EDUCATION
Ohio State University: BA degree
Columbus, Ohio
Santa Clara University: MBA degree
Silicon Valley, California
PLACES RICH HAS VISITED*
Argentina
Bahamas
Bermuda
Brazil
Canada
Cayman Islands
France
Hong Kong
Jamaica
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
London
Mexico
Most of contiguous U.S.A.
Philippines
Puerto Rico
Singapore
Spain
U.S. Virgin Islands
Uruguay
* Airport stopovers not included.
MARATHONS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
TIME**
Baltimore City Marathon 3:39
Mardi Gras Marathon 3:50
Marine Corps Marathon 3:31
Marine Corps Marathon 3:32
** Stop-watch times rounded to nearest minute.
ABOUT RICH WIDOWS
RICH’S OBSERVATIONS ABOUT
BRILLIANT PEOPLE HE HAS KNOWN
--They also seem to be the hardest workers.
--Like the rest of us, they manage to screw up royally on a fairly regular basis.
--Dress, titles and other trappings of status really don’t really seem to mean very much to them.
--They tend to treat people at the bottom of the totem pole with the same attention and respect as those at the top of the heap.
--They are often surprisingly enthusiastic about going off in entirely new directions in their business, professional or private lives.
SOME OF RICH’S RULES FOR LIVING
--Never pre-judge anything or anyone.
--You cover more distance when you travel at a brisk but steady pace than when you sprint at full speed and then have to periodically rest.
--You benefit more by thoroughly understanding the basic principles and underlying logic behind a phenomenon than by trying to memorize all the facts about it.
--When you commit to an obligation, always deliver on it as soon and as thoroughly as possible.
--Don't take yourself too seriously.
--Laugh a lot, especially at yourself.
A serendipitous assignment decades ago drove home to Richard Widows the potential of directing the enormous energy of data processing toward creative graphics. After earning a Master of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley, California, Rich entered a challenging, stimulating career designing, developing and marketing software for the investment industry. An assignment early in Rich’s professional career to design interactive graphic displays for visual analyses of investment alternatives led to a fascination with the potential of computers to generate art.
Imbedded in many of Rich’s algorithmic art creations are metaphysical issues that remain unresolved in his mind:
- Does the posture of “creation” as we know it tilt toward chaos or to structure? Is it even possible to achieve a state of equilibrium that prevents a spiral into total chaos or toward complete structure?
- Except for the sequences of digits that make up some mathematical constants such as pi and e, does true randomness exist? If not, what is the value of the study of probability (keeping in mind that no known probabilistic method can predict the next digit of pi or e based on the preceding sequence of digits)?
- Related to the above, is the structure of every human being so complex (composed of more than 35 trillion cells along with a lifetime of exposure to a unique sequence of diverse influences) that it is impossible to make any judgment on any person except by largely subjective evaluation by one or more human beings? (In other words, is algorithmic evaluation of any person, group of people, or the value of their services or products, impossible except by the judgment of human beings?)
- Is scalability a “bendable” concept? If so, can it be infinitely bended—and, if so, does that in itself invalidate it as a concept?
PLACES WHERE
RICH HAS LIVED
U.S. STATES
California
Florida
Georgia
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Virginia
OUTSIDE THE U.S.A.
Hong Kong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
London
Singapore