text:
Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman's unique MBA core course gives students the toolkit to conquer our most vexing business and societal problems.
Earlier this year, three Berkeley MBA students had less than 24 hours to address a major challenge for Sony: How to develop a competitive product and marketing strategy for the consumer electronics giant best known for the Walkman.
Working with peers from other schools on three separate teams, Raj Brahmbhatt, Benny Du, and Krishna Shah, all MBA 13, suggested using strategies from their Problem Finding Problem Solving (PFPS) course, taught by Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman. Among the strategies: come up with as many ideas as possible in 15 minutes without any judging; organize the ideas by theme; and then narrow them down to the most promising solutions.
While those steps may seem simple, they were unfamiliar to team members from other business schools. Yet they were very successful, as the three teams that included Haas students swept the competition, taking first, second, and third places.
"PFPS is truly unique among business school courses. The skills and way of thinking help set Berkeley MBA students apart in case competitions," says Du. "PFPS helps to resolve deadlocks and ambiguity to get to the root of an issue."
But PFPS, the flagship course of the school's Innovative Leader curriculum, is doing more than helping Haas win competitions. Students also are quickly putting their PFPS skills to work in their Haas experiential learning courses and even their workplaces. The class provides skills for students to Question the Status Quo, one of the school's four Defining Leadership Principles. It was created in response to Haas codifying its culture and sharpening its mission to develop leaders who redefine how we do business. As PFPS breaks new ground in business school education, it has been attracting the attention of other deans around the country.
"Our experience was that MBA students were not exposed to a formal representation of how to think about complex, wicked problems that don't have an easy answer," says Beckman, explaining the genesis of PFPS three years ago. "The goal is to teach students the process of creative problem framing and solving - first identifying and framing the problem and then coming up with alternative solutions."
More than Design Thinking
Beckman is a pioneer in design thinking, which she has been teaching Haas students in her Managing New Product Development course since 1993. In 2010, she won an Academy of Management award for a symposium on integrating design thinking in business school curricula.
However, in developing PFPS, Beckman expanded the class beyond designing thinking to also include creative problem-solving, systems thinking, and critical thinking. "By integrating these three areas, we force students to in effect think about how they think," Beckman says.
The course aims to help students learn how to solve business problems with more discipline "upstream" at the problem-finding and problem-framing stages. Students learn five primary skills: observing; generating insights; diverging and converging; storytelling; and iterating/ experimenting, or rapid prototyping.
Beckman teaches students which learning styles are most useful at different points in the problem-framing and problem-solving process. (See the adjacent graphic to identify your style.) Students learn about diverging - a learning style that views the world from multiple perspectives - to understand the context for their innovation work. And they learn about converging - a learning style that is ideal for finding practical uses for ideas and theories - to zero in on the best solutions.
The hands-on class requires students to apply their skills in all sorts of unusual exercises, from devising ways to increase fruit consumption in the U.S. to evaluating the U.S. education system and its leverage points for change. Full-time and evening and weekend MBA students take PFPS just before their required experiential learning class so that they can immediately apply their new skills.
PFPS Around the World
Teams in the school's International Business Development Program did just that as they worked for clients around the world earlier this year. In Tanzania, a team working for Kilimanjaro International, a consulting and training firm, found one PFPS tool, the business model canvas, especially valuable. The canvas captures a business visually and systemically on one sheet of paper, including everything from customer segments to resources that serve those segments.
"Our charge was to develop a comprehensive business plan," says John Schoenleber, MBA 13, a member of the Tanzania team. "We could have gone in any direction: Should Kilimanjaro expand to Rwanda and Ethiopia? Should they diversify? Should they do just consulting? The business canvas really helped us get our arms around what they do well, what their core competencies are."
Kilimanjaro CEO and founder Greyson Kiondo also found the canvas valuable. "Seeing the firm visually on one single poster enabled me to better understand how the pieces of our firm fit together and where our strengths and weaknesses are," he says.
One key insight that came from the canvas: The firm needed to more clearly convey its value proposition. "Moving forward, especially with bigger contracts, Kilimanjaro needed to better recognize what its skill sets are and articulate what it was good at," Schoenleber explains. "We spent a lot of time on what is your brand and your mission, and how to communicate what Kilimanjaro does for clients."
PFPS skills have proved valuable in other experiential courses as well. For her Board Fellows project, Amy Josephson, MBA 12, dived into "ethnographic/ day-in-the-life" research interviewing mentors about the nonprofit Berkeley Community Fund to evaluate its student mentoring program for Berkeley High students and recent graduates. The Board Fellows program places students as non-voting nonprofit board members for nine months.
"From all my ethnographic research, I was able to generate a whole host of areas for the organization to improve its program," says Josephson. "PFPS really helped me tackle a pretty nebulous topic by having some clear steps for approaching it."
Josephson's research uncovered one interesting problem: a generational communications gap, with mentors confused about how to reach students. Students relied on Facebook and texting, while mentors were using email and telephone. Her recommendations included developing clearer communications guidelines.
PFPS in the Workplace
Evening and weekend MBA students, meanwhile, are taking PFPS skills back to the office. Kailash Hiremath, MBA 13, tapped PFPS when he led a brainstorming session with designers, sales managers, and the product team at Eton, which creates green energy consumer products, including iPod and iPhone accessories. "We used the Post-it note method to come up with ideas and concepts on where Eton can go next in terms of products and categories," Hiremath says. "It worked out very well and was extremely engaging for everyone, including our CEO."
Even Beckman and Lecturer Clark Kellogg, who also teaches the course, are employing PFPS concepts as they constantly experiment and update the class in response to student needs and responses. Beckman also has held PFPS workshops for Haas staff and recruiters who recently visited the school, and PFPS will be a core component of the Haas School's new MBA for Executives Program.
Dean Rich Lyons has asked architects to design a special more flexible, open classroom for PFPS in the school's proposed new building, but Beckman has an even more ambitious goal: create a Haas Innovation Lab in which Haas students could collaboratively engage in design and innovation projects with students from around the Berkeley campus.
"Engaging deeply in the innovation process requires a lively and energetic space populated by a variety of coaches and mentors and considerable cross-pollination across the disciplines," says Beckman. "It would be great to see such a space on the Berkeley campus."
What's your learning style?
Students learn about four learning styles in the Problem Finding problem Solving class. This simple example of a creating a pie shoph illustrates howeah style works at each stage of the problem finding problem solving process.
ASSIMILATING: Good at understanding a wide range of information and putting it in a concise, logical form. Doodles graphics and loves math. Ideal for the Frameworks Stage.
CONVERGING: Good at solving problems and finding practical uses for ideas and theories. Good at helping steer a team through conflict and discern the best path. Ideal for the Imperative Stage.
DIVERGING: Good at seeing conrete situations from multiple view points. Interested in culture andhistory. Finds links with people. Ideal for Observations Stage of problem finding and problem solving.
ACCOMMODATING: Good at learning from hands-on experience and leading teams through brainstorming and testing concepts until a final solution is achieved. Ideal for the Solutions Stage.


text:
The Hispanic Institute at Hodges University has teamed up with WGCU Public Media to host a preview screening of Latino Americans, a new six-part TV series from PBS chronicling the lives and experiences of Latinos in the United States from 1500 to the 21st century.
The preview screening will be held at the Fort Myers campus of Hodges University on Friday, September 13 beginning at 5:30 pm. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by WGCU radio reporter Ashley Lopez. Panelists include David Plazas, engagement editor for The News-Press Media Group; Joseph Pacheco, poet and retired Superintendent of Schools, New York City; and Maria Palacio, senior librarian, Outreach Services, Lee County Library System. Panelists will share their stories of being Latino in Southwest Florida. The preview screening and panel discussion are free, put reservations are required. To reserve a seat go to www.wgcu.org/events.
The panel discussion will be recorded for an upcoming Gulf Coast Live! radio show to be aired on WGCU-FM Wednesday, September 18 at 9 am. Latino Americans will premiere on WGCU-HDTV on Tuesday, September 17 at 8 pm.
For more information on the Hispanic Institute at Hodges University, please contact Carmen Rey-Gomez at (239) 938-7793.
Permission to Contact:
Yes you may contact me. I understand that by submitting this form, I may be contacted by Hodges University or its representatives by phone, SMS, email or postal mail.
