Saturday, June 24, 2006

The North Mountain resulted from...

... resulted from volcanic action in Triassic times...
North Mountain Geology
Where Is Nova Scotia?
Fifty Feet, Fifty Reasons

Friday, June 23, 2006

Filling out the Shelves

A new raft of books has arrived courtesy of Zoe in Busan.

Longman Active Study Dictionary of English (with color illustrations).

Cause & Effect: Intermediate Reading Practice. Written by Patricia Ackert. Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Facts & Figures: Basic Reading Practice. Written by Patricia Ackert. Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Art Today and Everyday: Classroom Activities for the Elementary School Year. By Jenean Romberg & Miriam Rutz. Parker Publishing Company.

Communicative Grammar Practice: Activities for intermediate students of English. By Leo Jones. Cambridge University Press.

Grammar Through Stories. By Priscilla Karant of The American Language Institute, New York University. St. Martin’s Press.

Hopscotch, Hangman, Hot Potato & Hahaha: A Rulebook of Children’s Games. By Jack Maguire. Freeside.

Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book Of Short Activities. By Penny Ur & Andrew Wright. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers Series.

Keep Talking: Communicative Fluency Activities For Language Teaching. By Friederike Klippel. Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers Series.

Business English Recipes: A Creative Approach To Business English. By Judy Irigoin & Bonnie Tsai. Longman Group Limited.

Starting English with a Smile: Light-hearted Stories and Reading Skills for Low-beginning and Beginning Students. By Barbara Zaffran. National Textbook Company (USA).

A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. By Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen. Health Communications Inc.

Culturally Speaking: Second Edition. By Rhona B. Genzel & Martha Graves Cummings. Heinle and Heinle Publishers.

In No Time Flat!: Idioms In Context. By Christine Root & Karen Blanchard. Thomson Asia Pte Ltd.

Zero In!: Phrasal Verbs In Context. By Christine Root & Karen Blanchard. Thomson Asia Pte Ltd.

Basic Survival: International Communication for Professional People. By Peter Viney. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

All Clear!: Idioms In Context. By Helen Kalkstein Fragiadakis. Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

All Clear! Advanced: Idioms & Pronunciaiton In Context. By Helen Kalkstein Fragiadakis. Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Teaching By Principles: An International Approach To Language Pedagogy. By H. Douglas Brown. Prentice Hall Regents.

Teaching the Spoken Language. By Gillian Brown & George Yule. Cambridge University Press.

101 American English Proverbs. By Harry Collis. Illustrated by Mario Risso. NTC Publishing Group.

101 American English Idioms. By Harry Collis. Illustrated by Mario Risso. NTC Publishing Group.

American Business English Program: Course Book/ Pre-intermediate. By Ian Badger, Pete Menzies & David A. Daniel. Prentice Hall Europe.

American Business English Program: Trainer’s Guide/ Pre-intermediate. By Ian Badger, Pete Menzies & David A. Daniel. Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Ten days to go...

Ten days to go...and I will be back in Nova Scotia after two years away. So I am getting ready to do the camping thing again. The price on this particular tent however was steep on a lot of websites. Best price was at http://www.campmor.com
The Pett™ Pup Privacy Tent Item Number: 11149


This Brunton (GLORB-LED) Lantern caught my eye and the best prices in Canada were at http://www.modernoutpost.com As well I picked up a shower enclosure and a solar shower heater from their website. It is just as cool as a camping website can get in my opinion.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Out of Fondness For Cats...

No wonder bear populations (among other wild beasts they chase) are dwindling.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5067912.stm

Part Three: the Control Theory Manager


Part Three: The Control Theory Manager

Glasser transmogrifies only slightly the terms of management responsibility contracted by Deming who considered the key to continued viability of any company was the superior knowledge of what constitutes a good manager and good management. Considering the primarily destructive nature of waves of middle-management layoffs over the last fifteen to twenty years, otherwise viable management was always within the abilities of most major western corporations. However, the ultimate destruction of developed world management has been the elimination of "Type B" management methods, otherwise known as quiet, unassuming, and modest managers who often think before they act, or those extremely popular with their employees.

