Languages of people’s messages on Twitter

Via this posting, I learned about a research based on 2.8 million tweets gathered over a period of 48 hours in February. Results showed, for example, that of all messages on Twitter

- English accounted for some 50%.
- Japanese accounted for 14%.
- Portuguese accounted for 9%.
- Malay accounted for 6%.
- Spanish accounted for 4%.
- Italian, Dutch and German each accounted for 1% – 2%.

Changes happening at higher speed

In the video that I embedded in this posting, Gary Hamel talks about the many changes going on today in many different areas. He touches, for example, upon environmental changes, changes within information technology, and demographic changes. Not least the changes within IT are, I think, worth noticing. The Internet - including social media / collaborative technologies / Web 2.0 tools - as well as mobile devices are not only developing at high speed in these days / weeks / months. They are also, more or less fundamentally, changing the way people work in / across several industries. Think, for example, about the way news is / increasingly will be delivered, and the way education is / increasingly will be done. The changes driven not least by ICT are so profound that a need for breaking the rules has developed.

Reflecting upon these as well as other changes that are happening in the world at an increasingly higher speed, I came to think about the paradox between continuous change and revolutionary change – a dilemma I wrote about in this posting. I also came to think about Blue Ocean Strategy and creative destruction. My thoughts are to which degree it is, today, often a better investment to tear down, rethink, and rebuild - than to repair? Here are a couple of examples:

Example # 1
When I was a child, I repaired my bicycle myself. And as bicycles and materials for bicycles did not, at that time, have the quality level that bicycles and bicycle materials have today, there was a need for continuously repairing bicycles. Today, I experience, that bicycles as well as materials for bicycles have gotten both better and cheaper, and that wages have gone up. In this regard, I also experience that less repair is being done today - compared to when I was a child.

Example # 2
Another example of an area where it is increasingly becoming a better investment to make / buy something new than to repair old is in housing. I remember, when I was growing up, people continuously repairing their own houses. The foundation of the house, the bricks, was more or less fixed although some people were building an extension to their houses. Housing developing was an ongoing process that was done by people living in them. Today, I experience – when driving around – that old houses are being torn down and replaced by new houses with different design and better materials that, for example, help reduce the amount of energy people use and increase the living quality. In other words, changes in housing today seem to be more about tearing down, rethinking and rebuilding new – than about repairing old. On the photo below is an example from one of the houses in Albisrieden, Zürich, where this is happening. In this regard, my wish is that the people who design the new houses - including the gardens around the houses - will work creatively, i.e. make something which is somewhat out of the ordinary, for example by involving people with different competencies and backgrounds in the development process, using solar panels on walls and roofs, more glass than concrete, using lights that are both functional and beautiful, as well as small gardens around the houses where people can grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and maybe play a few ballgames.

3 elements of good health: Exercise, nutrition, and stress reduction

Via this posting, I came across the following 3½ minute video about 3 elements of good health:
1. Exercise
2. Nutrition
3. Stress reduction

I find it valuable that doctors, in this example a doctor from the Mayo Clinic, spends time to teach people about how to prevent illnesses, stay healthy. In this regard, have a look also at the Twitter profile of Dr. Stutz.

“Play Decide” – a discussion game about controversial issues

Via a Twitter update by Rare Disease Day, I learned about PlayDecide, a discussion game to talk in a simple and effective way about controversial issues. On PlayDecide, there are so-called Decide kits on 11 topics in more than 20 languages. Among the topics is Orphan Drugs. I read in the introduction to the topic Orphan Drugs that, in the European Union, around 30 million people suffer from rare diseases. According to eurordis, a disease or disorder is defined as rare in Europe when it affects less than one person in every 2000 people. One rare disease may affect only a handful of patients in the EU, and another touch as many as 245,000. There are between 6000 and 8000 rare diseases.