Data rates may apply.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The latest award is from the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association. The Lady Bisons are one of four teams from the Atlantic Sun Conference honored by the association with an All-Sports trophy for its performance in NCAA postseason play.
The Lady Bisons, winners of both the 2010 Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships, made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Alabama in the title game of the Tuscaloosa Regional.
The Lady Bisons are one of seven teams earning plaques for softball. The others are Creighton, DePaul, Long Island, Radford, St. Mary's (Calif.), and Wright State.
Other teams winning plaques from the association from the Atlantic Sun were the ETSU men's tennis team and North Florida's men's golf and women's tennis teams.


text:
State Seeks to Intervene in OCS Lease Sale Litigation
Anchorage, Alaska -- The State of Alaska has moved to intervene in a federal court case in which the Native Village of Point Hope seeks to rescind dozens of leases issued by the federal government under an off-shore oil and gas lease sale conducted for federal waters in the Chukchi Sea.
Just hours after being sworn into office, Attorney General Dan Sullivan said, "One of my highest priorities as Alaska's attorney general is to vigilantly safeguard and defend Alaska's interests, particularly as they relate to economic opportunities for Alaskans and the balance of state and federal rights and responsibilities. This case entails both such interests."
"The ultimate outcome of this case will likely have enormous economic consequences – either positive or negative – for the state of Alaska and our citizens," Governor Palin said.
Sullivan added that the state's intervention is "necessary to protect the state's interests,which are extensive and cannot be adequately represented by the other parties in this proceeding."
The plaintiffs contend that the decision by the U.S. Mineral Management Service to conduct the lease sale for the Outer Continental Shelf, along with the environmental impact statement underlying that action, violated federal law,including the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit seeks to void all of the leases issued in the sale. If successful, this lawsuit conceivably could set back development of the OCS for decades.
The case was filed in January 2008. The plaintiffs have filed for summary judgment, and responses from the federal government and from intervening parties Conoco Phillips and Shell are due July 17.
In the pleadings filed by Attorney General Sullivan, the state argues that its intervention is now important because of the change in the federal administration this year: "Although the state hopes its interests will continue to be aligned with those of the federal defendants, in an abundance of caution, the state must act to ensure its interests are protected until such time that the new federal administration's policy positions are fully articulated."
The memorandum to the court describes the state's significant interests in the litigation, observing that the oil and gas industry is the largest part of the private employment sector in Alaska and provides 90 percent of the generalfund revenue for state government. "If these activities are curtailed," the state notes, "Alaska will be harmed by the loss of property tax revenues, employment, and income to local communities."
Rescission of the leases would curtail not only substantial expenditures necessary to identify desirable tracts in federal Arctic waters but also would have a chilling effecton industry's willingness to participate in future lease sales off Alaska's coast and adversely impact development of adjacent stateland, according to a statement by Kevin Banks, Acting Director of the Department of Natural Resources' Oil and Gas Division.
Banks also noted that oil from the Chukchi Sea could lower the unit cost for all oil if shipped through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, thus increasing state royalties andtaxes from development on state lands. Eliminating this potential would frustrate the state's goal of realizing the constitutional imperative for maximizing resources for the benefit of all Alaskans,he said.
For further information please contact Steve DeVries at (907) 269-5100.


text:
- Inside Athletics
- Tickets
- Fan Zone
- Media Zone
- Social
- Shop
- E Fund
"I am so happy for Olya," said head coach Steve Brooks. "She has come a long way since arriving in January of 2005 as a freshman. She was the youngest player on the team until her junior year and she made some mistakes along the way, but ultimately found that the team was most important. She finished her career being a great team leader and friend. Her actions continue to open doors for her. This is what college athletics is all about."
Batsula compiled a 22-11 overall record, was 15-6 in dual play, and 11-0 in conference play in her senior season. The
"We are so pleased to see Olya recognized by the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award selection committee," said Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Barbie Breedlove. "We here at ETSU know that Olya is an example of the very best in collegiate athletics in terms of athletics, academics, community service and leadership, but it is so nice to have her accomplishments recognized on a national level with this prestigious award. Olya Batsula and our women's tennis program at ETSU are what college athletics should be about."
Additionally, Batsula graduated Magna Cum Laude and was named the 2008 Buccaneer Leadership Award winner and earned the Faculty Award in the Department of Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Sciences. Batsula attended the National Leadershape Conference as a representative of ETSU. She was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, an ITA Scholar Athlete for three years, a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was awarded the Buc Wild competition by attending more than 50 athletic events not in her own sport.
Batsula, a four-time All-Conference selection, has been active in the community throughout her ETSU career helping out with the Boys and Girls Club, the Children's Advocacy Center, Girls Inc., Relay for Life, Special Olympics, and Toys for Tots. Even though Batsula was busy with academics and practices she still found time to give lessons to wheelchair bound students and underprivileged kids. Batsula would even drive 20 minutes to
Batsula received her Bachelor of Science in Sport and Leisure Management earlier this month and hopes to continue work in a sports related field.
Batsula on winning the award and her time at ETSU
"I did not expect to receive ITA Cissie Leary award because I was competing against a lot of great student-athletes from different universities, and I am both surprised and honored to receive this award," said Batsula. "The national award represents 3 1/2 years of hard work I have done while being in college. When I think about winning it no longer makes that much sense to me. When I first got to the
Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU women's tennis and all other Buccaneer athletic news.


text:
|Assistant Athletic Director - Compliance
Matt Grawrock is the compliance officer for Southern Virginia University and helped spearhead the university's transition to NCAA Division III membership.
Prior to becoming Southern Virginia's compliance officer, Grawrock was the head girl's soccer coach at Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton, Ore. from 2002-2005, amassing a 36-19-6 (.639) record, including four league playoff appearances and two trips to the state playoffs.
While a student at Southern Virginia, Grawrock served as an assistant women's soccer coach from 1999-2001 as the team went 37-14-1 (.721) over that period, including an NSCAA national championship in 2001. He also played one season on Southern Virginia's 1998 men's soccer team that placed sixth at the NSCAA national tournament.
Grawrock has a B.A. in liberal arts from Southern Virginia and a master's degree in sport management and sport coaching from the United States Sports Academy.
Matt and his wife, Duste, reside in Buena Vista with their four children.


text:
* Bulls qualified for export to most countries.
All Prices given in US dollars.
Ask about our DCCI competitive prices and prompt delivery for MVE semen storage & liquid nitrogen shipping containers. Various sizes are available for semen inventory in private vaults. Ask for Linda. Wide variety of semen available on Longhorn, Watusi, Salorn & Buelingo bulls. Minimum semen order $150.
Registered Texas Longhorns since 1967


text:
Fifteen of 16 GOP 1st Congressional District candidates faced off in three separate groups Thursday night, each hoping to make a case that will land them among the top two vote-getters in 11 days.
Sponsored by the Republican Liberty Caucus, the forum drew about 100 onlookers inside North Charleston City Council's chambers.
The candidates mostly agreed on the need to shrink federal government and curb its regulations, protect gun rights and support the federal government's involvement in deepening the port of Charleston.
With only a minute to answer, there were few fireworks but some clear differences on policy issues.
State Rep. Chip Limehouse of Charleston said he never would have voted for the sequester legislation, a concept now causing across-the-board cuts in the federal government.
"You've got to make lots and lots of cuts, but you can't take the economy down in the process," he said.
Former Gov. Mark Sanford called the sequester "a blunt tool" and "not one I would have chosen," but added he would have supported it. "It represents a tiny step toward fiscal restraint that has been long needed in Washington."
State Rep. Andy Patrick of Hilton Head Island said he was "a big fan" of the e-Verify system to screen job applicants, but former Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash said he didn't like it because it forces business to enforce immigration — something that should be the federal government's job.
Charleston County School Board member Elizabeth Moffly did not tackle the e-Verify question directly but said this about illegal immigrants: "I'm not for amnesty, but I am for ensuring those who are here are paying their fair share as the rest of us do."
Engineer Ric Bryant was among a few candidates expressing support for eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, saying, "It's proven that it's not working. We're spending more and more, and we're getting less results."
