Radio

Today, in a seemingly random event, I was reminded of this Pink Floyd song, and the few verses it opens with: Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day  Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way  Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town  Waiting for someone or something to show you the way  “ Time” – Pink Floyd  I'm glad not only because it reminded how great a song it is, but also because these few lines are pretty deep, and I often find myself dealing with them. Mahalo

It's amazing how powerful surprises are, they can drastically affect the balance of any situation. Case in point, check out this video from one of the thousands of TV talent shows: the painting is obscure and mysterious to the audience until the very end, and while it's a pretty impressive painting for being created in a minute and a half (and in those conditions), the public's reaction would have been much more tame if it wasn't for the final plot twist: By further confusing the audience, the artist almost makes them give up, and accept a weak result: expectations have been tamed to the extreme. And then: Voila'! The excitement for being back in the world of wonder, after having given up hope, swings the needle all the way to the other end, well beyond the normal reaction to the painting itself. This neat trick took his act from "oh, wow!" to a standing ovation... it's amazing how many shapes storytelling takes. Mahalo

I stumbled upon this image from a 1876 propaganda campaign, to convince people to move to California. I guess in the long run it worked pretty well...I wonder why it was so hard to convince people back then: wasn't it just as beautiful?

My kids really wanted Panzerotti, but those are supposed to be deep fried, and I wasn't keen on the idea. I made my own version instead, sort of a "mini calzone". Fairly easy too... Big success... Mahalo

Ever since coming to the USA I had to adjust the meaning of the words "design" or "innovation" in my vocabulary, apparently our cultures (Italian and American) are far enough to require these adjustments. However, I never really bought into one of the accepted "truths" in this business, that sounds more or less like this: "P&G is one of  the most powerful corporations when it comes to Design and Innovation". Then you see things like this article. Really? That's how low we've taken the bar for "innovation"? I'm glad the article points out that this is weak, and late, I still believe that even the "good" innovations in this pattern deserve a better scrutiny. As far as In can tell, these"innovations" almost never have a real positive effect on people's lives, although I admit sometimes they do fatten wallets...is that still a good measure? Mahalo