Illustration reproduced from www.nytimes.com
Came across this interesting blogpost on the New York Times website that claims this high intensity workout, illustrated above, and meant to be completed in seven minutes is all you need. Click here for the full post.
Perhaps the most powerful song I've heard. It's the kind of song that plays and plays and plays at the back of your mind and refuses to leave you. For those inclined to watch the movie, Ship of Thesus, a legal, HD version of it is available for viewing here
Watch this video. It's a powerful reminder to all those in my fraternity selling their souls for a pocket full of pennies, there is a bloody good reason why you got into this business in the first place. Sure, journalism doesn't pay as much monies as you think you deserve. And sure, it's bloody tough to practice journalism of the kind this man talks of. But as that African proverb goes: It is better to eat a mushroom in freedom than meat in slavery.
And while on all things from Africa, allow me sign off with a line from one of the continent's most incredible son.
Discovered once again via the superbly curated Farnam Street Blog by Shane Parrish. Do subscribe to his blog and twitter feeds. Worth every minute spent.
What makes a hard choice hard is the way alternatives relate.
In any easy choice, one alternative is better than the other. In a hard choice, one alternative is better in some ways, the other alternative is better in other ways, and neither is better than the other overall. You agonize over whether to stay in your current job in the city or uproot your life for more challenging work in the country because staying is better in some ways, moving is better in others, and neither is better than the other overall. We shouldn’t think that all hard choices are big. Let’s say you’re deciding what to have for breakfast. You could have high fiber bran cereal or a chocolate donut. Suppose what matters in the choice is tastiness and healthfulness. The cereal is better for you, the donut tastes way better, but neither is better than the other overall, a hard choice. Realizing that small choices can also be hard may make big hard choices seem less intractable. After all, we manage to figure out what to have for breakfast, so maybe we can figure out whether to stay in the city or uproot for the new job in the country.
In hard choices we tend to prefer the safest option.
… I can tell you that fear of the unknown, while a common motivational default in dealing with hard choices, rests on a misconception of them. It’s a mistake to think that in hard choices, one alternative really is better than the other, but we’re too stupid to know which, and since we don’t know which, we might as well take the least risky option. Even taking two alternatives side by side with full information, a choice can still be hard. Hard choices are hard not because of us or our ignorance; they’re hard because there is no best option.
Now, if there’s no best option, if the scales don’t tip in favor of one alternative over another, then surely the alternatives must be equally good, so maybe the right thing to say in hard choices is that they’re between equally good options. That can’t be right. If alternatives are equally good, you should just flip a coin between them, and it seems a mistake to think, here’s how you should decide between careers, places to live, people to marry: Flip a coin. There’s another reason for thinking that hard choices aren’t choices between equally good options.
Charu Deshpande (Image courtsey: Press Club Mumbai)
Charudatta Deshpande, former journalist, and senior corporate communications officer with Tata Steel, passed away harassed and tormented on 28th June, 2013. Over the last year, the Press Club, along with a motley but determined band of friends, has waged an unrelenting campaign to ensure justice is meted out to those in Tata Steel who drove him to suicide.
It was only after 4 months of struggle, in November last year, that the Thane Police agreed to register a formal FIR against Tata Steel officer Prabhat Sharma. Thereafter, for one reason or the other, the investigations have been derailed. Though a Vasai Court was inclined to dismiss the anticipatory bail application of the culprits, the Thane Police was reluctant to take them into custody. The internal investigation ordered by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry has also been bottled up.
But the story is far from over. Charu’s family and friends are determined to see that the ends of justice are met. The Press Club stands by them. To reaffirm our commitment to Charu and to bring his tormentors to book, we will all assemble once again at the Press Club on Saturday, 28th June, 2014 at 4.00 PM – the first anniversary of his untimely death – for a commemoration meeting.
There will be an update on the stage of the investigation and police case. Members of Charu's family will also attend the meeting and will inform of certain initiatives Tata Steel has taken to belatedly address their grievances.
Please do attend in large numbers
Secretary
Press Club Mumbai
June 24, 2014
