My Weekly Reading Progress Report

7322

in her new book, Janesville: An American Story, she sought to capture deeply personal stories
what this dramatic loss of jobs looked like from different peoples’ perspectives,”
One of these characters was Matt Wopat, who decided to start commuting to Indiana for work in order to keep his family in Janesville.
Janesville, Wisconsin, is one of these cities: Its General Motors plant largely shuttered in December 2008 (closing for good in April 2009) and Rock County lost approximately 9,000 jobs between 2008 and 2009
writer Amy Goldstein
“A question that really grabbed me emotionally was one that asked, ‘Do you feel ashamed or embarrassed that you lost a job?’ And just over half the people who answered this survey said they did.”
Listen to the full episode for more with Goldstein about how the plant closure affected Janesville’s other businesses

Journalist Amy Goldstein on telling a story of small-town struggle that goes beyond statistics - Vox

7 annotations

mathematics

5487

Lesley Muldoon, a 37-year-old mother of three in Washington, learned just that with the birth of her son two and a half years ago. Because of the law, she was able to get a free breast pump, and that smoothed her transition going back to work.
in recent years, several studies have shown that the provisions — giving moms access to lactation consultants, breast pumps, and time and space at work to pump their milk until as late as a year after birth — have contributed to rising breastfeeding rates in the US.
Now women’s health and breastfeeding advocates worry that we might be poised for a reversal of this trend.
Medical organizations, including the World Health Organization and the Academy of Pediatrics, recommend that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives — and that they should then receive breast milk, supplemented by other foods, for about two years afterward. The longer babies receive breast milk in their first years, the better.
The ACA’s regulations went into effect in 2010 and 2012. From 2011 to 2014, the rate of women who were breastfeeding 12 months after giving birth rose from 27 percent to 34 percent,
s Obamacare, included provisions aimed at supporting mothers who want to breastfeed, as part of its expansion of preventive-health services coverage

How the slow sabotage of Obamacare may hurt America’s breastfeeding rate - Vox

6 annotations

babies and toddlers

www.huffingtonpost.com.au

4644

decreased risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes.
French roast and other dark-roasted coffees may be less irritating because they contain a compound
the acidity from coffee drinks can cause a burning sensation upon exposure to sensitive tissue,
Most studies have found that coffee is also pretty good for your health. As long as you’re not overdoing it
MCTs may increase metabolism and improve mental clarity, but can also cause indigestion,”
we all metabolize caffeine differently.
Caffeine has several physiological effects on the body, one of the most potent being its ability to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system to produce adrenaline from your adrenal glands,”

Here's How Different Types Of Coffee Drinks Impact Your Body And Brain | HuffPost Australia

7 annotations

food and drink

7584

You’ll learn to organize your finances.
Solo travel is growing in popularity.
solo travelers are still a niche minority as most travelers prefer to go in couples or groups.
Watch your own back because you’re the only one responsible for your safety. In fact, you might be the only person on the continent who cares whether you live or die!
You’ll also learn cross-linguistic communication.
When you see how big the world is and the magnanimity of its people, it’ll make you realize how diverse the world is. Strangely, this makes you both more humble and confident.
But, traveling alone accelerates your emotional and mental growth in a way that no other activity can. It makes you more open, agreeable and stable. It gives you a story and it makes you wise.

6 Ways Traveling Alone Makes You Stronger

7 annotations

travel

www.dumblittleman.com

8513

waves as high as 18 feet crashed ashore in the city
Scientists expressed surprise at the size of the tsunami that devastated the Indonesian city of Palu on Friday,
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which had waves as high as 100 feet and killed nearly a quarter of a million people from Indonesia to South Africa, resulted from a 9.1-magnitude megathrust quake in Sumatra.
The 7.5-magnitude quake, which struck in the early evening, was centered along the coast of the island of Sulawesi about 50 miles north of Palu.
Dr. Comfort said that Indonesia had a similar network of 22 sensors but that they were no longer in use because they were not being maintained or had been vandalized.
Indonesia currently uses only seismographs, global positioning system devices and tide gauges to detect tsunamis, which are of limited effectiveness, said Louise Comfort, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh graduate school.
It’s heartbreaking when you know the technology is there,”

Scientists Surprised by Power of Indonesia Tsunami - The New York Times

7 annotations

geology

7498

By the end of the day, sales had hit a new record of $25.3 billion, more than 40 percent higher than sales on Singles Day 2016.
The event’s date, written numerically as 11/11, was associated with unattached singles
Singles Day — the frenzied annual celebration of consumption
Singles Day is now inextricably linked with Alibaba

Alibaba’s Singles Day Sales Hit New Record of $25.3 Billion - The New York Times

4 annotations

dating

5372

1 Thing Separates Successful People
They impose their own will on their time.
Make thoughtful, smart, logical, conscious decisions about each appointment you set
The fact that he is so careful about his time, he has days that there's nothing on [his schedule]... [I learned] that you control your time, and that sitting and thinking may be a much higher priority than a normal CEO,
And, most important, they don't let other people impose their will on their time.

Warren Buffett Says Doing 1 Thing Separates Successful People From Everyone Else (and It Stunned Bill Gates) | Inc.com

5 annotations

shows and events

4812

A practical handbook for children aged nine and over who suffer from anxiety. Huebner makes the science behind panic and worry relatable and provides coaching in techniques derived from CBT and acceptance and commitment therapy
A scheme for GPs to recommend books for mental health and wellbeing is extending its reach to younger readers.
Mum’s Jumper is one of 33 books chosen by health professionals,
Aimed at children between seven and 11
I don’t think books replace formal counselling and help, but they can empower and help family conversations,”
that Up and Down Mum, one of the titles selected for the new list, would be useful for joint reading. “Children with unwell parents often feel very sad and guilty and worry the problem is because they themselves have done something wrong. I think books can be starting points for things that are difficult to discuss
For Michael Rosen, whose Sad Book, illustrated by Quentin Blake, is included on the list, the initiative is “harnessing the power of reading to help tackle the crisis facing children’s mental health

Picture books on prescription | Books | The Guardian

7 annotations

4285

It involves scanning open source and public documents, including reports published by diplomatic offices
A large amount of the work was done by hand, which is why it took the team five years to collect all the data
Why should we care?
Most of that money was directed toward private sector investments and loan agreements.
Most Chinese ODA went to African countries, with the continent responsible for seven of the top 10 recipients.
China joins countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela who collectively spend billions of dollars on overseas development each year but provide little to no information about where the money goes.
The new data shows that Chinese funds went to more than 4,300 projects in 140 countries and territories. The countries that benefit the most from China's aid vary geographically. Angola, Pakistan and Russia got the most money over the 15-year period.
AidData developed a new method to find out where and how countries spend money called Tracking Underreported Financial Flows, or TUFF.
Russia and Angola top the list because they are oil-rich countries and important trade partners with China
The "One Belt, One Road" project, as it is called, is a sort of revitalization of the old Silk Road that enabled trade centuries ago by supporting countries in southeast Asia, central Asia and east Africa

Report: China Spends An Estimated $362.1 Billion On Foreign Aid ... But On What? : Goats and Soda : NPR

10 annotations

tourist destinations

www.npr.org

7580

But someone following the crisis through social media would see something else entirely
The Paper, a digital news outlet that is overseen by Shanghai’s Communist Party Committee, published a chilling video about a Wuhan resident who couldn’t find a hospital that would treat him and ended up wandering the streets.
someone following the coronavirus crisis through China’s official news media would see lots of footage, often set to stirring music, praising the heroism
The government usually keeps a tight grip on what is said, seen and heard about it.
When China’s leaders battled the SARS virus in the early 2000s, social media was only just beginning to blossom in the country. The government covered up the disease’s spread, and it was left to journalists and other critics to shame the authorities into acknowledging the scale of the problem.

As Virus Spreads, Anger Floods Chinese Social Media - The New York Times

5 annotations

4399

“The DoD doesn’t always present a clear picture of accidental mishap-related deaths due to worries about operational security, hence the trouble with [Public Affairs Office] releases
2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than deployed service members
: Twice as many students have been killed in school shootings as have members of the military who were on deployment
Comparing all fatalities in school shootings with all military deaths, the latter is higher, contrary to the original headline of this article. In both cases, those totals have been boosted by mass casualty events. In the case of the military, 20 of the fatalities occurred in just three aircraft crashes
On Monday, researcher Zachary Austin sent a more complete set of data about military casualties. Having realized that the Defense Department numbers were incomplete, he began tracking military fatalities separately,

2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren than deployed service members - The Washington Post

5 annotations

school

7662

"If I do these three big things, the other 20 things will kind of happen as outcomes, or outputs, of it.
You can listen to the full episode of Hoffman's podcast
Chesky explained his technique to Greylock investor and LinkedIn founder and chairman Reid Hoffman
Make a list of everything you want to accomplish that day
Group a few similar tasks together.
What one action takes care of all of these

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's daily scheduling routine - Business Insider

6 annotations

radio

8422

, I’d like to share three reading comprehension strategies
Forcing yourself to connect ideas helps you realize that there is no single way of looking at the world
It’s important to read books, but it is just as important to remember what you read and put it to good use.
First, if I am listening to an audiobook then I create a new note for that book and type my notes in as I listen. My preference is to listen to audiobooks on 1.25x speed and then press pause whenever I want to write something down
Typing notes while reading a print book can be annoying because you are always putting the book down and picking it back up. I like to place the book on a book stand, which makes it much easier to type out a long quote or keep my hands free while reading.
knowledge is not separated into neatly defined boxes. Topics overlap and bleed into one another. All knowledge is interconnected.
I try to consider how the book I’m reading connects with all of the ideas that are already knocking around inside my head

How to Retain More of Every Book You Read – Personal Growth – Medium

7 annotations

religion and spirituality

medium.com

7481

The typical American family had a net worth of $97,300 in 2016, up 16 percent from 2013 after adjusting for inflation,
The Richest Control More Wealth
The richest 1 percent of households controlled 38.6 percent of total wealth in 2016, up from 36.3 percent in 2013.
Wednesday’s data, from the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, shows the strength of the economic rebound in recent years, but also just how large a hole the recession left in many households’ finances.
A Boom, but for Whom?
Households have made significant progress in one area: debt.
Moreover, fewer Americans report being late on debt payments, filing for bankruptcy or taking out high-interest payday loans.
One type of debt is still rising, however: student loans. More than 22 percent of families reported having education debt in 2016, up from 15 percent before the recession. The median borrower owed $19,000.

