More Asian and African surprises from the British Library collections

Another year on and another show and tell from the idiosyncratic Hedley Sutton with more Asian surprises at the British Library. This time he added a few African ones to boot.

Hedley started the show off with an exotic quiz in the shape of a black and white photo of a European looking woman wearing a belly dancer’s outfit. After a short pause while the audience considered their options I blurted out, “is she Mata Hari?” I was rewarded with a knowing smile from Hedley and the appearance of an original letter from 1917 from an agent of the French secret service to their British equivalent. The letter identified her as a double agent for the Germans. Soon after in October Mata Hari (which was Indonesian for ‘eye of the day’), was executed by firing squad as a spy. It turned out she was in fact a Dutch subject and her original name was Margaretha Zelle.

Pat Shipman one of her biographers argues that Mata Hari was never a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage. The fact that she was seen by some as a ‘wanton and promiscuous woman, and perhaps a dangerous seductress’, may not have helped her case.

Next Hedley showed off what appeared to be an ancient religious text hailing from the famous Dunhuang Archaeological Sites in Xinjiang China. In fact it turns out this was actually a sophisticated fake, and part of a cottage industry which flourished in that part of China around the late 1800’s. The items were produced in response to an invasion of European collectors eager to get hold of historical documents from the area preserved for hundreds of years by the desert conditions.

This led on to a discussion about the the International Dunhuang Project, which is an international collaboration to make information and images of all manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and archaeological sites of the Eastern Silk Road freely available on the Internet.

Next we were shown a surprisingly recent publication, which turned out to be a new (and limited print run) version of the Szyk Haggadah.

The Szyk Haggadah is a Passover Haggadah illustrated by Arthur Szyk in Poland in the 1930s. According to the The Times it is ‘worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has ever produced’.

What makes the beautiful illustrations so unusual is Szyk’s approach of portraying contemporary political issues in medieval style. His first set of illustrations were clear and unfavourable references to the Nazis, including such detail as Nazi armbands on the Egyptians oppressing and murdering the Israelites, and the faces of Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring on two snakes.

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Survey shows determination as most important entrepreneurial characteristic

It could just be coincidence, or an example of great minds thinking alike, but the September issue of Real Business magazine has a survey of 372 UK entrepreneurs which reinforces my last blog post Perserverance and the achievement of goals.

As well as showing that adversity is often a motivator for setting up  business (69 per cent of respondents), nearly 60 per cent voted voted determination as the most important characteristic in running your own business.

The full article is on the Real Business website.

Perserverance and the achievement of goals

I don’t usually get too philosophical on this blog because I know most people are looking for practical solutions to problems.

However, on my recent holiday up in the beautiful Langdale Valley in the Lake District, and then on to the Highlands of Scotland, I managed to achieve something I first attempted 25 years ago.

Although climbing Ben Nevis does not compare to the serious mountains of Europe and the Americas, it does feel good to have finally conquered the highest mountain in Britain. Especially as my two previous attempts had to be abandoned due to bad weather, leading to dangerous conditions on top.

It made me think about how much perseverance entrepreneurs need in order to succeed in business. They will need to overcome a great many obstacles and challenges on the way if they are to succeed in the long term.

To quote Roy Castle from his Record Breakers days,  “what you need is dedication”.

To Blog or not to Blog? That is the question

Apologies to any fans of the great Bard for my heading above, but given the growing number of both alive and dead blogs, I feel this is an important topic.

According to Caslon Analytics, several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60% to 80% abandoned within one month, depending on whose figures you choose to believe) and that few are regularly updated.

My thoughts about blogging were triggered by a conversation during the recent Business Librarians’ Association (formally BBSLG) annual conference in Dublin. The initial topic was mental illness and how it is still such a taboo subject. I recalled the negative reaction I received from publishing an article in the staff newsletter I used to edit. It was written by a senior economist who wanted to help dispel some of the myths around Bipolar disorder from which he suffered. I edited out some of his more lurid stories, but was still met with a mainly negative reaction from my readers.

