My strengths include working hard and working smart to ensure that the best work is done not just today but the best work can be done tomorrow. Please ask more of me. Not just better, but more. I will enthusiastically tackle the challenge. CHALLENGE ME!
Month: October 2015
My imperative – my command – is to ….
My imperative – my command – is to work directly with individuals to help them overcome societal barriers by helping them find answers and increase their knowledge.
I seek to impact individuals or groups of individuals.
I am driven to ensure everyone has access to opportunity.
I uncover new information and develop insights.
It breaks my heart to know people go hungry. It breaks my heart to know that people sleep without shelter. It breaks my heart to know that people go without health care. What breaks my heart more is to hear people say that those people deserve it. No one deserves to be hungry. No one deserves to not have shelter. No one deserves to go without treatment. No one. Not the “good” people. Not the “bad” people. Not adults. Not children. No one deserves to be in poverty.
In the not too distant future no one will go hungry. No one will be without shelter. No one will be without healthcare. This is an idealized view of the near future. Some may say that this is unrealistic and unachievable. However, nothing is impossible if we work together to build the perfect society. What matters is not that we achieve this within our lifetime, but that we continuously work toward it.
So much this! The first minimum wage was set in the early 1930s.
Finding the Courage for a Big Career Change
Source: Finding the Courage for a Big Career Change
My imperative is to work directly with individuals to help them overcome societal barriers by helping them find answers and increase their knowledge. I wish to find the tools and information that help people thrive.
Why is your imperative?
Henry Ford: Learning — Young vs Old
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
–Henry Ford
Highways, Banks, & Congress
Lawmakers Weigh Cut in Fed Payout to Banks by Ryan Tracy a Reporter for The Wall Street Journal
A US Uncut article popped up on my Facebook discussing Congress possibly defunding banks to pay for the repair of US highways. This tickled my suspicious nerves. Of course, I had to look deeper into it. Then I found The Wall Street Journal’s article. This could actually be a thing.
Here is the problem with cutting the Fed dividend rate from 6% to 1.5%: Banks are counting on that 3.5% difference when creating short term (yearly) and long term budgets. So Janet Yellen is right, this does have unforeseen consequences. For many of them, Congress members are just diverting their eyes away. Some of the bigger banks could make up for the difference by not paying their execs HUGE bonuses, but not only will that not happen, the smaller banks don’t have that leeway.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I am all for requiring the rich to help keep this country great — or make it great again — by financing infrastructure directly and indirectly. On the other hand, a 3.5% drop in expected revenue/income/etc is a BIG drop to makeup.
As stated previously, the “big” banks have areas they could cut that would not affect their customers, clients, or the “average” American. These include: not remodeling the million dollar exec offices, lowering exec bonus, reducing “marketing” budgets for their largest clients (businesses spend money winning and dinning their clients, especially their big client. It is reasonable to assume banks do too), and much more. However, we can all assume that these reasonable adjustments will not be implemented. Instead, overage charges will increase, and loan terms will become less favorable and the “perks” will be reduced for the smaller clients.
Banks will react to this, they can’t not react. In the end, someone is going to be hurt, and I doubt it will be the wealthy.
Business Women and the Challenges for Minorities in the Business World — Commentary on an Article
This article has a some great advice. My favorite is if you have no idea what you would do if someone wrote you a million dollar check, it is too early to fundraise. My least favorite is “Look for ways to be unimpeachably good,” said by Sarah Kunst.
This advice upsets me, not because it is ‘wrong,’ but because it is true. An old saying, [insert minority group here] have to work twice as hard as white men to be seen half as good. This is a sad reality. Now before you get your panties in a bunch, we all understand that the ratio is not 4:1 (twice for half). However, minorities are hardly ever seen as the equal of the non-minority for equal work.
Once I spoke out about this inequality in a college class and the instructor had the audacity to tell me that there wasn’t a discrepancy between the pay of men and women and when asking for a raise I should bring up the fact that I am a woman and use that to my advantage. HELLO!