Wealth Grew Broadly Over 3 Years, but Inequality Widened - The New York Times

8 annotations

family and parenting

8337

The six metrics he charted were life expectancy; GDP per capita; the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty
The fluctuations associated with nearly all historical events are dwarfed by the changes associated with just one event: the Industrial Revolution.
One of the most striking things about the chart is how little most historical events affected it. The 1918 flu epidemic killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people. It shows up on the chart, but as a brief blip in a general upward trajectory. World War II surpassed that death toll, killing more than 60 million people; it’s not even visible on the graph. Even though our capacity to slaughter each other has been growing — and the 20th century was rife with such atrocities — the overall trajectory has been that things keep getting better.
collecting all the data we have available for six different metrics of human well-being
The graph starts in 1000 BC and goes to the present day
The most striking lessons from this chart

The Industrial Revolution was the most important event in history - Vox

6 annotations

politics

7208

More men are also entering many female-dominated professions like teaching, nursing and food services
The fastest-growing jobs in America are in industries that have long employed more women, such as health care and education.
In the 1960s, less than 10% of American doctors and lawyers were women. Today, the figure is closer to 40%

America’s segregated labour market

3 annotations

work

www.economist.com

6600

I’ve been with my wife Pauline since I was 21. We’ve been together since 1967. What’s the secret? Give and take. Learning to listen. Learning to be interested and interesting
I’m a happy person. I’m very optimistic. Every day is a new beginning. I don’t get depressed
Anybody who says they don’t mind getting older is telling porky pies. Of course you mind.

Paul Smith: ‘Luckily I’ve still got the legs of a teenager’ | Life and style | The Guardian

3 annotations

children

4434

time is the greatest equalizer in life. No matter who you are, your age, income, gender, race or religion, you have the same amount of time
you also have to get serious about avoiding distractions and becoming too immersed in the bad habits that you know you need to quit.
. Life is short. So don't ignore those things while you reach for your bigger goals. With that said, here are 15 crucial time management tips for getting the proverbial job done.
One of the biggest problems that most entrepreneurs have isn't just in how they can get enough done in such a demanding market, but also how they maintain some semblance of balance without feeling too overworked.
The quadrant time-management system is probably the most effective. It splits your activities into four quadrants based on urgency and importance.
Audit your time for seven days straight.
These are your most important tasks (MITs) of the day. Accomplishing those will give you the biggest momentum to help you sail through the rest of the day.
Every single evening before bed, make a list for the next day

15 Time Management Tips for Achieving Your Goals

8 annotations

personal finance

7807

Not washing your hands properly after going to the toilet can have serious health consequences. “E coli is the biggest single cause of bacterial bloodstream infections in the UK,
When you wash your hands with soap, what the soap does is to detach the microbes from your hands, but the microbes remain alive
“Rub them for at least 15 seconds,

Bathroom hygiene: how to ensure you never spread E coli | Society | The Guardian

3 annotations

disease

4560

Vulnerability means authenticity.
Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition or something we can arrange to do without, vulnerability is not a choice, vulnerability is the underlying, ever present and abiding undercurrent of our natural state."
The ability to be vulnerable is such an important aspect of life that I switched the two words sitting on my nightstand from "Thank You" to "Radical Humility," as a reminder to be humble and allow myself to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability is simply the courage to be yourself, "warts and all," a core component of effective leadership.
To be vulnerable with others, you must learn to illuminate your flaws as well as your mistakes when you make them. This creates an environment of forgiveness and fosters growth for those you are leading

Stop Trying to Pretend That You're Perfect

5 annotations

computer security

7900

It’s the term coined by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954 to describe “the feeling of psychological discomfort produced by the combined presence of two thoughts that do not follow from one another.
Cognitive-dissonance is just one of many biases that work in our everyday lives. We don’t like to believe that we may be wrong, so we may limit our intake of new information or thinking about things in ways that don’t fit within our pre-existing beliefs. Psychologists call this “confirmation bias.”
So while cognitive dissonance resolves the internal anxiety we face over two opposing beliefs or behaviors, it may also inadvertently reinforce future bad decisions.
Self-awareness seems to be a key to understanding how and when cognitive dissonance may play a role in your life.
We also don’t like to second-guess our choices, even if later they are proven wrong or unwise. By second-guessing ourselves, we suggest we may not be as wise or as right as we’ve led ourselves to believe.
But for all of the writing about cognitive dissonance, little has been written about what to do about it

Fighting Cognitive Dissonance & The Lies We Tell Ourselves

6 annotations

medicine

psychcentral.com

6072

When the Census Bureau released its annual report on the country’s economic well-being on Tuesday, it showed unmistakable progress: For the second year in a row, household incomes — clobbered by the 2007 recession — had grown. More Americans were working, and more had health insurance, in 2016 than the year before.
Over the past five decades, Middle America has been stagnant in terms of its economic growth,” said Mark Rank, a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
the potential culprits behind the long-term trends are many — global competition, technological advances, trade imbalances, a mismatch of skills, the tax system, housing prices, factory shutdowns, excessive regulation, Wall Street pressure, the erosion of labor unions and more.
that steady progress stopped in the late 1960s. Then, instead of increasing, lifetime earnings for men made an about-face and began to decline.

Bump in U.S. Incomes Doesn’t Erase 50 Years of Pain - The New York Times

4 annotations

work

5046

He says what shocked him was not the sight of the body on the street, but the lack of reaction from people at the scene—“as if nothing had happened.”
although much of the focus on gun violence in the U.S. is on mass shootings, they account for about 1 percent of all shooting deaths. The overwhelming majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms.
Clark, who is the president and CEO of ShotSpotter, a company whose technology uses sensors to identify the sound of a gun being fired,
ShotSpotter’s technology provides police departments with a comprehensive picture of firearms use in a community—and it has been used by prosecutors to convict suspected shooters

The Normalization of Gun Violence in Poor Communities - The Atlantic

4 annotations

law enforcement

www.theatlantic.com

7127

Each dot represents between 25-500 people over the age of 25,
Blue dots are graduate degrees, green are bachelor's, yellow are some college, orange are high school, and red is everything short of high school.
people with less education tend to live in the outer boroughs around Manhattan,
The San Francisco Bay Area is marked by high levels of education in Berkeley
downtown LA and east LA contain a heavy concentration of high school dropouts.
Chicago gets more educated the further you move toward Lake Michigan
Like LA, the city has clear divisions between neighborhoods.

Mesmerizing maps show where the most educated Americans live - Business Insider

7 annotations

education

8381

Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency over the right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen in a sweeping victory
Ms. Le Pen was strongest in areas with high unemployment and low wages, where she campaigned on pledges to stop immigration
Mr. Macron, a political newcomer who campaigned on a centrist, pro-Europe platform
the far right’s hold on the French political landscape.

How France Voted - The New York Times

4 annotations

tourist destinations

2129

Apple chief executive Tim Cook urged MIT graduates Friday to infuse their work with humanity, cautioning that technology alone is not enough.
Don’t listen to trolls, and for God’s sake, don’t become one.”
technology designed to connect us can actually divide us
technology designed to connect us can actually divide u
Cook’s search landed him at Apple, he said, he found purpose in a company with a simple mission: serve humanity.
He highlighted threats to security and to privacy,
“I’m more concerned about people thinking like computers — without values or compassion, without concern for consequences,” he said.

Apple’s Tim Cook urges MIT grads to keep humanity at center of their work - The Boston Globe

7 annotations

technology and computing

www.bostonglobe.com

6169

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end,
, the founder and former CEO of Moz, is one of the world's leading experts on SEO. Moz is now a $45 million a year business, but Fishkin's business and reputation took 15 years to grow,
"Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World" by Rand Fishkin
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life" by Francesca Gino

The 10 best business and leadership books of 2018 so far, according to Goodreads - Business Insider

5 annotations

books and literature

7391

No, he wanted to know what she had failed at. And when she told him, do you know what his reaction was? He high-fived her.
: Every week growing up, her father made her reflect on something she'd failed at, then showed her that not only was she still loved after failing, but she was celebrated for it.
My dad taught me that failing simply just leads you to the next great thing."
"Failure is another steppingstone to greatness." --Oprah "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." --Thomas Edison
. In 2012, Forbes named Blakely the youngest self-made woman billionaire in the world.
Yet when asked what the best advice she ever received was, she doesn't talk about success.
how some of the biggest failures in our lives just nudge us into another path."
Probably because we grew up in schools that tended to only reward "success" (getting the answer right). We were trained to become perfectionists.

Billionaire CEO Sara Blakely Says These 7 Words Are the Best Career Advice She Ever Got | Inc.com

8 annotations

visual art and design

7784

Chin's investment company, Arowana, based in Sydney, Australia, is expanding into London, Los Angeles, and Asia,
, the entrepreneur began working with Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, executive coach, and lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
applying neuroscience to business has been mounting for decades.
Optimized thinking requires a healthy brain, and so part of Swart's advice falls into the familiar sleep-eat-hydrate-and-exercise domain
Multitaskers who try to use several modes of thinking at once generally do less well at all of them. Swart recommends working on problems consecutively and looking at them from different angles
with fixed mindsets should use neuroplasticity to try to move themselves toward growth
The fact that you are forced to attend to things that your brain hasn't experienced before has its own benefit apart from what you learn," says Swart. "The brain becomes more flexible, which [supports] things like being able to regulate your emotions, solve complex problems, and think more creatively."

The 4 Brain Superpowers You Need to Be a Successful Leader, According to Neuroscience | Inc.com

7 annotations

disorders

5028

It's having the ability to tap into someone else's feelings (as well as your own) to consider a different outcome. That takes empathy
I've witnessed drama especially with teams under pressure to meet tight deadlines, or when high-level managers or executives with strong personalities pull in different and opposing directions to further their own agendas.
, laying low and avoiding the line of fire is an option
a six second pause -- to gather your thoughts before you speak. Why six seconds
self-awareness to their advantage to assess a situation,
, avoid being triggered and reacting with sarcasm or a negative comeback, which is the sure path to conflict and escalating drama.
if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.

7 Brilliant Things Emotionally Intelligent People Do When Their Buttons Are Pushed | Inc.com

7 annotations

needlework

8804

The marshmallow test is one of the most famous pieces of social-science research:
tell her that she can have a second one if she can go 15 minutes without eating the first one, and then leave the room
the classic marshmallow test, which was developed by the Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel in the 1960s.
But a new study, published last week, has cast the whole concept into doubt.
tracked how children went on to fare later in life.
The original results were based on studies that included fewer than 90 children
The researchers used a sample that was much larger—more than 900 children—and also more representative of the general population in terms of race, ethnicity, and parents’ education.
the new study finds limited support for the idea that being able to delay gratification leads to better outcomes. Instead, it suggests that the capacity to hold out for a second marshmallow is shaped in large part by a child’s social and economic background
the failure to confirm old assumptions pointed to an important truth: that circumstances matter more in shaping children’s lives than Mischel and his colleagues seemed to appreciate.

