PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/12 Edition)

Grok Headline matches for PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/12 Edition)

PoliBlog: Cajun Toast! The 1/9/04
Edition of the Toast-O-Meter, Straight
from New Orleans

PoliBlog: Cajun Toast! The 1/9/04
Edition of the Toast-O-Meter, Straight
from New Orleans 01/10/2004 06:11 AM
Cajun Toast! The 1/9/04 Edition of the Toast-O-Meter, Straight from New Orleans .. latest assessment

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002535.html
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PoliBlog: The Toast is Back! It's the
4/10 Edition of the Toast-O-Meter

PoliBlog: The Toast is Back! It's the
4/10 Edition of the Toast-O-Meter 04/11/2004 05:37 AM
The Toast is Back! It's the 4/10 Edition of the Toast-O-Meter .. weekly assessment of the Presidential candidates

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/003346.html
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PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/20 Edition)

PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/20 Edition) 12/22/2003 04:24 AM
notes in the latest edition of the Toast-O-Meter .. Poliblogger

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002372.html
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PoliBlog: It's Back: The Mayday Edition
of the Toast-O-Meter

PoliBlog: It's Back: The Mayday Edition
of the Toast-O-Meter 05/02/2004 10:01 AM
It's Back: The Mayday Edition of the Toast-O-Meter .. Poliblogger

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/003521.html
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"PoliBlog: The Pre-NH Toast-O-Meter
(1/24/04)"

"PoliBlog: The Pre-NH Toast-O-Meter
(1/24/04)" 01/25/2004 03:03 PM

PoliBlog: The Pre-NH Toast-O-Meter
(1/24/04)

PoliBlog: The Pre-NH Toast-O-Meter
(1/24/04) 01/25/2004 05:42 AM
The Pre-NH Toast-O-Metere (1/24/04) .. is up over at PoliBlog .. Poliblogger

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002654.html
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PoliBlog: It's the Pre-Iowa
Toast-O-Meter! (1/17/04)

PoliBlog: It's the Pre-Iowa
Toast-O-Meter! (1/17/04) 01/18/2004 05:59 AM
posted the pre-Iowa edition .. Pre-Iowa Toast-O-Meter!

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002588.html
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PoliBlog: The Post-Christmas
Toast-O-Meter is Here

PoliBlog: The Post-Christmas
Toast-O-Meter is Here 12/27/2003 07:50 AM
The Post-Christmas Toast-O-Meter is Here .. Nine Dwarves up .. PoliBlog

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002410.html
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"PoliBlog: The Post-Christmas
Toast-O-Meter is Here"

"PoliBlog: The Post-Christmas
Toast-O-Meter is Here" 12/27/2003 03:06 AM

PoliBlog: It's the Cheese-Toast-O-Meter
of Love

PoliBlog: It's the Cheese-Toast-O-Meter
of Love 02/15/2004 09:19 AM
It's the Cheese-Toast-O-Meter of Love .. weekly assessment of the Democrats

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002854.html
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PoliBlog(TM): Post-DNC Toasties: This
Week's Toast-O-Meter is Here!

PoliBlog(TM): Post-DNC Toasties: This
Week's Toast-O-Meter is Here! 08/02/2004 03:22 PM
nifty new graphics .. Toast-O-Meter .. right

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/004323.html
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PoliBlog » Pre-RNC Toast (Better
Late than Never)

PoliBlog » Pre-RNC Toast (Better
Late than Never) 08/28/2004 08:54 PM
Steven Taylor this morning .. new toast-o-meter

poliblogger.com/index.php?p=4470
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Toast-O-Meter

Toast-O-Meter 07/26/2004 02:34 PM

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/004233.html
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"Toast-O-Meter"

"Toast-O-Meter" 07/26/2004 08:59 PM

Nethercomm Corporation’s Unveils
Innovative Answer to Natural Gas Meter
Reading; A Solution which Eliminates
the Need for a Local Gas Meter
Altogether - Meterless Gas Read