If I have to blackmail my employer for a pay raise by crying sexism in order to get the raise, the gender gap still exists… or I am a poor employee. We as a society should not have use our minority status in order to get equal footing. However, until we can get equal footing without it, inequality will remain a problem.
To eliminate the whitewash, each minority group has its own disadvantages, and if you are part of multiple minority groups, the issues compound. Are you a female? Strike! Are you anything but white? Strike! Are you a foreigner? Strike! Do you have an accent ? Strike! Are you not a citizen? Strike!
There are so many things that can be held against you. Our society needs to recognize this so that we can overcome it. The good news is that there are many people who have. We have many social scientists that recognize that we all have bias and have discovered ways we can overcome our own bias. The bad news is that there are many people who refuse to recognize their own bias.
It is disturbing that minorities have to work harder and be better to be recognized as equals, competitors, and such.
What advice gets your panties in bunch? What do you think can be done to eliminate bias and discrimination?
The Lie of “Have to”
WARNING: This is a pet peeve rant.
Growing up, I recall adult family members repeatedly saying that I “have to” do something. I had to love person X. I had to work with people I didn’t like. And, many more such statements.
As a young adult, I decided that “have to” was a lie. I do not have to love anyone that I do not want to love, and I most certainly do not have to work with anyone I do not like working with. After much thought, I have decided that the only thing I have to do is die–and as medical science advances that to may one day be a choice. Oh, choice to is a must.
Whether you choose option A, or option B, or no-definite decision, it is all a decision.
Instead of telling our youth “you must” or “you have to,” I suggest telling them “think of the consequences.” This will provides the opportunity for our youth to make rational informed decisions AND helps foster creative thinking.
You might not have to love all of your relatives; however, you may find reasons to have a working relationship with them. This lesson will follow through to work relationships as well.
You most certainly do not have to work with anyone you do not like. You most certainly have the option of quitting. However, what are the consequences of those decisions? Do you have a work contract? What happens if you break that contract? If you don’t have a contract, what will happen when you put in your resignation?
We most certainly do not have to do anything we do not want to do. However, there are consequences to every decision we make. If we want a better life for ourselves and our youth, we need to be able to understand the consequences and be able to predict them.
What lies did you hear while growing up? What do you wish you learned earlier in life? LET ME KNOW!
Gun Violence in America
The article I read: Congress Still Bans CDC Scientists from Studying Gun Violence by Janet D Stemwedel a contributor to Forbes
In the wake of more violence in America, it seems as if members of Congress are purposefully trying to make the government more and more ignorant. I was completely unawares that the US Congress had forbad the research into gun violence by government scientists. How ludicrous is that!
Whether you are for or against gun regulation, it is irresponsible to disallow research into the matter. If you are for gun regulation, allow research so that we may understand whether or not we need regulation. If you are against gun regulation, allow research so that we may understand whether or not we need regulation.
This brings to mind that a state congress has also forbad the testimony of scientists when *discussing* the issue of climate change. Was that Florida? I don’t recall. Why are more and more anti-science politicians being elected to state and federal offices? Why are those anti-science politicians then being allowed to be part of science-policy-making committees?
The way I see it, if a group is against globally approved research, they must fear that the answers will prove them wrong.
It is sad to be an American today. It is so hard to be educated in this country.
*****
EDIT: I should also add, that the CDC is not the appropriate agency to study gun related deaths. Also, there have been studies from other agencies over the years, though I don’t know which ones. However, gun violence — especially, mass shootings — remain a problem, and we as a society need to work towards an answer to reduce such events. We need to know why events happen, so that we can take action against them. “This will always be an issue, so let’s do nothing” is not an acceptable stance.
Making it work in Syria
Somehow, This Tech Entrepreneur Pulled Off A Conference In Damascus In The Midst Of Civil War
Never ask Syrian’s to stay in their country. Those who have left, left because it is not safe. However, we should applaud those who do stay. Those brave individuals are trying with all their might to create a country of innovation and prosperity. I hope with all my heart that one day, I can travel to Syria and other middle eastern countries and witness their beauty.
The Great Blog of Chanel Rose 