The Marshmallow Test: What Does It Really Measure? - The Atlantic

9 annotations

food

www.theatlantic.com

7032

a cat that has an appetite for sloppy letters — "written too large or too small, or if the letter is missing a stroke," explains one of the researchers, psychologist Cecilia Cheung, a professor at University of California Riverside. "So the only way children can stop their letters from being eaten is to write really carefully and practice every day."
By contrast, Cheung says a typical book from the U.S. is one called The Jar of Happiness.
The values included setting a goal to achieve something difficult, putting in a lot effort to complete the task and generally viewing intelligence as a trait that can be acquired through hard work rather than a quality that you're born with.
emphasizing that smiling is important, that laughing is important, that being surrounded by people who are happy is important."
if you think intelligence is gained through effort, then when you're confronted with a challenge or even an outright failure, "you just put more effort into it. You try to learn from the experience and you think about different ways of approaching the problem rather than saying, 'No, I'm just not smart and I'm just going to give up right away.'"
Chinese parents might want to learn from the American focus on encouraging children's happiness and sense of connection to others.
What are the hidden messages in the storybooks we read to our kids
underlying point is clear: "This is really instilling the idea of effort
this emphasis on happiness comes up a lot in the books from the U.S
Cheung notes that children in China consistently score higher on academic tests compared to children in the U.S. and Mexico. But she says more research is needed to determine how much of that is due to the storybooks or even to the larger differences in cultural values that the books reflect. Other completely unrelated factors, such as different teaching techniques could be at work.

Life Lessons From Chinese Children's Books Differ From Those In The U.S. : Goats and Soda : NPR

10 annotations

children

www.npr.org

7329

Since 2009, the competition has been run by European Best Destinations
The list of the 20 finalists of the “must-see” Christmas Markets competing for the prestigious title were:
15. Basel (Switzerland)
Tallinn Christmas Market will be promoted during 2019 to millions of travelers on European Best Destinations, which has the most-visited page for visitors looking for Christmas Markets in Europe.
8. Aachen (Germany)
1. Tallinn (Estonia)
Pedestrians walk under Christmas lights decorating the streets in Strasbourg, France,
20. Chester (United Kingdom).

This Hidden Gem Is The Best Christmas Destination In Europe

8 annotations

unrest and war

www.forbes.com

7426

Today's teenagers have other priorities.
unemployment rate measures joblessness only among people who are actively looking for work. And many American teens aren't.
43 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds were either working or looking for a job. That's 10 points lower than in July 2006. In 1988 and 1989, the July labor force participation rate for teenagers nearly hit 70 percent.
Parents are pushing kids to volunteer and sign up for extracurricular activities instead of working, to impress college admission counselors
Why aren't teens working? Lots of theories have been offered:
Immigrants are competing with teens for jobs; a 2012 study found that less educated immigrants affected employment for U.S
millions of teenagers aren't working because they're studying instead.
Teen earnings are low and pay little toward the costs of college,
education has taken up more and more of teenagers' time,
In July of last year, more than two in five 16- to 19-year-olds were enrolled in school. That's four times times as many as were enrolled in 1985, BLS data show.
All this studying has obvious benefits, but a single-minded focus on education has disadvantages, too.
but teens usually find it harder to find jobs than their more experienced elders.
researchers analyzed the effects of two Chicago programs providing students with part-time job
an effect felt for at least a year after the programs ended. If teens got nothing else out of the jobs programs, the researchers suggested, they were at least "learning to better avoid or manage conflict."

Why Aren’t American Teenagers Working Anymore? - Bloomberg

14 annotations

www.nationalgeographic.com

8197

America and Canada, divided by a common border

tourist destinations

www.economist.com

5441

The Dalai Lama
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion
J. K. Rowling
Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
I think self-knowledge is a key to happiness
Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement
I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe

26 Secrets of Happiness: Quotable Quotes | Reader's Digest

7 annotations

books and literature

www.rd.com

7264

WashingtonAs the home state of Starbucks, it should come as no surprise that Washington appears twice on this list
Beyond academia, this city is full of a great fine art collection and a few dozen bookstores to explore
Charlottesville, VirginiaWith a main street free of traffic, this charming downtown is the perfect place to sit outside and people watch as you restore your legs for the next great art gallery or antique shop.
Resonance helped us identify the top 20 small cities (less than 600,000 in population) for coffee shops

Anchorage, Alaska, and Other Surprising Cities for Best Cafes in the U.S.

4 annotations

food and grocery retailers

7254

According to annual statistics released Monday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total amount of US money invested abroad grew by $427 billion in 2017, or 7.6%. Most of that increase went to Europe,
The relationship goes both ways. Switzerland has also increased its investments in the United States over the years,
The biggest destination for American capital is the Netherlands, followed by the United Kingdom and Luxembourg
he

Americans are rushing to invest in Switzerland

4 annotations

government

money.cnn.com

7501

When people have the opportunity to reflect, they experience a boost in self-efficacy
They feel more confident that they can achieve things. As a result, they put more effort into what they're doing
While reflecting may seem like it leads to working less, it leads to achieving more.
The more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to prior knowledge,” the “Make It Stick” authors write, “the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be
One killer technique is to come up with real-life examples of principles you've just uncovered.
guidance we offer on the act of learning itself - the 'meta-cognitive' aspects of learning - is more hit-or-miss, and it shows.”
education research shows that low-achieving students have “substantial deficits” in their understanding of the cognitive strategies that allow people to learn well
knowledge about how learning actually works
Here are learning strategies that really work.
Connect the new thing to the old things

Four strategies for remembering everything you learn | The Independent

10 annotations

movies and tv

www.independent.co.uk

7709

However, in this day and age, our negativity bias, both as it relates to the environment and to our self-judgments, is harmful," she writes
Meanwhile, Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma was born to a poor family in China and later failed his university entrance exams twice before getting accepted to Hangzhou Teachers' Institute. Upon graduation, Ma applied for dozens of jobs and faced rejection after rejection.
If you want to be happier and more successful in life, it's important to fight the brain's natural tendency to focus on the negative
Highlighting the work of social psychologist Roy Baumeister, Seppälä points out that our brain's "tendency to give more weight to the negative may have helped our species survive by highlighting potential dangers.
When they each faced adversity and difficult situations, they did not allow themselves to feel defeated. Instead, they persisted and believed their efforts would pay off — a mindset encapsulated in this quote Seppälä credits to Einstein: "Failure is success in progress."
replacing your belief in strengths with belief in your efforts and replacing self-criticism with self-compassion.
"self-compassion" can sound "soft" or "idealistic." However, she explains, "it allows you to be successful without sabotaging yourself."
Research shows that three times more positive than negative things happen to us, yet we focus on the negative," Seppälä says. "By realizing the good things, we will obviously be not just happier, but more realistic. We won't let our life go by wasted on complaints, we'll actually enjoy and make the best of what we have."

Psychologist says this mindset makes you happier and successful

8 annotations

medicine

7456

If you’re reading for growth, read to get answers on specific questions
My top recommendations
I’ve read about topics ranging from Buddhism to business, philosophy to physics, and writers ranging from feminists to pick-up artists (and even Trump’s “Art of The Deal.”) I’ve read old books, new books, books with illustrations and fancy charts, a lot of books from which I got nothing and I handful of books I still love. 90% of this was non-fiction
For management
Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a fantastic piece on this, pointing out:“How many books from these ‘experts’ do you need to read before you can actually do something? You can only read so much and at some point, you just have to do. Stop being a student.”
For work

8 Things I Learned Reading 50 Books A Year For 7 Years

6 annotations

books and literature

medium.com

5016

Remember the larger purpose
Appreciate new perspectives
Even in space, we had downtime and it’s important to honor that. That’s the time you don’t need to be "productive". You can clear your brain - think, just sit, listen to music.
Make and honor the free time
Routine is key
I always like to use humor to defuse tense situations as they arise. You need to be hyper-aware of everyone else on your team and have the empathy to pick up anyone who is down but also know when to give them the quiet time
Use humor and empathy
their work and personal spaces aboard the space shuttle and the International Space Station are the same

7 Astronauts Offer Tips On How To Thrive While Social Distancing

8 annotations

www.forbes.com

4219

We often decide whether a decision is good or not based on its outcome. It’s what poker players call “resulting”.
Making good decisions certainly increases the chances of a good outcome; it doesn’t guarantee it. You could make the best possible play at every point in the game and still lose. Similarly, you could make the worst plays and still win.This is where the paradigm shift comes in — all decisions are bets
One reason is because we tend to overestimate the impact of our decisions and actions. In our minds, what we get is a result of what we do.
As a chess player, I like to think that I know how to make good decisions. After all, the game teaches you how to think logically and methodically. But that’s not how decision making works in the real world. Annie Duke explains this in her book, Thinking in Bets:
That sounds reasonable. But as we’ve seen, good outcomes are possible even when we make bad decisions, and vice-versa.
Sometimes, the uncertainty bites at us, and we forgo making a decision,
As humans, we strive for internal psychological consistency in order to mentally function in a complex world. This leads us to reject information that runs contradictory to what we believe.
The smarter you are, the better you are at constructing a narrative that supports your beliefs, rationalizing and framing the data to fit your argument or point of view. After all, people in the “spin room” in a political setting are generally pretty smart for a reason.”
All we can do is learn to be comfortable with uncertainty and keep making good bets.
You don’t always get the outcome you want even when you make the best decision. Even if you get a positive outcome, it’s difficult to tell if you deserve credit. There’s a double layer of complexity.In many ways, life is one long poker game.

Annie Duke: How To Make Decisions Like A Professional Poker Player

10 annotations

games

medium.com

7493

In an attempt to combat the spread of the virus, South Korea has launched a testing campaign all around the country. Shops, gyms and other facilities where infected people have gone have all been shut down and disinfected.
On February 28, Kim took to Reddit to share photos of the box that he had received that day from the dictrict's public health officials. The box contained food, water, masks, toothbrushes, a thermometer, hand-sanitising gel, a bag for dirty tissues and even a guide for how to self-quarantine with instructions for accessing emergency funds from the government.

Food, water and masks: South Korea’s COVID-19 quarantine kits

2 annotations

observers.france24.com

4692

According to the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap report, Japan ranks 110th out of 149 countries,
In 2014, the BOJ followed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s lead and said it would try to hire women for 30% of career-track positions.
Still, Japan remains far behind in promoting women, who held only 13% of managerial positions in 2017.

