Food For Thought 37
Read this post very very carefully. This post has interactive pictures. Pay attention to them. If it doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is. By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DeVRIES, NATASHA SINGER, MICHAEL H. KELLER and AARON KROLIK DEC. 10, 2018 The millions of dots on the map trace highways, side streets and bike trails — each one following the path of an anonymous cellphone user. One path tracks someone from a home outside Newark to a nearby Planned Parenthood, remaining there for more than an hour. Another represents a person who travels with the mayor of New York during the day and returns to Long Island at night. Yet another leaves a house in [...]
Food For Thought 36
Advertising and academia are controlling our thoughts. Didn’t you know? by George Monbiot To what extent do we decide? We tell ourselves we choose our own life course, but is this ever true? If you or I had lived 500 years ago, our worldview, and the decisions we made as a result, would have been utterly different. Our minds are shaped by our social environment, in particular the belief systems projected by those in power: monarchs, aristocrats and theologians then; corporations, billionaires and the media today. More here
Food For Thought 35
Britain's dirty secret: the burning tyres choking India George Monbiot The British government is already flouting its own rules, allowing scrap tyres to be sent abroad for burning – what will happen post-Brexit?What we see is not the economy. What we see is the tiny fragment of economic life we are supposed to see: the products and services we buy. The rest – the mines, plantations, factories and dumps required to deliver and remove them – are kept as far from our minds as possible. Given the scale of global extraction and waste disposal, it is a remarkable feat of perception management. More here
Food For Thought 34
How to Describe Weaknesses in a Job Interview When asked about their weaknesses, job interview candidates should remember these five C's. A HIRING MANAGER ENTERS a job interview with three main questions: Can the candidate do the work? Will the candidate do the work? And will the candidate fit into the organizational culture? These "can do, will do and fit" criteria translate to "ability, attitude and affability." No matter the format and sequence of a job interview, every question is an opportunity to communicate fit on one of these axes. Each response you give should address one or more of these key themes. More here
Food For Thought 33
Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition What science can tell us about how other creatures experience the world red structure with cages on its roof rises three stories above the labyrinth of neon-lit stalls and narrow alleyways, its top floor emblazoned with two words: birds hospital. On a hot day last spring, I removed my shoes at the hospital’s entrance and walked up to the second-floor lobby, where a clerk in his late 20s was processing patients. An older woman placed a shoebox before him and lifted off its lid, revealing a bloody white parakeet, the victim of a cat attack. The man in front of me in line held, in a small cage, a dove that had collided with a glass tower in the financial district. A girl no older than 7 came in behind me clutching, in her bare hands, a white hen with a slumped neck. More Here
Food For Thought 32
Oh So ‘Backward’ Metropolitan notions of progress are challenged by the lifestyle of a Naga tribe. Mon. The name will not ring a bell for most of us. The land of the last legendary head-hunters, this picturesque district of Nagaland, running along the Myanmar border, is one of the remotest in the country. Mon is also typically considered one of the most “backward” districts. In my one year of work and stay at Mon, I, however, have often felt compelled to contemplate on what it really means to be backward. Having grown up in one of the most prosperous and well-administered parts of India — in and around Chandigarh — and having lived in two megalopolises — Boston and London — I thought I knew what it means to not be backward. The people of Mon, belonging to the Konyak Naga tribe, continuously challenge my hitherto held clichéd notions of [...]
Food For Thought 31
Don’t let the rise of Europe steal world history The centre of a map tells you much, as does the choice where to begin a story, or a history. Arab geographers used to place the Caspian Sea at the centre of world maps. On a medieval Turkish map, one that transfixed me long ago, we find the city of Balasaghun at the heart of the world. How to teach world history today is a question that is going to grow only more and more important. More here
Introductory Readings On Various Topics
I’ve already told you (here and here) how important reading is. Now let’s move on to the next steps. In GMAT and CAT, passages are asked from: social sciences: include (but are not limited to): anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology. humanities: literature, philosophy, history, human geography, law, politics, religion, and art. sciences: physics, biology, astronomy, etc. business-related fields: marketing, economics, and human resource management So here are a few suggestions to introduce yourselves to these topics. You don’t have to read everything. If you don’t understand something, try giving it a re-reading and ponder it a bit, but if you still don’t, then ask someone. Also, you don’t have to understand everything to carry on. It’s a myth that you have to understand everything the 1st time. When you come across something you don’t understand, first finish it; then come back to it and you’ll be surprised [...]
Food For Thought 30
What do you really believe? Take the Truth-Demon Test Most of us have views on politics, current events, religion, society, morality and sport, and we spend a lot of time expressing these views, whether in conversation or on social media. We argue for our positions, and get annoyed if they are challenged. Why do we do this? The obvious answer is that we believe the views we express (ie, we think they are true), and we want to get others to believe them too, because they are true. We want the truth to prevail. That’s how it seems. But do we really believe everything we say? Are you always trying to establish the truth when you argue, or might there be other motives at work? More Here
What to read?
This is part 2 of VERBAL: THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON For those who don’t read To start with - anything. Yes anything. Most of us don’t read at all. And if you immediately start with the heavy stuff (the kind that’ll actually help you), then chances are that you’ll stop after a few days. That’s because to a beginner such books and articles could be boring and dry and/or difficult to understand. So the first step is to get in the groove. To start reading regularly till it becomes a habit. Since almost everyone likes movies, the best way to get into the habit of reading is to read from the same genre as your favourite movies. So if you like love-story-movies, then go for love stories; if you like horror movies, go for horror books. You go crazy over mystery movies? Well, some of the best mystery movies are made [...]