interiors

Reading this piece only makes me want to read his works more than I do now. This was the first: Which living person do you most admire? I found Barack Obama’s dignity as a president remarkable, and even more so when I think about it these days. With more responses that I so identified with, and then maybe not, but, still... Source: Karl Ove Knausgaard Answers the Proust Questionnaire | Vanity Fair

The US, as a traditional work-oriented culture, is unlikely to every move forward easily on social welfare and equality. It's a long, uphill battle, and for every two steps forward, there will another step back. The culture is the problem, not women. In gender-equal countries, life is focused on quality of life for both men and women, while in masculine countries, as per Hofstede's cultural dimensions, life is work and success-oriented but focuses on male success and as such discriminates against women. My spouse and I often consider moving to a country where we would better fit, either Sweden or the Netherlands, and not suffer living in such a moronic and backward country. The fight for equality is only going to be much harder in a traditional country, that's all. I think the fight is a worthy one, but in the words of Prince, "If you like to fight, you're a double-drag fool, I'm goin' to another life, how 'bout you?" The Patriarchs Are Falli...

I don't think social media is making anyone dumber, but mass hysteria and fringe ideas seem to be more prevalent, even if we are only more aware of them than before. Anyway, it's a good piece, focused on a very nuanced speech, that was turned into something simplistic. The article:  Social Media Is Making Us Dumber. Here’s Exhibit A. - The New York Times

The Edge of the World: A Visual Adventure to the Most Extraordinary Places on Earth by The Editors of Outside Magazine My rating: 5 of 5 stars I've enjoyed the fantastic photography of Outside for decades, back from when I first got involved with fitness, and these photos, along with the accompanying vignettes, are some of the most awe-inspiring shots you will ever see. More than the acrobats, and I am certainly not one of them, the sheer immensity and subtlety of nature brought tears to my eyes, many times. Just wow! View all my reviews

Opinion Anyone that knows me that I read a great deal, and one of the topics I focus on is management and leadership. It has meant attending B-school, reading books on management, as well as reading numerous articles and studies - I definitely prefer to base my ideas on statistical proof - so I think I have a good sense of what research says excellent management and leadership means. After reading a blog post that resonated with me, but I thought overly-specific, I decided to abstract that article's rules into something generic, add some needed items, then convert those items into practice. Making sure one's team has adequate tools, resources, contacts, and training Being a leader, and in that providing vision, expectations, goals, and standards, as well communicating that clearly In one's self, exemplifying excellence, being a role model, maintaining a positive image, having personality and charm, while earning respect In one's team, having excellence, cohesio...

In response to a NY Times piece in the Opinion section We Are All Jew-ish Now , with the synopsis "Jewishness” can be the sensibility of whoever feels unsure of who they are — a bit peculiar, a bit funny", I wrote the following: Comment #1 The more basic one, that most Jews would agree about, is Jewish means being of Jewish ancestry. Beyond that, Jews themselves think that being Jewish means remembering the Holocaust, being ethical, working for justice and equality, and for being intellectually curious. Personally, as someone who is married to someone of Jewish ancestry, and whose friends over the past four decades have been almost exclusively Jewish, I've sometimes wondered why. My own musings, based on certain facts of behavior, is that Jews, especially the ones that I know, are highly intelligent, highly verbal, and interactive communicators. Conversation is rarely about taking turns and has always been a bit more intense and intellectual, but then again, that...

Responding to What the Rich Won’t Tell You - The New York Times First, I can see the resentment in the comments, and certainly, some of it is justified, but it is often overgeneralized so that the affluent are presented or assumed to be all one way of another. It is always more nuanced. Second, empathy matters, although not for everyone. If one has friends of different economic classes, older people on fixed incomes, women who've gone through divorces - women suffer more than men when couples divorce -, or those who've become victim to the changing job landscape, those still thriving feel some pain when realizing the tough times others might be going through. One avoids [mentioning] those things that are likely out of the reach of others. Third, for those that are aware of their [fortune] - the 'luck' of having smarts, a good family, social supports, and who lived in a period of government munificence - doing good is another choice, as is charity, not necessarily to ...