01.28.10
Seth Godin – Everyone’s An Expert
Seth Godin created a site called squidoo.com which proclaims,
“Everyone’s an expert (on something).” I’ve just recently realized the
truth to that. A co-worker who has become a brand new father came to me
with a question about children Tylenol. Am I a doctor or a pharmacist?
No, but I’m a father of two with a third on the way. From his
prospective, I was enough of an expert to help answer his question. So
I guess being an expert can be relative in some situations. We all have
knowledge, experience, and ideas that others will find valuable; it’s
just a matter of connecting our data with the audience that will find it
useful.
Also, you probably now know that Seth has released a new book Linchpin.
He lays out the case for writing a book in the digital age. That makes
me want to write a book myself, someday.
Bonus: Seth asks some questions to get you questioning the status quo.
01.25.10
New Twitter Profile
As part of the changes going on here, I’ve started a new twitter feed @roguepolymath. Check it out for thought provoking info from the web.
01.22.10
Go Your Own Way, And Solve Your Own Problems (problem solving)
The Get Rich Slowly blog reminds us of the perils of one size-fits-all
problem solving.
everyone. Yes, you lost tons of weight with whatever fad diet you
tried, but the commercials specifically say, “results not typical.”
Yes, you’re rich because you started day-trading, but you might just
have got lucky. Each of us is an expert on us. Don’t second guess yourself. If you
screw up. So, what? Now you can learn from your mistakes.
01.21.10
Unleash Your Introverted Leader (leadership, strengths)
As a introvert, I’m happy to read Jennifer Kahnweiler’s post on
introverts using the strengths for success. In summary they are:
2) Value depth over surface
3) Exude calm
4) Leverage your writing skills
5) Embrace solitude Check out the whole post. h/t Tony Morgan Also, Penelope Trunk wrote a similar post the same day using five
completely different introvert strength points. Small world!
Using Math to Solve Health Care Problems (problem solving, health care, math)
Physician/Math geek David Eddy has developed a super app that can
reasonable approximate clinical trial results at 1% of the time and
money to actually perform them.
It’s based on a mountain of empirical evidence on the complex
relationships that numerous contributing factors have on an individual’s
health.
“The model will make mistakes,” he says. [Eddy] notes, Archimedes will neverreplace clinical trials when it comes to
evaluating the safety and effectiveness of untested medications. “The
model is a living thing. As medical knowledge and data expand, the model
is updated, just as medical experts update their own knowledge,” he says
bluntly.
I’m impressed by the track record of accuracy and it’s design to
incorporate continuous improvement. It’s also refreshing to know it’s
creator realizes the limitations of his creation. The beauty of using
numbers here is that it’s not necessary to understand how the biological
processes work, to benefit from information that a relationship exists
between factors.
And because the mathematics captured the complex interactions of human
physiology, Eddy argued, they allowed Archimedes (the name of the
computer program that does the calculations) to reproduce even aspects
of disease that weren’t readily measurable – like the amount of arterial
plaque a person had accumulated by a certain age. In other words, Eddy
believed that his simulation had a strange and remarkable advantage: the
ability to see even deeper into human physiology than actual researchers
could.
Job Fair (Public Service Announcement)
Shipyard. It was six years ago that I was at this very ‘Job Fair’ and
as a result, have the career I have today. Seth Godin talked about
Career Fairs last week. He was not so positive. While I think he’s a
genius, I have to disagree and think that Career Fairs can provide value
to job searches. Putting all your eggs in the Career Fair basket would
definitely be a mistake. But as part of a well rounded strategy (with
networking, a good sense of who you are and what you can provide, and a
solid resume), it could provide opportunities that you would otherwise
miss. Perhaps Seth is right to tell others not to get their hopes up,
but then my organization is looking to hire 400 people this year, so why
not at least try!
Housekeeping (from last May)
Recently, while our division was cleaning up the office, I found several items that have physically existed longer than I have. A couple of these were reference/technical documents, either obsolete or available in electronic form. The most interesting (I thought) were:
- correction tape from, 1975
- a sheet of electrical cable prices, 1976
- and a printed (and laminated) guide to Word Perfect fonts (That one probably wasn’t older than me, but interesting none the less)
Anyone have some interesting cleaning stories from their workplaces?
01.19.10
The Best of the Rest
Posts have been light on this blog last year partly because I’ve been experimenting with different blogging platforms. I’ve decided to come back to WordPress because I think they’re the best. Now that I’m back, I’m changing this blog a little. Rogue Polymath will host more serious and intellectual discussions and more light-hearted and personal stuff will be on a separate blog. Leading up to this change, I’ll repost some of last year’s better material here.
01.16.10
Polymath Ponderings
Feeling overwhelmed at work? The Enlightened Manager Blog has some
suggestions for you.
Readers of the Rogue Polymath blog will recall my feelings on last
year’s Bailout Fiasco. Now there’s a movement to stick it to those
“too-big-to-fail” losers. Take your money and run. Will it make a
difference? I don’t know but it might be a good time to try.
Learning on your list of resolutions? Scott Young gives advice to max
your results. Some seems hokey, but most sound reasonable.
What is China censoring on the internet? This info graphic shows you.
h/t lifehacker
01.10.10
2009 Fantasy Football Recap
league at ESPN with some of my co-workers. It was definitely worth it
and I’m sure to try it again next year. It was a little difficult for
me starting out, since I haven’t seriously followed the NFL for many
years. Not surprisingly, I finished dead last in our ten team league.
The plus side was that I won both my playoff games so I technically
finished in seventh place. The other thing was that our league was in
the top 97% of the other leagues on ESPN, so the competition was fierce. The bright spots:
Picking up Tony Romo in the sixth round of the draft. He ended up being
my highest scorer. Also getting Jamaal Lewis for Steven Jackson in a
trade. The dark spots:
Dropping Brett Farve for Carlson Palmer early in the season and trading
Steve Smith (Carolina) for Willie Parker. Next year I’ll definitely wait later in the draft to pick a Tight End.
Also even tough I’ll play in the same league again, I’ll also join a
random league to see if I fair better with average players.
