Use of the term world-class.
Usually means one of the following: you are lazy, corrupt, or deluded.
Rarely, it means something else that in almost all instances does not need saying.
from reestheskin
The Monday Morning Quote #390
“The pessimist complains about the wind;
the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails.”
The Monday Morning Quote #389
“We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.”
Daniel Kahneman, Thinking fast and Slow
Nigel Lawson and hubris
The former UK chancellor of the exchequer writing in the FT in a patronising piece about Brexit. (Sept 3rd)
“I was a member of the Thatcher government of the 1980s that transformed the British economy, an achievement acknowledged throughout the world at the time.”
Like many I acknowledge that the economy was transformed. Like many my spectacles aren’t nearly as rose tinted as Lord Lawson’s.
This is the man who said in the run up to the Brexit referendum that he hoped, “Ireland would recognise its mistake and rejoin the U.K. after Brexit”.
It’s sad how the humility learned from experience helps some people see a bigger picture as they get older but others become more entrenched trying to convince themselves and anyone who will listen that they never made a mistake.
Lest we forget Nigel Lawson was one of the loudest deniers of climate change.
The Monday Morning Quote #388
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labour and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
I am not a physicist but I know one…
The news that three British physicists have been awarded the Nobel prize gives me some pride by distant association, my son is a physicist and understands the field infinitely (though he would probably dispute my use of that word) better than I do. I am trying to reacquaint myself with the subject that I studied through three examining boards at A-level by reading Carlo Revelli’s recent book.
Read all about the winners here.
What I did note was Sir Martin Rees’s comment, he is no relation but I share his views. The galloping scientific philistinism of politicians continues to make me despair. My son’s PhD studies are conducted in connection and co-operation with other European universities. He works alongside people from other countries who are contributing to increased knowledge and understanding. His department head is a professor who had the temerity to have been born beyond the White Cliffs of Dover.
Sir Martin Rees, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Cambridge, and the Astronomer Royal, noted that all three awardees were Brits who had “defected” to the US in the 1980s, when university budgets were being squeezed by the Thatcher government. “The UK scientific scene is now much stronger than it was then – thanks in part of the strengthening of science on mainland Europe,” he said. “But there is a serious risk, aggravated by the tone of Amber Rudd’s deplorable speech today, that there will be a renewed surge of defections, weakening UK science and causing us to fail to recoup our investments over the last 20 years.”
Amber Rudd at the Tory conference here.
..and if you want to know more about the picture go here.
Today’s Twitter Rules by Bob Lefsetz
Bob Lefsetz writes the Lefsetz Lettter (compulsive reading for we ageing music fans). Famous for being beholden to no one and speaking the truth, Lefsetz addresses the issues that are at the core of the music business: downloading, copy protection, pricing and the music itself.Never boring, always entertaining, Bob’s insights are fueled by his stint as an entertainment business attorney, majordomo of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels.
NO SELF PROMOTION
Nothing will get someone to unfollow you faster than constant links to your appearances online, trying to bolster your brand. We already follow you, we believe in you, we want to bond with you, but when you keep selling to us it’s a turn-off.
NEWS WE CAN USE
First and foremost, Twitter is a news service. Informing your followers is the number one thing you can do. Turn them on to stories that give them insight into popular topics and expand their horizons. You’re a courier, your personal curation skills are your calling card. We’re all hoovering up information, we’re looking to separate the wheat from the chaff, if you come across a brilliant analysis, tweet it, if you stumble upon a story that fleshes out a popular topic, tweet it, we’re following your intellect, your curiosity, more than your shenanigans.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
We want to bond with you. In a cold world of endless messages we want to have friends. Just don’t tweet links, add some spin. Either your opinion or your emotional reaction.
HAVE A PERSONALITY/VIEWPOINT
Those trying to appeal to everybody appeal to nobody. Your edge is your advantage. Don’t worry about alienating some mythical segment of the population, everyone is never gonna follow you, there’s a huge tribe with similar viewpoints if you can just find it.
