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Awareness Watch Talk Show for Saturday December 12, 2015 at 2:00pm EST – eReference Library Link Dataset Toolkit
This program will be featuring my Subject Tracer™ and white paper eReference Library Link Dataset Toolkit. We will be highlighting the latest and greatest resources and sources for electronic reference covering search engines, subject directories, articles, guides and tracers….everything eREFERENCE on the Internet!!!! We will also discussing my latest freely available Awareness Watch Newsletter V13N12 December 2015 and my freely available December 2015 Zillman Column. You may call in to ask your questions at (718)508-9839. The show is live and thirty minutes in length starting at 2:00pm EST on Saturday, December 12, 2015 and then archived for easy review and access. Listen, Call and Enjoy!!

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a huge fan of this series. It is one part action, one part sexy, and completely kick-ass. It is filled with characters that tug at your heart, piss you off, make you care, and leave you rooting for the home team as they try to out smart, out gun, and out magic the baddies that plague their beloved City and threaten the delicate balance of supernatural harmony that they have worked so hard to achieve. Relationships are masterfully developed and woven with just enough mystery and antagonism to keep you on your toes wondering how things will play out. Each book takes you deeper into their lives and brings you more insight into the wonderful world this author has created. I highly recommend this series and wait impatiently for the next installment.
- B Everett. Amazon US.


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This past Spring I wrote to LLL Canada and LLL International asking if I could create some resources for Leaders who might need to work with transgender parents. I received an enthusiastic response from an LLLC board member! We decided that I would write some tip sheets based on what was already on my blog.
The tip sheets are now available in the Leaders' area of the LLLC web site. Leaders can go to Leader Resources - PL Department - Information Sheets to find the "Tip Sheet for Assisting Transgender Parents." It comes in three parts – a general information sheet, one specific to trans men, and one specific to trans women.
LLL International also asked permission to use the sheets, which I happily gave. Hopefully Leaders around the world will be able to view the sheets very soon.
A version of these information sheets is available on my blog.
Hooray for La Leche League training its volunteers to be trans friendly and knowledgable!!! On a personal note, I'm delighted to be contributing meaningfully to the organization :)


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Homeownership is a significant milestone, often accompanied by the responsibility of managing mortgage payments. For many homeowners, the prospect of refinancing can be an attractive option to explore. Refinancing involves replacing your existing mortgage with a new one, typically with better terms. However, one common question among borrowers is, "How often can you refinance your home?" In this article, we'll delve into the factors influencing the frequency of refinancing and offer insights to help borrowers make informed decisions.
Before diving into the frequency of refinancing, let's revisit the basics. Refinancing allows homeowners to secure a new mortgage with different terms, such as a lower interest rate, extended loan term, or a shift from an adjustable rate to a fixed-rate mortgage. The primary goal is to save money over the life of the loan or improve the financial flexibility of the borrower.
Factors Influencing Refinancing Frequency:
1. Interest Rates:
Interest rates play a pivotal role in the decision to refinance. When market interest rates drop, homeowners may seize the opportunity to refinance and lock in a lower rate. Monitoring interest rate trends is crucial for borrowers considering refinancing, as even a modest reduction can result in significant long-term savings.
2. Financial Goals:
The reasons for refinancing vary among homeowners. Some may aim to reduce monthly payments, while others may seek to shorten the loan term. Assessing your financial goals can help determine when and how often refinancing aligns with your objectives.
3. Equity Position:
Lenders often consider the homeowner's equity position when approving a refinance application. A substantial increase in home equity may improve your chances of securing a favorable refinancing deal. Waiting until you have built up enough equity can enhance the likelihood of a successful refinance.
4. Creditworthiness:
Your credit score plays a vital role in refinancing eligibility and the terms you can secure. Regularly monitoring and improving your credit score can position you to qualify for better refinancing options. Waiting for a significant improvement in your creditworthiness may be worthwhile before pursuing another refinance.
5. Loan Type:
The type of mortgage you currently hold can influence how often you can refinance. Some loan programs have specific guidelines regarding the frequency of refinancing. Understanding the terms of your existing mortgage and any potential restrictions is essential.
How Often Can You Refinance?
There is no fixed rule for how many times you can refinance your home, but you have to think about the practical aspects and the rules of the lenders. Here are key points to consider:
1. Lender Policies:
Different lenders may have varying policies on the frequency of refinancing. It's essential to check with your lender to understand their specific guidelines. Some lenders may impose waiting periods between refinances, while others may have restrictions based on the number of refinances within a certain time frame.
2. Costs and Fees:
Refinancing comes with associated costs and fees, such as closing costs, appraisal fees, and loan origination fees. These expenses can negate the potential savings from a lower interest rate. Assessing the overall financial impact of refinancing, including these costs, is crucial before deciding to refinance again.
3. Market Conditions:
Monitoring market conditions is vital for timing your refinancing decisions. Waiting for favorable market conditions, including lower interest rates, can maximize the benefits of refinancing. However, it's essential to strike a balance between waiting for ideal conditions and taking advantage of current opportunities.
Refinancing your home can be a powerful tool to manage your mortgage and achieve your financial goals. Understanding the factors that influence the decision to refinance, such as interest rates, equity position, and creditworthiness, is crucial for borrowers. While there is no strict limit on how often you can refinance, it's essential to consider lender policies, associated costs, and market conditions before making a decision. By staying informed and strategically timing your refinancing efforts, you can make the most of this financial opportunity and enhance your overall homeownership experience.


