Mac vs PC

Just to show that what we do during the course isn't all serious stuff, we have recently been having a side debate about whether the Apple Mac is better than the PC or not. The majority of people I have spoken to seem to think that the Mac is better, but the guy in the link below may disagree!!!http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6553260189868317794

What are Management Information Systems?

This is another interesting article I posted on my other blog - Naked Chasm Jumpers

The term Management Information Systems has become ever more popular in recent times, indeed the course we are presently studying is called MIS. However, a couple of questions I asked recently were - What is a Management Information System? And, if it fails, is it important?In its simplest format it is an Information System for Management. But, does this mean computers, databases, hardware, software? Indeed, who are the management? The MD, the Finance Director or the Supervisor or the person who manages the process?Unfortunately, I don't have a definitive answer, but I believe it is all of the above plus the system that allows feedback and discussion to take place to allow management to tap into the knowledge of their most important resource - humans!If there is no MIS in place, does it really matter? Well, yes, because without it there is just chaos. Whether it is a structure that is stuck to rigidly or a loose structure that provides guidelines, it is important.Click the link below to see a situation that I believe helps define a Management Information System and that many people will not have thought of. Failure of this system could have potentially catastrophic consequences.http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7198985749136975119

The Singularity!

Source - Naked Chasm Jumpers

"The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is sent back to the year 1984 to assassinate a young woman named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). The cyborg comes from the year 2029, following a nuclear war which has devastated the better part of civilization. Computer defense mechanisms have turned on their creators, starting another war, in an effort to eliminate the human race altogether."
The above extract was taken from The Terminator Home Page, an unofficial fan site of the famous movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, given our last lecture on Scenarios and looking to the future, could the 'story' above ever become reality?
Analysed closer, there is a distinct possibility that "Computer defense mechanisms [could] turn on their creators ... in an effort to eliminate the human race altogether."
In todays world, there are scientists working towards what they call the singularity! This is the point at which computers are of equal power to the human brain and humans and technology start to fuse together. It is believed that at the current rate of development, it will be 25 years from now that scientists will understand the human brain and how it works. By some scary coincidence, people believe that Humans version 2.0 will be created in 2029, the same year that the Terminator was sent from! Is this the first step to the destruction of humans by their own creations, computers?
Can you imagine controlling machines by your thoughts or machines speaking for you as you think? Don't believe it could happen? I suggest you check out the link below -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/?id=horizon (Current as of 29th October 2006)

The Future Scenario

Source - Naked Chasm Jumpers

A question that everybody asks at some point in time is "What does the future hold?" Most people have a clearly defined route of where they want their lives to go, from careers to love life to money! How many times does this 'plan' actually play out the way we want it to?
We had a very interesting lecture last Thursday from Ian Kendrick on scenario thinking. He started the lecture with a very powerful story about an older lady and her plans for the next couple of weeks over the Christmas holidays. She was to enjoy Xmas with her family in her new home and see her grandchild for the time. Everything was in place, her family were on the way and the champagne was in ice. All of a sudden, the peace was shattered by a loud rumbling noise. The old lady went outside into her garden where she could make a shape out at the bottom of her garden. On closer inspection, she dicovered a young man strapped to a seat, dead. A loud explosion was heard a couple of miles away and the air was filled with debris. The woman lived near Lockerbie in 1988.
In those days, not many people could have envisaged such an event happening, but today, based on past experience, people would think such an event could happen. Businesses need to be able to cope with the future and as such need to plan for possible scenarios becoming reality or at least be aware that they may happen!
I found an interesting video on YouTube, which clearly shows one companies thoughts on what the future holds both for them and their customers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BkuynPMP7o
As I questioned previously in my blog entitled "Are Blogs the new Time Capsules?", could blogs become the new 'soft' version of the Time Capsule?
I invite you now to post your version of 'The Future' and lets see if it becomes reality!

Breaking mental models (sort of)

Again, this blog was taken from my other blog.