My new friend (who also happens to be an amazing nature photographer) explained how she had suffered with Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) for many years and had finally decided to write about her experiences in a blog. She had many misgivings about going public with her disorder, but felt a duty to help explain and publicise, as well as indicate sources of support such as OCD Action. I’m glad to report that so far the feed-back she has received has been almost entirely positive. So perhaps this is an indication that attitudes are beginning to change.

Mind Games

These links take you to my descriptions of mental illness.  For many years I remained very secretive about my battles, but I am now determined to help overcome the stigmas and misconceptions; I cannot do this if I continue to be ashamed.

My depression and OCD are caused by a chemical imbalance in my brain; I am not selfish and I do not feel sorry for myself. I cannot be cured by looking at all that is good in my life, or by considering others who have far less than me.  Depression is not about feeling very fed up, and it is not an exaggeration of this normal aspect of human behaviour. I strongly feel that people should not judge those who suffer, particularly if they have never felt mental pain.

I had considered publishing a separate website for this aspect of my life, but it is part of my world. Without it I do not believe that I would be exploring my creativity to the extent that I do, and I shouldn’t hide it.  Everything that I have been through has made me the person I am today.

This is only a part of me and only a part of my website; I am more than my illness.

Big toys for big boys

It is often said that men are just boys in adult bodies. This seems to be the approach taken by Männerspielplatz, an amusement park for men that lets them get in touch with their inner construction worker (thanks to SpringWise for the tip-off).

For EUR 219, visitors to Männerspielplatz can shed their office trappings and get seriously dirty while playing with excavators, wheel loaders, Caterpillars, quads, Jeeps and more.

The park, which is situated in an old factory site just outside Kassel, Germany, offers 18 stations for visitors to enjoy to their heart’s content. Challenges include using a Komatsu Hanomag excavator to move huge stones; leveling the ground with a bulldozer; off-road riding on a Quad Unimog; and participating in an archery course.

Participants must be at least 18 years old. A Class B license is required, and admission is limited to minimize waiting times.

The kindness of strangers… and acquaintances

Although not in the same league as Lucy Kellaway’s recent trauma, and resulting life affirming experience (How a thief gave me 10 reasons to be grateful), my newly acquired torn calf muscle has led to unexpected kindness from strangers.

Not exactly how I sustained my injury - but a nice footy photo

As I have limped around a sometimes hostile (or frequently indifferent) London I have come across instance after instance of help and thoughtfulness. My first experience was a ticket inspector at the entrance to my train station. Instead of his usual approach of not even bothering to make eye contact, this time as I struggled to retrieve the ticket from my pocket, he rushed forward to open the automatic gate for me. Later on, as I crept at snail’s pass a red London bus waiting to begin its journey, I asked if they were going my way. The driver’s initial response was a rather shirty, ‘this isn’t a bus stop you know’, but after seeing my painfully slow limping progress (painful and slow), she relented and invited me on board.

Friends and acquaintances at work have also expressed great concern as they see me leaning heavily on my walking stick. And even when they discover the injury was sustained during a veterans football match, and their initial laughter has died down, they still ask what they can do to help.

All in all a very positive feeling which has gone some way to ameliorating the stinging pain of the injury itself.

Today my bins are ‘wheelie’ clean

It is becoming a common complaint that too many of us are bringing work home (the almost ubiquitous spread of Blackberry devices is a factor in this).

However, this took an unexpected turn for me this weekend, as I ended up cleaning my two large local authority wheelie bins as a result showing a colleague around the Business & IP Centre on Friday.

I was demonstrating the brilliant Cobra database and the thousands of Business Opportunity Profiles it contains. As I mentioned in a previous blog (Wheelie cleaning up in business), I like to surprise my visitors by pulling up the Wheelie Bin Cleaner report.

So when emptying my re-cycling boxes into the wheelie bins I realised today was the day to clean them out.

