Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
2012 JEFFERSON LECTURER Wendell E. Berry Lecture “It All Turns On Affection”
http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/wendell-e-berry-lecture
Efficiency vs. Resilience -- An analogy based on an essay by Chip Ward
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174826/chip_ward_how_efficiency_maximizes_catastrophe
A long academic essay by Chip Ward on the tradeoffs between efficiency and resilience within natural systems. The thesis is that decisions that maximize efficiency in the short term often create fragile systems that collapse catastrophically when the unexpected inevitably occurs in the long term.
To explicitly recast this thesis (which I agree with) into the world of organizations and management, an organization can decide to streamline procedures so that they involve fewer people and are more efficient.
However, that same decision can erode the organization's ability to respond creatively and organically when something unexpected happens that requires experienced and thoughtful decision-making at a lower administrative level.
In addition, and this was not a point made in the article, this same process dramatically reduces the number of people who are experienced and seasoned enough to step into the smaller number of decision-making roles.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Books for kids
67 books to read to your kids before they're 10.
I have a long way to go, but I've read some of them.
I have a long way to go, but I've read some of them.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Part of me doesn't care whether this is true or not
Rockets.
Rockets!
ROCKETS!
And, did I mention Rockets?
Let's build stuff and shoot it into space.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
NYTimes: Argentina to Seize Control of Oil Company
"The expropriation would reassert state control over a pillar of Argentina's economy but also increase diplomatic tensions with Spain and the European Union."
I kept looking for the quote from Francisco d'Anconia.
I kept looking for the quote from Francisco d'Anconia.
Monday, April 16, 2012
NIce summary on the substance of usage arguments
Language usage is and should be a battleground. Our task is to make the
conflict fruitful. To do this, we need to understand what precisely is
at issue in any particular dispute. Does a new locution advance or
retard our power to express our ideas effectively? Is the issue
primarily one of different aesthetic sensibilities? Or is our argument
over language rooted in deeper disagreements over who we are and how we
should live? Once we understand what is really at stake, we may be able
to learn much through arguing about language.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/arguing-about-language/?pagewanted=all
conflict fruitful. To do this, we need to understand what precisely is
at issue in any particular dispute. Does a new locution advance or
retard our power to express our ideas effectively? Is the issue
primarily one of different aesthetic sensibilities? Or is our argument
over language rooted in deeper disagreements over who we are and how we
should live? Once we understand what is really at stake, we may be able
to learn much through arguing about language.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/arguing-about-language/?pagewanted=all
Friday, April 13, 2012
Atlantic Facebook Article
Is Facebook making us lonely? Probably.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/8930/
Monday, April 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Writing advice from C.S. Lewis
From Letters of Note --
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean
and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one.
Don't implement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "More
people died" don't say "Mortality rose."
4. In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us
to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling
us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't
say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the
description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous,
exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, "Please will you do my
job for me." [emphasis added -- DHA]
5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when
you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk
about something really infinite.
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean
and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one.
Don't implement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "More
people died" don't say "Mortality rose."
4. In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us
to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling
us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't
say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the
description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous,
exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, "Please will you do my
job for me." [emphasis added -- DHA]
5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when
you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk
about something really infinite.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
