Saturday, April 29, 2017

Google Of Spectrum


“To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.” Samuel Butler, Further Extracts from the Note-Books of Samuel Butler ... read more

“It is in the thirties that we want friends. In the forties we know they won’t save us any more than love did.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, notebook entry, The Crack-Up ... read more

Little drops of water do make a mighty ocean. The key is to not take those little drops for granted and give up before the ocean actually arrives ...


Via LLRX.comOh Lord, please don’t let Google Book Search be misunderstood – In what became a two part article, Chris Meadows responds to the continuing commentary and rebuttals on the Google Books decision and access to the search engine that remains available to query a huge index of full-text books and access the text of scanned copies of books in the public domain. The second part of Meadows’ rebuttal was prompted by the publication of yet another article, and is also republished on LLRX – Google Books is not Alexandria redux.

Rupert Murdoch’s biggest worry? Money, not politics
With Briefing, The Information muscles in on news aggregators like Techmeme

Ted Hunt – Googling gives us answers—but deprives us of intelligence – “…Here are the problems that we must surmount if we are to continue creating and sharing tools to help amplify and advance knowledge, reasoning, critical thought ..


 Google And MEdia Dragon gold mines 

Is It Time to Break Up Google? NYT. Yes. Next question? And for those who might have missed this Matt Stoller piece– linked to last week– read it now. The evidence is piling up — Silicon Valley is being destroyed Business Insider


Scope of Data Breach at Intercontinental Hotels Expands
More than 1,200 hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group fell victim to a 3-month-long malware attack that targeted customer payment card data, the global hotel chain said Wednesday. InterContinental, which includes the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, said in February only 12 hotels were affected by the cyberattack. The malware attack lasted from September 29 to December 29, searching for data stored on cards' magnetic stripes, such as the cardholder's name, card number, expiration date and internal verification code, the company said. The company said Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza, Hotel indigo, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites were affected by the breach.
 
Elizabeth Warren on Big Banks and Their (Cozy Bedmate) Regulators NYT. Gretchen Morgenson’s latest

Pew: Despite the seeming ubiquity of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, many in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia and Japan do not report regularly visiting social media sites. But majorities in all of the 14 countries surveyed say they at least use the internet. Social media use is relatively common among people in Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia and the U.S. Around seven-in-ten report using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but that still leaves a significant minority of the population in those countries (around 30%) who are non-users. At the other end of the spectrum, in France, only 48% say they use social networking sites. That figure is even lower in Greece (46%), Japan (43%) and Germany (37%). In Germany, this means that more than half of internet users say they do not use social media.  The differences in reported social media use across the 14 countries are due in part to whether people use the internet, since low rates of internet access limit the potential social media audience. While fewer than one-in-ten Dutch (5%), Swedes (7%) and Australians (7%) don’t access the internet or own a smartphone, that figure is 40% in Greece, 33% 

There is substantial and significant information in a recent article on Quartz about how our demeanor at work impacts us, others, the workplace and our work product. Contrary to popular belief…”research shows that forcing workers to appear more pleasant and more cheerful than they actually feel can lead to a whole host of negative consequences—from emotional exhaustion to withdrawal. And women in particular suffer from the expectation that they should constantly demonstrate happiness.” Does this concept resonate with you…does it remind you of what transpired in our recent national election..does it remind you of every time you have been called curt or abrupt when you were being factual, concise and focused on delivering value within the context of an assignment…The case for being grumpy at work discusses and provides a range of references on the realities of the emotional contours of our lives at work that illuminates how we engage in effective analysis, deliver creative work, and remain focused, even when we are not smiling.
  • Also via Quartz – The Happiness Experiment – “Humans are obsessed with happiness—how to find it, how to keep it, and how to define it. We examine happiness from the perspective of economics, history, and evolutionary psychology to understand how our notion of happiness has changed over time.”
Mm GPO Launches New GPO.gov website
“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) launches a newly designed, user-friendly agency website for customers, vendors, Federal agencies, libraries and the public looking for access to Government information, the latest GPO news, and GPO products and services.  The beta site features a simple, mobile-friendly structure that connects the user in a more streamlined digital manner with GPO.  Once out of beta, this site will replace the current site that was launched in 2009. Try our new site: https://beta.gpo.gov/
Some of the new features include:
  • mobile friendly
  • improved internal site search
  • improved user experience
  • easy access to GPO products and services
  • easy access events and training
  • easy access to GPO social media platforms
  • locating Federal Depository Libraries”
Why I won’t date hot women anymore 

New York Post of Secrets. Put down your coffee….

