10 for today starts with a tree and ends up with Puss in Boots

A lovely scientific appreciation of trees
via Boing Boing by David Pescovitz

Over at The Last Word on Nothing, esteemed science writer Rebecca Boyle wrote a lovely appreciation of trees. "Apart from humans, maybe, trees are the best form of life on this planet," she writes.
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Desert Island Discs: 75 defining moments from 75 years of castaways
via the Guardian by Stephen Moss
1. The first castaway – marooned on 29 January 1942 – was Vic Oliver, a music-hall star in the 1930s. He was the perfect first interviewee for presenter Roy Plomley, the Wodehousian wannabe actor who devised the show. The first guest was supposed to be the philosopher CEM Joad, but he was indisposed. Who knows how broadcasting history would have turned out if Joad had made it to the recording.
2. The second castaway, on 5 February 1942, was the critic James Agate. Incestuously, one of his musical choices was Eric Coates’s By the Sleepy Lagoon, the programme’s theme music (which was inspired not by a tropical island, but by Bognor Regis). Agate was gay, but Plomley would never have dreamed of discussing such subjects – either in 1942 or 40 years later, when he was still presenting the show.
At 19. we have:

Marlene Dietrich. Photograph: Schafer/Paramo/REX/Shutterstock
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As there are 75 remembrances please allow yourself a lot of time.

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Study Claims Quark Fusion May Be the Energy Source of the Future
via Big Think by Paul Ratner
In a new paper, scientists have envisioned a new power source straight out of Star Trek. While nuclear fusion reactors, which produce energy in the same way as the sun, are still not a viable reality, researchers from Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago are proposing quark fusion.
Quarks are super-tiny elementary particles that combine to form protons and neutrons. There are six kinds of quarks, including up and down quarks, which are found in protons and neutrons, and heavier charm quarks.
The way we can produce quarks is through particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which can smash protons and neutrons to break them up into quarks.
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Cowpie, gruel and midnight feasts: food in popular children’s literature
via Arts & Letters Daily: Michael Flanagan in The Irish Times

Usually employed to dramatise states of harmony or disharmony, teatime is used to great effect in such works as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
If food is fundamental to life and a substance upon which civilisations and cultures have built themselves, then food is also fundamental to the imagination. Perhaps the deepest emotional exposure we have of imagination is that which we experience in childhood. Just as food studies is becoming important in the field of general literature, so too is it becoming important in the field of children’s literature.
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What a grumpy Alice that is!

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Bob Dylan and his vengeful, conservative God
via the New Statesman by Yo Zushi
The surprising thing about Dylan’s evangelical Christian period? It isn’t all bad.

PHOTO: LYNN GOLDSMITH/CORBIS
They found Elvis face down on the floor of his bathroom, his body slumped on the vomit-stained red shag carpet in front of the toilet. The King was dead. On the evening of 16 August 1977, the 42-year-old singer had taken Seconal, Placidyl, Valmid, Demerol and an assortment of other drugs before putting on his gold pyjamas, the bottom half of which was now crumpled around his ankles. Beside him lay a book about sex and psychic energy – or, depending on whose account you believe, a copy of A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus by Frank O Adams.
Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll are a well-established trinity, but to that list we could very reasonably add God. As Elvis explained, “Rock’n’roll is basically just gospel music, or gospel music mixed with rhythm and blues.” Scientists at the University of Utah demonstrated last year that, among a test group of 19 devout Mormons, “A recognisable feeling central to their devotional practice was reproducibly associated with activation in nucleus accumbens, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and frontal attentional regions” – which, in plain English, means that religious experiences can have the same sort of effect on the brain as sex, drugs and love. Faith, then, should be natural material for rockers, and so it has proved in the music of Elvis, U2 and even Black Sabbath.
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Unanswered questions in Gone with the Wind’s main title
via OUP blog by Nathan Platte

Hollywood Sign Iconic Mountains Los Angeles” by 12019. CC0 via Pixabay.
If asked to recall a melody from Gone with the Wind, what might come to mind? For many, it’s the same four notes: a valiant leap followed by a gracious descent. This is the beginning of the Tara theme, named by composer Max Steiner for the plantation home of Scarlett O’Hara, whose impassioned misunderstandings of people and place propel the story.
Less known is that Max Steiner fashioned his Tara theme from another melody that he had unveiled in They Made Me a Criminal, a modest Warner Bros. film released eleven months before David O. Selznick’s production of Gone with the Wind. This melodic forerunner had its own predecessor, with Steiner spinning it from a simpler prototype used in Crime School (1938).
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Cows are loving, intelligent and kind – so should we still eat them?
via the Guardian by Patrick Barkham

Rosamund Young with one of the 113 grass-fed cows she farms at Kites Nest on the flanks of the Cotswolds. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
I’ll see who is in the mood for talking,” says Rosamund Young, strolling across a steep field on the Cotswold escarpment. “Hello, are you busy? You’re very nice, yes you are. Don’t walk off.” Young pauses, empathising with Celandine’s shyness. “She doesn’t like being  any more than I do.”
“She won’t know she’s being photographed,” harrumphs Graeme Robertson, the photographer. Or will she?
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Clam makes delightful shlooping sounds as it digs itself in at the tideline
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

The best part is when it gets to its desired depth and ejects a stream of sandy water. Bivalves! (via JWZ)

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What Don't We Get About Matter and Antimatter? We Shouldn't Be Here.
via the Big Think blog by Robby Berman

(BASE)
Why are we here, anyway? No, not in the what’s-the-meaning-of-it-all sense, but why haven’t matter and antimatter completely obliterated each other, the universe and us? In nature, two identical things that are 180° out of phase with each other — as matter and antimatter seem to be — cancel each other out. So, um, why are we here?
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A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Puss in Boots’ Fairy Tale
via Interesting Literature
An introduction to a classic fairy tale
A classic example of the fairy tale featuring ‘the animal as helper’, ‘Puss in Boots’ entered the canon of classic fairy tales when Charles Perrault included it (as ‘Le Chat Botté’) in his 1697 collection of fairy stories, although like many of the greatest fairy tales, an earlier version can be found in the 1634 Pentamerone, a collection of oral folk tales compiled by Giambattista Basile. How we should analyse ‘Puss in Boots’ has troubled authors, commentators, and illustrators over the years. George Cruikshank objected to ‘a system of imposture being rewarded by the greatest worldly advantages’.
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Skills Mismatch: Concepts, Measurements and Policy Approaches

an article by Seamus McGuinness (Trinity College, Dublin; IZA) Konstantinos Pouliakas (The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education (CEDEFOP); The University of Aberdeen; IZA) and Paul Redmond (Trinity College Dublin) published in Journal of Economic Surveys Volume 32 Issue 4 (September 2018)


Abstract

The term skills mismatch is very broad and can relate to many forms of labour market friction, including vertical mismatch, skill gaps, skill shortages, field of study (horizontal) mismatch and skill obsolescence.

In this paper, we provide a clear overview of each concept and discuss the measurement and inter‐relatedness of different forms of mismatch.

We present a comprehensive analysis of the current position of the literature on skills mismatch and highlight areas which are relatively underdeveloped and may warrant further research. Using data from the European Skills and Jobs Survey, we assess the incidence of various combinations of skills mismatch across the EU.

Finally, we review the European Commission's country‐specific recommendations and find that skills mismatch, when referring to underutilized human capital in the form of overeducation and skills underutilization, receives little policy attention. In cases where skills mismatch forms part of policy recommendations, the policy advice is either vague or addresses the areas of mismatch for which there is the least available evidence.

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Playing work, or gamification as stultification

an article by Chris Bateman (University of Bolton, Manchester, UK) published in Information, Communication & Society Volume 21 Issue 9 (2018)

Abstract

The contrast between work and play as activities collapses if play is seen, following anthropologist Thomas Malaby, as a disposition towards the indeterminate. Once play is positioned as a state of mind, activities that constitute work need not be disjunct from playful behavior.