Nethercomm Corporation’s Unveils
Innovative Answer to Natural Gas Meter
Reading; A Solution which Eliminates
the Need for a Local Gas Meter
Altogether - Meterless Gas Read 06/05/2005 11:16 PM
The gas distribution industry continues to seek out the most advantageous, economical gas meter reading method -- One unique outgrowth of Nethercomm’s evolving technology base is the ability for Broadband-in-Gas to provide a very accurate means of monitoring natural gas usage by end users; in essence eliminating the traditional need for on-premise meters and their costly reading. [PRWEB Jun 3, 2005]

kuro5hin.org || French Toast becomes
Freedom Toast on Capitol Hill

kuro5hin.org || French Toast becomes
Freedom Toast on Capitol Hill 03/13/2003 10:21 AM
French Toast becomes Freedom Toast on Capitol Hill

track this site | 9 links

French Toast becomes Freedom Toast on
Capitol Hill

French Toast becomes Freedom Toast on
Capitol Hill 03/13/2003 10:21 AM
I just came accross this article on CNN.com. Three restaurants at the House of Representatives are proposing to replace the word "French" with the word "Freedom" in the names of two items of food on their menus. This is intended to indicate displeasure with the stance taken by France on the possibility of war with Iraq.

"PoliBlog: The Carnival of the Vanities
#70"

"PoliBlog: The Carnival of the Vanities
#70" 01/22/2004 02:49 AM

PoliBlog: The Carnival of the Vanities
#70

PoliBlog: The Carnival of the Vanities
#70 01/22/2004 02:13 AM
Carnival of the Vanities .. 70th edition .. PoliBlog

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/002635.html
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PoliBlog: Books for Iraq

PoliBlog: Books for Iraq 06/28/2004 06:30 AM
Poliblogger is helping to round up textbooks for Iraqi schools .. send them to needy universities in Iraq .. helping with a drive .. This sounds worthy,

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/003991.html
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PoliBlog(TM): Blinded by Partisanship

PoliBlog(TM): Blinded by Partisanship 08/04/2004 09:28 AM
Steven Taylor .. rips into .. PoliBlog

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/004335.html
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PoliBlog: Why I Care About the Civil War
Issue

PoliBlog: Why I Care About the Civil War
Issue 05/11/2004 03:33 AM
Why I Care About the Civil War Issue

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/003602.html
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PoliBlog: Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004

PoliBlog: Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004 06/06/2004 08:33 PM
Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004 .. Poliblog

poliblogger.com/poliblog/archives/003818.html
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Our Friend, The Meter

Our Friend, The Meter 06/23/2004 01:16 AM

DU Meter v3.07 Build 200

DU Meter v3.07 Build 200 02/01/2005 09:36 PM
DU Meter lets you see how much of your full bandwidth potential is actually utilized at any given point of time, either by displaying a real-time graph, numerical display, or both. [Shareware $20.00 30 Days 924 KB]

Morale-O-Meter

Morale-O-Meter 03/13/2003 10:21 AM
I really like Erik Benson's take on the link sidebar: I've created here a very simple mechanism for me to...

"pins the Bogosity Meter"

"pins the Bogosity Meter" 05/12/2004 11:08 PM

Polypaudio Volume Meter 0.2

Polypaudio Volume Meter 0.2 09/20/2004 06:38 PM
A volume meter for polypaudio.

Dean Support-o-Meter

Dean Support-o-Meter 01/07/2004 02:03 PM
The Club for Growth, a Republicanish group, has spent $75,000 to air an ad in Iowa that features a couple saying, "I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding...[etc.] ... freak-show back to Vermont." One has to wonder why. If Dean is the weakest candidate against Bush, why is a Republican group working so hard to keep him from getting the nomination? In fact, why would Karl Rove be telling the world that Dean is the candidate he would most like to run his boy against? Surely Karl is too devious to be giving the Democrats such good advice!...