What has remained fairly dominant, due to their insistent crowing, have been a majority of "Type A" managers in business who have managed to retain their positions because they not only excel at framing their arguments more synergistically, they seem to come up with statistical methods of productivity and results-based compensation rewards which support their increasingly outsourced dwindling encampments. The result is that very few modern world managers have a respect for either experience or theoretically based strategic research, as it is inherently their quality of being to insist that such attributes are neither necessary, nor preferred. However, their own statistics would probably support such an assumption. Basically, these managers often operate as if one half of a brain is not only preferred but sufficient, that rationalizing such an argument as to the direction of management of business, or the management of anything, only requires the shortest-term or latest statistics. Incidentally their essentialness to decision-making based on sometimes almost nothing is the norm, and that double or triple the costs of servicing their businesses through the employment of outsourced, sporadically employed (formerly fully-employed and fully valued) "Type B" managers is not only a good business idea but that they came up with it.
So Glasser renews Deming's thoughts on management and how both halves of a tennis ball, or even a shared orange, must be present to serve the purposes of well-roundedness, which implies orbital mobility, a tractable, adaptable, and successful management team which gathers profits from its own gravitational velocity as a snowball gains weight not in melting over decisions but making them and rolling with the weather fronts.
1. A manager is the only one who can secure an employment future for his or her workers.
2. It is the manager's duty to ensure highest quality and lowest costs for external and internal customers of product or service.
These mantras are too holy to be considered mere mottos. Every manager on earth worth their salt ruminates upon these two as devoted brahmins mutter over verses of the Upanishads. It is clear that such dedication has been the element which once existed in developed world management norms, readily identifiable by Deming a mere sixty years ago, but has been squeezed out of the sponge of practice much as liquidation of immediately more profitable sales of divisions and bricks and mortar have squeezed short-term dividend yields out of a system all being duly reallocated to highly speculative financial investments which so rarely ever employ more than an increasingly fewer number of computer jockeys, brokers, and bean counters.
Eventually one question will have to be, "When will consumers no longer have the employment income to support such a cashing in of assets, resources, and systems?" Another question will have to be, "When will modern world managers gain the experience and theoretical knowledge of truly successful management practices when they have early retired the vast majority of their managers, almost it seems especially the ones who might have even taught them, for free?"

Monday, June 12, 2006

Good News for Youth Workers




Good News for Youth Workers

I especially love this picture on the right as those are my folks in the middle. It took twelve years for justice to be served to the innocent in Nova Scotia.

Youth workers win compensation deal
http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-compensation20060606.html

Day of vindication for youth workers, says Keating
http://www.herald.ns.ca/Front/508499.html

Former N.S. youth workers get $7.5M settlement

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060606/ns_abuse_060606/20060606?hub=Canada

Falsely accused youth workers receive $7.5-million
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060606.wnsabuse0606/BNStory/National/home

Kaufman Report: Nova Scotia Department of Justice
http://www.gov.ns.ca/just/kaufmanreport/index.htm

Oh boy! Happy New Judges!

http://www.courts.ns.ca/judges_appointed_2_9_05.htm

http://www.csulb.edu/~dsidorov/articles/canada-shelburne01.13.00.htm

January 13, 2000
SHELBURNE JOURNAL
Tales of Sex, Violence and Greed in a Small Town
By JAMES BROOKE
SHELBURNE, Nova Scotia

Five years ago, this seaside fishing village of gabled roofs and colonial alleys served as a movie set for "The Scarlet Letter." But in real life the witch hunt haunting Shelburne revolves not around "A" for adulterer, but "P" for pedophile.


In 1993 Patrick McDougall, a former employee of Shelburne School for Boys, a provincial reformatory here, was convicted of sexually abusing several boys in the 1960's and 1970's. He died in jail last year.

The Shelburne School for Boys, a reformatory, is the focus of accusations of physical and sexual abuse from former inmates. Shelburne is a seaside fishing village in Nova Scotia.


After the trial received wide publicity, 89 other former residents of Nova Scotia's three reform schools came forward and charged that they, too, had been physically or sexually abused decades ago by Mr. McDougall and other staff members.


Fearing an avalanche of lawsuits, the Nova Scotia provincial government set up a $25 million compensation fund for victims. Setting aside due process and the concept that the accused were innocent until proven guilty, the government decided that the complaints would be accepted largely on face value.


