Fulcra

→ In this midst of so much complexity, perhaps the best we can do is frame good questions Aug 11, 2018 highlights & Innovation In this midst of so much complexity, perhaps the best we can do is frame good questions. I want to leave you with one: What is the biggest obstacle to your abilitly to innovate? I asked this question to Fast Company’s Robert Safain and he replied with a matter of fact grin, “The biggest obstacle to innovation is nostalgia.” — https://www.bbntimes.com/en/financial/nostalgia-the-biggest-obstacle-to-innovation-in-finance

→ Innovation is about people who recognize challenges and seek to implement creative solutions to overcome and improve Nov 11, 2017 highlights & Innovation Innovation is about people who recognize challenges and seek to implement creative solutions to overcome and improve. Innovation is iterative. It is not born in a lab of white-coated PhDs, and it is not signalled by the shout of a scientist’s “eureka!” Innovation is a team sport; one that can be undertaken from the shop floor by an electrician, right up to the C-Suite offices and by marketing strategists. — https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/polytechnics-deserve-a-bigger-slice-of-the-federal-rd-pie/article36863704/

→ Fundamental research is absolutely necessary for Canada Nov 11, 2017 highlights & Innovation Fundamental research is absolutely necessary for Canada. But it is insufficient as the only means to spur innovation and commercialization. Colleges and polytechnics are hotbeds of innovation in Canada and are currently neglected by the federal government’s research funding ecosystem. — https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/polytechnics-deserve-a-bigger-slice-of-the-federal-rd-pie/article36863704/

→ In his latest book, How We Can Win, Anthony Lacavera, founder of WIND Mobile, makes a similar point: “A lot of small business owners have very good ideas about ways to make their companies more productive,” Mr Nov 11, 2017 highlights In his latest book, How We Can Win, Anthony Lacavera, founder of WIND Mobile, makes a similar point: “A lot of small business owners have very good ideas about ways to make their companies more productive,” Mr. Lacavera said. “What they don’t have is the know-how, much less the time, to conduct R&D. They don’t need a tax credit to spur them on as much as they need actual hands-on assistance.” — https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/polytechnics-deserve-a-bigger-slice-of-the-federal-rd-pie/article36863704/

→ Since 1980, the planet has experienced a 50-fold increase in the number of places experiencing dangerous or extreme heat; a bigger increase is to come Jul 27, 2017 highlights Since 1980, the planet has experienced a 50-fold increase in the number of places experiencing dangerous or extreme heat; a bigger increase is to come. The five warmest summers in Europe since 1500 have all occurred since 2002, and soon, the IPCC warns, simply being outdoors that time of year will be unhealthy for much of the globe. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ you probably read in your high-school textbooks that these extinctions were the result of asteroids Jul 26, 2017 highlights you probably read in your high-school textbooks that these extinctions were the result of asteroids. In fact, all but the one that killed the dinosaurs were caused by climate change produced by greenhouse gas. The most notorious was 252 million years ago; it began when carbon warmed the planet by five degrees, accelerated when that warming triggered the release of methane in the Arctic, and ended with 97 percent of all life on Earth dead. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ the geological record shows that temperature can shift as much as ten degrees or more in a single decade Jul 25, 2017 highlights the geological record shows that temperature can shift as much as ten degrees or more in a single decade. The last time the planet was even four degrees warmer, Peter Brannen points out in The Ends of the World, his new history of the planet’s major extinction events, the oceans were 260 feet higher, and the warming wiped out all but one species of European primates. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ The U Jul 25, 2017 highlights The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues serial reports, often called the “gold standard” of climate research; the most recent one projects us to hit four degrees of warming by the beginning of the next century, should we stay the present course. But that’s just a median projection. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ Most people talk as if Miami and Bangladesh still have a chance of surviving; most of the scientists I spoke with assume we’ll lose them within the century, even if we stop burning fossil fuel in the next decade Jul 25, 2017 highlights Most people talk as if Miami and Bangladesh still have a chance of surviving; most of the scientists I spoke with assume we’ll lose them within the century, even if we stop burning fossil fuel in the next decade. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ yet when it comes to contemplating real-world warming dangers, we suffer from an incredible failure of imagination Jul 24, 2017 highlights yet when it comes to contemplating real-world warming dangers, we suffer from an incredible failure of imagination. The reasons for that are many: the timid language of scientific probabilities, which the climatologist James Hansen once called “scientific reticence” in a paper chastising scientists for editing their own observations so conscientiously that they failed to communicate how dire the threat really was; the fact that the country is dominated by a group of technocrats who believe any problem can be solved and an opposing culture that doesn’t even see warming as a problem worth addressing; the way that climate denialism has made scientists even more cautious in offering speculative warnings; the simple speed of change and, also, its slowness, such that we are only seeing effects now of warming from decades past; our uncertainty about uncertainty, which the climate writer Naomi Oreskes in particular has suggested stops us from preparing as though anything worse than a median outcome were even possible; the way we assume climate change will hit hardest elsewhere, not everywhere; the smallness (two degrees) and largeness (1.8 trillion tons) and abstractness (400 parts per million) of the numbers; the discomfort of considering a problem that is very difficult, if not impossible, to solve; the altogether incomprehensible scale of that problem, which amounts to the prospect of our own annihilation; simple fear. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ In other words, we have, trapped in Arctic permafrost, twice as much carbon as is currently wrecking the atmosphere of the planet, all of it scheduled to be released at a date that keeps getting moved up, partially in the form of a gas that multiplies its warming power 86 times over Jul 24, 2017 highlights In other words, we have, trapped in Arctic permafrost, twice as much carbon as is currently wrecking the atmosphere of the planet, all of it scheduled to be released at a date that keeps getting moved up, partially in the form of a gas that multiplies its warming power 86 times over. — http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

→ Norman said for people who want to take steps to reconciliation, the acknowledgement should lead to more questions about who the people listed in the acknowledgement are and how their land came to be possessed by settlers. Jul 24, 2017 highlights & People

Norman said for people who want to take steps to reconciliation, the acknowledgement should lead to more questions about who the people listed in the acknowledgement are and how their land came to be possessed by settlers.