Contrast-o-meter and other adjustments

Contrast-o-meter and other adjustments 05/08/2004 04:10 PM
The zeldman.com redesign continues, with a new feature for laptop users.

Polypaudio Volume Meter 0.1

Polypaudio Volume Meter 0.1 09/08/2004 01:42 AM
A volume meter for polypaudio.

Commemorative Trilogy DVD Edition
Figures: ESB Edition

Commemorative Trilogy DVD Edition
Figures: ESB Edition 06/01/2004 12:03 PM
Pictures of the second Commemorative Trilogy DVD Collection set have surfaced, this time featuring Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and Han Solo from The Empire Strikes Back. Click here to check out this auction for more details.

Phelps Wins 200-Meter Butterfly

Phelps Wins 200-Meter Butterfly 08/17/2004 12:52 PM

Macromedia starts the meter on Web
conferencing

Macromedia starts the meter on Web
conferencing 09/07/2004 03:22 AM
ZDNet UK Sep 7 2004 7:49AM GMT

Phelps Qualifies for 400-Meter Race (AP)

Phelps Qualifies for 400-Meter Race (AP) 08/14/2004 04:36 AM
AP - Michael Phelps began his quest to break Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic gold medals by easily qualifying for the 400-meter individual medley final Saturday.

JACK Meter 0.1 (Default branch)

JACK Meter 0.1 (Default branch) 03/22/2005 03:51 PM
Jack Meter is a basic console based DPM (Digital Peak Meter) for JACK. It was written for quickly checking remote signal levels without having to run X11 to use a pretty graphical meter such as meterbridge.

Macromedia starts meter on Web
conferencing

Macromedia starts meter on Web
conferencing 09/06/2004 11:21 PM
New pay-as-you-go pricing for Breeze Live service is meant to attract small businesses.

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter 06/24/2005 04:02 PM

Over a ball-breaking glass of Fantome Brise-Bonbons at Blind Tiger last night, I made a stunning revelation: I'm totally entranced by this Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes experiment. It has everything I could ever want from a news story: Potential brainwashing, aliens, ninjas (well, Tom was a samurai once, which is like a ninja with a bamboo fetish), and gadgets. One in particular: the 'e-meter,' or 'Electro-psychometer,' a "pastoral counseling device" used by the Church of Scientology to detect, among other things, the emotional state and thoughts of those attached to the device.

The original device was developed by Volney Mathison, a chiropractor, as an aid to psychotherapy, ironic considering the vehemence held by Scientologists against conventional psychiatric therapy. At heart, the e-Meters are based on the simple circuitry of the Wh eatstone Bridge, which measures resistance to current passed through a human body (or anything else that can be connected to the 'can' electrode probes, including vegetables). Scientology founder and principal prophet L. Ron Hubbard introduced the original e-meter in the '50s [pictured above], leading up to the 'Mark V,' which was the e-Meter of choice for the religion until the 'Mark VI' was released in the 80s, powered by an Intel 8051 microprocessor.

Find out more about the only electronic gadget that is also an official 'rel igious artifact' after the jump.

The Mark V was not the very first e-Meter, but certainly enjoyed a long period of use. These models may still be found and purchased for a relatively inexpensive $200 or so, although to be used in official Church procedures, must undergo a yearly $150 certification process. E-Meters previous to the Mark V had been seized by the FDA.

Developed in 1979, the Mark VI was the first major upgrade since the Mark V and was in use heavily, despite occasional technical inadequacies that caused some machines to break down. This e-Meter has a built-in clock.

The Super VII, developed in the late 80s, was reported to be much more reliable than the Mark VII, and featured the 'technical' precision to perform 'upper level auditing.' These units are no longer produced by Hubbard's Church, but can be found occasionally on eBay for between $300 and $900. Like all in-service e-meters, the Super VII must be sent in for an annual certification.