Word spread like wildfire. The government advertised the fund in newspapers. In some prisons, lawyers posted what inmates nicknamed "the meat chart," an official compensation scale that ranged from $3,500 for physical abuse up to $85,000 for sexual assault. Within 18 months the number of accusers ballooned to about 1,400, the number of accusations into the thousands and the number of accused to 363.


"I do not know of any employee who has not been accused," Lee Keating, a former supervisor, said in an interview at a dockside restaurant. "The original intent was to pay off a few claimants, quick and dirty, and then sweep the whole matter under the rug."


Mr. Keating says police investigators questioned him about only 20 of the approximately 75 allegations against him that were settled with cash payments. He says that he is innocent and that the government refuses to let him see details of the accusations or to identify the accusers.
Cameron S. McKinnon, a lawyer for Mr. Keating and 84 other former reform school employees, said, "In many cases our clients were not even asked their side of the story before payments were made."


Mr. McKinnon contends that physical evidence has been largely ignored. Pressed to make payments within 45 days of a complaint, the fund administrators paid one former resident for an assault that was alleged to have resulted in broken bones, even though there were no medical records or contemporary X-rays to back up the charge.


Another former resident, he said, received compensation for an assault by an employee, even though records showed that the man no longer worked at the school on the date of the alleged attack.


"It was like going to buy the lottery ticket when you already know the numbers," Mr. McKinnon said of the payment system, on which he calculates that 14,500 claims have been made. "Fourteen thousand five hundred claims that went undetected over 40 years?" he said. "It doesn't make any sense."


In recent years two former Shelburne employees committed suicide on learning that they had been accused of sexual abuse. After newspapers reported the suicide of one, William Belliveau, about 20 other former residents filed claims against him. Later, Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators cleared Mr. Belliveau of the original charge.


In defense of the program, Anne Derrick, a lawyer for 450 former residents, said that a compassionate program had been "turned on its head" by critics.


"I do believe there was a significant amount of abusive activity," she said, referring to violence at the reform schools. "But you are talking, in some cases, about what happened 50 years ago. There are no records. There are no witnesses."


She acknowledged that "there is undoubtedly a certain amount of fraud," but questioned why the accused were angry, noting that "the money is not coming out of their pockets."


To some the controversy revolves around applying late 1990's standards to 1960's behavior.
"A lot of the physical abuse was just the kind of smacking around that the person got at home," said Terry Turple, a former Shelburne resident who is now a house painter in Halifax and who declined offers to file a suit. "People getting whacked around was more or less an everyday thing there. We more or less accepted it. We were bad kids in reform school."


With the initial compensation fund exhausted, the government has added $8 million. Millions more have been spent on an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, one of the largest in its history. But after five years there have been no new indictments charging sexual or physical abuse.


Reducing the scope of the Mounties' investigation, 403 payment recipients signed waivers saying they did not want criminal investigations of their accusations. About 330 of the former residents who came forward filed abuse claims against Mr. McDougall, the convicted sex abuser who is now dead.


In November the Mounties announced that they had just located 7,000 boxes of files from the era -- timecards, employee shift schedules and expense claim forms. These will have to be digested before any indictments can be announced, said Sgt. Wayne Noonan, the Mounties' spokesman for Nova Scotia.


"There will be charges," he said of the abuse allegations. Noting that only 63 accusations of fraud over compensation claims had been forwarded to the commercial crimes section, he said he concluded that abuse of the compensation program was "not widespread."


But Nova Scotia is now feeling pressure from national scrutiny to take another look at how it has handled the matter. In mid-November Canada's respected public television network, CBC, called the payout program "too bad to be true."


Margaret Wente, a newspaper columnist for The Globe and Mail in Toronto, wrote that "the real victims of the Shelburne scandal" were "the vast majority of employees who dedicated their lives to helping troubled kids and are now seeing their names, reputations and life work smeared forever by allegations of hideous crimes they never committed."


In response, the provincial government has commissioned an independent inquiry. To head the audit, it reached out to Quebec to hire a retired judge, Fred R. Kaufman. In Halifax, Nova Scotia's capital, the compensation program has become such an industry, employing 144 lawyers, that the government was unable to find a member of the local legal community who was not involved in it.


Initially, most Shelburne employees were cowed into silence by the combined weight of a hostile press and the government investigation.


Mr. Keating had time to mull over the situation when he worked as a carpenter on the "Scarlet Letter" movie set here. Speaking on a recent evening as chairman of a new group, Past Employees for Restorative Justice, he said in a clear voice, "We want exoneration."