Asked if he would urge state leaders to match federal dollars for building roads and rail lines, Charleston teacher and businessman Teddy Turner said, "We need to make sure when we're doing infrastructure ... we've got to make sure we don't just do things willy-nilly."
State Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau said what happens in South Carolina is a state responsibility. "Let's face it. We're at a tipping point in this nation. The federal government is overextended, and we're continuing to be overextended."
Daniel Island lawyer Shawn Pinkston voiced support for a federal safety net but was the sole candidate to make the argument that benefits should go only to those who need it.
He noted his father relies on his Social Security benefits, while his mother and stepfather do not.
Asked if he would support closing the loophole that allows some gun sales at gun shows, state Rep. Peter McCoy of James Island said, "I'm for protecting our Second Amendment rights at all costs."
Sullivan's Island businessman Keith Blandford went further: "The Second Amendment is in place to protect us against a despotic government. ... For me, personally, if they want to take away my weapons, they're going to have to kill me for them."
Jonathan Hoffman, a Charleston businessman and former White House director of border security, said he supported the Second Amendment but favored background checks, because without them, additional reporting of those with mental health problems wouldn't work.
Engineer Jeff King praised U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's 13-hour Wednesday night filibuster on drone strikes.
"I can't remember in my entire lifetime being inspired by the efforts of a politician who was standing up there. We've been lulled into thinking we can't make a change. We can't make a difference."
Former state Sen. John Kuhn also praised Rand's move, saying it was "good gridlock when we can stand up, stop the system and say the rights of American people must be preserved. That's awesome."
Systems engineer Tim Larkin also took some time to praise S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis, one of the forum's moderators who was censured by an investment panel earlier this week. "Thank for what you did, wearing your censure as a badge of honor. Thank you."
Only former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic did not appear.
The big GOP debate was supposed to be held on March 14, but the state Republican Party announced this week that it would not hold a debate on that date but on March 28 instead.
The primary is March 19, and the top two vote-getters are expected to face off in an April 2 runoff.
The two Democratic 1st District candidates, Clemson Restoration Institute development director Elizabeth Colbert Busch and Wadmalaw Island businessman Ben Frasier, also were supposed to have their own forum Thursday night, but neither was able to attend.
Charleston area Democrats who showed up for the event were told that Frasier was sick and unable, while Busch did not attend because her mother was ill.
Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771.


text:
Maps in Italian Atlases of the Sixteenth Century, Being a Comparative List of the Italian Maps Issued by Lafreri, Forlani, Duchetti, Bertelli and Others, Found in Atlases
Mapping avian distributions: the evolution of bird atlases: Capsule An increasing proportion of atlases now map patterns of abundance but they are still a minority even though they require no more input of time or fieldworkers.
Maps in Italian atlases of the sixteenth century, being a comparative list of the Italian maps issued by Lafreri, Forlani, Duchetti, Bertelli and others, found in atlases
De Ptolemee a la Guillotiere (XVe-XVIe siecle): Des cartes pour la France pourquoi, comment? By Monique Pelletier. City and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form. By Keith D. Lilley. The Maps of Matthew Paris: Medieval Journeys through Space, Time and Liturgy. By Daniel K. Connolly. Cartografia Medieval: El Enigma del Mapamundi de 1375. By Alvaro Fernandez Garcia. La carta de Gabriel de Vallseca de 1439: Estudi i edicio. By Ramon J. Pujades i Bataller. King Henry's Map of the British Isles: BL Cotton MS Augustus I i 9. Commentary by Peter Barber. Covens & Mortier: A Map Publishing House in Amsterdam 1685-1866. By Marco van Egmond. El geografo Juan Lopez (1765-1825) y el comercio de mapas en Espana. By Agustin Hernando. The Atlas of Scotland Containing Maps of Each County. By John Thomson. Geographia antiqua: rivista di geografia storica del mondo antico e di storia della geografia. The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America Its Name. By Toby Lester. Painter in a Savage Land: The Strange Saga of the First European Artist in North America. By Miles Harvey. Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Exploration of the New World. By John Rennie Short. Mapping New Jersey: An Evolving Landscape. By Maxine N. Lurie and Peter O. Wacker. Eastern Astrolabes. By David Pingree. Census of Portolan Charts and Atlases, as Reported and Listed by the Noted Scholars of the Genre in Their Works Ranging from 1897 to 2008. By Richard Pflederer. The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography. By Katharine Harmon, with essays by Gayle Clemans. Formatting Europe: Mapping a Continent. Guest editors W. Bracke, J. L. Renteux, and W. Bodenstein
Guide to Civil War Source Material in the Department of Archives and History, State of Mississippiby Patti Carr; Maxyne Madden Grimes; Charlotte Capers;Civil War Maps; An Annotated List of Maps and Atlases in Map Collections of the Library of Congressby Richard W. Stephenson
Maps of Africa to 1900: A Checklist of Maps in Atlases and Geographical Journals in the Collections of the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign. By THOMAS J. BASSETT and YVETTE SCHEVEN. Urbana–Champaign: University of Illinois Library. 2000. Pp. xiii+317. $35 (ISBN 0-87845-118-8).
NEW ATLASES AND MAPS: Accessions to the Map Room of the Royal Geographical Society 16 March to 15 September 1979


text:
Seven months ago, accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a man for whom time appeared to have run out.
The prominent managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the man who was poised to be the Socialist Party's presidential candidate challenging French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was finished, terminé, in the eyes of many. But yesterday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn made his first foray back into public life, giving a well-publicized speech to a Chinese-based Internet firm, blasting Europe for the eurozone crisis. And on the same day, Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, was named "Woman of the Year" in a public opinion poll for her "loyalty and courage" in standing by her man.
In his speech to the Chinese Internet company NetEase in Beijing, Strauss-Kahn let it be known he was not impressed with the restructuring of the European Union's single-currency zone, hammered together by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Strauss-Kahn's apparent rival, French President Sarkozy.
"None of the main problems has been addressed," he said. "There's no central budget in Europe, no institutional centres, no lender of last resort, no expansion of the monetary policy."
The French paper Le Monde carried more from Strauss-Kahn's speech, which is translated here:
"With the recent storm, the raft seems not to be strong enough," he said, speaking of the eurozone. "The fact that the euro is still in the middle of the river and that the union budget is not completed makes it very, very vulnerable, and the raft seems about to sink. (...) I am not convinced that [French President] Sarkozy and [German Chancellor] Madame Merkel will understand each other and this is probably one of the reasons why the European system has problems ahead," he said.
Is it because the French public is, like Strauss-Kahn, pessimistic about the Eurozone bailout plan, or is it because they are simply sick of Sarkozy? Whatever the reasons, the French seem more than willing to overlook or move past Strauss-Kahn's fall from grace and see him return to the public stage.
Strauss-Kahn was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York City last May. Before that, he was the main challenger to Sarkozy in the upcoming 2012 presidential elections. Instead, he was escorted off his plane back to France in handcuff and put through a "perp walk" by New York City police. He resigned his position as head of the IMF and spent the next few months preparing his defense.
The case against Strauss-Kahn was built largely on the testimony of the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, a Guinean immigrant, who claimed that Strauss-Kahn had forced her to perform a sexual act in his hotel room. Charges against Strauss-Kahn were dropped because of contradictions in Ms. Diallo's testimony of the events. Her case was further undermined when news emerged that Ms. Diallo had lied in her application for asylum.
Strauss-Kahn's return rubs some people the wrong way. Chimamanda Adichie, the Nigerian novelist, wrote in Newsweek that she initially applauded the arrest of Strauss-Kahn as an example of an equitable justice system, where both rich and poor were both accountable for their actions. But the manner in which Diallo's character was analyzed, Ms. Adichie said, showed that American justice still favored the powerful.
I am now puzzled by the American system that I earlier applauded. Rape seems to be the only crime in which the standards applied to the victim are much higher than those applied to the alleged perpetrator. If you accused someone of stealing from you, or trying to kill you, you would not be required to demonstrate saintliness in order to win over a jury. All that would really matter would be the facts of the case. The judicial system is designed to give Diallo a chance for redress, and DSK a chance to be judged by a jury of his peers. The prosecutor's unilateral decision to truncate this process, even though he admitted that he does not know the truth, suggests how deeply steeped in power the Diallo case was.
