Darwin references from my twitter friend @WestPeter

Peter West knows I'm interested in Darwin so he kindly forwards me references when he unearths them. Thanks Peter!

Darwin and the Meaning in Life http://is.gd/4Oe5N (Environmental Values) + ToC

Making Darwin: Biography and the Changing Representations of Charles Darwin http://is.gd/4IDps (J Interdisciplinary History)

Darwin and the origin of life: public versus private science http://is.gd/4HAPc (Endeavour)

(Focus Section) Darwin as a Cultural Icon http://is.gd/4EM6A (ISIS) {4 open access articles}

The Origins of Species: The Debate between August Weismann and Moritz Wagner http://is.gd/4weG5 (J History Biology)

(Book) The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species http://is.gd/4uJIe (By DN Reznick) [Princeton, Oct 2009]

The problem with a Darwinian view of humanity http://is.gd/4t3CA (American Psychologist) [Comments on Darwin special issue]

(Special Issue) Darwin, his publisher and Science Progress http://is.gd/4n0k6 [Science Progress 92(3-4) September 2009]

(Book) Philosophy after Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings http://is.gd/3DvCv [Princeton U Press, Sept 2009]

Darwin’s Philosophical Imperative and the Furor Theologicus http://is.gd/3uWpC (Evolution: Education & Outreach)

“A Great Complication of Circumstances” – Darwin and the Economy of Nature http://is.gd/3uWgR (J History of Biology)

The Survival of the Fittest and the Reign of the Most Robust: In Biology and Elsewhere http://is.gd/3uTbf (Minds and Machines)

Naturalising Ethics: The Implications of Darwinism for the Study of Moral Philosophy http://is.gd/2VcMZ (Science & Education)

Getting to Darwin: Obstacles to Accepting Evolution by Natural Selection http://is.gd/2s8VJ (Science & Education) $

Darwinian evolution? - I saw this today- Darwinian Controversies: An Historiographical Recounting http://is.gd/1Zrr1

The Customer Comes Eighth

Back in the early 1980s, when writing mission statements was just an infant management fad, a division of the Exxon Oil Company held an employee conference to announce their new "core values." Enshrined as number one on the list was this simple sentence: "The customer comes first."

That night, the division executives met for dinner, and after a few drinks, a brash young rising star named Monty proposed a toast. "I just want you to know," he said, "that the customer does not come first." Then Monty named the president of the division. "He comes first." He named the European president. "He comes second." And the North American president. "He comes third." The Far Eastern president "comes fourth." And so on for the fifth, sixth, and seventh senior executive of that division, all of whom were in the room. "The customer," concluded Monty, "comes eighth."

Said the Exxon retiree who told me this story: "There was an agonized silence for about 10 seconds. I thought Monty would get fired on the spot. Then one of the top people smiled, and the place fell apart in hysterical laughter. It was the first truth spoken all day."

Kleiner, A. (2003). Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success. New York, Currency Doubleday. p. 3

Frank Sinatra has a cold

http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1003-OCT_SINATRA_rev_

Yet it would have been unwise for anyone to anticipate his reaction, for he is a wholly unpredictable man of many moods and great dimension, a man who responds instantaneously to instinct -- suddenly, dramatically, wildly he responds, and nobody can predict what will follow. A young lady named Jane Hoag, a reporter at Life's Los Angeles bureau who had attended the same school as Sinatra's daughter, Nancy, had once been invited to a party at Mrs. Sinatra's California home at which Frank Sinatra, who maintains very cordial relations with his former wife, acted as host. Early in the party Miss Hoag, while leaning against a table, accidentally with her elbow knocked over one of a pair of alabaster birds to the floor, smashing it to pieces. Suddenly, Miss Hoag recalled, Sinatra's daughter cried, "Oh, that was one of my mother's favorite..." -- but before she could complete the sentence, Sinatra glared at her, cutting her off, and while forty other guests in the room all stared in silence, Sinatra walked over, quickly with his finger flicked the other alabaster bird off the table, smashing it to pieces, and then put an arm gently around Jane Hoag and said, in a way that put her completely at ease, "That's okay, kid."

by Gay Talese

Some new improvements in elevator design

Elevators haven't really changed that much over the years. You get in, press the button for the floor you want and away you go.

For ages I wondered why even the little things that could make a difference to lift functionality were not implemented. For example, if you press your floor button and then change you mind, why can't you just press it again to turn it off?

Today at the Quincy Hotel in Singapore I noticed a nice, small improvement. When you arrive at the lift well the lift at ground floor has its doors open ready for its next passenger. Normally you would have to press the call button and the doors would open. Sure a small improvement but a least we are now seeing some changes.

The biggest change I've seen in lift design I first saw in Hong Kong a couple of years ago but re-experienced it at the new Deloitte's building in Bourke Street, Melbourne last week.  There are no floor buttons inside the lift. You go to the lift well and on the panels in the foyer you select the floor you want to go to and the panel display tells you what lift to wait at. You jump in and you are taken to your floor.

I like this new design. I can see how if would speed things up. It's particularly good if you know where you are going. It might not be so easy, however, if you can't quite remember the floor you are going to or you've changed your mind.

The fast tracked executive

There was a fast tracked executive who was continually frustrated by the bureaucratic rules that keep him from getting things done. He assumed that when he got to be the big boss, he would sit down at a desk replete with levers and switches that could make things happen around the company. Then he was finally appointed CEO. On his first day, he sat down at the desk—and sure enough, there were all the controls in a row on a mahogany panel, plus a sealed note from his predecessor. "Welcome to your control panel," it said when he open it. "None of these are connected."

From Kleiner, A. (2003). Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success. New York, Currency Doubleday. p.97

Kleiner points out that in fact they are all highly connected in a complex web and pulling a lever, therefore, has unpredictable results.