Media Reform Information Center:
"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called 'alarmist' for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly.
In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote 'in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media' -- controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies.
He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies."
12 June 2005
9 June 2005
PayPal - Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Emails
PayPal - Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Emails
10 ways to recognize fake (spoof) emails
1. Generic greetings. Many spoof emails begin with a general greeting, such as: "Dear PayPal member." If you do not see your first and last name, be suspicious and do not click on any links or button.
2. A fake sender's address. A spoof email may include a forged email address in the "From" field. This field is easily altered.
3. A false sense of urgency. Many spoof emails try to deceive you with the threat that your account is in jeopardy if you don't update it ASAP. They may also state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim PayPal is updating its accounts and needs information fast.
4. Fake links. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over it and look at the URL in your browser or email status bar. A fraudulent link is dangerous. If you click on one, it could:
* Direct you to a spoof website that tries to collect your personal data.
* Install spyware on your system. Spyware is an application that can enable a hacker to monitor your actions and steal any passwords or credit card numbers you type online.
* Cause you to download a virus that could disable your computer.
5. Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never asks for personal information in an email.
6. Deceptive URLs. Only enter your PayPal password on PayPal pages. These begin with https://www.paypal.com/
* If you see an @ sign in the middle of a URL, there's a good chance this is a spoof. Legitimate companies use a domain name (e.g. https://www.company.com).
* Even if a URL contains the word "PayPal," it may not be a PayPal site. Examples of deceptive URLs include: www.paypalsecure.com, www.paypa1.com, www.secure-paypal.com, and www.paypalnet.com.
* Always log in to PayPal by opening a new web browser and typing in the following: https://www.paypal.com/
* Never log in to PayPal from a link in an email
7. Misspellings and bad grammar. Spoof emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, missing words, and gaps in logic. Mistakes also help fraudsters avoid spam filters.
8. Unsafe sites. The term "https" should always precede any website address where you enter personal information. The "s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https," you're not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.
9. Pop-up boxes. PayPal will never use a pop-up box in an email as pop-ups are not secure.
10. Attachments. Like fake links, attachments are frequently used in spoof emails and are dangerous. Never click on an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. PayPal will never email you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer.
10 ways to recognize fake (spoof) emails
1. Generic greetings. Many spoof emails begin with a general greeting, such as: "Dear PayPal member." If you do not see your first and last name, be suspicious and do not click on any links or button.
2. A fake sender's address. A spoof email may include a forged email address in the "From" field. This field is easily altered.
3. A false sense of urgency. Many spoof emails try to deceive you with the threat that your account is in jeopardy if you don't update it ASAP. They may also state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim PayPal is updating its accounts and needs information fast.
4. Fake links. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over it and look at the URL in your browser or email status bar. A fraudulent link is dangerous. If you click on one, it could:
* Direct you to a spoof website that tries to collect your personal data.
* Install spyware on your system. Spyware is an application that can enable a hacker to monitor your actions and steal any passwords or credit card numbers you type online.
* Cause you to download a virus that could disable your computer.
5. Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never asks for personal information in an email.
6. Deceptive URLs. Only enter your PayPal password on PayPal pages. These begin with https://www.paypal.com/
* If you see an @ sign in the middle of a URL, there's a good chance this is a spoof. Legitimate companies use a domain name (e.g. https://www.company.com).
* Even if a URL contains the word "PayPal," it may not be a PayPal site. Examples of deceptive URLs include: www.paypalsecure.com, www.paypa1.com, www.secure-paypal.com, and www.paypalnet.com.
* Always log in to PayPal by opening a new web browser and typing in the following: https://www.paypal.com/
* Never log in to PayPal from a link in an email
7. Misspellings and bad grammar. Spoof emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, missing words, and gaps in logic. Mistakes also help fraudsters avoid spam filters.
8. Unsafe sites. The term "https" should always precede any website address where you enter personal information. The "s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https," you're not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.
9. Pop-up boxes. PayPal will never use a pop-up box in an email as pop-ups are not secure.
10. Attachments. Like fake links, attachments are frequently used in spoof emails and are dangerous. Never click on an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. PayPal will never email you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer.
