Tears in Heaven [Video]

No, not the song by Eric Clapton. This is a demo by Cdr Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station whose only job – it seems from his Internet activity (and also a very wrong notion if you do feel that way!!) – is to post on social media!!. He explains in this video what happens when (if) you cry in space.

Giving meaning to work [Article]

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote “If one wanted to crush and destroy a man entirely, to mete out to him the most terrible punishment … all one would have to do would be to make him do work that was completely and utterly devoid of usefulness and meaning.”  Maria Popova shares the wisdom on How to find fulfilling work by the philosopher Roman Krznaric (a prize if you can pronounce that on the first try!)

…The message of the ‘grin and bear it’ school of thought is that we need to accept the inevitable and put up with whatever job we can get, as long as it meets our financial needs and leaves us enough time to pursue our ‘real life’ outside office hours. The best way to protect ourselves from all the optimistic pundits pedaling fulfillment is to develop a hardy philosophy of acceptance, even resignation, and not set our hearts on finding a meaningful career. I am more hopeful than this, and subscribe to a different approach, which is that it is possible to find work that is life-enhancing, that broadens our horizons and makes us feel more human.

Guantanamo prison library books for detainees [Photoblog]

A photoblog by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Charles Savage – about the library in the Guantanamo bay prison.  Charles’ blog was part of his report into the hunger strike by the Gitmo prisoners – now numbering 93 inmates on strike.

..both military officials and lawyers for the detainees agree about the underlying cause of the turmoil: a growing sense among many prisoners, some of whom have been held without trial for more than 11 years, that they will never go home.