Yet for most workers, work is rarely if ever playful, and attempts to import play behavior into the workplace (‘gamification’) do not result in greater playfulness. Part of this problem results from specific aesthetic values for games having dominated both work and play.

As Roger Caillois warned half a century ago, sport-like values have increasingly saturated the culture of the overdeveloped world. Meanwhile, gamification processes have only been able to export task-focussed reward structures from the domain of play – practices that descend from Dungeons & Dragons, but that have been denuded of their playful qualities.

In parallel to the gamification of work has been the gamification of games, namely an increasing emphasis on tasks to structure video game play (e.g., achievements), and thus make them more compelling yet less playful. In so much as this entails forcing particular patterns of understanding onto both players and workers, this makes gamification a parallel to Jacques Rancière's stultification in education: a binding of wills instead of an emancipation.

If we want a world where work could be more playful, we must begin by breaking the cultural dominance of sport-like and task-like aesthetics of play, and endeavour to overcome the underlying fears that prevent work from being played.

25 ‘Harmless’ Comments That Actually Hurt People With Mental Illness

a post by Juliette Virzi for The Mighty [via World of Psychology’s Psychology Around the Net]



If you live with a mental illness, you might be familiar with some of the seemingly “harmless,” but incredibly hurtful things, people often say to those struggling with it.

Sometimes these “harmless” comments come in the form of a pointed question. (Have you taken your meds today?) Sometimes they come with a “solution” via personal anecdote. (Becky used to be depressed all the time, but once she lost weight, her depression totally went away.) Most often, they come from simply misunderstanding mental health struggles. And even though these “harmless” comments may come from a good place, they can often invalidate the struggles of someone living with a mental illness.

When someone with a mental illness opens up about their struggles, oftentimes they aren’t looking for your “solution,” “advice,” opinions, DIY healing guide, etc. — they may just be looking for someone to listen and be there.

We wanted to know what “harmless” comments people with mental illness have heard that actually hurt them, so we asked our mental health community to share one with us and explain what it feels like to hear it.

It’s important to remember what may seem “harmless” to one person may actually be hurtful to another. No matter what anyone says, your feelings are valid, and you deserve support.

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Myers-Briggs: how a sham questionnaire became the world’s most popular personality test

an article by Sophie McBain published in the New Statesman

The simplest way to tell this story is that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the world’s most popular personality test, is a sham. It was conceived by a mother-and-daughter team, and the indicator reflects the private obsessions and personal observations of two brilliant and eccentric women, rather than any scientifically validated theory. Their assumptions that all humans conform to one of 16 types and that our personality traits are constant and unchanging do not withstand scientific scrutiny. Even so, two million people take the Myers-Briggs test each year, and it has helped spur a $2bn personality-typing industry.

Countless people are convinced that the Myers-Briggs test has given them powerful, sometimes life-changing insights, and has helped them change their job, save their marriage or get a promotion. The simple version of the story isn’t quite right. And luckily, Merve Emre, an Oxford English professor and an editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books, is a masterful and nuanced storyteller. What’s Your Type is a riveting biography of Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers and their controversial, influential test.

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3 Tips for Anyone Who's Tired of Trying to Make New Habits Stick

a post by Barbara Guignard for the Tiny Buddha blog


If you have a bad day, remember that tomorrow is a wonderful gift and a new chance to try again.” ~Bryant McGill

As I crawled back into bed after hitting the snooze button, my eyes heavy with sleep, I told myself, “You gave up once more” and rolled over back to sleep, annoyed with myself.

Two months earlier, inspired by the book The Miracle Morning, by Hal Erold, I had taken the habit of getting up early (around 5am) every day to meditate for fifteen minutes, write for thirty minutes, and exercise for thirty minutes.

When I started the new habit, it felt amazing. I was so proud of myself—I was doing it! On top of the satisfaction of achieving goals that I had set for myself, I really felt the benefit of being productive before everyone wakes up. It had a positive knock on effect on the rest of my life; I was upbeat, motivated, and I was going to work with a spring in my step.

Then, about two months in, normal life happened: I had been to bed later the previous nights—drinks with colleagues, watching a movie—and tiredness, coupled with maybe the weariness of the new habits, quickly took over. That morning, I did not jump out of bed and I was longing to roll over instead of starting my “miracle morning.”

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Our Shame Does Not Have to Silence Us Unless We Let It

a post by Lauren Darlington for the Tiny Buddha blog


“Empathy’s the antidote to shame. The two most powerful words when we’re in struggle: me too.” ~ Brené Brown

There is so much power in giving yourself a voice; in choosing to use that voice for truth; in giving life to the secrets, judgment, and shame you keep hidden away. “Me too” can change someone’s life.

I learned this firsthand almost a decade ago. It changed my life, and it’s changed countless others around me.

I gave my shame a voice and she was loud, strong, and bold. She brought light to a secret others would have preferred I kept. She brought comfort in my struggle. She brought wisdom in my pain. She began what would be a lifetime of courage, speaking up, and going first. She started it all.

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Study: Brain teasers in job interviews mainly reveal the sadistic traits of the interviewer

a post by Scotty Hendricks for the Big Think bog

Which has more advertising potential in Boston, a flower shop or a funeral home? How could you solve humankind's biggest crisis given $1 billion and a spacecraft? What is the number of new book titles published in the U.S. each year?

You probably don't know the answers to these questions, and they don't really have anything to do with what most people do on a day to day basis, but brain teasers like these — the kind that Google became notorious for asking its job candidates — can pop up during job interviews anyway. While they might not be of much use for understanding how well people can do their job, a new study shows that the brain teasers tell us a lot about the person who asks them.

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Why 'Follow Your Passion' Isn't the Best Career Advice After All

a post by by Elaine Mead for the World of Psychology blog

t’s an often quoted phrase, “follow your passion,” and it’s becoming even more prevalent career advice for both career changers and job seekers who aren’t sure what they should be doing. The idea being that if you follow your passion you’ll ultimately find a line of work that is fulfilling for you.

Online entrepreneur communities are rife with motivational quotes from successful individuals, across a range of backgrounds and industries, all with a very similar message: “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”.

But how true a message is this really?

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I can assure you that it is not true. I love crafting but hate having to work to deadlines, I love making music but doing it full-time would drive me nuts.

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Criminal background and job performance

Dylan Minor, Nicola Persico and Deborah M. Weiss (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA) published in IZA Journal of Labor Policy Volume 7 Article 8 (2018)

Abstract

Job applicants with criminal records are much less likely than others to obtain legitimate employment. Recent efforts to address this problem include campaigns to persuade employers to hire applicants with a record voluntarily and legislation such as Ban the Box laws.

The success of any remedial strategy depends on whether employer concerns are founded on an accurate view of how employees with a criminal background behave on the job if hired. Little empirical evidence now exists to answer this question.

This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining firm-level hiring practices and worker-level performance outcomes. Our data indicate that individuals with criminal records have a much longer tenure and are less likely to quit their jobs voluntarily than other workers. Some results, however, differ by job: sales employees with a criminal record have a higher tendency than other workers to leave because of misconduct, while this effect is smaller and less significant for customer service workers.

By examining psychometric data, we find evidence that bad outcomes for sales people with records may be driven by job rather than employee characteristics. We find some evidence that psychometric testing might provide a substitute for the use of criminal records, but that it would not in our own sample.

JEL Classification: K14, J24, J78

Full text (PDF 49pp)

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For Many In Venezuela, Social Media Is A Matter Of Life And Death

an article by Jasmine Garsd published by npr [via ResearchBuzz: Firehose]

Health workers form a human chain reading "SOS" during a protest for the lack of medicines, medical supplies and poor conditions in hospitals, in Caracas on Aug. 2.

Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

Guillermo does not exist — on social media at least. He has a Facebook account, but he doesn't publicly use his real name. He doesn't have a profile picture, doesn't show his location, and never posts a single thing. He mostly logs in to read about sports.

Guillermo asked that his last name be withheld — he worries about his family. They still live in Venezuela. Amid political and economic chaos, over a million Venezuelans have left the country in the last two years.

Guillermo, who lives in New York, worries that if he posts anything indicating he might have money, "someone I know, or who knows my family, could kidnap them. Just because of a picture. Because they might think that I can pay a ransom of thousands of dollars."

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Understanding What Your Emotions Are Trying to Tell You

a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for the World of Psychology blog

Understanding our emotions is vital. For starters, as therapist Rachael Morgan said, our emotions aren’t going anywhere – and that’s a good thing. “Being human and having emotions is a package deal. And thank god! Would we really want to be robots, or efficient, non-feeling machines?”

She noted that our emotions are a gift, because they tell us how we’re doing. They give us information to protect us from harm. For instance, anger tells Morgan to pay attention to where she’s surrendering her power and withholding her truth. It encourages her to be assertive, to speak up and to advocate for herself.

“Knowing more about my emotions leads me to recognize that I can commit to caring for myself – and ultimately others – better, making choices informed by insider information.”

Understanding our emotions is how we form authentic, meaningful relationships with ourselves and with others, said Sage Rubinstein, MA, LMHC, a Miami-based therapist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, addiction and trauma.

Our emotions point to our underlying needs and wants, and meeting those needs and wants helps us to create fulfillment.

But if you’ve spent years dismissing your emotions, how can you really understand them? How can you identify them? How do you know if you’re angry or sad? How do you know where your sadness stems from? Where do you even start?

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The effect of machine translation on international trade: Evidence from a large digital platform

a column by Erik Brynjolfsson, Xiang Hui and Meng Liu for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Recent years have seen dramatic progress in the predictive power of artificial intelligence in many areas, including speech recognition, but empirical evidence documenting its concrete economic effects is largely lacking.

This column analyses the effect of the introduction of eBay Machine Translation on eBay’s international trade. The results show that it increased US exports on eBay to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries by 17.5%. By overriding trade-hindering language barriers, AI is already affecting productivity and trade and has significant potential to increase them further.

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Digital “women’s work?”: Job recruitment ads and the feminization of social media employment

an article by Brooke Erin Duffy (Cornell University, USA) and Becca Schwartz (University of Oxford, UK) published in New Media & Society Volume 20 Issue 8 (August 2018)

Abstract

In the wake of profound transformations in digital media markets and economies, the structures and conditions of cultural production are being radically reconfigured. This study explores the nascent field of social media work through an analysis of job recruitment ads—texts, we contend, that provide insight into a key discursive site of imagining the ideal digital laborer.

Drawing upon a qualitative textual analysis of 150 adverts, we show how employers construct workers through a patterned set of features, including sociability, deft emotional management, and flexibility. Such industrial imaginings incite workers to remain ever available, juggle various roles and responsibilities, and engage in persistent emotional labor—both online and off.

These expectations, we argue, allude to the increasingly feminized nature of social media employment, with its characteristic invisibility, lower pay, and marginal status within the technology field.

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Why Your Brain Can't Let Go of a Grudge

a post by George Dvorsky published by GIZMODO [via the World of Psychology blog]

We humans are masters of resentment—a characteristic that can be traced back the beginnings of recorded history. Feuds seem to be an indelible aspect of the human condition, but why should this be? We spoke to the experts to find out why we love to hold a grudge, and the importance of letting go.

Like other emotions, the capacity for hate and resentment are learned and reinforced over the course of our lives—but they’re also etched in the wiring of our DNA. When we boil feelings of resentment and the desire for revenge down to the most basic level, they’re really about an evolved mental state that’s driving us to achieve some sort of goal. Ultimately, feuds are rooted in desire, and the seeking of a particular outcome.

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The new science of psychedelics

a long read by Tim Martin published in the New Statesman



Once dismissed as a hippie indulgence, drugs such as LSD are now at the front line of research into depression and anxiety. Could psychedelics actually make us better people?

Seventy-five years ago, in April 1943, the research chemist Albert Hofmann did something distinctly out of scientific character. Impelled by what he later called a “peculiar presentiment”, he resolved to take a second look at the 25th in a series of molecules derived from the ergot fungus, a drug he had discovered some years earlier and dismissed as of no scientific interest. As he synthesised it for the second time, it made contact with his skin, giving rise to an unprecedented experience: a “stream of fantastic pictures [and] extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours”. Five days later, on 19 April, he decided to test the chemical on himself under controlled conditions, thus becoming the first person in history knowingly to embark on an acid trip.

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When You Feel Like You're Going Nowhere and Life Has No Point

a post by Carrie L Burns for the Tiny Buddha blog

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer

How many days do you wake up feeling like you’re a hamster on a wheel? You brush your teeth, take a shower, drink your coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch television, go to bed, and rinse and repeat.

Do you wonder how you can keep going and keep everything together when it feels like you’re doing nothing, going nowhere, and living some life you weren’t meant for?

Do you ever wonder what to do on those days where you feel like you can’t go on? On days where life seems to have no point? You’re going through the motions, but there is always an empty pit somewhere inside your soul that never seems to fill.

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Refocusing the European fiscal framework

a column by Lars Feld, Christoph Schmidt, Isabel Schnabel and Volker Wieland for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Simplicity and transparency are essential to strengthen the effectiveness of fiscal rules and to ensure sustainable public finances; thus the German Council of Economic Experts has criticised recent reforms of the European fiscal framework for exacerbating their complexity.

This column proposes a redesign of the existing fiscal framework together with a drastic reduction in exception and escape clauses. The reformed framework employs a modified expenditure benchmark as an annual operational target. In addition, it implements the structural deficit rule as its medium-term target through a multi-purpose adjustment account, and a pre-specified debt ratio as its long-term limit achieved with a debt-correction factor.

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The impact of technological progress on labour markets: policy challenges

an article by Maarten Goos (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) published in Oxford Review of Economic Policy Volume 34 Issue 3 (Autumn 2018)

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of current thinking by economists about the consequences of ongoing technological progress for labour markets, and discusses policy implications.

In economics, the impact of technological progress on labour markets is understood by the following two channels:

1. the nature of interactions between differently skilled workers and new technologies affecting labour demand and
2. the equilibrium effects of technological progress through consequent changes in labour supply and product markets.

The paper explains how the ongoing Digital Revolution is characterized by a complex interplay between worker skills and digital capital in the workplace, and consequent changes in job mobility for workers and in output prices affecting consumer demand for goods and services. In particular, it explains how current worker–technology interactions and the equilibrium effects they entail combine to create economy-wide job polarization with winners and losers from ongoing technological progress.

The paper therefore concludes by discussing a set of policy interventions to ensure that the benefits of the Digital Revolution are broadly shared.

JEL Classification: J24, J28, O30

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10 Dangers of Always Making Safe Choices

a post by Suzanne Kane for the World of Psychology blog


“I don’t want an uneventful and safe life. I prefer an adventurous one.” – Isabel Allende

Every day you make choices. Some you make without thinking, part of a routine you’ve become accustomed to. Others you think about for a long time before deciding — if you do — to act. What most of us don’t realize, however, is that the time for making choices is not infinite. You can procrastinate too long in making a decision and the opposite of that, acting too quickly and always going for the safe choice isn’t wise either.

What are some dangers of always making safe choices? You might be surprised. Yet there are proactive steps you can take to modify your decision-making approach, so you avoid these dangers and enjoy the rewards from taking calculated risks.

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Model can more naturally detect depression in conversations

a post by Rob Matheson for the Big Think blog

Neural network learns speech patterns that predict depression in clinical interviews

To diagnose depression, clinicians interview patients, asking specific questions — about, say, past mental illnesses, lifestyle, and mood — and identify the condition based on the patient’s responses.

