Nice article on trying to save someone from committing suicide. I found the don’t dos more useful than the dos.

1. Don’t say, “I know how you feel.”

“You don’t know how I feel,” Moore says. “Even if you’ve been suicidal, you don’t know how I feel, because everyone’s situation is different.”

Sharing your own experiences of psychological distress isn’t helpful, either, she says.

“The last thing anyone in that situation wants to hear is someone else’s story,” she says.

2. Don’t say, “Just snap out of it.”

If they could, they would.

3. Don’t say, “There was an earthquake in Haiti. Your situation isn’t that bad.”

You might think you’re encouraging your depressed friend to realize how fortunate he or she is, but you’re probably not succeeding, Rappaport says.

“The idea of counting your blessings does help, but it’s hard to hear,” she says. “It can feel like you’re diminishing the psychic pain someone is in.”

via How to save a friend from the brink | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

This is a nice post. Read the whole thing.

The competing vs running was an excellent dichotomy. If you do not learn something before hand you will be hardpressed to say where you are going to use it. You use it because you know it. You can think of where you can make use of it because you already understand it. I can still remember a lot of the ugly code I’ve written because I didn’t know of some technique or some abstraction. I can still remember how it feels to code around a problem because your current toolset doesn’t have the necessary tools to help you solve the problem. In academe there is this saying “Publish or Perish”, in the world we call corporate at least for programmers there is nothing equal so I propose “Learn or Burn”. The basic structure of how my profession is organized allows the companies to have the upper hand. They don’t give you enough time to study, this allows them to devalue your skills as time goes by. Don’t let the companies have the upper hand. “Learn or Burn”

What do you learn just in case you’ll need it in the future, and what do you learn just in time when you do need it?

In general, you learn things in school just in case you’ll need them later. Then once you get a job, you learn more things just in time when you need them.

When you learn just in time, you’re highly motivated. There’s no need to imagine whether you might apply what you’re learning since the application came first. But you can’t learn everything just in time. You have to learn some things before you can imagine using them. You need to have certain patterns in your head before you can recognize them in the wild.

Years ago someone told me that he never learned algebra and has never had a need for it. But I’ve learned algebra and use it constantly. It’s a lucky thing I was the one who learned algebra since I ended up needing it. But of course it’s not lucky. I would not have had any use for it either if I’d not learned it.

via Learning “Just in Case” versus “Just in Time” – Preparation – Lifehacker.

Investing Advice!!

Rules That Warren Buffett Lives By

by Stephanie Loiacono
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

provided by

Warren Buffett is arguably the world’s greatest stock investor. He’s also a bit of a philosopher. He pares down his investment ideas into simple, memorable sound bites. Do you know what his homespun sayings really mean? Does his philosophy hold up in today’s difficult environment? Find out below.

via rules-that-warren-buffett-lives-by: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.

This one is from MIT. I’m beefing up on stress prevention/recovery stuff because I’m starting on a new job/company/position this monday. The new position would entail more challenging stuff technically and probably socially. I fear for this blog. hehe.

Burnout Prevention and Recovery

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1. STOP DENYING. Listen to the wisdom of your body. Begin to freely admit the stresses and pressures which have manifested physically, mentally, or emotionally.
   • MIT VIEW: Work until the physical pain forces you into unconsciousness.
2. AVOID ISOLATION. Don’t do everything alone! Develop or renew intimacies with friends and loved ones. Closeness not only brings new insights, but also is anathema to agitation and depression.
   • MIT VIEW: Shut your office door and lock it from the inside so no one will distract you. They’re just trying to hurt your productivity.

via Burnout Prevention and Recovery.

I’m sure mcuban won’t mind if I copy the whole post but there’s a etiquette in the blogosphere so. go to the site to read the rest of his advice on how to get rich!!!

First, here is WHAT NOT TO DO:

There are no shortcuts. NONE. With all of this craziness in the stock and financial markets, there will be scams popping up left and right. The less money you have, the more likely someone will come at you with some scheme . The schemes will guarantee returns, use multi level marketing, or be something crazy that is now “backed by the US Government”. Please ignore them. Always remember this. If a deal is a great deal, they aren’t going to share it with you.

I dont broadcast my great deals. I keep them all to myself. The 2nd thing to remember is that if the person selling the deal was so smart, they would be rich beyond rich rather than trolling the streets looking to turn you into a sucker. There are no shortcuts.

So what should you do to get rich ?