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Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University
In a lovely little panegyric for the distinguished European philosopher Slavoj Zizek, published recently on Al Jazeera, we read:
There are many important and active philosophers today: Judith Butler in the United States, Simon Critchley in England, Victoria Camps in Spain, Jean-Luc Nancy in France, Chantal Mouffe in Belgium, Gianni Vattimo in Italy, Peter Sloterdijk in Germany and in Slovenia, Slavoj Zizek, not to mention others working in Brazil, Australia and China.
What immediately strikes the reader when seeing this opening paragraph is the unabashedly European character and disposition of the thing the author calls "philosophy today" - thus laying a claim on both the subject and time that is peculiar and in fact an exclusive property of Europe.
Even Judith Butler who is cited as an example from the United States is decidedly a product of European philosophical genealogy, thinking somewhere between Derrida and Foucault, brought to bear on our understanding of gender and sexuality.
To be sure, China and Brazil (and Australia, which is also a European extension) are cited as the location of other philosophers worthy of the designation, but none of them evidently merits a specific name to be sitting next to these eminent European philosophers.
The question of course is not the globality of philosophical visions that all these prominent European (and by extension certain American) philosophers indeed share and from which people from the deepest corners of Africa to the remotest villages of India, China, Latin America, and the Arab and Muslim world ("deep and far", that is, from a fictive European centre) can indeed learn and better understand their lives.
That goes without saying, for without that confidence and self-consciousness these philosophers and the philosophical traditions they represent can scarce lay any universal claim on our epistemic credulities, nor would they be able to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard and write a sentence.
Thinkers outside Europe
These are indeed not only eminent philosophers, but the philosophy they practice has the globality of certain degrees of self-conscious confidence without which no thinking can presume universality.
The question is rather something else: What about other thinkers who operate outside this European philosophical pedigree, whether they practice their thinking in the European languages they have colonially inherited or else in their own mother tongues - in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, thinkers that have actually earned the dignity of a name, and perhaps even the pedigree of a "public intellectual" not too dissimilar to Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Michel Foucault that in this piece on Al Jazeera are offered as predecessors of Zizek?
"Why is European philosophy 'philosophy', but African philosophy 'ethnophilosophy'?" |
What about thinkers outside the purview of these European philosophers; how are we to name and designate and honour and learn from them with the epithet of "public intellectual" in the age of globalised media?
Do the constellation of thinkers from South Asia, exemplified by leading figures like Ashis Nandy, Partha Chatterjee, Gayatri Spivak, Ranajit Guha, Sudipta Kaviraj, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Homi Bhabha, or Akeel Bilgrami, come together to form a nucleus of thinking that is conscious of itself? Would that constellation perhaps merit the word "thinking" in a manner that would qualify one of them - as a South Asian - to the term "philosopher" or "public intellectuals"?
Are they "South Asian thinkers" or "thinkers", the way these European thinkers are? Why is it that if Mozart sneezes it is "music" (and I am quite sure the great genius even sneezed melodiously) but the most sophisticated Indian music ragas are the subject of "ethnomusicology"?
Is that "ethnos" not also applicable to the philosophical thinking that Indian philosophers practice - so much so that their thinking is more the subject of Western European and North American anthropological fieldwork and investigation?
We can turn around and look at Africa. What about thinkers like Henry Odera Oruka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Okot p'Bitek, Taban Lo Liyong, Achille Mbembe, Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, V.Y. Mudimbe: Would they qualify for the term "philosopher" or "public intellectuals" perhaps, or is that also "ethnophilosophy"?
Why is European philosophy "philosophy", but African philosophy ethnophilosophy, the way Indian music is ethnomusic - an ethnographic logic that is based on the very same reasoning that if you were to go to the New York Museum of Natural History (popularised in Shawn Levy's Night at the Museum [2006]), you only see animals and non-white peoples and their cultures featured inside glass cages, but no cage is in sight for white people and their cultures - they just get to stroll through the isles and enjoy the power and ability of looking at taxidermic Yaks, cave dwellers, elephants, Eskimos, buffalo, Native Americans, etc, all in a single winding row.
The same ethnographic gaze is evident in the encounter with the intellectual disposition of the Arab or Muslim world: Azmi Bishara, Sadeq Jalal Al-Azm, Fawwaz Traboulsi, Abdallah Laroui, Michel Kilo, Abdolkarim Soroush. The list of prominent thinkers and is endless.
In Japan, Kojan Karatani, in Cuba, Roberto Fernandez Retamar, or even in the United States people like Cornel West, whose thinking is not entirely in the European continental tradition - what about them? Where do they fit in? Can they think - is what they do also thinking, philosophical, pertinent, perhaps, or is that also suitable for ethnographic examinations?
The question of Eurocentricism is now entirely blase. Of course Europeans are Eurocentric and see the world from their vantage point, and why should they not? They are the inheritors of multiple (now defunct) empires and they still carry within them the phantom hubris of those empires and they think their particular philosophy is "philosophy" and their particular thinking is "thinking", and everything else is - as the great European philosopher Immanuel Levinas was wont of saying - "dancing".
The question is rather the manner in which non-European thinking can reach self-consciousness and evident universality, not at the cost of whatever European philosophers may think of themselves for the world at large, but for the purpose of offering alternative (complementary or contradictory) visions of reality more rooted in the lived experiences of people in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America - counties and climes once under the spell of the thing that calls itself "the West" but happily no more.
The trajectory of contemporary thinking around the globe is not spontaneously conditioned in our own immediate time and disparate locations, but has a much deeper and wider spectrum that goes back to earlier generations of thinkers ranging from José Marti to Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, to Aime Cesaire, W.E.B. DuBois, Liang Qichao, Frantz Fanon, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, etc.
So the question remains why not the dignity of "philosophy" and whence the anthropological curiosity of "ethnophilosophy"?
Let's seek the answer from Europe itself - but from the subaltern of Europe.
'The Intellectuals as a Cosmopolitan Stratum'
In his Prison Notebooks, Antonio Gramsci has a short discussion about Kant's famous phrase in Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) that is quite critical in our understanding of what it takes for a philosopher to become universally self-conscious, to think of himself as the measure and yardstick of globality. Gramsci's stipulation is critical here - and here is how he begins:
Kant's maxim "act in such a way that your conduct can become a norm for all men in similar conditions" is less simple and obvious than it appears at first sight. What is meant by 'similar conditions'?
To be sure, and as Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (the editors and translators of the English translation of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks) note, Gramsci here in fact misquotes Kant, and that "similar conditions" does not appear in the original text, where the German philosopher says: "I am never to act otherwise than so that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law." This principle, called "the categorical imperative", is in fact the very foundation of Kantian ethics.
So where Kant says "universal law", Gramsci says, "a norm for all men", and then he adds an additional "similar conditions", which is not in the German original.
"The world at large, and the Arab and Muslim world in particular, is going through world historic changes - these changes have produced thinkers, poets, artists, and public intellectuals at the centre of their moral and politcial imagination." |
That misquoting is quite critical here. Gramsci's conclusion is that the reason Kant can say what he says and offer his own behaviour as measure of universal ethics is that "Kant's maxim presupposes a single culture, a single religion, a 'world-wide' conformism... Kant's maxim is connected with his time, with the cosmopolitan enlightenment and the critical conception of the author. In brief, it is linked to the philosophy of the intellectuals as a cosmopolitan stratum".
What in effect Gramsci discovers, as a southern Italian suffering in the dungeons of European fascism, is what in Brooklyn we call chutzpah, to think yourself the centre of universe, a self-assuredness that gives the philosopher that certain panache and authority to think in absolutists and grand narrative terms.
Therefore the agent is the bearer of the "similar conditions" and indeed their creator. That is, he "must" act according to a "model" which he would like to see diffused among all mankind, according to a type of civilisation for whose coming he is working-or for whose preservation he is "resisting" the forces that threaten its disintegration.
It is precisely that self-confidence, that self-consciousness, that audacity to think yourself the agent of history that enables a thinker to think his particular thinking is "Thinking" in universal terms, and his philosophy "Philosophy" and his city square "The Public Space", and thus he a globally recognised Public Intellectual.
There is thus a direct and unmitigated structural link between an empire, or an imperial frame of reference, and the presumed universality of a thinker thinking in the bosoms of that empire.
As all other people, Europeans are perfectly entitled to their own self-centrism.
The imperial hubris that once enabled that Eurocentricism and still produces the infomercials of the sort we read in Al Jazeera for Zizek are the phantom memories of the time that "the West" had assured confidence and a sense of its own universalism and globality, or as Gramsci put it, "to a type of civilisation for whose coming he is working".
But that globality is no more - people from every clime and continent are up and about claiming their own cosmopolitan worldliness and with it their innate ability to think beyond the confinements of that Eurocentricism, which to be sure is still entitled to its phantom pleasures of thinking itself the centre of the universe. The Gramscian superimposed "similar conditions" are now emerging in multiple cites of the liberated humanity.
The world at large, and the Arab and Muslim world in particular, is going through world historic changes - these changes have produced thinkers, poets, artists, and public intellectuals at the centre of their moral and politcial imagination - all thinking and acting in terms at once domestic to their immediate geography and yet global in its consequences.
Compared to those liberating tsunamis now turning the world upside down, cliche-ridden assumption about Europe and its increasingly provincialised philosophical pedigree is a tempest in the cup. Reduced to its own fair share of the humanity at large, and like all other continents and climes, Europe has much to teach the world, but now on a far more leveled and democratic playing field, where its philosophy is European philosophy not "Philosophy", its music European music not "Music", and no infomercial would be necessary to sell its public intellectuals as "Public Intellectuals".
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. Among his most recent books is The World of Persian Literary Humanism (2012).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.


