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The medical men among us learned first of all: “Textbooks tell lies!” Somewhere it is said that man cannot exist without sleep for more than a stated number of hours. Quite wrong! I had been convinced that there were certain things I just could not do: I could not sleep without this or I could not live with that or the other. The first night in Auschwitz we slept in beds which were constructed in tiers. On each tier (measuring about six-and-a-half to eight feet) slept nine men, directly on the boards. Two blankets were shared by each nine men. Though it was forbidden to take shoes up to the bunks, some people did use them secretly as pillows in spite of the fact that they were caked with mud. Otherwise one’s head had to rest on the crook of an almost dislocated arm. And yet sleep came and brought oblivion and relief from pain for a few hours. We were unable to clean our teeth, and yet, in spite of that and a severe vitamin deficiency, we had healthier gums than ever before. We had to wear the same shirts for half a year, until they had lost all appearance of being shirts. For days we were unable to wash, even partially, because of frozen water-pipes, and yet the sores and abrasions on hands which were dirty from work in the soil did not suppurate. Or for instance, a light sleeper, who used to be disturbed by the slightest noise in the next room, now found himself lying pressed against a comrade who snored loudly a few inches from his ear and yet slept quite soundly through the noise. If someone now asked of us the truth of Dostoevski’s statement that flatly defines man as a being who can get used to anything, we would reply, “Yes, a man can get used to anything, but do not ask us how.”

Mans’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

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Interesting coz I was told this very thing by someone on my team once. He was otherwise a very active hands-on guy so it was a bit of a surprise. 

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html

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So live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!

Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

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disconfirming beliefs

So this didn't come naturally to me, and I’m mad with myself when i realise how I worked so hard to do the opposite - confirming my beliefs.

Late yes, but glad I see it now. Now to actually doing it.

The first realisation was that finding faults with my products was a good thing. My wife clarified that it’s actually the state of knowing that is rewarding but that to tell oneself that you would rejoice in the faults is insincere. I agree.

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Harare's morning rush

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Selling & reading the #news

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Photography inside and beyond the frame

What I have found difficult to master with photography is to know what will come out after the click of the shutter button. The camera captures only what is inside the lense’s frame.

Without everything else that is outside the frame - everything that human eye can see - the full story is lost. When the person looking at the photo has no knowledge of the place or the event that was taking place, most of the meaning that matters is lost.

There are great photographers, I think, that succeed by being able to focus on what’s seen through the lens only and discard the surroundings to tell a powerful story within those frames. Take the mystical path photo below for example. It could be from someone’s yard or a path from a river in the forest, depending on your imagination.

There are other great photographers that are able to capture everything, and still bring out the powerful meaning of the their surroundings. I think it is good to be mindful of how you need to think to capture a powerful story for your audience.

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bhabhai

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Woman selling lemons at a bus stop in #Angonia, #Mozambique

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fibre changes everything

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"Our approach is to become a programming company as much as an editorial company," says creative director Chad Mumm, who will run Vox Entertainment out of Los Angeles.

Hollywood Reporter

On the launch of its new division, Vox Entertainment. Signs of the times!

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There used to be a time, not too long ago, when it was impossible to attend such a conference without investing in expensive travelling arrangements. Today, anyone, anywhere, can attend it live. Anywhere. You don't have to wealthy or connected to attend f8. You just need an internet connection! It’s leveling. The time is fair. update: Well, to the extent that one can get a high speed internet connection :(

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On how Samsung won the smartphone war, then suddenly lost it

“I think it’s always dangerous when you don’t know why you've won. One of the reasons Samsung succeeded is they pivoted in ways Nokia and others didn’t. They were able to leverage everything they already had, but weren’t able to sustain it because there wasn’t anything special about their phones. Samsung got crushed on the high end by Apple and the low end by Xiaomi in China. At the end of the day, there’s nothing to differentiate a Samsung phone, so they’ll have to compete on price.”

Ben Thomspon

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#Harare, City Major #kombipoetry

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sense

I was thinking of this in a general sense but I find that for people building things it's more immediate in how they may relate. The way of things is that when we observe things it's better for them to not make sense than to do. If it all makes sense, it encourages us to stop thinking.

Things only settle into a certain order for a time being. They only stay that way for a time so we have an orderly way of solving the most pressing problems. But there really isn’t any order. At least not the kind we believe. In reality, everything is a problem and you have to choose which ones you need to fix. Everything - democracy, love, country borders, thought, organisation, religion, families, learning, communication... - everything is broken but bearable in its temporary order. It has to make temporary sense just so we don't go mad needing to fix everything at once. We have to choose what we want to take to the next level. For me, that choice and the action that follows, is what defines why we are here. Our mission. Everything is broken, I'll pick this and fix it. What we pick has to change things in a significant way. That's our contribution. As an individual, it should not make sense to you. You must need to make it make better sense. But to be careful to not be obsessed with completing the circle of sense. It doesn't exist. It must never make complete sense. If it does, we're likely very wrong. The foundation of this way (maybe even of happiness) is in being happy with things in their state of not making sense but to be fully aware of the disorganisation, that they need organising, and to choose what you will organise.

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Whoah

The content machine that is BuzzFeed

We have 200 editors at Buzzfeed, we publish 700 to 900 stories today on our website. So we let our writers publish a lot of stuff, but not everything lands on the front page. If people are not sharing something enough, it disappears without a trace. There is no downside to that. If it is really doing well, we promote it like crazy, kind of push it out to as many people as we can.”