In recent years, machine learning has been championed as a useful aid for diagnostics. Machine-learning models, for instance, have been developed that can detect words and intonations of speech that may indicate depression. But these models tend to predict that a person is depressed or not, based on the person’s specific answers to specific questions. These methods are accurate, but their reliance on the type of question being asked limits how and where they can be used.

In a paper being presented at the Interspeech conference, MIT researchers detail a neural-network model that can be unleashed on raw text and audio data from interviews to discover speech patterns indicative of depression. Given a new subject, it can accurately predict if the individual is depressed, without needing any other information about the questions and answers.

The researchers hope this method can be used to develop tools to detect signs of depression in natural conversation. In the future, the model could, for instance, power mobile apps that monitor a user’s text and voice for mental distress and send alerts. This could be especially useful for those who can’t get to a clinician for an initial diagnosis, due to distance, cost, or a lack of awareness that something may be wrong.

“The first hints we have that a person is happy, excited, sad, or has some serious cognitive condition, such as depression, is through their speech,” says first author Tuka Alhanai, a researcher in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). “If you want to deploy [depression-detection] models in scalable way … you want to minimize the amount of constraints you have on the data you’re using. You want to deploy it in any regular conversation and have the model pick up, from the natural interaction, the state of the individual.”

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I found this particularly interesting since I have recently had two phone assessments and the second one was to query the answers that I had put on the standard questionnaire. That one that asks how many days in the last two weeks have you ... ?
I find that particularly difficult. Did I feel miserable all day just once, did I feel miserable and unable to cope for part of every day etc?

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Myths of military revolution: European expansion and Eurocentrism

an article by J.C. Sharman (University of Cambridge, UK) published in European Journal of International Relations Volume 24 Issue 3 (September 2018)

Abstract

This article critiques explanations of the rise of the West in the early modern period premised on the thesis that military competition drove the development of gunpowder technology, new tactics, and the Westphalian state, innovations that enabled European trans-continental conquests.

Even theories in International Relations and other fields that posit economic or social root causes of Western expansion often rely on this “military revolution” thesis as a crucial intervening variable. Yet, the factors that defined the military revolution in Europe were absent in European expeditions to Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and conventional accounts are often marred by Eurocentric biases.

Given the insignificance of military innovations, Western expansion prior to the Industrial Revolution is best explained by Europeans’ ability to garner local support and allies, but especially by their deference to powerful non-Western polities.

Full text (PDF 23pp)

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Demilitarizing disarmament with mine detection rats

an article by Darcie DeAngelo (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) published in Culture and Organization Volume 24 Issue 4: Special Issue: The Animal (2018)

Abstract

This paper considers a new technology for mine action in Cambodia: the mine detection rat.

Used successfully in Africa for mine detection since 2003, the rats were implemented for the first time in 2015 in Cambodia by the international NGO, APOPO. APOPO entered a small-scale partnership with the state mine action organization, Cambodian Mine Action Centre.

The partnership revealed a tension between APOPO’s aspiration to ‘demilitarize’ mine action and the highly militarized nature of mine action under the state. The rats were unique among militaristic structures and experiences and allowed the international NGO to promote an ideal of what demilitarized mine action should look like.

But the rats also condition the possibilities for the demilitarization of mine action through their own biological and historical attributes.

This paper will use observations from over 14 months of fieldwork among this partnership with mine detection rats, showing tensions between local militarized methods for disarmament and an NGO’s aspirations for global humanitarianism.

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Disadvantaged neighbourhoods and young people not in education, employment or training at the ages of 18 to 19 in England

an article by Jenkins Karyda (University College London Institute of Education, London, UK) published in Journal of Education and Work Volume 31 Number 3, 3 (April 2018)

Abstract

There is a growing interest among researchers in the impact of locality on young people who are inactive and not engaged in education, employment or training (NEETs). Previous research on this, however, is rather limited and does not account for a number of characteristics that mediate the effects of disadvantaged neighbourhoods on transition outcomes.

This study investigates the effects of neighbourhood context on young people who experience NEET status at the ages 18 to 19 in one cohort born in 1989/90 in the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).

The analyses control for a wide range of factors which may affect NEET status. Drawing on previous sociological theories, we develop a theoretical framework that specifies four levels of influence on young people’s development: individual, family, school and peer group characteristics.

Potential pathways between neighbourhood context and individual outcomes are explored using a logistic regression model. We demonstrate that there is a higher probability for young people who live in high-crime areas to become NEETs in comparison to those who live in less-deprived areas.

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When You Feel Like You're Going Nowhere and Life Has No Point

a post by Carrie L. Burns for the Tiny Buddha blog


“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer

How many days do you wake up feeling like you’re a hamster on a wheel? You brush your teeth, take a shower, drink your coffee, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch television, go to bed, and rinse and repeat.

Do you wonder how you can keep going and keep everything together when it feels like you’re doing nothing, going nowhere, and living some life you weren’t meant for?

Do you ever wonder what to do on those days where you feel like you can’t go on? On days where life seems to have no point? You’re going through the motions, but there is always an empty pit somewhere inside your soul that never seems to fill.

It seems that no matter how hard you try, you end up in the same spot, in the same position having to start all over again, and your inability to change your messed up emotional patterns starts taking an excruciating toll.

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Is there evidence of households making a heat or eat trade off in the UK?

an article by Carolyn Snell (University of York, UK), Hannah Lambie-Mumford (University of Sheffield, UK) and Harriet Thomson (University of Birmingham, UK) published in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice Volume 26 Number 2 (June 2018)

Abstract

This paper explores the popular idea of a ‘heat or eat’ dilemma existing for some households. The mixed-methods research finds that there is a relationship between not being able to heat the home and not being able to eat well.

However, it appears that households struggle to do either, and there is considerable nuance in household decisions around energy use.

Qualitative data analysis indicates the importance of energy billing periods, household composition and social and familial networks in terms of shaping household experiences and responses.

The findings challenge the established idea that food and fuel are elastic household expenditures.

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Good, Bad and Very Bad Part-time Jobs for Women? Re-examining the Importance of Occupational Class for Job Quality since the ‘Great Recession’ in Britain

an article by Tracey Warren (University of Nottingham, UK) and Clare Lyonette
(University of Warwick, UK) published in Work, Employment and Society Volume 12 Issue 4 (August 2018)

Abstract

Britain has long stood out in Europe for its extensive but poor-quality part-time labour market dominated by women workers, who are concentrated in lower-level jobs demanding few skills and low levels of education, offering weak wage rates and restricted advancement opportunities.

This article explores trends in part-time job quality for women up to and beyond the recession of 2008/9, and asks whether post-recessionary job quality remains differentiated by occupational class.

A pre-recessionary narrowing of the part-time/full-time gap in job quality appears to have been maintained for the women in higher-level part-time jobs, while part- and full-timers in lower-level jobs suffered the worst effects of the recession, signalling deepening occupational class inequalities among working women.

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10 Ways to Stop Thinking You're Not 'Good Enough'

a post by Mary Guay for YourTango.com [via World of Psychology]



Because yes, actually, you are.

If you’re a man or women who’s bought into our culture’s pervasive, self-harming programming, causing your inner critic to repeatedly tell echo the words, “I’m not good enough,” it’s well past time for you to wake up from that nightmare of negative, self-destructive thinking and focus on learning how to love yourself and practice self-care instead.

In her powerful book, A Woman’s Worth, Marianne Williamson writes:

In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we are lost and imprisoned, slaves…Our jailer is a three-headed monster; one head our past, one our insecurity, and one our popular culture.

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How to Keep From Repeating Mistakes

a post by Suzanna Kane for the World of Psychology blog


“Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent.” – Billy Graham

How many times have you made a mistake and instantly remember you’ve made it before? Most people have this experience and recognize it when it becomes a pattern. If they fail to see the similarities between the current mistake and a past or previous one, however, they’re likely destined to repeat it multiple times. It doesn’t have to be this way. You can profit from mistakes — particularly ones that recur frequently — if you pay heed to how to keep from repeating mistakes.