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Biometrics in Banking: The Benefits and Challenges
In 2013, Apple introduced Touch ID, a biometric technology that brought convenient fingerprint recognition to a mass consumer audience. Banks have gravitated to Touch ID because it provides them with a device-based technology they may leverage to secure the mobile banking platform, and, in turn reduce their costs in deploying and supporting such services. At the same time, however, banks face the challenge of integrating this biometric technology within their security architecture while avoiding unforeseen security risks.
Download this white paper to explore:
- The benefits of Touch ID in mobile banking;
- The four challenges and risks of integrating it incorrectly.


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On 9 September 2019, Japan provided the IAEA with a copy of a report on the discharge record and the seawater monitoring results at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station during July, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent to all international Missions in Japan.
The report contains information on discharges from the subdrain and groundwater drain systems, as well as on groundwater bypassing conducted during the month of July. In both cases, in advance of the action, TEPCO analyzes the quality of the groundwater to be discharged and announces the results. These results confirm that the radiation level of sampled water are substantially below the operational targets set by TEPCO.


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... more from this endless series of Soviet Civil Defense posters. No way around it; digging slit trenches and then covering them with a layer of earth looks way too much like digging your own grave!
all images- Right click- open in New Window or Tab = super colossal size!


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Beach vitex invades Virginia Beach dunes
| VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.
It's tough, kind of pretty, and poised to wreak havoc, say environmental officials who have discovered for the first time in Virginia Beach a fast-growing Asian plant that thrives on dunes and crowds out native species.
The plant, called beach vitex, wasn't spread by birds or the wind. People planted it in Sandbridge to stabilize dunes and add greenery to barren beach yards.
Now, officials are scrambling to combat what they've derisively dubbed "coastal kudzu" before it spreads, especially into the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Some Sandbridge residents have joined the fight. Other people say they like the plant because it's one of the few things that will grow in the sandy soil.
The green-leafed woody shrub with small purple flowers and pea-sized seeds has been found in 30 to 40 places, mostly in the front yards of homes, said Cheryl Petticrew, a resident working to get rid of it. The plant's long runners, which can grow 10 feet a year, are creeping over dunes toward the beach.
"If we leave it unchecked it could be down where people put their towels in a couple of years," Ms. Petticrew said.
Beach vitex was imported as a beach stabilization plant from Korea in 1985. It is now illegal in North and South Carolina, where the dense plant can overtake dunes and block newly hatched sea turtles from getting to the ocean. It quickly dominates dunes, even secreting a waxy substance that blocks water from seeping through the sand to other plants.
"This plant is very aggressive and the sooner you get on it the better," said Betsy Brabson, who heads the South Carolina Beach Vitex Task Force. "We've learned that you can't turn your back on it."
Norfolk is having some success killing it with herbicide, but it's been tougher than expected, said Lee Rosenberg, Norfolk's environmental manager who heads a local beach vitex task force.
"I thought that after we treated it that would be the end of it," he said. "I underestimated how tenacious this plant is."
Beach vitex is unfazed by drought and salt, making it a seductive choice for beach gardeners such as Karen Thomas of Sandbridge, who has some at her home. It's sold in some local nurseries.
"There are very few things that grow here, and this grows wonderfully," Ms. Thomas said. "I understand there are a million issues, but I like this plant because it grows. The thing with declaring war on it seems like too much government intervention."
Unlike in Norfolk, most of the Sandbridge beach vitex is on private land, which complicates eradication efforts. Clay Bernick, Virginia Beach's environmental manager, said the city is creating a program to aid property owners who want government help getting rid of it.
The plant is not illegal in Virginia, but was recently added to a state list of invasive species.
Thomas said beach vitex seems to stabilize her dunes, the plant's original purpose. Officials disagree, arguing that beach vitex's roots are much shallower than those of native plants, which means it actually increases erosion.
"If this plant takes over, it really creates a lot of instability in the dune system," Mr. Bernick said. "Our dunes are fragile enough."
Editor's note: For more on gardening, see the Monitor's main gardening page, which offers articles on many gardening topics. Also, check out our blog archive and our RSS feed. You may want to visit Gardening With the Monitor on Flickr. Take part in the discussions and get answers to your gardening questions. If you join the group (it's free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our contests.


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DAF recently had the opportunity to visit flameworker Brad Jesson at his studio in Stratford, Ontario. Watch the video below to see Brad's work in glass marble and pendant making.
Brad began working with flameworked glass in January of 2008, and has practiced his art on a full-time basis since February of 2010. A self-taught artist, Brad learned flameworking techiques through books, videos, internet glass forums, and at the Art Glass Invitational (an annual week-long conference held in Pennsylvania, with daily seminars for flameworkers).
Brad creates a wide variety of both functional and non-functional glass art objects, including marbles, vases, pendants, and sculptures. He is especially passionate about marbles; of interest is the juxtaposition of organic forms and patterns with the perfect geometry of a sphere, and the overall challenge, both physical and mental, of mastering the wide array of known techniques that can be used to create them in conjunction with the development of new techniques and designs. A large part of Brad's attraction to borosilicate flameworking is the fact that this type of glass, and therefore the medium in general, is still very much in its' infancy, leaving considerable room for growth and exploration.
To see more of Brad Jesson's work, visit bradjessonglassart.com. His beautiful pendants can be purchased online at the DAF Shop and at select festivals, markets, and shows in Ontario.


