Credit Crisis

A simple and elegant video that explains what is:

1. Leverage
   
2. Sub-prime mortgages
   
3. Collateralized debt obligations
   
4. Credit default swaps
   
5. The Credit Crisis
   
   

Source:

The crisis of credit visualized

Jonathan Jarvis

Individual sanity is mass men's madness

There is a legend among the Persian Sufis. Once upon a time, a wise man said that the day will come when all the water in the World except what have been specially collected would disappeared. Then different water will replace it. Anyone who drank the new water would lost his mind.

Only one man took the prophecy seriously and begin to store up water. But the day that have been predicted did not come. Every body of water empty out. The man who had listened to the wise man drank water from his supply. The bodies of water and wells filled up with water again. People thirstily drank this water and everyone of them went crazy. The man who have listened to the wise man continue to drink water only from his own supply and kept his sanity.

He was the only sane person left among the mad men and therefore he was call crazy. He pours out his reserves of real water ( the old water ) on to the ground. He drank the new water and lost his mind. The mad men decided that he has become sane.

Sense from:

Water ( the documentary )

41:05 - 42:27 mins

Principles for a new media literacy

In the age of the Internet and blogging, we are creators as well as consumers of media. With the increase of media and the need to blog, we need more sophisticated media literacy. Let's use the following as a guide.

Sense from:

Principles for a new media literacy

Dan Gillmor

Principles of media consumption:

1. Be skeptical of absolutely everything.
   
2. Although skepticism is essential, don't be equally skeptical of everything.
   
3. Go outside your personal comfort zone.
   
4. Ask more questions.
   
5. Understand and learn media techniques.
   

Principles of media creation:

1. Do your homework, and then do some more.
   
2. Get it right, every time.
   
3. Be fair to everyone.
   
4. Think independently, especially of your own biases.
   
5. Practice and demand transparency.
   

Slide deleted notice

I share presentations that I discover on the Internet on SlideShare. I recently received a request from Dave Gray to take down his slides. There are 4 SlideShare users that might want to learn from his slide as they have selected his slide as their favorites. I thought of informing them one by one. I was also thinking is there a better way as other authors might have the same request.

Thinking… thinking… thinking…

Finally I came up with the idea of a slide deleted notice. The notice helps to inform people:

1. Why the slide is deleted.
   
2. Who wants the slide deleted.
   
3. Does the people who wants the slide deleted has ground to do so.
   
4. Where to go to as an alternative.

Love

Yesterday, I read the last words of Lo Hwei Yen. She is a Singaporean victim of the Mumbai terrorist attack. Her last words with her husband were she loved him. Her last words with her three closest friends were I love you all.

Sense from:

She told hubby 'I love you'

Straits Times 3 Dec 2008

What I observed:

Love is the most important thing to her as she chose to use her final moments to express them.

This supports the research results of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. She is the world’s expert on people’s attitudes about death and dying. She summarized a life of research in three simple questions. When people look back upon their lives, she found, they ask three questions that determine their sense of whether it was meaningfull:

1. Did I give and receive love?
   
2. Did I become all I can be?
   
3. Did I leave the planet a little better?
   

Source:

Whistle while you work

Richard Leider, David Shapiro

Page 78

Berrett-Koehler

ISBN: 1-57675-103-1

When Ms Lo has no time to do all three, she did the most important one.

Bare usefull tool

David Weekly shares his experience about how he builds his company.

1. Put bare usefull tool into users' hand.
   
2. Assume they want to help you.
   
3. Listen to them.
   
4. Find out how and why they are using the tool?
   
5. Find out what sort of language are they using to describe how they use the tool.
   
6. Find out how they present the tool to someone.
   
7. Help them say it in their own language.
   

Source:

The simplest thing

David Weekly of PBWiki

STIRR Founder Hacks I

5 ways to mental wellbeing

Five ways to mental wellbeing

1. Connect

With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

2. Be active

Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

3. Take notice

Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the World around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

4. Keep learning

Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

5. Give

Do something nice for a friend or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself and your happiness, as linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Sense from:

Mental capital and wellbeing

Executive Summary

Government Office for Science, United Kingdom

Page 23