Cool Tools

For a while I’ve been telling people: “Don’t focus on the tools; focus on the problem they are used to solve” and yet, I’ve created a site dedicated to tools and I’m giving you links like this one that randomly lists tools by virtue of their wow factor. (to be fair, the author is wowed by things that are actually useful): Cool Tools

Is it OK to look at tools without a problem in mind?

Yes.

When you are working on a problem wouldn’t it be good to have a database in your head of effective tools and the kinds of problems they can solve? (Having a list in Evernote would be even better.)

The Fling Itself

As a Performance artist, I used the tools from my father’s shop for absurd purposes to rail against the rigidity of business. When I was in business,  I told people to stop looking at tools and look at outcomes instead. Now that I’ve created a “performance-art-like” exploration of tools, I’m trying to expand my perspective.

In this clip from my favorite TV show of the eighties, Northern Exposure, Chris, the resident philosopher is using a trebuchet to fling a piano, and he explains that it is not the piano that is important but the flinging itself. So is he focused on the tool and not the outcome? When you see the reactions of the other characters, you realize that this absurd act actually had an effect on people. That is the outcome.

That was TV though. Let’s try it in real life on a smaller scale. Stack up some empty soda cans (don’t forget to recycle when you’re done) and find an adjustable wrench. There’s something familiar and gratifying about the weird center of gravity of an adjustable wrench. Think of the monkeys in 2001 Space Odyssey. Now fling the wrench at the soda cans.

Your brain released chemicals twice during that experiment: once when you felt the centrifugal force of the wrench leaving your hand, and once when you heard the uncomfortable racket of the crashing cans. Did those feeling have value? Do you think you could make use of that effect some day?

Note: this episode was my first exposure to a Trebuchet and inspired this post

Real Life Heretic: George Siemens

George Siemens, a major proponent of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), brought together 3 heretical ideas to begin changing education:

• Courses can be provided by academic institutions  to anyone in the world, free of charge.
• Courses can be offered to an unlimited number of people.
• The content of courses can be created by the learners themselves.

He uses whatever tools work and participants are encouraged to expand their use of tools to spread the reach of the course content. Here are some examples:

• Blackboard Collaborate for web conferencing
• Google Groups for managing registrations and communications
• Netvibes for aggregating content
• Moodle for discussion groups and assignments

Here is a review that I wrote of one of his courses that I attended.

Chasing Euclid

The Heretic had a friend with astigmatism who was afraid of hallways because he felt like they were closing in on him. To cure himself he decided to measure the walls of a hallway and prove that they were parallel. He knew the Heretic was good with the latest tools so he asked him to set up a mobile laser-based measuring device with mirrors and other optics and a system processor capable of producing the desired result. The Heretic got a piece of string and some chalk and proceeded to do the proof the way the ancient Greeks did it.

Instructions:

• Cut string #1 to width of hall
• Fold string #1 in half twice and mark the folds to establish 4 quarters of the length
• Cut string #2 to the length of string #1 + ¼
• Tie pencils or chalk to each end of sting #2
• Fold string #2 in half and mark the midpoint
• Layout string #2 at a diagonal from one wall to another
• Tape down or tack the midpoint on string #2
• Use each pencil to draw an arc on the wall
• For each arc, cut string #3 to length of the arc at the endpoints on the floor
• Tape down or tack one end of string #3
• Fold string # in half and tape down or tack the midpoint
• Rotate the free end of string across the arc. If the end of the string matches the line, the arc is a perfect semicircle, therefore the walls are parallel

Explanation

• By creating the arcs with string #2, you are creating double napped cones cut in half by the plane of the floor.
• A plane is perpendicular to the axis of the cones will intersect the cone to create a circle (as demonstrated by string #3).
• Two planes that are perpendicular to the same line (the axis of the cones) are parallel to each other.

                                              

The Greek mathematicians didn't need precise measuring tools. They had precise ideas.

Breakeven

If you have a big idea, at some point you are going to want to make stuff, some sort of swag or actual product. (Hopefully you will only be selling something non-material like a ticket or a download.) Regardless of what you make or whether you want to make a profit, you need to know your breakeven point. How many units do you need to sell to offset the costs of each unit (variable costs) and that unit’s share of the overall costs (fixed costs). 

Here’s a tool to make the calculation…

http://www.dinkytown.net/java/BreakEven.html

Here is an explanation of the formulas involved if you want to do it yourself:

http://knol.google.com/k/break-even-education

You can avoid the break-even problem by eradicating the fixed costs. You do this through on-demand ordering. The product is only created when it is ordered. You only pay for the vendors costs (variable) when you make a sale. The downside is the increased cost for your customers and narrow margins for you. Here’s a service that you can use: http://www.cafepress.com

Here is a link to my cafe press store: http://www.cafepress.com/justbeplatypus

The Butter Knife

`Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' 

`It was the best butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.