The real 'Secret' of a happy and fulfilled life, revealed by renowned
Kabbalist Michael Berg, author of the acclaimed and bestselling book, The
Way. Containing a simple truth, simply explained through moving tales, this
book cuts across religions and has a powerful and inspirational message -
for the whole of humanity. Like a jewel that has been painstakingly cut and
polished, The Secret reveals life's essence in its most concise and powerful
form. It is a saying that Berg's teacher, the late Rav Ashlag, learned from
a mysterious stranger who became his own teacher, years ago in Jerusalem:
"The only way to achieve true joy and fulfilment is by becoming a being of sharing." Our destiny is to experience joy, not suffering, if we know how to connect with the Secret. Michael Berg shows us how our everyday understanding of our purpose in the world is literally backwards. Whenever there is pain in our lives - indeed, whenever there is anything less than complete joy and fulfilment - this basic misunderstanding is the reason. The strength and significance of this simple truth unfolds through the sheer inspirational power of the stories and insights from the greatest sages of Kabbala. The Secret is a guidebook for applying the principles of Jewish mysticism to everyday life with a universal truth, whatever your religion

MORE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE ON THE SPECTRUM: Students who avoid making eye contact could be guilty of racism, Oxford University says. “The university’s Equality and Diversity Unit has advised students that “not speaking directly to people” could be deemed a ‘racial microaggression’ which can lead to ‘mental ill-health’.”
Oh, there’s some “mental ill-health” there, all right

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—
Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own






Jim Dandy





In hardened veins, the life that was you


coagulates, thickens with each missed


breath. The chill of death is upon you.





Bacteria feast on what is left of you and I


think what were you thinking when you said


don’t embalm me, no autopsy, just put me


in a box.





You were a dandy dresser, everything was just


right. As tough as you were, your nails were


always manicured. The undertaker is not happy


as no matter how much makeup he applies you


my old friend are green.





There you lay, a rotting corpse in a box, a nicely


dressed rotting corpse, but rotting with eyes


beginning to bulge and your swollen tongue


pressing against the stitched lips of your mouth.





As they carry you out to the hearse the smell of


rotten eggs wafts about. You wanted to be one


with nature when you departed, you have succeeded.


At the cemetery they lower you down, throw the dirt


on your box.





No one will know those final hours your body


vanishes, nails and hair fall out, the organs that


gave life liquefy and finally you swell and swell


bursting open, your skeleton resting in the muck


of what once was you.




::::::

“Fathers are…

The teeth on a saw,

The head of a nail,

The blades on a mower.


Fathers are…

The grit in a tumbler,

The cement in the pit,

The coin for the machine.


Fathers are…

The air in the tires,

The spring in the suspension,

The key to the ignition.


Fathers are...

the confidence in a dare,

The energy of a command,

The boots for the trail.


Tis true you might make things work without them,

but not at all like they were meant to.”

― , Richelle E. Goodrich Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year














Why Email Will Never Replace The Handwritten Letter


“It can be hard to pin down what makes a personal letter, along with what makes for its individuality and authenticity. Connection is the most basic ‘reassurance that I am not floating out there alone in the universe’, as Nina Sankovitch writes in Signed, Sealed, Delivered. A letter links two particular persons, even when its words are handed round and read to others. And while we’re more connected than ever now, our connections can be less specific – we post a lot of ‘









Five Ways Reading Fiction Can Help You In Your Job


“To run a business, you have to be deeply involved in all the minutiae, from strategy to product to hiring. Diving into the story, identifying with the characters, and trying to solve the mystery has two effects on me. First, it is a very efficient way to disconnect from all the problems I face in the business. Second, it immediately unlocks my creativity. My mind has no limits while I’m reading, and it shouldn’t while I’m conducting business.” 










History Pulitzer Goes To Heather Ann Thompson’s ‘Blood In The Water’; Tyehimba Jess’s ‘Olio’ Takes Pulitzer For Poetry



“Thompson’s book explores an infamous [1971] riot at the Attica Correctional Facility [in New York state] that involved 1,300 prisoners and ultimately led to the deaths of 39 people. … [Jess’s volume] tells the stories behind America’s blues, work songs and church hymns.”

 







Pulitzer Prize For Biography Goes To Hisham Matar’s ‘The Return’


“Matar’s latest book details his return to Libya in 2012 as he sought the truth [of] his father’s fate, decades after he was kidnapped by Colonel Qaddafi’s secret security [forces]. … His first novel, In the Country of Men, was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize.”

What do Leonid Brezhnev and the guy who invented the slinky have in common? Nothing, besides being dead. Each also warranted an obituary in America’s paper of record, the New York Time. They earned that spot—although, of course, no obituarized person is around to enjoy that particular honor—through the nebulous idea ...
The Art of the  NYT obituary