Bank of Japan Appoints First Female Chief Spokesperson - Bloomberg

3 annotations

programming languages

4666

Surely some people can read a book or watch a movie once and retain the plot perfectly. But for many, the experience of consuming culture is like filling up a bathtub, soaking in it, and then watching the water run down the drain.
The "forgetting curve", as it's called, is steepest during the first 24 hours after you learn something.
When people expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall of the information itself,"
"Memory generally has a very intrinsic limitation
most common kind of reading is likely reading as consumption: where we read, especially on the internet, merely to acquire information. Information that stands no chance of becoming knowledge unless it 'sticks'."
unless you review the material, much of it slips down the drain after the first day, with more to follow in the days after, leaving you with a fraction of what you took in.
recognition memory is more important. "So long as you know where that information is at and how to access it, then you don't really need to recall it," he says.
In 2009, the average American encountered 100,000 words a day, even if they didn't "read" all of them. It's hard to imagine that's decreased in the nine years since
The information is flowing in, we're understanding it, it seems like it is smoothly collating itself into a binder to be slotted onto the shelves of our brains. "But it actually doesn't stick unless you put effort into it and concentrate and engage in certain strategies that will help you remember."

Why we forget most of the books we read | afr.com

9 annotations

www.afr.com

7597

Write a list of all of your ideas. They can be big picture items
Narrow the list
What works is successful because you've found a solution to your issue. What doesn't work is also successful because you've learned a key lesson from it
When it comes to trying new things we oftentimes can feel scared or unsure of the consequences
How I Built This, an NPR show hosted by Guy Raz. It's a raw, authentic, and vulnerable look into the lives of notable entrepreneurs and the journey of creating their companies.
But it wasn't all fun and easy for Madden. He served two and a half years in prison for financial crimes, but upon reflecting on it, he doesn't regret a day in prison. He regrets being greedy for money, but not for the actual time he spent in there.
But here is Madden, a man who served time in prison and is still running his self-founded shoe company
Don't let the unknown fear of results hold you back from finding out or landing on your next big idea

Steve Madden Says This Is the Mindset You Need to Be a Successful Entrepreneur | Inc.com

8 annotations

radio

7457

This year, 600 award-winning Reuters photojournalists worked across the world to document both major historic moments and the human stories that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Natan Cabral, 5, stands on the cracked ground of the Boqueirao reservoir in the Metropolitan Region of Campina Grande, Paraiba state, Brazil, on February 13, 2017.
A displaced Iraqi with his son prepares to get on a truck to be carried to a safe place, as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq, on March 8, 2017.
A full moon rises over the Temple of Poseidon
A boy who just fled a village controlled by Islamic State fighters cries as he sits with his family inside a bus
A girl walks amidst a dust storm on the banks of the Ganges river in Allahabad,
Pigs are herded off a platform into water by breeders during a daily exercise at a pig farm in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China
refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia

Best photos of the year - Business Insider

8 annotations

business and industrial

7752

On my nightstand right now, there’s “Educated,” by Tara Westover; “An American Marriage,” by Tayari Jones; “Exit West,” by Mohsin Hamid;
Long Walk to Freedom.” I like to flip through it from time to time because it always seems to give me an extra boost when I need it.
What books do you return to again and again
So what are you reading next?
What books are on your nightstand?
I get most of my reading done when I travel
with limited reading time, I preferred to read new books.
, I’ve now read Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” three times. I reread “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Life of Pi” with the girls, too.
Educated,” by Tara Westover. This one came from Barack. I actually just finished it, and it is as phenomenal as he — and everyone else — says it is. It’s an engrossing read, a fresh perspective on the power of an education, and it’s also a testament to the way grit and resilience can shape our lives.

Michelle Obama: By the Book - The New York Times

9 annotations

children

7123

After a few visits, she started the fundraiser with the hopes of using the money toward housing and other expenses for the 34-year-old Bobbitt.
a homeless veteran, approached her and told her to “get back in the car and lock the doors” while he walked a few blocks and bought her gas with his last $20
He comes back with a red gas can. Using his last 20 dollars to make sure I could get home safe,” she wrote.
McClure, who told ABC she visits Bobbitt about 2-3 times a week, discovered his old Facebook page that revealed he had been in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a firefighter and paramedic before he moved to Philadelphia for a job that fell through. After that, his apartment fell through and he became homeless
Johnny asked me to please stop accepting donations today. He is beyond humbled by the amount of support and love he has received over the last few days! He asked, instead of donating to his campaign, to maybe take a second to search for another worthy cause that, for whatever reason, hasn’t gotten the attention his has," she wrote.
A New Jersey woman who was helped by a homeless man after she ran out of gas
"I wish that I could do more for this selfless man, who went out of his way just to help me that day,
But now, he’d like to get re-certified as a paramedic, ABC News reports.

Woman raises more than $350K for homeless man who helped her | Fox News

8 annotations

family and parenting

www.foxnews.com

7452

Italy: Leather goods
The Netherlands: Delftware
Delftware is blue and white pottery that's named after the city where it's produced — Delft.
Romania: Wooden spoon
Croatia: Licitar heart
Turkey: Turkish coffee
England: Cadbury chocolate
Yes, Cadbury chocolate is available in the US, but the ingredients and the taste aren't the same. Hershey's makes the Cadbury chocolate that's sold here, and it may have more sugar than the British version, and isn't nearly as creamy or rich.

The best souvenir to buy in 20 European countries | The Independent

8 annotations

beverages

www.independent.co.uk

8432

But for now, even as companies add more robots to North American factory floors, the number of human jobs in manufacturing is also on the rise.
Last year, for the first time in decades, more manufacturing jobs came back to the United States than left
Labor has become more expensive in China than in the past, with Chinese wages going up 12 percent to 15 percent a year for the past 15 years
both human jobs and robotic manufacturing are on the rise, in the end machines do take away jobs from humans. For every robot brought into the U.S. workforce between 1990 and 2007, six human jobs were lost,
why aren’t U.S. manufacturing jobs plummeting? The answer, for now, may be that robots are actually helping bring more jobs back from overseas than they’re eliminating.
In the first quarter of 2017, North American companies bought 32 percent more robots than the same period last year,

Why manufacturing jobs are coming back to the U.S. — even as companies buy more robots - Recode

6 annotations

manufacturing

www.recode.net

8305

When a message gets past the RAS filter it enters the cerebrum and is then converted into conscious thoughts, emotions or even both.
Dopamine feedback loops
the real secret to success comes down to science, particularly advancements in neuroscience, and how you can condition your brain to achieve your dreams
how your brain functions in three different areas: reticular activating system (RAS), the release of dopamine and your memory.
This means the more you keep your goals ‘top of mind,’ the more your subconscious mind will work to reach them. That’s why writing your goals down every day, visualizing your intended outcome
The Reticular Activating System
RAS influences cognition and is basically a filter for the roughly eight million bits of information (subconsciously) flowing through our brain.
When we succeed at something, our brains release chemical rewards,
Under the right circumstances, this can drive us to seek out ever-greater thrills
dopamine is strongly connected to motivation, driving us to repeat the behaviors that create that rush
Memories
Scientists, however, found that we can edit those bad memories to remove the negative associations. In fact, this memory therapy is used to treat PTSD sufferers.
Visualization is a powerful tool to retrain your subconscious mind, because it allows you to feel and experience a situation which hasn’t happened yet

Neuroscience Tells Us How to Hack Our Brains for Success

13 annotations

disorders

6252

morning routine
"Keep a pad of paper and a pencil next to your bed. Right before you go to sleep, write down anything you're worrying about that might keep you awake," suggests Stever Robbins, productivity expert and host of the podcast The Get It Done Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More. "Your brain will be able to let it go because it knows [those thoughts are] safely written down."
scribbling the top two things you want to get done the next day
. Designate a 'drop zone' for the essentials

Morning routine hacks that will save you time - Business Insider

4 annotations

beverages

7468

They've learned life lessons you cannot get in school.
Rainer Zitelmann from the University of Potsdam has therefore set himself on a rarely researched topic in his dissertation: How does one become a multimillionaire?
Access to entrepreneurship is often based on technical and craft skills rather than theoretical knowledge.
spoke with 45 self-made multi-multimillionaires
Sixty percent of the participants came from an entrepreneurial family.
Another thing many self-made multi-millionaires have in common: In the past, they had an idea that failed.
Very little research has been done so far on the extremely private group of the German super-rich.
educational qualifications are given too much importance in the question of why someone has become rich

German multi-millionaires value experience over education - Business Insider

8 annotations

school

7498

Hoping to lure new tenants in a sluggish market, commercial towers across the country are dangling amenities often associated with luxury apartment living, like pool tables, wine storage and golf simulators.
“The trend is as much about an integration of work and life as it is a balance of them,
The fourth-floor cafeteria at 4 Times Square, a building now called One Five One, was designed by Frank Gehry.CreditJohn Muggenborg for The New York Times
The growth in shared work spaces is propelled in part by tenants interested in more-collaborative work environments but also in smaller footprints and cost savings
Stressed-out workers at some Tishman Speyer properties can slip into nap “pods,” which have pillows and eye masks, and catch 30 minutes of sleep for $5

In a Bid to Fill Office Buildings, Landlords Offer Kegs and Nap Rooms - The New York Times

5 annotations

home and garden

7505

Our attention spans are evaporating.
Because the information-seeking part is way stronger than the “cognitive control” part that allows you to complete tasks.
why is it so terrible at follow through
you probably feel good when you multitask. But feeling good and efficiency are not the same thing. Multitasking meets your emotional need to do something new and exciting
Over the years more evidence has accrued that meditation techniques improve cognitive control, including sustained attention, speed of processing, and working memory capacity.
In fact, we’re so distracted we’re walking into things.
Attention span 101
“single dopamine neurons process both primitive and cognitive rewards, and suggest that current theories of reward-seeking must be revised to include information-seeking.
it has been shown that people who believe that they are good at multitasking actually tend to be those who do the worst on laboratory tests of multitasking
your brain has to expend precious resources in order to filter distractions around you. So doing the same task is harder in environments with more tempting or annoying stimuli.
if the two goals both require cognitive control to enact them, such as holding the details of a complex scene in mind (working memory) at the same time as searching the ground for a rock (selective attention), then they will certainly compete for limited prefrontal cortex resources
. In fact, cognitive control is measurably better after just a single exercise session.
A 2008 paper described a significant improvement in their working memory performance after the nature walk, but not after the urban walk.

