Shut Up and Take My Money of the Day: Copenhagen Literally Reinvented the Wheel
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Category: things getting better
my heros: Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mandela
Astonishingly courageous. So strong. So Inspiring.
We can change the world for the better.
Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy*
Things are not as bad in the USA as we might think. Check this excellent article by Morgan Housel:
… If I say the average family earns less today than it did in 2000, it sounds depressing. If I say the average family earns more today than it did in 1995, you get a much different view. …
Go ahead, argue that 18 years of near-stagnant real incomes is a failure. I hear you. Just realize that 2.8 billion people around the world earn less than $2 a day, and you’re upset that we aren’t richer than we were when we were already rich and felt like kings. “First-world problems,” as they say. …
I’m not arguing that inefficiencies, injustices, and inequalities don’t exist today. Of course, they do. But they always have, and by comparison, we are living in one of the most prosperous times in the history of this world.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
read the entire article – Motley Fool – Everything Is Amazing and Nobody Is Happy
title credited to Comedian Louis C.K.
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China’s Gross Domestic Product might surpass the USA before 2020. But the “influence” of the USA will surpass China’s for decades longer.
Economist – Keeping watch – Economic success has given China greater weight, but not nearly enough to tip the balance
Sooner or later the vast inefficiencies and corruption of the totalitarian Chinese State are going to become evident.
China and India …
China and India sounded a new optimistic tone in their relationship … as they signed an agreement to boost meetings between their militaries to avoid any repeat of this year’s tense standoff along their disputed Himalayan border.
The accord followed a meeting in Beijing between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also had trade ties on the agenda as India seeks to gain greater access to Chinese markets and readjust a trade balance tilted heavily toward China. …
Hans Rosling: The best stats you’ve ever seen
I’m just finishing a BUSY World Gymnastics Championships, packing for my next destination — northern India. Hiking.
If you’ve got time for a laugh today, click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.
Professor Bill Sands recommended to me this unbelievably likable educator from Sweden.
A Big Heart Open to God
Finally, a reform Pope.
I’m really liking Pope Francis, so far. 🙂
These excerpts are from the full interview published in English by America magazine, a Jesuit weekly based in New York.
The pope, formerly a cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, spoke of the mistakes he feels he made when he became the superior of his Jesuit province in Argentina at the “crazy” young age of 36.
He talked about his vision of the church, and why he has chosen not to spend much time talking about abortion, gay marriage and contraception.
He explained what he meant by the headline-grabbing remark he made about gay people: “Who am I to judge?” And he said that doubt is essential to finding God. …
#CalgaryStrong Song
THANKS Thanks Thanks to everyone pitching in to clean up and rebuild Calgary.
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why we HATE meetings
Best practice — AVOID them as much as possible.
Jas Fried gave a riveting TED talk about the major obstacles to getting work done. In his talk “Why work doesn’t happen at work,” Fried holds what he calls the “M&Ms” of work accountable for most lost productivity. What are “M&Ms?” Managers and Meetings. Their most grievous offense is the disruption of work flow: meetings and managerial interruptions often happen right when an employee is in the middle of a project …
Web Pro News – How Not To Suck At Meetings [Infographic, Video]
My suggestion: try not to have them.
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I much prefer the 24/7 workweek. A blend of work and play. Optimizing our time. Giving priority to your family life.
Instead of meetings, use dedicated social networking tools. Facebook groups, for example.
still praying for a Reform Pope
Economist magazine:
… What should he do? A secular newspaper has to divide its suggestions into two groups: reforms to church doctrine that many conservative Catholics, including Francis, may disagree with; and managerial ones that all Catholics can support.
In terms of doctrine, the list of rules that the church defends with great cost and mixed success begins, from our perspective at least, with priestly celibacy.
Many priests are married—ex-Anglicans, and the Byzantine-rite Catholics of eastern Europe. All the scriptural evidence suggests that the first pope, Peter, had a wife. Allowing other clergy to do likewise would help stem the decline in the priesthood and relieve a great burden of suffering and loneliness. With that taboo gone, others could follow, such as the ban on artificial contraception.
This may be too much for Francis. But there should be no debate about the urgent managerial need to clean up and modernise the Vatican. The church is scandalously badly run. …
read more – The first southern pope
Pope Francis inherits a mess but has great opportunities. He will need to act quickly
Easter Mass March 31, 2013 – Vatican City
So far Pope Francis has done some wonderful, symbolic things.
I’m hoping he has the will and heart to seriously debate the big issues.
What percentage of Catholics in 2013 use birth control?
District 6 Museum – Cape Town
District Six … is the name of a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. It is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime. …
MUST see attraction.
After World War II, during the earlier part of the apartheid era, District Six was relatively cosmopolitan. Situated within sight of the docks, it was made up largely of coloured residents which included a substantial number of coloured Muslims, called Cape Malays. There were also a number of black Xhosa residents and a smaller numbers of Afrikaans, whites, and Indians.
Government officials gave four primary reasons for the removals.
In accordance with apartheid philosophy, it stated that interracial interaction bred conflict, necessitating the separation of the races. They deemed District Six a slum, fit only for clearance, not rehabilitation. They also portrayed the area as crime-ridden and dangerous; they claimed that the district was a vice den, full of immoral activities like gambling, drinking, and prostitution.
Though these were the official reasons, most residents believed that the government sought the land because of its proximity to the city center, Table Mountain, and the harbor.
On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act …
… in 1994 the District Six Museum came into being. It serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals.
The ground floor is covered by a large street map of District Six, with handwritten notes from former residents indicating where their homes had been; other features of the museum include street signs from the old district, displays of the histories and lives of District Six families, and historical explanations of the life of the District and its destruction.
In addition to its function as a museum it also serves as a memorial to a decimated community, and a meeting place and community center for Cape Town residents who identify with its history. …
District 9 is a 2009 science fiction film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp. Although set in an alternate Johannesburg, it is inspired by the events surrounding District Six. …
Rick McCharles 