Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature—it requires, in fact, the nature of a true Individualist—to sympathise with a friend’s success.
– Oscar Wilde
Tag: Life
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it;
– by Benjamin Franklin
Untangling the web: the way we work
It’s ironic that this global network reminds us how important non-technological solutions are to good working practice. The web makes it possible for some to do their jobs without being bound to a physical place, but technology isn’t going to replace face-to-face contact. In fact, it makes it more essential. How’s that for a growing pain?
Source : The guardian
Quote of the week
“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
– Benjamin Franklin
#21 Collected Reading
Quote of the week
“Brazil was the first country to pass a law guaranteeing a minimum income: in 2004, President Lula signed the law guaranteeing “an unconditional basic income, or citizenship income” for every Brazilian citizen or foreigner resident for five years or more. The payment will be of equal value, payable in monthly amounts and sufficient to cover “minimal expenses in food, housing, education and health care,” taking into account “the country’s level of development and budgetary possibilities.”
— Living in the End Times :by Slavoj Zizek
1.Sweden’s free school experiment
“Osterman also doesn’t believe it’s necessarily a bad thing. “We are becoming a school for ambitious immigrants,” he said.
But as I was leaving his school, one of his students, Mohammed Mahmoud, put it differently. “This is a school for criminals,” he declared, to laughter. “Nobody’s working in this school, because no one here has any future.”
education,sweden,policy,culture
Source :The Guardian
2. What Do You Want to Say You’ve Done?
“Instead, base your career decisions (at least in part) on what hope to say when you look back on your life. You may not always succeed, but are unlikely to look back with regret on those decisions that gave you the opportunity to reach your aspirations.”
culture,life
Source : Harvard Business Review
3. Facebook and the Epiphanator: An End to Endings?
“I do not enjoy Facebook — I find it cloying and impossible — but I am there every day. Last year I watched a friend struggle through breast cancer treatment in front of hundreds of friends.”
media,culture,usa
Source :New York Magazine
4. UK riots were product of consumerism and will hit economy, says City broker
“The dominant ethos of ‘I buy, therefore I am’ needs to be challenged by a shift of emphasis from material to non-material values.”
capitalism,uk,riots,culture
Source : The Guardian
5. NYTimes: Where Pay for Chiefs Outstrips U.S. Taxes
“The authors of a new study said their findings suggested that current United States business policy was rewarding tax avoidance rather than innovation.”
economics,policy,tax rate,usa
Source : The New York Times
Hope you like this collection. Please comment, share and most of all enjoy.
– Kaushik
#16 Collected Reading – Thinking about the present
Thinking about the present
A collection of thoughts around thinking, work and how to be in the present.
“Today is a gift.
That is why they call it the present.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
1. Distraction
“Finally, it is generally agreed that no activity can be successfully pursued by an individual who is preoccupied – no rhetoric or liberal studies – since the mind when distracted absorbs nothing deeply, but rejects everything which is, so to speak , crammed into it.” – Seneca
Distraction, Culture, Self
Source :On the Shortness of Life
2. Collective Rationality
“The commission gave me the a wonderful opportunity to test my favorite hypothesis about collective rationality, which is that if you put people of strongly opposing views in a room together, and infuse their discussion with data, background studies, and unhurried time for debate, it is possible to bridge seemingly irreconcilable positions among the members of the group.” – Jeffery Sachs
Thinking, Collaboration, Global, Facts
Source : The End of Poverty
3. Ithaca
“Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind
To arrive there is what you are destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for many years,
So you’re old by the time you reach the isle,
Wealthy with all you have gained on the way
And not expecting Ithaca to make you rich”-C.P Cavafy
Journey, Life, Culture
Source : The Age of Absurdity
4. Ego
“The man who can center his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life which is impossible to the pure egoist.” – Bertrand Russell
environment,global,policy
Source : The Conquest of Happiness
5. The Individual
“An individual who has to make things for the use of others, and with reference to their wants and their wishes, does not work with interest, and consequently cannot put into his work what is best in him.” – Oscar Wilde
– Collected reading editorial note : This quote when taken on face value can seem silly. My interpretation of it is that individuals are not disconnected from society’s needs and as such understand them as part of their own reality. Therefore, by solving your own problems you also contribute to solving the issues of many fellow citizens through your own particular lens on culture.
Individuality, Creativity, Work
Source : The Soul of Man Under Socialism
Hope you like this collection. Please comment, share and most of all enjoy.
