Hans Rosling's Washing Machine and World's Energy Consumption

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZoKfap4g4w

Another interesting video on washing machine and the world's energy consumption. And it's funny too!

Like money, out of all the world's energy, the richest people consume the most. Thus, until they have the same energy consumption per person, they shouldn't give an advice to others, what to do and what to not to do.

So.... who does not need a washing machine?

Microsoft's corporate culture from an open-source backer's point of view

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/can-an-open-source-backer-thrive-inside-microsoft-this-one-says-no/9545?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE

While I do agree that some competition is needed based on a meritocracy system, but too much competition may indeed be destructive, especially if this is within the scope of one organization.

It's an interesting corporate culture, as some of their products are #1 used worldwide (which of course also due to intensive marketing and an aggressive methods of selling, bordering on monopoly). Don't know how many of them that were considered a failure, though.

Rules of Brainstorming

Finally, an update after a while...

I just read an interesting article on how can an innovation be killed easily in any organizations. One interesting point in the article is that brainstorming is good and recommended, but often times, brainstorming just ends up killing good ideas. The reason is that because we often do brainstorming while ignoring the rules behind it. So what are the rules?

1. There is no such thing as a bad idea. Brainstorming is a place to throw in ideas. As such, any ideas should be regarded as valuable as the best idea out there. No matter how far-fetched an idea is, you never know that idea will precisely lead you to the one that is best for your problem.
2. Don't talk yet about "why not". Often times, a good idea is abandoned simply because we start thinking on why that idea might be not good for the problem and not fit the reality. Discussions on whether an idea is bad should be done in another time, not during brainstorming. Brainstorming should only be used to throw in ideas, not ruling them out.
3. Nothing should stifle the flow of ideas. Ideas have to flow freely. There should be no "buts". What we want to hear is the words such as "and", "or",  and "what if?".
4. Again, just to emphasize: there's no such thing as a bad idea.