First Review: HBO's "In Treatment"

One early reviewer noted that the new series "In Treatment" from HBO was the replacement for "The Sopranos", but zeroing in on the psychiatry. I really like Gabriel Byrne, who plays the shrink, so I thought I would give it a spin.

I watched the first night and was a bit disappointed, but that was because I didn't understand the format. This is like a weekly mini-mini-series where you watch four days of the shrink listening to his patients, and then the last day of the week you hear him talking to HIS shrink.

That's what I didn't like about the first episode - that we got nothing from the shrink, but heard a 30 minute session about the patient. Byrne only had about ten lines (after all, he's a shrink and is supposed to listen). Apparently each patient comes back the same time each week (so each Monday will be the same patient, etc.) then each Friday Byrne goes to his own shrink to wrap things up, so I assume that will be 30 minutes of listening to just him.

So I will give it a full week before I give my final verdict.

Like legal shows versus real law, there is a lot here that you wouldn't find in "real" psychotherapy, but that is a discussion for another time.

Update: The second episode was much better. Blair Underwood did a good job as the "Tuesday" patient and there was a lot more feedback from Byrne this time. A good write-up is here.

Can You Say "Kludge"?

Apple fan-sites probably already posted this, but I heard about this only today. What a joke - you have to encase your entire phone, removing its functionality, to get a few more powers of optical zoom:

Thanks to the people at Conice, iPhone owners can now get in close on the action without actually being close, because here is an optical zoom lens designed specifically for the Jesus phone. Because there is nowhere on the iPhone where this barrel can screw in, the optical zoom lens attaches to a transparent protective case that wraps around the rest of the iPhone.Yes, it takes away from the sleekness of the iPhone and it weighs nearly as much (4.69 ounces vs. the 4.8-ounce iPhone), but now you get to enjoy 6x optical zoom.

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I Finally Had to Encrypt My WIFI

I've had a WIFI network for several years now and never bothered to put in a password. I didn't mind if a neighbor used some of my bandwidth AS LONG AS I still had decent upload speeds. I "borrow" bandwidth from time to time when I travel and I am conscious about using it just for quick email or light browsing - no video, software, etc.

Over the past few months I noticed my connection getting very sluggish. I finally logged on to my router and was shocked to find not just a couple of neighbors had been logging on, but over a dozen computers had logged onto my system. A couple of them had the names of teens around the block, and that is where I guess my bandwidth went.

So I finally encrypted my network. It's a little disappointing in a way since I don't mind opening my network as long as it isn't abused.

What if "Performance Enhancing Drugs" Weren't Just for Athletes?

We all know about various athletes who have been shamed for performance enhancing drugs. There are probably a lot more we don't know about.

So here's some questions:

• If there were a performance enhancing drug for your field or profession, you would take it?
  


• Would you take it if it were illegal?
  


• Would you take it if it had deleterious long-term health effects?
  


• Is there something close to a performance enhancing drug for your field or profession today?

Nokia Pulls Manufacturing Out of Germany

I had several thoughts about this article, but the bottom line is that I am not surprised: Nokia to close Germany plant, lay off 2,300

Nokia further said that renewing the site was not an option, as doing so would require additional investments that would not result in manufacturing in Bochum being globally competitive.
...
Nokia follows BenQ and Motorola in exiting mobile phone manufacturing in Germany

The article says they are moving production "elsewhere in Europe", so it will go to Eastern Europe for a while before finally settling in Asia, like everything else.

So The Japanese Don't Think I Am a Boring Speaker

When I first starting traveling and doing "pitches" in Japan, I noticed many times that people in the room would seem to be nodding off in the middle of my presentation. I thought maybe I wasn't being dynamic enough, or maybe they didn't understand English and decided to sleep while I was up there. But then I noticed senior managers nodding off in the middle of round table discussions, allowing their subordinates talk through the issues.

I came to find out over the years that this is an acceptable practice in Japan called inemuri, and the BBC had a section about it on an article on sleep last year. It really is quite common to see this in Japan.

The other thing you see in Japan is people napping during lunch. They have a quick bite to eat then lie with their head on their hands right at their desk. I have walked through rooms at lunch time and have seen a dozen people hunched over in front of their computers. Some companies even have a little "chime" at the end of lunch to alert these nappers that lunch is over and it is time to get to work again.

It's one of those things you get used to after being in Japan for a while, and something you would never see in the U.S.

Talent vs. Effort

There are two mutually exclusive statements that we can choose to teach our children:

You can be anything you want to be!

You have your own unique talents no one else has!

From a broader perspective, these could be classified as Nature versus Nurture, but from a practical standpoint it comes down to effort versus talent. And based on my own experience and observations of the world, I am firmly on the talent side. Now, talent has to be developed and nurtured through additional hard work, but I do believe the talent has to be there to begin with, especially for someone to be truly successful in a specific sport, art, or even career.

I have seen too many people struggle, work, put in the hours in one area only to reach mediocrity. It's not that they didn't want it, it's that the the talent wasn't there to begin with, so the effort could only take them so far.

I remember watching a movie - I can't remember what it was - where a girl's dream is to join the Ice Capades. She practices and practices and really wants it, but when she tries out she isn't good enough. She simply didn't have the talent, and after she fails she finally realizes it. From what I remember of the movie she wasn't bitter about it, and she had the good sense to simply move on.

So the secret in live is to find your talent. Unfortunately there is no one to simply tell us what it is and we have to discover it ourselves.