Which makes the naming of Strauss-Kahn's wife, the former TV journalist Anne Sinclair as "Woman of the Year" all the more curious, particularly since she came out ahead of another Frenchwoman, Christine Lagarde, who was named the first female head of the IMF earlier this year. The poll's administrator, Bernard Sananes of the opinion polling firm CSA, said the poll was not meant to reflect popularity, but rather the person "who had attracted the most publicity."
According to Terrafemina [the website that co-sponsored the poll], Sinclair was a popular choice among women because they were moved by the image of her as wounded icon. "Women identified with her," explained Veronique Morali, who created the site. "They asked themselves what they would have done in her place."
Will all of this lead to a true return for Strauss-Kahn into public life? French voters, men and women, will decide that question.


text:
With its innovative sustainability and urban planning initiatives, fiscal accountability and focus on quality of life, Markham is a leader among Canadian municipalities. It is a dynamic, change-oriented and culturally diverse municipality with an unwavering desire for excellence. Markham takes pride in providing superior service delivery and best value for tax dollar.
Located immediately north of Toronto, Markham is the largest of nine municipalities in York Region, with more than 300,000 residents and is recognized as a high growth community. Markham is comprised of four thriving communities- Markham, Unionville, Milliken and Thornhill.
We are looking for people whose skills reflect our values, including customer service, innovation, fiscal accountability, inclusiveness, results orientation, teamwork, problem solving, communication and quality focus. For leaders, we seek additional skills of strategic thinking, team leadership, political acuity, change leadership, impact and influence, and relationship building.
Diversity is one of Markham's seven strategic priorities and we strive to develop and maintain an environment where everyone feels welcome to participate and where respect and acceptance is practiced in words and actions by all.
The City of Markham employs approximately 1,000 regular full time staff across over 20 business units, and depending on the season, is supported by 1,300 to 1,800 part time, seasonal and temporary staff. Markham has three unions (and Markham Public Libraries has two unions). We hire staff to support the various services delivered to the public. Positions range from development planning, parks and roads maintenance, engineering, administrative and building inspections, to firefighters, technologists, financial analysts, by-law enforcement and recreation and culture programming staff.
Join us and make a difference!
Personal information submitted with your application for employment is collected under the authority of Section 270(1) of the Municipal Act. All names, addresses and other personal information included in your submission will be used to assist City staff in the recruitment process. Inquiries regarding the collection of personal information should be directed to the Human Resources Department, City of Markham, 101 Town Centre Boulevard, Markham, Ontario at 905-477-7000, ext 3860 (Via Contact Centre) or email@example.com (Via Contact Centre).


text:
Bleu Davinci Presents: Tabius Tate "One More Shot" Official Music Video [Label Submitted]
Bleu Davinci Presents new BMF artist Tabius Tate's "One More Shot" Official Music Video
From the Upcoming BMF Compilation Album Respect the Unexpected Coming Soon
Twitter: @TabiusTate
Instagram: Tabius Tate
Twitter: @BleuDavinci
Instagram: BleuDavinci
Inquiries: email@example.com
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Business renews lease for U.S. 11 warehouse.
World Kitchen Inc. will remain in the Greencastle area after renewing its lease for the approximately one-million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility along U.S. 11.
The current lease with Matrix Development Group was scheduled to end on Jan. 31, 2013.
The lease renewal paves the way for a $10 million-plus capital improvement project Matrix Development has planned for the facility, which was built in the 1960s.
The improvement project will occur under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program recently adopted by Antrim Township supervisors and the Greencastle-Antrim School Board. The program will provide graduated tax abatements to Matrix Development, the property owner, over the course of 10 years.
James Murray, vice president of industrial portfolio for Matrix Development, advocated for the adoption of the LERTA program, saying there was a possibility World Kitchen would relocate elsewhere. Murray was unavailable for comment on the lease renewal before deadline this morning.
Renovation and improvement plans by Matrix for the World Kitchen facility include replacing the heating and ventilation systems, installing a new sprinkler system and new roof, expanding trailer parking docks by more than 150 stalls and updating the front office complex.
World Kitchen
World Kitchen Inc. manufactures dinnerware, cookware and bakeware, cutlery and professional cutting tools worldwide, and is known for brands like Corelle, CorningWare, Pyrex, Chicago Cutlery, and ecko.
The Greencastle plant serves as the consumer care center for the United States and Canada and employees approximately 300 people.
The World Kitchen headquarters is based in Rosemont, Ill.


text:
Creative Reuse: 10 Ways To Repurpose Light Bulbs
By now, many of us have switched to CFL light bulbs, but if you still have an incandescent bulb or two, you're just steps away from a cool little terrarium, aquarium, bud vase, or other creative reuse project. You might also collect bulbs from family members and friends (buy them a CFL in exchange and you'll be doing even more good!). Or hop over to Etsy, where a number of sellers offer readymade versions.
• 1 Mixed Moss Terrarium – $16 from Etsy seller MossTerrariums
• 2 Bud Vase – DIY instructions at ReadyMade
• 3 Tiny Terrarium – DIY instructions at The Hipster Home
• 4 Hanging Vases – DIY instructions at Care2
• 5 Valentine – DIY instructions at Design*Sponge
• 6 Greenhouse – DIY instructions at Instructables
• 7 Aquarium – $20 from Etsy seller SagesLeaf
• 8 Bud Vase – Spotted by AT:SF in Mexico
• 9 Edison Air Planter – $7.95 from Etsy seller chicweed
• 10 Ship In a Bottle – DIY instructions at Instructables
TeamDroid also has good instructions for how to Hollow Out A Light Bulb.
(Images: MossTerrariums, Marty Baldwin/ReadyMade, Julie/The Hipster Home, Veronica Peterson/Care2, Kate Pruitt/Design*Sponge, Instructables, SagesLeaf, Danielle Henderson, chicweed, Instructables)
Originally published 2010-07-01


text:
but it seems that you have not yet been able to provide sufficiently coherent definition or fact to be able to establish whether the term "curation" and its derivatives are anything more than undefined hyped-up BS buzzwords that an implied 97% of scientists bloggers believe to be true.(A logical fallacy - an appeal to the consensus.)
I have already had one person in the DCF comment that I am "...the man who writes the longest and most convoluted posts in the entire forum". I think this was from the same person as used a logical fallacy without realising it and, when I mentioned it, seemed to think it was a matter of opinion as to whether it was a fallacy.(!)
- which is an implicit appeal to the consensus.
Maybe the earth is still flat, and maybe Hitler was grossly misunderstood, and maybe eugenics/Communism/Fascism/[insert religio-political ideology or pseudoscience here] is the way ahead, and maybe there is anthropogenic global warming, and maybe there are fairies at the bottom of the garden, but I remain incredulous regarding these things until they are able to be substantiated as unequivocally true.
The article provides no definition for:Financial Literacybehavioral educationBehavioral FinancePersonal finance- and yet these terms are used and bandied around in the article as though they actually mean something.
There's nothing wrong with the article that couldn't be fixed by a complete rewrite.
Of course, there is no "new wave of folks who are exploring the gamification of personal finance". I have been involved in creating such games for students to play (on a mainframe computer) as learning games since the early '70s. Things have moved on a bit since then - e.g., I can practice placing buys and sells on the stock market through an online game system run by my New Zealand bank, which is similar to a game sponsored by the Wider Share Ownership Council in the UK in the mid-'70s.
Despite all this, it tends to be the case that the operation of accounting systems - and especially banking/insurance systems and processes - are a closed book to the majority of the population (who have not studied the theory of accounting and national payments transaction processing). I have a very cynical view that this state of affairs is maintained by the banks and insurance companies because they can only really maximise their profits by maintaining an impenetrable transparency of their operations. The last thing they want is a theoretically perfect Keynesian market where all consumers know what products and services are on offer at what prices, and from which financial institutions. That means that it is very difficult for the typical consumer to know/understand what the heck is going on with their money in the financial market.