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photo credit: The-Lane-Team
The following is a guest post from Hulbert Lee, author of "From Bottom Up." If you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on Twitter.
In my mind right now, I'm standing on a broken, cracked sidewalk. I can hear the noisy sounds of the cars zooming back and forth on the main street. It's always busy and the cars never stop. I see a blue whale. The complete side of the pawn shop wall is a drawing of a blue whale that seems to be swimming deep down in the ocean. It's not a common site you'd see everyday. Growing up, I've always wondered why those people would paint the side of the wall like that. It kind of reminds me of someone buying a used car, getting some paint, and drawing a painting over the car's frame.
Across the street from this pawn shop, on the corner, is a fax machine store. It used to be part of my dad's tool store, until we had to lease it out to other people in order for me and my brother to go to college. It's no longer part of the corner property, so it's kind of hard to access. To find my dad's store, you can't be in the back or you'd never see it. Instead you'd have to be driving out on the main street. And if you were quick enough, you might be able get a glimpse at a shabby old sign that reads, "Sun's Tools".
"Hulbert I need you to go to Makita and pick up some tools for a customer. Can you do that for me?" my dad asked. "Yeah, no problem dad," I told him as I hung up the phone and got the keys to my car. This was great news. Whenever my dad told me to go pick up tools at the manufacturer, this meant that he had made a big sale to a customer, but didn't have the tool in his shop yet. Basically, the customer would order a tool from my dad, my dad would call me, I'd go pick it up from the manufacturer company, deliver it to my dad, where he would then sell the tool to the customer. The process from leaving my house to getting to the manufacturer company, to getting to my dad's store, and back to my house takes about 1 and ½ hours.
The drive, however, seemed longer than expected today. There's usually so much construction going on. I see a lot of giant trucks on the way, and it always feels sort of weird to squeeze through them driving a little, white Honda CRV and all, but I manage to make it to the back of the manufacturer company. I enter and see these men in their working uniforms. They see a clean shaved, skinny guy wearing a light blue t-shirt and dark blue basketball shorts. They look at me.
"Hi… I'm… here to pick up tools for… Sun's Tools?"
"Will call for Sun's Tools!"
I sign the papers. They bring out box filled with tools and close the door. Ugh! These tools are heavy! I manage to carry to box of tools down the steps and load them in back of my car. I drive off and pass the construction area. There happens to be more traffic than usual today, and I wonder if I'm able to get these tools back in time for my dad.
Finally, I get to my dad's parking lot. I drive over the bumpy asphalt ground and pass through the chain fences. My dad hears the car and walks out. With a big sigh, I get out of my car, open the back door, carry the box out, and set it out on the back table for my dad. He took this box and placed it on the counter inside the store, and walked back out.
"Is there anything else dad?"
"No, that's it, thanks."
I was glad I was able to deliver the tools on time before his customer came to get it. It's always been somewhat of a hassle to make money this way, and I've always wondered whether or not it's all worth it. Day in and day out, I see my dad sitting at table waiting for customers to come in. To pass time, he works on the crossword puzzles in the newspaper or talks with best friend, Tom, an 84-year old Japanese repairman who has been working for my dad for 18 years. He's retiring this month though. My dad says it's about time.
There are days where there are customers though; the customers are usually greeted by my dad's thick accent. We get excited for a moment, but the customers usually leave the store with their hands empty. "Thank you, have a nice day!" my dad would tell them in an enthusiastic voice as they were opening the door to leave. Other times, we get lucky. A few people might come in and buy a couple of drills bits, sandpaper, maybe even some grinding wheels, and a couple of dollars are made. It's enough money to buy dinner for me and my brother when he gets home.
Dinner is always a nice time we share together. Me, my brother, and my dad sit around at a table and usually we eat takeout like El Polo Loco and a side of steam white rice that my dad makes. Odd combination I know… And although I enjoy writing, verbally, I'm quieter than my dad and my brother. But still, I enjoy hearing their voices. It's nice to know in a world of strangers, there are people at home who still care about you and want to have a conversation about what went on during your day. This moment that we have together makes the house a little warmer. Today, however, the table is quieter than usual.
"Hulbert," my dad says.
"Yeah?" I reply.
"You know those tools that you got for me today?"
"Yeah, how did it go?"
"Humph… Well today I was in the store waiting, and these two young guys come in the store."
"One of them wants to return a tool to me. He keeps telling me that he wants to return the tool. I tell him directly that he can't. The tool that he had wasn't from our store. It was from another one and he would have to return it there."
"But he didn't leave me alone. He kept wanting to return this tool and I told him no many times. I told him that he would have to go somewhere else, and he kept asking me, where… where? After talking to him for a while, they finally leave. It was then I saw our customer from a distant walking towards the store to get the tool he ordered today.
I got prepared to give it to him and I went to the counter, but the tool was gone.
I stop eating. "What…? What did you do then?"
"I started looking through all the shelves and looked around, but nothing. Then I remembered while I was talking to one of the guys, we were away from the counter.
"You mean…" I pause before I continue, "You think the other guy stole it?"
"Yeah, I think so. I went outside to chase after those two guys. But they were gone."
"What about the customer who was walked in the store?"
"Well, he came in and asked, 'Where are my tools?' I said to him, 'Sorry… I… I can't find them.' I had no choice but had to reorder another set from Makita for him and told him that he had to go pick up the tool there. I thought I could make an 80 dollar profit today, since the tool cost $189 and I was trying to sell it for $269. Instead, we had to order another one and basically lost 120 dollars."
He made a laugh after he said these words, but I could tell that it wasn't one of those laughs you make when something's funny, it was more like one those laughs you make when know you have made a foolish mistake.
I clenched my first, and I gulped. I tried to force out a laugh too to comfort him, but I couldn't. The only words I could find myself saying to him was, "It's okay dad. Just try to be more careful next time."
The next morning, my brother's still sleeping. Me and my dad wake up early and have coffee and pancakes together at the breakfast table. No words were exchanged between us though. We just sit silently with our heads down eating our breakfast. I decided to turn on the TV; it was better than having awkward silence. I left the remote on the table in front of the TV and went back to the breakfast table. The Call was on – a show about investing and people talking about how money is exchanged in our world. For fifteen minutes, me and my dad watch them engage in conversation that's filled with vibrant energy, as we slowly eat our pancakes and drink our coffee. I've always noticed the good looking business suits these people wear, and the colorful, elegant ties they have on. Suddenly, my dad gets up and walks to the door. He picks up the key, goes to his car, opens the garage door, and drives off for another day at the tool shop.
Boldness, to me, isn't always about facing future danger. To me, it's about moving on even when we may have a burden of pain inside of us every single day. Life is a constant struggle. You never know what's going to happen and sometimes, the most unexpected moments can happen to us that carry with it nothing but misfortune. My dad has been working at that tool store for 25 years, around the same time I came into his life. I admire his ability to have worked all these years, even though, deep down, I know how his business is going.
Someday, I'll have to support my own family.
From the first day my dad started working at that tool shop until the day I delivered those tools for him, I understand that supporting a family isn't easy. But it's those small moments that you have with your loved ones that make life worth living, whether this is driving 1 and ½ hours to potentially help them make a sale or drinking coffee for 15 minutes next to them in silence. Knowing that there's someone willing to do anything for you, just so you can get a chance at life is something that I wish to carry down to my children one day.
But in order to carry on, I've learned we can't be weak when things aren't going the way we want them to, we can't stop in our tracks when suddenly face a wall ahead, and we can't run away from our happiness when somebody else out there wants to steal it away from us; we have to be able to take whatever life throws at us and be able to wake up the next day, walk out that door, and keep on working. That's what I learned from my dad. I've taken a piece of his boldness and put it inside myself to do the best that I can with it, so one day I can give the same opportunities to my children, as he has given to me.
Hulbert Lee is an aspiring writer who writes about the rising stories of influential people over at FromBottomUp.com. He enjoys finding about ways to inspire people and help them out in life. If you haven't already, please make sure you subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on Twitter.


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This is something I posted to my facebook page about four hours ago. I thought it might be worth sharing here as well.
I have a lot of thoughts on today's Supreme Court decision, but let me hold off on that for just one second.
I want to talk to you about a class I taught today. It was, if I'm being honest, one of those assignments that teachers dole out when they don't have anything better to do. I've been pushing them pretty hard with an intense curriculum, and this is a theatre summer camp, after all — I figured I'd throw them an easy day of coloring with crayons and pencils. I asked my students to draw a self-portrait (aka "their headshot") and write a brief biography about their life (aka "their bio") so that I could display them in the lobby before their parents come to see the short plays they created. Fun, right? A stupid, time-killing, summer camp assignment.
Most of the kids had a great time.
The teenage girls did not.
It was an almost instant chorus of "I can't do this," "Can we do something different?" "This is hard." When I pressed them for a reason why, I got: "Because I don't want to look at myself," "Because I'm bad at this," "Because I don't know what to write," "Because there's nothing interesting about me to write down."
Let's be clear, these are some of the funniest, weirdest goofballs I've ever taught. These are smart girls who get straight A's and who have excelled at everything I've ever asked them to do. They are, frankly, vastly more talented than I was at that age. And they come from the kinds of nice families that have the desire and money to send their kids to theatre camp. They know they are smart and funny and great. They know this. And yet they turned into these wilting, melting puddles when asked to talk about themselves, when asked to represent themselves on paper. And maybe it turns out that they don't know that anymore.
It's everything those fucking Dove ads and tampon commercials keep saying. It's a really depressing fact, and I hate that it's being used to sell me shampoo, but the fact is — girls hit puberty and the self-confidence heads down the toilet. And in the microcosm of my classroom today, I knew this to be true.
So what does this have to do with Hobby Lobby? Well. Maybe nothing. And maybe something. And I know this is just a small personal experience that I'm conflating with a much larger issue, and I know that there are more informed opinions than mine to be read and studied, but the thing is — it just feels like the message being loudly proclaimed is that women do not matter.
And I'm sorry, but I cry bullshit on all that. And I'm so exhausted from repeating it, but I will repeat it, again and again, to those girls, to myself, to everyone who needs to hear it, until I cannot anymore. That we matter. That we matter. That we matter.