8 June 2005
City Journal Spring 2005 | What’s Holding Black Kids Back? by Kay S. Hymowitz
City Journal Spring 2005 | What’s Holding Black Kids Back? by Kay S. Hymowitz:
"Forty years after the War on Poverty began, about 30 percent of black children are still living in poverty. Those children face an even chance of dropping out of high school and, according to economist Thomas Hertz, a 42 percent chance of staying in the lowest income decile—far greater than the 17 percent of whites born at the bottom who stay there. After endless attempts at school reform and a gazillion dollars’ worth of what policymakers call “interventions,” just about everyone realizes—without minimizing the awfulness of ghetto schools—that the problem begins at home and begins early. Yet the assumption among black leaders and poverty experts has long been that you can’t expect uneducated, highly stressed parents, often themselves poorly reared, to do all that much about it. Cosby is saying that they can."
"Forty years after the War on Poverty began, about 30 percent of black children are still living in poverty. Those children face an even chance of dropping out of high school and, according to economist Thomas Hertz, a 42 percent chance of staying in the lowest income decile—far greater than the 17 percent of whites born at the bottom who stay there. After endless attempts at school reform and a gazillion dollars’ worth of what policymakers call “interventions,” just about everyone realizes—without minimizing the awfulness of ghetto schools—that the problem begins at home and begins early. Yet the assumption among black leaders and poverty experts has long been that you can’t expect uneducated, highly stressed parents, often themselves poorly reared, to do all that much about it. Cosby is saying that they can."
Are Meetings Collaborative? - Collaboration Loop
Are Meetings Collaborative? - Collaboration Loop:
"In researching 'effective meetings' and 'why are meetings necessary', it was found that most thinking reinforced the HR approach. The majority of reports I read suggested ways to 'run more effective meetings', but they didn't address why you need meetings, when you need meetings and what purpose a meeting has in support of the work environment and/or the work process. In no place did I find an argument for defining the need for meetings to support the process, nor did I find a logical idea connecting effective collaboration as an alternative to information sharing at a meeting."
"In researching 'effective meetings' and 'why are meetings necessary', it was found that most thinking reinforced the HR approach. The majority of reports I read suggested ways to 'run more effective meetings', but they didn't address why you need meetings, when you need meetings and what purpose a meeting has in support of the work environment and/or the work process. In no place did I find an argument for defining the need for meetings to support the process, nor did I find a logical idea connecting effective collaboration as an alternative to information sharing at a meeting."
Harvard’s Diversity Grovel
Heather Mac Donald.
Harvard’s Diversity Grovel
In earmarking $50 million for “diversity,” President Summers is throwing away more than money. | 3 June 2005
Every such “diversity” initiative immediately faces two major obstacles. First, its purpose is to recommend the identical set of actions that the institution, whether academic or corporate, has already been doing. Every college in the country has been frantically pursing “diversity” in hiring and admissions for decades. The task force itself commends the diversity policies of 17 rival colleges—the mere tip of the iceberg—without drawing the obvious conclusion.
The second obstacle follows from the first: there is nothing more that can be done. If untapped pools of highly qualified female and minority candidates existed out there, schools would have snapped them up long ago—if not your college, then its dozens of competitors, just as desperate to placate the quota gods. (The one course of action that might, in the case of black and Hispanic faculty recruitment, bear long-term results is the one that elite college personnel are least likely to choose: intensive mentoring of young students and the jettisoning of all “progressive” pedagogy in the schools.)
Harvard’s Diversity Grovel
In earmarking $50 million for “diversity,” President Summers is throwing away more than money. | 3 June 2005
Every such “diversity” initiative immediately faces two major obstacles. First, its purpose is to recommend the identical set of actions that the institution, whether academic or corporate, has already been doing. Every college in the country has been frantically pursing “diversity” in hiring and admissions for decades. The task force itself commends the diversity policies of 17 rival colleges—the mere tip of the iceberg—without drawing the obvious conclusion.
The second obstacle follows from the first: there is nothing more that can be done. If untapped pools of highly qualified female and minority candidates existed out there, schools would have snapped them up long ago—if not your college, then its dozens of competitors, just as desperate to placate the quota gods. (The one course of action that might, in the case of black and Hispanic faculty recruitment, bear long-term results is the one that elite college personnel are least likely to choose: intensive mentoring of young students and the jettisoning of all “progressive” pedagogy in the schools.)
Tech Coast
Tech Coast:
"Why on earth would anyone need three blogs, let alone one? (It's important to remember that many people, if they know about blogs at all, still see bloggers as suffering from a peculiar blend of folly, arrogance, and narcissism.) I think the logic comes down to this: blogs are inherently personal, and we inhabit more than one persona as we move through our days. To the extent that blogging is becoming an important mode of self-expression and social interaction, therefore, we need a separate blog for each of our personae."
