Fall ’22… For Your Consideration… What Should You Expect? More here.
Continue readingBill Pitman, Revered Studio Guitarist, Is Dead at 102
from NYTs Bill Pitman, a guitarist who accompanied Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and others from the late 1950s to the ’70s, and who for decades was heard on the soundtracks of countless Hollywood films and television shows, died on Thursday night at his home in La Quinta, Calif. He was 102. His wife, Janet Pitman, said he died after four weeks at a rehabilitation center in Palm Springs, where he was treated for a fractured spine suffered in a fall, and the past week at home under hospice care. Virtually anonymous outside the music world but revered within […]
Continue readingSome of the Biggest Brands Are Leaving Russia. Others Just Can’t Quit Putin. Here’s a List.
from NYTs In the latter half of the 1980s, roughly 200 American companies withdrew from South Africa, partly in protest against its apartheid system. As businesses fled the country, South Africa’s segregationist president, P.W. Botha, came under increasing economic pressure. The corporate exodus contributed to the end of apartheid, and was a remarkable display of the power that companies have. When they’re courageous enough to use that power for good, it can help topple repressive governments. Over the past six weeks, we’ve witnessed a similarly extensive response from the private sector to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Hundreds of American companies […]
Continue readingThree Interconnected Trends To Change The Way We Live And Work
from Forbes Distributed Leadership is going to be the norm because we are changing how we relate to each other (remote work, generational shift, digital working and living methods) so leadership is changing to. The natural distance has shrunk from things like social filtering to email, collaboration tools, social, real-time interactions, so the flow of communications and the associated frictions that occurred have almost totally disappeared. This changes how our relationships work from positional hierarchies to ones based on a constant test of trust in relationships. In effect problem solving is no longer going to be driven be external experts, […]
Continue readingHackers Using Fake Police Data Requests against Tech Companies
from Schneier on Security Brian Krebs has a detailed post about hackers using fake police data requests to trick companies into handing over data. Virtually all major technology companies serving large numbers of users online have departments that routinely review and process such requests, which are typically granted as long as the proper documents are provided and the request appears to come from an email address connected to an actual police department domain name. But in certain circumstances – such as a case involving imminent harm or death – an investigating authority may make what’s known as an Emergency Data […]
Continue readingWall Street’s Rigid Culture Bends to Demands for Flexibility at Work
from NYTs When Tom Naratil arrived on Wall Street in the 1980s, work-life balance didn’t really exist. For most bankers of his generation, working long hours while missing out on family time wasn’t just necessary to get ahead, it was necessary to not be left behind. But Mr. Naratil, now president of the Swiss bank UBS in the Americas, doesn’t see why the employees of today should have to make the same trade-offs — at the cost of their personal happiness and the company’s bottom line. Employees with the flexibility to skip “horrible commutes” and work from home more often […]
Continue readingThe Problem of ‘Personal Precedents’ of Supreme Court Justices
from NYTs Supreme Court justices, like most people, like to appear to be consistent. No one wants to be thought to be a flip-flopper, an opportunist or a hypocrite. That means justices try not to disavow earlier legal views, even ones that appeared in dissents, in opinions they wrote as appeals court judges, in academic work, at their confirmation hearings and elsewhere. This impulse, which a provocative new article calls “personal precedent,” can be at odds with respect for precedent in the conventional sense. The force and legitimacy of such personal precedents has seldom been explored, and the rare scholars […]
Continue readingBa.2 Omicron Symptoms: What To Look Out For As Variant Spreads In The US
from Fast Company According to the latest Nowcast data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the BA.2 omicron subvariant of COVID-19 has now become the dominant strain across the United States. As of April 2, 2022, the BA.2 variant makes up 72.2% of all cases in the country. While that total is expected to only grow in the coming weeks, as of now BA.2 is more dominant in some areas of the country than others. Here are the areas of America most affected with BA.2 as well as the latest symptoms to watch out for as the […]
Continue reading10 Signs You Shouldn’t Take The Job
from Fast Company You’re in the middle of an interview for a position that you really want—but something’s not quite right. Maybe you can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something off during your interview. No matter what position you’re applying for, there are some definite job search warning signs that job seekers should be aware of during the search process. More here.