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From: Rätekorrespondenz, 1936;
English translation: International Council Correspondence, Vol.III, No.1, January 1937;
Written: 1936
Transcription\HTML Markup: Greg Adargo
Source: Kurasje Council Communist Archives
The term "State Capitalism" is frequently used in two different ways: first, as an economic form in which the state performs the role of the capitalist employer, exploiting the workers in the interest of the state. The federal mail system or a state-owned railway are examples of this kind of state capitalism. In Russia, this form of state capitalism predominates in industry : the work is planned, financed and managed by the state; the directors of industry are appointed by the state and profits are considered the income of the state. Second, we find that a condition is defined as state capitalism (or state socialism) under which capitalist enterprises are controlled by the state. This definition is misleading, however, as there still exists under these conditions capitalism in the form of private ownership, although the owner of an enterprise is no longer the sole master, his power being restricted so long as some sort of social insurance system for the workers is accepted.
It depends now on the degree of state interference in private enterprises. If the state passes certain laws affecting employment conditions, such as the hiring and firing of workers, if enterprises are being financed by a federal banking system, or subventions are being granted to support the export trade, or if by law the limit of dividends for the large corporations is fixed – then a condition will be reached under which state control will regulate the entire economic life. This will vary from the strict state capitalism in certain degrees. Considering the present economic situation in Germany we could consider a sort of state capitalism prevailing there. The rulers of big industry in Germany are not subordinated subjects of the state but are the ruling power in Germany thru the fascist officials in the governing offices. The National Socialist Party developed as a tool of these rulers. In Russia, on the other hand, the bourgeoisie was destroyed by the October Revolution and has disappeared completely as a ruling power. The bureaucracy of the Russian government took control of the growing industry. Russian state capitalism could be developed as there was no powerful bourgeoisie in existence. In Germany, as in western Europe and in America, the bourgeoisie is in complete power, the owner of capital and the means of production. This is essential for the character of capitalism. The decisive factor is the character of that class which are the owners in full control of capital and not the inner form of administration nor the degree of state interference in the economic life of the population. Should this class consider it a necessity to bind itself by stricter regulation – a step that would also make the smaller private capitalists more dependent upon the will of the big capitalists – the character of private capitalism would still remain. We must therefore distinguish the difference between state capitalism and such private capitalism that may be regulated to the highest degree by the state.
Strict regulations are not simply to be looked upon as an attempt to find a way out of the crisis. Political considerations also play a part. Examples of state regulation point to one general aim : preparation for war. The war industry is regulated, as well as the farmers' production of food – in order to be prepared for war. Impoverished by the results of the last war – robbed of provinces, raw materials, colonies, capital, the German bourgeoisie must try to rehabilitate its remaining forces by rigorous concentration. Foreseeing war as a last resort, it puts as much of its resources as is necessary into the hands of state control. When faced with the common aim for new world power, the private interests of the various sections of the bourgeoisie are put into the background. All the capitalist powers are confronted with this question : to what extent the state, as the representative of the common interests of the national bourgeoisie, should be entrusted with powers over persons, finances and industry in the international struggle for power ? This explains why in those nations of a poor but rapidly increasing population, without any or with but few colonies (such as Italy, Germany, Japan) the state has assumed the greatest power.
One can raise the question : is not state capitalism the only "way out" for the bourgeoisie ? Obviously state capitalism would be feasible, if only the whole productive process could be managed and planned centrally from above in order to meet the needs of the population and eliminate crises. If such conditions were brought about, the bourgeoisie would then cease being a real bourgeoisie. In bourgeois society, not only exploitation of the working class exists but there must also exist the constant struggle of the various sections of the capitalist class for markets and for sources of capital investment. This struggle among the capitalists is quite different from the old free competition on the market. Under cover of cooperation of capital within the nation there exists a continuous struggle between huge monopolies. Capitalists cannot act as mere dividend collectors, leaving initiative to state officials to attend to the exploitation of the working class. Capitalists struggle among themselves for profits and for the control of the state in order to protect their sectional interests and their field of action extends beyond the limits of the state. Although during the present crisis a strong concentration took place within each capitalist nation, there still remains powerful international interlacements, (of big capital). In the form of the struggle between nations, the struggle of capitalists continues, whereby a severe political crisis in war and defeat has the effect of an economic crisis.
When, therefore, the question arises whether or not state capitalism – in the sense in which it has been used above – is a necessary intermediate stage before the proletariat seizes power, whether it would be the highest and last form of capitalism established by the bourgeoisie, the answer is No. On the other hand, if by state capitalism one means the strict control and regulation of private capital by the state, the answer is Yes, the degree of state control varying within a country according to time and conditions, the preservation and increase of profits brought about in different ways, depending upon the historical and political conditions and the relationship of the classes.
The goal of the working class is liberation from exploitation. This goal is not reached and cannot be reached by a new directing and governing class substituting the bourgeoisie. It can only be realised by the workers themselves being master over production.
Nevertheless it is possible and quite probable that state capitalism will be an intermediary stage, until the proletariat succeeds in establishing communism. This, however, could not happen for economic but for political reasons. State capitalism would not be the result of economic crises but of the class struggle. In the final stage of capitalism, the class struggle is the most significant force that determines the actions of the bourgeoisie and shapes state economy.
It is to be expected that, as a result of great economic tension and conflict, the class struggle of the future proletariat will flare up into mass action; whether this mass action be the came of wage conflicts wars or economic crises, whether the shape it takes be that of mass strikes, street riots or armed struggle; the proletariat will establish council organizations – organs of self-determination and uniform execution of action. This will particularly be the case in Germany. There the old political organs of the class struggle have been destroyed; workers stand side by side as individuals with no other allegiance but to that of their class. Should far-reaching political movements develop in Germany, the workers could function only as a class, fight only as a class when they oppose the capitalist principle of one-man dictatorship with the proletarian principle of self-determination of the masses. In other parliamentary countries, on the other hand, the workers are severely handicapped in their development of independent class action by the activities of the political parties. These parties promise the working class safer fighting methods, force upon the workers their leadership and make the majority of the population their unthinking followers, with the aid of their propaganda machinery. In Germany these handicaps are a dying tradition.
Such primary mass struggles are only the beginning of a period of revolutionary development. Let us assume a situation favorable to the proletariat; that proletarian action is so powerful as to paralyze and overthrow the bourgeois state. In spite of unanimous action in this respect, the degree of maturity of the masses may vary. A clear conception of aims, ways and means will be acquired only during the process of revolution and after the first victory differences as to further tactics will assert themselves. Socialist or communist party spokesmen appear; they are not dead, at least their ideas are alive among the "moderate" section of the workers. Now their time has come to put into practice their program of "state socialism."
The most progressive workers whose aim must be to put the leadership of the struggle into the control of the working class by means of the council organization, (thereby weakening the enemy power of the state force) will be encountered by "socialist" propaganda in which will be stressed the necessity of speedily building the socialist order by means of a "socialistic" government. There will be warnings against extreme demands, appeals to the timidity of those individuals to whom the thought of proletarian communism is yet inconceivable, compromises with bourgeois reformists will be advised, as well as the buying-out of the bourgeoisie rather than forcing it thru expropriation to embittered resistance. Attempts will be made to hold back the workers from revolutionary aims – from the determined class struggle. Around this type of propaganda will rally those who feel called upon to be at the head of the party or to assume leadership among the workers. Among these leaders will be a great portion of the intelligentsia who easily adapt themselves to "state socialism" but not to council communism and other sections of the bourgeoisie who see in the workers' struggles a new class position from which they can successfully combat communism. "Socialism against anarchy," such will be the battle cry of those who will want to save of capitalism what there can be saved.
The outcome of this struggle depends on the maturity of the revolutionary working class. Those who now believe that all one has to do is to wait for revolutionary action, because then economic necessity will teach the workers how to act correctly, are victims of an illusion. Certainly workers will learn quickly and act forcefully in revolutionary times. Meanwhile heavy defeats are likely to be experienced, resulting in the lose of countless victims. The more thorough the work of enlightenment of the proletariat, the more firm will be the attack of the masses against the attempt of "leaders" to direct their actions into the channels of state socialism. Considering the difficulties with which the task of enlightenment now encounters, it seems improbable that there lies open for the workers a road to freedom without setbacks. In this situation are to be found the possibilities for state capitalism as an intermediary stage before the coming of communism.
Thus the capitalist class will not adopt state capitalism became of its own economic difficulties. Monopoly capitalism, particularly when using the state as a fascist dictatorship, can secure for itself most of the advantages of a single organization without giving up its own rule over production. There will be a different situation, however, when it feels itself so far pressed by the working class that the old form of private capitalism can no longer be saved. Then state capitalism will be the way out: the preservation of exploitation in the form of a "socialistic" society, where the "most capable leaders," the "best brains," and the "great men of action" will direct production and the masses will work obediently under their command. Whether or not this condition is called state capitalism or state socialism makes no difference in principle. Whether one refers to the first term "State capitalism" as being a ruling and exploiting state bureaucracy or to the second term "State socialism" as a necessary staff of officials who as dutiful and obedient servants of the community share the work with the laborers, the difference in the final analysis lies in the amount of the salaries and the qualitative measure of influence in the party connections.
Such a form of society cannot be stable, it is a form of retrogression, against which the working class will again rise. Under it a certain amount of order can be brought about but production remains restricted. Social development remains hindered. Russia was able, through this form of organization, to change from semi-barbarism to a developed capitalism, to surpass even the achievements of the Western countries' private capitalism. In this process figures the enthusiasm apparent among the "upstart" bourgeois classes, wherever capitalism begins its course. But such state capitalism cannot progress. In Western Europe and in America the same form of economic organization would not be progressive, since it would hinder the coming of communism. It would obstruct the necessary revolution in production; that is, it would be reactionary in character and assume the political form of a dictatorship.
Some Marxists maintain that Marx and Engels foresaw this development of society to state capitalism. But we know of no statement by Marx concerning state capitalism from which we could deduce that he looked upon the state when it assumes the role of sole capitalist, as being the last phase of capitalist society. He saw in the state the organ of suppression, which bourgeois society uses against the working class. For Engels "The Proletariat seizes the power of the state and then changes the ownership of the means of production to state ownership."
This means that the change of ownership to state ownership did not occur previously. Any attempt to make this sentence of Engels' responsible for the theory of state capitalism, brings Engels into contradiction with himself. Also, there is no confirmation of it to be found in actual occurrences. The railroads in highly developed capitalist countries, like England and America, are still in the private possession of capitalistic corporations. Only the postal and telegraphic services are owned by the states in most countries, but for other reasons than their high state of development. The German railroads were owned by the state mostly for military reasons. The only state capitalism which was enabled to transfer the means of production to state ownership is the Russian, but not on account of their state of high development, rather on account of their low degree of development. There is nothing, however, to be found in Engels which could be applied to conditions as they exist in Germany and Italy today, these are strong supervision regulation, and limitation of liberty of private capitalism by an all-powerful state.
This is quite natural, as Engels was no prophet; he was only a scientist who was well aware of the process of social development. What he expounds are the fundamental tendencies in this development and their significance. Theories of development are best expressed when spoken of in connection with the future; it is therefore not harmful to use caution in expressing them. Less cautious expression, as is often the case with Engels, does not diminish the value of the prognostications in the least, although occurrences do not exactly correspond to predictions. A man of his calibre has a right to expect that even his suppositions be treated with care, although they were arrived at under certain definite conditions. The work of deducing the tendencies of capitalism and their development, and shaping them into consistent and comprehensive theories assures to Marx and Engels a prominent position among the most outstanding thinkers and scientists of the nineteenth century, but the exact description of the social structure of half a century in advance in all its details was an impossibility even for them.
Dictatorships, as those in Italy and Germany, became necessary as means of coercion to force upon the unwilling mass of small capitalists the new order and the regulating limitations. For this reason such dictatorship is often looked upon as the future political form of society of a developed capitalism the world over.
During forty years the socialist press pointed out that military monarchy was the political form of society belonging to a concentrated capitalistic society. For the bourgeois is in need of a Kaiser, the Junkers and the army in defense against a revolutionary working class on one side and the neighboring countries on the other side. For ten years the belief prevailed that the republic was the true form of government for a developed capitalism, because under this form of state the bourgeoisie were the masters. Now the dictatorship is considered to be the needed form of government. Whatever the form may be, the most fitting reasons for it are always found. While at the same time countries like England, France, America and Belgium with a highly concentrated and developed capitalism, retain the same form of parliamentary government, be it under a republic or kingdom. This proves that capitalism chooses many roads leading to the same destination, and it also proves that there should be no haste in drawing conclusions from the experiences in one country to apply to the world at large.
In every country great capital accomplishes its rule by means of the existing political institutions, developed thru history and traditions, whose functions are then being changed expressly. England offers an instance. There the parliamentary system in conjunction with a high measure of personal liberty and autonomy are so successful that there is no trace whatever of socialism, communism or revolutionary thought among the working classes. There also monopolistic capitalism grew and developed. There, too, capitalism dominates the government. There, too, the government takes measures to overcome the results of the depression, but they manage to succeed without the aid of a dictatorship. This does not make England a democracy, because already a half a century ago two aristocratic cliques of politicians held the government alternately, and the same conditions prevail today. But they are ruling by different means; in the long run these means may be more effective than the brutal dictatorship. Compared with Germany, the even and forceful rule of English capitalism looks to be the more normal one. In Germany the pressure of a police-government forced the workers into radical movements, subsequently the workers obtained external political power, not thru the efforts of a great inner force within themselves, but thru the military debacle of their rulers, and eventually they saw that power destroyed by a sharp dictatorship, the result of a petty bourgeois revolution which was financed by monopolistic capital. This should not be interpreted to mean that the English form of government is really the normal one, and the German the abnormal one; just as it would be wrong to assume the reverse. Each case must be judged separately, each country has the kind of government which grew out of its own course of political development.
Observing America, we find in this land of greatest concentration of monopolistic capital as little desire to change to a dictatorship as we find in England. Under the Roosevelt administration certain regulations and actions were effected in order to relieve the results of the depression, some were complete innovations. Among these there was also the beginning of a social policy, which was hitherto entirely absent from American politics. But private capital is already rebelling and is already feeling strong enough to pursue its own course in the political struggle for power. Seen from America, the dictatorships in several European countries appear like a heavy armour, destructive of liberty, which the closely pressed-in nations of Europe must bear, because inherited feuds whip them on to mutual destruction, but not as what they really are, purposeful forms of organization of a most highly developed capitalism.
The arguments for a new labor movement, which we designate with the name of Council-Communism, do not find their basis in state capitalism and fascist dictatorship. This movement represents a vital need of the working classes and is bound to develop everywhere. It becomes a necessity because of the colossal rise of the power of capital, because against a power of this magnitude the old forms of labor movement become powerless, therefore labor must find new means of combat. For this reason any program principles for the new labor movement can be based on neither state capitalism, fascism, nor dictatorship as their causes, but only the constantly growing power of capital and the impotence of the old labor movement to cope with this power.
For the working classes in fascist countries both conditions prevail, for there the risen power of capital is the power holding the political as well as the economic dictatorship of the country. When there the propaganda for new forms of action connects with the existence of the dictatorship, it is as it should be. But it would be folly to base an international program on such principles forgetting that conditions in other countries differ widely from those in fascist countries.


