I'm a big Bob Sutton fan. He's the author of the excellent book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, which everyone should read. I haven't yet gotten to his new book, Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst. It's definitely on my list.
In this post, he talks about how to tell your boss cares about you. Nice list!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Defining Intelligence
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. - Einstein
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. - Socrates
Gotta love those guys.
I love that humans have been around a zillion years and still don't have a definition of intelligence. The philosophers and psychologists have weighed in. Here come the neuroscientists...
http://bigthink.com/ideas/23098
I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. - Socrates
Gotta love those guys.
I love that humans have been around a zillion years and still don't have a definition of intelligence. The philosophers and psychologists have weighed in. Here come the neuroscientists...
http://bigthink.com/ideas/23098
It's Not Just a Joke
To everyone who ever said, "Relax. It's just a joke." Bzzzzt! Wrong. It's not just a joke. And it does matter. This particular study is on sexist jokes, but I'm sure the same applies to jokes bashing any segment of society.
Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/09/01/ncbi-rofl-more-than-just-a-joke-the-prejudice-releasing-function-of-sexist-humor/
Source: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/09/01/ncbi-rofl-more-than-just-a-joke-the-prejudice-releasing-function-of-sexist-humor/
Overt and Covert Perfectionism
Interesting. Before I read this, I would have said that I am no longer a perfectionist, or at least no longer a perfect perfectionist. :) I definitely was at one time. Maybe even more than a little OCD. (Do I get extra points for turning the noun into an adjective when the noun itself is a TLA?) But now I see that it's only the overt perfectionism whose hold on me was loosened. The internal voices of my covert perfectionism continue to administer beatings.
Dang. Every time I think I have something cleaned up, I find a new layer. Oh, wait. Is wanting to clear things perfectionism? Is it perfectionism to want to clean out perfectionism? Will I ever catch my tail?
Dang. Every time I think I have something cleaned up, I find a new layer. Oh, wait. Is wanting to clear things perfectionism? Is it perfectionism to want to clean out perfectionism? Will I ever catch my tail?
But Is It Really Love?
This post starts with a scenario involving a guy falling for a completely fictional image of a woman and being crushed when the real woman to whom he has attached said fiction dumps him. The information about how brain chemicals set people up to do such "crazy" things and how to recover when your brain does it to you is decent, if somewhat obvious. Personally, I wouldn't have used the word love to describe the emotional state depicted in the scenario. Crush, obsession...yeah. Something along those lines.
I'm also fascinated by the fact that the author gives practical advice for how to recover, but says nothing about how to navigate the chemical bath more successfully. Wouldn't it be nice to have less to mop up? Has spending day in and day out helping people mop up blinded the author to door number three? Is there a door number three?
I'm also fascinated by the fact that the author gives practical advice for how to recover, but says nothing about how to navigate the chemical bath more successfully. Wouldn't it be nice to have less to mop up? Has spending day in and day out helping people mop up blinded the author to door number three? Is there a door number three?
Rainbow Roses
I am NOT a rose girl. They smell good (the ones that still smell after all these years of breeding for looks), but...meh. These, however, would make me smile for days.
http://www.impactlab.net/2010/08/31/how-to-grow-a-rainbow-rose/#more-61898
Doesn't look like they're available commercially at this point, though, so my current flower favorites are safe for now.
http://www.impactlab.net/2010/08/31/how-to-grow-a-rainbow-rose/#more-61898
Doesn't look like they're available commercially at this point, though, so my current flower favorites are safe for now.
Complexity and Creativity
Interesting article on causes and aspects of creativity.
"Creative people are complex, meaning that they see the world from multiple perspectives. This is an adaptive response to complex inputs during childhood. We are all constantly trying to make sense of the world we live in and the more complex our experiences, the more challenging this proves to be."
So... If you want a creative kid, make his childhood hell?
The bulk of the article is devoted to recognizing the creativity of square pegs - immigrants, homosexuals, people with a non-traditional yin/yang mix, and so on.
I definitely relate to being a square peg in many ways (I plan to title my autobiography, "A Woman of Excess Yang".), will happily hold diverging viewpoints (makes voting a good challenge!), and had a very, ahem, complex childhood. And I definitely have lots of grand ideas for the infamous brick in Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task. The most difficult part of the test is convincing my brain that it can STOP. Guess that's a yes in the creative column.
Still wondering about the coincidence-causality thing. Did being a weird kid in weird circumstances lead to all of those useful bricks?
"Creative people are complex, meaning that they see the world from multiple perspectives. This is an adaptive response to complex inputs during childhood. We are all constantly trying to make sense of the world we live in and the more complex our experiences, the more challenging this proves to be."
So... If you want a creative kid, make his childhood hell?
The bulk of the article is devoted to recognizing the creativity of square pegs - immigrants, homosexuals, people with a non-traditional yin/yang mix, and so on.
I definitely relate to being a square peg in many ways (I plan to title my autobiography, "A Woman of Excess Yang".), will happily hold diverging viewpoints (makes voting a good challenge!), and had a very, ahem, complex childhood. And I definitely have lots of grand ideas for the infamous brick in Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task. The most difficult part of the test is convincing my brain that it can STOP. Guess that's a yes in the creative column.
Still wondering about the coincidence-causality thing. Did being a weird kid in weird circumstances lead to all of those useful bricks?
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