FREQUENCY
If you’re tweeting all day it shows you have no life, that you’re trying to become famous, and that’s a turn-off. If you’re at an event, feel free to go on a tweetstorm, as long as it’s informative and not just “look at me!” Otherwise, limit your tweets to four or five a day…certainly fewer than ten. If you’re thinking about your online life, about what you’re going to tweet next, you’re doing it wrong. You should encounter something, whether it be online or in real life, and be so inspired you want to tweet about it.
FLAME WAR
If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. There’s someone who’s gonna hate everything you say, if for no other reason than you have followers and they don’t. In an anonymous world, haters just double down. Ignore them. Don’t even bother to unfollow them, that shows they’ve gotten to you.
AW SHUCKS
Sure, post your cat videos, other heartstring-pullers, but know it’s a low, gutter activity, he’s who’s trolling for love is ultimately unlovable, because they don’t love themselves.
OPINIONS
Only matter if you’re not trying to rally support. Twitter is very intimate. We want to know what’s going on in your head. If you’re trying to build a movement… That had better be your main goal of being on Twitter. And never forget, further fame for yourself, or furtherance of your artistic career, is not a qualifying movement.
EVERYONE’S A REPORTER
Jammed up in traffic? In the midst of a natural disaster? Tweet about it! Skilled users search for keywords. Forget hashtags, that’s for those looking for fame, a false enterprise. When I’m stuck on the 101 I search that highway and the Hollywood Bowl and I find out what’s slowing me down. As for those too ignorant or unskilled to do this? Forget about them. Online is for those who’ve learned on the fly, who are curious, who want more. Twitter is the land of power users. But you can enjoy the site quite a lot without being one, it’s just a different experience.
STARS
The Monday Morning Quote #387
Those who think that just enough is good enough will never fully deliver for themselves nor the team.
They must step beyond the comfortable.
Frank Dick (via Richard Welbury)
Tales from Phoenix #1 – Orthodontics
Last week I spent two days in Phoenix Arizona at the excellent ConationNation conference organised by Kolbe Corp. The conference was as inspiring and educational as usual and, as ever with these things, one learns much during the breaks.
One of the great conversations was with someone who works for a brokerage that sells orthodontic practices and therefore finds suitable purchasers for them. The costs involved means that it is rare for anyone to be able to buy a practice upfront and a period of associateship / purchase is involved. (That’s another conversation with relevance to the current UK market). What she didn’t know about the finances of orthodontics wasn’t worth knowing; so that’s treatment patterns, types, costs involved, etc etc. She has 12 years or so experience purely in the orthodontic business (and a background in dental management prior to that) and Initiates in Fact Finder and really knew her stuff.
She has watched the rise of General Practice led orthodontics and the effect that it has had on both specialist and general practices amongst other phenomena. Invisalign has led and promoted, and continues vigorously to promote, the commoditisation of orthodontics – so people are buying a thing first and foremost, not a personalised service. In the USA people are more often buying purely on price – a price that is reducing all the time. The numbers that need to be seen would make the NHS look like a doddle – one orthodontist seeing 120 patients a day – sure they are delegating to assistants but….
We agreed our conclusion by saying the same phrase at the same time, that in view of the widespread availability of treatment, “it’s a race to the bottom”.
OK in the (USA) it’s a more mature market, but there are significant lessons to be learned ahead of the same thing happening on the eastern side of the Atlantic – or is it too late? The only people making real money are the ones who sell the tools, toys and systems or perhaps the ones who put right the treatments that go wrong and there are plenty. And let’s not forget the lawyers who chase them.
White House Report Concludes That Bite-Mark Analysis Is Junk Science
Don’t shoot the messenger..
THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL of Advisors on Science and Technology has concluded that forensic bite-mark evidence is not scientifically valid and is unlikely ever to be validated, according to a draft report obtained by The Intercept. The report, titled “Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods,” is marked as a “predecisional” draft created August 26 that is not to be quoted or distributed, though the title page suggests the report will be made public sometime this month.
The Incisal Edge 