This is how to increase your attention span: 5 secrets from neuroscience | Ladders | Business News & Career Advice

13 annotations

exercise

www.theladders.com

7650

some of this problem is generated by human nature, especially the problem of “confirmation bias.
Today, in public forums, we engage each other not to learn or to converse, but to fight along the harshest and most intractable partisan lines — and to win, no matter how obnoxious we must be in order to carry the day.
Unable to cope with this level of nuance and unwilling to see their own biases, most people will simply drive each other crazy arguing rather than accept answers that contradict what they already think about the subject.
Like so many examples of confirmation bias, this could spring from personal experience.
This isn't just human nature, but the result of a narcissism that took root in American society after the 1960s and has been growing ever since.
Surrounded by affluence, enabled by the internet, and empowered by an educational system that prizes self-esteem over achievement, Americans have become more opinionated even as they have become less informed, and are now utterly intolerant of ever being told they’re wrong about almost anything.
We must come out from behind our keyboards and smartphones and televisions and engage each other as citizens,
Why can’t Americans agree about anything? The United States has survived through periods of great division and yet today we all now seem incapable of finding common ground on even the smallest issues.
We naturally want to reject evidence that conflicts with those cherished views
One person in this discussion, for example, might hold firmly, as many Americans do, to the idea that unemployed people are just lazy
For this person, every “help wanted” sign— which confirmation bias will note and file away— is further proof of the laziness of the unemployed.

Americans are now utterly intolerant of ever being told they’re wrong about almost anything - MarketWatch

11 annotations

investing

www.marketwatch.com

8715

Cinnamon roll
Carrot cake
Churro
Here are the top-trending recipe search terms over the last 30 days on Google in the US, in order:
The top rising recipe search term as of April 28? Churros, which saw a 350 percent spike in searches compared to the same period last year.

Churros is top-trending Google recipe during US lockdown

5 annotations

news.yahoo.com

4548

Here’s the good news: Museums, libraries, arts organizations, private companies, celebrities and many others are stepping up and creating online content for kids
We already know the bad news: Bored kids, harried parents, days when time slows to a standstill. Here’s the good news: Museums, libraries, arts organizations, private companies, celebrities and many others are stepping up and creating online content for kids or offering free access to existing resources. Many more online portals and entertaining apps have been with us all along but never seemed more relevant. To give parents a sense of what’s out there, we’ve compiled resources in 10 categories: education, travel, reading, mental wellness, music, art, physical activity, theater and dance, languages and entertainment. So don’t just sit there — learn how to wrap a mummy, take a virtual train ride, conjugate Spanish verbs or watch a Metropolitan Opera performance. Just because time is at a standstill doesn’t mean you have to be.
Here’s
NASA is offering chances for kids in grades 1 through 12 to chat with scientists, watch videos, find directions for STEM projects, solve puzzles, play games, read books, color sheets and watch lectures. Tynker has more than 40 courses for the wannabe coder in the house. Kids ages 5 to 7 can solve logic problems and create simple apps; kids 8 to 13 build games and design Minecraft mods; ages 14 and over learn coding languages and how to make websites and even prep for AP Computer Science. With Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government, created by the Government Publishing Office, kids can go on a virtual learning adventure with Ben Franklin. Topics include branches of government, how laws are made, symbols and structures, election processes and federally recognized tribes. The Smithsonian Institution Learning Lab allows kids to access millions of digital resources from the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers, libraries, archives and more. The site also offers prepackaged collections that contain lessons, activities and recommended resources. Girls Who Code is releasing free, weekly and downloadable computer science exercises of varying degrees of difficulty over the next few months on its website. Already-online activities include building a basic chatbot or a more advanced instructional tutorial video. National Museum of American History activities include building a virtual sod house, examining the imagery in a buffalo hide painting and more. Scholastic’s interactive immigration module includes narratives, an Ellis Island tour and historical lessons about immigration in the United States. Discovery Education has virtual field trips across a variety of subject areas, such as a dairy farm or a behind-the-scenes look at careers at Facebook. Trips include written guides and video aides. The National Constitution Center’s virtual field trip takes kids inside the Constitution. The Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has YouTube videos for its Virtual Camp Discovery, which explores science-based activities including slime-making, meeting a gopher tortoise and more. The National Museum of African American History and Culture offers resources and activities for educators and students. Its Learning Lab collection uses objects, documents, imagery and videos to explore well-known and lesser-known moments of history. The Free Library of Philadelphia’s site features a page with links to resources for studying African American history and culture, including major speeches, notable figures and a timeline of African American history.
NASA
James Dyson Foundation engineers came up with 44 engineering and science challenges using household objects,
Elementary through teens:
Mystery Science is offering a starter list of K-5 science classes free, without requiring users to sign up or log in
Pre-K through elementary:
home-schooling experts recommend taking a breath. Create the kind of environment, schedule and home life that can best balance your responsibilities with peaceful learning.

Parents' guide to teaching, entertaining and comforting their children during the lockdown - The Washington Post

10 annotations

4604

Some 60 percent of the world's production of mica - a mineral coveted for its sparkle, especially by the cosmetics industry - originates in two of India's most impoverished states: Bihar and Jharkhand.

The dark side of the cosmetics industry: Child labour used to mine mica in India - Focus

1 annotation

www.france24.com

4273

HSBC, which has the biggest presence of foreign banks in China, has banned all staff travel to Hong Kong for two weeks and to mainland China until further notice
The oil price is also under pressure, with Brent Crude changing hands at less than $59 a barrel at one point.
Chinese video games giant Tencent and online retail giant Alibaba have asked their staff to stay at home until 10 February,
The virus has spooked stock markets over the past week amid the growing threat to the global economy.

Global firms halt China travel as coronavirus spooks markets | Business | The Guardian

4 annotations

4536

The blue in this image shows massive underdevelopment and disorganization of white matter in the same areas needed to support learning in school.
children who frequently read books with their caregiver scored higher on cognitive tests.
The National Institute for Literacy has compiled science-based suggestions which include:
,
Both images are from recent studies done by the Reading & Literacy Discovery Center of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.
"Depending on what type of stimulation the child has with caregivers -- being talked to, being held, going outside, being read to -- connections between these neurons are reinforced."
Taking away screens and reading to our children during the formative years of birth to age 5 boosts brain development.
1) Start from birth by talking to your child and responding to their attempts to "baby talk"
The red areas in this scan show a growth in organized white matter in the language and literacy areas of the child's brain,
Experience thus "hardwires" those connections in the brain,
4) Pick books with interesting characters -- and don't be afraid to role play with different accents and voices for the characters

This is your child's brain on books: Scans show benefit of reading vs. screen time - CNN

11 annotations

edition.cnn.com

4432

2.I go to the sea/beach every summer.毎年（まいねん）夏（なつ）に海（うみ）に行き（いき）ます。
如果有人也在学习日语，可以到Japanesepod101.com,这个网站上有很多免费的学习日语的资源。
4.Japanese people use kotatsu in winter.日本人（にほんじん）は冬（ふゆ）にコタツを使（つか）います。
语言的学习需要循序渐进，其实是没有捷径的，现在需要的就是夯实基础，多跟读，多说，多看自己感兴趣的文章。后记，如果有人想自学有没有方法的可以私聊我，我可以告诉大家我笨拙的学习方法～皆さん、頑張れ！わたしの日本語は下手です。I am trying to learn it through English,you can learn it by Chiese.As you know,there are lots of characters in Japanese,sometimes it is similar,but most of the time,it has several meanings.
对于外国人来学习日语来说，汉字是最难的，因为笔画很多。但是对于我们来说，我们本来就知道中文怎么写，所以，在接触日语的时候，要比外国人学习日语要学的快一些

111天·Youtube多语言学习者的学习经验～ - 简书

5 annotations

www.jianshu.com

4701

Regulators in Hong Kong have asked Megvii for more information on its planned initial public offering (IPO), in what Reuters describes as “a setback” for the facial recognition unicorn’s stock launch.
Questions from the committee included concerns about its suitability for a public offering, after it was hit with a ban from the U.S. government last month

Major biometrics IPO delayed as committee requests more info from Megvii | Biometric Update

2 annotations

financial news

www.biometricupdate.com

4478

While Uber is still losing large amounts of money, it did not bleed as much cash as it did in the previous quarter,
Since Uber went public in May, Mr. Khosrowshahi has embarked on a belt-tightening campaign, laying off more than 1,000 workers and cutting other costs.
Investor skepticism about unprofitable companies could work in Uber’s favor, Mr. Khosrowshahi argued, especially as its food delivery competitors, many of which are still private companies, continue to burn cash by subsidizing deliveries.
Uber has reported record losses and slowing growth over the past few months.
Uber said it had 103 million consumers a month in the third quarter, up 26 percent from a year earlier.
Uber continues to face significant challenges as investors become more skeptical of money-burning technology companies.

Uber Posts $1.2 Billion Loss as Growth Improves - The New York Times

6 annotations

company

4713

This could be the first year ever where stocks, bonds, gold and crude oil all returned double digits, according to LPL Financial.
The S&P 500 has returned nearly 22% in 2019 while gold and crude are sporting returns of 16.1% and 17.8%,
Tech giants Apple and Facebook are both up 53% and 40%, respectively.
The 10-year Treasury was on pace for its best one-year return since 2014
The strong performance across asset classes was sparked in large part by a policy shift by the Fed

2019 is shaping up to be one of the best years ever for investing

5 annotations

investing

4538

Environmentalists are pleased, too. Motivated collectors pick up more plastic, which has the potential to boost the dismal rate of plastic recycling
When it enters a new country, Plastic Bank works with existing recycling centers and engages a large international company to support its programs. In Indonesia, S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.,
Plastic Bank seeks to operate on a larger scale than these local and short-term projects. The brainchild of Vancouver entrepreneur David Katz, whose 2018 TED Talk on plastic waste has been viewed 1.8 million times
The Plastic Bank app tallies the income for collectors.Photographer: Claire Martin for Bloomberg Businessweek
Nyoman Dartini used plastic to pay for temple offerings she made for a summer full moon celebration on the Indonesian island of Bali.
People the world over have been collecting plastic and selling it to recyclers for decades. But the notion of turning waste into a means of financial

Plastic Bank Is Turning Plastic Into Currency - Bloomberg

6 annotations

programming languages

4599

More Chinese are home schooling their kids
In the West home schooling, once regarded as eccentric, has become more popular in recent decades. In China officials are wary. They say schools play a vital role in turning children into “builders of socialism”. But growing numbers of Chinese parents are rebelling.
It may be that the government, while trying to discourage the practice
Anecdotal evidence points to this. One parent in Shanghai whose pre-teen daughter is home schooled says she received a surprise call a few months ago from the local education department. The parent was asked where her child was enrolled. She told the truth and has not been contacted since. She says several other home-schooling families in Shanghai have had the same experience—suggesting officials are turning a blind eye
Officials may wonder whether home-schooling parents are complying. Xu Xuejin, the founder of an online club for such people, is playing safe. He recently took down his website to protect the identity of its members.
The second, less usual, form is the “collective home school” such as the one now run by Mr Yuan in Xiamen. The teacher often charges a fee—in Mr Yuan’s case, about 50,000 yuan ($7,070) annually per pupil.

