Cenosillicaphobia ...

"... the fear of an empty glass"

A brief bit of wisdom courtesy of

Jack Astor's Bar & Grill

Dundas Square

Toronto, Canada

Food's no longer great, but they give good patio...

The Comparing Trap

A very short and satisfying article from The Harvard Business Review.

"Comparing is a trap that permeates our lives, especially if we're high-need-for-achievement professionals. No matter how successful we are and how many goals we achieve, this trap causes us to recalibrate our accomplishments and reset the bar for how we define success."

The author, Thomas J. DeLong, is the Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior area at Harvard Business School and the author of Flying Without a Net. His research focuses on the challenges facing individuals and organizations in the process of change.
Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.

Thanks to Douglas Reid of the Queen's University School of Business for the lead. Here's a poignant section of his review: "Measure if you must, but not against others. Invidious comparisons rot the soul and make us feel (wrongly) unworthy."

Here's the link:

The Comparing Trap - Thomas J. DeLong - HBS Faculty - Harvard Business Review:

Riots in Britain: Anarchy in the UK | The Economist

This week's Economist Magazine editorial provides a thorough look at the possible 'whys' while comparing similar historical events. It's worth the read. (Link below.)

"This week’s multiplying riots had some common features—looting, arson, attacks on the police—but they spanned different places, races, ages and sexes. Race was not the defining issue, as it was in many of the disturbances of the 1980s. One of the first to appear in court for looting was a 31-year-old teaching assistant: hardly an identikit hooligan. That left politicians free to project their own rationales on the carnage."

Riots in Britain: Anarchy in the UK | The Economist: 

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2011. All rights reserved.

Big Bang Theory Made Easy

This from a recent issue of New Scientist Magazine.

"It's lucky you're here...

... 13.7 billion years ago, the universe was born in a cosmic fireball. Roughly 10 billion years later, the planet we call Earth gave birth to life, which eventually led to you. The probability of that sequence of events is absolutely minuscule, and yet it still happened.

Take a step back from the unlikeliness of your own personal existence and things get even more mind-boggling. Why does the universe exist at all? Why is it fine-tuned to human life? Why does it seem to be telling us that there are other universes out there, even other yous?"

Being no longer subscribed to certain substances, I seldom spend time on such existentialist thoughts these days. This short article, however, is impressive in it's concise simplicity. It updates the entire cosmic conundrum (where did everything come from?) into a couple of easy-to-understand pages.

I think you'll find it worth the read -- even if you're not really here. Here's the link::

Existence: Why is there a universe? - 26 July 2011 - New Scientist

"Taleb's Ten Principles for a Black Swan Robust World"

Slightly amusing? Yes: But note how many of these 'wisdoms' are appropriate to todays business arena -- and life in general...

Insights from Nassim Nicholas Taleb
(Thank you to Douglas Reid of Queens University School of Business.)

1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail.
2. No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains.
3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.
4. Do not let someone making an 'incentive' bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks. Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
5. Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning.
6. Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to 'restore confidence'.
7. Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains.
8. Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible 'expert' advice for their retirement.
9.  Make an omelette with the broken eggs."

Black swan theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: