Time flies by…

Posted by lemiffe in Life on Jan 13th, 2010 | 2 comments

Yes, in 2045 I’ll be thinking that it was such a short time ago when I made a 100 Euro bet that Strong-AI would exist by that year. I will also be thinking about what I did in all those years, from 2010 to 2045, where did time go? Did I spend it well? It will be a sense of confusion, as I will have done so many things, and at the time many of those things must have felt marvellous, but did I really enjoy the ride? What does it feel to enjoy the ride? Does it feel well in the present, does it still feel good in the future? How do you know if you are enjoying your time? Maybe you know it because you wake up every day feeling good, smiling. Maybe you know it because you wake up with a burning desire to do something new, to invent something revolutionary, to discover to a new place…

I don’t want to start travelling the world when I’m 58. I don’t want to start living at that age, discovering the world, discovering myself. I am alive now, and I’ve got to use the time I’ve got on my hands as if it were gold. That’s why everything I’ve chosen to do I’ve done it then and there, that’s why I’ve started my world travels at the start of my 20′s, that’s why I’ve decided to write, blog, do photography, video, painting and everything I can do right now. What’s the point of starting it all when you’re old? Why not take this moment in time to do everything you can, learn something new, start new travels. It is your time, decide what best to do with it, just don’t waste it.

Once upon a time someone told me that it’s good to develop hobby’s throughout life, because when you get old, hobby’s are the only thing you’ll have left to cheer you up. Life as an old person would be boring if throughout your life you could never give a damn about learning how to ride a bike, swim, do some yoga, play golf, paint, play guitar, learn software programming, graphic design, audio production, hiking, knitting, inventing, arts & crafts, growing plants and vegetables, script writing, reading books, etc.

The more, the merrier. So now you know that it’s never too late to plan ahead, it’s never too late to learn/do something new, it’s never too late to life. After all: Time flies by.

New Blog Design!

Posted by lemiffe in lemiffe on Jan 4th, 2010 | 0 comments

I Just finished giving my Blog a new look, which will probably suffer a few more changes in the upcoming weeks. Give it a look, and don’t forget to tell me what you think.

Thanks to Carrington for such a great theme. If you experience issues in other browsers, or platforms, please give me a shout. I’ll be happy to look it up for you because as you may notice while browsing through categories, AJAX loading has been enabled and may, or may not, work on different browsers.

I also added a few new sections (pages) to the site. Browse around!

Social Media and Marketing… Where are we?

Posted by lemiffe in Business, Communication, Marketing on Sep 29th, 2009 | 0 comments

Where are we today regarding Social Media and Marketing?

Advances in Social Media are changing the way we market our products, services, or ourselves. It’s not all about *the logo* any more, it’s not about what your company represents, it’s about what your customers represent to you, it’s about how will your customers benefit from your service, and how can you learn from their experiences to build up on your products, and deliver better service.

One platform isn’t the future. One platform isn’t even better than another. A platform is a tool, and us marketers must know how to use these tools to reach our customers, without aimlessly devoting everything towards one specific platform. Today it might be Twitter and Facebook, tomorrow Google Wave, and the next day who knows, but we must always keep in mind that it’s the person that makes the platform useful, not the platform that makes the person useful.

Chris Brogan is an expert. I don’t usually call someone an expert unless I really mean it. He recently gave a speech at New Media Atlanta (which I obviously did not attend to), and he just posted the video capture for the whole speech on his blog. If you have a spare hour I recommend you give it a good listen.

So what are your thoughts about Social Media? Where do we go from here?

An Ideal Economy

Posted by lemiffe in Economy on Apr 20th, 2009 | 2 comments

In this short essay I will describe what I thought of an ideal economic system, in few words, which should bring an end to the current problems displayed in both capitalist and socialist economic systems.

The Capitalist Economic System (as described by Wikipedia):

Capitalism is an economic system in which wealth, and the means of producing wealth, are privately owned and controlled rather than state owned and controlled. Through capitalism, the land, labor, and capital are owned, operated, and traded by private individuals either singly or jointly, and investments, distribution, income, production, pricing and supply of goods, commodities and services are determined by voluntary private decision in a market economy. A distinguishing feature of capitalism is that each person owns his or her own labor and therefore is allowed to sell the use of it to employers.

Summary:

• Wealth and production are privately owned.
• Each person owns his/her labor and can sell the use of it to employers.
• Each person’s wealth depends on the price set by his/her employer, or his/her own price.

