Day 54: Monkeys, Mirror Neurons and the Theory of Mind

What do monkeys and humans have in common? Mirror Neurons! As Giacomo Rizzolatti found out in his research, we share these mirror neurons with monkeys.

Mirror neurons are a distinct class of neurons that transform specific sensory information into a motor format.

These mirror neurons allow us to develop empathy towards others and understand what people around us are feeling and how they perceive different situations.

From the great book “The Marshmallow Test:”

These mirrors in our minds make us smile when someone friendly smiles at us. They make us afraid when others are frightened and cause us to feel pain or joy when others do. […] They are fundamental for our functioning and survival as interdependent social creatures living together in society.

Have you ever experienced how your own mood changed, even for a second, when you encounter someone in a particular mood? We tend to get worried when strangers look anxious and start looking around for something, and we also can feel a lot of joy when we see a laughing child in the park.

 

Sources: Walter Mischel, The Marshmallow Test

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18556470

http://gocognitive.net/interviews/mirror-neurons-monkeys-humans

 

Day 53: Google: More Searches On Mobile Than On Desktop

In 2015, mobile search finally beat desktop search. Google has been anticipating this for years.

The company says that “more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan.”

If you know the numbers for 2016, please share.

 

Sources: http://searchengineland.com/its-official-google-says-more-searches-now-on-mobile-than-on-desktop-220369

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html

 

Day 52: Einstein was Right: Gravitational Waves Exist.

Yesterday, February 11, The New York Times published an article “Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory,” describing the breaking-news discovery and confirmation of existence of gravitational waves, which have been undetectable until now.

Here’s what Mark Zuckerberg wrote in his Facebook post and summarised the discovery:

Scientists just confirmed the detection of gravitational waves. This is one of the biggest discoveries of modern science.

Albert Einstein is one of my heroes, so I’ve been following this announcement closely. Einstein first predicted gravitational waves 100 years ago in his Theory of General Relativity. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time created by the movement of mass. These are mostly too small to be detected, so we need to look for waves that begin with massive events like the Big Bang, the collapse of stars and the collision of black holes.

By analyzing the information contained in gravitational waves, we can now open up an entirely new view of the cosmos — potentially shedding light on the very earliest moments of the universe, as well as the creation and growth of black holes.

It’s inspiring to think about all the lives and effort, generation after generation, that have gone into uncovering this insight about our universe. Today’s breakthrough depended on the talent of brilliant scientists and engineers from many nations, but also advances in computing that only recently became possible. Congratulations to everyone who helped make this happen. You’ve made Einstein proud.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/11/gravitational-waves-discovery-hailed-as-breakthrough-of-the-century

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35524440

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw

http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/11/einsteins-gravitational-waves-have-been-detected-for-the-first-time/

Day 51: Elephants have Grandmas

Did you know that baby elephants have grandmothers? It’s true! Elephants live in families consisting of baby elephants, “teenager” elephants and their mothers and grandmothers. In fact, grandmas play a very important role in elephant families – they protect the youngins and lead their daughters with babies to places with food and water.

However, grandpas are not around – male elephants usually go off on their own once they grow up.

Source: http://www.upworthy.com/most-animals-dont-have-grandmas-but-elephants-do-and-what-granny-does-is-awesome

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160119141422.htm

Day 50: Not Negotiating your Salary can Cost you Half a Million Dollars

If you don’t negotiate your salary, statistics say it can cost you almost half a million dollars over your lifetime! This is particularly important for millennials, many of whom fail to negotiate their first job salary.

The first paycheck is also known to determine all your future raises.

“Not negotiating your first salary in a low-wage job can amount to a sacrifice of half a million dollars over the course of your career,” says Sara Laschever, a negotiating expert and the author of “Ask For It.” “In a higher-wage job, that loss is magnified.”

According to an exclusive survey, 82% of people (out of 548 millennials) did not negotiate their first salaries because:

• they didn’t feel comfortable – 38%,
• they didn’t know they were allowed to negotiate – 44%.

 

If you need a little push with asking for that raise, study these 37 tips for negotiating your salary.