`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the butter-knife.'

Go to the kitchen and get a butter knife…a clean one. Make sure you are living with someone who won’t be freaked out about you walking around the house with a butter knife. Go to the book shelf and reach for the second shelf from the top and place the pinky of your right hand on the right edge of the case. Then stretch out your hand and touch a book with your thumb. Pull that book out half way. Stick the butter knife into the pages about half way through. Pull out the book and go to the page with the knife. Scan the text. Somewhere there is a sentence that holds the key to a problem you have been working on this week. Maybe it won’t be apparent at first but if you close your eyes and take a deep breath, it will come to you.

The magic that makes that trick work can be put to use for your idea if you can work its hidden truth.

QRU?

a paper toy named QRU?

Download the template to print and make your own.

Or download a free blank template to create your own paper toy.

More paper toys...

QR Code Reader: I-nigma

QR Code Generator

American Standard

Is it possible to measure the value of measuring?

The Time Machine

Fluxite:

Fold a piece of paper in half and place the folded edge against your forehead with the bottom edge in your line of sight.

You are Primate 2.0. Earlier models had sloping foreheads but yours is vertical. The redesign was necessary to make room for the Frontal Lobe, the most powerful tool on the planet. The Frontal Lobe allows its user to time-travel. You can look back on the past and see patterns and you can project those patterns on the future to see what might happen. In order to do this the Frontal Lobe searches for meaning in the patterns of reality. With meaning it can create value; with value it can drive intention; with intention it can act on the world and get the results it is looking for. The Frontal Lobe does this all with imagination. Imagination is our survival tool. Like all tools, the Frontal Lobe requires proper care. I’m hoping to give yours a workout.

Evernote

Storylet:

Analyn sees the Heretic sulking in a corner. She sits beside him and waits.

Heretic: I’m failing…I’m not taking any action on my idea.

Analyn (grabs his iPhone and opens the Evernote app): You’re kidding right? You have 40 notes in Evernote tagged “The Idea”

Heretic: Well I have to do that or I’ll lose my thoughts. But writing a note is not the same thing as taking action.

Analyn: You got a thought out of your head and into a physical form. It may be virtual but it is still real. So are you saying it isn’t enough? What kind of action is enough? I didn’t realize that there was a hierarchy of taking action.

Heretic: OK, so writing a note is an action but does it make a difference?

Analyn: Look, these notes are like money in the bank. Once they are written they are always there for you. Even if you don’t do anything with it for years, it was still worth it. These notes are insurance policies. They protect you from the Detractor. No one else can erase them.

Fluxite:

Open an Evernote account and download the app.

Draw a character that represents your idea, even if it is a stick figure.

Add a snapshot note in Evernote by taking a picture of your drawing.

Go to your computer and write an email to your Evernote account and address it to your character.

Explain to your character that you will never give up.

On the Deck in New London

Between I 95 and the water in eastern Connecticut is an old Whaling town named New London. Go to the post office there and look up into the ceiling of the main room. There is a WPA mural of a whaling ship from the perspective of someone working on the deck. This feeling of being in the scene brings it to life. You can almost smell the salt air and feel the movement of the ship. Including the viewer is a great tool for engaging them. 

Now look around you. Most New Londoners I've known have told me that they had no idea there was a mural there. Going to the post office is something you do on auto-pilot. This is their real life but they are not present in it the way the artist makes you feel that you are present in the drama of the working life of a whaler. The people you see around you are going through the motions.

Find a letter sized envelope and fold it into an arrow. Write the words "Look up!" on it and place it on a flat surface against the wall.

What other ways are there to get people to look beyond the automated patterns of their lives?

Image: Detail of mural by Thomas LaFarger

A Hand Dryer? Really?

Fluxite:

Go to a restroom where they have installed a Dyson Airblade™ and as you are pulling your hands through it, imagine that you were there when the engineer said: “OK, if the goal is to get water off your hands why don’t we have the air pull the water off instead of the heat trying to evaporate it? That is called "Re-framing the Objective" and it is inspiring when you can see it work.

http://www.dysonairblade.com/homepage.asp

There are Dyson Blades installed in the restrooms at the Medical offices at 2335 Black Rock Turnpike Fairfield, CT (Entrance on Brookside Drive)

Image from http:/www.dysonairblade.com

Leverage

All tools are essentially levers, even wheels and inclined planes. They are about extending the reach of humans by shifting effort to where it has the most impact. There is no free ride. What you gain in impact you give up in distance. Technical tools extend the reach of the human mind. What do you give up to gain the impact of technology.

What are you willing to give up to make your idea have impact?

The Ultimate Perfomance artist/Scientist: Bill Nye

http://youtu.be/grWIC9VsFY4

The Detractor's Warning

The Detractor says: What ever you do, do NOT touch this tool. It will rob you of all your excuses.