"Why on earth would anyone need three blogs, let alone one? (It's important to remember that many people, if they know about blogs at all, still see bloggers as suffering from a peculiar blend of folly, arrogance, and narcissism.) I think the logic comes down to this: blogs are inherently personal, and we inhabit more than one persona as we move through our days. To the extent that blogging is becoming an important mode of self-expression and social interaction, therefore, we need a separate blog for each of our personae."
7 June 2005
Edsger Dijkstra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edsger Dijkstra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Quotes: Edsger Dijkstra
* 'The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.'
* 'Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.'
[edit]
"
Quotes: Edsger Dijkstra
* 'The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.'
* 'Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.'
[edit]
"
Planning for Freedom - Mises Institute
Planning for Freedom - Mises Institute:
"The term “planning” is mostly used as a synonym for socialism, communism, and authoritarian and totalitarian economic management. Sometimes only the German pattern of socialism—Zwangswirtschaft—is called planning, while the term socialism proper is reserved for the Russian pattern of outright socialization and bureaucratic operation of all plants, shops, and farms."
"The term “planning” is mostly used as a synonym for socialism, communism, and authoritarian and totalitarian economic management. Sometimes only the German pattern of socialism—Zwangswirtschaft—is called planning, while the term socialism proper is reserved for the Russian pattern of outright socialization and bureaucratic operation of all plants, shops, and farms."
Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004 - Mises Institute
Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004 - Mises Institute:
"As an American historian who knows something of economic law, having learned from the Austrians, I became intrigued with how the United States had remained prosperous, its economy still so dynamic and productive, given the serious and recurring economic fallacies to which our top leaders (political, corporate, academic) have subscribed and from which they cannot seem to free themselves—and alas, keep passing down to the younger generation.
Let’s consider ten.
"
"As an American historian who knows something of economic law, having learned from the Austrians, I became intrigued with how the United States had remained prosperous, its economy still so dynamic and productive, given the serious and recurring economic fallacies to which our top leaders (political, corporate, academic) have subscribed and from which they cannot seem to free themselves—and alas, keep passing down to the younger generation.
Let’s consider ten.
"
Welcome to Idealist.org - Where the Nonprofit World Meets
Welcome to Idealist.org - Where the Nonprofit World Meets
A Mapuche community in southern Argentina has received the first radio license ever granted to an indigenous group in the country. The station�part of a fledgling volunteer-run, indigenous community radio network�was set up with the help of Italian and Argentine NGOs, and seeks to reach not only the Mapuche community, but the Argentine public at large.
A Mapuche community in southern Argentina has received the first radio license ever granted to an indigenous group in the country. The station�part of a fledgling volunteer-run, indigenous community radio network�was set up with the help of Italian and Argentine NGOs, and seeks to reach not only the Mapuche community, but the Argentine public at large.
Podcasters Tune into Apple
Podcasters Tune into Apple
Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, where people create short audio programs and make them available for downloading on an iPod or other digital music device. Podcast programs are usually topic based, say, about cooking or sports. Others are downloadable versions of traditional ("terrestrial") radio programs. A growing community of podcast directories has emerged, giving people an easy way to find various programs.
Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, where people create short audio programs and make them available for downloading on an iPod or other digital music device. Podcast programs are usually topic based, say, about cooking or sports. Others are downloadable versions of traditional ("terrestrial") radio programs. A growing community of podcast directories has emerged, giving people an easy way to find various programs.
2 June 2005
Andy Budd::Blogography: 10 Bad Project Warning Signs
Andy Budd::Blogography: 10 Bad Project Warning Signs:
As such I’ve written up a list of bad project warning signs. Individually none of these signs should be deal breakers. However put a few of them together and it may be worth thinking twice about taking on that project.
The project needs to be done in an incredibly short space of time..(more)
As such I’ve written up a list of bad project warning signs. Individually none of these signs should be deal breakers. However put a few of them together and it may be worth thinking twice about taking on that project.