On the topic of unusual business opportunities, one of my colleagues stumbled across a Business Opportunity Profile for Life Model, but I have no plans following up on the advice in this guide at home.

The EasyClean Squeeze Roller Cleaner

I spent a few hours this weekend painting part of my kitchen. Historically I have had a love hate relationship with decorating using a roller.

The system is an incredibly quick and efficient way of getting paint onto a flat surface, whether it be a wall or ceiling. I certainly don’t recommend using anything else for a ceiling, having had paint dripped in my eye whilst using a brush in the past.

However, the advantages of the roller based approach come crashing down when it comes to cleaning up at the end of the job. In theory you can dismantle the roller and just rinse it under a cold tap. In practice you get paint all over yourself and spend tens of minutes desperately trying to get the roller clean of paint. Eventually you give up and leave it somewhere warm to dry. The next day you discover the roller is rock hard from residual paint and has to be thrown away. Sometimes you can’t even keep the roller usable between coats of paint.

But now thanks to an incredibly simple invention I can clean and re-use my rollers to my hearts content. I need to thank Ed Adamson (the inventor) and the Harris paint brush company for making roller painting an almost completely pain-free experience. Apart of course from those times when one leans against a still wet wall.

Although I am straying into my colleague Steve Van Dulken’s territory here with his Patent Search Blog, I couldn’t resist looking up the patent application for the invention on esp@cnet (the European Patent Office) and found WO2008077469 (A1) A ROLLER SLEEVE CLEANER.

However I also came across lots of other weird and wonderful variations, some of which I have included below.

India moves to patent yoga poses

On first inspection this would be filed under ‘Friday fun’, although it was drawn to my attention by an email from a customer who wanted the official British Library view on the Daily Telegraph story.

Needles to say, we don’t have a view, but I have to say I was amazed to to discover that yoga positions could be protected:

“Copyrights over yoga postures and trademarks on yoga tools have become rampant in the West. Till now, we have traced 130 yoga-related patents in the US. We hope to finish putting on record at least 1500 yoga postures by the end of 2009,” said Dr V.P Gupta, of the CSIR, who created the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.

And even more surprised to hear how the Indian government has reacted:

So far a team of yoga gurus from nine schools have worked with government officials and 200 scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to scan 35 ancient texts including the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Bhagwad Gita, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to register each native pose.

The topic even has its own Wikipedia page entitled Yoga Piracy.

Facebook backs down over controversial privacy policy

Intellectual Property topics can come from all sorts of unexpected places. The headline above was the lead story facing me as I picked up my local free Metro newspaper this morning.

Firstly, I was surprised to see the social networking phenomenon making it to the forefront of ‘old media’, and secondly, surprised to see Facebook backing down in the face of user complaints so quickly.

The last major U-Turn from Facebook I am aware of was in November 2007 when they removed their online tracking of purchases after more than 50,000 Facebook members signed a petition objecting to the program. Facebook Retreats on Online Tracking.

This time the response from the company has been much more swift, and this evening when I logged into Facebook I was confronted with the message below:

Terms of Use Update: Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog. If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Bobbie Johnson in the Guardian explains the background to this latest crisis facing Facebook:

Facebook has backed down on controversial changes to its terms of service that angered users and caused protests across the social networking site.

Two weeks ago the site altered its terms of service so that it continued to retain a copy of all a user’s messages, actions and updates – even if they left the network. Until the change, Facebook’s policy was to delete all traces of a user if they chose to quit the site.

After the potential scope of the new legal wording became clear, thousands of outraged Facebook users and privacy campaigners lobbied for the world’s largest social network to revert to its old terms of service.

On Monday it seemed these calls were falling on deaf ears after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the changes in a blogpost, and suggested that users should trust the site with their data.

However, just 24 hours later the company decided to back down. In a message to users last night, Facebook said it would be reverting to its previous terms and conditions for the time being.

The Gift of Inner Success book launch

Tuesday evening in the Business & IP Centre was the launch of The Gift of Inner Success the latest book from the British Library’s partner business coach, Rasheed Ogunlaru.