Continue readingFake Cops Scammed Apple and Meta to Get User Data
from Wired “Ipsa scientia potestas est,” 16th-century philosopher and statesman Sir Frances Bacon famously wrote in his 1597 work, Meditationes Sacrae. Knowledge itself is power. The aphorism, cliché as it may be, takes on a palpable truth in times of war. Just ask the people of Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine, where Russia’s devastating attacks have cut off the flow of information in and out of the city. Meanwhile, in Russia, the government has banned Facebook and Instagram amid its crackdown on news without the state’s stamp of approval. But as we explained this week, building a full China-style […]
Continue readingFeds Allege Destructive Russian Hackers Targeted US Oil Refineries
from ars technica For years, the hackers behind the malware known as Triton or Trisis have stood out as a uniquely dangerous threat to critical infrastructure: a group of digital intruders who attempted to sabotage industrial safety systems, with physical, potentially catastrophic results. Now the US Department of Justice has put a name to one of the hackers in that group—and confirmed the hackers’ targets included a US company that owns multiple oil refineries. On Thursday, just days after the White House warned of potential cyberattacks on US critical infrastructure by the Russian government in retaliation for new sanctions against […]
Continue reading14 LinkedIn Profile Summaries That We Love (And How to Boost Your Own)
from LinkedIn Talent Blog We get it. Writing your LinkedIn Profile summary isn’t at the top of your to-do list. You’re not sure what to write. Your photo and headline make your Profile complete enough. It’s not worth your time since your company already attracts so many great candidates. [Insert your own excuse here.] Well sometimes you need a great example — or 14 great examples — to see the summary’s magic and figure out how to write your own. Read on and prepare to be inspired. More here.
Continue readingHappy Pi Day!!!
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant pi. Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of ?. It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the Exploratorium. Celebrations often involve eating pie or holding pi recitation competitions. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day. Visit here if you are interested in different ways to use Pi.
Continue reading‘Disruption’ Is a Two-Way Street
from Wired BIG TECH AS we know it was built on the ethos of subverting sanctity. Ideas, institutions, service delivery, how I make my chai—nothing could be beyond the reach of technological disruption. In this vision, the tech company was the lean, scrappy, innovative underdog taking on the powerful, entrenched status quo, freeing the consumer from the shackles of history. But tech can no longer claim to be the underdog (if it ever could). So-called tech disruptors today have unchallenged access, funding, and regulatory support (or at least acquiescence). As the current hype of technological disruption reaches the markets of […]
Continue readingRebuffing Cable Lobby, FCC Bans Deals That Block Competition In Apartments
from ars technica The Federal Communications Commission has voted to ban the exclusive revenue-sharing deals between landlords and Internet service providers that prevent broadband competition in apartment buildings and other multi-tenant environments. The new ban and other rule changes were adopted in a 4-0 vote announced yesterday. Although the FCC “has long banned Internet service providers from entering into sweetheart deals with landlords that guarantee they are the only provider in the building,” evidence submitted to the commission “made it clear that our existing rules are not doing enough and that we can do more to pry open the door […]
Continue readingNetwork As Net Worth: Increasing Access To Social Capital For Young People
from Forbes Research shows that anywhere from 70 to 85 percent of jobs are filled through networking. And others are filled before they are even posted. When we talk to young people about career aspirations, we often center that conversation on the academic and professional preparation that entails – the degrees they need, the certifications that are essential. But ultimately so much of our careers are shaped – and driven by –our social connections. It feels difficult in this moment to center connections as an essential component of career success when so many young people feel disconnected – from their […]
Continue readingLarry Fink’s Capitalist Shell Game
from Project Syndicate BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink’s latest annual letter has taken the business world by storm. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, and Fink, addressing the CEOs of the companies whose assets his firm manages on behalf of investors, took the opportunity to advocate a more ecologically sustainable, socially conscious, forward-looking form of capitalism rooted in stakeholder rather than shareholder value. Fink’s exhortation seems like a welcome break from orthodox dogma. But if his vision is supposed to be “woke,” it is not nearly woke enough. We’ve heard all this before, including in Fink’s own 2018 […]
Continue reading4 Ways To Make Time For ‘Watercooler Conversations’ In The Hybrid Work Setting
from Fast Company A critical part of filling your personal and work lives with happiness is cultivating strong relationships. Some of these ties can be deep, meaningful, and longer-term relationships, but they can also be more casual and occasional connections, which are still effective at lifting moods and helping you feel satisfied in life. Research at the University of British Columbia found that when people had greater numbers of acquaintances (even if they were more distant connections), they were happier. Further, studies by the University of Chicago found even small talk with strangers contributed to happiness. In other words, social […]
Continue reading3 Ways To Naturally Leverage Past Connections For Present-Day Success
from Forbes To succeed in today’s world, you need to use every tool at your disposal. While it’s easy to think this just means whatever you currently have on hand, we all have past connections that can be tapped into and transformed into real value. Leveraging your past for current and future gain is a powerful tool, and one that often leads to positive change for everyone involved. Quite often, it’s simply a matter of knowing the best ways to put these connections to work. More here.
Continue readingBeware the FOMO Bullies of Technology
from The Atlantic Here is my confession: I’m traumatized by a David Letterman clip. It’s from November 1995, and Letterman’s guest is a young, bespectacled Bill Gates. The video starts with a question from the legendary late-night host: “What about this internet thing?” he asks. “What the hell is that, exactly?” Gates, freshly minted as the world’s richest man, gamely tells the host about the wonders of the web—but Letterman isn’t having it. He pooh-poohs a recent announcement that Major League Baseball will broadcast games over the internet: “Does radio ring a bell?” Gates smiles and looks down before explaining […]
Continue reading