 

Sources: http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-and-negotiating-salaries-2014-6

http://www.businessinsider.com/survey-on-millennials-and-first-jobs-2014-6

http://www.payscale.com/salary-negotiation-guide/negotiation-tips-for-millennials

https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-negotiate-salary-37-tips-you-need-to-know

Day 49: How to Protect Yourself Against Negative Influences (by Napoleon Hill)

If you are snowed in today (and even if you aren’t), Sunday is a good time to relax and think about your life, your character and your future. So today I wanted to share an excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” – the self-analysis test questions. The author recommends spending at least a day going through the questions and then coming back to them every week for several months. Please study the questions carefully and answer them to the best of your knowledge and belief.

“If you have answered all these questions truthfully, you know more about yourself than the majority of people.”

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

SELF-ANALYSIS TEST QUESTIONS by NAPOLEON HILL

To aid those who wish to see themselves as they really are, the following list of
questions has been prepared. Read the questions and state your answers aloud,
so you can hear your own voice. This will make it easier for you to be truthful with
yourself.

SELF-ANALYSIS TEST QUESTIONS

• Do you complain often of “feeling bad,” and if so, what is the cause?
• Do you find fault with other people at the slightest provocation?
• Do you frequently make mistakes in your work, and if so, why?
• Are you sarcastic and offensive in your conversation?
• Do you deliberately avoid the association of anyone, and if so, why?
• Do you suffer frequently with indigestion? If so, what is the cause?
• Does life seem futile and the future hopeless to you? If so, why?
• Do you like your occupation? If not, why?
• Do you often feel self-pity, and if so why?
• Are you envious of those who excel you?
• To which do you devote most time, thinking of SUCCESS, or of FAILURE?
• Are you gaining or losing self-confidence as you grow older?
• Do you learn something of value from all mistakes?
• Are you permitting some relative or acquaintance to worry you? If so, why?
• Are you sometimes “in the clouds” and at other times in the depths of despondency?
• Who has the most inspiring influence upon you? What is the cause?
• Do you tolerate negative or discouraging influences which you can avoid?
• Are you careless of your personal appearance? If so, when and why?
• Have you learned how to “drown your troubles” by being too busy to be annoyed by them?
• Would you call yourself a “spineless weakling” if you permitted others to do your thinking for you?
• Do you neglect internal bathing until auto-intoxication makes you ill-tempered and irritable?
• How many preventable disturbances annoy you, and why do you tolerate them?
• Do you resort to liquor, narcotics, or cigarettes to “quiet your nerves”? If so, why do you not try will-power instead?
• Does anyone “nag” you, and if so, for what reason?
• Do you have a DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE, and if so, what is it, and what plan have you for achieving it?
• Do you suffer from any of the Six Basic Fears [poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love os someone, old age, death)? If so, which ones?
• Have you a method by which you can shield yourself against the negative influence of others?
• Do you make deliberate use of auto-suggestion to make your mind positive?
• Which do you value most, your material possessions, or your privilege of controlling your own thoughts?
• Are you easily influenced by others, against your own judgment?
• Has today added anything of value to your stock of knowledge or state of mind?
• Do you face squarely the circumstances which make you unhappy, or sidestep the
  responsibility?
• Do you analyze all mistakes and failures and try to profit by them or, do you take the attitude that this is not your duty?
• Can you name three of your most damaging weaknesses? What are you doing to correct them?
• Do you encourage other people to bring their worries to you for sympathy?
• Do you choose, from your daily experiences, lessons or influences which aid in your personal advancement?
• Does your presence have a negative influence on other people as a rule?
• What habits of other people annoy you most?
• Do you form your own opinions or permit yourself to be influenced by other people?
• Have you learned how to create a mental state of mind with which you can shield yourself against all discouraging influences?
• Does your occupation inspire you with faith and hope?
• Are you conscious of possessing spiritual forces of sufficient power to enable you to keep your mind free from all forms of FEAR?
• Does your religion help you to keep your own mind positive?
• Do you feel it your duty to share other people’s worries? If so, why?
• If you believe that “birds of a feather flock together” what have you learned about
  yourself by studying the friends whom you attract?
• What connection, if any, do you see between the people with whom you associate
  most closely, and any unhappiness you may experience?
• Could it be possible that some person whom you consider to be a friend is, in reality,
  your worst enemy, because of his negative influence on your mind?
• By what rules do you judge who is helpful and who is damaging to you?
• Are your intimate associates mentally superior or inferior to you?
• How much time out of every 24 hours do you devote to:
  a. your occupation
  b. sleep
  c. play and relaxation
  d. acquiring useful knowledge
  e. plain waste
• Who among your acquaintances,
  a. encourages you most
  b. cautions you most
  c. discourages you most
  d. helps you most in other ways
• What is your greatest worry? Why do you tolerate it?
• When others offer you free, unsolicited advice, do you accept it without question, or analyze their motive?
• What, above all else, do you most DESIRE? Do you intend to acquire it?
• Are you willing to subordinate all other desires for this one?
• How much time daily do you devote to acquiring it?
• Do you change your mind often? If so, why?
• Do you usually finish everything you begin?
• Are you easily impressed by other people’s business or professional titles, college degrees, or wealth?
• Are you easily influenced by what other people think or say of you?
• Do you cater to people because of their social or financial status?
• Whom do you believe to be the greatest person living?
• In what respect is this person superior to yourself?
• How much time have you devoted to studying and answering these questions? (At least one day is necessary for analyzing and answering the entire list.)