Save your money. Save as much money as you possibly can. Every penny you can. Instead of coffee, drink water. Instead of going to McDonalds, eat Mac and Cheese. Cut up your credit cards. If you use a credit card, you dont want to be rich. The first step to getting rich, requires discipline. If you really want to be rich, you need to find the discipline, can you ?

If you can, you will quickly find that the greatest rate of return you will earn is on your own personal spending. Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich. Yeah you have to give things up and that doesn’t work for everyone, particularly if you have a family. That is reality. But whatever you can save, save it. As much as you possibly can. Then put it in 6 month CDs in the bank.

The first step to getting rich is having cash available. You arent saving for retirement. You are saving for the moment you need cash. Buy and hold is a suckers game for you. This market is a perfect example. Right at the very moment when cash creates unbelievable opportunity, those who followed the buy and hold strategy have no cash. they cant or wont sell into markets this low, that kills the entire point of buy and hold. Those who have put their money in CDs sleep well at night and definitely have more money today than they did yesterday. And because they are smart, disciplined shoppers, their personal rate of inflation is within their means. Cash is king for those wanting to get rich

via How to Get Rich Part 1a « blog maverick.

Some good advice on how to become a professional writer!!!

So You Want to Be a Pro

Penman for Monday, February 22, 2010

…..

So rather than fuss over what “success” means, I’m going to address these remarks to people who want to become professional writers, by which I mean people who depend on their writing to support themselves and their families. Journalists naturally fall into this category and already know pretty much what I’ll be saying here; it’s the creative writer and the academic who may need a bit of a reorientation, since I’ve found that it’s this person who often doesn’t have the foggiest idea what the market needs.

…..

10. Don’t forget what you’re doing all of this for. Whether it’s for God, country, family, fame, or just the chance to get some paid time off to write that novel, or for that down payment on a new apartment or a new car, you have to remember why it’s important to keep writing, and to write well. Good writing can be its own reason for being, and provide its own satisfaction—but it’s even better if it means that much to somebody else.

via Pinoy Penman.

1. Figure out what your gift is, and give it to them on a regular basis.

2. Make sure it’s received as a real gift, not as an advertising message

3. Then figure out exactly what it is that your trail of breadcrumbs leads back to.

via the three keys to social media marketing | gapingvoid.

7 Characteristics of a Broken, Undefined, and Unhappy Life

Lost

We all have some characteristics that hold us back from the life we truly want to live. Motivational gurus constantly claim to have the answers and aren't shy about telling us to do this and that.

If you’re reading this, then it's quite possible that those things haven’t worked for you. The problem isn’t that these motivational teachers aren’t good, because most of them are. The problem is that most of us walk around with unresolved core issues and beliefs that are keeping us stuck.

I’ve gone through many of these characteristics myself. I have by no means overcome them, but I have progressively minimized the impact they have in my life. This is not a contest, there is no rush. As long as you’re taking small steps to improving yourself and getting closer to your goal, all is well.

This list is by no means complete, so when you’ve finished reading it, I want you to share your thoughts in the comments.

via 7 Characteristics of a Broken, Undefined, and Unhappy Life – by Dumb Little Man.

Nice list read the whole thing at the liniked site!!!!

A colleague and I were lamenting the state of paper discussants the other day. Seldom do we faculty teach graduate students how to be professionals. Even more seldom are we examples of brevity and wit. With that in mind, we came up with a list of tips for the budding academic:

10. Aim for profound. The best discussants rotate my brain 90 degrees. They reframe the problem, or propose a novel idea. I can’t tell you how to be deep. I seldom succeed myself. For me, a few things usually help. I read the paper, walk away for a day or two, then return. I ask myself questions: Do I think about a big question differently now? What convinces me, and what would convince me more? Where should the field be going?

via The discussant’s art – Chris Blattman.

Note to self and friends::

For WD start with simple then iterate. Do the simplest thing possible!!!

Mint founder Aaron Patzer credited Buchheit with helping him think about the appropriate software architecture for his consumer finance site.

“He pushed us to prioritize performance and search speed and helped us to find ways to scale Mint successfully,” Patzer said.

reMail chief executive Gabor Cselle said Buchheit helped him hone his product down to its core essentials. Buchheit himself is a strong advocate of keeping products simple and focused.

“Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh endured my slide deck on our multi-step plan for global email domination, and pointed out that instead I should build something small, simple, and useful. It worked,” Cselle wrote in a blog post announcing the reMail acquisition yesterday.

via Buchheit’s lucky streak as an angel (and a founder) | VentureBeat.