Search This Blog

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Mark Twain got it

From "Two Views of  the Mississippi."
Picking up on the transition from innocence to experience that William Blake explores in his poetry, Twain encapsulates the gain that also entails loss:
Now when I had mastered the language of this water and has come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty, the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river! 
Twain offers further details and then suggests a parallel with the medical profession:
 Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beautyʹs cheek mean to a doctor but a ʺbreakʺ that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown think with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesnʹt he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesnʹt he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?   

Read more in http://uncommoncontent.blogspot.com/2016/07/innocence-and-experience.html

Thursday, July 14, 2016

A digital strategy for growth in the biotech sector

QIAGEN is a German life sciences and diagnostics firm that has customers in more than 100 countries. Given the trend toward e-commerce in the biotech sector, which has emerged in the past few years, it became clear to the company's management that future growth called for a digital strategy that included online self-service.
To achieve that goal, the company partnered with TCS and used SAP Hybris solutions to design, engineer and launch a new global Web shop. The shop plays a central role in allowing QIAGEN to effectively serve its customers, according to  Florian Wegener, head of eCommerce.
- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/networking/web-shop-enhances-customer-experience.html#sthash.kaDE8mSn.dpuf

Friday, July 8, 2016

Steps to secure IoT

With great connection comes great vulnerability, which is why security looms large in Verizon's Internet of Things platform.
Verizon has kept a keen eye on security while the company develops its Internet of Things (IoT) platform, which is called ThingSpace. From an investment of nearly a decade ago to exploration of new technologies, and the application of analytics, Verizon is building up tools to secure user connections.
According to recent research by Gartner, worldwide spending on Internet of Things security will increase from $348 million this year to $547 million in 2018. That forecast is in line with what Warren Westrup, director of connected solutions at Verizon, sees from the investment his own company is making in IoT security.
Security concerns are the chief "inhibitors of IoT," Westrup stresses. 

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

An architectural firm finds a better way to share files

SLAM Collaborative is a diversified architectural firm with four locations in the United States: Bosto
n, Atlanta, Syracuse, N.Y., and Glastonbury, Conn. With geographically dispersed teams, getting people access to data needed for coordinated projects was a recurrent problem.
John Stergakis, the firm's director of Information Services, says SLAM is committed to drawing on the best talent from each office for each project. That means they have to be able to communicate with each other and share files between the four offices. This was a serious problem because of the delays in data transfer.
- See more at: http://www.baselinemag.com/messaging-and-collaboration/collaboration-by-design-sharing-files-remotely.html?sthash.0qZg2Y0S.mjjo#sthash.0qZg2Y0S.Md5Gib9b.dpuf

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Ford Aims for a Sustainable Supply Chain

Though virtue is said to be its own reward, that doesn’t hold true for business. Ford is very much aware of its image and the effect that can have on customer behavior. In fact, in its press release about making the World’s Most Ethical Company list, it states very clearly:  “Consumers placing increasing importance on ethics in business; recent report shows majority of U.S. learned more about a company before doing business; more than one-third opted not to do business with companies with negative reputations.”
What Ford says its customers want corresponds to what Nielsen published in a report this past fall, “The Sustainability Imperative: New Insights On Consumer Expectations.” It notes that “brands with a demonstrated commitment to sustainability have grown more than 4% globally,” in contrast to those that cannot make the same claims whose growth rate was under 1%.

from 

Committing to Ethical Standards for the Supply Chain


Thursday, June 16, 2016

Energy savings from 3D printing




3D printing is coming into its own as an integral part of manufacturing.  That's the view of Jack Hornick, an intellectual property attorney and author of 3D Printing Will Rock the World, a suggested textbook for "The 3D Printing Revolution" Coursera course offered by the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana. I spoke with him about the energy saving potential of 3D printing.

Read more in 

3 Ways that 3D Printing Saves Energy

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Do you speak realtor?

Every industry has its own lingo, and that extends to the language employed by realtors.  The descriptions of homes for sale or rent are written in encoded terms specific to the real estate industry. As with any foreign language, the key to understanding those who speak it is to learn the vocabulary.

The majority of homes on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) are labelled "excellent.” Many others are called “very good,” a smaller number merely “good,” while a a few are distinguished as “mint” or “diamond.” When you look at the listings online, you may find that the accompanying photographs of some of the houses do not look as flattering as the descriptive terms. That's your first clue that there is a difference between what the word means in English and in realtor-speak.

Say you decide to check out of the houses described as "excellent." Once you arrive, you are likely to notice that the windows are the ones that were put in the house when built – about 60 years ago. The roof looks not much newer than that. The paint on the façade is faded and peeling. The advertised hard-wood floor are scratched and dull. You’ll see indications of some redecorating in the 1970’s, as evidenced by wood paneling and uninhibited application of avocado green highlighted with golden orange. The real estate agent will likely enthusiastically point out the space for a table in the kitchen while remaining silent about the ugly wallpaper and the Formica countertops  that are peeling away from the corners.

