DonTips For Keeping The Peace
I just came across a really good list of 10 tips to keep the peace in your everyday life relationships with people, put together by Tom Roderick, Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility Metro.
The list goes as follows:
1. Slow down the action
2. Listen well
3. Give the other person the benefit of the doubt
4. Acknowledge the other person’s feelings
5. Be strong without being mean
6. Try to see a conflict as a problem to be solved
7. Set your sights on a “win-win” solution
8. If you don’t seem to be getting anywhere in solving a conflict, ask for help
9. Remember that conflict, handled well, can lead to personal growth and better relationships
10. The true heroes and heroes of today’s world are not the RambosCheck out the full article: Tips For Keeping The Peace
[Via: LifeHack]
Brainstorming Doesn’t Work?!
So, you know all that brainstorming we’ve all been doing to come up with “good” ideas? It turns out we could’ve come up with more and better ideas if we did it alone individually rather than in groups…
Brainstorming [is] used in nearly all of the world’s largeset companies, nonprofits, and government organizations. And the reasons seem obvious… “The average person can think of twice as many ideas when working with a group than when working alone.”… But is it true?In 1958… psychologists let groups of four people brainstorm about the practical benefits or difficulties that would arise if everyone had an extra thumb on each hand after next year. These people were called “real groups” since they actually brainstormed together. Next, the researchers let “virtual groups” of four people generate ideas around the “thumb problem”, but they had to brainstorm individually, in separate rooms. The researchers combined the answers they received from each [virtual group] individual and eliminated redundancies… They then compared the performance between real groups and virtual groups…
To their surprise, the researchers found that virtual groups, where people brainstormed individually, generated nearly twice as many ideas as the real groups.
The result, it turned out, is not an anomaly. In a [1987 study, researchers] concluded that brainstorming groups have never outperformed virtual groups. Of the 25 reported experiments by psychologists all over the world, real groups have never once been shown to be more productive than virtual groups. In fact, real groups that engage in brainstorming consistently generate about half the number of ideas they would have produced if the group’s individuals had [worked] alone.
In addition, in the studies where the quality of ideas was measured, researchers found that the total number of good ideas was much higher in virtual groups than in real groups.
[Source: The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson]
[Via: Pmarca]
Blog Action Day
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Enhance Your Productivity: 9 Things & Habits To Quit Now
Tim Ferriss, writer of the book “The 4-Hour Workweek“, has published a list of the 9 habits you have to stop now to become more productive.
I totally agree with his list, and have more or less been applying this in my everyday life for a while now. The list goes as follows (with my comments):
1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers: I rarely ever answer a phone call by a number I don’t recognize, some people think it’s wrong of me to do so, but personally I think that if that someone is a person I want to hear from I’d surely have his number saved. Of course out of the times I do reply, there is a small percentage of times it turns out the person is someone I want to hear from, but well I’m comfortable with the odds.
2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night: I always try to avoid early-morning or late-evening emails, unless it’s something I’ve already thought out well and only the actual writing of the email is left.
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time: I do my best to avoid these, they’re such a waste of time, but well sometimes you can’t but help get dragged into one, and that’s when I try to apply the next point…
4. Do not let people ramble: Sometimes you just have to step in, take hold of the conversation and take it straight to the point; or else people will just keep on rambling and wasting time with no end in sight.
5. Do not check e-mail constantly
Talking vs. Silence
There are very few people who don’t become more interesting when they stop talking.— Mary Lowry
Ajaaj: The First UAE Superhero Comic Book
Ajaaj – “Legends of the past, protecting the future”. That’s the tagline for the new comic book by Watani featuring the first UAE superhero called Ajaaj.
The comic book series is set in the year 2020; the UAE is leading the way in world trade, industry and tourism. However, the media is filled with reports of a natural disaster, a sand storm which has hit towns and shores leaving substantial damage in its aftermath.
These reports are interrupted by kids who refute them, declaring the force behind the storm is Ajaaj. They say he can morph into a well-built young UAE man, a wall or even a bridge. He can fly and solidify, turn into fine dust, infiltrate tightly locked areas and even transform into structures strong enough to stop the fastest bullet train.
And the rest as you can imagine should be a selection of superhero fun and adventures.
The comic books are produced monthly in hard cover version making it a collector item as well. The 44-page first issue of Ajaaj is available online for viewing and download in both Arabic & English.
Canadian Team Discovers Gene That Turns Cancers Off
Some good health news from Canada…
A unique gene that can stop cancerous cells from multiplying into tumours has been discovered by a team of scientists at the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver.The team, led by Dr. Poul Sorensen, says the gene has the power to suppress the growth of human tumours in multiple cancers, including breast, lung and liver.
The gene, HACE 1, helps cells fight off stress that, left unchecked, opens the door to formation of multiple tumours.
[Source: Globe And Mail]
In a world where everything seems to cause cancer now because of the big mess we’ve made of nature and a bunch of unsafe technological inventions surrounding us everyday; this can only be a great piece of news.
The Message of the Georgia Guidestones
The Georgia Guidestones are a huge granite monument located on a hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia, USA.
A message comprised of ten guides is inscribed on the monument in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs. The monument was meant to “offer direction to humanity”The message in English reads:
1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.Wise words and directions…
Unfortunately, we’ve pretty much screwed up on every single point…[More: Georgia Guidestones (Wikipedia)]
Green Tea Could Help Avoid Cancer
Hmmm, it seems there’s more to Green Tea than meets the “tongue”…
Concentrated chemicals derived from green tea dramatically boosted production of a group of key detoxification enzymes in people with low levels of these beneficial proteins, according to researchers at Arizona Cancer Center.These findings, published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that a green tea concentrate might help some people strengthen their metabolic defense against toxins capable of causing cancer.
[Source: Biosingularity]
I’m not much of a tea person, although my wife loves the stuff, and I have a friend who worships it; I only occasionally drink it. But from now on, I think I’ll be working more of it into my drinking habits; some green tea, with mint and pine nuts is always great.