Sunday, June 11, 2006

A Review of Taming Economic Rationalism: Wishful Thinking


A Review of Taming Economic Rationalism: Wishful Thinking
This book departs from orthodox methods of arguments development, referencing, content bibliographies and what the establishment would consider good academic content development.
If anything, the theories Tom Payne is juggling about here seem similar to a custom job on a manufactured product in a home-based workshop. I am not sure if the end product is any way improved as a result. First, I bought this book because it cost almost nothing, has zero critical acclaim, and its affection for Maslowian precepts, something every Pavlovian likes to chuck about are the theories and concepts gristled about even by Maslow. Sometimes you just have to dip your rod into the mysterious depths of the unknown and go fish. So that is why I ended up reading this book. I am not sure however if I would recommend it to anyone.
However I am also still not sure if I really learned anything from this writer. I just kept searching for threads of relevancy that I have to admit I could hardly find. As this writer does not even ascribe to what might be considered paragraphs or explanatory notes on wildly perceived and at times clearly considered topics, it is hard to imagine who the considered audience is supposed to be. However there are many points to which I would agree, however there are few, far too few, exemplifications of research or even support for research, in this text.
For example, I would agree corporations are the prime beneficiaries of global economic deregulations. However I would like to see evidence for arriving at such a conclusion. Furthermore, Payne seeks to address a philanthropic element of Maslowian hierarchies of needs, a feature of which even Glasser reviews in his own control theory, but to which Payne caps out the pyramid with an actualisation of communitarian philanthropy over-riding self-esteem and the attainment of luxuries. However the evidence-based requirements for suggesting such a permutation is not only actual are absent, but realistically considering that this is the next step in global economic development is problematic. However, as far as theories, anything is possible. Thankfully one does not have to agree with all of them or any of them.
Net accruments of wealth in the top percentiles of population, corporate organisation, and individuals in developed world economies have not provided evidence to support Payne's claims that the world is on the verge of a great philanthropic dispersal of capital. Perhaps the needs of the common man are more developed in the awareness of needs inequalities than in meeting any of them. It could be considered in the inverse that the benefits required of the most needy are often more proportionally accounted of their earnings as costs and not as redistributed corporate benefits provided by the rich. These nevertheless do not appear to be over-flowing with a gradual reallocation of the world's distributed wealth to the needy and poor with larger and larger dividend yields, investments, and financial returns.
In terms of corporate benefactors contributing to the needs of the poor, real needs are always indirectly supported through servicing corporate goals at achieving maximum return on investment which can effect allocations based on improving corporate image regardless of scale or proportional control of the allocated donations. So Payne's model seems entirely overly optimistic and wishfully contrived. Payne's discussion regarding Maslowian systems management seems to be superceeded by international trade and investment growth during the last twenty-five years. What he discusses as problems come as no surprise. He claims the public sector is higly dualistic concerning its role as a responsible arbitor and assessing its own limitations of policy influence. However, these are issues which could be considered specifically as evidence indicates that nations with successfully moderated public sectors have most successfully driven free trade and global economic forces over the last twenty-five years. Thus the centralised distribution of power within public sectors claimed by Payne must be observed in many developed nations as a historical referencing which no longer really exists. Reallocations of public capital have already taken place to support global growth as it occurs today.
While Payne writes that eventually developed world consumers will tire of living and spending beyond their means there appears no evidence for this. Furthermore, international markets defined as alternative sources of revenue for companies attempting to serve tired consumer markets have been highly developed and appear not to slow the consumption patterns of most developed nations. He seems overly optimistic that multinationals will lead a new surge in philanthropy. I would posit that since these companies cannot even seem to get even mediocre self-regulation right collectively then they will have little to contribute on a philanthropic level globally other than well-placed, sparsely financed initiatives which include only the most photogenic of beneficiaries, those most useful to be slotted into advertising and marketing campaigns. These days, MNCs seem firmly convinced that sweatshop labour is the answer to developing world issues. Furthermore, no where does Payne consider the power of microcredit.
Everything is "peaches and cream" for Payne as he predicts that soon enough the developed world will cease to exploit the natural and human capital resources of developing nations. As the accumulative yellow sands and dusts of Asia will attest, this does not seem a near enough term of decline measurable within single or even multiple lifetimes. Payne seems to think research supported claims can be substiuted with trite comments of a highly generalist nature such as:
"Money is valuable throughout the world."
"The number of electors in a modern national electorate is typically 70,000 or more."
His final notes regard the possibility of establishing economic democracy, assessment and testing of Payne's ideas and learning about them. It would be nice if Payne himself would get around to testing and evaluating them in his own community, possibly ripe for such research, to make such ideas a little more palatable to the general public. Furthermore, a few trips to the communitarian libraries available to him might help flesh out this volume. While Payne decries the gross inequities of power, and position from learjet executives to slum dwellers in rural India, he offers few insights into how he has grown an economic systems theory which offers more equitable distribution of wealth than that which captialism proports as its established actions and reactions concerning the dinner bells.
What Payne perceives as self-actualised moderation of developed world development away from consumption towards philanthropy runs in the face of humanist economic perspectives such as enlightened self interest. It just does not fit well with what could be expected of general consumers. There are very few individuals who could contest that capitalism is the least of all possible economic evils and that sadly, it implies one man's gain at another man's expense. When Payne can explain clearly how to convince corporate societies, guilds, networks, and sheep shearers of how their redistributed assets or losses, namely reallocation of speculative resources for the gains of others will be of greater benefit to their own economic well-being, then that will be momentous.
If he proves anything with perfection, it is the adage: "No Man Is An Island." For the sake of future readers and your theories, Mr. Payne, please go to the library.