The fact that the event had been hastily re-scheduled from the snow hit previous Tuesday and yet was a full house, indicates just how popular the charismatic Rasheed is becoming.

As he says on his blog of the evening,  “The event was an evening of inspiration, celebration, connection and was attended by a rich range of spirit souls. “

Rasheed kindly gave a copy to the Centre, and using my recently acquired speed reading technique (of which, more in a later blog post) I managed to whistle through it on the way into work the next day.

The theme of the book is about how we need to give ourselves the mental space (a difficult challenge given the daily demands on ourselves) in order to listen to our hearts. Rasheed is a great believer in allowing yourself to trust yourself to let your heart rule your head.

Airport Havens for frequent flyers

As a regular traveller to the United States I often spend many hours waiting for connecting flights at hub airports. My record to date was seven hours in Huston.

But now thanks to Springwise I have discovered AiportHavens, where I can find (thanks to fellow travellers) a nice quiet spot for a some work, a read or even a nap, away from the hustle and bustle.

However, it may not quite be up to the standard required for setting up permanent residence as exemplified by Mehran Karimi Nasseri an Iranian refugee, who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 8 August 1988 until July 2006. Merhan Karimi Nasseri at Charles de Gaulle airport, France, since 1988.

Visit Camden libraries for books and therapy

This weeks edition of the Camden New Journal has a story headlined Free therapy for all to help kick recession depression.

In a first for the UK, Camden are addressing an expected significant increase in cases of depression and anxiety disorders caused by the economic gloom.

“While other areas in the country have piloted the idea of self-referrals, Camden is the first place where the scheme is up and running. Ms Leibowitz added: “We would encourage anyone who feels that their life is badly affected by these problems to contact us to find out what is available to meet their needs.”
Thirty extra therapists have been hired and will be stationed in surgeries, libraries and employment advice centres across Camden.”

What with the British Library offering business advisors, Birmingham City Library record deals for aspiring musicians and Camden libraries therapists, who knows what limits there could be to library services.

Finally my mobile works on the Underground

No, it’s not some magic piece of mobile communication technology, instead it’s a free little widget downloaded from the Transport for London website.

It’s a zoomable map for a wide range of mobile phones covering the whole of the underground network. Very handy for those moments when you realise you are on the wrong line, or heading in the wrong direction, or you have to find a new route due to ’severe delays’.

The ultimate feel good movie for depressing times

I was amazed to see from the latest edition of 10 things you didn’t know last week, that we Brits have spent £69 million so far on tickets to see Mamma Mia!

This film version of the musical based on Abba music is now Britain’s biggest ever grossing film, overtaking the previous holder Titanic. To add to this impressive feat, over 1 million copies of the DVD were purchased on its release day, another UK record.

Having reluctantly watched said DVD on Christmas day, I have to agree that it has a remarkable feel-good factor. A combination of those annoyingly catchy Abba songs and a cheesy love story for young and old alike. The smile factor wasn’t even badly dented by Pierce Brosnan’s shouted version of SOS and a couple of other songs.

So this could be the next big market for those in creative world for our recessionary times.

From redundancy to reinvention

Last February I wrote about Rasheed Ogunlaru and his  Zest for Business. During 2008 he regularly ran his Making it as an Entrepreneur sessions which proved very popular.

Given our current economic straights and the rise of redundancies during 2008 with more predicted for 2009, Rasheed (who’s redundancy during the last downturn ten years ago, led to his current vocation) has written a blog post From redundancy to reinvention with his top ten tips. Having been made redundant myself over three years ago, I remember what a traumatic experience it was. But also how it was the springboard to a much more satisfying job.

1. Give yourself time and space to be, breathe, reflect and even grieve.

2. Find out exactly what the redundancy will mean: and your options / entitlements.

3. Seek support: from friends and loved ones – and professionals in / beyond work who can help you.

4. Take time: to consider what you really want to do next in your life and career and follow your heart.

5. Practicals: Brush up your CV and your interview skills, identify all your strengths and skills. Ensure you stand out. Include a powerful personal statement at the top.

