The only thing we ever do.

                                                             Asgard: remarkably dull, considering.      The late film critic Roger Ebert described 2011's Thor as: "a failure as a movie, but a success as marketing". Indeed, with the talent involved and the basic interest from the fans of the comic it was never going to be a particularly difficult sell. Yet it was rubbish. It lacked almost anything of interest. Dull scene after dull scene ponderously dripped into the expensive production barrel which was then dutifully scraped.      However, clearly a lot of people enjoyed it and Ebert also pointed out how well the film was doing on Rotten Tomatoes , so why bother to complain? Why not just set fire to the memory of it and let this dead film drift off to Valhalla? Because it could have been a whole lot better. Because Thor might have been mightier. Because with just a little understanding of creativity, we might have some shoots of wonder amongst this technically prof

                                      Wherever you're going I'm going your way.                                              The murky brown waters of the canal near Yokohama Station contain a lot more action than the casual observer might at first notice. There`s the usual carp, but also some pied wagtails and the odd duck. Crabs claw a living from the concrete banks and very occasionally a lost frog will attempt the survival course of rusted bicycles and dead umbrellas.                          All through the year the waters offer the opportunity to observe a rich variety of discarded plastic bags and pieces of paper, but right now, those who are not giving a second glance to the flapping white vinyl and sodden flyers will in fact be missing the chance to have a look at some real natural beauties. Because at this time of year the river is visited by Moon Jellyfish.                         The Jellies arrive silently in the canal like lost aliens. I used to wonder why t

    When I first came to Japan I worked in Ofuna, a city about fifteen minutes from Yokohama by train. I would get the train back to Yokohama every evening,  Occasionally, an Anglo-Australian expeditionary force would reconnoitre such points of interest as the "Pub and Snack" whose neon sign promised familiar comforts.  Remarkably, this venue completely failed to contain a dart-board and a jar of pickled eggs on the counter. Instead, it seemed to be some fiendish kind of Japanese device for removing a substantial amount of money from foolish pockets for very little entertainment in return. Wiser but poorer, we were.     All part of the normal learning process when moving to a new place, of course, but what would baffle me for over a year was nothing more complex than the station's escalator.     Here's Ofuna Station and its escalator in 2013:                                                      Ofuna station yesterday.             The original escalator is on

     50% of communication is, most basically, asking and checking ( most usually referred to as: Bela Lugosi ) .         In schools, how often are students graded on their ability to ask questions? How often are they tested on their ability to check? Clearly, the usual education systems see no real value to communication as they ignore half of what it takes for it to be most effective.         Here's Bela with some interesting ideas about life:                 Why is asking and checking so vital to communication? Because communication always works like this:                                                                     Information -------------> Idea               Any information gives an idea. And any information can always give more than one idea. Naturally then, we will often need to ask and check in order to try to better understand the idea.    As an example let's take this statement from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to a Labour Party c

http://adage.com/article/moy-2008/obama-wins-ad-age-s-marketer-year/131810/       In 2008 the Obama campaign won Advertising Age's Marketer of the Year award. Apple and Nike were among the giant corporations whose marketing campaigns were deemed by professionals in the industry to be less effective than Obama's.       Marketing  is generally defined as "the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers."       It is clear that when marketing is "communicating" it is the kind of communication where asking and checking are discouraged. We receive information that is designed to give us a particular idea. And so, when Obama promised "hope" and "change" people tended to wave their flags and weep rather than asking: "hope for what ?" or " what kind of change?". The campaign was designe