During our lecture last week with Ian Kendrick, he was talking about peoples mental models and how these are based on the experiences of people. As a bit of fun, I tried to find some examples of videos breaking mental models. By far the funniest is in the link below and is for all you wanna be boy (or girl) racers out there, although I don't think you will ever be able to do this in reality!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCzCJEwZmY

The way of the future?

I posted this blog on my other Blog for my MBA - The Naked Chasm Jumpers, so thought I would post it on here as well.

I found an interesting article on the BBC website which talks about Google and its ad revenues. It is expected that the Internet giants ad revenues for 2006 will surpass that of Channel 4, a TV channel in the traditional media sector. It is then expected that in 18 months it will surpass ITV's ad revenues. Is online advertising the way of the future?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6108678.stm

The Ultimate Boy Racers!!

For all you wanna be boy racers out there, I found this video for you on You Tube. This is the ultimate in boy racing and of course could never happen. Just imagine if it did though!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCzCJEwZmY

How close can you get?

I found this fantastic video on You Tube today. It is a video of aircraft landing at an airport, sounds exciting....not!! However, when you consider that the airport is St Maartens in the Caribbean it is an entirely different story!!! Check it out at the link below -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH7A7vOghBg

My Weekend So Far...!!!

So far this weekend, I have been Snowboarding, Horse Riding and ended up slightly worse for wear last night. As you saw from my last blog, I was snowboarding on Friday night. Yesterday, I went horse riding again, my eighth lesson. Riding without stirrups is bloody hard!!! As a result my legs are absolutely aching today.

Last night, purely to try and kill the pain in my legs, I decided to have a few drinks. A few turned to many and before I knew it I was drunk!! And that was just sitting in the house!!

So far this morning, I have done a little studying for my MBA but I am starting to get nervous and excited as I am going to watch the mighty reds this afternoon against our arch enemies, Liverpool!!! COME ON THE REDS!!!!

So it is off the to the pub yet again before and after the match.

Snowboarding

Last night, I went up to Xscape in Castelford, near Leeds. Xscape is an indoor Ski Slope. I have snowboarded for 6 years now, learning to snowboard in a little Swedish town called Lulea. Xscpae isn't the greatest slope in the world, but it is good for practising before you go to the real slopes.

I am off to Chamonix, France in March.

The picture on the right is of the Hannenkham in Kitzbuhel, one of the venues for the Ski World Cup. I was lucky enough to witness the Super G when I was there in January 2006. I have never been to Chamonix so if anybody has any comments or advice about good slopes, or even better good bars, get in touch.

United Winning the Carling Cup

As I am new to this Blogging thing, I am trying many different things. So, I thought I would try to add a video. The Video I have chosen is from the Carling Cup Final in February 2006 when Man Utd beat Wigan 4-0 in the final at the Millenium Stadium, Cardiff. I was there and have a nice video of the fireworks when United lifted the trophy. Click on the link below to view the video. (Hope it works!!)

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8763491334912200378

MBA - Management Information Systems

Just had a quick meeting at Uni with my group for the MIS Course. This course is the reason I got into Blogging in the first place. We have created our very own Blog Site at -

http://nakedchasmjumpers.blogspot.com

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Horse Riding

I have decided that one thing that this Blog will tell the story of is my quest to learn how to ride a horse. The other thing will be my MBA, but lets concentrate on the horses.

Well, started to learn how to ride a horse about six weeks ago. I started on a horse call Dillon at Stables in Ashton, manchester. Near my home. The first lesson involved me sitting on a horse, walking and occasionally trotting. The next two lessons were at the same place, doing the same things. So, I decided to move to a new Riding School.

The new Riding School is the manchester Equestrian Centre, just off the M60 at J8. All I can say is, fantastic!! John Shaw, the teacher is a class act. I have had three lessons there, six in total now and last night I had my first canter. Scarey but fun and I can't wait for my next lesson.

it is such an amazng thing to do and really gets the adrenalin pumping. I would recommend it to anyone.

My First Blog

Well, this is my first ever blog. I got interested in blogging as I was doing my MBA at Manchester Business School. I am currently taking Management Information Systems, where our project was to create a blog. This is not the project site, it can be found at http://nakedchasmjumpers.blogspot.com/

Anyway, more from me later on.