6. Get hold of my ‘Moving ahead in your career free guide – visit my resources page it will help you focus on what you want in a job

7. Write a list of all the people you know who can help you (inc contacts, friends, former colleagues and who they know) Call or make appointments to meet and chat with anyone who may be able to help you.

8. When applying for jobs: keep your spoken/ written correspondence clear, crisp, concise and captivating.

9. Spread the net: include internet, networking, agencies, contacts as well as newspapers for your job search.

10. Tell people: You probably know 200 people or more tell them what you’re looking for…together you may find it… It’s a small world.

www.rasaru.com

Christmas sells – Christmas sales

During a spot of television watching the other evening I couldn’t help noticing how many times the word Christmas was used during the advert breaks. I know that Christmas starts earlier every year in the hope that business will reap the benefit. But this was almost as though the word was being thrown at the viewer as some kind of mantra. The irony is that almost all of these pleas to worship at the cult of Christmas commercial consumption ended with a hastily tacked on half price offer.

By chance, on the same day I read about a character who has well and truly bought into the ‘Christmas spirit’, by celebrating Christmas day every day since 1994. His name is Andy Park (aka Mr Christmas) and he estimates to have consumed 117,600 brussel sprouts, 5,110 bottles of Champagne, and opened more than 230,000 Christmas cards. He has also worn out 37 electric ovens, and 23 video recorders by watching the Queen’s Speech every day.

However, this year the electrician from Melksham, Wiltshire, is being having to cut back due to the credit crisis.

Divorced Mr Park said that this year the postage is so dear he is having to deliver his cards to himself by himself, instead of relying on the Royal Mail. Also he is being forced to downsize his turkey from 14lb to 9lb.

SuperJam Tea Parties helping to tackle loneliness

Great to see that one of our most memorable Inspiring Entrepreneurs speakers Fraser Doherty (the teenager behind the Super Jam brand) has been doing his bit to help with the growing issue of loneliness for elderly people.

This problem has had quite a bit of media coverage in recent weeks such as this item from BBC reporter Tim Muffett.

Fraser has introduced tea parties as a way of bring lonely elderly people together:

“after months of preparation, we today hosted our first of many tea parties for the elderly. About thirty guests came along to Sighthill community center and we all enjoyed a great laugh for a couple of hours and the delicious cakes and scones that were kindly donated by Waitrose. Alan from  Contact the Elderly  also came along and entertained us all with games, a couple of quizzes and a hilarious poem.”

An encounter with an urban fox outside the British Library

Not the actual fox I saw that night

After my recent blogs about the variety of wildlife in my home location, varying from deer in my garden to the Beast of Balcombe, you can imagine my surprise by my latest encounter in the heart of London.

I was rushing to catch my train at around 8.45pm after a late meeting with a Business & IP Clinic client. I had just left the staff exit of the British Library and was heading north along a busy Middlesex Street towards St Pancras station. Suddenly I was face to face with a large wild animal. After a second or two I realised it was a fox, and although it initially appeared to be as surprised as me (we were less than 10 feet apart), it soon recovered its composure. I last saw it slipping down into our disabled entrance and then swiftly out of sight.

I had a brief conversation with a fellow commuter behind me who had also seen the fox, but had to rush on for fear fo missing my train.

I shall certainly keep my eyes peeled for more wildlife sightings in future when I am venturing out after dark in London.

South of England wild with big cats

I’m not sure if BBC South have been reading my blog recently, but this evening they had a feature news story on big cats spotted in the South of the country.

They had a couple of scratchy videos which could have been a lynx, plus lots of citizens who had seen these beast close up – even brushing past in one case.

As you can see from the graphic copied from the BBC website there have been plenty of spottings. I still can’t quite make my mind up on this. Some of the stories are worryingly similar to the kind of alien or crop circle ones I have heard over the years.