There are far more cell phones in India than there is access to sanitary toilets — about 600 million out of 1.2 billion Indians have ready access to a clean bathroom, while 800 million Indians have cell phones. That rather shocking stat, was an a-ha moment for Swapnil Chaturvedi, an entrepreneur who has been working on sanitation projects in India's slums and who was looking for an idea to help him reach many more millions of Indians with clean toilets.Chaturvedi's idea is the awesomely-named Poop Rewards, a startup that creates an incentive program using cell phone talk minutes and other prizes to convince Indians that don't have easy access to toilets to use designated public toilets in their area. These cell phone users are extremely price sensitive, explained Chaturvedi to me in an interview after winning first prize at the business competition Startup Weekend Delhi, and he thinks this demographic will be willing to change their behavior (or use a public toilet) to save a little bit of money or earn free cell phone talk time.How it worksWith a phone company as a partner, more public toilets could be built in the necessary areas — the U.N. estimates it only costs $300 for a low-cost toilet — and cell phone companies can use the rewards program to retain low-price conscious customers and provide a public service, which can also help with loyalty.The Indian cell phone market is becoming increasingly commoditized and Indian cell phone companies are struggling to find ways to end churn (customers hopping to the next cheaper cell phone carrier offering a deal). Chaturvedi says carriers like Airtel spend a significant amount of money just trying to keep its customers from leaving for a competitor. In the same way that the airline industry was saved by rewards programs that gave free miles to loyal users, cell phone companies can create rewards programs around sanitation that can also give back to the community, says Chaturvedi.Down the road, Chaturvedi envisions the program could be an open source tool that local entrepreneurs in developing areas can use to create their own Poop Rewards programs with carriers. But Chaturvedi is still just figuring out his business model, he tells me.Development of an ideaLike all good entrepreneurs, Chaturvedi has pivoted a bit on his original ideas. He had been working on a type of toilet that could convert human waste into electricity, and he'd received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work on that. But after going over the math, he kept realizing he was only going to be able to reach a very small population relative to the problem because the project required funding and lacked incentives. His new idea, Poop Rewards, could potentially work with the waste-to-fuel toilet, but it is more focused overall on just boosting a sanitation network.Chaturvedi hopes to start a pilot project with a test toilet and user group in the coming months (Airtel is really interested, he says). Make way for the Poop franchise. Though, yes, there are a bunch of hurdles ahead, like convincing a carrier for a deal, and launching a program that does actually produce a behavior change.Along the way no doubt he'll need some funding, and most of the startups at Startup Weekend Delhi were looking for funds. At the end of Chaturvedi's pitch, angel investor Dave McClure (see disclosure below) told Chaturvedi that his pitch was the best of the day and that he is interested in potentially funding the project.
Proficiency points are gained for weapon types that are actually used, and they are gained at set boundaries, independent of the level up process - if you've used a weapon for so long you're going to get better, even if you've not killed a few thousand creatures or solved a few quests.
http://discussionlea...s-on-lazy-minds.htmlWhy Jargon Feeds on Lazy MindsPosted by Scott Berkun on August 7, 2008 11:40 AMIf I could give every single business writer, guru or executive one thing to read every morning before work, it'd be this essay by George Orwell: Politics and the English Language.Not only is this essay short, brilliant, thought-provoking and memorable, it calls bullshit on most of what passes today as speech and written language in management circles. And if you are too lazy to read the article, all you need to remember is this: never use a fancy word when a simple one will do. If your idea is good, no hype is necessary. Explain it clearly and people will get it, if there truly is something notable to get. If your idea is bad: keep working before you share it with others. And if you don't have time for that, you might as well be honest. Because when you throw jargon around, most of us know you're probably lying about something anyway.In honor of George, whose birthday was last month, here is a handy list of words I hear often in management circles that should be banned. Flat out, these words are never used for good reason.Words that should be banned: Breakthrough Transformative Next-generation Seamless Game-changing Ideation (oh how I hate this word) Disruptive Incentivize Innovation Infrastructure Customer-centric RadicalThese are the lazy words of 2008, and whenever i see them used I feel justified in challenging the claims. To use these words with a straight face is to assume the listener is an idiot. They are intellectual insults. They are shortcuts away from good marketing and strong thinking since they try to sneak by with claims they know they cannot prove or do not make any sense.Marketers and managers use jargon because it's safe. No one stops them to ask: exactly what is it you are breaking through? What precisely are you transforming, and how are you certain the new thing will be better than the old (e.g. New Coke)? If no one, especially no one in power, challenges its use, jargon spreads, choking the life out of conversations and meetings forever.Pay attention to who uses the most jargon: it's never the brightest. It's those who want to be perceived as the best and the brightest, something they know they are not. They use cheap language tricks to intimidate, distract, and confuse, hoping to sneak past those afraid to ask what they really mean.I'm going to do my best for the rest of the year to question people who use these lazy, deceptive, and inflated terms. Maybe then they'll use their real marketing talents and tell me a story so powerful that I believe, all on my own, will transform this, or revolutionize that.What jargon do you hear these days that you'd like to add to the list above? Let me know.* * *Sign up for the Harvard Business Publishing Weekly Hotlist, a new weekly email roundup featuring the top highlights from HarvardBusiness.org.
Politics And The English Languageby George OrwellPublished in Horizon, April 1946; Modern British Writing ed. Denys Val Baker, 1947.Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent, and our language so the arguments runs must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influences of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers. I will come back to this presently, and I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer. Meanwhile, here are five specimens of the English language as it is now habitually written.These five passages have not been picked out because they are especially bad I could have quoted far worse if I had chosen but because they illustrate various of the mental vices from which we now suffer. They are a little below the average, but are fairly representative samples. I number them so I can refer back to them when necessary:1. I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more alien (sic) to the founder of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to tolerate.Professor Harold Laski (Essay in Freedom of Expression).2. Above all, we cannot play ducks and drakes with a native battery of idioms which prescribes such egregious collocations of vocables as the Basic put up with for tolerate or put at a loss for bewilder.Professor Lancelot Hogben (Interglossa).3. On the one side we have the free personality: by definition it is not neurotic, for it has neither conflict nor dream. Its desires, such as they are, are transparent, for they are just what institutional approval keeps in the forefront of consciousness; another institutional pattern would alter their number and intensity; there is little in them that is natural, irreducible, or culturally dangerous. But on the other side, the social bond itself is nothing but the mutual reflection of these self-secure integrities. Recall the definition of love. Is not this the very picture of a small academic? Where is there a place in this hall of mirrors for either personality or fraternity? Essay on psychology in Politics (New York).4. All the 'best people' from the gentlemen's clubs, and all the frantic Fascist captains, united in common hatred of Socialism and bestial horror of the rising tide of the mass revolutionary movement, have turned to acts of provocation, to foul incendiarism, to medieval legends of poisoned wells, to legalize their own destruction to proletarian organizations, and rouse the agitated petty-bourgeoisie to chauvinistic fervour on behalf of the fight against the revolutionary way out of the crisis. Communist pamphlet.5 . If a new spirit is to be infused into this old country, there is one thorny and contentious reform which must be tackled, and that is the humanization and galvanization of the B.B.C. Timidity here will bespeak canker and atrophy of the soul. The heart of Britain may be sound and of strong beat, for instance, but the British lion's roar at present is like that of Bottom in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream as gentle as any sucking dove. A virile new Britain cannot continue indefinitely to be traduced in the eyes, or rather ears, of the world by the effete languors of Langham Place, brazenly masquerading as 'standard English'. When the Voice of Britain is heard at nine o'clock, better far and infinitely less ludicrous to hear aitches honestly dropped than the present priggish, inflated, inhibited, school ma'amish arch braying of blameless, bashful mewing maidens! Letter in Tribune.Each of these passages has faults of its own, but, quite apart from avoidable ugliness, two qualities are common to all of them. The first is staleness of imagery: the other is lack of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing. As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house. I list below, with notes and examples, various of the tricks by means of which the work of prose construction is habitually dodged:Dying metaphors. A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically 'dead' (e.g. iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: Ring the changes on, take up the cudgels for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill, fishing in troubled waters, rift within the lute, on the order of the day, Achilles' heel, swan song, hotbed. Many of these are used without knowledge of their meaning (what is a 'rift', for instance?), and incompatible metaphors are frequently mixed, a sure sign that the writer is not interested in what he is saying. Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would be aware of this, and would avoid perverting the original phrase.Operators, or verbal false limbs. These save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an appearance of symmetry. Characteristic phrases are: render inoperative, militate against, prove unacceptable, make contact with, be subject to, give rise to, give grounds for, have the effect of, play a leading part (role) in, make itself felt, take effect, exhibit a tendency to, serve the purpose of, etc.etc. The keynote is the elimination of simple verbs. Instead of being a single word, such as break, stop, spoil, mend, kill, a verb becomes a phrase, made up of a noun or adjective tacked on to some general-purposes verb such as prove, serve, form, play, render. In addition, the passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the active, and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds (by examination of instead of by examining) . The range of verbs is further cut down by means of the -ize and de- formations, and banal statements are given an appearance of profundity by means of the not un- formation. Simple conjunctions and prepositions are replaced by such phrases as with respect to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests of, on the hypothesis that; and the ends of sentences are saved from anticlimax by such resounding commonplaces as greatly to be desired, cannot be left out of account, a development to be expected in the near future, deserving of serious consideration, brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and so on and so forth.Pretentious diction.. Words like phenomenon, element, individual (as noun), objective, categorical, effective, virtual, basic, primary, promote, constitute, exhibit, exploit, utilise, eliminate, liquidate, are used to dress up simple statements and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements Adjectives like epoch-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, triumphant, age-old, inevitable, inexorable, veritable, are used to dignify the sordid processes of international politics, while writing that aims at glorifying war usually takes on an archaic colour, its characteristic words being: realm, throne, chariot, mailed fist, trident, sword, shield, buckler, banner, jackboot, clarion. Foreign words and expressions such as cul de sac, ancien r?gime, deus ex machina, mutatis mutandis, status quo, Gleichschaltung, Weltanschauung, are used to give an air of culture and elegance. Except for the useful abbreviations i.e., e.g., and etc., there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in English. Bad writers, and especially scientific, political and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like expedite, ameliorate, predict, extraneous, deracinated, clandestine, sub-aqueous and hundreds of others constantly gain ground from their Anglo-Saxon opposite numbers. The jargon peculiar to Marxist writing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, White Guard, etc) consists largely of words and phrases translated from Russian, German or French; but the normal way of coining a new word is to use a Latin or Greek root with the appropriate affix and, where necessary, the -ize formation. It is often easier to make up words of this kind (deregionalize, impermissible, extramarital, non-fragmentatory and so forth) than to think up the English words that will cover one's meaning. The result, in general, is an increase in slovenliness and vagueness.Meaningless words.. In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning. Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly even expected to do so by the reader. When one critic writes, 'The outstanding features of Mr X's work is its living quality', while another writes, 'The immediately striking thing about Mr X's work is its peculiar deadness', the reader accepts this as a simple difference of opinion. If words like black and white were involved, instead of the jargon words dead and living, he would see at once that language was being used in an improper way. Many political words are similarly abused. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies 'something not desirable'. The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like Marshal Petain was a true patriot, The Soviet press is the freest in the world, The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution, are almost always made with intent to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most cases more or less dishonestly, are: class, totalitarian, science, progressive, reactionary, bourgeois, equality.Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.Here it is in modern English: Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.This is a parody, but not a very gross one. Exhibit 3, above, for instance, contains several patches of the same kind of English. It will be seen that I have not made a full translation. The beginning and ending of the sentence follow the original meaning fairly closely, but in the middle the concrete illustrations race, battle, bread dissolve into the vague phrase 'success or failure in competitive activities'. This had to be so, because no modern writer of the kind I am discussing no one capable of using phrases like 'objective consideration of contemporary phenomena' would ever tabulate his thoughts in that precise and detailed way. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness. Now analyse these two sentences a little more closely. The first contains 49 words but only 60 syllables, and all its words are those of everyday life. The second contains 38 words of 90 syllables: 18 of its words are from Latin roots, and one from Greek. The first sentence contains six vivid images, and only one phrase ('time and chance') that could be called vague. The second contains not a single fresh, arresting phrase, and in spite of its 90 syllables it gives only a shortened version of the meaning contained in the first. Yet without a doubt it is the second kind of sentence that is gaining ground in modern English I do not want to exaggerate. This kind of writing is not yet universal, and outcrops of simplicity will occur here and there in the worst-written page. Still if you or I were told to write a few lines on the uncertainty of human fortunes, we should probably come much nearer to my imaginary sentence than to the one from Ecclesiastes.As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier even quicker, once you have the habit to say In my opinion it is a not unjustifiable assumption that than to say I think. If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to hunt about for words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your sentences, since these phrases are generally so arranged as to be more or less euphonious. When you are composing in a hurry when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech it is natural to fall into a pretentious, latinized style. Tags like a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind or a conclusion to which all of us would readily assent will save many a sentence from coming down with a bump. By using stale metaphors, similes and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself. This is the significance of mixed metaphors. The sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images clash as in The Fascist octopus has sung its swan song, the jackboot is thrown into the melting-pot it can be taken as certain that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the objects he is naming; in other words he is not really thinking. Look again at the examples I gave at the beginning of this essay. Professor Laski uses five negatives in 53 words. One of these is superfluous, making nonsense of the whole passage, and in addition there is the slip alien for akin, making further nonsense, and several avoidable pieces of clumsiness which increase the general vagueness. Professor Hogben plays ducks and drakes with a battery which is able to write prescriptions, and, while disapproving of the everyday phrase put up with, is unwilling to look egregious up in the dictionary and see what it means, (3) if one takes an uncharitable attitude towards it, is simply meaningless: probably one could work out its intended meaning by reading the whole of the article in which it occurs. In (4) the writer knows more or less what he wants to say, but an accumulation of stale phrases chokes him like tea-leaves blocking a sink. In (5) words and meaning have almost parted company. People who write in this manner usually have a general emotional meaning they dislike one thing and want to express solidarity with another but they are not interested in the detail of what they are saying. A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connexion between politics and the debasement of language becomes clear.In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions, and not a 'party line'. Orthodoxy, of whatever colour, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers and the speeches of Under-Secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases bestial atrocities, iron heel, blood-stained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate favourable to political conformity.In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenceless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, 'I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so'. Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigours which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement.The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics'. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. I should expect to find this is a guess which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship.But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even among people who should and do know better. The debased language that I have been discussing is in some ways very convenient. Phrases like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired, would serve no good purpose, a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind, are a continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at one's elbow. Look back through this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against. By this morning's post I have received a pamphlet dealing with conditions in Germany. The author tells me that he 'felt impelled' to write it. I open it at random, and here is almost the first sentence that I see: '(The Allies) have an opportunity not only of achieving a radical transformation of Germany's social and political structure in such a way as to avoid a nationalistic reaction in Germany itself, but at the same time of laying the foundations of a co-operative and unified Europe.'You see, he 'feels impelled' to write feels, presumably, that he has something new to say and yet his words, like cavalry horses answering the bugle, group themselves automatically into the familiar dreary pattern. This invasion of one's mind by ready-made phrases (lay the foundations, achieve a radical transformation) can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard against them, and every such phrase anaesthetizes a portion of one's brain.I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who deny this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language merely reflects existing social conditions, ant that we cannot influence its development by any direct tinkering with words and constructions So far as the general tone or spirit of a language goes, this may be true, but it is not true in detail. Silly words and expressions have often disappeared, not through any evolutionary process but owing to the conscious action of a minority. Two recent examples were explore every avenue and leave no stone unturned, which were killed by the jeers of a few journalists. There is a long list of fly-blown metaphors which could similarly be got rid of if enough people would interest themselves in the job; and it should also be possible to laugh the not un- formation out of existence, to reduce the amount of Latin and Greek in the average sentence, to drive out foreign phrases and strayed scientific words, and, in general, to make pretentiousness unfashionable. But all these are minor points. The defence of the English language implies more than this, and perhaps it is best to start by saying what it does not imply.To begin with, it has nothing to do with archaism, with the salvaging of obsolete words and turns of speech, or with the setting-up of a 'standard English' which must never be departed from. On the contrary, it is especially concerned with the scrapping of every word or idiom which has outworn its usefulness. It has nothing to do with correct grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one's meaning clear or with the avoidance of Americanisms, or with having what is called a 'good prose style'. On the other hand it is not concerned with fake simplicity and the attempt to make written English colloquial. Nor does it even imply in every case preferring the Saxon word to the Latin one, though it does imply using the fewest and shortest words that will cover one's meaning. What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about. In prose, the worst thing you can do with words is to surrender them. When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing, you probably hunt about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meanings as clear as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards one can choose not simply accept the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impression one's words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:i. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.ii. Never use a long word where a short one will do.iii. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active.v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable. One could keep all of them and still write bad English, but one could not write the kind of stuff that I quoted in those five specimens at the beginning of this article.I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. Stuart Chase and others have come near to claiming that all abstract words are meaningless, and have used this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism. Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism? One need not swallow such absurdities as this, but one ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. .If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse into the dustbin where it belongs.
