However much we may claim to be self-deprecating, it seems that we humans don’t want to be portrayed in anything other than our best form. But somewhere in California, a group of officials neglected to attend to this basic fact of the human personality when they allocated money for a sculpture. The group in a town called, Cardiff by the Sea, aimed to honor the surfing passions of its locals by erecting an interpretive sculpture of a surfer. They commissioned an artist and possibly behind closed doors, approved the piece. But soon after the sculpture materialized, there arose a massive hue and cry from the townsfolk who felt they should have been consulted.
The artistic license resulted in a piece depicting a child learning to surf. But such limpness of wrists, such awfulness of form, such lack of a powerful wave being ridden, was soundly ridiculed. While many among the surfers may actually perform in this very inexpert pose, they did not wish to be publicized as such. They would have preferred a sculpted figure showing off top form, next to a powerful wave that was more in line with the stuff of their dreams rather than their reality.
And complaining was not enough. To date the innocent, inanimate sculpture continues to suffer much abuse at the hands of the town’s “artists.” They named it “The Kook,” much to the dismay of the artist who had named it, “Magic Carpet Ride.” They dressed it in clown’s clothing. Someone stuck a pumpkin atop its head. And possibly most insulting, someone created a paper mache whale that appears to be swallowing the sculpture. There are bumper sticker and e-mail campaigns to get rid of “The Kook.” No one knows where this will end but chances are the next sculptor, if there is one, won’t take quite so much artistic license.
It was discontinued in 1998 but by then it had been around for more than 14 years. And now those who are fans of source code can visit the original MacPaint program because Apple donated it to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Nowadays there are numerous digital drawing tools but for many years MacPaint was the drawing program on Apple’s computers, allowing anyone to use the lasso or paintbrush or other tools to draw on a computer screen. For those interested in the actual code that made this possible, the MacPaint source code had 5,822 lines of code written in the Pascal programming language with another 3,583 lines of code in the Assembler language. That’s what was donated to the Computer History Museum. And rumors are that it’s easy to read.
But not everyone is into the programming details, which is why MacPaint and its relatives, MacSketch, Quickdraw and the like became so popular. The tools provided an easy way for non-programmers to pursue art on their computers. It also set the stage for Apple’s popularity with artists. And what of the guy who wrote the program? Bill Atkinson, one of the major figures in MacPaint programming, moved on to other things but most recently is pursuing nature photography in a big way – photographing the tiny details contained in polished stone. As a child he became fascinated with photographs in the Arizona Highways magazine. It isn’t yet clear whether he is a geek turned artist or the other way around. In any case, MacPaint once rocked, and paved the way for all the stuff we have today.
Jerry Seinfeld jokes that most people at a funeral, faced with the choice of either being the body in the coffin or the live person giving the eulogy, would choose – the coffin? This sad state of affairs is due to the fact that most people are deathly afraid of public speaking. It’s the embodiment of performance anxiety. And over the ages there have been all sorts of strange strategies including the rather curious tip – try to imagine members of the audience in their underwear, or worse. But Kate Hayes, who is somewhat of an expert on the topic believes that with a few strategies, anyone can overcome fear and give that all important presentation the treatment it deserves.
Keep in mind, the primacy and recency effect with a strong beginning and a strong ending because people recall the first and last things they heard. Begin with your name and affiliation and a word or two about your topic – you want them to remember your name. After that, an anecdote, quote or unexpected fact, and if you can make them laugh, even better. But forget that if your joke is lame. In the middle of your presentation, remember that audiences “hear” with their eyes so the more that you can step away from the podium, gesticulate, maybe dance – unless that doesn’t come naturally to you, in which case they’ll remember your awkwardness. Use props if you can. End your presentation with a recap of your main points. And because presentations are a critical part of business strategy, it’s a good idea to get books or coaching for those who are truly nervous but need to give presentations.