Intermitent Fasting

Jane Brody writes about the befits of fasting .

-DD

Google Classroom Features

Eric Curts lists new features in Google Classroom .

-DD

Lifespan

David Sinclair has written the book Lifespan about the benefits of life extension research. In his work at Harvard he has theorized that aging is primarily a deterioration of the epigenetic settings settings the cells.

-DD

Sleep Deprivation

Jill Duffy reports that routinely getting only six hours of sleep results in sleep deprivation and low performance.

-DD

Academic Major and Wage Gap

Carolyn Sloane, Erik Hurst and Dan Black studied gender differences in academic majors , and noticed that women tend to select majors with lower income potentials.

-DD

Conflict and Incivility

Michael Blanding suggests that most group conflict is based on inaccurate assumptions about the reactions or plans of other people. Negotiating with some basic rules might eliminate much of the conflict in work and politics.

-DD

Map of Corporate History

Elizabeth Segran presents a map of old companies around the world.

-DD

Rituals and Commitment

Dina Gerdeman suggest that following rituals establishs commitment both in personal life and in the business environment.

-DD

Bible Lens

Bible Lens is a graphic tool to illustrate Bible concepts.

-DD

The Role of Rebel Talent

James Heskett asks whether there should be a mix of creative types focused on new ideas and managers focused on rule compliance and process execution . The comments generally agree that a mix of outlooks is necessary for most companies.

-DD

Women and Computing

Clare Evans has written Broad Band , a comphrensive history of the role of women in computer technology.

-DD

The Eisenhower Box

James Clear shares a set of criteria for allocating time made famous by U.S. President Eisenhower . The "Eisenhower Box" assigns tasks to one of these four values:

1. Urgent and important (tasks you will do immediately).
2. Important, but not urgent (tasks you will schedule to do later).
3. Urgent, but not important (tasks you will delegate to someone else).
4. Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you will eliminate).

I attempt to use this concept at work. In doing so, I have discovered that a missing dimension in the Eisenhower Box is the need to let time pass for more information to become available. And that some urgent tasks may not be important in your work life but are very important in your personal life (spending time in the hospital with a sick spouse, for example) and cannot be delegated.

This is still a useful framework.

-DD

Promoting Civil Society

Kirk J. Schneider and Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi suggest that a massive initiative to create mindfulness and dialogue is needed to preserve our security and freedoms. They commend the work of Better Angels, which offers structured dialogues between conservatives and liberals.

My own take is that much of today's incivility is a competitive "team" culture, where the individual is socially motivated to support their "gang" even to the point of supporting (even engaging in) repugnant behavior. In that case, a national draft which caused diverse individuals to work together may have more impact than an intellectual dialogue.

-DD

Upon Waking

Srinivas Rao suggests that upon waking we should meditate rather than immediately being drawn into our electronic devices (phones, computers, tablets).

-DD

Android Phone Backup and Restore Procedures

J. R. Raphael explains how to backup Android phones in a fairly comprehensive guide to the subject.

-DD

Presidents Day

Dictionary.com has a post about the origin (and spelling) of Presidents Day . The legislated designation of the holiday is Washington's Birthday.

-DD

Worship When Enslaved

Albert Raboteau tells of worship in the time of slavery .

-DD

Configuring the Chrome Browser for Business

James Martin provides a list of 20 Chrome extensions for business . Categories include:

• Productivity and email
• Privacy and security
• Analytics
• Information gathering
• Miscellaneous

-DD

American Geographical Society

The American Geographical Society Library is a large collection of maps located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The American Geographical Society is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

-DD

Children's Literacy

Annabelle Timsit reports that the Clinton Foundation is working to establish 600 book collections in laundraumats before the end of 2020. The Foundation's work is based on the premise that access to books is key to developing a love of learning, and that those least likely to own books are also more likely to use a laundromat.

In related news, Jenny Anderson reports that the British are doing better at instilling a love of reading in their children. Eighty percent of British children 6-8 years old love to read, compared with 62% of U.S. children the same age (Source: Scholastic Books).

-DD

Fried Chicken in Barberton, Ohio

Luke Fater reports on Serbian fried chicken came to Barberton, Ohio.

-DD

Mental Heath in a University Environment

The Healthy Minds Network advocates for student mental health care. They believe that helping students coping with mental health challenges saves a university money, as these students usually can succeed with help.

-DD

Sleeping on Your Back

Eleanor Cummins writes about the benefits of sleeping on your back .

-DD

Deben Bhattacharya, Ethnomusicologist

Megan Jacobini de Fazio tells the story of the pioneering ethnomusicologist Deben Bhattacharya . Bhattacharya drove from Great Britain to India, recording music as he traveled.

-DD

The Need for Sleep

Wes Judd lists the consequences of sleep deprivation .

-DD

The Cause of Dyslexia

Anna Nowogrodzki reports on studies led by Merav Ahissar and John Gabrieli which indicate dyslexia may be a result of diminished neural adaptation.

-DD

Largest Medieval Book

The National Library of Sweden has the largest Medieval book , called the Codex Gigas.

Another curious devotional book from this library has six books within one cover:

This variation of a dos-à-dos binding format allows the resulting volume to be opened in six different ways. Each of the six books in this binding can thus be read separately. The volume is from the late 16th century and comes from the Rogge Library in Strängnäs.

-DD

Source: National Library of Sweden
Sixfold dos-à-dos binding: Book #6

Photo: István Borbás/National Library of Sweden

Shopping Mall Functions

Abha Bhattarai explores the transition of shopping malls into venues for upscale recreation. The recently completed New Jersey mall American Dream Meadowlands offers indoor skiing and skating, as well as the largest indoor shopping area in the state.

Old shopping malls are being transformed into megachurches, senior centers, or homeless shelters. This maintains their function of providing a gathering place within a new context.

-DD

Education and Employment

Goldie Blumenstyk revisits predictions that education beyond high school would be required for 63% of all jobs. The current data shows about 70% of workers have credentials beyond a high school degree.

I recently heard a college recruiter state that "a college degree is the now the basic diploma." These figures seem to support this, though Blumenstyk does provide some caveats for analyzing the data and this implied trend.

-DD

Safety Online

Mark Risher explains how Google developed an online safety center to guide people in safe online behavior.

-DD

Links Between Information Theory and Quantum Theory

John Horgan considers the links between information theory and quantum theory.

-DD

Google Fact Checking

Alexios Mantzarlis writes about fact checking technology which uses a shared data schema (or format) which allows Google to index and display fact checking reports from a number of trusted sites. This data appears in relevant Google searches, or may be queried directly using the Factcheck Explorer.

-DD