Archive for February 18th, 2012
“I am genetically prone to wide mood swing and frequent depressive phases…” How convenient
Posted by: adonis49 on: February 18, 2012
“I am genetically prone to wide mood swing and frequent depressive phases…” How convenient
I know people who are smart enough to quickly discover the shaky premises in their passions, and thus, they are unable to sustain a passion for long enough to bear fruits. They invent an ingenious excuse like: “I am genetically prone to periodic mood swing and depressive phases”, and they promote their physical/mental condition.
Soon, they start deeply believing their created excuse: They cannot function normal unless they exhume or discover a temporary passion to drive their days…In few instances, they participate in long protracted benevolent projects and carry the project through, only to relapse to the “depressive mood” after the project is over: The tedious and demanding well-done project was sort of compensation for having dropped out in so many programs and projects…They are seeking a new passions…another round of depressive phases…
Getting driven by a passion without adequate programmed constraints will inevitably lead to insanity and frequent depression moods and relapses: The body needs a break and the mind needs to relax on daily achievement tasks programs.
The best remedy to getting back on track is to start identifying their problems, not just the physical consequences of how they feel, but what is their driving passions and how to sustain them. The remedy is to adopting a “daily achievement program”?
This daily program is meant to circumvent unnecessary body aches and pains and mental stability to sustain the pressures of a driving passion. Here is a sample of scheduled tasks and jobs that are representative of this program:
One: You have a blog and you decide to schedule the necessary time to post an article a day. I have a large backlog of drafts, but I try my best to restrict publishing a single post so that I may focus on more reading and allocating more time for reading. Frankly, if you fail to allocate twice more time to reading than writing then, most probably your posts are not credible as representative of your background knowledge and will rarely show personal emotion and feelings…
Two: After I wake up, I allocate 45 minutes to light physical exercises to stretching all the joints, in standing, pronation, and supination positions. I use light weights (3 kg in each hand) in one of the four sessions. The idea is to wake up to consciousness big time: This is a new day, I’ll have to deal with this day, I will own this day and schedule my daily achievement program, I will own my health by preparing my body from not suffering asymmetrical sudden movements…
Three: In this very cold month, as mother was unable to wash dishes, I scheduled an hour at night, right after I had my late supper, to do dishes…and I enjoyed this relaxing hour and the feeling that mother will be greatly pleased in the morning to finding a clean sink, kitchen, and mopped kitchen floor…
Four: I decided to walk daily to the nearby private library (a mile away), rain or shine, and work for four hours, reading, typing, publishing posts, and selecting books for borrowing…
You don’t need to set the alarm clock for your scheduled tasks: The jobs constitute broad timetable with reasonable time allocated to achieving each task with conviction, pleasure, and a relaxed mood. You may schedule eight tasks that a day requires to performing daily chores and other necessary tasks.
You’ll always enjoy 13 hours of waking period to manage your program to fruition. Even the early physical set of exercises can be delayed a bit to tend to emerging priority tasks, as long as the tasks do not require hard physical exertions.
It is not the passion that will keep you alert and positive: It is the conviction that a mountain can be displaced when we nibble at it daily. It is the habit of daily achievement program that will take the relay of hard willful decision. Habit is a light chain that performs miracle, though the hardest to relinquish.
Mind you that I am not questioning the serious mental illnesses. What distraught me is this statement: “We find nothing physically wrong with him, but this person is suicidal…” If a person is handicapped mentally, so is his entire well-being. The body and mind are one entity: One part is handicapped the entire system is handicapped to survive properly. Medicines applied to the functioning of the brain affect the entire body: Tight and multiple interactions are at play…
Expand your mind, array of passions, and opportunities before setting on the habit path…Conquer your unreasonable and untested passion that can destroy your daily joy for living a good and sustainable life. Select the passions with habit chains that are easier to break: So much to investigate and so many things to feel curious about in a one single shot of a lifespan…
Rebels of the Niger Delta in Nigeria: Taking matters in their hands
Posted by: adonis49 on: February 18, 2012
Rebels of the Niger Delta in Nigeria: Taking matters in their hands
The Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria is the main oil production fields and generating 90% of the revenues. This rich oil province is exploited by a dozen international oil corporations, Shell is the most powerful among them. The refineries of crude oil are decrepit and totally insufficient for local consumption. This January, the government doubled the cost of the gallon from 30 to 6o cents.