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In the previous post, we took a look at market factors that suggest the technology sector could be on a multi-year bull run, in a bubble, or possibly both. In this post, we'll look at what that means for leaders of captive IT departments and tech firms.
If tech is in a bull market or bubble, it means inflation and volatility for a lot of tech businesses and captive IT shops.
Lets look at inflation first. Excess liquidity fueling a lot of tech companies will create a lot of tech jobs. So will tech investments made by traditionally non-tech firms (e.g., automakers and appliance makers are all in the software business now). Despite all the progress in global sourcing, labor and jobs aren't universally mobile. This means that demand (jobs) may outstrip supply (candidates) in specific markets. When that happens, prices (wages) tend to rise. It's reasonable to expect that salaries and tech are going to inflate.
But inflation takes many forms. In this case, a bull market for labor will inflate career paths. When there are more jobs than people, hiring standards tend to decline. Availability becomes a skill for candidates. This leads to people being over-promoted to fill vacancies, which creates misplaced expectation of competency. It is just as bad for the hiring firm as it is damaging for the person hired. The more a business hires, the poorer it will perform, the more vulnerable it becomes. Employees will find themselves in roles or on career paths for which they have few qualifications.
Inflation begets volatility. When there's both wage and title inflation afoot, firms are likely to see higher staff turnover. While a little staff change isn't inherently a bad thing, no firm wants to be desperately trying to fill positions in a job market where job seekers have the upper hand. Staff volatility will obviously impair operations as situational knowledge erodes along with it.
Bull markets and bubbles create volatility of commercial technology. New technologies such as tablets or rapid replacement markets such as smartphones are contests for market share of new units sold. A large installed base of legacy customers isn't as valuable as costs of change are relatively low.
Bubbles, though, tend to amplify the effect of volatility with a sharp correction. Tech marketplace battles can go on for a long, long time, especially when it's a market share game with high customer turnover. Don't under-estimate the power of the sell side to buy customers, particularly if the sell side has deep pockets laden with investor capital. Don't underestimate the stars buyers get in their eyes with the idea that they'll be able to get some slick tech capability unique to their business. And don't underestimate the value-added resellers, custom appdev shops and other middle-men who will willfully exchange the hard money earned by being little dogs in the mainstream for the easy money that comes with being big dogs on the fringe. The 1980s and 90s saw a lot of fringe technologies carry on for far longer than was economically justified. Investor cash - sometimes it's just excess liquidity, other times it's just dumb money - fuels the party. The longer this cycle perpetuates, the bigger the bubble inflates, the more severe the correction when the money runs out.
Bull or bubble, this will place a lot of demands on tech execs. What can you do?
Create resiliency in your staff. Get in front of tech inflation by setting expectations with the CFO and head of HR. Reduce the risk of exit of key people and create broader bases of knowledge (less specialization, more generalization). Recognize that it's one thing to fend off competition with other firms for staff you have, it's entirely another to have your staff poached by headhunters or former employees. Be hypersensitive to staff targeting and have a plan at the ready (agreed already with the CFO, HR and key partners) should you need to aggressively retain.
Be creative in evolving relationships customers and suppliers. Inflation and volatility will strain relationships between sell side and buy side, particularly between captive IT and tech services. A lot of relationships became genuine partnerships in 2008 as firms found creative ways to sustain contracts and projects in what were difficult times for everybody. But as the economics change in favor of the sell-side, the relationship dynamics will change, too. Sell-side firms will pass salary increases to customers. Loss of key people in delivery or relationship roles will reduce customer confidence. Benevolence and capitulation are rarely rewarded, but creativity is.
Hedge your technology exposure. Take nothing for granted (remember that CP/M was going to be the dominant OS for microcomputers, until it wasn't), and pursue opportunities on alternative platforms to hedge your portfolio of business partners and revenue. A little exposure to what looks like a short-play platform may provide outsized benefits if the supplier succeeds or if it brings you some long-term customer relationships.
Finally, whether you're a sell-side exec or a CIO, sweat over the durability of your revenue and funding. Look for risk in your book of business. A customer or business sponsor prepared to invest in something today may suddenly have that funding cut by mid-year. For example, a tech services firm doing business with a bank that holds a lot of assets that suddenly turn sour (contracting liquidity and threatening solvency in the process) may find allegedly strategic projects suddenly cancelled. We still face these risks: recall that Irish banks passed the European stress tests in the summer of 2010, only to require recapitalization before the year was out.
When tech is on the rise, it makes everybody in the sector a little more optimistic about the future: new technologies, new career challenges, and a bit more money in the bank. But a rise in tech could put the squeeze on the businesses we run. We would do well to temper our optimism with the pragmatism that there's no such thing as a free lunch.


