

MIT researcher Alex (Sandy) Pentland used tiny devices called "sociometers" to collect thousands of hours of data about the unconscious speech patterns that can influence the outcome of conversations. For example, the way you talk in an interview -- even if neither you or the interviewer are remotely aware of your tone -- may have a tremendous impact on what the employer thinks of you. We all know this of course, but Pentland has actually studied it scientifically. The value of the sociometers isn't in producing a verbal record of a conversation but rather quantifiable information about more subtle cues like tone and physical activity. Apparently, Pentland was able to use the data, not the words themselves, to accurately predict how a conversation about, say, a date or an investment pitch, would play out. He calls these cues "honest signals," and has just written a new book about the idea, titled Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World. From the MIT News Office:

The features he found that are highly predictive of outcomes, he says, "match the literature in biology about signaling in animals." In fact, Pentland suggests, the non-linguistic channels of communication that are measured by the sociometers may have started among our ancestors long before the evolution of language itself, forming a deeper, more primal way of understanding intentions, coordinating activities and establishing power relationships within the group.

"Half of our decision-making seems to be predicted by this unconscious channel," says Pentland, the Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences. "That's exactly the channel that you see in apes" as they coordinate their activities without the use of language... The data gathered from the devices can be used not only to predict the outcomes of specific interactions between people, but even the relative productivity of different teams within a company. "This information is not in the organizational charts," Pentland says. "This human side is missing from all traditional measures" of how groups of people work together.

Honest Signals (Amazon), "Tuning in to unconscious communication" (MIT)

4-1 odds that God does exist... What would you be prepared to wager!?

Online betting outfit Paddy Power is offering 4-1 odds that God exists. So far, folks have wagered $5000 on the question. Interest has increased resulting from an atheist ad campaign on London buses with the slogan: "There's probably no God." From The Telegraph:

A spokesman for Paddy Power said that confirmation of God's existence would have to be verified by scientists and given by an independent authority before any payouts were made, however.

He added: "The atheists' planned advertising campaign seems to have renewed the debate in pubs and around office water-coolers as to whether there is a God and we've seen some of that being transferred into bets.

"However we advise anyone still not sure of God's existence to maybe hedge their bets for now, just in case."

"Paddy Power offers odds of 4-1 that God exists"

As for me... I'll wager it all! I'll hold nothing back! God exists!

Introverted? More careful than most? Perhaps you are left-handed!

I am ambidextrous to a large extent - I have both dexterous and sinister abilities when it comes to writing, holding my knife and fork, and even playing sport (and this is only in the sense that I perform all of these activities equally badly regardless of which hand I use!) One thing, however, that I cannot say about myself is that I am an overly private and quiet person... I live my life in public (as this blog shows!)

But, here's an interesting piece of research:

New research suggests the lefties are more likely to be inhibited and anxious. Psychologist Lynn Wright and her colleagues at the University of Abertay Dundee ran behavioral tests on more than 100 people to see if they agreed with statements like “I worry about making mistakes, "“Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit," and “I often act on the spur of the moment." The answers of left-handed subjects revealed more reticence than righties. From New Scientist:

In left-handers the right half of the brain is dominant, and it is this side that seems to control negative aspects of emotion. In right-handers the left brain dominates...

However, (Swansea University behavioral neuroscientist Philip Corr, who was not involved in the study,) says handedness is not so much a predictor of personality as a great way to understand how emotions are handled in our brains. “Although we may have a predisposition to an inhibition, that may encourage us during adulthood or childhood to develop coping strategies,” he says. “It could act as a blessing.”

Wright, a lefty, agrees. “They [left-handers] like to colour-code things, they like to write lists, it’s almost a way to alleviate their stress,” she says..

"Left-handed people are more inhibited"

The irony of South Africa's ivory trade - it's like making love to promote virginity...

Today it was announced by South African conservation agencies that they had sold South Africa's ivory stockpile to a number of Chinese businesspersons for a tidy sum of US$6.7... It would seem that the only group that are allowed to break the law were of land were those who are charged with upholding it. No other person or group is allowed to sell ivory, and rightly so, since it helps to curb poaching on our elephant population.

Sadly, today's sale of ivory restarts the economy for ivory trade in the world since it introduces the scarce resource into the market this creating a desire to purchase more ivory, which in turn will lead to an increase in poaching. The conservation authorities were quick to point out that the sale of the confiscated ivory (confiscated from poachers!) would be put (in part) towards fighting poaching in Southern Africa...

I don't know about you, but this logic seems a little flawed to me... It's like going to war for the cause of peace, or making love to promote virginity...

Just a thought....