Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.Margaret Mead, US anthropologist
Category: Here & There
Miss Japan Crowned Miss Universe 2007
Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from a village near Mount Fuji in Japan, who hopes to someday open an international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007 last night.
Mori, the 56th winner of the title, was given her $250,000 diamond-and-pearl crown by last year’s winner, Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico, watched by a live audience of 10,000 and some 600 million television viewers worldwide.
Mori, the second Japanese woman to win the Miss Universe title will spend her year-long reign traveling the world to speak out on humanitarian issues like poverty and disease.
Under pageant rules, women crowned Miss Universe become advocates for AIDS/HIV research and education.
The only other time Japan had won the pageant was in 1959, when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.
Major World Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents
The following is the list of the world’s major religions ranked by the number of believers adherent to them:
1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism: 900 million
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
6. Buddhism: 376 million
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
9. Sikhism: 23 million
10. Juche: 19 million
11. Spiritism: 15 million
12. Judaism: 14 million
13. Baha’i: 7 million
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
15. Shinto: 4 million
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
22. Scientology: 500 thousand
10 Simple Ways To Not Mess Up Your Life
I found this really interesting list of 10 ways you can avoid messing up your life; the list goes as follows:
1. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel.
2. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse.
3. Ease up on the internal life commentary.
4. Take no notice of your inner critic.
5. Give up on feeling guilty.
6. Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you.
7. Stop keeping score.
8. Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned.
9. Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions.
10. Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one.
Personally, I agree with all the points above and do my best to apply them, although some are harder than others.
I guess a lot of people will find the last point a bit weird, and will be totally against it at first, but when you come to think of it, personality truly is something flexible and undefinable, it changes as we change as people.
For details on each point, read the full post: 10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life.
The Nine Biggest Myths of the Workplace
A list of the nine biggest myths of the workplace by Penelope Trunk:
1. You
Your Choices, Your Life
I just came across this really interesting and true quote:
… Because you are in control of your life. Don’t ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.
— Barbara Hall
It’s amazing how this simple fact slips the minds of so many people, and how they forget that it is up to them to make their lives whatever they become based on the different choices and decisions they take in various situations throughout life.
7 Lies That Prevent Powerful Results
I just came across a list of the seven lies that prevent people from getting to powerful results in whatever they do in life.
The list of lies goes as follows:
Lie #1: Expect Quick Results
Lie #2: Complaining is ok
Lie #3: Fix it later.
Lie #4: Having an *idea* instead of a plan
Lie #5: Ignoring your talents
Lie #6: Elusive Goals instead of Do-able Goals
Lie #7: Adopting a
12 Tips On How To Be A Great Dad
A couple of days ago, I came across this great post on zen habits with 12 tips on how to be a great dad.
The list goes as follows:
1. Put your children’s interest first, always
2. Protect them
3. Spend your spare time with them
4. Give them hugs
5. Play with them
6. Do the
24 Hours of Flickr
A really cool idea by flickr…
What happens around the world in one day? In a word
Meetings: Types And Tips
It’s incredible how much companies love meetings. So much time is spent in meetings, you can’t but think that it’s sometimes a waste of time, and that is often true if these meetings are not productive enough and give no results.
Seth Godin identifies 6 different types of meetings:
– Just so everyone knows
– What are you up to
– What does everyone think?
– We need a decision right now.
– Hanging out meetings.
– To hear myself talk meetings.
He goes on into further detail on each type and gives some tips on how to make meetings more productive.
Ben Yoskovitz also suggests 7 ways to avoid pointless meetings:
– Make sure the meeting has a clear purpose.
– Avoid suspense.
– Document what