Don’t cheat!  Try to figure it out.

Sometimes I relax with a game of chess or poker, both of which can be used to explain good business practices. When playing TA Spring, a games about war strategy, I couldn’t help but notice that many of the strategies used in the game are relevant in business as well.

Keep the pressure on.

Every move counts.

Every asset counts.

Use your strengths.

Abuse competitor weaknesses.

Anticipate competitor moves.

So if you want to refine your strategic skills, try a game of Spring RTS. It is a free, open source real time strategy game with lots of robots and explosions. Check out the video…

The interviewer said to the both of us,
” Well, the both of you are the best qualified of all candidates. But, we need only one of you to fill the position. Tell you what, since this job requires much creativity…why don’t the both of you compose a poem that ends with Timbuktoo?”
The interviewer looked at the other bloke (a bit of a suit & tie pansie) and asked him to start. Mustering all his creativity, the pansie came up with the perfect poem that ended with ‘Timbuktoo’.

“Out across the desert sands
rode a lonely caravan.
Underneath the sky so blue,
destination… Timbuktoo.”

The interviewer was obviously impressed, but little did he know that I was about to unleash some poetic genius of my own. The interviewer turned to me, signalling me to commence.

“Camping, me and Tim a-went
Saw some ladies in a tent
They being three and we being two
I bucked one and Timbuktoo!”

YES! I got the job.

SOLVE THE RIDDLE AND FIND OUT

The Rules:

There are no tricks, just pure logic, so good luck and don’t give up.
1. In a street there are five houses, painted five different colours.
2. In each house lives a person of different nationality.
3. These five homeowners each drink a different kind of beverage, smoke
different brand of cigar and keep a different pet.

The Question:
WHO OWNS THE FISH?

HINTS

1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The Green house is on the left of the White house.
5. The owner of the Green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbour who drinks water.

No, i’m not going to tell you the answer. I believe it took me somewhere between 30 and 50 minutes to solve it in 2003.  I hope I’m a bit smarter now.

More about Albert:

Born in 1879, Albert Einstein is known today for his incredible mathematical ability and… well, his wild hair. But more important than the physical attributes of his cranium, is the fantastic information which it provided. He will probably always be remembered as the greatest mathematical genius of the modern world. Honors he has received for his works include the Nobel Prize, which he was awarded in 1921, the Royal Society Copley Medal, which he was awarded in 1925, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1921, and he became an AMS Gibbs Lecturer in 1934. He also was a very vocal advocate against nuclear weapons, and spoke out for international peace. Fittingly, a letter asking that his name be put on a manifesto urging all nations to give up their nuclear weapons, was the last he wrote before his death in 1955.

And to finish up, here’s a short documentary about him.

The purpose of the Enneagram is self-enlightenment, partly by discovering the hidden driving force – an unwanted compulsion – which underlies your surface personality. It may help to use the chart below to identify your type and your partner’s type and perhaps discover where there might be conflicts.

Type 1 – “the we-can-do-better inspirer”

Wise, conscientious, idealistic, hard-working perfectionist. It bothers them when things are not done ‘the right way’, so when frustrated they may become critics of others and of themselves. Their underlying drive or compulsion is to avoid anger and avoid being wrong or criticized. It is important for them to be right, to maintain control over their emotions and to not receive anger or express it. However, few things or people are perfect, so life is never easy for them

Type 2 – “the good Samaritan”

Compassionate, attentive, empathic, warm, caring, and constantly giving. They may become so concerned about ‘preaching’ love that they overlook actually helping, but always have lots of good intentions. Their hidden compulsion is neediness. They have strong needs to be needed, appreciated and loved, but they want to avoid recognizing those needs. Nothing is done without a reason, not even by the ’selfless’ giver

Type 3 – “the go-getter”

Confident, high self-esteem, ambitious, inspiring achiever. May become overly competitive, wanting to always come out on top, continually trying to impress people. Their compulsion is to avoid failure and rejection, which forces them to work hard for success. They believe their personal worth is determined by their achievements

Type 4 – “the creative person”

Artistic, sensitive, in touch with feelings, true to self. May become moody, easily hurt, and socially or emotionally withdrawn, feeling emotionally overloaded and different from others. They are striving to avoid being ordinary or defective, they want to be special and unique, they sometimes feel deeply but more often ‘on stage’ or like an impostor

Type 5 – “the learned one”

Intelligent, logical, loves being alone and learning, original thinker. May become absorbed in abstract trivia, proving their own theory or counter-attacking criticism. They are attempting to avoid being empty – empty of knowledge and understanding of the world, empty of answers when asked a difficult question and empty of opportunities to learn more. Absorbing knowledge is their addiction, not using knowledge