What Science Says

Recent research published in the journal Memory on mistakes and learning from them reveals that if the mistake occurs while learning, it is possible to improve memory for the correct information. The key to improved learning is that the error or mistake must be close to the correct information, a so-called “near miss,” researchers said, saying further that errors that were “out in left field” don’t tend to learn the correct information as easily. Further research is planned with the hope of improving education for young adults as well as late-life learners.

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Tackling problem debt

a press release from the National Audit Office 6 September 2018

Full report: Tackling problem debt

Personal debt problems have a significant impact on individuals, but the government has a limited understanding of how this affects the public purse and there are weaknesses in its strategy for dealing with the issue, says today’s report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

Problem debt, which is defined as the inability to pay debts or household bills, affects around 8.3 million people in the UK. It can have significant damaging effects, such as causing anxiety and depression. It can also increase people’s likelihood of being in state-subsidised housing. Problem debt is caused by a large number of factors, including life events, access to affordable credit, debt collection practices and a person’s understanding of financial matters. An estimated 4 in 10 people in the UK cannot manage their money well day-to-day, and internationally the UK ranks below average in financial capability.

The NAO estimates that the increased use of public health and housing services by people with problem debt costs taxpayers an additional £248 million a year, and around £900 million a year to the economy as a whole. Due to gaps in the government’s data, it is not possible to model other impacts including on employment and benefits.

HM Treasury has overall policy responsibility for problem debt and works closely with many organisations across government and the private and third sectors in trying to address this issue. However, the NAO has found weaknesses in HM Treasury’s approach. It does not have any formal mechanism or forum to bring issues together in a coherent way, ensure a common understanding of priorities, or collectively hold delivery partners to account.

People increasingly report problems with debts to government or utility providers. The NAO estimates that the UK public owe at least £18 billion to utility providers, landlords, housing associations and government, such as through council tax arrears or benefit overpayments. HM Treasury has limited information on debt in these areas and, as such, does not fully understand the problem, which hinders its ability to respond effectively. The information available is much less clear and transparent than retail lending information.

Government also lags behind the retail lending sector in following good debt management practice. As an example, established best practice in how to assess affordability of repayments is used by only 19% of local authorities and is not used as standard by central government creditors. Debtors’ perceptions of whether they are treated fairly also lag behind retail lenders. A lack of data-sharing means government cannot identify individuals who owe money to more than one department, resulting in debt collection teams competing for repayments from the same person. Short-term incentives and funding pressures may also be leading to debts being pursued too quickly and aggressively, particularly in local government. NAO’s modelling estimates that intimidating actions and additional charges on over-indebted people are 15-29% more likely to make debts harder to manage or increase anxiety and depression. The Cabinet Office leads the government’s work to improve debt management practices across government, but departments, agencies and local councils are responsible for their own approaches.

To reduce the extent to which problem debt occurs in the first place, the Money Advice Service has improved coordination of efforts to improve the public’s understanding of financial matters, but its strategy does not involve all relevant parts of government. Meanwhile, the Financial Conduct Authority has taken action to improve responsible lending, for example by reducing fees and charges on a typical payday loan which it estimates saves borrowers £150 million per year. It recognises it has more to do though on high-cost credit to tackle persistent and unsustainable debt.

HM Treasury is developing proposals to strengthen statutory protections for people struggling with debt problems. The NAO recommends that HM Treasury should ensure its policies on personal debt are delivered effectively and are drawn on best practice. It must also improve the quality and availability of data from across government on the scale, nature and impact of problem debt on individuals and taxpayers.

"Problem debt has significant consequences both for individuals and the taxpayer. While government has made progress in seeking to address this issue, its attempts so far have been insufficient. The Treasury needs a better understanding of the scale of people’s debt problems and how it is impacting their lives and the taxpayer so it can effectively resolve the problem."

Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO

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Internet of things: a research-oriented introductory

an article by S.P. Raja (Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Avadi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) and T. Sampradeepraj (Sethu Institute of Technology, Kariapatti, Pulloor, Tamil Nadu, India) published in International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing Volume 29 Number 1/2 (2018)

Abstract

The world has shrunk considerably with the dramatic growth in internet usage. Every computer and mobile phone in the world can be connected together through internet technology. As a result, intelligent devices are connected and communicate together.

The internet of things (IoT) envisions a future where people and intelligent systems cooperate and work together.

In the IoT, machine-to-machine communication (M2M) helps devices exchange data, requiring power, efficiency, security and reliability. This paper advances new ideas for designing a security protocol in the IoT so as to facilitate secure M2M.

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A lack of acclimatisation can be deadly during heatwaves

a column by Thomas Longden for VIX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

During the last 15 years, various regions around the world have been struck by some very strong heatwaves.

This column uses examples of heatwaves in Australia to argue that a lack of acclimatisation is a key factor that influences how deadly these extreme temperature events are, and identifies thresholds for hotter temperatures that capture the temperature-related mortality relationship for such events.

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I get by with a little help from my friends: The ecological model and support for women scholars experiencing online harassment

an article by Jaigris Hodson and George Veletsianos (Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada), Chandell Gosse (Western University, London, Ontario, Canada) and Shandell Houlden (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) published in First Monday Volume 23 Number 8 (August 2018)

Abstract

This article contributes to understanding the phenomenon of online abuse and harassment toward women scholars.

We draw on data collected from 14 interviews with women scholars from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and report on the types of supports they sought during and after their experience with online abuse and harassment.

We found that women scholars rely on three levels of support: the first level includes personal and social support (such as encouragement from friends and family and outsourcing comment reading to others); the second includes organizational (such as university or institutional policy), technological (such as reporting tools on Twitter or Facebook), and sectoral (such as law enforcement) support; and, the third includes larger cultural and social attitudes and discourses (such as attitudes around gendered harassment and perceptions of the online/offline divide). While participants relied on social and personal support most frequently, they commonly reported relying on multiple supports across all three levels.

We use an ecological model as our framework to demonstrate how different types of support are interconnected, and recommend that support for targets of online abuse must integrate aspects of all three levels.

Full text (HTML)

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10 for today starts with rare books and wanders via St Petersburg, Rome and Berlin to end up on Pluto

New Online: A Digital Treasure Trove of Rare Books
via ResearchBuzz: Firehose: guest post by digital library specialist Elizabeth Gettins on the Library of Congress blog

An image from “Map and Views Illustrating Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 1585–6.
There is a mystique surrounding libraries with old, rare books, and the Library of Congress is no exception. Just think of all the dark and vast vaults of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division that are closed to the public and imagine what undiscovered treasures they hold. Now, thanks to the digital age, the stacks are open and searchable—everyone can access these untold treasures through our newly released web portal.
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Passchendaele – Sassoon's hell
via The National Archives Blog by Erica Peacock
This year [2017] sees the 100th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele. It was one of the bloodiest campaigns of the First World War and will be forever associated with the appalling conditions created by the continuous rain and mud of the battlegrounds. Men died needlessly for little military gain.
Back home in Britain, people were often ignorant, or complacent, about the truth of what the men were suffering in the trenches. The agonies suffered by the men at Passchendaele were very different from the myth of glorious sacrifice propagated at home. The war poet Siegfried Sassoon had seen and experienced the horrors of the trenches and was determined to convey the grim reality through his poetry.
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Crime and punishment, and the spirit of St Petersburg
via the OUP Blog by Fyodor Dostoevvsky, Nicholas Pasternak Slater and Sarah J Young

St Petersburg Russia by MariaShvedova. Creative Commons via Pixabay.

