I’ve posted a few links by Mr. Money Moustache, advocating living within one’s means as a pretty easy way to retire at age 30. Whatever your age, if taking control of your financial life interests you, then find you way around MMM’s great site through this easy to read article on Getting Rich: From Zero to Hero in One Blog Post. Highly recommend read (also be warned that you will probably spend a good few hours devouring this blog, once you start).
Workplace productivity & survelliance [Articles]
According to a recent internal memo, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer is not in favour of the ‘technologically forward’ working from home concept. Despite being touted as a progressive idea for many occupations that do not require a physical presence in the office, working from home is apparently no longer finding favour with management, citing loss of ‘productivity’. As this Salon article points out, Tesco is taking productivity to another level (or sinking to a new low – whatever your perspective), by using high tech survelliance to track employees.Collaboration, folks, is the new corporate buzzword, so expect to be in the office more & longer.
Drones, Dalai Lama, & the US Never-ending war [Article
Tom Gallagher asks a very pertinent question on the current push by the US towards drones as the preferred mode of military engagement: “What if China used a drone to kill the Dalai Lama?” how would the world feel about it?
Bradley Manning’s 1000 days in prison [Article]
A commentor on the Guardian site says it well: “Considering all the lies and deceit that led to the Iraq War, Abu Gharaib, Guantanamo, rendition, torture, the propping up of brutal dictators, the war crimes and indiscriminate drone killings, the propaganda on our “news” channels, the trillions of dollars lost, stolen, or tossed dow a hole in the desert, we are prosecuting the wrong guy.”. Bradley Manning, 25, has spent 1000 days in military prison, most of it in solitary confinement, for “the largest leak of US state secrets” to wikileaks.
Insanity in love [Letters of note]
A passionate love letter from one literary giant to another – Henry Miller implores his paramour, Anais Nin, not to expect him to be sane anymore.
Faking feelings to feel better [Article]
Scott Adams shares his secret to feeling good – and it is a lot simpler than you think, just the answer to the question, How Are You Today?
A Function-al story [Article]
Allow Excel Grandpa Walkenbach (of the Excel Bible fame) to entertain you with a story written (almost) entirely with Excel formulas (or functions, as they are also called).
Auschwitz
Won’t say anything about this chilling reminder of what the human species is capable of doing to its own:
Sounds of the sun [Article]
Robert Alexander is a sonification expert. I had no idea what that meant, so I looked to this Wikipedia entry to understand it a bit more. Essentially, it is converting data into sound to interpret it (forget for now the philosophical implications of that statement). Alexander has created sounds & symphonies from data that NASA collected of the Sun’s radiation, its rotation, & of its Solar flares.
For the reading List, I’m on my own & so are you [Book review]
In the last six months or so of reading his blog, Jesse Kornbluth has earned my respect & admiration for the stuff he shares as Headbutler, a job he does with aplomb (I mentally picture him as a modern day Jeeves!). He shares an exercpt of Judy Resnick’s book “I’m On My Own and So Are You: Financial Security for Women”.