So I haven't seen the proof/"proof" that claims Maslow is "debunked". After all, people are "sorta wonderful", so if the "proof" is flawed, then everything spirals down into Alice's Wonderland when you have to decide if the mistake was honest or deliberate.-TaoPhoenix (February 01, 2012, 08:34 AM)
If you're interested in Maslow (and ready to move beyond Wikipedia)...-40hz (February 01, 2012, 04:57 PM)
Note: self-actualization isn't properly a "buzz word" since Maslow coined and used that term in his writings. -40hz (February 01, 2012, 04:57 PM)
Word Origin & Historyself-actualization1939, from self + actualization. Popularized, though not coined, by U.S. psychologist and philosopher Abraham H. Maslow. (1908-1970).Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas HarperMatching Quote"Housework is work directly opposed to the possibility of human self-actualization."-Ann Oakley
buzzwordPronunciation: /ˈbʌzwəːd/(also buzz phrase)nouninformal a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context: the latest buzzword in international travel is 'ecotourism'(http://http://oxforddictionaries.com/)
If you're interested in Maslow (and ready to move beyond Wikipedia)...-40hz (February 01, 2012, 04:57 PM)That could seem to be a rather cheap shot smacking of intellectual snobbery, and as such would do the author no credit. -IainB (February 01, 2012, 09:04 PM)
That could seem to be a rather cheap shot smacking of intellectual snobbery, and as such would do the author no credit.
Perhaps a certain sort of person might take my words as a "cheap shot."
And as for Maslow, I'd say his pyramid isn't "disproved". Once again, it's also difficult to create any theory with *zero* use. Remember, he was among other things reacting to Skinner's rather insidious legacy of rat mazes applied to people. A lot of evil corporate managers deliberately chop off the top couple of pyramid layers to force people to keep worrying about the lower rungs, which results in getting away with lower pay rates.-TaoPhoenix (February 01, 2012, 08:34 AM)
isn't "disproved"
And that's the rub. There's no proof people actually do self-actualize. (Skinner would argue they didn't.) Because self-actualization argues for some higher order of existence or awareness (i.e. a soul) which amounts to a version of 'pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.'It was something Maslow was never able to satisfactorily explain, although he did remark how horrible a world it would be if some form of self-actualization didn't really exist.In the end, you have to take the existence of self-actualization on faith.I do. -40hz (February 01, 2012, 09:17 AM)
Recent research appears to validate the existence of universal human needs, although the hierarchy proposed by Maslow is called into question
...Maslow's theory would seem to be a weak thing on which to base an argument for anything, because the research that relates to it has apparently only been able to throw the whole thing into question - i.e., the opposite of substantiating it (QED). There is apparently no proof that the theory holds out in practice (QED).This would be quite the reverse, for example, to the validity of the theory (unverifiable at the time it was proposed) of gravitational lenses postulated by Einstein.-IainB (October 21, 2011, 05:48 AM)
How do you even state the criteria of a proof?-TaoPhoenix (February 02, 2012, 07:26 AM)
Also I understand Maslow's theory to be a *correlation*, not a Boolean either-or-xor or such.-TaoPhoenix (February 02, 2012, 07:26 AM)
High correlation proves that there is high correlation. It does not prove a cause/effect relationship.-IainB (February 02, 2012, 08:49 AM)
In his short treatise On Bullshit, the moral philosopher Harry Frankfurt gives us a useful theory of bullshit. We normally think of bullshit as a synonym—albeit a somewhat vulgar one—for lies or deceit. But Frankfurt argues that bullshit has nothing to do with truth.Rather, bullshit is used to conceal, to impress or to coerce. Unlike liars, bullshitters have no use for the truth. All that matters to them is hiding their ignorance or bringing about their own benefit.Gamification is bullshit.I'm not being flip or glib or provocative. I'm speaking philosophically.More specifically, gamification is marketing bullshit, invented by consultants as a means to capture the wild, coveted beast that is videogames and to domesticate it for use in the grey, hopeless wasteland of big business, where bullshit already reigns anyway.Bullshitters are many things, but they are not stupid. The rhetorical power of the word "gamification" is enormous, and it does precisely what the bullshitters want: it takes games—a mysterious, magical, powerful medium that has captured the attention of millions of people—and it makes them accessible in the context of contemporary business.Gamification is reassuring. It gives Vice Presidents and Brand Managers comfort: they're doing everything right, and they can do even better by adding "a games strategy" to their existing products, slathering on "gaminess" like aioli on ciabatta at the consultant's indulgent sales lunch.Gamification is easy. It offers simple, repeatable approaches in which benefit, honor, and aesthetics are less important than facility. For the consultants and the startups, that means selling the same bullshit in book, workshop, platform, or API form over and over again, at limited incremental cost. It ticks a box. Social media strategy? Check. Games strategy? Check.The title of this symposium shorthands these points for me: the slogan "For the Win," accompanied by a turgid budgetary arrow and a tumescent rocket, suggesting the inevitable priapism this powerful pill will bring about—a Viagra for engagement dysfunction, engorgement guaranteed for up to one fiscal quarter.This rhetorical power derives from the "-ification" rather than from the "game". -ification involves simple, repeatable, proven techniques or devices: you can purify, beautify, falsify, terrify, and so forth. -ification is always easy and repeatable, and it's usually bullshit. Just add points.Game developers and players have critiqued gamification on the grounds that it gets games wrong, mistaking incidental properties like points and levels for primary features like interactions with behavioral complexity. That may be true, but truth doesn't matter for bullshitters. Indeed, the very point of gamification is to make the sale as easy as possible.I've suggested the term "exploitationware" as a more accurate name for gamification's true purpose, for those of us still interested in truth. Exploitationware captures gamifiers' real intentions: a grifter's game, pursued to capitalize on a cultural moment, through services about which they have questionable expertise, to bring about results meant to last only long enough to pad their bank accounts before the next bullshit trend comes along.I am not naive and I am not a fool. I realize that gamification is the easy answer for deploying a perversion of games as a mod marketing miracle. I realize that using games earnestly would mean changing the very operation of most businesses. For those whose goal is to clock out at 5pm having matched the strategy and performance of your competitors, I understand that mediocrity's lips are seductive because they are willing. For the rest, those of you who would consider that games can offer something different and greater than an affirmation of existing corporate practices, the business world has another name for you: they call you "leaders."
Furthermore, he chose not just to dedicate superhuman effort to this profession, but to practice in one of the poorest of poor regions of the world, Haiti, where every newcomer is "blan" (white), even African Americans from the US.
On a certain level, a doctor like Paul Farmer is an indictment of the way most physicians in this country practice. Paul Farmer could, if he chose, be one of the highest paid consultant in the country. He has demonstrated the intellect and the force of will to succeed at any branch of medicine. And yet, he chose infectious disease and epidemiology as his twin callings, two of the lower-paying specialties within the field.
V. Munsey says:Yeah, what about his wife and kid? It sounds like they are pretty much ignored by him. How sad. Why did he marry and have a family if he knew his work would always take first place?
I think even non-physicians might have this initial reaction. I think a common defense mechanism might also be one that occurred to me, to pathologize Farmer, to think of his drive to help others as a need to satisfy some kind of internal conflict. After all, if Farmer does what he does to "quite the voices", then the rest of us are off the hook.In the end, I came to realize that this was grossly unfair. A reader does not know and never can know what drives a man like Farmer, we can only judge him by his works. And those works are amazing. Time and again in his career, Farmer chose to push for the absolute best care for the absolute poorest of his patients. He refused to accept that the best HIV and tuberculosis drugs were "inappropriate technology" for Haiti. Instead, by tirelessly fighting for his patients, he redefined how tuberculosis and other horrible diseases are treated. I would encourage a reader to look closest at this aspect of Farmer, as it can be applied to all of our lives.To close, I am reminded of the old saying:The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.--George Bernard ShawDr. Paul Farmer is an unreasonable man who has changed the world.