Crime and Punishment is a story of a murder and morality that draws deeply on Dostoevsky’s personal experiences as a prisoner. It contrasts criminality with conscience, nihilism with consequences, and examines the lengths to which people will go to retain a sense of liberty.
One of the factors that brought all these things together was the novel’s setting, around the Haymarket in St Petersburg, where the grandeur of the imperial capital gives way to poverty, squalor, and vice. The city here is not merely a backdrop but reflects the imposition of the will of one man, its founder Peter the Great, who famously decreed its existence and oversaw its building, which cost the lives of thousands of slaves. In Notes from Underground, the narrator describes St Petersburg as ‘the most abstract and premeditated city in the whole wide world’ – again alluding to that problem of abstraction and its potential to elevate ideas over lives. In this most ideological and willed of cities, the most ideological and willed of murders seems bound to happen.
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High school physics teacher shows his awesome home made marble tracks
via Boing Boing by Mark Frauenfelder

Teacher Bruce Yeany built a number of physics demonstration props that use balls, tracks, and gravity, and it's a delight to see them in action. He also has videos to show you how to make your own. Very cool! I just subscribe to his YouTube channel, filled with home made science toys.

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The Darkening Age: how Christians won the brutal culture war against Rome
via New Statesman by Emily Wilson

PICTURE: ARCHIVART / ALAMY
In 312 CE, Constantine had a vision of the cross as the emblem that would lead him to military victory: “In hoc signo, vinces!” (“With this sign, you will win!”) The story may be fake history: it is told only much later, in contradictory forms, by two authors with their own Christian axes to grind, and Constantine was probably never as fully and exclusively committed to the faith as the later hagiographers suggest. But officially, he did become the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. A small Jewish cult that had mostly been ignored by the ruling Roman elite had acquired the attention of the most powerful man in the world. A few decades later, in 380 CE, Theodosius made Christianity the sole authorised religion of the Roman empire.
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Head space: why our adolescent memories are so clear
via the Guardian by Daniel Glaser

Summer fun: we have a so-called ‘reminiscence bump’ for events in adolescence. Photograph: Halfpoint/Getty Images
Recently I was asked to choose a track that changed my life, as part of an event called OneTrackMinds. Without hesitation I chose the one I first heard when I was 17, effortlessly skipping back over decades to hook into a song from my late adolescence. I had my reasons for selecting this particular piece, but a neurobiological phenomenon was at work here, too.
The so-called reminiscence bump, based on many well-established studies about memory, refers to the way we recall memories from adolescence and early adulthood more vividly as we grow older – compared to, say, remembering something from last week. So much of what we remember isn’t to do with our mental state now, but about the state of our brain when the memory was first ‘processed’.
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What Makes This 90-year-old Berlin Metro Map So Appealing?
via Big Think blog by Frank Jacobs

Finding a Strange Map for this blog involves a lot of scrolling – and one full stop. As was the case with this map. Among a crop of merely informative maps and charts, there it was. Yes! It was love at first sight.
So what are we looking at here? A 90-year-old public transport diagram, apparently. The hand-coloured pastels and the modernist sans-serif font seem contemporary with the year in the legend. Which reads, in German: Traffic volume on elevated and underground railway lines, 1927.
The city is not mentioned, but stops with historically resonant names like Potsdamer Platz and Alexanderplatz provide a hint, even if you don't know much about German topography: this is Berlin.
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The Best Nursery Rhymes Everyone Should Know
via Interesting Literature

For most of us, nursery rhymes are the first poems we ever encounter in life. They can teach us about rhythm, and about constructing a story in verse, and, occasionally, they impart important moral lessons to us. More often than not, though, they make no sense at all. In this post, we’ve picked ten of the very best nursery rhymes, though this list isn’t designed to be comprehensive, of course.
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Creeds and Christian freedom
via OUP blog by Wolfram Kinzig

Council of Nicaea 325 by Fresco in Capella Sistina, Vatican 1590. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
It is no exaggeration to say that, historically speaking, next to the Bible the early Christian creeds are the most important texts of Christianity. In the Latin Church, the Roman creed, which was recited at baptism, was considered so important that in Late Antiquity people claimed that it had been composed by the apostles themselves; thus it came to be called the Apostles’ Creed. Later the individual clauses of this creed were even ascribed to individual apostles (although there was considerable confusion as to which apostle had said what and the number of the clauses didn’t quite fit either). In the East, the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople, which had been adopted at the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381 and based on the Creed of the Council of Nicaea of 325, continues to hold pride of place in the liturgy.
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Pluto's equator is covered in skyscraper-sized methane ice blades
via Boing Boing by Andrea James

As NASA continues to examine the treasure trove of data from the New Horizons project, one interesting phenomenon at Pluto's equator has been identified as massive ice blades made of methane.
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Chinese imports and domestic employment across 18 OECD countries

a column by Stefan Thewissen and Olaf van Vliet for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

The recent revival of protectionism has prompted further interests in the domestic employment effects of imports, in particular from China.

This column examines the association between Chinese imports and domestic employment effects in 17 sectors across 18 OECD countries with diverse labour market institutions. The results indicate that employment fell in sectors that are more exposed to imports from China, especially among low-skilled workers.

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The relationship between workplace spirituality, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors – an empirical study

an article by Shibani Belwalkar and Veena Vohra (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies University (NMIMS), Mumbai, India) and Ashish Pandey, (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India) Social Responsibility Journal Volume 14 Issue 2 (2018)

Abstract

Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationships between workplace spirituality, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). It examines the relationship between the three workplace spirituality components – meaning and purpose in work, recognition of an inner life or spirit and interconnectedness with OCBs, mediated by the job satisfaction experienced by the employees, in the context of an Indian private sector bank. A sample consisting of 613 banking employees is studied. The results provide considerable support for all except one of the hypothesized relationships between workplace spirituality components and OCBs. Workplace spirituality components also all led to job satisfaction in employees, and job satisfaction tested positive for a relationship with OCBs. This study can provide significant inputs to promote managerial effectiveness and change management, leadership and holistic performance and growth of organizations, through environments that promote workplace spirituality.

Design/methodology/approach
The objective of this research is the study of the relationship between the constructs, a spirituality at work, i.e. the independent variable, and OCBs (OCBs), i.e. the dependent variable, and to explore the possibility of the mediating effects of job satisfaction. As the nature of this empirical study is rigorous, and one which will pave the way toward theory building, this research adopts a positivist orientation quantitative method throughout because it is deemed most suitable as it allows testing the validity of the main measure (the integration profile) and the theory using hypotheses and establishing relationships, and at the same time, it allows the researcher to remain independent from the research participants (Reswell, 1994). Consequently, the findings will be very useful to answer the most important research question of this study, which is to inform managers and employers whether workplace spirituality affects employees’ job satisfaction and OCBs.

Findings
Using the SPSS statistical package and the partial least square structured equation modeling analysis software tool, the research data have been analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative results suggest that there is a positive relationship between the dependent variable, OCBs, and the independent variables, meaning and purpose and interconnectedness. The inner life dimension of workplace spirituality did to correlate to the single factor of OCB analyzed, but individually inner life had a significant positive relationship with the individual components of OCB – altruism, civic virtue, courtesy and sportsmanship, except conscientiousness. The correlations established the relationships, and the regression analysis identified the relevant factors that had causal relationship. The 163 validity and reliability of the measurement instruments were confirmed by the high internal consistency.

Research limitations/implications
Improving organizational citizenship is one of the lowest costs and best ways to encourage organizational effectiveness. This research is important for businesses that want to create competence and organizational effectiveness. Indian contextual studies (non-Western context) on both workplace spirituality and organizational outcomes are few and keeping in mind the growth of Indian industry, the evolving workforce and demands being made on workplaces, a study like this is significant. The studies stated that businesses should act as agents of national progress and development and as socially responsible citizens contributing to the environment and influencing well-being. This would require a strong and hard look at current management practices. Allio (2011) stated that as a result of the consequences of questionable and corrupt corporate practices, there is a strong need felt to articulate a new sense of purpose of the firm, corporate character and culture, survival, sustainability and innovation. Thaker (2011) advocated the same view as he stated that the current management and organizational policies, principles and practices are focused on a view of self-interest. This results in socially and environmentally dysfunctional organizations. An alternative approach is workplace spirituality (Al-Qutop and Harrim, 2014).