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Have you joined our DietBet yet???
Discussing our August Whole30…thumbs up to a great program and where we go from here…oh and a DietBet bonus!
Have you joined our DietBet yet???
Discussing our August Whole30…thumbs up to a great program and where we go from here…oh and a DietBet bonus!
Hi Guys!!! Here's a fun, healthy snack recipe. Let us know how you like it!!!
1/3 cup plain quinoa
1/2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon
vanilla extract to taste
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp unsalted almonds
cooking spray of your choice
*mix together in a mixing bowl. spread mixture onto a baking pan and put into a 375degree oven for 10-15 minutes….turning the mixture every 5 mins. Once brown take out of oven and let cool for 10 minutes and serve! 🙂
You can still join us in the DietBet…what are you waiting for???
Hi guys….so here are some items that you can pick up at the grocery store to help you get started eating healthy this week! Remember make sure to stick to the outside perimeters of the grocery store. If a product can live on the shelf for 5 years you might not want to put it in your body. Fresh is best…if you have it available! Obviously, I'm not a doctor OR nutritionist…but, these are a few grocery items that I always have on hand and keep me on track.
#1 Staple Item….EGGS!! I like to buy the egg whites in the carton, but if you prefer the whole egg grab a dozen. Eggs can be used in so many different ways for ANY meal of the day! They are high in protein and low in calories…and they are just DELISH.
Protein: Any type of white fish…fresh or frozen. Ask your fish monger at the seafood counter what is fresh and even on sale. The people at your grocery store are there to help…use their expertise! Shrimp & other shellfish can be good protein options in moderation…make sure to look up the calories and portion sizes before you buy! Obviously boneless skinless chicken and turkey are such a good low calorie option. Unfortunately, the white meat cuts are the best for you….less fat and calories per ounce. Just remember herbs and other low calorie seasoning will help even white meat taste amazing! Also, ground white meat turkey and chicken are great to have on hand for soups and even chili! In a pinch a turkey patty on a salad can provide a speedy and nutritious dinner or lunch! I also keep sliced deli turkey on hand….NOT FROM A PACKAGE….go to the deli and ask for hormone free low sodium turkey breast. It takes some getting used to with the low salt content, but it's a life savor!
Dairy: Now, most of you know I don't eat much dairy if at all. BUT, on the occasion I will grab a light mozzarella cheese stick. They are around 60 calories and provide a good amount of protein to keep you full. Such a good snack option. If you are going to have cheese in your diet I recommend getting a strong cheese like Parmesan or aged cheddar and having a SMALL amount on a salad or veggies. A small amount of the real deal will give you more flavor for less calories. OK, now 0% fat Greek Yogurt is a MUST!!! It is such a power ingredient! You can use it on its own or anything from a sour cream substitute to the base for a breakfast smoothie. Make sure you grab the 0% versions…no one needs the added fat when the 0% tastes just as good. Along those lines…you may want to grab some skim milk or unsweetened almond milk to have on hand.
Veggies: The sky is the limit for veggies! The only ones I would keep to a minimum is potatoes and corn. I'm not saying you can't ever have corn or potatoes OR that they are bad for you. What I am saying is there are such better options for less calories and higher nutritional content. Keep lots of leafy greens on hand….spinach, kale, romaine, mesclun mix…any and all leafy greens are awesome! I remember Jillian told us one time at the ranch that "no one ever got fat on leafy greens"….so true….stock up. Spinach can be used in salad or sauteed with a tsp of olive oil, garlic, and lemon to make a tasty side dish to the protein of your choice. I want to just encourage you to try new veggies…eggplant, asparagus, broccoli….get creative. Remember when preparing veggies it's important to watch what you put ON them…heavy sauces or too much cheese can undo all your hard work. Try no salt seasonings like Mrs. Dash Onion and Herb or fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme….they make a HUGE difference in taste. You may not LOVE it at first, but you have to train your palate and that takes time and consistency. For snacks sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and celery sticks can provide perfect on the go nutrition. You all know how much Hannah and I LOVE Wholly Guacamole 100 calorie packs…dip your carrots and veggies in them or put on a GG Crisp with low sodium turkey breast for a quick lunch. Sliced English cucumber with two tablespoons of hummus one of my favorite snacks. Hummus comes in TONS of flavors and combinations….just make sure you measure and are honest with your portion sizes.
Fruit: Some of my favorites are apples, strawberries, blueberries, & raspberries! They are all packed with fiber and low calorie. A medium sized apple is only 81 calories…paired with a 60 calorie mozzarella cheese stick and you have yourself a GREAT low calorie filling afternoon snack to tie you over to dinner. I would try to keep higher sugar fruits to a minimum….they aren't bad for you at all, but we are trying to lose weight here….ex. bananas, kiwi, pineapple, oranges. Most of these aren't recommended in most weight loss programs.
Nuts: I stick with raw almonds….just remember to keep them portioned to once ounce per snack or meal. One ounce of almonds…around 9 or 10….is about 100 calories…they add up FAST. So, I never just eat them on their own…I pair my almonds with some fruit or on a salad. Let's be honest-10 almonds aren't going to help me much when I'm really hungry! 🙂
Bread: Stick to options like "sprouted grain bread" like Ezekiel bread (found in the freezer section) or other protein based breads. These will keep you full longer and keep insulin levels in check. High fiber crackers like GG Crisps (at Whole Foods or Amazon), and Wasa can be good options too. Again…bread should be kept to a minimum. Along these lines….steel cut oatmeal can be a great breakfast option with berries on top. McCann's Irish steel cut oatmeal can be found at most grocery stores. Even if you don't get McCann's brand make sure it says "steel cut"….not rolled oats.
Lastly, don't neglect your freezer section!!! I know fresh produce is expensive and not everyone can afford it…but, frozen fruits and veggies are bagged and frozen at the peak of freshness and are usually a fraction of the cost! California medley (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) is my personal favorite. Just be aware of hidden sauces etc…don't get "Italian style" or "garlic herb" or anything like that….it's usually covered in butter and oil. Go for the "naked" veggies and you add your own seasoning! 🙂
Well, that's it for now! Check back often to the blog and YouTube….we will be posting content for the DietBet during the while game!! I'm so excited we are all doing this together!!! Leave down in the comments what type of tips and things you would like us to put up. Until then…stay happy and healthy!!!
Photo: Pål Alvsaker