The Cadillac of current official offerings, the Quantum Super VII is the ultimate in e-meter artifacts, priced at over $4,500 new. From e-meter.org.uk's Quantum Super VII page, which may or may not be an official outlet of the Church: "Using the meter, the auditor ensures the process covers the correct area in order to discharge the harmful energy connected with that portion of the preclear’s reactive mind. When charge lessens, the person heightens his ability to think clearly in the area being addressed and his survival potential increases proportionately. As a result, the preclear discovers things about himself and his life – new realizations about existence, the milestones that mark his gains."

Since the design of the e-meter itself is relatively simple from an electronic standpoint, many third-party manufacturers have built generic models, including models that connect to PCs or PDAs for statistics monitoring and tracking. If you'd like to get more details about the variety of e-meters and e-meter clones available, check out Clearbird's fantasticly comprehensive All Meters: The E-Meter Supersite. For more information about the e-Meter's history and use, the Secrets of Scientology page by David S. Touretzky is equally thorough. The Church's official site is here.

And yes, this is probably the last 'Religious Gadget Thursday,' since, well, that's it.

N.Y. Removes Controversial Parking Meter
(AP)

N.Y. Removes Controversial Parking Meter
(AP) 05/11/2004 06:11 PM
AP - The city wasted no time in mollifying motorists angry over a case of meter madness. A parking meter in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn was so close to a fire hydrant that parking there meant risking a $115 ticket.
Grok Description matches for PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/12 Edition)
GrokA matches for PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/12 Edition)

NASA Show Top Podcast in February

NASA Show Top Podcast in February 03/14/2005 05:24 PM
Science@NASA was the most popular podcast in February 2005, according to Podcasting News, a leading source of information about the podcasting community. The podcast discusses everything from the weather on Saturn to going to the bathroom in space. The NASA podcast led What's on Tonight?, a look at the future of media, and the Firesign Theatre Podcast, a comedy show, to get the top spot. [PRWEB Mar 14, 2005]

Podcast: Xeni interviewed on "The Gadget
Show"

Podcast: Xeni interviewed on "The Gadget
Show" 03/28/2005 01:17 PM
Xeni Jardin: Following in the footsteps of my blog-mate Cory, I was interviewed on Richard Giles' Australia-based podcast radio program "The Gadget Show." Link to interview, and here is Cory's earlier appearance.

It's a new month go Vote at Podcast
Alley for Geek News Central Podcast

It's a new month go Vote at Podcast
Alley for Geek News Central Podcast 04/01/2005 02:01 AM

It's a new month all listeners of the Podcast and readers of this site help us make it into the top 10 this month. Go Vote Now!

To vote fast click here!

Todd

Vote for Geek News Central Podcast at
Podcast Alley

Vote for Geek News Central Podcast at
Podcast Alley 02/01/2005 09:43 PM

We know how many of you are out their, so head over to Podcast Alley and vote for the Geek News Central Podcast, we appreciate your support. [Podcast Alley]

Not just for breakfast anymore

Not just for breakfast anymore 11/13/2003 02:01 AM
What was your first experience with the sacred cup of java? I don't remember my very first coffee experience, but...

spam -- it's not just for breakfast any
more!

spam -- it's not just for breakfast any
more! 12/19/2004 02:57 PM
Nor in english, not that this is any great surprise to anyone. (And it looks like nearly half the spam my filters catch isn't Latin-1/Unicode. I don't know if this is an argument for or against dumping all the non-Unicode encodings... :) This piece actually made it through the filters, which was mildly interesting. I'm not 100% sure it actually is spam (my Japanese isn't very good) but after a half hour or so with the dictionary and grammar reference it sure looks like it. I expect I'll poke at it some more, but on the off chance I'm...

the bling breakfast

the bling breakfast 05/19/2004 11:50 AM
a $1000 omelet better come with a side order of "sex with supermodel"

Six euro breakfast

Six euro breakfast 07/11/2004 10:38 PM
Note to self: don't eat at Oulu airport.