At PlayDecide, I read further that the case of orphan drugs raises important issues such as
- How can you put price limits on human life?
- How can treatments for such rare diseases be properly evaluated?
- Is it fair that individuals with a rare disease have more money spent on them per unit of health gain than patients with similar health problems arising from more common diseases?
- Should companies producing orphan drugs keep all their current benefits?

You can get to the Decide kit on the topic Orphan Drugs by clicking here. According to the Decide kit, Decide works best when played by 4 to 8 people. From start to finish, the discussion game takes 80 minutes to play.

Alfie Kohn: The more students are motivated to get good grades, the more the interest in learning tends to suffer

Office on the water

In 2 previous postings, here and here, I referred to a couple of hotels located at / on / in the water. Via this posting, I learned about floating offices. To know more, stop by here.


Photo source


Photo source

The pharmacy as healthcare partner

Reading this strategy+business article, I learned that drugstores are experimenting with in-store clinics, wellness programs, health screenings, and disease management services. For example, the city of Asheville, North Carolina, has been using local pharmacists to provide free counseling and coaching to diabetes patients, generating substantial savings and health improvement. I discovered that the pharmacy offers 4 significant advantages:

Advantage # 1: Trust
Patients already have more contact with pharmacists than other health-care providers and appear to greatly value their pharmacists’ advice.

Advantage # 2: Access
The pharmacist is highly accessible. In ths U.S., for example, there is a pharmacy within 2.36 miles of any consumer.

Advantage # 3: Skills and services
Pharmacists are highly trained health professionals, knowledgeable about a range of medical conditions and capable of delivering some advisory, diagnostic, and treatment services. An increasing number of pharmacies also have a retail clinic on the premises, staffed by a nurse practitioner licensed to perform a range of primary care services and, in some cases, write prescriptions. In the article, I also read that new forms of technology - such as expert systems that provide information about disease and treatments, more portable and affordable diagnostic equipment, and telemedicine - will enable pharmacists to perform a larger number of screenings and consultations in retail clinics more conveniently and at a lower cost than traditional medical facilities can.

Advantage # 4: Cost
Pharmacy-based retail clinics could often treat patients at a lower cost than physicians’ offices could for the same conditions.

For information about other healthcare partners, have a look at this presentation.

Jamie Oliver: Teach every child about food

In this 22 minute talk, for which Jamie Oliver received standing ovations, Mr. Oliver suggests, for example, the following 6 things:

1. Put a food ambassador in every major supermarket who helps people shop and shows people how to cook.
2. Big food brands put food education at the heart of their businesses.
3. Fresh, proper food is cooked for children at school.
4. Teach every child in school to cook 10 recipes that will save his/her life.
5. Inspire families to cook.
6. Empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

Glass-roof underwater restaurant

In this blog posting, I brought information about a floating hotel in Sweden. Via a tweet by Larry Ferlazzo, I came across this LIFE slideshow with several special hotels. One of the hotels featured is the Conrad Rangali Island Maldives Hotel at Rangali Island, Maldives. At the hotel, a glass-roof underwater restaurant offers views of tropical fish and coral reefs 16 feet below sea level.


Source

Conflict Management

Conflict Management

View more presentations from Frank Calberg Services.

A plug with incorporated extension cord

Via this posting, I came across a plug with incorporated extension cord. Interesting idea.

A paper shredder that makes toilet paper

Via this posting I learned about a paper shredder that makes toilet paper. Quite an interesting innovation. Watching the 2 minute video, I also learned that it takes 30 minutes to make one toilet roll. Each roll is equivalent to 40 sheets of A4 office paper.

Tips on Innovation from Google

Listening to this 8 minute interview with Dave Girouard of Google, I learned that, to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit, the following four things are, for example, done:

1. People, who work for the company, are given as much freedom as possible.
2. The organizational structure is kept very flat.
3. Constant experimentation is done with compensation systems.
4. Research & Development is spread out across the world. Ideas come from everywhere.