No, you are not mistaken. The house is described as “excellent” because in real estate terms that is the correct rank.  Think of the terms as the equivalent of stars assigned for Amazon, Yelp, or movie ratings. What is in all the rest of the universe called "poor," and rates a single star is "good" in realtor-speak.  A house that has experienced a fire, requiring dousing by two fire engines for a couple of hours until it is thoroughly marred by flames, smoke, and water, may, for example, be described as “good.”

 For “good +” rankings, add a half a star, but don’t set your expectations much higher. “Very Good” is the equivalent of two stars. A house with that description is what is known in layman’s terms as a “dump,” a term a real estate agent will never apply to one of her listings (in your hearing, that is). With this context, you know that that the “excellent” house is better than "good" and "very good," the equivalent of  three out of five stars.

If you want something that will not have such obvious flaws -- though all houses have some flaws -- you need a house that is rated “mint.” No, that does not connote that the house is painted pale green or scented with toothpaste. “Mint” in real estate lingo translates into what you thought “very good” or “excellent” meant. 

Sometimes a term like “diamond,” which connotes a slightly higher standing through its association with wealth and distinction, or, for the practical-minded “move-in condition” is substituted. Do bear in mind, though, that such terms of perfection could apply to the most hideously decorated house you could imagine, so long as the neon green paint is not peeling and the vintage shag carpeting is not threadbare.

 A house could be described as “mint” even if it has not been renovated in the past 5-10 years, so long as it is updated enough not to require an immediate overhaul of the kitchen or bathroom. But don’t get your hopes up for the granite kitchen with top name appliances. Trust me, if they are they, they'd be listed in the description.  As terms become overused, the agent has to find a new word to indicate a superior grade. Consequently, a house in truly new condition may be called “mint +++.”

Something else to watch out for is the use of term that doesn't quite fit the rankings. That is the word "charming." If you see a "charming colonial," listed, be prepared for something that definitely needs work. It's not necessary as bad as "good" or even "very good," but it surely does not qualify as "mint."

 What about a house that has been renovated in part but not completely? Some agents solve that problem by coming up with an average rank that favors the house’s positive attributes. In my brief stint in real estate, I once showed a house that the listing agent described as “mint.” In fact, some of its features were even better than mint, extra-large master bedroom and completely redone full tile bathrooms, etc.  It also had features that might have been called only “very good” to “excellent.” Half the windows clearly needed to be replaced, and the kitchen was both small and outdated. Like in math, average rankings can be misleading, as you would expect a certain consistency that in fact is not in place.

So don't worry if you find the terms confusing. It's not you; it's the lingo. Once you adjust your expectations, you should no longer feel unnerved by your encounters with realtors and should actually be able to use the services they offer to your advantage. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and you certainly will need as many arms as possible to handle the even more daunting world of mortgages. 

Monday, May 23, 2016

An Idiot's guide for writers

I got this email today:
For more than twenty years, our Idiot’s Guides books have been teaching people how to do everything from balancing your checkbook to raising bees. But now, we are starting a whole new revolution online - and we want you to be a part of it!
Questions. We know you’ve got ‘em. Here’s the low-down, Q&A style.
What’s the short story?We wanted to create a global community online where anyone can come to teach what they know, or learn what they don’t.  Enter idiotsguides.com, our brand-spankin’ new site that is a global community where anyone can post a how-to article (called “Quick Guides”) on any subject they’d like!
What does this have to do with me?You’re awesome. We already know that by following your blog! We’d love for you to share your awesomeness with us by joining our community and contributing to idiotsguides.com!
Hm. Ok...what’s in it for me?  (It’s ok to ask, we know you want to!)Exposure (the good kind): Your contributions will be seen by the more than 1 million people who come to our site each month.
You can link back to your site on any Quick Guide that you write, boosting traffic to your site.
We share your work on all of our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
You can earn loads of fun badges! Earn enough and you rise to the level of Guru, which can lead to a paid writing gig as one of our Idiot’s Guides book authors!

Right, so after working for free for some unspecified period of time to earn nothing but exposure and badges(REALLY? Who do you think we writers are, 8 year-olds?) you may finally move up to considered for a job that could pay you. In the interim, I suppose you're supposed to live on air or  bunk in your parents' house. Maybe they really do think they're getting children to write for badges and are waiting for them to grow up before actually expecting any real compensation for work.

 You know what I would be sure to include if I were writing an Idiot's Guide for writers? It would be not to fall for the exposure line from someone who claims to be offering you the gig because of the exposure you've already achieved on your own. I'd also go over the information I included in http://writewaypro.blogspot.com/2016/05/writing-for-free-is-not-deductible.html