More Chinese are home schooling their kids - Well read v well red

6 annotations

children

www.economist.com

4748

Desk + interior = ‘deskterior’
2017 poll of 788 workers conducted by the job search engine Job Korea, 44% of women and 29.7% of men said they thought of themselves as a so-called ‘deskterior person’.
Working in the country with the world’s longest office hours, a growing number of South Koreans are keen on decorating their desks
On average I spend 30,000 to 40,000 won ($25 to $33) per month,
“I spend a lot of my time in the office apart from when I’m sleeping,” says Lee. “You often think of an office as a dreary or stark place. However, my pink-plastered desk gives me a fresh motivation
n a
On average I spend 30,000 to 40,000 won ($25 to $33) per month, but it could be up to 150,000 won ($125) if I see any new products. It’s not big money, and I feel so good just looking at those lovely items in the office,”

The colourful way South Korean workers cope with long hours - BBC Worklife

7 annotations

homework and study tips

www.bbc.com

4771

The training tasks generally require only 15 to 25 minutes of work per day, five days a week,
What is surprising is what else it improved. In a 2008 study, Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl, now of the University of Maryland, found that young adults who practiced a stripped-down, less cartoonish version of the game also showed improvement in a fundamental cognitive ability known as “fluid” intelligence:
Even high-level professionals have begun training their working memory in hopes of boosting their fluid intelligence
Psychologists have long regarded intelligence as coming in two flavors: crystallized intelligence, the treasure trove of stored-up information and how-to knowledge
Crystallized intelligence grows as you age; fluid intelligence has long been known to peak in early adulthood, around college age, and then to decline gradually
Jaeggi’s study has been widely influential. Since its publication, others have achieved results similar to Jaeggi’s not only in elementary-school children but also in preschoolers, college students and the elderly
Illinois version of the No Child Left Behind standards in 2011, finding a clear way to increase cognitive abilities has obvious appeal

訓練能否讓你擁有「最強大腦」？ - 紐約時報中文網

7 annotations

cats

cn.nytimes.com

4209

China’s facial-recognition systems are becoming part of daily life
screen passengers as part of the tightened security amid the upcoming Lunar New Year travel rush,
police at a railway station in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou scan the crowd in search of wanted criminals using Google Glass-style eyewear with facial-recognition software.
Since the deployment of police with smart glasses started at the Zhengzhou station earlier this month, as many as seven people suspected of crimes, ranging from human trafficking to hit-and-run incidents, had been apprehended.
The adoption of the glasses represents a breakthrough in security as the police force shifts from being manpower intensive to technology-powered,” Xie Yukun, a railway police officer in Zhengzhou, said in an interview.
In 2015, the Ministry of Public Security launched a project to build the world’s most powerful facial recognition database to identify any one of China’s more than 1.3 billion citizens within three seconds. The agency is developing that system with a security company based in Shanghai.
Alibaba, its affiliate Ant Financial and the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the operator of the Shanghai Metro, plan to install the Alibaba-developed “far-field” voice recognition technology in ticket machines in all stations, as well as a facial recognition system at the entrance of stations to verify the identities of commuters.

From travel and retail to banking, China’s facial-recognition systems are becoming part of daily life | South China Morning Post

7 annotations

software

www.scmp.com

7272

Venezuela held a highly contentious vote Sunday to create a new legislative body that supersedes others, including the opposition-led National Assembly. The National Constituent Assembly (ANC), will have the power to rewrite the constitution and is almost certain to solidify dictator Nicolas Maduro's power — at least for the moment.
Maduro is widely unpopular for overseeing an economic collapse during his four years in office and for undermining democracy generally.
Protesters have taken to the streets and clashed with government forces in running street battles for months. More than 10 deaths were reported Sunday
The U.S. took things a step further Monday after the Treasury Department officially sanctioned Madurohimself. Those sanctions in turn increase the likelihood of the U.S. targeting Venezuela's oil sector,
A crash in oil prices that started in late 2014 made things worse. The International Monetary Fund currently expects Venezuela's inflation rate to rise by a crippling 720 percent this year.
The sanctions are a very delicate topic because they are a double-edged sword," Bahar said. If the U.S. places sanctions on Venezuela's oil business, "then a lot of people will suffer."
that such measures would further restrict the flow of capital into the country and could exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.

Venezuela's 'sham' election has made economic recovery much harder

7 annotations

politics

8398

Google wanted to know why some teams excelled while others fell behind.
In the words of Julia Rozovsky, Google's people analytics manager, "We were dead wrong."
Selected to lead the efforts was Abeer Dubey, Google's Director of People Analytics (HR). Eager to find the perfect mixture of skills, backgrounds, and traits to engineer super-teams
Fast forward two years, and Project Aristotle has managed to study 180 Google teams, conduct 200-plus interviews, and analyze over 250 different team attributes
Google's Re:Work website, a resource that shares Google's research, ideas, and practices on people operations, Rozovsky outlined the five key characteristics of enhanced teams.
have well-defined roles
With a new lens and some added direction from a research study on collective intelligence (abilities that emerge out of collaboration) by a group of psychologists from Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Union College, Project Aristotle's researchers went back to the drawing board to comb their data for unspoken customs
has personal significance
A situation in which everyone is safe to take risks, voice their opinions, and ask judgment-free questions. A culture where managers provide air cover and create safe zones so employees can let down their guard. That's psychological safety.

Google Spent 2 Years Studying 180 Teams. The Most Successful Ones Shared These 5 Traits | Inc.com

9 annotations

business and industrial

8671

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” – Albert Einstein
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein
“Once you stop learning, you start dying.” – Albert Einstein
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Albert Einstein
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

71 Albert Einstein Quotes to Inspire You For Life

8 annotations

physics

addicted2success.com

7109

Reading Gates' top picks is guaranteed to make you smarter.
Leonardo Da Vinci" by Walter Isaacson
Isaacson does the best job I've seen of pulling together the different strands of Leonardo's life and explaining what made him so exceptional
Rosling, a global health expert, unfortunately, passed away last year. Gates said on his blog that this book is "a fitting final word from a brilliant man, and one of the best books I've ever read."
Phil Knight is a one-of-a-kind CEO. He tells the story of how he built Nike into a multibillion-dollar, globe-spanning business
Factfulness" by Hans Rosling
"Shoe Dog" by Phil Knight
"rown shows that the leaders who make the biggest contributions to history and humanity generally are not the ones we perceive to be strong leaders," Gates wrote.
the best books I've ever read." 6/15 "Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance
Vance's book "offers insights into some of the complex cultural and family issues behind poverty."
"The Myth of the Strong Leader" by Archie Brown

Bill Gates' book recommendations for this summer - Business Insider

11 annotations

books and literature

7239

give specific reasons you are interested in the opportunity
Do not be self-deprecating in the pursuit of humilit
This is a common instinct from candidates who are trying to protect themselves from being “grilled.” But, instead, this creates a disconnect between the pitch you are making to get the job and the evidence you are sharing in support of your candidacy.
One of the toughest interview questions is “tell me about your greatest weakness.” The two biggest mistakes candidates make on this question are answering it with a playful answer like “

How to Be Authentic in an Interview

4 annotations

resume writing and advice

7442

"I don't like to multitask
As a husband, father and billionaire founder of Amazon
Bezos revealed how he maintains laser focus: by only tackling one thing at a time.
Rather than going back and forth from one task to the next, Bezos admitted, "I multitask serially.
His two-pizza ruledictates that he won't call a meeting, or even attend one, if two pizzas wouldn't feed the entire group

Here's how Jeff Bezos maintains laser focus

5 annotations

hardware

7857

Yale is offering a free online version of their course, Psyc 157: Psychology and the Good Life.
Psychology and cognitive science professor Laurie Santos teaches the course. In it, she covers the science behind positive psychology and behavioral change.
When Yale began offering a new course this semester, over 1,000 students jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't about business, technology or innovation. It's about how to be happy.
The six-week course covers the following topics:
Misconceptions about happiness

Yale is letting anyone take one of its most popular classes for free - Business Insider

5 annotations

science

7844

The most expensive colleges in the U.S. cost between $50,000 and $60,000, according to U.S. News and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
National ranking: No. 3
4. University of Chicago
Fortunately, the University of Chicago is putting its $146 million student aid budget to good use with its No Barriers program
National ranking: No. 5
1. Columbia University
Although Columbia has the highest tuition cost, its financial aid awards come with a serious perk. The school meets all demonstrated need without the use of student loans.
How much should you pay for college?
Getting into Columbia is a rare achievement. The school lets in only 6% of applicants. If you're one of them, you'll have to decide if this Ivy League degree is worth the cost.
You also should consider the return on investment of your degree based on your future career goals.

Here are the most expensive colleges in 2018 - Business Insider

10 annotations

graduate school

7931

收入前1%的人掌握了美國、加拿大和西歐實際收入增長總量的28%，而收入後50%的人只得到了其中的9%
最新發布的《世界不平均報告2018》顯示，世界整體收入不平等程度在加劇，這可能關乎普選民主制度的存亡。
這些驚人的數據來自世界不平均實驗室(World inequality Lab)近期發布的《世界不平均報告2018》(World Inequality Report 2018)

不平等問題威脅民主制度 - FT中文網

3 annotations

big5.ftchinese.com

7616

here are eight books that shaped the revolutionary entrepreneur:
Although Musk studied physics and economics in college, he actually first learned about rockets by reading books.
5. "Merchants of Doubt" by Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes
I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents,
7. "Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" by Peter Thiel
Throughout his childhood, books have played a crucial role in fueling Musk's ambitions. It's said that he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica at age nine and would pore through science fiction novels for more than 10 hours a day
Elon has always been an introvert thinker
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new,"
4. "Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies" by Nick Bostrom

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he was 'raised by books'

9 annotations

electric vehicles

7692

Powerful, hot and dry winds like those that have fanned the deadly wildfires now raging in California are a common occurrence in the state, a result of regional atmospheric patterns that develop in the fall.
global warming may at least be making the winds drier.
High-pressure air that builds over that region flows toward lower-pressure air over California and the coast.
The result is hot, dry winds with speeds that can exceed 70 miles per hour.
Some of Dr. Miller’s research suggests that the high-wind season, which currently runs from about October to December or January, may lengthen as climate change continues.

