Category Social

Entries 10 Total

Cobalt

Mar 11, ’23 10:34 PM

“The eldest, Peter, wore blue jeans, plastic slippers, and a red shirt with the letters AIG stitched on the front. Imagine that on a remote hill deep in the Congo’s mining provinces, a child can be found digging for cobalt, wearing a muddy shirt with the logo of the behemoth American financial services company that had to be bailed out for $180 billion during the 2008 financial crisis. Imagine what even 1 percent of that money could do in a place like this, if it were spent on the people who needed it, not stolen by those who exploited them.”

Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara

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Labor Laws

Apr 27, ’21 2:06 PM

In the United States, the labor laws are very much in favor of the employer rather than the employee. In fact, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks the United States as having the absolute weakest laws protecting workers from dismissal in over seventy countries worldwide. Pennsylvania is, like all states but Montana, an “employment-at-will” state, meaning that an employer can fire someone with or without cause. In direct contrast, in the European Union (EU), companies cannot fire people “at will”; the EU commission states quite clearly that employers cannot fire their employees simply for the “wish of the employer.” Yet, in the United States, there are very limited protections to the “at will” rule.

The Tolls of Uncertainty, How Privilege and the Guilt Gap Shape Unemployment in America, Sarah Damaske

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On Confidence (3/3)

Jan 9, ’21 12:41 AM

“Confidence is not the belief that we won’t meet obstacles. It is the recognition that difficulties are an inescapable part of all worthwhile contributions. We must ensure we have plenty of narratives to hand that normalise the role of pain, anxiety and disappointment in even the best and most successful lives.”

– The School of Life, Confidence – The Battle Against Timidity

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On Confidence (2/3)

Jan 8, ’21 12:40 AM

“The topic of confidence is too often neglected by serious people: we spend so much time acquiring technical skills, and so little time practicing the one virtue that will make those skills effective in the world.”

– The School of Life, Confidence – The Battle Against Timidity

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On Confidence (1/3)

Jan 7, ’21 12:34 AM

“One of the greatest sources of despair is the belief that things should have been easier than they have turned out to be. We give up not simply because events are difficult, but because we hadn’t expected them to be so. The capacity to remain confident is, to a significant extent, a matter of internalizing a correct narrative about what difficulties it is normal to encounter.”

– The School of Life, Confidence – The Battle Against Timidity

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Communication Breakdown

Apr 28, ’18 1:26 AM

“Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself …” – Carl Jung

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Sometimes, but not always …

Aug 13, ’11 4:30 PM

This is so hard for me
To find the words to say
My thoughts are standing still

Captive inside of me
All emotions start to hide
And nothing’s getting through

Watch me
Fading
I’m losing
All my instincts
Falling into darkness

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I’m holding back

It’s not too late for me
To keep from sinking further
I’m trying to find my way out
Tear down these walls for me now

So much uncertainty
I don’t like this feeling
I’m sinking like a stone

Each time I try to speak
There’s a voice I’m hearing
And it changes everything

Watch me
Crawl from
The wreckage
Of my silence
Conversation
Failing

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I’m holding back

It’s not too late for me
To keep from sinking further
I’m trying to find my way out
Tear down these walls

Every time you choose to turn away
Is it worth the price you pay
Is there someone who will wait for you
One more time
One more time

Watch me
Fading
I’m losing
All my instincts
Falling into darkness

Tear down these walls for me
Stop me from going under
You are the only one who knows
I’m holding back

It’s not too late for me
To keep from sinking further
I’m trying to find my way out
Tear down these walls for me now

Tear down these walls for me
It’s not too late for me
Tear down these walls for me

– “These Walls,” Dream Theater

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The Explosion.

Aug 2, ’11 12:10 AM

“[…] Don’t try to do, just do. If you live this life without trying, it’s good.  If you try too hard, it won’t be any good.  It just has to be done, period – like an explosion.”

– Ray Bradbury

 

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Delicious Library.

Jul 29, ’11 1:53 PM

I finally decided to take inventory of all of my books using the latest version of Delicious Library.  it’s a great program and adding books is easily done through text entry or via a digital camera (which is used to scan the ISBN barcode).

Using this program allows me to obtain an immediate glance at my entire library without having to scan the physical shelves in my home.  You can also export your entire library to various social media book sites including GoodReads.

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Knowledge transmission.

Jul 27, ’11 10:12 PM

“The point here is that the crucial knowledge in any innovative industry is not standardized information, routine patterns or the public knowledge of science.  It is also often not the kind of data that can be obtained through quantitative market research involving the analysis of secondary data or statistical survey research, nor from qualitative methods such as focus groups and interviews.  What is really useful is what is new, what are the latest changes and the specialized know-how that individuals have acquired through practice and mistakes.”

– Pierre Desrochers, “Geographical proximity and the transmission of tacit knowledge,” The Review of Austrian Economics

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