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Will You Sprint, Stroll or Stumble Into a Career?
The New York Times: At the age of 18, G. Stanley Hall left his home in the tiny village of Ashfield, Mass., for Williams College, just 35 miles away, with a goal to “do something and be something in the world.” His mother wanted him to become a minister, but the young Stanley wasn’t sure about that plan. He saw a four-year degree as a chance to explore. Though Hall excelled at Williams, his parents, who were farmers, considered his undergraduate years a bit erratic. He didn’t think he had the requirements for a pastor, but nonetheless enrolled in Union Theological Seminary in New York after graduation.
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The Creative Power of ‘Outsiders’
Cher’s 1998 hit single 'Believe' revolutionized the music industry by introducing the public to a new technology called Auto-Tune. With the push of a button, Auto-Tune allows music producers to correct a singer’s pitch to ensure that anyone can sing in seemingly perfect key. Although the technology has been widely adopted by the music industry – too widely adopted, some would argue – the invention of Auto-Tune didn’t come from a music industry insider, it was invented by a petroleum engineer. Before turning to music, Dr. Harold (Andy) Hildebrand was developing technology to help oil companies discover oil based on seismic signals from detonations on the ground.
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What is the most extroverted U.S. city?
BBC: They say that birds of a feather flock together – so how does your personality fit with the people living nearby? Do you sometimes wish you lived among people who were just a bit more adventurous? Or would you prefer to live in a quieter, more reserved city? These were the kinds of questions that Wiebke Bleidorn, at the University of California, Davis hoped to answer with her latest research project. Using a vast online survey of more than 500,000 participants, she has profiled 860 cities across the United States of America.
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It’s A Small World When It Comes To :-/
NPR: Body language can be a dead giveaway of where you're from. People can tell whether you're from Australia or the U.K. by the way you smile. They can tell whether you're from China or Egypt by the way you count using your fingers. And they know whether you're American or German depending on how you express sympathy. But when it comes to expressing negative emotions, our body language might be much more universal than we realize. The proof is in a single facial expression that crosses over cultures and languages around the world: the "not face." ...
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A small dose distraction may actually boost productivity
The Globe and Mail: Ever notice that when a big deadline looms, life’s little distractions always seem to get in the way? Maybe your colleague has a shrill voice that can be heard over the otherwise comforting din of other people’s fingers tapping away on keyboards. You try working from home but find yourself checking your phone, which keeps beeping with the latest Facebook update, and you can’t help but click on the notification. Most of us strive to create the perfect, distraction-free environment in order to perform at our peak productivity level.
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Who Will Become a Terrorist? Research Yields Few Clues
The New York Times: WASHINGTON — The brothers who carried out suicide bombings in Brussels last week had long, violent criminal records and had been regarded internationally as potential terrorists. But in San Bernardino, Calif., last year, one of the attackers was a county health inspector who lived a life of apparent suburban normality. And then there are the dozens of other young American men and women who have been arrested over the past year for trying to help the Islamic State. Their backgrounds are so diverse that they defy a single profile. ...