The Socialist Economic System (as described by wikipedia):

Economically, socialism denotes an economic system of state ownership and/or worker ownership of the means of production and distribution. In the economy of the Soviet Union, state ownership of the means of production was combined with central planning, in relation to which goods and services to make and provide, how they were to be produced, the quantities, and the sale prices. Soviet economic planning was an alternative to allowing the market (supply and demand) to determine prices and production. During the Great Depression, many socialists considered Soviet-style planned economies the remedy to capitalism’s inherent flaws – monopoly, business cycles, unemployment, unequally distributed wealth, and the economic exploitation of workers.

Summary:

• Wealth, production and distribution are owned by the state.
• All economic terms, goods, services, quantities and prices are centrally planned.
• Wealth is distributed amongst the people.

The Ideal Economic System:

Why not merge both economic systems and define a system which a minimum wage is distributed amongst all citizens sufficient for purchasing basic food items, schools, living expenses, housing, etc.

Products, Services, Prices and Quantities are determined at national level as a guideline to all industry and commerce, but not regulated by law. Minimum levels are determined, nonetheless every factory, workshop, producer and shop has it’s own right to determine how much they will produce above the minimum level.

Each person has his/her own right to work, however, his/her work work will proportionately generate via taxes income for the government to distribute amongst it’s citizens and to increase general welfare.

As a brief example: This would allow someone not to work and receive minimum benefits to allow him/her to live a decent life. Those who put more effort into their work will be able to generate their own income, but will have to pay more taxes depending on the amount of income they have. People who barely make an income won’t be taxed as heavily as those who are generating massive amounts of money working in demanding positions.

The amount of tax would have a maximum level. For example, someone with a small wage will be taxed 1%, someone with a medium wage would be taxed 10%, someone with a very large income will be taxed up to 20%. That way it is beneficial for those with low incomes as they also receive help by the government to live, but it is also beneficial for those who want to work more as they receive a larger income, and it is beneficial for the government as they will receive more taxes from those who can pay them, support from the masses, and extra money to be able to reinvest into the nation and technology.

Thinking about quitting your job?

Posted by lemiffe in Life on Aug 14th, 2008 | 0 comments

Ok, so you might think you are bored of your current job, maybe you think the administration sucks, or that they are assigning tasks to you that don’t correspond to your area. Maybe they are paying you less than what you expected, or maybe they are taking a bit too long in moving you up to the next rung.

It’s a complex world we work in, and the following applies to small and large businesses; The vast majority of employees are always looking for a better quality of life, more income, a better position, etc. The vast majority of employers are looking for more profits, better elements, less costs, etc.

You may think that you might be a very good resource, that your capable of doing so much more, but to the administration you are only another element that represents a cost to the business, and while you don’t generate more income the less cost you generate will be better for them.

Theres a point of equillibrium here that businesses must seek: Put you in a position of comfort, where you earn the salary you wish, but continue to work for the business, in a position that represents a moderate expense for them, which will keep both of you happy. Unfortunately, we are never happy with what we have.

So many times we find ourselves in this position in which we want a higher salary, but we’re afraid the administration will bounce us off, we also want a higher position, but maybe the business isn’t in that great a shape to offer it to us, or maybe they have other “better” candidates.

My tip here is: If you really feel you’re wasting your time, leg it, there’s no point in wasting time in a business that will never let you get anywhere better, but be aware of all the risks this has. Sit down and think.

In most cases I’ve found the problem isn’t the business, it’s YOU and ME. We get bored of our position, we end up moving business to business on a horizontal scale, we never get payed much more than our older job, we’re just wasting time switching looking for a perfect spot. The truth is there is no perfect administration.

The point I want to reach is that a change of attitute may help you think twice about moving. I’ve found out that being annoyed at yourself, at the business or at staff members only brings more problems. Even if you don’t like someone very much, or you find your boss annoying, put on a smile, come in everyday feeling good, positive, well rested, thinking about what’s going on now with your mind on the future.

If you have problems completing a task, never get frustrated, if you find you start to circle the same subject, get out, breathe, and attack it from another perspective. If you still can’t complete it, then try studying it, from different angles, and in some moment it will come to you. The more frustrated and distracted you get, the task becomes harder and takes longer, becoming more tedious, and increasing your motivation to leave, walk out, etc.

“Cause quiting alone will never get you dry” – Jimmy Eat World (Night Drive)