California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse. - The New York Times

5 annotations

weather

7871

the nation’s second largest automaker after General Motors, is centralizing much of its small-car production in China
It is not clear how much cheaper it is for Ford to build cars in China than in the United States. While wages may be lower there, companies still must absorb costs for shipping and modifying vehicles to meet American safety regulations.
Ford Motor said on Tuesday that it would build its next-generation small car in China
Last year, the company said it planned to shift Focus production to a plant under construction in Mexico, primarily because of lower labor costs. But Ford canceled the project
the company would save $1 billion by building the Focus in China instead of Mexico
“The Ford decision shows how flexible multinational companies are in terms of geography,

Ford Chooses China, Not Mexico, to Build Its New Focus - The New York Times

6 annotations

vehicle brands

8307

Can you really host people at your home after spending all day reviewing PowerPoint presentations with them? Yes!
Don’t: Talk about the office
author of The Art of Small Talk. Questions like that foster friendship better than blather about the 9 to 5
follow up. Fine suggests: “Seriously, if the office servers exploded and you could never work again, what would you do for fun?”
Do: Have a plan for getting the inevitable drunk guest home

How to Throw a Work Party Without Getting Fired - Bloomberg

5 annotations

home and garden

8328

we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.
the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.
A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking — a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations
Observational Selection Bias
A perfect example is what happens after we buy a new car and we inexplicably start to see the same car virtually everywhere. A similar effect happens to pregnant women who suddenly notice a lot of other pregnant women around them. Or it could be a unique number or song. It's not that these things are appearing more frequently, it's that we've (for whatever reason) selected the item in our mind, and in turn, are noticing it more often
We like to stick to our routines, political parties, and our favorite meals at restaurants. Part of the perniciousness of this bias is the unwarranted assumption that another choice will be inferior or make things worse.
Though we're often unconscious of it, we love to go with the flow of the crowd. When the masses start to pick a winner or a favorite, that's when our individualized brains start to shut down and enter into a kind of "groupthink" or hivemind mentality.
Most of us would rather experience pleasure in the current moment, while leaving the pain for later
T
We tend to assume that most people think just like us

The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational

10 annotations

medicine

io9.gizmodo.com

7207

A series of massive wildfires spread through the counties of Napa, Sonoma, and six others early this week, destroying at least 3,500 homes,
The situation is considered one of the deadliest fires in state history. At least 31 people are reportedly dead, and another 463 people are reported missing in Sonoma County
On Monday, videos and photos on social media showed fires burning out of control in Sonoma and Napa, moving through vegetation, buildings, roads, and mobile-home parks.
As many as seven fires ignited on Sunday night and grew as hot, dry winds — with gusts of up to 70 miles per hour — carried the flames from ridge top to ridge top in Napa.
Mary Caughey, center in blue, reacts with her son Harrison, left, after finding her wedding ring in debris at her home in Kenwood, California, on Tuesday, October 10, 2017
California wildfires have created apocalyptic scenes in wine country, where firefighters were still battling blazes on Thursday morning.

Santa Rosa fire: Photos of fires ravaging parts of Napa, Sonoma County - Business Insider

6 annotations

weather

7786

no one really believes America’s poor are better off than its wealthy.
up to 79 percent of previous studies, poverty was positively associated with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. The connection isn’t simple, but it’s obvious that money makes it easy to satisfy the basic needs of living,
This frustration is a far cry from the stereotypical wealthy patient who can’t tolerate minor difficulties because he is accustomed to being given everything he wants.
recent data suggests that the young children of America’s wealthy families may be worse off than those of the poor. One study of American teens showed that higher wealth and status was actually associated with lower emotional well-being—in other words, wealthy children described their lives as less happy than the children of the poor.
A well-documented 2016 study found that people with high-status, prestigious jobs show higher rates of treatment-resistant depression than their lower-wage colleagues
Intimacy, for example, is equally difficult for rich and poor alike.
his wealthy patients were slow to trust people, and did not always prioritize intimacy—which can exact a steep emotional cost, damaging long-term relationships and hobbling new ones
it’s difficult to develop trust if you’re concerned that the people you are close to may take advantage of you

Therapy Is Not Just for the Middle Class | Psychology Today

8 annotations

therapy

www.psychologytoday.com

7971

levels of phthalates in the body
Phthalates are binding agents frequently used in food packaging
The scientists analysed data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 2005 and 2014.
Of the whole group, 61% reported dining out the previous day. The association between phthalate exposure and dining out was significant across all age groups,
Researchers investigating levels of phthalates in the human body, which have been linked to asthma, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and fertility issues in the past few years, were found to be nearly 35% higher in participants who had eaten out the previous day compared with those who stayed at home
Certain foods, including burgers and sandwiches, were linked to higher phthalate levels
Adolescents who frequently ate at fast-food outlets while out with their friends had 55% higher levels of the chemicals than young people eating at home.

Eating out increases levels of phthalates in the body, study finds | Society | The Guardian

7 annotations

parenting teens

7320

Instead of rereading, highlighting, or underlining important information, turn the information into a quiz.
a gap between conventional wisdom and facts when it comes to the process of learning
ask yourself, ‘What is the author trying to say?’ ‘How is this different than other things I’ve read
A lot of people don’t give much thought to the best way to gain new knowledge and skills. But learning is often a form of mental doing,
quizzing yourself is a far better way to learn
Mixing it up, however, is a better approach,
r
“To solve new problems and come up with ideas, you need analogies and systems of how things relate to each other
t false beliefs about teaching and learning are a problem that we carry with us throughout our lives,
“People tend to see themselves as a computer; data flowing past them somehow gets into their head,” he says. “That’s not how learning works. You need to make sense of the order to understand.”
“There’s a long line of research that suggests people often overestimate their own expertise in just about every field
What works instead isn’t just time; it’s outside advice and input.

12 annotations

books and literature

www.fastcompany.com

8429

Barbarians at the Gate' by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
Burrough and Helyar take extensive reporting on the contentious $25 billion leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1988 and make it read like an epic drama
Too Big to Fail' by Andrew Ross Sorkin
financial crisis of 2007-2008.
Den of Thieves' by James B. Stewart
how some of the biggest power players on Wall Street in the '80s let avarice lead them to insider trading, and how federal authorities finally nailed them.
'The Intelligent Investor' by Benjamin Graham
Written by Warren Buffett's mentor and published in 1949, it's an in-depth introduction to value investing.
Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen called it "A must-read for every entrepreneur"
'The Lean Startup' by Eric Ries
Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman
Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his foundational work in behavioral economics,

Best business books of all time - Business Insider

12 annotations

books and literature

8581

Have you ever heard the quote "Failing to plan is planning to fail?
Planning Creates Focus
you will do everything in order, just as it's intended.
improve day-to-day decision making. Everyone at your organization will analyze decisions based on the long-term plan. T
Not fully committing to the plan
. Your strategic plan will outline exactly what you need to do at all times. You won't question what's next or get distracted
In reality, plans fail all the time. Just putting a plan down on paper isn't enough. You have to make sure you do it properly.
Setting unrealistic goals
Now, if you put accountability in place, you increase the odds to 95 percent. That means success is almost determined.

Three Reasons Why Good Leader Spend Time Planning | Inc.com

9 annotations

advertising and marketing

7260

The Japanese people count on the government but they are being betrayed," says Koji Morioka, an academic who has studied the karoshi phenomenon for 30 years.
Japan has some of the longest working hours in the world, and some young Japanese workers are literally working themselves to death.
the challenge has been to break a decades-old work culture
On Christmas Day in 2015, 24-year-old Matsuri Takahashi, an employee at the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, jumped to her death.
working more than 100 hours of overtime a month in the period leading up to her death.
a district of downtown Tokyo, they have resorted to turning the office lights off at 7pm in an effort to force people to go home.
particularly for new starters in a company.
young workers think they don't have any other choice," he tells me. "If you don't quit you have to work 100 hours. If you quit you just can't live.
The only solution they say is to put a legal limit on the overtime employees are permitted to work.
Those numbers are important; 80 hours overtime a month is regarded as the threshold above which you have an increased chance of dying.
"He usually worked until the last train, but if he missed it he slept at his desk," she said. "In the worst case he had to work overnight through to 10pm the next evening, working 37 hours in total."
"Companies just focus on short-term profits," she says. "My son and other young workers don't hate work. they are capable and they want to do well.
Two years later Naoya died at the age of 27 from an overdose of medication.
was officially rule a case of "karoshi" - the Japanese term to describe death attributed to overwork.
Nearly a quarter of Japanese companies have employees working more than 80 hours overtime a month, often unpaid,

The young Japanese working themselves to death - BBC News

15 annotations

news

www.bbc.com

10494

Both Buffett and Robbins can pinpoint specific points in their lives when investing in themselves paid off.
You empower yourself financially, you empower yourself emotionally, spiritually, and then you can empower everybody else around you
All three businessmen agree that the best investment anyone can make isn't on a stock, bond or other financial asset: Invest in yourself
Buffet was terrified of public speaking
Buffett went to the University of Omaha and, to fully overcome the phobia
There's no financial investment that'll ever match it, because if you develop more skill, more ability, more insight, more capacity, that's what's going to really provide economic freedom.

Pitbull, Warren Buffett and Tony Robbins agree on this life lesson

6 annotations

investing

8374

FIFA World Cup Champion and Gold Medal Olympian Abby Wambach at Barnard College
We must embrace failure as our fuel instead of accepting it as our destruction
no lasting improvement has ever been achieved, unless people dare to try something different
Apple CEO Tim Cook at Duke University
Oprah Winfrey at USC Annenberg
Actor Chadwick Boseman at Howard University
Whatever you choose for a career path, remember the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.
Actor Michael Keaton at Kent State.
Don’t ever live in your false self. Always live in your real self, because the absolute freedom of not worrying about what other people think is indescribable

From Oprah Winfrey to Tim Cook, Leaders Offer Gems of Wisdom to the Class of 2018

9 annotations

disorders

7534

They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS.” But I remain skeptical.
As a reporter, I have become eerily attuned to this horrible American ritual. I do the same thing every single time we get news of a mass shooting: verify reports, write a “what we know” article
As I see it, the core issue is that America as a whole refuses to even admit it has a serious problem with guns and gun violence.
The US makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, but holds 31% of global mass shooters.”
America has a much higher overall homicide rate, which includes non-gun deaths, than other developed nations
The US also has by far the highest number of privately owned guns in the world
2) The problem is guns, not mental illness
These two facts — on gun deaths and firearm ownership — are related. The research, compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center, is pretty clear: After controlling for variables such as socioeconomic factors and other crime, places with more guns have more gun deaths.

