Do 1-year-olds think a magazine is a broken iPad?
My kids can't understand how I did school-work without a computer or the Internet. Their kids may not believe that people used to do their reading on paper.
Contrast your annual salary with a hedge fund legend (and someone who most probably earns a bit more than you). The interactive infographic "You vs. John Paulson" employs a wide array of comparisons, clocks, and sliders to keep you interested in
It was fun to put the numbers in context. For example, if you make $500K per year, according to the infographic, it takes Paulson less than an hour to make that. Or, put in a different way, Paulson can spend $300,000 the way I buy a cup of coffee.
NPR solicited the input of its listeners to rank the top science fiction and fantasy books of all time. Over 60,000 people voted for the top picks which were then compiled into a list by their panel of experts.
The result? A list of 100 books with a wide range of styles, little context, and not much help for you to actually choose something to read from it.
The folks at SF Signal have, once again, come to the rescue. This flowchart is designed to help you follow your tastes, provide context, and guide you to the right book for you.
Imagine being lost deep in the woods, only to hear "Hello" or "What's Happening" come at you from afar. Hikers in Australia have increasingly been surprised to find no one there. Rather than hallucination, the calls have been coming from birds.
"Some chatty pet parrots that have escaped back into the wild have taught wild parrots to talk.
The learned behaviors could be integrated into the flock through generations. 'The evolution of language could well be passed on through the generations, says Ken. "If the parents are talkers and they produce chicks, their chicks are likely to pick up some of that," he says.
This phenomenon is not unique; some lyrebirds in southern Australia still reproduce the sounds of axes and old shutter-box cameras their ancestors once learnt.'"
The story of the 100th Monkey is similar, where island monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes and supposedly began passing on the skill.
These phenomena remind me of how human Culture becomes codified and spreads. If a wild parrot can learn to talk in the wild, imagine what humans pick up from each other.
The point: maybe it's time to notice what your organization (or team) is learning in the wild and passing-on to each other?
Companies are spending more time, money, and resources analyzing data and creating meaningful visualizations.
With so many more examples, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that there are a lot more crappy infographics on display.
Here is a chart showing the most popular infographics you can find around the web.
Of course, there is also the 'just for fun' infographic. For example, here is one showing what helicopters do in action movies.
In case you missed it, Snooki Polizzi launched her own news show this week, and she already has at least one high-profile fan.
CNN host, Anderson Cooper, explains why watching the 'Jersey Shore' star's new newscast is good for you. Don't worry, be happy.
Here is the CNN video.
If you're up for it, you can watch Snookie's entire three-minute newscast here.
Let's start with One Hundred Dollars. A stack of them makes Ten Thousand Dollars.
So far, so good.
Next, let's put One Hundred Million in perspective.
I don't know about you, but that still seems like a lot of money to me. Nonetheless, it fits nicely on a military-standard pallet.
The U.S. Deficit is approaching Fifteen Trillion Dollars. The image below will help you visualize that. The scope and scale of that amount of cash is a surprising.
To see more, click here to go to a site called WTFNOWAY.
And, if you want to see an updated, interactive version of the U.S. Debt Clock, just click the image below. It is worth spending a little time to watch the pace the numbers turn.
Surprised?
In my experience, managing attention is harder than it seems.
Let's start with something easy ... Do nothing for 2 minutes.
Here is a link to a website that will let you try to do that.
Focus can be pretty fragile if it isn't a conscious choice.
OK, Let's Try Something a Little More Challenging.
Controlling your body by doing nothing is one thing; but, controlling your mind is something else altogether.
To get a sense about this, here is a seemingly easy challenge ... simply listen to a favorite song.
The challenge is how you can truly do that without losing focus and having other thoughts intrude (for example, without thinking about your to-do list or other songs that you like, or who you're going to meet with later in the day, etc.)? For me, the answer was not that long.
Sometimes it feels like modern life causes attention deficit disorder.
Attention Deficit Can Be Dangerous If You Aren't Aware of It.
Yet, losing focus while trading, in business, or even during a simple conversation - can have serious consequences.
When you are not aware of your focus, I bet it wanders. Mine does; I get distracted easily.
It didn't take long for me to realize that this happened to me while talking to my wife, while listening to a telephone call, even when ordering food at a restaurant. How can I lose focus on the waitress while I was ordering? Apparently, quite easily.
How about you? When you're listening to someone talk to you, are you really listening to them - or are you checking e-mail, texting, browsing a website, watching TV, playing a game, or thinking about what you're going to say?
Be honest with yourself; how often are you fully present? For me, the answer was not nearly enough.
Practice Mind Control.
Try listening to one song with your full attention and focus.
Now, imagine how different a conversation with someone important to you would be if you were consciously aware of your intent for them to experience being heard the whole time they were speaking to you.
Maybe it is easier to recognize how different it is for you when someone is truly present and focused on you when you talk with them?
If you want to explore more activities like this, pick up a copy of Dianne Collins' book "Do You QuantumThink". It has dozens of clever ways to wake back up and operate on a higher level.
Great Cartoon Explaining What's Happening In the Market
It was a week where Steve Jobs stepped down and Warren Buffett stepped-in.
It was a also a week where the Markets broke to the upside for the first time in a month.
Here is a cartoon that explains what pundits know when they tell you what it means.
via Abstruse Goose.
Posted at 09:12 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Trading | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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