When tennis is too fast

Jack Dikian

January 2012

Watching Nadal and Federer play the semi-finals at the 2012 Australian Open last night made me think about how much of their ball hitting has to be or an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement.

If you consider, for instance, Federer serving at 200Km/hour, the ball would take approximately 0.4 seconds to reach his opponent. And that doesn’t even take account of trying to make sense of the type of serve coming at you namely; a flat serve, a slice, a kick, or topspin and the need to somehow anticipate all this in the little time.

This does demonstrate the difference between our reflexes and our reactions. Reactions are typically a conscious order that are made by the cerebrum and requiring millions of neurons and some time to process the voluntary response.

In contrast, spinal reflexes (almost subconsciously) occur much faster, not only because they involve fewer neurons, but also because message signals don’t have to travel to the brain and back. Spinal reflexes on the other hand need only travel to the spinal cord.

So if those players wanted to strictly rely on their reactions (that is make completely voluntary decisions) the ball would long be past them. For these players, conscious voluntary reactions are simply too slow.

Google's Data Liberation Front - our digital legacy

Jack Dikian

January 2012

Sometime ago I talked about our digital legacy - Those digital or virtual assets in the form of photographs, music, blogs, information, and other data that may be typically overlooked, intentionally left behind, and/or when removing them is impossible or at least too difficult when we pass away.

Digital Legacy has been described as ‘the birth of a new industry' as new companies are being created to hold secure encrypted access to digital assets, to be released upon the proof of a users death.

See

http://onsocialcomments.blogspot.com/2011/07/jack-dikian-july-2011-i-was-early-user.html

At the same time much is being said in regards to the consumers’ ability to have real control over data held in repositories such as Google, Facebook and Twitter. How easy is for example to the wipe the slate clean. Just today, I received an email from the Google with the subject header “Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service”. In it, there is a reference to Google’s new team “Data Liberation Front” whose "goal is to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products."

The purpose of the Data Liberation Front is to ensure that data can be migrated from Google once an individual or company stops using their services.

It’s going to be extremely interesting to see how quickly Facebook, for example, will take to provide the tools enabling us to permanently delete our Facebook profile.

Obama’s State of the Union speech

Jack Dikian

January 2012

Listening to President Obama’s State of the Union speech. He says in a part of his speech “..As the tide of war recedes, a wave of change has washed across the Middle East and North Africa, from Tunis to Cairo; from Sana'a to Tripoli.”

Contrast this with Churchill’s historic 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech. Then, Churchill said, “…It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continen.”

The 2012 State of the Union speech:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/politics/sotu-transcript/index.html

A few new words and phrases for 2012

Jack Dikian

January 2012

One of the things (and there really isn’t too many) I still remember from high school is that language is dynamic. Words and phrases evolve, and take new meaning as society flexes, bends and adapts to new paradigms. In 2009 the Macquarie Dictionary included words such as:

Bestie, a noun meaning a best friend or as a phrase to form a close relationship with. Eco house as noun meaning a house designed to be environmentally friendly, as by being efficient in the use of energy and minimising any damaging impact on natural surroundings. And what about, Ninja loan - A loan made with no consideration of the ability of the borrower to repay. Skinny jeans, Tight-fitting jeans, usually made of stretch denim, with a small leg opening.

These we have used. Even I have used some the new lingo. What you may not know is that the people from Macquarie Dictionary run the word of the year quest, which began in 2004. They list categories so that people can vote for words in the different areas of our lives.

The more recent batch include: Fracking, Burqini, Photobomb, Food coma, and Food porn. Look them up…

Here is the Macquarie Dictionary website, www.macquariedictionary.com.au.

When Are We Australians Going to Incorporate Aboriginal Culture & Sound In Our Anthem

Jack Dikian

January 2012

KEVIN Rudd offered a broad apology to all Aborigines and the Stolen Generations for their "profound grief, suffering and loss" that was greeted by a standing ovation in February 2008.

Thousands of Aboriginal Australians gathered in Canberra to watch the historic apology, which was televised around the nation and shown at special outdoor settings in remote indigenous communities.

What of continuing with that commendable act and having a version of our national anthem bringing together Indigenous culture and a modern Australian theme. The alternations may be minor but the impact profound. Uniting a nation, preserving the unique culture, it’s people, and sound.

The national anthem gets played at many important events around the country and around the world. The minor alteration may include some of the words of Advance Australia Fair sung in perhaps Pijantjatjara, Western Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte, or Luritja, with the didgeridoo as an accompaniment.

After all, many words of Australian Aboriginal origin are almost universal in the English-speaking world, such as kangaroo and boomerang. Many such words have also become loan words in other languages beyond English, while some are restricted to Australian English.

Film today - compact cameras tomorrow?

Jack Dikian

January 2012

Kodak announced that it has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. And, The New York Stock Exchange didn’t waste anytime halting trading in the stock on the NYSE.

For many, this didn’t necessarily come as a big surprise. Consider for example other successful businesses that were largely built around a single model.

The music industry, for example, was shaken by music downloads just after the spectacular success of the launch of the CD. The newspaper industry was riding high on two decades of growth in classified advertising, only to see almost all of it disappear again within a decade.

Kodak’s digital businesses kept growing, but didn't really make significant profit. The old film business remained profitable, but shrank rapidly, shifting from consumers to professionals to finally diehards.

In the coming months Kodak and relevant stakeholders will debate what really was its demise. After all, Kodak had the brand strength, the distribution channels and one would think, financial resources to own the controlling global share position. Could Kodak for example have placed more effort on short term earnings, a growing trend in many markets, over longer-term vision and goals.

So what next, is it foreseeable that the digital camera may see the same demise? Will we continue to buy compact cameras when our smart and not so smart phones improve their photo snapping capabilities?

Amateur Photographer magazine in the UK recently ran a story reporting that compact camera sales have plummeted and in July 2011 plunged 13%, compared to only the month before. This is not to say that all digital camera sales have dropped. For instance, DSLR sales rose by 9% and mirror-less interchangeable lens camera sales rose by 166%.