There's a flying machine waiting to take me back to Helsinki. *sigh* Weekends like these just don't happen, you know... ;-}

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's 07/18/2004 04:11 AM
Sunshine + nature + freshly picked strawberries + champagne + friends = A pretty good breakfast moment.

Ain't summers brilliant? They're just like winters, except a lot warmer... ;-)

Breakfast is Fundamental

Breakfast is Fundamental 06/02/2004 08:52 AM
super delicious breakfast .. "Cheat Commando" toon

homestarrunner.com/cheatcereal.html
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TV's Breakfast with Frost to end

TV's Breakfast with Frost to end 08/13/2004 12:26 PM
Veteran TV presenter Sir David Frost is to end his Sunday morning BBC programme and present a new series.

Breakfast with Guido van Rossum

Breakfast with Guido van Rossum 06/11/2004 03:04 AM

OMG. I met Guido van Rossum this morning. Guido is the father of python, my favorite only programming language. He was in Helsinki meeting with the Nokia folks working on python Symbian phones. He will be talking to developers later today.

I have a long history with python. The Ultraseek search engine by Steve Kirsch at Infoseek was written in python and many of the people in Digital Garage which I was co-CEO of at the time were developing the Japanese version and working in python. Later, Cyrus et al at Digital Garage use Zope, a python package to build a commerce site. More recently, I learned python using Dive Into Python by Mark Pilgrim as my tutorial and I wrote the first useful script in my life, Technobot. In the process of writing the script, I went for help on #python on Freenode which regenerated my interest in IRC and led to the birth of #joiito. I owe a lot to python and therefore to Guido. So thanks!

Frusion Breakfast Brawl

Frusion Breakfast Brawl 03/27/2005 02:51 AM
Frusion Breakfast Brawl .. hit it up here

frusion.com/game.asp
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Fan Club Breakfast 2004

Fan Club Breakfast 2004 05/29/2004 07:58 AM
The first Fan Club Breakfast has been scheduled for Saturday, July 24 at San Diego Comic-Con. Tickets will go on sale Thursday, June 3 at Starwarsshop.com. For more info on this event please click here!

New on my wishlist: Breakfast with
Hunter

New on my wishlist: Breakfast with
Hunter 03/06/2004 02:02 AM
While getting up to date on HST’s ESPN Column Archive , there it was, an advert… Breakfast With Hunter …...

Should Game Consoles Make Breakfast,
Too?

Should Game Consoles Make Breakfast,
Too? 08/16/2004 03:49 PM

Fan Club Breakfast Tickets On Sale

Fan Club Breakfast Tickets On Sale 06/04/2004 03:55 PM
StarWarsShop.com has tickets on sale for the first Fan Club Breakfast of 2004. The event will take place Saturday, July 24, 2004 7:00 – 9:00 AM, at the Marriott Hotel & Marina (Ballroom F) during San Diego, California, during Comic-Con International! Tickets are priced at $57.32 per person of which one has to be a Fan Club member. For more details follow this link!

Audio from the AO breakfast on the New,
New Media Market

Audio from the AO breakfast on the New,
New Media Market 06/05/2005 11:41 PM
William Luciw has posted audio highlights from Thursday's Always On Breakfast in Mountain View, CA. Thanks, William! Moderators: Scott Rafer, CEO, Feedster Bernard Moon, Reality Media Columnist, AlwaysOn Panel: Michael Moe, CEO & Chairman, ThinkEquity Partners LLC David Sifry,...

Rabid Bat Spoils Woman's Breakfast (AP)

Rabid Bat Spoils Woman's Breakfast (AP) 07/30/2004 05:04 PM
AP - A journalism professor received rabies shots after encountering a rabid bat while eating breakfast outside of a downtown cafe.

Travel,edification,breakfast-cheap!.