The project needs to be done in an incredibly short space of time..(more)
Freud's *The Interpretation of Dreams* Chapter 1, Section D
Freud's *The Interpretation of Dreams* Chapter 1, Section D
Why Dreams Are Forgotten After Waking
That a dream fades away in the morning is proverbial. It is, indeed, possible to recall it. For we know the dream, of course, only by recalling it after waking; but we very often believe that we remember it incompletely, that during the night there was more of it than we remember. We may observe how the memory of a dream which in the morning was still vivid fades in the course of the day, leaving only a few trifling remnants. We are often aware that we have been dreaming, but we do not know of what we have dreamed; and we are so well used to this fact- that the dream is liable to be forgotten- that we do not reject as absurd the possibility that we may have been dreaming even when, in the morning, we know nothing either of the content of the dream or of the fact that we have dreamed. On the other hand, it often happens that dreams manifest an extraordinary power of maintaining themselves in the memory. I have had occasion to analyse, with my patients, dreams which occurred to them twenty-five years or more previously, and I can remember a dream of my own which is divided from the present day by at least thirty-seven years, and yet has lost nothing of its freshness in my memory. All this is very remarkable, and for the present incomprehensible.
Why Dreams Are Forgotten After Waking
That a dream fades away in the morning is proverbial. It is, indeed, possible to recall it. For we know the dream, of course, only by recalling it after waking; but we very often believe that we remember it incompletely, that during the night there was more of it than we remember. We may observe how the memory of a dream which in the morning was still vivid fades in the course of the day, leaving only a few trifling remnants. We are often aware that we have been dreaming, but we do not know of what we have dreamed; and we are so well used to this fact- that the dream is liable to be forgotten- that we do not reject as absurd the possibility that we may have been dreaming even when, in the morning, we know nothing either of the content of the dream or of the fact that we have dreamed. On the other hand, it often happens that dreams manifest an extraordinary power of maintaining themselves in the memory. I have had occasion to analyse, with my patients, dreams which occurred to them twenty-five years or more previously, and I can remember a dream of my own which is divided from the present day by at least thirty-seven years, and yet has lost nothing of its freshness in my memory. All this is very remarkable, and for the present incomprehensible.
31 May 2005
Diversity 101: It's More -- and Less -- Than People Thi - Diversity & Inclusion Career Advice from Monster.com
Diversity 101: It's More -- and Less -- Than People Thi - Diversity & Inclusion Career Advice from Monster.com
The most damaging misunderstanding about diversity is the misguided belief that diversity efforts require lowering standards for hiring and promotions. This myth was probably born out of those few highly publicized incidents in which organizations made the fatal mistake of hiring unqualified people just because of their demographic categories. It did not take the Society for Human Resource Management's study showing that the biggest single way to damage diversity programs is to lower hiring and promotion standards for most organizations to correct this practice.
The most damaging misunderstanding about diversity is the misguided belief that diversity efforts require lowering standards for hiring and promotions. This myth was probably born out of those few highly publicized incidents in which organizations made the fatal mistake of hiring unqualified people just because of their demographic categories. It did not take the Society for Human Resource Management's study showing that the biggest single way to damage diversity programs is to lower hiring and promotion standards for most organizations to correct this practice.
How Mentors Can Help African Americans - African American Job & Career Advice from Monster.com
How Mentors Can Help African Americans - African American Job & Career Advice from Monster.com:
"When Verna Ford met with a financial services client recently, one man stood out amid the sober suits: An African American in a pink checked shirt. That might be OK in Tennessee where he works, Ford thought, but not in New York. He needs a mentor."
"When Verna Ford met with a financial services client recently, one man stood out amid the sober suits: An African American in a pink checked shirt. That might be OK in Tennessee where he works, Ford thought, but not in New York. He needs a mentor."
27 May 2005
Stretching and Flexibility - Types of Stretching
Stretching and Flexibility - Types of Stretching
Types of Stretching
* How to Stretch: (next chapter)
* Flexibility: (previous chapter)
Just as there are different types of flexibility, there are also different types of stretching. Stretches are either dynamic (meaning they involve motion) or static (meaning they involve no motion). Dynamic stretches affect dynamic flexibility and static stretches affect static flexibility (and dynamic flexibility to some degree).
The different types of stretching are:
1. ballistic stretching
2. dynamic stretching
3. active stretching
4. passive (or relaxed) stretching
5. static stretching
6. isometric stretching
7. PNF stretching
Types of Stretching
* How to Stretch: (next chapter)
* Flexibility: (previous chapter)
Just as there are different types of flexibility, there are also different types of stretching. Stretches are either dynamic (meaning they involve motion) or static (meaning they involve no motion). Dynamic stretches affect dynamic flexibility and static stretches affect static flexibility (and dynamic flexibility to some degree).