Practical implications
Strategic implementation of workplace spirituality is an upcoming focus and priority area of work for human resource managers (Marques, 2005). The human resource department’s role in designing and developing strategies that embrace spirituality, with the intention of developing a culture aimed toward the successful achievement of both business and individual or personal goals, is very critical for the management. By using statistical analysis to demonstrate whether or not a relationship exists between one or more of the determinants of spirituality and one or more of the determinants of job satisfaction, leaders may be better able to understand why certain individuals are able to remain passionate about their work. Leaders can integrate the appropriate determinants that may correlate to job satisfaction into the organizational culture, resulting in improved job satisfaction for all within the organization. The outcomes can provide a significant contribution to the body of knowledge for spirituality within organizations, as well as knowledge of factors that influence job satisfaction and motivation.

Social implications
The inherent nature of this study is intimately connected to its objective, purpose and significance. It is also based on the fundamental realization that managers and leaders today have a larger responsibility in society, one that extends beyond their routine functions and basic tasks of running a business. Leadership decisions can and do have a profound lasting effect on the larger community and society within which they operate. This study and the methods that have been adopted for this research are intended to add to the growing body of knowledge on managerial perceptions, and implications of the process of introducing and practicing workplace spirituality.

Originality/value
Studies in the Indian context of workplace spirituality and outcomes are rare. Particular studies in the banking sector are lesser. This research aims at studying the link between workplace spirituality, job satisfaction and OCBs, in the context of an Indian private sector bank, which is very unique. Earlier studies have tested the relationships independently, but have not examined the relationships of all three variables together.

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How to Free Your Truest Self When You Struggle With Anxiety

a post by Eugene Choi for the Tiny Buddha blog


“Stress, depression, and anxiety are caused when we are living to please others.” ~Paulo Coehlo

I came from a broken and very poor family. My father left the house during my teenage years, and it was just my mother, little brother, and I remaining.

Like most single parents going through the hardships of singlehandedly caring for two children, my mother was often anxious about my well-being. And she overcompensated for her anxiety by being overbearing.

I unfortunately inherited this anxiety.

For the longest time, it was a daily battle for me.

You know the feeling.

Your muscles tense up, you feel an overwhelming sense of fear, and your heart begins to race.

It’s the uncomfortable worries that surface as you play out worst-case scenarios in your head.

Though we can feel anxiety about debt, work pressures, or any number of challenges, for me, it was mostly triggered by the fear of not being good enough and disappointing other people.

My struggle with anxiety was one of the most crippling experiences, and as a result, I never grew.

So, is it really possible to overcome anxiety?

I realized the answer is yes, but first I needed to understand where my anxiety was coming from.

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What Self-Compassion Really Looks Like

a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for Weightless (via the World of Psychology blog)



We tend to think of self-compassion as being self-indulgent, as coddling ourselves and shirking responsibility. We think it means letting pleasure exclusively dictate our decisions and our days.

And we see self-compassion as useless, even harmful. We think that if we put down the whip, we’ll be whittled down to some lazy, slothful, unsuccessful weakling, to someone we definitely don’t want to be.

But self-compassion is none of these things. And we don’t need the whip. We can set it down. We can toss it in the trash. And let it go. Permanently.

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Are Your Hitting Your Losada Line of Happiness?

a post by Claire Dorotik-Nana (Leveraging Adversity) via the World of Psychology blog



It has been said that positive emotions expand our consciousness in ways that help us solve problems. For Barbara Frederickson, the author of Positivity: Top-Notch Research Reveals the Upward Spiral That Will Change Your Life, positive emotions build upon one another in ways that extend beyond the present moment.

Rather than focusing on developing an overarching or all-encompassing habit of happiness, Frederickson argues, we should focus on small “micromoments,” or opportunities for happiness. It is from these moments that we can then broaden and build upon a larger goal of more lasting happiness.

So just how many “micromoments” do we need?

In her early work with Marcial Losada, Frederickson answered this question. In what is now known as the “Losada line” Frederickson and Losada showed that the ratio of positive to negative emotions that fosters flourishing, learning, optimism, and even overcoming various negative physiological factors that accompany negative emotions, is effectively 2.93, or three positive emotions for every negative one.

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Four Reasons You Wake Up with a Bad Attitude

a post by Mike Bundrant for NLP Discoveries via the World of Psychology blog

What are the first thoughts and feelings you have upon waking?

God, I don’t wanna get up.
I hate my life.

You get up, trudge into the bathroom and look in the mirror.

Ugh, I look awful.

You’re putting together coffee and someone says good morning.

Grunt. I hate morning people.

What gives?

Continue reading and discover 4 possible reasons together with links to lots of information about each reason.

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Why Introverts Feel Drained in Groups and How I Preserve My Energy

a post by Ben Fizell for the Tiny Buddha blog

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.” ~Deepak Chopra

When I was younger, I was always referred to as “the quiet one.” I didn’t mind it; I knew I was much quieter than most people I met. Not speaking and spending time on my own was natural for me.

Friends and workmates recognized this but would still often ask me if I wanted to join them when they were going out, even though they knew I would usually say no. They understood me as quiet, but they didn’t really understand just how much I disliked the whole socializing thing and how much it would drain me.

I’d always loved time on my own. Even if I was somewhere amongst people, as long as I didn't have to speak or engage with others, I was fairly content. In both situations I could retreat to my own inner world.

My thoughts and imagination were never boring; there were always observations to make about myself, the world, and other people. There was a sense of coming home whenever I became quiet. There was a familiar comfort in my inner world.

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How the mindful brain copes with rejection

a post by Alexandra Martelli and David Chester (Virginia Commonwealth University) published on the OUP blog

Person on mountain by Milan Popovic. CC0 viaUnsplash.

Whether it’s being left out of happy hour plans or being broken up with by a significant other, we can all relate to the pain of social rejection. Such “social pain” is consequential, undermining our physical and mental health. But how can we effectively cope with the distressing experience of being left out or ignored? Mindfulness may be an answer.

Mindfulness can be described as being “in the moment”—a tendency to direct our attention and awareness to our currently-felt internal and external sensations. Mindfulness couples such a focus on the present with an accepting, non-judgmental lens of these feelings. Instead of racing from one errand to the next, thinking only of how to complete the next task, mindful individuals stay focused on the here-and-now. They allow feelings like the stress of getting everything done to wax and wane, without interpreting them as “good” or “bad.”

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An Examination of Ethnic Hierarchies and Returns to Human Capital in the UK

an article by Wouter Zwysen and Neli Demireva (University of Essex, UK) published in Social Inclusion Volume 6 Number 3 (2018)

Abstract

This article focuses on the returns to human capital of migrants and minorities in the UK.

The question of whether skills and qualifications are properly utilized is very pertinent given the global competition for skilled migrants and the aim of European and British markets to attract such workers. Using data from Understanding Society (2009 to 2017) we find that there is a clear evidence of ethnic hierarchies with black Caribbean and black African minorities generally most disadvantaged, while other white UK-born have the best outcomes compared to the white British. Western migrants generally do very well, but new EU migrants have high levels of employment, and low returns to their qualifications and relatively high levels of over-qualification.

Foreign qualifications are generally discounted, and more so for migrants with less certain legal status or low language skills. Public sector employment plays an important role and is associated with the higher economic placement of migrants and minorities in the UK.

There are some worrying trends however. Highly skilled migrants, particularly black migrants as well as those from Eastern Europe, come in with high qualifications, but their jobs do not match their skill levels.

Full text (PDF 28pp)

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The effect of house prices on household borrowing: A new approach

a column by James Cloyne, Kilian Huber, Ethan Ilzetzki and Henrik Kleven for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

House prices are strongly correlated with borrowing, but little is known about which one is causing the other.