Travel,edification,breakfast-cheap!. 07/14/2004 11:57 AM
The Educator's Bed and Breakfast Network Lodging for US $34 per couple per night, and breakfast too! Required - a house of your own (or maybe a large apartment, I suppose) to host fellow members. Membership costs $35 per year with a one-time $10 initial registration fee. "Educators" is a broad category which includes teachers of all sorts, writers, journalists, researchers, librarians, probably DJ's....many bloggers...

Breakfast with Dave Snowden and an
Epiphany

Breakfast with Dave Snowden and an
Epiphany 06/05/2005 11:12 PM

A synopsis of a recent breakfast meeting with Dave Snowden, head of the Cynefin Centre and thought leader on complex systems and narrative and their application in business. Last week I attended a breakfast presentation by Da ve Snowden of the Cynefin Centre in Toronto. He provided us with an entertaining recounting of his disenchantment with traditional consulting and his realization why most of what management and experts and consultants try to do in organizations has no significant, durable impact whatsoever. As he described his learnings and discoveries about complex adaptive systems and how pervasive they are in our business and personal lives, I began to realize that appreciating enterprises, organizations and systems as (mostly) complex rather than merely complicated is more than just a basis for re-framing business methodologies, it is a completely different way of sensing and dealing with the world. It changes everything. Here are just a few of the extraordinary paradigm shifts that this reframing provokes: Complicated World Complex World Assumption of order ("research this to find out if there's a market for it" Realization of unorder ("let's explore what might happen if we did this") Importance of aggressiveness and charisma to "lead the change" Importance of collaboration and humility to participate in the evolution Actions driven by authority-based direction Actions based on learnings from conversations, consensus and freedom to act bounded by personal responsibility Top-down hierarchical communication and knowledge transfer Peer-to-peer (networked) communication and knowledge transfer Military win/lose competitiveness Natural win/win cooperation and coexistence Emphasis on action (making decisions quickly and 'expertly') Emphasis on paying attention (making decisions continuously, improvisationally) Assumption of rational choice ("tell people why they should buy X") Realization of entrained behaviour ("study people to discover if they might buy X") Primacy of objective reality ("what's happening here") Primacy of perception ("what do people think is happening here") Changing the way things are Understanding why things are the way they are Assumption of intention ("why did this happen") Realization of meaning ("what do we learn from this") Assess causality Look for pattern and correlation Focus Experiment Leadership is everything Membership is everything Strive for stability Strive for resilience Exploit weaknesses, opportunities, needs via speed-to-market Explore weaknesses, opportunities, needs via continuous environmental scan Mechanistic (machine) models of behaviour, relationship, order, connection Organic (natural) models of behaviour, relationship, order, connection How do we solve the problem How do we deal with the situation Set "go-to-market" mission, objectives, strategies, actions Understand the market and actors' identities and influence the attractors and barriers that bring the market to you Market as rational Market as emotional Here are some of the highlights (to me) of his presentation: Innovation today is driven by networkers, not by scientists or marketers Networks are only as good as their perceived trustworthiness, reciprocity and quality (personal value of contacts) 'Edge Cultures' like Singapore, New Zealand and Canada are using the networked economy to become highly innovative, both because they can and because they must Management science is finally getting more like real science, through the use of complex adaptive systems theory, cognitive science, and anthropology etc. Taylor's mechanistic view of organizations and markets dominated management science for a century, and was still evident recently in the passion for business process reengineering Senge et al (learning organization, systems dynamics) challenged the mechanistic aspects but not the hierarchical aspects of Taylorism (people were still expected to align themselves to the strategy, not the other way around); DNA and information ecology metaphors were first used by this group <>Then knowledge management challenge the Taylorist model further (saying people can't be 'reengineered'), but too much of the initial KM focus was on the futile effort to make tacit knowledge explicit ("expecting you to learn how to ride a bicycle by reading the manual"), and because codifying knowledge erases most of its context ("You can teach in three days what it takes three years to write in a book" (and the context-rich hands-on teaching is more effective) KM began to realize that informal networks are far more important than the ones on the organization chart, and to realize