Keeping Your Home Together with Duck Tape

Last week I was walking around the beach and came across an interesting RV that was duck taped together. I believe this truck may have ran into an overpass and had much of its cabin ripped apart. The owners decided they would rather keep it running than retire the truck. Duck tape was used to keep the air out.

In the end, I'm surprised the car is still in use. It takes a special kind of person to use this car in this way. I'm not knocking it...I'm just saying WOW.

Why Research is Fundamental To University Contribution and Image?

Research in today's world is hugely important as companies seek to be innovative and generate new and unique ideas. Research is often out of the reach of the average person and is typically completed in business or in academic settings. Encourage universities to conduct research based on the needs of the market can help push innovation in society.

Universities have something to say. Incorporating research into a professors responsibilities helps to develop the full purpose of the university system to increase knowledge. That is difficult unless new knowledge is being generated. While not all professors must do research they should be contributing to their fields in some way.

Industry-University partnerships can help in the development of specialized knowledge that furthers a particular industry. This could be a new method of plastic injection or anything else. It is using the researchers abilities applied to specific problems that have practical utilization.

While we think of research as only contributing to the body of knowledge it also creates greater brand image of the university itself. Conducting research is important for disseminating useful information to the rest of society. Each article, research study, news spinet, press release,etc... gets hits on search engines that leads to greater overall image.

No Need to Fill Out Those Long HR Application Forms

Having enough information to make a decision is important. Companies are selling all types of information management systems out there that have pages and pages of fields that get you all the right information! Right? Wrong! Such systems are bulky and lose as many candidates as they catch. No one wants to spend 6 hours filling out a form for a job they may not even have a chance to obtain!

Sure it separates the really motivated people from the not so motivated. Not really either. People who are busy and have a good sense of time and effort don't want to fill out forms and waste time. They want to apply within a reasonable time and move on.

A better way to manage such systems is to upload a cover page and resume and let the system do the work. There are plenty of excellent resume scanning software out there. There are also plenty of ways to obtain access to Linked-in and online profiles that save time and money.

No need to fill out those forms!  Long forms are useless. Employers should seek enough information to make a decision to seek additional information. It is not necessary to hire the person in the first round. It is much better to use the time to build a little report with the candidates through information requests and discussions.

Why are "Up Front" Disclosures on Information Important

The amount of data in the world is massive. It is so massive that foreign governments are taking this information, from a variety of sources, and creating profiles of important figures in society. Companies are collecting information without your permission to improve sales and then keeping it in an unsecured way that leads to data theft.

We are weak human beings sometimes. If we have a love for some product we have a hard time not buying it. Yet if a company puts lots of ads in front of us targeting our interests we may make even more purchases. Data and information can be useful for marketing but also can be destructive.

One of the biggest problems is that people don't know how much data is really out there. Companies collect this data and then use it for many types of purposes. Even if they were only using this information for sales it is hackers and others that collect this information for devious purposes.

Let's say that someone really wanted information about a politician or notable figure. They could hack their credit cards, hack social security, etc... If they also get access to your purchases they would be able to know just everything about you. Perhaps they know more about you then you know about yourself at some deep psychological level!

As of yet we don't know of hackers with that capacity. However, we do know they sell this data and someone who has the money and time could collect and dump that into a cross referencing data analysis tool and then start picking out your information. While this may not be important to you it may be important to others.

Disclosures on what companies are collecting and how long they keep this information is important for improving the overall privacy of that information.

Satellites Determine Breaking of Glacier Could Raise Sea Levels by a Number of Feet

It seems like these news stories are becoming more common.  While new technology and increased awareness leads to lots of news time there seems to be more extreme weather. My Michigan home was under a polar freeze for a week. I don't know but it seems like we are continuing to "play with fire" with our environment.

Bar People Don't Live as Long as Vegan Joggers! - Life Choices or Brain Pre-Determination?

People have argued that behavior is a choice. Yes...conscious behavior can be a choice but much of it comes from the deeper recesses of our minds and we choose to accept or not accept the urges. Thus we are not sure whether choices are willful or not but we do know that we have limited control over it if we don't have the ability to slow down and think.

There is a pretty strong argument when we look at the deepest choices of neuroeconomics we act off of our urges. Some people are better able to arrest their first urges and think about them enough to make the most strategic choice in each situation. Its not easy but it is possible to learn.

Same thing with exercise or any other choices. Vegan Joggers live longer than Bar people because they can weigh and balance options on their time. They make other choices about food, recreation, etc... because they use a little more logic in their choices.

1.) Stop and Think Before Talking or Acting.

2.) Review and Analyze multiple choices before selecting one.

3.) Accept your first feelings and just give them some time.

4.) Create an avenue of feedback on your choices.

Boxing as a Sport of Competition-Tips on Perseverance.

Were playing around!

I went to boxing today and no one that usually shows up to the class was there. So I got a private lesson for much less (I know them so they probably would have gave it free.). The coach Jim, per this article, is a Golden Glove type boxer who was once very successful in his field. Like a lot of young sports stars his time came and past. Kind of a sad story but anyway that is the way we are as a society. If we need you we love you and if we don't need you, or your time has passed, we sort just move on. The money goes away, the respect goes away, and the fame goes away!

Not that I was ever famous, but that this phenomenon occurs over and over in society. The smart people know how to take advantage of their "time" and use the resources to create something else with it. They build brands and companies with it.

Anyway, Jim is a great boxer and loves to give tips. One of things I do wrong is that I put my elbows out too far. I learned today to simply keep reminding myself to push them in so that I create the fastest connect between point A and B. If I learn to do this well I can sort of start using other forms as needed.

Jim is also very fast! He can block nearly all of my punches without much effort. His eye has trained over the years to see the punch coming and use the lightest sort of tap to keep the punches from connecting. In boxing it is just a fraction of an inch that determines connect versus not connect.