Source: Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Day 48: Print ain’t Dead

I found this interesting article on the New York Times about print and e-books. Despite all the talk in recent years about print dying, the numbers say otherwise. Though from 2008 to 2011 print book sales plummeted, and one of the biggest bookstores Borders eventually declared bankruptcy, e-books still never took over the reading population.

“[The] digital apocalypse never arrived, or at least not on schedule. While analysts once predicted that e-books would overtake print by 2015, digital sales have instead slowed sharply.”

The Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead

Today, only 32% of people read books exclusively on e-readers (statistics from 2015), as opposed to 50% in 2012. As people are coming back to paper books, independent booksellers are growing too.

“The tug of war between pixels and print almost certainly isn’t over. Industry analysts and publishing executives say it is too soon to declare the death of the digital publishing revolution. An appealing new device might come along.”

The Plot Twist: E-Book Sales Slip, and Print Is Far From Dead

How about you? How do you prefer to read your books?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/business/media/the-plot-twist-e-book-sales-slip-and-print-is-far-from-dead.html

Day 47: Which Colors are “in” this Year

According to Pantone, the world’s color authority, these ten colors will be the Colors of 2016. They can be used in fashion, graphic design, architecture and interior design.

Source: http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr/?season=spring&year=2016&pid=11

https://designschool.canva.com/blog/design-trends-2016/?utm_source=newsletter52&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thisweekindesign

 

Day 46: The 5S Methodology

The 5S methodology was developed in Japan in the (successful) effort to improve the manufacturing industry. It started as a workplace organization system that uses five Japanese words, all beginning with the letter “S”: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke (sort, straighten, shine, standardize, sustain, though other words in English have also been used to translate 5S).

The idea behind 5S is to organize your work space in order to ensure your efficiency and effectiveness. It quickly evolved and spread to other industries. Today, 5S is applied in business, education, health care, government, etc.

“Although the origins of the 5S methodology are in manufacturing, it can also be applied to knowledge-economy work, with information, software, or media in the place of physical product.”

 

 

Read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology)

https://www.graphicproducts.com/articles/what-is-5s/

http://www.creativesafetysupply.com/content/education-research/5S/index.html

Day 45: Why You Get Ideas in the Shower

Have you ever come out of the shower with new ideas? I have it happen it to me all the time. Turns out, we do our best thinking while we are bathing.

Scott Barry Kaufman, a productivity expert, performed a study in 2014 and found out that “72% of people get creative ideas in the shower.”

The study “highlights the importance of relaxation for creative thinking.”

There’s something about being alone and relaxed that helps you come up with new ideas. Showers trigger creative thinking processes; people let their minds wander in all directions and don’t feel judged.

Next time you need more creative juices – create a relaxing solitary environment for yourself, be it a shower, a walk, yoga or meditation – do whatever works for you.

Sources:

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-get-their-best-ideas-in-the-shower-2016-1