text:
Agile performance management is a collaborative, continuous feedback and development practice that is steadily replacing traditional performance management.
Traditional performance management has proven to be insufficient to assess an employee's contribution. Its primary focus is setting up a series of processes to measure the employee's performance over the whole year. These processes end up having an unanticipated effect of managers focusing on employee's weaknesses. It is difficult to distinguish performance, except for the truly poor performers or high achievers. Being a year long process, below par or mediocre performers can't be identified early on. Once a year performance review, with little to no feedback, gives no scope for development to the employees or the managers.
There needed to be a more dynamic performance management practice that could evolve and adapt according to the changing environment.
Thus, Agile performance management was introduced. Its three key aspects are regular feedback, communication and coaching. These aspects bridge the gap between goal setting and performance evaluation.
Agile performance management focuses as much on the process as the end goals. Continuous improvement is the key.
Let us look at a few ways you can introduce agile performance management in your organisation:
Incorporate regular 360° feedback
Traditional performance management (PM) reviewed employees annually or biannually. They were given a feedback for their overall performance of the year.
In an age of instant communication, feedback should be given on an ongoing basis. A constructive feedback helps employees understand their strengths and weaknesses. Managers can help employees address the issues that hamper their productivity.
Similarly, employees can give regular feedback to their managers. It is the virtue of highly effective managers that they accept these feedback and improve themselves as well.
The stakeholders/customers too can share their expectations. A 360° feedback mechanism is highly beneficial for everyone involved.
Keep goals flexible
Traditional performance management set rigid goals for everyone for the entire year, that did not account for any changes. Employees were reviewed at the end of the year. They couldn't fulfill these goals as unforeseen changes were not considered. This hampered their reviews to a high extent.
Employees are as different from each other as apples and oranges. Everyone works at a different pace. Individual goals should be assigned for individual development. These should be aligned with team goals for consistent growth and development. In case of any change in direction, they should be flexible enough to adapt to that change.
The expected outcome should be clear. Goals for the organisation as well as teams can be designed and modified accordingly.
Collaborate more
Traditionally, spoon feeding was done on a large scale. Employees were believed to be inherently incapable of setting up their own goals.
Agile performance management lets employees find out their capabilities. Together they can determine a time frame in consensus for achieving their goals. This authority brings in a sense of accountability and boosts performance.
Focus on consistent development
Earlier, employees worked under tremendous pressure. Their performance review was largely dependent on their ability to deliver on time. Their race to fulfil quantity often compromised on quality work.
Now, managers' focus on consistently developing their employees through various means. It could be regular feedback, training or even recognition for their work. Developed employees are able to perform better and increase productivity.
Supportive Leadership to increase 2 way communication
In traditional PM, communication is a one way process. Employees feel their work is being dictated to them. Not only is this unproductive, but can also create resentment among them.
Employees should be given an opportunity to voice their doubts. A 2 way communication ensures that the managers and employees are on the same page. There is a clear understanding of what is the purpose of their work and what is to be achieved. This ensures they do not deviate from the end goals and work hard to achieve them.