Review of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is


Review of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is
This copy of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is was given to me by one of the more ardent Hindus living in residence not far from me during my period of studies in Wollongong in 2004. It is highly regarded by most Hindus as the standard reading and interpretation of vedantic spirituality by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pradhupada and details the discourse of Arjuna and Lord Krisna on The Battlefields of Kuruksetra. As in human experience, one must often stand opposed to the beliefs and philosophies of one's friends, neighbours, or teachers to follow the right path. As Arjuna faltered in fighting with those who were members of his community, out of concern, fear, respect, and compassion for others, a student of business often has to early decide what is necessary to be learned about business and for what purpose, what path of learning is most fruitful, which sets of ethics and principles need to be assimilated, even if it may bring one into direct conflict with those who are intimately related to personal goals and measures of success which may even be considered best practices. Best can always be improved and made better.
It is in this that my Hindu classmate often challenged me with his systems of beliefs. I would protractedly attempt not only to study my required readings, but on a parallel investigate those issues which I felt were also important, often ideas and theories which require more of a learner, easy explanation for why and how so many theories, regardless of their relevancy, often lie dormant and unexplored among students of any discipline. Especially the contemplation of cross-cultural learning, not only as a theory, but in a practice of it to profitable self-discovery.
Even he would insist that I would rise from a night of reading to an early morning sunrise and walk along the beaches of Wollongong when the city is most still, and sit among the exotic local flora and fauna in the beautiful public parks there to contemplate the path and object of success in life. His insistence was that the path explored in Baghavad-Gita is adequately success in life and the afterlife. So it recounts not only an intellectual battle for discernment between success in the material versus the needs of the spiritual world, this text explores the universal human desire for self-realisation and aspects of selflessness which add bounty to the totality of human experience. It is a path with perhaps many followers but fewer adherents or living embodiments of its message. As one of the world's most sacred texts, it bears pride of place next to all other holy books.
The Bhagavad-Gita investigates and explains ways of being, liberation from worldy desires, the derivations of karma and transcendentalism and its impact upon possible knowledge of the Supreme. In all aspects it acts as a spiritual foil which harbours little if any distinction between the purposes of religious supremacy, or an argument of one faith over another in terms of adequate spiritual fullfillment. Thus many points of the description of karma might easily be applied to the spiritual well-being of any major religious faith. Furthermore the Bhagavad-Gita demonstrates the benefits of attaining enlightenment, the ways, and the means, as to the attachment of a spiritual guru or teacher. Furthermore, it takes great strides to illustrate the qualities of wisdom, peace, detachment, spiritual enlightenment and bliss or grace, attainable by all, some would say simply desired by all, but actively pursued by so few.
This text explores the dynamics of practice towards meditative yoga, means by which to control the mind and the senses to nurture a spirit of Paramatma in the heart and attain samadhi or full conscious knowledge of the Supreme. Such aspirations are well regarded, but reading this book might not necessarily be the single key to such experiences. One would necessarily practice and develop such skills with consistency and dedication. However, even without attaining such spiritual development, it is nice to know that such a path exists at any opportunity and is here recounted. Further descriptive passages related to illustrating the cosmic universe also describe an inter-relatedness of all spirit and linkage to devotional service to the great divinity of the Supreme.
In such terms, this book is as relevant to a Christian as any other book of faith. I am firmly convinced that Christians say they seek the same things as the Bhagavas-Gita claims are possible for a human to experience and attain even in a lifetime or a series of lifetimes. However as Gandhi may be paraphrased, so many are aware of the correct path and so few take the steps to follow it as few ever desire to be that good. Cross-culturally, referring to the Bhagvad-Gita is far from likely to detract from the religious values of its readers. But it helps describe the spiritual opulence possessed by the truly faithful and will only enrich the meditations of those who turn to it in hopes of making living connections between the self, one's community, the material world and the cosmos of spiritual existence.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Introductory Review of Chapter One: Global Political Economy