This rich province is not receiving any significant benefit from local or federal government. Instead, this great agricultural basket region has been reduced to a waste land from oil production and processing…
The rebel movements such as the MEND (Emancipate Niger Delta movement), “Boyloaf”, and “Africa” are forcing the oil multinationals to restitute surplus profit directly to the local provinces, towns, and villages. These multinationals are reduced to taking care of infrastructure, public schools, dispensaries…
Amaka James Ogona, 74 year-old, a tribal chief of the little province of Olugboliri, said:”Our people exploited the land for agriculture, and now the land is ruined and the water polluted from oil discharges…The oil multinationals refused to compensate. The sustained rebel attacks have pressured the corporation to respond positively. The multinational Agip reconciled with the population and is extending direct regular payments and securing the maintenance of public institutions and infrastructure… When the government failed to construct the promised and judged for hydraulic project, Agip stepped in and did the project”
The Nigerian Federal government forgets to redistribute the revenues and claims that the rebel movements disruption of oil production have wasted 20 billion in revenues in the last 7 years.
Jean Ziegler, UN special rapporteur on food availability, said that “practically, every town in the rebellious region support the movements. The rebels can count on the firm logistical clandestine networks and innumerable caches in arms and food…that the government is unable to dismantle. The repeated hostage taking activities have permitted the rebels to amass a war chest treasure, enabling them to bribe the elite government troops…”
Criminal development in Africa is mainly due to weak government institutions and resolve to get engaged in sustainable budget allocation to devastated and ignored provinces…
Note 1: Inspired from a piece by the Nigerian journalist investigative reporter Theophilus Abbah of the Nigerian daily “Sunday Trust” and published in the French weekly Corrier International #1109
Note 2: Nigeria a giant country of 160 million, the most African State, but turning fragile as a sociopolitical structure. Half the population are Moslem in the northern region, and the remaining are either Christians or native religious sects. In January, the government lifted subsidy on car gas and the price doubled over night, leading to protracted mass demonstrations and strikes. In the northern regions,the extremist Moslem are practically ruling and imposing the Shariaa. From 1967 to 1970, a civil war for self-autonomy broke out in the Niger Delta that resulted in over 2 million deaths .
Coca-Cola: “Well, what do you mean by Design…”?
In the interview with Debbie Millman, David Butler, Vice President of Design at Coca-Cola said:
“In 2004, Coca-Cola decided to open a position of Vice President of Design and hired me. My first task was to getting familiar with the archieves and the story of Coca-Cola. I asked achevist Phil Mooney: “If I were to learn about design, where would I start?” Phil replied: “Well, what do you mean by Design…”?
So I asked Phil about packaging, the role of bottle contour, the point-of-sale materials, the posters, the clothing lines that Coca-Cola designed in the 80’s…
It turned out that in 1916, Coca-Cola was the first franchise to design its chain stores. In the same year, the design brief for the bottle stated two requirements:
First, the bottle should be unique and be found in the dark among all other bottles, and
Second, when broken, the shattered Cola glasses should be recognized as part of Coca-Cola…
The first redesign job of Butler was the vending machines, most preponderant in the US and Japan (70% of sales in Japan are done through vending machines). A redesigned door of the machine and a 44 inches screen monitor were added to display all the digital content, thus providing an extra connection platform with teenagers…
Butler hired Bruce Duckworth to redesign Coca logo: Who needs to show bubbles? Isn’t Coca-Cola drink bubbly enough? https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/never-let-a-piece-of-work-go-out-that-youre-not-proud-of/
The two themes recurring are: Connectedness and optimism.
The 3 main features are: Red, the Spencerian script, and the shape of the bottle...
Do you know that 25% of world population consume Coca-Cola, in 206 countries?
In Mexico, every individual drinks Coca-Cola three times a day...Butler was thus transferred to Mexico for six months, and he is learning Spanish
Wherever there is a disaster (hurrican, earthquakes…) Coca-Cola produces only water and distribute free bottles.
Coca-Cola has the largest distribution network and has far more trucks on the road than FedEx, DHL, and UPS combined…
Coca-Cola is ideal for emergency situations because of its wide transport networks around the world to almost every village in remote regions…
Pepsi designed a 2l bottles as it discovered that people are inclined to drink unlimited of soda when readily available and managed to compete with Coca-Cola.
Why people behave as cultist by exclusively selecting one of the brown sugar-water soda brands?
Note: David Butler joined Studio Archetype for building digital brands with Clement Mok before being hired by Coca Cola. Debbie Millman published “Brand thinking…” and interviewed 22 brand designers
Adonis Diaries 