Have you ever been in a position at work where you are working your tail off and all you hear is criticism from those around you? As explained by a sympathetic friend to me once, “it’s like the idea of a moving target. If everyone else is sitting around doing nothing, you running by…
DetailsHave you heard the old joke that plays on the philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest? You know the one… “If you’re in the forest and you say something wrong and your spouse (of course I’m going with the gender neutral version!) doesn’t hear you, are you still wrong?” While seemingly innocuous,…
DetailsMultilingal (20 languages!) Robot a la C3PO RATS! Looks like the government is moving yet closer to solving issues for multilingual, real-time translation, with the launch of Robust Automatic Translation of Speech (this link is to the RFP to build the program–reminds me a little of hearing about a contest for 5th graders to come up…
DetailsI picked up a brilliant piece of literature today that had the amazing effect of revealing my US ethnocentrism within 5 seconds. I’m sure it’s on the New York Times Bestseller list. You may have heard of it? It’s called 1001 Cool Freaky Facts with Glen Singleton (Highly recommended and left on the breakfast table…
DetailsIf you are in Chicago, or even worse, DC or the East Coast, as you may be cursing right now, shoveling snow for the thrid time in as many hours, only to find that the snow has magically reappeared on your sidewalk, might it help to think of the people living in warmer climates around the…
DetailsI was struck by author Malcolm Gladwell’s desicription of “Rapid Cognition” in the book blink, and how he used the example of the car salesman to show how ignoring sub-conscious ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to people can negatively impact the bottom line. (e.g. assuming someone won’t be buying a car strictly from their appearance/first impression.) When we (social…
DetailsThis Super Bowl Commercial for Snapshot of America could be a snapshot of unconscious bias in the American workforce. The bosses are white, male and older and all people of color (or those with alternative style) are in supporting positions and/or marginalized. It’s so steretypical that it’s funny, and I”m not sure if that’s “odd” funny…
DetailsI’m not talking about staged arguments where each side has planned out what they will say in advance, or actual physical brawls, but good, old fashioned discussion of philosophical ideals, where conversation evolves as each side is informed and inspired by the other. “Argument is good, no?” is actually a direct quote from my Post…
DetailsMy sister is an animal rights activist (she’s done amazing work on animal rescue both in New Orleans and Haiti, and no one is better at letter writing campaigns than her nonprofit Kinship Circle) so perhaps this ad is a shout out to her (on top of our Vegan Thankgiving), or perhpas it’s just a little…
DetailsRemember as a kid trying to read your friends’ minds at a slumber party? For my 10th birthday, it came in between “Truth or Dare” and the Séance. Now flash forward to the future (past “Men Who Stare at Goats“), where new technology potentially could erase communication barriers caused by traditional language differences. The program,…
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