A Straight Line That's A Curve? Hyperbolic But True.

It sounds either impossible or something which only lives in the realm of the fantastical, such as that distant and murky realm of Quantum Mechanics in which matter can purportedly exist in two places at the same time.

OFD has found that however impossible problems appear to be or daunting challenges might seem, progress and solutions can often come in a surprisingly simple way: from seeing things from a different perspective.

We sought this ourselves recently, and did what we compel our clients to do on occasion: step away from the problem - and the office - and go seek some inspiration where it matters. For the nature of our problem, we went to The Exploratorium, a brilliant laboratory of ideas which encourages interactivity and literal hands-on learning.

How can something straight fit into a curve?

It was one of the provocative riddles we encountered on an entertaining and thoroughly inspiring field trip.

The answer was simple, with a new perspective. A line rotated in the right plane makes a hyperbolic curve. The hands-on exhibit allowed the viewer to manipulate a steel rod literally through a curve in a piece of plexiglass. The visual evidence was irrefutable yet mind-bending nonetheless.

Siberia cloaked in a Minneapolis veil

It is a time of dreams and fantasy. Unlike any other, it is the chair of the hair stylist that invites the occupant to be the star, a willing voyeur on the journey of self-transformation unfolding in the mirror ahead. But this OFDer happened to turn the tables on the usual convention to be the recipient of a endless string of question and decided to be the inquisitor instead.

She'd noticed the stylist had a Russian accent and was curious why she had come to Minneapolis. Her stylist heralded from Siberia, a word which - we now have on reliable authority - is correct in evoking images of freezing temperatures, unfathomable amounts of snow and an expansive artic tundra: 40% is in the northern circle. The idea of coming to Minneapolis had brought the anticipation of warmer, more temperate conditions. A cruel mistake indeed. The southern Minnesota town reminds this immigrant all to often and all to much of a harsh life back east.

While criticized by some people for taking the romance of discovery out of the world, the internet affords everyone the opportunity to get a peek at a place half way around the world where they're considering setting down roots. And avoid a long, long journey that turns out to be too close to home.













Minneapolis? Siberia? You choose.

The delight in finding what you've stopped looking for

It wasn't the first time this type of irony had been encountered. But experiencing it again gave cause to reflect what a valuable lesson it can be.

Setting out in the early hours of Sunday, with the aim of becoming better acquainted with the surrounding neighborhood, the additional intent was to come away with something unexpected, an unsual observation from the morning stroll.

While an hour passed pleasantly exploring the tree lined streets whose shops had not started stirring to life, nothing stood out that met the brief. As the time wound down it seemed inevitable that no such observation would be forthcoming. Resigned to return empty-handed it was in making the last stretch of the way home that, forced to wait before crossing the road by a passing car, I noticed my shadow stretched in the road ahead of me, created by an rising sun hanging low in the sky.

Often, it's when the mind is relaxed rather than actively engaged in thought or perception that an idea or observation emerges. And it's not surprising really: focusing the mind intensely can make its perceptual scope limited and rigid instead of allowing the subconscious room to engage in its more open fluid way. It why people often record that a break-through in thinking comes at seemingly the oddest times: in the shower, or in the middle of the night. "I'll sleep on it" is a good thought to have before retiring to bed, priming the sub-conscious to play with the problem while you slumber. Try it next time you have a tough one to crack.

Stepping into a different world is an arms-length away

Throughout the city, portals to a different place and different time appear and disappear in constant flux. Limited time, money and status does not prevent anyone from access. It’s as close as stepping into a taxi.

Even the shortest ride is an opportunity to be immersed in an unfamiliar culture. The foreign nationals that drive cabs in many US cities these days offer an insider's view to a very different way of life. Whether it's a memory from childhood in Kenya where people walked non-stop for days on end to reach a far flung village, an account of witchcraft from Senegal which is believed to give the protected invincibility to mortal threats, or recollections of a time when Nigeria decided to change which side of the road to drive on and allowed its citizens an opportunity to practice the day before the switch took place, these stories connect passengers to the color and humanity of an experience thousands of miles away from their lives. How wonderful to have that possibility each day no further away than an outstretched arm.

A perspective with the power to change the world

It was a simple act completed countless times before. Staring at the breakfast tray resting on my knees delivered to the room moments earlier, none of the items surveyed were either unfamiliar or would give the average person grounds to pause for thought. Coffee carafe, side of milk, glass of orange juice, fruit plate. It was the danish pastry that caused the melee. It looked enticing, the jam center glistening, the pastry flaky but heavily laden with butter or shortening. But in that moment it was clear that this dessert represented an interaction of unequal proportion. While the effort involved in consuming it was negligible, the effort required to deplete the calories it had added was considerable.

Pulling back the curtain as the sun broke a distant horizon, this humble pastry was looked at in a different light. Contemplating the time, exertion and sweat on a stair master to eradicate the efforts of this consumptive act rendered the pastry no longer appetizing.

The epiphany: what if mankind could be confronted with the knowledge of the consequences of every act before the action that would precipitate it. It surely would have a dramatic effect not on intensions but on desire for follow-through. A person falling on trash thrown from a car window, the senseless violence acted out by child after being scolded too harshly by a parent, the deep angst felt by a woman cheated upon at the hands of a female co-worker.

It is the separation of an act from its consequences that prevents it from being a behavioral modifier. It becomes too easy for the protagonist to rationalize away the notion of harm or the personal responsibility for it.

If only it were as simple as connecting the consequence to an act before it is enacted. For every person and every act. We’d end up with a better world or a society of psychopaths.

Be careful what you look for. You just may find it.

It is often the case that one sees what one is trying to find. It's a common but dangerous tendency. Belief is, after all, merely a matter of perspective.

Lambasting current TV programming as a scourge is a popular pastime, criticized for its influence upon the younger generation's values and responsible for the decline in moral fabric of this country. One writer suggests that Sweet Sixteen is a case in point, in that it violates the principles upon which this country is built: "the idea of being a do-it-yourself, hard working, striving individual, who fights to achieve success and prosperity for themselves"

There's plenty of programming out there that upholds these qualities directly if you look at them in an open-minded way. Take I LOVE NEW YORK on VH1. A collection of men compete for the affection of a sultry woman (and one presumes more than that..) and in so doing demonstrate the qualities needed to pursue the American Dream. Survivor is another. Project Runway, The Apprentice. In fact, much of the reality TV genre could be seen to support the American Dream in a significant way.

Don't get be wrong, I LOVE NEW YORK is in my view terrible, terrible entertainment but that is besides the point: in its content it upholds the priorities on which this country was built. It is also good to see some contemporary role reversal, with men subjugating themselves to women and pandering to their arbitrary whims instead of the other way around.

Whoever knows for certain what lurks within?

Most people may be able to tell you what the last film they saw was. Or what soap or shampoo brand they use in the bathroom (even what graveyard of half-empty bottles lurk under the sink). But few can reliably recount the contents of their fridge. Though we see them several times a day either in the morning or the evening, we don't retain the details, passed the obvious ones like orange juice, milk, soda, eggs. Then it becomes sketchy. It's always a surprise of sorts. And then of course the discovery of things having been shuffled to the back which resurface.

And that's the point of this blog. Open the fridge door is an invitation to make some discoveries of your own from the random, aracane postings that appear here intermittently. Next time you're looking for a different perspective, something a little off the ordinary track, don't be uninspired. Open the fridge door.