people & performance / strategy & solutions
Yo trabajo por la mañana, cuando el soporte biológico del escritor mejor funciona. Al lado de una ventana que da a un patio interior que se llena de luz y por el que oigo cantar a las vecinas, a los pájaros, incluso al perro.
Porque por la mañana todo es posible. Es cuando encuentras la clave de todos los problemas técnicos que de noche te han parecido insolubles.
via Javier Tomeo.
I think that working is part of life, I don’t know how to distinguish between the two…
Work is an expression of life for me.
h/t Brain Pickings.
A presentation by Andrew Rashbass, CEO of The Economist Group, calls the old publishing models of web and print “irredeemably broken,” with publishers requiring “urgent re-examination of everything that constitutes a media business.”
The concept of Lean Back 2.0 is relatively simple — the use of tablets and e-readers is growing at the expense of print and web use, with The Economist‘s iPad readers spending on average around 90 minutes with the app each week.
Unlike the desktop and laptop web experience, these devices are allowing users to read at their leisure.
Some key facts from the presentation:
- 42 percent of tablet users regularly read in-depth articles, with another 40 percent reading them occasionally
- Tablet users are three times more likely to read an article than watch a news video
- A user’s eye activity is far more focused on an iPad app than on a website
- Some users believe the content received in an app is even worth more than content received elsewhere, with a large majority saying they find it easier to learn new things and enjoy the news more when using apps
- The Economist projects a fall of over 50 percent in the preference for paper over other formats in the next 2 years, with tablet preference growing to over 20 percent.
The idea of keeping yourself on a digital diet will, I suspect, become mainstream soon. Just as I’ve learned not to stock my fridge with tempting carbs, I’ve learned to limit my exposure to the web – and to love it in the limited window I allow myself.
I have installed the programme “Freedom” on my laptop: it will disconnect you from the web for however long you tell it to. It’s the Ritalin I need for my web-induced ADHD.
I make sure I activate it so I can dive into the more permanent world of the printed page for at least two hours a day, or I find myself with a sense of endless online connection that leaves you oddly disconnected from yourself.
via Johann Hari.
L’utilisation de l’anglais se banalise en France et dans de nombreux pays. Ce phénomène ancien est aujourd’hui porté par la mondialisation de l’économie, dont l’anglo-américain est la langue véhiculaire. Si la classe dirigeante semble l’encourager, des résistances s’organisent. – via Le Monde diplomatique.
Il serait plus précis de parler de l’usage de certains mots en anglais; d’un lexique limité de mots empruntés du monde des affaires ou de la culture anglo-américaine. Les usagers de ce lexique ne sont pas pour autant bilingues. C’est-à-dire qu’ils ne parlent pas nécessairement la langue anglaise. Ils ne l’écrivent probablement pas non plus.
Les résistances? Elles ne sont jamais systémiques. Elles émergent davantage de valeurs partagées. Dans la cas qui nous occupent: aimer la langue, qui veut dire bien la parler et s’efforcer d’en découvrir les richesses et les contours.
A letter by Albert Einstein in response to the question “Do scientists pray?”
January 24, 1936
Dear Phyllis,
I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer:
Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.
However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.
But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.
With cordial greetings,
your A. Einstein
via Letters of Note.
She’s on her own, she cleans people’s homes, she’s incredibly nice. She brings flowers every time she cleans, and she’s just respectful and nice and awesome.
Why can’t more people be like that?
She’s been doing it some twenty-odd years, and that’s just an incredible success story.
To me that’s far more interesting than a tech company that’s hiring a bunch of people, just got their fourth round of financing for 12 million dollars, and they’re still losing money. That’s what everyone talks about as being exciting, but I think that’s an absolutely disgusting scenario when it comes to business.
via Jason Fried, founder and CEO of 37signals
The largest maritime empires of the 19th and 20th centuries. Visually, they grow and grow and -inevitably- explode.
via Pedro Miguel Cruz .
Lectura significativa: la que tiene auténtico significado para el lector.
Esto no es gratuito o casi tautológico. Estamos rodeados de textos que producen lecturas de poca significación personal, textos poco relevantes para el crecimiento del hombre o la mujer. Buscamos sentido para vivir, porque si no, la vida se hace insoportable.
Una lectura significativa puede alumbrar un problema, despejar una bruma personal, pero al mismo tiempo nos hace más conscientes de la complejidad de lo humano y de su riqueza. Y en el plano moral, esto debería hacernos más humildes.
La lectura del esteta, el que evita lo significativo, porque no se deja interpelar personalmente por el texto, es una lectura fallida. Aunque se trate de un gran texto.