Reality Distortion Field-Brief notes on Steve Jobs Biography

Recently, I read the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.  Customarily I read bios of people deceased in prior decades or centuries, but couldn't resist the Kindle download price.   Perhaps the title of a recent Philadelphia Inquirer book review,  "Jobs as wizard and tyrant" is a useful summation, but for me the book was one of the few "can't put it down" books involving technology/biography I have read.  For the author's background information be sure and view the videos found on the Amazon link at the bottom of the post.

A few of my takeaways from this book:



 1.) Vision.  Business books/academics/companies always preach know what your customer wants.  Jobs believed he knew what his customers wanted when they didn't know.  He was able to marry technology to those future needs.  One example from the book relates to rounded corners, and how important they are from a product design standpoint.  Whether software or hardware,  product completion dates frequently lagged as Jobs insisted on his vision of design which included rounded corners.  This was where his total control of Apple Computer differentiated him from other visionaries like Gates.   The same applied to factories:  layout and design- painting industrial machinery the exact color shade; as well as Apple retail stores, (entrance stairs have a Jobs patent, or two), all were managed to a minute detail level by Jobs.

2.  Tyrannical nature:  The use of comedy circuit off color language in berating employees, suppliers, and industry stalwarts such as Bill Gates is well known.  For me it was his inability to agree with others suggestions, as he preferred to label many new ideas as "shit," while later adopting some as though they were his ideas.

3.  Control:  "Reality Distortion Field."  This term applies to events unable to be controlled by Jobs.  He simply ignored them.  The best example is an illegitimate child he fathered.  He ignored her for several years as though she didn't exist pretending it never happened.   Jobs wanted control of everything, and was proved wrong infrequently, given the successes he brought forth, but the reality distortion field dealt with those he couldn't control.

4.  "Oh, one more thing" (a favorite finale of a Jobs product intro) Many years ago I had the opportunity to choose whether I wanted to buy a Mac, or stick with the PC platform in a business environment.  I felt silly a few years later  after opting for the Mac, as Apple declined and Jobs was ousted from Apple Computer.  Oh how things change, but not me.  I was just a few decades too early!

The Amazon link is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537/ref=pd_ts_zgc_b_books_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&pf_rd_p=475709271&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=283155&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=157AFQ70WADRSED3J34G

Turkey Day Classics-Thanksgiving Touch Football Rules

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204531404577050370294096452.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

Skype amigos:  Tal vez no han oído de lo que realmente pasa (???) en el Día del Acción de Gracia en los Estados Unidos:

Hay una tradición entre unas familias que ocurre cada día del acción de gracia. En la nuestra la tradición nos escapaba en los años recientes.  Esa tradición no trata con el pavo, ni la historia de la gente que fundó nuestro país hace siglos.  No, me refiero a la costumbre conocido como "Turkey Day Classics"-mejor dicho "touch football."  El artículo que vinculé mas o menos nos da el sistema para las reglas del juego.  Bastante de las 32 reglas del Wall Street Journal llevaron al cabo en las competiciones pasadas en nuestra familia.  Me divirtió mucho leyendo el artículo, inclusive que una vez, hace años,  sobrino Mateo fue acompañado por un ringer, (como se dice ringer en español?) que podría jugar bien.  Si mal no recuerdo vino de Argentina.  Esperábamos Maradona, pero se hizo Jerry Rice después de pocos minutos.

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There is a now dying tradition in our family.  Our family "turkey day classic" history, however, is well summarized by this morning's Wall Street Journal Sports section.  We didn't apply all of the 32 rules (nos., 4, 6, 10 and 14), but some are spot on.  (nos. 11, 18, 19, 22 and most importantly number 32!)

Humor and tradition join together in these 32 rules, as evidenced by some of the comments in the WSJ comments section on this article!

Perhaps this belongs in the comments section of the offbeat festivals found here?

http://www.sociedadhispanadoylestown.com/2011/11/punkin-chunkin-countdown.html

Latino writers raised in the US

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110605_Author_Oscar_Hijuelos_on_finding_his_Latin_roots_in_his_writing.html

En el Club de Libros de Sociedad Hispana Doylestown hemos leído 3 libros escritos por autores que vivieron muchos años en los Estados Unidos:

Sandra Cisneros (la Casa en Mango Street)
Julia Alvarez (en el Tiempo de las Mariposas)
Francisco Jimenez (Cajas de Cartón)

El enlace encima discute Oscar Hijuelos, un autor Cubano tratando de entender el pais de su familia, en su libro recientemente publico Thoughts Without Cigarettes.   Hijuelos fue galardonado por Pulitzer en 1990 después de publicar The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.  Hijuelos discutirá su libro, el que publicó hace poco, en the Free Library of Philadelphia martes 7 de junio a las 7:30pm.

El artículo del Philadelphia Inquirer no mencionó el otro autor hispano americano,  Victor Villaseñor, que también trata con el sujeto de los inmigrantes en Los Estados Unidos.  Rain of Gold, escrito por Villaseñor, es uno de los mejores libros tratando con ese tema.

Robert Capa, Spanish Civil War Photographer

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/robert_capa/index.html?scp=6&sq=spanish%20civil%20war&st=cse

Recently the International Center of Photography in New York staged an exhibition containing photos from the "lost Mexican suitcase," a group of Capa negatives found in Mexico recently-some 55 years after Capa was killed by a land mine in Vietnam during the French occupation in 1954.  The New York Times today ran an article about Capa, discussing  his life, including the famous "Falling Spanish Soldier" photo thought to be a staged photo by some experts.   Either I am just realizing it, but it seems the Franco era  is still being more than hotly debated.  Perhaps this is because of the International Court appeal brought by Spanish Judge Baltzar, who was recently stopped from trying to investigate the disappearance of thousands of people under the Franco regime.

Sociedad Hispana Doylestown book club will in the future read the best selling author Javier Cercas, who wrote Soldados de Salamina,  as well as other books written near the time Capa was photographing the Guerra Civil in Spain.


Soldados de Salamina (Spanish Edition)

UNESCO World Heritage Sites -New inscriptions in 2010

I have never been disappointed with any of the World Heritage sites I have visited.   The Wall Street Journal this morning has listed some of the new additions.  Most recently, I visited a biosphere reserve in Tanzania, in addition to a couple of the more well known Tanzanian UNESCO sites, such as the newly added, beautiful (Death Valley reminiscent) Ngorongoro crater.  Properties in Mexico, Spain, Brasil, and Portugal are among the newly listed locations

Sociedad Hispana Doylestown book club members who read the House of the Spirits,  Isabel Allende book will recall that Esteban Trueba worked in the mines of northern Chile.  One of the World Heritage sites I have not visited is number 1178, linked below.  It is the preserved site of one of the northern Chilean mines similar to the ones referred to by Allende, the Humberstone site.  I hope one of the new Chilean resident blog followers will comment on the site.

This World Heritage site program is one of the UN successes which even critics of the international body should applaud.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/newproperties

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1178

La Nota Roja

My wife Carmen told me about a shoot out not far from the airport in Guadalajara bewteen some narcos the other day. These things, unfortunately, have become so common that they do not show up in our papers. Carmen reminded me of La Nota Roja. This is the page, well known in Mexico, that has all the scandalous and horrific events of the day. It actually was quite helpful for me as an interpreter as it uses a lot of weapons and legal terms that are not common. If you go to El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/noticias.html and put La Nota Roja in the search box at the top, you will get a taste (or disgust) of what I am talking about.