Patrick DS

Back from outer space and the swine flu

Well well, after almost 2 months without posting properly I’m back! After April 4th I went to Stockholm to spend 2 weeks visiting my old friends. I had no direct access to Internet so I needed to go to an Internet cafe or at some friends place, so I haven’t had the time to write. After it I came to Brazil, where I’m now, and went straight to a spa. 20 days after I’m out, 6 kg thinner and healthier, full of energy.

While at the “exile” I could read 5 books plus some parts of more 3 or 4. One of those uncompleted reads was the “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything”. It tells mostly how the crowd-sourcing can affect and help your business by using the mass force available on the net. I still haven’t finished but I can already say that it’s a must read nowadays.

Well, the point is that I received a link from a friend that plays with the Swine Flu and asks visitors to suggest new names to the flu. It’s a extreme example but it illustrates how the power of the crowd can in some way inspire changes that one or a few couldn’t think of.

They encourage us by saying in their own words “But, with a name far inferior to the epidemics of yesteryear, how can we expect “Swine Flu” to inspire our great novelists and heavy metal acts to create the kind of art that will memorialize what may become our generation’s great pandemic?”

Well, take a look even if the votes are just until tomorrow, the 17th of May…

http://www.renametheswineflu.com/names/3300

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