Type 6 – “the dependable, admiring follower”

Likeable, engaging, friendly, loyal, trustworthy, concerned with making friends. May become indecisive and insecure but remains devoted and a ‘team player’. Their compulsive fears are of rejection, being alone and especially condemnation by an authority figure. Their drive is to follow all the rules, to be approved and to be secure without becoming self-reliant

Type 7 – “the happy hedonist”

Enthusiastic, practical, playful, accomplished, enjoying life, knows and wants the best of everything. May become materialistic, hyperactive, easily frustrated and compelled to buy new ‘toys’ and find new ways to have fun, including alcohol and drugs. Their fear is of deprivation and boredom. Their compulsions are to avoid personal pain, not even to see it in others’ lives, to put off anything unpleasant and to have more of everything. Life should be fun is their motto

Type 8 – “the conquering hero”

Strong, assertive, ‘can-do’ attitude, loves challenges, natural leader, champion of causes. May become a risk-taking entrepreneur or a righter of wrongs, intimidating or “having it out” with others and feeling he/she must get his/her way. The driving force underlying this personality is a fear of being dominated or the avoidance of weakness. They favour radical change as long as it’s by them

Type 9 – “the complacent pacifist”

Accepting, patient, unpretentious, open, relaxed, just a nice reassuring person. May become too submissive or accommodating, too self-effacing, too indifferent and falsely reassure others in order to gain peace at any price. They fear conflict and separation from others due to conflicts. They will do anything for harmony, even deny reality. Their approach is ‘what’s the big deal?’

Conclusion

The best way to use these nine brief descriptions is to go back through the list and identify your basic personality type by noting, primarily, the positive characteristics because that is what we know best about ourselves. Then, your insight should come from noting the underlying unconscious fears and compulsions of your personality type. Next, you need to spend a lot of time considering possible ways your hidden fears or desires have influenced your life. By becoming more aware of these hidden needs or forces within you, perhaps you can see yourself in a different light and find better ways to cope with your problems.

Bruno proves he’s the real deal by announcing that being gay is the new coolest thing. Highlights include “there’s 85,000 fans that want to smash you”, an intimate interview with football star Shaud Williams and pissing off a hardcore homophobe. It’s interesting to note that Sacha Bara Cohen is actually Jewish and has some how filmed dozens of anti-Semitic remarks during his interviews. This was one of them.

2. Tickets to the gun show

Sacha Baron Cohen has balls, that’s for sure

3. Contradicting interview

Listen carefully as every remark is followed up with contradicting remark, both of which the designer enthusiastically agrees with, making a fool of himself. Fool.

4. Bruno Visits a Christian Rock Festival

Bruno pushes the buttons of Christian rock stars and Eminem h8ters.
Best line:  “Have you heard of the band Dirty Va*ina”

5. In or Out. Fashion Polizei

Demonstrates how badly television interviewees can be influenced.

6. Bruno Meets Skinheads

Best Line: “Would you ever do a spunkter on stage?”

7. Interview with a Gay Converter

This has to be one of the funniest skits ever. Funny and shocking to see there are people like this in the world still.

8. College wrestlers on Austrian Gay TV

You’ve probably already seen this video. How did those blokes not realise that something wasn’t quite right. Hilarious stuff.
Best Line: “Yaaa, this is a gay show”

9. Bruno learns to bounce

After catching out a nightclub owner who discriminates against cripples, the funniest scene starts at 2:55 when Bruno becomes a nightclub bouncer.
Best Line: “This is a nightclub, not a f*&king shopping mall. Go change your shirt and come back.”

10. Bruno freaks out Psychic

This psychic is either fake, an idiot or both. I say both. Jerk.

BONUS 1. Best of Borat TV show

There’s so many hilarious Borat scenes from the series that were funnier and more controversial than the Borat movie. This is one of them.
Best Line: “Hmmm. Um. Well, I guess they would have to go to hell”

BONUS 2. Ali G interviews Victoria and David Beckham

I bet you cannot watch this interview without laughing. Go on, I betchya. Message me if you can.

BONUS 3. Borat learns about politics.

This must be my favourite controversial Borat scene. The Republican Senator in this film actually got in hot water about this and was forced to make a formal apology for the what he said in the interview.

I’m an Ali G fan, Borat fan and Bruno fan who likes women and 100% supports gay rights, same sex marriages and all that jazz.

If you enjoyed these videos, be sure to check out the Bruno movie to be released July 10 2009.