Introductory Review of Chapter One: Global Political Economy
Robert Gilpin (2001)


This book was not perhaps my initial first choice for review out of my new pallet and I may have rushed to read this first chapter merely because I would seek to prove the purity of my research goals. Namely, if I were a true budding, academic then I would not presume to have any opinions about nearly anything and thus merely regurgitate that which I have read into a sort of news-speak and mind-set which spoke to only the peerly-reviewed few who might even read it.
My reading schedules for the last two years have taken a mammoth amount of my private life down the path of which few return to the sociable world of the common man, whose activities and interests might necessarily only ever take few moments of quizzical ponderous befuddlement prior to dismissing any topic as too complicated, too vastly irrelevant, or in words highly redundant. This might easily explain why the joys and pleasures of even reading itself have been reduced so clearly to such a small portion of an average person's daily activities. Not only are the concepts at times not always easily absorbed in their newness. Also the time spent with books detracts from the comparative attractiveness of a person to the company of comparatively pleasant people, in any completeness, especially of men with a fondness for books, at times even such an interest comes at the cost of a woman's esteem and desirable attentions.
A man's first love is almost never a woman. It is often music, or even the poetics of intellectual thought. For some it is easily sports. Some women instinctively, and intuitively understand this and accept it, much as one would accept the flaws and foibles of an artist for the qualities of his work and personal interests. There are other women of course, who think nothing of expecting a man to draw nothing from the well of himself, for himself, or even other loved ones, and everything must always be for her and her satisfaction alone. As if the well of human experience does not offer many facets to the human character and a continuously adjusting, flexibilized and extenuating sharing of the self's joys, mysteries, faiths, and creativities, not only with the mate, but with extended family and children. Not only with family, but with friends and co-workers.
The cruelty of my own preferences is that even as I age, I prefer to enter the company of women who are generally in their early twenties, emotionally raw, somewhat under-developed, at times highly irrational, I am unaffected by their often moody, gloomy, barrenly hopeless minutes. When one realizes she is not only not the first love, but not even at times my first priority then she is thus gone. So under such circumstances I wholey concur that a man who devotes himself to a greater understanding of a particular topic improves the knowledge and debate in his own mind first, and even secondarily among his supposed peers. But so rarely one remains to create a stable spiritual, financial and emotional stronghold for his wife and family, all the same, he is to be forgiven much, even if at times he fails to see the lines in her face, young or old, the ones he never recognized. When he then focuses on her at it might only ever be in awe of a woman who would tolerate and enrich such a humour and nonsense even from the beginning. To share a man's love for his work is a rare art in a woman. That which steals him from her, that which furnishes his mind with hand scored stones and plinths upon which to attempt to explore even his own understanding of it, let alone the research and amalgamation, the weighings and exemplifications of those of others just like him. That takes a pearl, a ruby, an emerald, and a diamond of a woman.
In keeping with such a soliloqy, Gilpin credits his wife's assistance, not merely as a dedication. One feels the painful hours of a divided allegiance which most women run from screaming. Probably not even one out of even one hundred women would understand and put up with this man. How he ever knew she would, obviously he has more intelligence in the ways of very few women than that which he is credited for.
When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, she is relying on the natural strength of her position.
If her place of encampment is easy of access, she is tendering a bait.
The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambuscade.
Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming.
He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.
(Interpretations on the Art of War or The Art of Netting a Husband)
So even perhaps more worthy is a man who reads what he has written and realises it to be completely false. As for economists such as Gilpin, who seek to paint a picture of the present, the task not only eludes, like youth, it evades. His previous work titled, "The Political Economy of International Relations" is credited by the author to be "totally outdated". Its publication in 1987 was relevant to the Cold War Era. I was amazed to receive a message from an unexpected source recommending that I read it first. Well, I continue to read Derek H. Aldcroft's "The European Economy 1914-2000" and feel as it is a historical accounting and includes extensive coverage of Marxism in its birthplaces rather than an attempt to solidfy present events it shall suffice at the moment. As well Ian Clark's reasonable synopsis of the real possibility that the tappets of economics have been stuck in the Cold War Era ever after as a root cause of my world issues within "Globalisation and Fragmentation" gives me confidence that the author not only knows what he is talking about he has the credibility and gracefulness to discourage readers from embarking upon pointless snapshots of a currency and immediacy which no longer exists.
Such outdating is nothing new to economists and their theories. However they rarely appear to admit it even to themselves let alone gleaning readers. The fact remains that the interim period of fourteen years has seen global rates of FDI multied annually by 15 to 20 times. If relevancy is measured by global investments capacities then his outdated book could be read intellectually to be about 210 years past current economic states of presentness. This would implicate that even five years on, the book I am only beginning to read is already outdated. This is the reality of academic writing. Brought to my attention almost through painful experience through the teaching-efforts of a mere engineering-type quality management expert named Lester Kirchamajer. Let it be known the target has always been the winning of absolutely and only the right wife.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