– Kaushik
#6 Collected Reading : May 29th 2011
Quote of the week
“After visiting the slums of the metropolis, one realises for the first time that these Londoners have been forced to sacrifice the best qualities of their human nature, to bring to pass all the marvels of civilisation which crowd their city.” – Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844.
1.Single payer healthcare: Vermont’s gentle revolution
“Vermont hired Harvard economist William Hsiao to come up with three alternatives to the current system. The single payer system, Hsiao wrote, “will produce savings of 24.3% of total health expenditure between 2015 and 2024”
Health, Policy, Politics
Source : The Guardian
2. Unspoken Truths
“Simon Hoggart of The Guardian (son of the author of The Uses of Literacy), who about 35 years ago informed me that an article of mine was well argued but dull, and advised me briskly to write “more like the way that you talk. – Christopher Hitchens”
Creativity, Voice, Life
Source : Vanity Fair
3. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood poised to prosper in post-Mubarak new era
“But Muntasser al-Zayyat, a prominent Islamist lawyer, believes the Ikhwan could end up controlling as much as 60% of parliament – because their secular and liberal rivals are divided and far less experienced than ex-members of Mubarak’s now disbanded National Democratic party, who are likely to stand as independents in their old constituencies.”
Social, Networks, Culture
Source : The Guardian
4. Tale of two halves reunited after a 360-year separation
“The art historian is passionate about this painting, one of about 650,000 treasures moved from China to Taiwan in the last stages of the Chinese civil war that are now on display in the Taipei museum or stored in its vault..”
Art, History, Curation
Source : The Independent
5. Social Media Distractions Are Costing Businesses Major Money [STUDY]
“While these distractions are money-wasters for companies, they also negatively effect individuals’ ability to creatively solve problems, think deeply about work-related issues, efficiently process information and meet deadlines.”
Media, Work
Source : Mashable
Hope you like this collection. Please comment, share and most of all enjoy.
– Kaushik
#2 Collected Reading : May 1st 2011
1.Prodigal Sun
“Solar energy was a rising star in the ’70s — until it was banished by the powers that be. Are we ready for its return.”
Sustainable, Technology,USA
Source : Motherjones
2. Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
“Everyone possesses self-interest in a narrow sense: I want what’s good for me right now! Self-interest “properly understood” is different. It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone else’s self-interest—in other words, the common welfare—is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being.”
Economy, Life, USA
Source : Vanity Fair
3. American Murder Mystery
“People were moved too quickly, without any planning, and without any thought about where they would live, and how it would affect the families or the places,” complains James Rosenbaum, the author of the original Gautreaux study.
Housing, Urban, Race
Source : The Atlantic
4. John Maeda Mulls RISD’s Backlash Against His Cyber-Style Leadership
I realize that what I thought could work in the digital era doesn’t have the same impact locally as it does globally. People don’t want more messages; they want more interactions.
Teaching, Design, Leadership, Digital
Source : Fast Company Digital
5. Streetlife – Performing politics in the square
How does urban geography effect the way societies develop? What have streets given to politics?
Urban, Culture, Global
Source : BBC : Thinking Allowed
Hope you like this collection. Please comment, share and most of all enjoy.
– Kaushik
#1 Collected Reading : April 24th 2011
This is the first in a series of collected readings. The best of what I read and see for a given week.
1.The Sharing Economy
“She asked the crowd what percentage of time the average person uses his car. “Across the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe, it’s 8%,” she said. “Which means that over 90% of the time, this thing that costs us a lot of money is just sitting around.”
Collaboration, Technology, SF
Source : Fastcompany
2. Jemima Kiss: How I kicked my digital habit
“The more we connect, the more our thoughts lean outward”
Technology, Life, London
Source : The Guardian
3. Maurice Glasman: my Blue Labour vision can defeat the coalition
“To bring together previously separated political matter in the pursuit of the common good.”
Politics, Labour, London
Source : The Guardian
4. Let’s work together.
The Mill Co. Project and the collaborative work ethic
Collaboration, Work, London, Interdisciplinary
Source : Eye Magazine Blog
5. A brief history of Minimalism
“It was through one Brian Eno that the principles and practices behind minimalism would properly, and most lastingly, permeate the pop mainstream.”
Collaboration, Music, Interdisciplinary, Media
Source : Fact
Hope you like this first collection. Please comment, share and most of all enjoy.
– Kaushik
Collected Reading 