Love in the Wild

This is the first reality show I watch as I got to know about it after reading an article in a newspaper.

Also, I could watch it online at the time and day of my choice otherwise I would not have bothered.

Very interesting idea (you can read more about it: Love In The Wild Fans Magazine & Wikipedia) and I was hooked for a while. However the last episode 4 disappointed me and I realized almost everything was scripted just to make the show more dramatic.

I mean Steele and Erica must have spoken in advance that they would stick together but all the dialogue that was filmed kind of let the viewer believe that Steele will not turn down Jessica . And Erica approaching Ben about a possible switch, come on ?

Not to mention Derek who suggested he might choose Samantha as he likes her. He must have known had he done so, he would have become the most hated man in America for breaking up a couple who was doing so well together. So after all he had no desire to choose Samantha.

However, producers of the show must have known that it would have been too boring showing people’s real intentions. They needed to inject some drama. I even suspect they ‘helped’ Derek win again in order to build up the suspense: “Will he or not choose Samantha ?”

The fact that the horse ran away from Jessica/Jason must have been the only real thing. He must have sensed that the couple did not get along too well (horses like most animals can pick up human emotions and react accordingly).

I might not watch the show again !

Japan trip

There is nothing cynical about it, just wanted to post it somewhere.

Drank some white water, very curious what it actually was.

Noodles everywhere (instead of a hotdog)

Fascinated by the vending machines

and toilet seats

Nissan Leaf, the electric car (though did not see one on the streets)

wonder what it was for

 place for smokers !?!

famous Shinkansen

Criminality is low in Japan but I worried a lot someone would take my shoes especially as the warnings did not help to assuage my fears.

 More photos here: Japan

Facebook or the Writing is on the Wall

Last year I read an article in a local newspaper called ‘Time to unplug from Facebook’.

That made me thinking of setting up an antifacebook site, even if it wouldn’t be named like that.

However, no circle of friends, no chat (there are some good programs out there), no 3rd applications, no walls, no inbox (there is yahoo, gmail, etc.), no groups, and many other no's, only the friends and a diary.

Have it as simple as possible with the main purpose to keep in touch with the friends and the second one as important as the main one not to become addicted.

However, I am sure someone is working on this site at this very moment.

I venture to make a prediction: Facebook will go the way of MySpace in fewer than 3 years.

And what I read some time ago:

We will move on, just as we did from the chat rooms of AOL, without even looking back. When the place is as ethereal as a website, our allegiance is much more abstract than it is to a local pub or gym. We don't live there, we don't know the owner, and we are all the more ready to be incensed by the latest change to a privacy policy, or to learn that every one of our social connections has been sold to the highest corporate bidder.

So it's not that MySpace lost and Facebook won. It's that MySpace won first, and Facebook won next. They'll go down in the same order. 
Full article Facebook hype will fade .

And today other article The trouble with Facebook

However according to Inside Facebook, which tracks the site's popularity, there were 100,000 fewer British users in May while over 7 million users ditched their accounts in USA and Canada - the first time the number of users of the site has actually diminished in these countries.

When you're talking about 670 million users worldwide it sounds a bit like a drop in the ocean but CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be wary of this becoming a trend. Trends are what all Internet businesses are built on, after all. While it's too early to tell whether Facebook has peaked in terms of user-base just yet it's clear in my mind that the site has peaked in terms of interest.

Other good reading (the comments too) Facefacts

It is about time I started my social site; the avalanche will start and nothing will be able to stop it (i.e. the demise of Facebook).

Lounge Opening Hours

The board says the lounge closes at 23:45. It closes in fact at 23:15. When I inquired about the discrepancy as I was being asked to leave at 23:15 and I was told they requested the airport (Vancouver) for 4 years !!! to change the timetable and they have not done it yet.

“What the hell is going on ?”

They make robots who play soccer, climb stairs, play violin, nano robots, big robots and so on.

How can’t they make a robot that goes through a damaged building ?
Actually it does not have to be a robot but a small flying machine with a camera.

This question would have not been put and if yes the answer would have been given without too much delay.

Performance Review is Bad

Link (no affiliate) to the book .

This post should be under a 'cynical employee' blog, but the truth is that there are not too many things at my current work to be cynical about.

I'd have to count on the visitors with their own stories to have at least a post per week whick it would not happen as ususally I am the only visitor of this blog, not to mention that any prospective employer would not look favorably to the owner of such a blog.

Some quotes from a very good article about performance reviews:

At two of the companies I've worked for, the most stressful time of year was the twice-yearly performance review period. For some reason, the Juno HR department and the Microsoft HR department must have copied their performance review system out of the same Dilbertesque management book, because both programs worked exactly the same way. 

Performance reviews were stressful for a couple of reasons. Many of my friends, especially the ones whose talents were very significant but didn't show up on the traditional scales, tended to get lousy performance reviews.

The effect of reviews on morale is lopsided: while negative reviews hurt morale a lot, positive reviews have no effect on morale or productivity.

 Full article Incentive Pay Considered Harmful by Joe Spolsky

@charliesheen

That's crazy ! 1 million followers in 24 hours  !

I have just created an account only for the purpose of following him. I actually had an account set up some 4 months ago that I never used so I did not know the name/password.

There were 1,...,277 followers first time I accessed the account and I thought I'd be ... 278 but some other 200 joined the list in the meantime.
Now I will do other screenshot  to see how much it has increased in 10 minutes.

Approximate 2,400 increase

And after some 1 hour