Today as I was riding around with my new contact lenses in, and feeling annoyed that one aspect of my vision is worse (I can’t read super small print without taking out my contacts or using reading glasses), it came to me in a flash that the future will bring vision magic. Namely, lens implants that adjust for telescopic distance, computer use, reading and microscopic vision. Lens implants are a current reality:my wife has one after surgery for cataracts. It’s just a problem of getting an adjustable lens small enough, with a microcontroller small enough to fit in the little pocket that our natural lens fits in today. I don’t know if it’s 2 years away, or 20 years away, but I know it’s coming. I want it now.

Of so many men that I am, that we are
I cannot find a single one:
They are cloaked inside me
They have gone to a distant city

When the moment is ripe
for my words to be wise and witty
the dolt who hides inside
tangles himself in my tongue

Other moments I drowse in the company
of the bright and the passionate
yet when I call my courageous self
some unknown coward
wraps my bones
in a thousand nuanced hesitations

When a sweet and noble house burns
though I call the fireman
the arsonist bursts forth
And he is me. I have no remedy.
What can I do to sort this fathomless me?
How can I minister to myself?

All the books I read
sing praises of shining heroes
always so bold and self assured
I die of envy,
in the westerns
I yearn to be Shane
I begrudge him his horse and gun

When I call to my best bold self
out comes the familiar sloth,
and I just don’t know
who I am, or how many I am or will be.
I wish I could ring a bell
and summon the true me
so that I could stand witness to myself
in my own time of need.

I am gone as I write
and when I return, I am gone:
one day I will see
if what inhabits me also lives in others,
if there are many like me.
If they appear much the same to themselves
and when I have plumbed this depth
I will map so well this territory
that to explain my heart
I will speak of geography

– Pablo Neruda
– Translation: Leonard Cuff

Copyright © 2006 Leonard Cuff

Well, no, actually, it’s probably some kid in Russia who doesn’t even understand the language, practicing his English. But I was thrilled nonetheless. Which underscores how hungry I am for strokes. I know I’m not alone in that.

As time goes on all of the comments I’ve gotten so far are spam. Some are obvious, like referrals to Eastern European sex and prostitution sites, but others are more subtle.

(Edit: I’ve turned off the comments because of the spam volume) They’re generic “Hey this is great” messages from people who may not even speak English very well. They refer to the site content not at all, or only generically.. My assumption is that these are kids or teens playing some kind of “Who can get their name on the most web sites” game. Harmless enough, but the thing that strikes me is my own reaction to them. Regardless of how banal the comments are, some part of me is pleased and encouraged. As you can see, I’m not starting out with a whole slew of postings (I’ve been working on a technical tutorial on the vim text editor that has come to a halt for lack of time and interest). But even canned praise draws my energy back to the blog.

All this just reinforces what I already know: Praise is a powerful psychological tool.

The positive effects of praise, and the negative effects of criticism and judgment are well documented in popular management and psychology books. Carl Rogers describes the use of “Unconditional Positive Regard” as a cornerstone of his model of counseling. In “The One Minute Manager“, Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson sing the effectiveness of praising.

Letting people know what they’re doing right encourages them to keep trying. However bad they are, if they persist they will get better. Often awesomely better. If you wait until they ask for help or feedback, they’re going to be really ready for the help or feedback.

It’s much more powerful to tell a kid what he can do than what he can’t do. “If you want to run, do it over on the grass, not by the pool.” “If you want to scream, scream into a pillow, or outside, not right next to me.” It’s much more powerful to sandwich one element of constructive criticism into a stream of praisefull comments.

The praise has to be sincere. This can be a challenge. When I listen to people sing, and they’re so nervous they’re badly off pitch, I can still think it’s a great song, or be touched by their open heart. Naming the good things encourages them. A few weeks later, when their nervousness abates, their pitch improves dramatically with no effort on their part. (This is in the context of helping them be less nervous, another topic entirely.)

Make praise your ally. Your friends and co-workers will love you for it.

Of course, as usual, the MIT folks have added all sorts of features that I hadn’t thought of, namely ways in which they detect the world they’re interacting with and provide context-relevant information…Rating and reviews of books as you browse the library or bookstore. Green ratings of the Towel Paper brands in the grocery store as it scans the packaging (not just the SKU) to recognize it. There’s a gestural language too: draw a watch on your wrist and see the time appear. In lots of places, there is a convenient surface to project on anyway, but just for completeness I’d like them to roll in the idea of holographic projections that could appear anywhere.

Call me when I can buy one at Costco.

Installation was straightforward, following the package directions.  I stumbled over the interaction between MySQL and WordPress, because I used “localhost” in my MySQL configuration, but the actual IP address of my host in the wp-config.php file, but the error message identified the problem, and after a little poking, we’re off!