Not only that: we should help them because, in most every case, their poverty is a sign that we have failed them. Farmer angrily ticks off case after case, most of them straight from his first-hand experience, where what initially looks like a senseless, random death is seen to be a symptom of a deeper systemic problem. The most haunting of these may be the death of a young Haitian girl named Acephie who contracted HIV from a Haitian soldier. She had sex with him because soldiers are some of the few Haitians with dependable salaries. But what led Acephie into that position of economic dependence to begin with? It didn't help that the Haitian government, with the blessing of Western development agencies, had evicted Acephie's family years before to build a dam; the family had to move to higher, poorer ground because of someone's idea of what was good for them. The road from there leads more or less directly to the AIDS death of a Haitian girl. (James Scott's Seeing Like A State contains a lot more tragedies in this direction.)Pathologies of Power is filled with stories like that. It is not a hopeful book; it is very, very bitter. This despite Kidder's blurb on the cover to the contrary: Kidder recognized the anger, but saw hopefulness that I didn't.
transcendent (trænˈsɛndənt) — adj1. exceeding or surpassing in degree or excellence2. a. (in the philosophy of Kant) beyond or before experience; a priori b. (of a concept) falling outside a given set of categories c. beyond consciousness or direct apprehension3. theol (of God) having continuous existence outside the created world4. free from the limitations inherent in matter — n5. philosophy a transcendent thing
anthropomorphism definition(an-thruh-puh- mawr -fiz-uhm) The attributing of human characteristics and purposes to inanimate objects, animals, plants, or other natural phenomena, or to God. To describe a rushing river as "angry" is to anthropomorphize it.
"Each layer of Maslow's hierarchy becomes more and more anthromorphic yet as we know of anthromorphism, many of that can be illusions humans created."
I can't really speak for Nikki obviously but as I'm also one of those who refer to Maslow's hierarchy of needs loosely in my own writing, I think what makes it so appealing to refer to that concept is not so much the existence of the hierarchy itself but the final step of self-actualization which depending on how you interpret it has elements of buzz and manipulation to it too.-Paul Keith (October 18, 2011, 01:38 PM)
Abraham Maslow:I have recently found it more and more useful to differentiate between two kinds (or better, degrees) of self-actualizing people, those who were clearly healthy, but with little or no experiences of transcendence, and those in whom transcendent experiencing was important and even central…. I find not only self-actualizing people who transcend, but also nonhealthy people, non-self-actualizers who have important transcendent experiences. …
"Furthermore, when going forward & returning, he makes himself fully alert; when looking toward & looking away… when bending & extending his limbs… when carrying his outer cloak, his upper robe & his bowl… when eating, drinking, chewing, & savoring… when urinating & defecating… when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking up, talking, & remaining silent, he makes himself fully alert".
205. What is the inner significance of the story of Gajendra Moksha?Gajendra was a king in his previous birth and he became an elephant on account of a curse given to him by a sage. Here king signifies Atma. Atma is the king and Paramatma is the kingmaster. This elephant forgot the Atmatatwa and he was leading a life of attachment and illusion, entering the forest of life. Wandering in the forest of life it became thirsty. This thirst relates to the enjoyment of the senses. Immediately it saw a lake. This lake signifies worldly desires and that is called the samsara. He wanted to enjoy the pleasure of samsara and entered the lake. At once a crocodile, which can be compared to 'Mamakara' or attachment and 'Ahamkara' or ego, caught hold of its leg. The elephant was not able to escape from it. It tried all its physical and mental strength but in vain. At last it prayed for God's help. Similarly we are leading our lives entirely depending upon the strength of the body and mind. But these are not capable of giving happiness or peace. When we dedicate these two strengths to God and think that everything depends upon the grace of God, then we may get peace and happiness with the grace of God. When the elephant prayed, God sent his Chakra called "Sudarsana Chakra" and killed the crocodile and saved the elephant. The inner meaning of 'Sudarsana' is "Su" means good - darshan means vision. So Sudarshan is not merely a weapon or instrument: it is the good look of God, when elephant turned his sight to God, the look of God also turned towards the elephant. So also our Bhagawan says "You look to me and I shall certainly look to you".
The crocodile in its last life was a king called HuHu in the Gandharva planet. Once while enjoying himself in the waters, he pulled the leg of a sage. The enraged sage cursed the king to become a crocodile in his next life. The repentant HuHu asked for pardon. The Sage proclaimed that though he cannot reverse the curse, the crocodile would be liberated from the cycle of birth and death when Gajendra would be saved by the Lord Vishnu Himself.
Are you kidding me?! Who's mindful when they are urinating and defecating?
"Each layer of Maslow's hierarchy becomes more and more anthromorphic..."
For a person to go to this extreme and be truly mindful, they would have to...
"You know Paul Keith, you have a point there."
If you're sincere in using such a grave word as ahamkara though in this context...
...life does not end at all...
I have consistently pointed out that a discussion that uses undefined terms cannot be rational, by definition (that's not an opinion).-IainB
I only used the definition of "transcendent" because there was no working definition (that I am aware of) that we were using for "self-actualisation"
I wonder if, because you have inadvertently used these BS words in trying to articulate your thinking in what you have written here or elsewhere, you might have entered into a state of ahamkara with the very BS terms we have been discussing.If that (ahamkara) is the case, then: * (a) you will be unable to accept any denial of their existence as real/useful objects, because to do so would mean that you had been mistaken in using them in the first place, and your ego can't allow that thought (cf. De Bono re "intellectual deadlock"). So your ego may now oblige you to have to defend these useless BS things instead of saying, "You know Iain, you have a point there. They are purely imaginary and undefined constructs and I have only been imagining that I have been using them, but it seemed very real to me at the time." * (b) to rationally refute the terms at this stage could be a very hard thing for you to do, but it would be interesting if you were able to do it. It would probably demonstrate that you are able to exercise the capacity to overcome your internal intellectual deadlock and transcend your ego, and become more rational in the process.
then why do you not not suggest something else that will do? Otherwise, continuing discussing things using the term "self-actualisation" would indeed be (as I think I have already suggested) rather like discussing the buttons on the Emperor's new (invisible) clothes - i.e., an absurdity/irrationality.
you will be unable to accept any denial of their existence as real/useful objects,
and your ego can't allow that thought (cf. De Bono re "intellectual deadlock").
So your ego may now oblige you to have to defend these useless BS things instead of saying,
Because it is such a concept, I can do what the heck I want with it without abusing anyone or anything, and it's use does not rely on alignment with any mumbo-jumbo in Hinduism.-the passion is strong in this one
You would probably be right, but the thing about Maslow's pyramid was that it was a hierarchy of needs. It wasn't suggesting relative superiority/inferiority of states per se, but merely that you could not move from the 1st need level to the 2nd one until your needs at the 1st level had been met, and so on. I think that that part of Maslow's theory stands up pretty well, simply because he defined them as fixed but necessarily linearly successive states.The trouble with using pyramids in diagrams is that they are ambiguous on their own. If you employ them in a concept diagram, then one person's interpretation of meaning could be quite different to what the author might have intended.-IainB
Well, yes, of course it is anthropomorphic. It is, after all, supposed to be modelling human needs. Whether it becomes more anthropomorphic as you progress up the pyramid would arguably be a matter of individual perception.-IainB
I actually did ask myself that question, before writing what I did. I considered but was unsure as to whether it was my inability to decode what you said, or your inability to put things more rationally, or a mixture of both that was the problem.-IainB
- and there I think you show something of yourself. Who says it is a "grave word"? It can be any kind of word. I call it a useful and defined concept. It is merely a very useful tool for thinking with. Ahamkara with the word ahamkara? Possibly ahamkara with the terms "self-actualisation" and gamification as well?We are all probably in a state of ahamkara to some degree, at one stage or another, if not all the time.-IainB
Can be neither proven nor disproven, except presumably by individual experience.Transcendence.-IainB
Page created in 0.04 seconds with 70 queries.