The different types of stretching are:
1. ballistic stretching
2. dynamic stretching
3. active stretching
4. passive (or relaxed) stretching
5. static stretching
6. isometric stretching
7. PNF stretching
25 May 2005
Born Again Ideology
The New Protestant Ethic
"One hundred years after the publication of Max Weber's classic text, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the fateful relationship between Protestantism and capitalism has been renewed in American political discourse. Except this time it is no longer the original convergence theorized by Weber between the spirit of Calvinism and acquisitive capitalism whereby Christianity was destined to be ultimately secondary to the unfolding historical project of capitalism, but the opposite. In a contemporary political climate marked by the resurgence seemingly everywhere of faith-based politics, capitalism and its historical correlate -- modernism -- have actually folded back on themselves, quickly reversing modernist codes of economic secularism and political pluralism, in the interests of being reanimated with the evangelical spirit of religious fundamentalism. What Weber foresaw as a primal compact between Calvinism and acquisitive capitalism -- this migration, first in Europe and then in Puritan America, of Puritan attitudes towards personal salvation based on giving witness by habits of frugality, hard work, and discipline into the essentially acquisitive spirit of capitalism -- has been renewed in new key. On the centennial of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the political universe is suddenly dominated by the spirit of what might be called the New Protestant Ethic as the ideological reflex of the age of networked capitalism and empire politics."
"One hundred years after the publication of Max Weber's classic text, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the fateful relationship between Protestantism and capitalism has been renewed in American political discourse. Except this time it is no longer the original convergence theorized by Weber between the spirit of Calvinism and acquisitive capitalism whereby Christianity was destined to be ultimately secondary to the unfolding historical project of capitalism, but the opposite. In a contemporary political climate marked by the resurgence seemingly everywhere of faith-based politics, capitalism and its historical correlate -- modernism -- have actually folded back on themselves, quickly reversing modernist codes of economic secularism and political pluralism, in the interests of being reanimated with the evangelical spirit of religious fundamentalism. What Weber foresaw as a primal compact between Calvinism and acquisitive capitalism -- this migration, first in Europe and then in Puritan America, of Puritan attitudes towards personal salvation based on giving witness by habits of frugality, hard work, and discipline into the essentially acquisitive spirit of capitalism -- has been renewed in new key. On the centennial of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the political universe is suddenly dominated by the spirit of what might be called the New Protestant Ethic as the ideological reflex of the age of networked capitalism and empire politics."
gladwell dot com / The Naked Face
gladwell dot com / The Naked Face: "The Naked Face
Can you read people's thoughts just by looking at them?
1.
Some years ago, John Yarbrough was working patrol for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. It was about two in the morning. He and his partner were in the Willowbrook section of South Central Los Angeles, and they pulled over a sports car. 'Dark, nighttime, average stop,' Yarbrough recalls. 'Patrol for me was like going hunting. At that time of night in the area I was working, there was a lot of criminal activity, and hardly anyone had a driver's license. Almost everyone had something intoxicating in the car. We stopped drunk drivers all the time. You're hunting for guns or lots of dope, or suspects wanted for major things. You look at someone and you get an instinctive reaction. And the longer you've been working the stronger that instinctive reaction is.'"
Can you read people's thoughts just by looking at them?
1.
Some years ago, John Yarbrough was working patrol for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. It was about two in the morning. He and his partner were in the Willowbrook section of South Central Los Angeles, and they pulled over a sports car. 'Dark, nighttime, average stop,' Yarbrough recalls. 'Patrol for me was like going hunting. At that time of night in the area I was working, there was a lot of criminal activity, and hardly anyone had a driver's license. Almost everyone had something intoxicating in the car. We stopped drunk drivers all the time. You're hunting for guns or lots of dope, or suspects wanted for major things. You look at someone and you get an instinctive reaction. And the longer you've been working the stronger that instinctive reaction is.'"
Beautycheck - social perception
Beautycheck - social perception
Do attractive people have any advantages? Are they treated better than fewer attractive? Is it important to look good on an application photo? According to our investigations the answer to these questions is yes. We could show that people are perceived more positively the more attractive they are.
Do attractive people have any advantages? Are they treated better than fewer attractive? Is it important to look good on an application photo? According to our investigations the answer to these questions is yes. We could show that people are perceived more positively the more attractive they are.
22 May 2005
Boys Hope Girls Hope National Volunteer- Pittsburgh, PA
National Volunteers will live with the scholars and staff helping to support the mission of Boys Hope Girls Hope, to help academically capable and motivated children-in-need to meet their full potential and become men and women for others by providing value-centered, family-like homes, opportunities and education through college.
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Talk Gone Wrong
