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The title of this book by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson basically says it all: “Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke–the Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific“
If that doesn’t say it all, then how about the quote on the front cover: “If you work, you need this book” says Timothy Ferriss. |
Author: admin
Book: “You Want Fries With That”
| “You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage” was written by Prioleau Alexander. Alexander was an advertising executive who got tired of his white-collar job. He quit to do various work in the service industry such as pizza delivery, emergency room technician, ice cream person, etc. Is it better or worst than his white-collar job? This book tells of his experiences and his answer to that question. |
Book: “Punching In”
| In the book “Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee“, Alex Frankel tells us what it is like to work in the front-lines of the service industry. He worked at UPS, Gap, Starbucks, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Apple Store. |
Book: “Does God Play Dice?”
| In his book “Does God Play Dice: The New Mathematics of Chaos“, Ian Stewart explains chaos theory to the average person. |
Book: “The Joy of Not Working”
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“The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed and Overworked- 21st Century Edition” is a book by Ernie Zelinski, who the back cover mentions as being “creatively unemployed” for the 14 years and believes that “we work so hard – can overvalue work so much – that we have forgotten how to just live!”
More from the back cover …
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North Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch
The North Pacific Gyre is a section of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California that is accumulating trash due to the nature of its water currents. This garbage patch in the ocean consists of trash debris and non-biodegradable plastic that just breaks up into more tiny pieces.
It says that there is 7 million tons of floating waste spanning an area twice the size of Texas. Birds and wildlife die when they mistaken these plastic bits as food. A lot of these garbage get washed up on beaches.
The latimes.com also has some video pieces on the North Pacific Gyre here.
WATCH VIDEO on YouTube for more detailed explanation of trash in our oceans.
The reason why there is not a lot of good photos of the North Pacific Gyre is that most of the garbage is just underwater and is somewhat spread out as explained in theoystersgarter.com.
Sci-doku is Sudoku with Letters
If you like doing Sudoku puzzles, you will like this variant of the puzzle by Scientific American known as “Sci-doku”. It uses letters instead of numbers. As with normal sudoku, each row, column, and nine-cell grid must contain one and only one of the nine letters. You can not just use any nine letters, you have to use the letters that are already shown on the grid.
Here are the full rules.
Frontline’s documentary on Global Warming
Frontline documentary “Heat” investigates the great crises of global warming. You can watch the full program in the link provided.
CO2 emission have been rising and is at records level. China and India are in a growth spur adding to the energy demands. In order to stop global warming, we have to curb our addiction to fossil fuel which is economic engine of our lives. The documentary talks about technologies such as clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration.
The second largest contribution to CO2 emissions are vehicles. There is a need to increase fuel efficiency standards. But the car industry is against it. Big oil is also resisting change and the consequences are not good.
Corn-based ethanol as an alternative to middle-east oil is now hugh business. Some say there is a net benefit. And other says that it may even increase carbon emission depending on how the corn is processed. Corn simply may not be an efficient fuel crop and may not a solution to greenhouse gas.
In Europe and Japan, the government have gotten farther in its strides to increase renewable energies.
In its early days, nuclear power had to overcome obstacles of the fears of accidents such as Three-Mile Island and anti-nuclear activists.
Cap and trade is the concept where companies has a maximum quota on emissions. If it emits more than their quota, they will need to purchase from companies that emit less.
While politicians debate this concept. The earth has seen its explosion of wild fires, large hurricanes like Katrina, and unbelievable droughts throughout the world.
China has passed America as the largest emitter of CO2. India and some other countries are also emitting more.
Brain Teasers from Posit Science
Posit Science produces products that improves brain fitness. Most notably, the Brain Fitness program and the InSight product. Jewel Diver is a demo game from the Insight product that helps you keep track of multiple moving objects. You can find some of their brain teasers that focuses on memory attention and sound discrimination as linked.
Hear what Dr. Merzenich, co-founder of Posit Science, have to say about brain fitness.
Funny poem about spell checkers
Spell checkers are great. They help find lots of spelling mistake. But it’s funny how many other mistakes it can not find as demonstrated by the poem linked here.