America’s gun problem, explained in 5 facts - Vox

8 annotations

crime

7725

The most important part of CNY is the family reunion.
So how is the global supply chain impacted when 1.3+ billion people go on vacation at the same time?
many factories and businesses shut down up to 10 days before and several days after to allow time for the mass exodus of workers.
Get the logistics right: Manage logistics from your Chinese manufacturers to your door by planning, booking, and confirming transportation shipments well in advance of CNY. The closer you get to CYN, shipping costs increase while available shipping space shrinks.
Chinese New Year will begin Tuesday, February 5th, 2019.
China is currently the USA’s largest goods trading partner with $635.4 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2017.

SAP BrandVoice: The Impact Of Chinese New Year On The Global Supply Chain

6 annotations

business operations

www.forbes.com

7183

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% in September, its lowest since February 2001
there are two cohorts that have been left behind by the labor market: lower income households, and millennials.
Mish and Stephen Caprio set out to answer that question, and their findings highlight the financial difficulties many millennials are facing.
it has the potential to negatively impact the economy pretty significantly.
Longer term, the two-tier recovery in consumer finances suggests key segments of the US population (lower income, millennial households) are more financially vulnerable than aggregate consumer credit metrics imply
For context, millennials hold 18% of debt outstanding
the two cohorts "left behind," lower income households and millennials, make up about 15% to 20% of debt, and 27% to 33% of expenditure.

Millennials are being 'left behind,' and it poses a huge risk to the US economy - Business Insider

7 annotations

careers

7477

2) Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
3) Neymar, Brazil
Since 2008, Ronaldo was named the world’s best soccer player the other five times Messi didn’t win the award (and came in second the times Messi won).
He became the world’s most expensive player last year after Barcelona sold him to Paris-Saint Germain for around $262 million.
The problem is Neymar was part of the Brazil squad that lost 7-1 — yes, 7-1 — to Germany in the semifinals at the last tournament (which took place in Brazil). Neymar and his team will try to exorcize those demons in Russia
The numbers speak for themselves: Germany’s Thomas Müller has scored 10 World Cup goals in his career
8) Thomas Müller, Germany
He was a huge reason why Germany won its fourth World Cup title in 2014, and Germany has a good chance of repeating as champions

The 2018 World Cup’s top players: Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Salah, and more - Vox

8 annotations

soccer

7322

five-year research study of 5,000 managers and employees
The leaders he profiles have more compelling stories than the typical CEO:
A former World Series of Poker champion, she was earlier awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship to study cognitive psychology
"When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing"
research behind not just what makes people good at their jobs or how they do it,
"Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More"
"The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups"
how successful groups of people -- from the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six to the San Antonio Spurs -- work together so well.
"Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have all the Facts"
coaches on decision strategy with corporate clients,

11 leadership books to read in 2018 - The Washington Post

10 annotations

books and literature

8163

7. Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
The Tree by John Fowles
It puts structure around these ideas, and I apply the principles from that book all the time, especially in the food world."
17. Drive by Daniel Pink
"At its core, all business is about learning how to motivate others, while helping them to achieve their goals in relation to your own. Pink's ability to break down human foundations and offer big ideas on how to impact change is transformational."
"I've always been obsessed with understanding why people make the choices that they do and how to influence them
he argues after epochs in which science and our society which is obsessed with 'naming, categorizing, and collecting things' has tried to overcome nature with logic and force of will. This essay was first published in 1979, and it still rings so true today. All the major cultural themes of being present, letting go and not trying so hard to control everything are as true in the center of New York City where I live now, as the

17 Books Read by Incredibly Successful People | Inc.com

7 annotations

books and literature

8275

even just adding Google and Apple’s most recent numbers together gives a figure that rivals the GDP of Sweden.
comes from the BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands report for 2017,
Here is the Top 100 list broken down by a few different key categories.
The amount of Chinese brands making the Top 100 is rising quickly – in 2008, only four made the list.
Today, there are 12 Chinese brands on the list, including widely-known names such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Ping An Insurance.

Most valuable brands ranked - Business Insider

5 annotations

technology and computing

8371

whether the US will withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.
In some cases, the images — mostly from NASA, unless otherwise noted — were taken as far as 50 years apart;
Mount Elgon National Park in Uganda in 1973 compared with 2005.
The deforestation of a forest in Salta, Argentina, is starkly visible in this pair of photos from 1972 and 2009.
Deforestation is also prevalent in the South American Atlantic Forest in Paraguay — here's how it looked in 1973 versus 2008.
Photographs from the 1940s to 2000s show the drastic effect of climate change on our planet's glaciers

Why countries signed Paris Agreement: Photos of human activity on Earth - Business Insider

6 annotations

energy

8712

Today, Fatemi is the CEO and founder of Node, an AI data analysis start-up that has raised $16.3 million,
As a 19-year-old in 2005, Fatemi was working on Google's strategy for global expansion during the day and completing her degree in the mornings and at night
"So while my friends were like babysitting or life guarding, I was actually doing patent research for lawyers at a firm," she tells CNBC Make It. "So I always had sort of a strong sense of discipline."
As part of an entrepreneurship class Fatemi was taking at school, she had the opportunity to work on a research project for Microsoft. Through that project, a colleague recommended her to a senior employee at Google.
With just a few weeks to create the analysis, she researched the problem and then found experts within the organization to give her input. The important part, she says, is learning enough about the problem to ask the right questions
Now 31, Fatemi is the CEO of her own company.

Top skills for success from a CEO who was once hired by Google at 19

6 annotations

business and industrial

8351

Michelle Kuo’s memoir, “Reading With Patrick” (Random House), is a deeply moving account of the time she spent as a young teacher in a very poor county in Arkansas,
Anyone interested in questions of pedagogy, racism, and incarceration in America, not to mention literary criticism, will be enthralled by this book.
Go, Went, Gone” is not a novel about but a novel in search of a number of African refugees, and their lives in Germany
(she interviewed thirteen recent immigrants from various African countries,

Four Books That Deserved More Attention in 2017 | The New Yorker

4 annotations

books and literature

www.newyorker.com

7660

At the expiration of a court deadline to reunite migrant families separated during its “zero tolerance” border crackdown, the Trump administration said Thursday that it has delivered 1,442 children to parents detained in immigration custody
Some parents said they thought they were signing paperwork that would allow them to reunite with their children, according to their lawyers. Others described being crowded into rooms with dozens of people and given only a few minutes to fill out forms that would determine whether they would reunite with their children or leave them behind in the United States. They signed the forms out of fear, confusion or a belief that they had no choice, lawyers wrote in the court filing.

Hundreds of migrant children remain in custody, though most separated families are reunited at court deadline - The Washington Post

2 annotations

children

7277

view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to."
if you want to learn faster, heed the advice of Musk and be strategic. Don't rush into more advanced material --
what techniques Musk used to learn so much so incredibly fast. "I know you've read a lot of books and you hire a lot of smart people and soak up what they know, but you have to acknowledge you seem to have found a way to pack more knowledge into your head than nearly anyone else alive," writes the curious questioner. "How are you so good at it?"
"I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying," he insists.
Trying to master advanced details of a subject before you nail the fundamentals just produces confusion

Here's Elon Musk's Secret for Learning Anything Faster | Inc.com

5 annotations

electric vehicles

8384

, 2018 is the year of the Dog. Zodiac signs play an integral part in Chinese culture
The general consensus is that the zodiacs originally had something to do with the worship of animals. A zodiac system has existed in Chinese culture since the Qin dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.
What's your zodiac animal?
Maybe you think your zodiac year (本命年—ben ming nian) will be lucky. It's your year after all. However, it's the total opposite. It's seen as a hurdle you have jump over. The way to protect yourself from evil spirits and bad fortune is to wear red underwear every day for the entire year. Even in modern times, it's still treated as a real concern.
Introduction to the animals

Chinese Zodiac – Chinese New Year 2018

5 annotations

astrology

chinesenewyear2018.com

7431

if you want to be happier, you've got to take the chance and make the jump. Just remember: You're not alone.
In it, Ferriss shares how to ditch your current 9-to-5 job in order to make an incredible living
He shares his tips and tricks for reinventing your work life
can help you fix that. 3/11 3. 'The 4-Hour Workweek,' by Tim Ferriss

11 books that will help you make a change in your life - Business Insider

4 annotations

books and literature

4887

at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering.
The dearth of Americans is even more pronounced in hot STEM fields like computer science, which serve as talent pipelines for the likes of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft:
At the graduate level, the number is reversed: About 80 percent hail from India, China, Korea, Turkey and other foreign countries.
In the fall of 2015, about 55 percent of all graduate students in mathematics, computer sciences and engineering were from abroad,
If there are one or two more years of comparable 20 to 30 percent decreases in international applications, we’re very concerned about our ability to conduct research and spin off and start companies,
As the economy improved, the percentage of Americans in graduate programs dropped. “Going to grad school became less of a priority for so many students,” s
almost 68 percent in master’s programs last year were international students
The Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, for example, saw a 30 percent decrease in international applications to its professional master’s program for this semester,

The Disappearing American Grad Student - The New York Times

8 annotations

society

5312

Don't spend any time or effort trying to improve what you're bad at
Brian Wong, who at 19 launched his own mobile advertising company, Kiip
when we grow up, at some point in our adulthood, there is a point where there's only so much better you can improve your weaknesses
You are basically trying to find a match between your skill set and an environment that is the most conducive into making that skill set the most recognizing the most monetizable of all,

26-year-old millionaire: Don't waste time on self-improvement

4 annotations

books and literature

6063

a wealth of studies in both animals and people have shown that we learn differently if we also exercise.
Language learning is interesting. As young children, almost all of us picked up our first language easily.
Specifically, the students would ride exercise bikes at a gentle pace (about 60 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity) beginning 20 minutes before the start of the lessons and continuing throughout the 15 minutes or so of instruction
A new study reports that working out during a language class amplifies people’s ability to memorize, retain and understand new vocabulary
Many scientists suspect that exercise alters the biology of the brain in ways that make it more malleable and receptive to new information, a process that scientists refer to as plasticity.
But by early adulthood, the brain generally begins to lose some of its innate language capability. It displays less plasticity in areas of the brain related to language. As a result, for most of us, it becomes harder to learn a second language after childhood.
And at the end of each lesson, the students who had ridden bikes performed better on the subsequent vocabulary tests than did the students who sat still.
. When the researchers asked the students to return to the lab for a final round of testing a month after the lessons — without practicing in the meantime — the cyclists remembered words and understood them in sentences more accurately than did the students who had not moved.

How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language - The New York Times

8 annotations

exercise

6180

read one book roughly every two weeks. He called it A Year of Books.
We've rounded up the books on science Zuckerberg thinks everyone should read.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' by Thomas S. Kuhn
It proposes a new way of thinking about breakthroughs in research, arguing that leaps forward occur separately from the minutiae of day-to-day work.

Science books Mark Zuckerberg thinks everyone should read

4 annotations

internet technology