Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

2008/06/02 49th Street, 8th Avenue to Madison Avenue, NYC

Being part of a virtual team means that even if everyone is scheduled for the same meeting in New York City, we don’t travel together. We come in on different flights, and stay in different hotels. When we’re organized, we can at least try to schedule dinner together. On this trip, my hotel was a little northwest of Times Square. Stepping out of the hotel, looking south on 8th Avenue doesn’t give the theatre district vibe.

Looking north up 8th Avenue doesn’t provide many sights either. The destination restaurant was a straight walk across 49th Street, so I turned right.

A hidden indicator of the theatre district is the Actor’s Chapel, on the north side of 49th Street, just east of 8th Avenue.

A short walk over, looking south down 7th Avenue shows the skyscrapers of the Great White Way (not yet lit up in daylight!)

Continuing east on 49th Street to 6th Avenue, the west wing of the GE Building doesn’t stand out from other skyscrapers.

Looking north up 6th Avenue — Avenue of the Americas — the marquis of Radio City Music Hall is a tourist landmark.

Continuing east on 49th Street, Christie’s has a modest entry to the south that doesn’t suggest the wealth of antiques that pass through the building.

A few steps further on the north side of 49th Street, the GE Building opens up to the rink at Rockefeller Center. When there’s no ice there, the flags and tourists provide the scenery.

Another block east, and I found the Sushiden restaurant, west of Madison Avenue.

Ray and Peter were already there, and Frank arrived a few minutes later. Bill’s plane was late, so he phoned to say that he was going to first drop his suitcase at the hotel three blocks away. We waited for him to arrive before ordering sushi.

We talked some business over dinner, but mostly got to know each other. Like many other virtual teams, we’ve all had teleconferences together over the past months, but there’s no substitute for sitting down for a face-to-face conversation.

Sushiden on Urbanspoon

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • RSS on Coevolving

  • RSS on Media Queue

    • What to Do When It’s Too Late | David L. Hawk | 2024
      David L. Hawk (American management theorist, architect, and systems scientist) has been hosting a weekly television show broadcast on Bold Brave Tv from the New York area on Wednesdays 6pm ET, remotely from his home in Iowa. Live, callers can join…Read more ›
    • 2021/06/17 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 2
      Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
    • 2021/06/16 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1
      The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
    • 2021/02/02 To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems | Zeynep Tufekci with Ezra Klein | New York Times
      In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
    • 2019/04/09 Art as a discipline of inquiry | Tim Ingold (web video)
      In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
    • 2019/10/16 | “Bubbles, Golden Ages, and Tech Revolutions” | Carlota Perez
      How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
  • RSS on Ing Brief

    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2”, edited by F. E. Emery (1981)
      The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings”, edited by F. E. Emery (1969)
      In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
    • Concerns with the way systems thinking is used in evaluation | Michael C. Jackson, OBE | 2023-02-27
      In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
    • Quality Criteria for Action Research | Herr, Anderson (2015)
      How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
    • Western Union and the canton of Ticino, Switzerland
      After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
    • Aesthetics | Encyclopaedia Britannica | 15 edition
      Stephen C. Pepper was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, on the entry for Aesthetics.
  • Meta

  • Translate

  • Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
    Theme modified from DevDmBootstrap4 by Danny Machal