Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Mobile phone mania

What's the deal with thise mobile phones? Don't get me wrong, I think mobile phones are a good invention and I had one already in times when people were giving me puzzled looks when using it and would make stupid remarks about me and how important I must feel with it. Strangely enough the same people now make last second phonecalls even after boarding an aircraft ("yeah, I am now in the airplane, aahm, can you tell Mark that I shall call him as soon as I arrive?"). After landing the same people can't wait to switch their mobiles on again and get on the phone ("yeah, hi, I just landed. Did you tell Mark, I'd call as soon as I land?").
I look at young people in the cafes, they sit together and don't talk, but look at their phones every minute to see if they received a message....
I see a guy sitting with an incredibly looking woman having a drink and this idiot knows nothing better than speaking 15 minutes on the phone with somebody and let her sit there and feel stupid.
People sit down for breakfast in a hotel and then bring the phone out and make a call. Funny, I was brought up telling people I (or my dad) would call back, as we are in the middle of Lunch or dinner. Let alone even think about MAKING a call myself...
Does the mobile phone make people forget their education, their sense for politeness vs. rudeness? In many cases, it certainly seems so...

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The natural flow

I believe in certain "laws of the universe". They are mainly based on Physics or Quantum Physics. A simple example: Action = Reaction. If we look at the nature, we find answers to all the questions we might have. Nature is full of metaphors we can use in our own life. One point, where the human being tries to cheat the physical laws all the time is growth. People start their own companies, haven't got the first deal done yet, don't know if they EVER get a deal, but already think about employing people.
Another perfect example for this is Musicstar or Amercan Idol or whatever it might be called. Young, more or less talented people are taken through a casting process and finally the winner gets a record deal, live gigs in large halls in front of large audiences etc. In other words, on their way to climb a ladder they leave about 20 steps out. The problem is: when they need to step back, the 20 steps won't be there either, therefore they fall.
I observe such behaviour almost on a daily basis. Young people do not go the normal way when buying their first car. They don't go for some old and cheap car they can pay cash, no, they go for the BMW M3 convertable with leather seats straight away. Of course they cannot afford it, they will find out the hard way after a while.
Or people who haven't quite secured and consolidated their own knowledge yet believe, it's their destiny to stand in front of an audience and teach or give speeches. It's like swimming with sharks: if you know what you are doing, you won't be hurt. If you are not quite sure, it's dangerous.
A baby grows at a natural pace. It is never stressed about the time it takes. The baby will simply take in all the impressions it can and will process them. A baby NEVER thinks it needs to be able to walk after three months. It will start walking when it feels that the time is right for it.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Harmony

Everybody speaks of "Harmony": A harmonic marriage, harmonic furniture, harmony in the team (e.g. football) is great, the movement of your hands were not quite harmonic, the courses in that menu were un-harmonic (that's the worst one!) etc.
Once more people speak about something the haven't got a clue. The definition of harmony: a simultaneous sound of two or more notes. That's it. That sound can be consonant or dissonant. Consonance and dissonance are primarily a matter of listening habits and therefore a matter of taste. As you might know, I have a degree in music and for me too much consonance is simply boring. But music generally cannot be without dissonance, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Some styles have more some less. But what makes the music interesting is the change between tension (dissonance) and release (consonance). But that's all HARMONIC. Okay? Generally the difference between a consonant sound and a dissonant sound can be explained by physics (acousics). It has to do with the wavelength ratio.
So back to this "harmonic marriage" crap: A marriage is always (always!) harmonic! As a harmony is the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. A marriage can be dissonant (the couple argueing) or consonant (the couple... well... you imagine). Could it be that the key to a good marriage is to accept that the interaction of tension and release eventually makes it interesting?

Now another one is: "the harmony in the team is great". A harmony cannot be great. A harmony is. It's the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. Therefore the harmony in a team can simply be consonant or dissonant. Even worse ist this "harmonic movement"-crap. A movement can never (NEVER!) be harmonic. As it has nothing to do with the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. And the worst one: A menu cannot be un-harmonic. Unless you just serve one item wihout anything, not even herbs or salt. "Un-harmony" or "Disharmony" do not exist. As soon as we are talking about two menu items, they will always be harmonic. They can be heavily dissonant such as a hamburger with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and roasted garlic.

Got it?