Showing posts with label reading material. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading material. Show all posts

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Sure


















Lead with your strengths, they say.










I could write a post on current events, but I would guess you are at saturation with that stuff.

Personally, my response to a news alert on my phone has gone from "I wonder what's happening" to "what the fuck did he do now" and will probably stay that way for a bit...

Monday, January 23, 2017

Orwell 1945


Friday, January 13, 2017

Expertise



How about a recommended read?

There is a piece, over here, on the death of accepted expertise...
Here is a snippet, to perhaps pique your interest:

I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. By this, I do not mean the death of actual expertise, the knowledge of specific things that sets some people apart from others in various areas. There will always be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists in various fields. Rather, what I fear has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live.

The thinking spreads, covering evolving conversational idioms, political discourse, contemporary media, plus some more.

I think it is worth a read, if you have a spare moment.

I am no expert on reading recommendations, or anything.
Just a suggestion...



The link, again.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Stay Gold






































Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Robot Overlords



Robot overlords, you ask?
What is this all about?


Well, it's about an interview over at the Atlantic, on the subject of automation's advances and the impact that might have on society.  Ryan Avent is the interviewee, writer of books and columns and rather clever based on what writing of his I have come across.

The conversation starts on the advent of technology in our lives, specifically work places, and how that could impact some pretty base parts of our society...
And goes from there.
The looming Technical Revolution as an evolution of the Industrial one.

Here is a snippet, for you to consider-


I think this transformative revolution will create an abundance of labor. It will create enormous growth in [the supply of workers and machines], automating a lot of industries and boosting productivity. When you have this glut of workers, it plays havoc with existing institutions.

I think we are headed for a really important era in economic history. The Industrial Revolution is a pretty good guide of what that will look like. There will have to be a societal negotiation for how to share the gains from growth. That process will be long and drawn out. It will involve intense ideological conflict, and history suggests that a lot will go wrong.

Worth a read, if there is a chance your job could be performed by a computer program or a robot.
If you don't think that is a possibility, maybe you should read it anyway...

I am not convinced the robot overlords are upon us, presently.
Their roots are already taking hold, maybe...

If robot overlords have roots or dream of electric sheep.

Link here.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Greatest Headline Ever







Yes, it is a real story...



Article here.

(I know you want to read it.)

Monday, July 25, 2016

Friday, May 27, 2016

Movers



Interesting read on the productivity and mobility of our nation, and how that is trending in the coming years, over at The Atlantic..

Here is the kick off of the article-

American restlessness is written into the national DNA. In the 19th century, families moved toward opportunity, whether it came in the form of open, fertile fields or smoky urban factories. Americans didn’t just see their westward migration as a trivial preference for sun and space. They saw it as the important work of a nation, a Manifest Destiny.

But if Horace Greeley were alive today, his advice might be something more like, “Move back home, young man.” Americans today are strangely averse to change. They are less likely to switch jobs, or move between states, or create new companies than they were 30 years ago. In economist-speak, "the U.S. labor market has experienced marked declines in fluidity along a variety of dimensions." In English: America has lost its mojo. Manifest Destiny has yielded to manifest dormancy.

I have done a lot of moving and such, so this article resonated a bit.

The link, again, if you missed it.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Baloney



Pretty light week here, when it comes to posts that give you something to think about, I know...

Really, I have other stuff to do.
So, anyway...


How about a link to a bit about Carl Sagan's bullshit detection list?
I mean, I would guess he has heard as much bullshit as most of us...

(Excepting regular Fox news viewers.)

So his rules for cutting through the crap should be pretty good, huh?


Give it a read, full chapter here...

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Reason and Morality





Here is a fun little chat on reason and morality...


I have been flipping the grand concept of morality around in my brain for some time.
You know, along the lines of Kant and his bit.
The categorical imperative we all face, if that is even a thing...
(Just nod like you have any care about what I am getting after.)


The release of the Panama Papers provides an interesting abstraction to wonder about the whole concept, doesn't it?
Was it a moral obligation that led to the leak, or some other motive, do you suppose?
The breadth and depth of the information suggests an extended exposure to the information and implications.
Was it reason or moral obligation that pushed those details in front of our eyes?

The fall out is already pretty epic, with Iceland's PM already bailing out of office.


I got on this line of pondering morality a while ago...
The start of the Syrian refugee crisis had me haggling with somebody that, as fellow humans, we have a moral obligation to assist these people fleeing for fear, for lack of base human needs.
That is a fairly simple thought to me, but not to some others.  It seemed fear motivated their urge to ignore a terrible situation, in spite of previous reference to the golden rule in our conversation.
Is just one side of that discourse reasoning to or away from that moral cause.  We may have both been guilty of that, I guess...

The world is full of reasons to examine ones relationship with the categorical imperative, or morality, or whatever verbiage you want to mean that it's better to not be an asshole to people around you.
And then ones flexibility in it's actual application to our collective situations.


Anyway...

It took some digging in the corners of my head to find where those words came from, so I have been casually revisiting some of those texts.  Looking for new strings in those lines of thought.
This little talk, above, has some interesting extensions on the subject.

And the animation is kinda neat...



Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Artist









Another artist, though not depicted as a young man...


This time accompanied by his chauffeur and perhaps funeral director.
The details on that bit have faded, here.


I suppose, having an associate willing to shuttle you home after a bottle of grape, in the park - as well as dealing with your physical remains once you shrug off the old mortal coil is rather versatile...

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Only Natural


Do you have any friends that do the paleo diet thing?

That shit tickes me.  You've heard of it right?
People try to follow a diet similar to what we imagine cavemen might have eaten.
I am paraphrasing the premise, of course, I am sure there is some dude, in a white coat, doing television appearances on the subject, delivering a very expert opinion.

So, you know, that whole premise of understanding our natural state - maybe, that is the part that interests me.

Here is a bit on that subject I found fun to read and ponder.  Excerpt-

One of the central conceits of the “man’s natural state” argument is that if we go back to some point in time, we’ll find it. We’ll finally come across the state of being where man lived totally in harmony with each other and with nature; eating the perfect diet for health, worshipping the correct gods, having sex in the natural and acceptable way.

That link is a bit of a rabbit hole, so apologies.  It's an article on a book, with links to tangents.  The article is enough to make me want to read the book.


Saturday, January 23, 2016

EE C


Friday, March 6, 2015

Feeling Cool





Now that I don't have to be perfect, I can be good?





Shit, man...


I'm just trying to not be a huge asshole.

Good is aspirational at this point...

Monday, February 16, 2015

Childrens Books












Found this book for my nephew.




Kid has gotta learn sometime...

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Thoreau Thursday



Yeah, his words often annoy me...

Been skimming through a bit, just because I am here I guess.
Dude took himself pretty seriously.  That trait seems to linger in the locals, I note.


Maybe I should go walk around that pond, see the shack.
Perhaps, that would reframe my perspective...

Friday, August 8, 2014

Childrens Books












Still on the lookout for good kid's books...


I wanna be a positive influence, you know.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Prose


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Wocket Wednesday















I am just not down with that Bofa...