The column uses UK house price data between 2005 and 2015, and also exploits unusual features of the UK mortgage market, to show that a 10% rise in house prices led to a 2% rise in the amount of equity extracted. This is mostly because higher house prices could be used as collateral.

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How do children and their families experience food poverty according to UK newspaper media 2006‐15?

an article by Abigail Knight, Julia Brannen, Rebecca O’Connell and Laura Hamilton (University College London Institute of Education, UK) published in Journal of Poverty and Social Justice Volume 26 Number 2 (June 2018)

Abstract

This paper contributes to scholarship concerned with media representations of poverty by exploring newspaper coverage of food poverty as experienced by UK children and families.

Our content analysis of six contrasting print newspapers from 2006‐15 finds that reporting of children’s and families’ food poverty begins in 2011, peaks in 2014 and is dominated by articles about foodbanks.

Narrative analysis identifies differences as well as similarities in the ways the problem is constructed in papers with different political stances as well as notable absences in the coverage, including the broader dimensions of food poverty and the views of children themselves.

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10 for today [9 Sep 2018] includes alchemy, athletic earnings, John Milton, and a depressed fish

Amazing Cut-Paper Artworks Inspired by Nature
via FlavorWire by Alison Nastasi
Pippa Dyrlaga’s incredible cut-paper artworks are created from a single sheet of paper. She creates precise patterns made from hundreds of cuts that form details, like the fur of a cat or the scales of a snake. They are delicate, intricate, and amazing to behold.
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The Highest Paid Athlete in History Actually Lived in Ancient Rome
via Big Think by Paul Ratner

Chariot racing
Soccer maestro Cristiano Ronaldo's 2017 pay of $93 million makes him the world's highest-paid athlete, according to Forbes magazine. The money that comes in from salary and endorsements make NBA great LeBron James second on that list with $86.2 million, while the $80 million earned by Lionel Messi, another soccer legend, rounds out the top three. But none of these amazing athletes can compare to the earning ability of the highest-paid athlete of all times – a Roman charioteer by the name of Gaius Appuleius Diocles, who got paid $15 billion in his lifetime.
Historian Peter T. Struck says that Diocles, a Lusitanian Spaniard who lived from 104 to 146 AD, earned 35,863,120 Roman sesterces in his lifetime – a figure that would amount to the $15 billion in today's money. The number is inscribed on a monument in Rome, erected for Diocles by his fans at the end of a 24-year career.
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The history of medical ethics
via the OUP blog by Charlotte Zaidi

An alchemist reading a book; his assistants stirring the cucible on the other side of the room. Engraving by P.F. Basan after D. Teniers the younger, 1640/1650. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 
On the 20th of August 1947, 16 German physicians were found guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. They had been willing participants in one of the largest examples of ethnic cleansing in modern history. During the Second World War, these Nazi doctors had conducted pseudoscientific medical experiments upon concentration camp prisoners and the stories that unfolded during their trial – The Doctors’ Trial – were filled with descriptions of torture, deliberate mutilation, and murder.
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Relaxing video on awe-inspiring stellar nebulae
via Boing Boing by Andrea James

Teun van der Zalm developed an algorithm for creating nebulae in games, VR, and film. This showcase of the results, set to a lovely free track by Lee Rosevere, hints at the beauty that emerges from math.
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12 things you didn't know about Paradise Lost
via the New Statesman by Islam Issa

GETTY
This year [2017] marks 350 years since John Milton’s Paradise Lost was published (1667). Its author was a controversial blind man who publicly advocated the execution of King Charles I before serving in the republican government. He was an anarchist who spoke out against the Catholic Church, didn’t believe in the Trinity and wrote pamphlets about the merits of divorce. But Paradise Lost would become his most important contribution.
And this week [of 19 October 2017] , Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust is ready to hit the stores. This new work is a prequel to the famous trilogy, His Dark Materials, which drew heavily on Paradise Lost for its themes, characters and settings. In fact, the very title, His Dark Materials, is taken straight out of Paradise Lost. As Satan sets off on his mission to tempt humankind, he comes across “the wild abyss” of Chaos in which the component qualities of the classical elements are “mixed confusedly” forever. That is, unless God decides “to create more worlds”, in which case these elements will form “his dark materials”.
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Those who lived through the Russian Revolution understood history – unlike us
via the Guardian by Paul Mason

Lenin … ‘We know today how wrong it went.’ Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images
Things were going badly for Lenin this time 100 years ago [in 2017]. We are eight days away from the centenary of the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power, but, as he prepared to strike, Lenin fell victim to one of the great scoops of the 20th century.After a scratchy committee meeting had set the date of the revolution for 2 November (western calendar), two leading Bolsheviks, Zinoviev and Kamenev, who thought the whole idea crazy, leaked the plan to a pro-government newspaper.
Lenin, outraged, expelled them from the party and ordered the insurrection to be postponed for five days. The provisional government, already largely powerless, spent that time ordering extra troops into Petrograd, while the Bolshevik commissars set about countermanding these orders.
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Depressed Fish May Seem Like a Joke to You, But It's Serious to Them
via the Big Think blog by Robby Berman

(BENSON KUA)
Dog and cat owners and animal lovers believe that animals carry some sort of human-like thought. Some may say it’s just anthropomorphizing, but we’re pretty convinced that our pets are "happy" or "sad" or whatever we want to project on them. Obviously we can’t just ask them — at least for now — but as scientists learn more and more about animal intelligence, it’s safe to say that fewer people see our companions as acting purely from instinct. Nonetheless, even some animal lovers have trouble believing that fish are self-aware and have feelings — after all, they’re as expressionless as… (most) cats. To some scientists, though, it’s become clear that fish not only have emotions, but that they’re subject to depression.
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Humankind's battle to conquer the seas
via OUP blog by George Currie

“beach-clouds-landscape-ocean” by Josh Sorenson. CC0 via Pexels

The relationship, through history, between humans and the sea has been one of conflict and conquest. The dangers of traveling on such a fickle, treacherous, and alien environment could easily mean death for early seafarers and explorers (and indeed it still can today). What is even more impressive, and perhaps mind-boggling, is that those venturing to sea in pre-history did not know what they would find, if anything at all. So why did humans first take to the sea? What drove them to surf and sail into the unknown? One reason may be our inquisitive nature.
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Drummond Allison: The Forgotten ‘War’ Poet
via Interesting Literature
In this week’s Dispatches from the Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle considers Drummond Allison, a poet who died in the Second World War
‘Lost Generation’. That was the name Gertrude Stein gave to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and their contemporaries, men who’d lived through the Great War. Of course, many writers were lost in the war themselves, killed in action while still in their twenties (or younger): Isaac Rosenberg, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Wilfred Owen. But the Second World War also produced its own lost generation: born just after the First World War and destined to perish in the Second. Of that generation, it would be those poets who survived the Second World War, or who were excused active service for health reasons, who would go on to achieve wider notice: Charles Causley, Richard Wilbur, and, most of all, Philip Larkin. Yet although Sidney Keyes and Alun Lewis died before, perhaps, their full potential could be realised, Keith Douglas, as I’ve previously observed, was a great poet even by the time he died aged 24 during the D-Day campaign. Drummond Allison was also a very accomplished poet by the time he died, aged just 22, while fighting on the Garigliano. Yet next to Allison’s, Douglas’s small measure of fame looks positively stratospheric.
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Guitarist takes an in-depth look at Nick Drake's unique tone
via Boing Boing by Gareth Branwyn

I'm not a guitar player (though I did take lessons in my youth), but I am a huge Nick Drake fan and have always been haunted by the very unique, dark, and moody guitar tones that he achieved. In this fascinating video by YouTube guitar teacher, Josh Turner, he presents and demonstrates his theory for how Nick got his signature sound.
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