that the most innovative people are under 25 (few preconceptions on how things should be done) and over 45 (time and perspective to become aware of alternatives) Narratives (stories) are the only effective mechanism for translating concrete (hands-on) knowledge into abstract (codifiable) form, and are also very motivating (e.g. power of myths) KM has recently spawned a new discipline Narrative Inquiry to understand through large collections of anecdotes the true nature of the market (they catch 'weak signals' that questionnaires and focus groups etc. miss) KM has also spawned a new surge in Non-Hypothesis Based Research, where direct observation with no preconception is used (a form of anthropology) to acquire learnings There is an increasing awareness that dominant companies lose their position because their cultural filters blind them to much real knowledge, as happened to IBM when they passed up early adoption of the PC and the innovations that led to Sun's and Microsoft's successes (this is entirely consistent with Lakoff's and Lappe's framing theories, except it is applied to organizations and management rather than to individuals) This use of narrative-based, Non-Hypothesis Based Research actually costs less than traditional analytical hypothesis-testing methods, and produces far more innovation opportunities Such research can be made even more powerful by the use of Alternative Simulations, a technique that involves asking people to imagine what would have resulted if something happened in history that didn't really happen, and which allows preconceptions and blind spots to be overcome, so participants can begin to 'think ahead' from the patterns found in the true anecdotes that come out of Non-Hypothesis Based Research Such thinking is needed to deal with what Dave calls the impending "demographic time bomb" (far too few companies are thinking ahead to the needs of a much older market population) There is a big difference between creativity and innovation -- the latter requires starvation because it entails risk and unorthodox thinking that are rarely tolerated until there is no alternative (this is consistent with Christensen's observations about disruptive innovations, which I wrote about on Wednesday) The adoption of complex adaptive systems theory seems to be currently strongest in the pharma, telecom, defence and banking industries The current focus of this theory is on what Dave calls ABIDE: Attractors, Boundaries, Identities, Dissent, and Environment; its objective is to get executives thinking about how to have an impact on complex systems by changing attractors (the people, groups, qualities and benefits that attract stakeholders) and removing or changing barriers (the conditions that impede or inhibit stakeholders) in stakeholders' various personal identities, rather than focusing on traditional 'complicated' systems approaches like missions, strategies and objective-setting Dave uses this story to illustrate why ABIDE works better than traditional approaches in complex situations:: Imagine organising a birthday party for a group of young children. Would you agree a set of  learning objectives with their parents in advance of the party? Would you create a project plan for the party with clear milestones and empirical measures of achievement? Would you start the party with a motivational video or use PowerPoint slides? No, instead like most parents you would create barriers to prevent certain types of behaviours ("the bedrooms are off-limits"), you would use attractors (party games, toys, videos) to encourage the formation of beneficial, largely self-forming identities; you would disrupt negative patterns early to prevent the party becoming chaotic or necessitating the draconian imposition of authority. At the end of the party you would know whether it had been a success, but you could not define (in other than the most general terms) what that success would look like in advance. If you think the example is unfair because it refers to children, just substitute 'cocktail party' for 'children's party'. The point is that we see a complex situation as a merely complicated one, we form an exaggerated sense of our understanding of the system and what could happen, our knowledge of all the variables and their causal relationships, and our control over the situation, and so our behaviour doesn't 'make sense', sometimes with terrible consequences. In every situation there are attractors and barriers over which we have some control and many others over which we have none. So rather than being presumptuous, making inaccurate assumptions and setting naive objectives, we should focus on the attractors and barriers we have some control of, pay attention to what's happening, what's possible and what's needed, and improvise sensibly to optimize the situation. As in the party example above, we often have a lot more control over the initial conditions than we have over eventual outcomes, and we should use that to advantage. I hope to be able to write about some specific business applications of this approach soon, and I suspect it will play an important role in the design and operation of AHA! The Discovery and Learning Centre.