“It also needs to be personal,” she said. “We have to ask, ‘How am I benefitting by living on this land that is a traditional territory of Indigenous people?’”

— http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/territorial-acknowledgements-indigenous-1.4175136

→ “When we talk about the newness of territorial acknowledgements, these aren’t new. Jul 23, 2017 highlights

“When we talk about the newness of territorial acknowledgements, these aren’t new. Acknowledging relationships to space and place is an ancient Indigenous practice that flows into the future,” said Recollet.

“What we see as concrete, what we see as the CN tower, as buildings, these are all places that have been prayed for, that have been gathering places for ceremonies and I think it is important to remember that.”

— http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/territorial-acknowledgements-indigenous-1.4175136

→ A lot of people are unaware of Canada’s actual history and this gets people talking and conversations starting,“ he said Jul 23, 2017 highlights & People A lot of people are unaware of Canada’s actual history and this gets people talking and conversations starting,“ he said. "Personally I feel like I can have a conversation about who I am, where I’m from and what I’m doing in the city — http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/territorial-acknowledgements-indigenous-1.4175136

→ It also explains why people in Silicon Valley who claim to be so obsessed with data are simply ignoring it when it comes to everything from the clear and well documented benefits of diverse teams to the diminishing returns on productivity and health if you work more than 50 hours a week Jul 22, 2017 highlights It also explains why people in Silicon Valley who claim to be so obsessed with data are simply ignoring it when it comes to everything from the clear and well documented benefits of diverse teams to the diminishing returns on productivity and health if you work more than 50 hours a week. It’s all about fragile male ego founder anxiety. — https://pando.com/2017/07/14/toxic-masculinity-bubble-has-burst/0d5efd5a53ecfa494d5ac08cc1fed87cd49226d1/

→ When companies are celebrated for breaking laws, founders are given total control, there’s no board oversight, and young men are told to “ask forgiveness, not permission” are we really surprised that predators like Justin Caldbeck thrive? That men exploit the power asymmetry to see what they can get away with? — https://pando.com/2017/07/14/toxic-masculinity-bubble-has-burst/0d5efd5a53ecfa494d5ac08cc1fed87cd49226d1/ Jul 21, 2017 highlights

→ The “real man” syndrome is a reflection of what psychologists call precarious manhood: the view that masculinity has to be earned over and over again Jul 21, 2017 highlights The “real man” syndrome is a reflection of what psychologists call precarious manhood: the view that masculinity has to be earned over and over again. Bro culture is often depicted jocularly, but the endless game of zero-sum one-upmanship is not only off-putting for most women; it’s also draining and humiliating for many men. — https://pando.com/2017/07/14/toxic-masculinity-bubble-has-burst/0d5efd5a53ecfa494d5ac08cc1fed87cd49226d1/

→ When sociology professor Michael Kimmel asked his students what it means to be a real man, responses included being authoritative, taking risks, and suppressing any kind of weakness Jul 21, 2017 highlights When sociology professor Michael Kimmel asked his students what it means to be a real man, responses included being authoritative, taking risks, and suppressing any kind of weakness. But when he asked students what it means to be a good man, they mentioned qualities associated with gender-neutral decency, like being honest and respectful of others. — https://pando.com/2017/07/14/toxic-masculinity-bubble-has-burst/0d5efd5a53ecfa494d5ac08cc1fed87cd49226d1/

→ This view chimes with other data presenting “Generation Z”, and which seem to suggest that while they are incredibly demanding, many are also very needy and much more reliant — perhaps on parents, teachers and lecturers — than previous generations Jul 20, 2017 highlights & Demanding This view chimes with other data presenting “Generation Z”, and which seem to suggest that while they are incredibly demanding, many are also very needy and much more reliant – perhaps on parents, teachers and lecturers – than previous generations. And, of course, Google. — https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/google-it-students-are-needy-ill-prepared-and-reliant-search-engines

→ Asked to choose from a list of 15 different options which ones they thought impact on a student’s ability to thrive at university, almost nine in 10 (89 per cent) of university admissions officers cited “not being able to think and learn independently”. Jul 19, 2017 highlights

Asked to choose from a list of 15 different options which ones they thought impact on a student’s ability to thrive at university, almost nine in 10 (89 per cent) of university admissions officers cited “not being able to think and learn independently”.

This was followed by “unable to manage their own time or workloads” (88 per cent). Seven in 10 suggested that students do not appreciate what their course will involve, while 52 per cent felt they were “unable to carry out extended writing”; and the same number “unable to remember facts, possessing a ‘Google It’ mentality”.

— https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/google-it-students-are-needy-ill-prepared-and-reliant-search-engines