Amazing achievement of peak performer
READER Paul Buckingham draws our attention to the UK鈥檚 forthcoming National Achievers Congress, promoted in exhaustingly upbeat prose at . The congress, we are told, will be attended by millionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson along with 鈥渁 potent combination of other celebrated niche money-making experts who ensure no matter what your background or current circumstances you鈥檒l finally break through to the success you鈥檝e always deserved鈥�.
Most striking of the achievements of the dynamic speakers promised for the congress is that of Anthony Robbins, the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 number 1 peak performance coach鈥�. His 鈥渙utstanding life has allowed him to personally meet, consult, and coach an incredibly diverse group of over 3 million people from 80 different countries鈥�.
Advertisement
Paul calculates that even if Robbins has only spent 10 minutes in person with each of these 3 million people and, as a high achiever himself, spends 10 hours per day, 7 days per week doing his meeting, consulting and coaching, then he has spent 137 years so engaged.
鈥淚 think this must make him about 155 years old,鈥� says Paul. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a major achievement in itself. I think I shall enrol for the conference.鈥�
AT THE Homebase 鈥渄o-it-yourself鈥� home improvement store in Hove, Sussex, UK, one reaches the outside garden centre by a sliding door. To one side, this is labelled 鈥渁utomatic door鈥�, but on closer inspection, just under this sign is a small red button, with the instruction 鈥減ush button to open鈥�.
Martin Pettinger finds it odd that the door does not open as he approaches, as he would expect. But, Martin, it鈥檚 not fully automatic. It鈥檚 just a bit automatic, if only a little bit.
Older readers may be reminded of the rhetoric about the ills of 鈥淭he Push-Button World鈥� in the book with that title, subtitled 鈥淎utomation today鈥�, by Edward Maurice Hugh-Jones, published in 1956 鈥� a time when a lot of things were only a little bit automatic.
Feedback also recalls marching confidently into a glass hotel door in Ramallah in the West Bank, expecting it to glide open like it would in London, then ruefully continuing down the street rubbing the Feedback nose and muttering 鈥渨rong decade!鈥�
For, as cyberpunk novelist William Gibson observed: 鈥淭he future is already here 鈥� it鈥檚 just not very evenly distributed.鈥�
WHO is your googleganger? The 鈥� 鈥淎ustralia鈥檚 national dictionary online鈥� 鈥� has announced that 鈥済oogleganger鈥� is the Word of the Year for 2010.
The University of Sydney鈥檚 online news : 鈥淕oogleganger, a noun, is defined as a person with the same name as oneself, whose online references are mixed with one鈥檚 own among search results for one鈥檚 name.鈥�
Feedback is embarrassed to acknowledge the truth of the comment by Sue Butler, editor of the dictionary: 鈥淣o one can resist the temptation to key in their own name in the search box and see who pops up.鈥�
Aim for infinitesimal improvement
BETTER that we preserve the anonymity of the reader who responded to our mention of an automatic mission-statement generator (5 February). This reader once worked for a company whose mission statement was 鈥淭o constantly improve while providing a consistent level of service to customers鈥�.
It didn鈥檛 take those working in the IT department long to realise that the only way to achieve this was to improve at an infinitesimal rate, so that over any given finite time period the level of customer service would not change.
鈥淭he management obviously thought that this was a really inspiring strap-line,鈥� our reader reports, 鈥渂ecause it was greeted with knowing nods and smiles when they said 鈥業t鈥檚 a difficult aspiration but I believe we can achieve it鈥�.鈥�
GOBBLEDEGOOK of the week comes from of Tokyo, Japan: 鈥淕raviton is not the name of the blended ingredient. Within the particle that composes the smallest unit of matter, there is the force of gravity, which equals Graviton governing the gravitational wave and can be found in all matter within our world鈥� In the most advanced science, experimentation and research are being conducted to stabilise the gravitational wave and activate the cells. Considering the health of the skin, KD Cosmetics have implemented the usage of the gravitational wave at its best condition in the 鈥楪raviton products鈥�.鈥�
Reader Darryl Luscombe says: 鈥淭his makes no sense to me.鈥� We feel the same way.
FINALLY, the label from a jar of 鈥渕armalade鈥� 鈥� Waldenfarm Orange Spread, to be precise 鈥� that Richard Hendry scanned when he was in Canada said that it contained: 鈥淭otal fat 0g; Sat. Fat 0g; Cholest. 0g鈥� 鈥� close to what you鈥檇 expect. But also: 鈥淭otal Carb 0g; Sugars 0g; Vitamin C 0g鈥︹��
Richard sent us the scan, but he left the original tub in Toronto: 鈥淚t was, not surprisingly, tasteless.鈥