The Book of the Vedas: A Little Thin on The Vedas



Review of The Book of the Vedas: Timeless Wisdom from Indian Tradition
(A Little Thin on The Vedas) Virender Kumar Arya (2003)

First off, this is a beautifully illustrated and bound text on the world's third most popular religion. If ever there was a text to well introduce this topic to readers with no prior contact with Hindus or Hinduism then this is the book. However it does not to any great extent explore, "The Vedas" in particular. The dust jacket proclaims, "Discover the enthralling adventures of the gods and goddesses..." "...in-depth study..." "Lose yourself in the hypnotic texts..." But what in fact this book delivers are smallish reviews of well illustrated quips and clips regarding Hinduism. What it does serve is a short two pages on each topic, all of relevant concern to Hinduism. These are like side-dish entrees to vast and diverse topics such as: Holy Writings, Hindu Pantheons, Salvation, Hindu Society, and suggestions for further readings. Further readings are indeed required to gain enthrall or hypnotic awe of texts which are even only rarely described or touched upon in this book. A bit more poetic extracts would fill out the main courses...
As a reference text it has some abbreviated usage. For example, it illustrates a vast number of yogic pursuits to which previously I had no idea even existed. But it is not abounding in hypnotic texts, there is little of enthralling adventures, it would be hard to get lost in such short descriptions which read much more like a brochure on Hinduism, a very well designed and colourful one, rather than an in-depth study of any kind. However, as an illustrated dictionary it has filled in a few gaps. For example, the goddesses coupling on the Shiva Temple illustrated here at Hampi are perhaps not merely Devas but perhaps also incarnations of Shakti. I finally know what those blue men hope to be doing wandering naked around the countryside. However, other perhaps less reknowned gods such as Lord Venketeswara are noticeably absent from the listed pantheon.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

More Quotes from Montaigne and Nietzsche


More Quotes from Montaigne and Nietzsche

The appeal of these authors for those readers attempting an understanding of historical, and contemporary business practices globally may not be apparent immediately. However, the root benefits of engaging competitive advantages are based in not only a willingness to learn new frames of thought, new perspectives, but to fully engage the opportunities for complete cross-functionality in areas which are often compartmentally separated not only in the realms of learning but in general understanding of even a shallow reading of philosophy. Really, these writers easily establish that the root causes for success or failure of an individual to achieve particular goals or successes are directly related to internal processes, thoughts and cognitive constructions. The same could be said for the successes or failures of regional, or multinational business models and strategies. Which makes these writers worth reading, especially when one is planning to engage new theories or new ideas.

