I may be cheesy, fine, I admit it. But I really liked this email forward: Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to [...]
Published under ‘life’
The Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex – and Saturday Night Live
Published under Funnies, Health, Marketing, Media and Alternative Media Dec 15, 2009Natasha Singer wrote a very compelling piece here about the way the pharmaceutical industry aims to turn all of our ordinary weaknesses and human frailties into pathologies in need of a pharmacological cure. “PE” or premature ejaculation may be a rite for passage for young people who discover their passion for someone, yet for the [...]
KINDness is in our genes
Published under Anthropology, Kinded, Life, Philanthropy, Science and Technology Dec 15, 2009Interesting UC Berkeley study on human compassion… UC Berkeley social scientists build case for ‘survival of the kindest’ Published: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 – 09:26 in Psychology & Sociology Researchers at UC Berkeley are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing [...]
Abe Pollin, a mentsch to emulate
Published under Introspection, Leadership, Life, Philanthropy, Religion Dec 09, 2009I was really touched by Maureen Dowd’s eulogy column about Abe Pollin. He follows the tradition of frugal leaders like David Ben-Gurion, and characters from Isaac Bashevis-Singer’s shtetl stories, whose Judaism was about helping those in need.
Local Data Mining Portends Tectonic Shifts in Global Governance
Published under Democracy and Freedom (or lack of), Entrepreneurship and Management, Leadership, Science and Technology, United States Dec 07, 2009This fascinating article doesn’t directly address global governance. But the increasing uses of information and technology at the municipal level portend positively for models for global governance for the 21st century. And at all levels, this trend hints at the sweeping changes that will come in how we leverage data.
Here is an interesting article that scientifically confirms one of the underlying assumptions of the KINDED Movement and the KIND philosophy: that doing good onto others actually feels good and benefits the one doing the KINDING as much as the person being KINDED.
According to this provocative study, children from the very beginning are predisposed to help others – we are wired to be KIND to others.
Quote of the Week: What her Dad taught Angela Merkel
Published under Democracy and Freedom (or lack of), Education/Raising Children, Europe, Favorite Quotes, Leadership, Music Dec 02, 2009My father taught me a very important lesson when I was a girl growing up in East Germany. He said, “Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.” -as told to Bono (U2) and captured by him in a New York Times opinion piece. New York Times November [...]
These are my favorite responses to Michael Pollan’s NYTimes blog request for readers’ rules about eating: From my Romanian grandmother: “Breakfast, you should eat alone. Lunch, you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.” – Irina A. Dumitrescu “Never eat something that’s pretending to be something else…no textured vegetable protein or veggie [...]
The truth behind “Death Panels”
Published under Democracy and Freedom (or lack of), Health, Leadership, Life, Media and Alternative Media, United States Nov 30, 2009My wife is a Doctor and she often shares stories about how the medical “system” leads to unsavory paths, often including terminally-ill elderly & infirm patients who are dragged through the indecency of two extra weeks of herculean efforts to keep them alive when it is pretty clear they are victims of technology and bureaucracy [...]