Coffee Flavored Breakfast Cereal

Coffee Flavored Breakfast Cereal 12/18/2003 04:51 PM
Musrum writes "Hubbards, the New Zealand based makers of fine breakfast cereals, have launched 'Cafe au Lait', which they describe as "light coffee flavored ...

Terror alerts as breakfast cereal

Terror alerts as breakfast cereal 12/22/2003 12:36 PM
Talented net.cartoonist Goopymart has shipped this new Terror Alert Chart just in time for the latest installment in the Homeland Security Free Floating Anxiety System. Link (Thanks, Goopymart!)

Food Cart Gets More Students to Eat
Breakfast (AP)

Food Cart Gets More Students to Eat
Breakfast (AP) 12/26/2004 02:54 PM
AP - It's not just OK for students to eat on the run when they arrive at a middle school here each morning. It's encouraged.

Licensed character breakfast cereal
gallery

Licensed character breakfast cereal
gallery 11/12/2003 01:27 PM
Ralston -- now a division of General Mills -- is the cereal company best known for Cookie Crisp and Chex, but the company also had a sideline in short-lived, craptacular cereals based on licensed characters from GI Joe to Rainbow Brite to Slimer. Some of the most forgettable are gathered into this annotated gallery. Link (via Fark)

Raging Platypus - Geeks drink it for
breakfast

Raging Platypus - Geeks drink it for
breakfast 03/14/2003 12:58 PM
Raging Platypus - Geeks drink it for breakfast .. ragingplatypus.com/

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Three-in-One Breakfast Toaster Coffee
Machine Egg Boiler

Three-in-One Breakfast Toaster Coffee
Machine Egg Boiler 08/17/2004 07:32 AM

If there is a worse investment for me, gadget-wise, than kitchen appliances, I don't know that it is. I'll buy KitchenAid attachments just because they look neat, convincing myself that 'amateur sausage making' is going to sizzle me into a future of home-ground treats, then leave the packages unopened on the shelf. So you might understand how I could be intrigued by this Three-in-One Breakfast Toaster Coffee Machine Egg Boiler, that not only brews your bean juice by can toast a muffin or bread and steam up to four eggs at once. In my mind, I am sitting here each morning, writing up the latest gadgets for you, while simultaneously cooking myself a healthy, albeit bacon-free and therefore slightly sad breakfast. In reality, I would be purchasing and ignoring three different kitchen appliances at once.

It's a win-win situation, really.

Read - Product Page [GadgetUniverse via TRFJ]

Breakfast Cart Lets Students Avoid
Stigma (AP)

Breakfast Cart Lets Students Avoid
Stigma (AP) 12/26/2004 11:10 PM
AP - It's not just OK for students to eat on the run when they arrive at a middle school here each morning. It's encouraged. The program makes it easier for kids squeezed for time to squeeze in breakfast. And it removes the stigma that if you eat breakfast in the school cafeteria, you must be poor.

New Burger King breakfast offering
outdoes Whopper - Mar. 28, 2005

New Burger King breakfast offering
outdoes Whopper - Mar. 28, 2005 03/29/2005 06:54 AM
New Burger King breakfast offering outdoes Whopper - Mar. 28, 2005 .. Enormous Omelet Sandwich .. Good Morning Burger .. CNN

money.cnn.com/2005/03/28/news/midcaps/burgerking_breakfast/index .htm?cnn=yes
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“Show Me The Business!” Live Internet
Talk Radio Show Moves to the
VoiceAmerica™ Channel

“Show Me The Business!” Live Internet
Talk Radio Show Moves to the
VoiceAmerica™ Channel 03/22/2005 03:16 PM
Founder of Westcoast Business Review host Amy Campbell re-launches “Show Me The Business!” on Tuesday, March 22, 2005. [PRWEB Mar 21, 2005]

PoliBlog: Toast-O-Meter (12/12 Edition)