To which both authors have addressed that there is largely little of great newness in human experience over the ages. Montaigne makes noteworthy application of the literatures of the ancient Greeks and Romans and Nietzsche issues in his more infrequent reflections upon writers like Montaigne that novelty, "newness", and uniqueness in the ways of mankind are allusions to the blistering sameness of the challenges, strengths, and weaknesses of modern man relative to those of the ancient world.

Both seem to suggest it is only in one's own sense of self and mind where one may organize and reorder awareness and register progressive change of thought. But it often appears the efforts of global business have all been about ordering the internal intrinsics of human nature to serve their own corporate ends. This colours even the very arguments made by globally proclaimed experts on such topics. Research plainly can be manipulated easily to match the desired outcomes of those who pay for it.

Which gets to the purpose of writing and reading. Montaigne had something to say to humanity, something which has carried its relevancy down through five hundred years of tumultuous political, social, and technological changes. But in the end, he is still reflecting on a mankind which can recognize itself in his "Essays". Nietzsche himself was a writer combatant seemingly seeking to drive nails through any commonly held sense of settled complacency. While I have to admit Montaigne has more to say that is directly appealing, Nietzsche too has some interesting comments to make on human experience. As for relevancy, perhaps there are a few business people in the world who know that the key to business success is not perhaps in finding the best market niche, the best product or service. the keys to global business success may be in well leading new competitive perspectives which are often overlooked in the herd's great rush. Montaigne and Nietzsche are all about the encouraging sense of self available to individuals who break from the race and engage this great engine called the human mind in contemplation of decisions, options, choices, and possibilities.

"And indeed when insults strike to the quick, they can easily make a man who is only sluggishly pursuing his king's quarrel, enter with a different spirit into what has become his own." (Montaigne, Book One: Chapter 47, On The Uncertainty of Our Judgement, 1595)

"In this study of history one must run through all sorts of authors, both old and new, in French and in gibberish, without distinction, to learn from them the various things they teach." (Montaigne, Book Two: Chapter 10, On Books, 1595)

"It is unfortunate that wisdom forbids you to be self-satisfied and trust in yourself, and always sends you away discontented and diffident, whereas and opinionated boldness fills its possessor with joy and assurance." (Montaigne, Book Three: Chapter 8, On The Art of Conversation, 1595)

"When one trains one's conscience, it kisses one while it bites."

"When we have to change an opinion about any one, we charge heavily to his account the inconvenience he therby causes us."

"Pity has an almost ludicrous effect on a man of knowledge, like tender hands on a Cyclops." (Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Apothegms and Interludes, 1886)

What I read of these authors easily defies my ability to compare them which is not easily said of most business texts. However both have much to say about business. Fortunately few appear to be researching historical business patterns in such a manner to often suggest new ones thus based through such precedences.




Friday, June 02, 2006

A new palette of books has arrived.

A new palette of books has arrived. Therefore I have become quite distracted and wish I had multifaceted eyes. Furthermore, I really need to read these before the beginning of next semester.

Global Political Economy (2001) Robert Gilpin
The Globalization Reader (2004) Frank J. Lechner and J. Boli (Eds.)
Remapping East Asia (2005) T.J. Pempel (Ed.)

Why Globalisation Works (2005) Martin Wolf
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Vedas (2003) T.B. Griffith
Beyond Machiavelli: Tools for Coping with Conflict (1996) Roger Fisher
Getting Together: Building Relationships as We Negotiate (1988) Roger Fisher
Tales for the Dying: The Death Narrative of the Bhagavata-Purana (2003) Rick Jarow
The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization (2003) Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith
Real Change Leaders: How You Can Create Growth and High Performance at Your Company (1997) Katzenbach, Gagnon and Beckett
The Keys to Conflict Resolution: Proven Methods of Resolving Disputes Voluntarily (2001) Theodore Kheel
Management Consulting: Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry (2003) Matthias Kipping
The Upanishads, Vol. 1 (1962) Max Muller
The Diversity Advantage: Multi Ethnic Identity in the New World Economy (2003) Zachary G. Pascal
Remapping East Asia (2005) T.J. Pempel (Ed.)
Why Globalisation Works (2005) Martin Wolf
The Leadership Engine: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level (2002) Noel M. Tichy and Eli Cohen