‘Humans aren’t broken. They’re never broken,’ says Hugh Herr, the man on the frontier of prosthetic invention, including his own legs.

July 12, 2013, 6:31 p.m. ET

The Weekend Interview With Hugh Herr: The Liberating Age of Bionics

‘Humans aren’t broken. They’re never broken,’ says Hugh Herr, the man on the frontier of prosthetic invention, including his own legs.

JOSEPH RAGO

‘It’s extraordinary that we live in this day and age with all our wonderful modern technology, and still we have shoes that give us blisters,” says Hugh Herr, with more than a little incredulity and perhaps even fresh anger at this lack of progress. “Shoes are one of the oldest devices that exist across the human timeline and it is juststaggering that we haven’t figured out that problem.” It’s a remarkable observation, on reflection, in more ways than one. Footwear and its discontents are more or less inevitabilities most of us take for granted. Also, Dr. Herr lacks biological legs below the knee. He is fitted with bionic prosthetics of his own invention, known as BiOMs, with his trousers rolled to display what he calls their “machine beauty.” Dr. Herr (pictured nearby) is the director of the Biomechatronics Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab and a world leader at the frontiers of limb replacement and rehabilitation. Read more of this post

Restoring NCR’s Ka-ching! Under William Nuti, 129-year-old NCR has become the leading seller of ATMs and other digital point-of-sale devices. From the Bronx to the boardroom

SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2013

Restoring NCR’s Ka-ching!

By DYAN MACHAN | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR

Under William Nuti, 129-year-old NCR has become the leading seller of ATMs and other digital point-of-sale devices. From the Bronx to the boardroom.

Even by the rough-and-tumble standards of the Bronx, William Nuti was a clever and resourceful kid. As a nine-year-old newspaper boy in New York City’s northernmost borough, Nuti would work his way up an apartment building until he got to the roof. Then he would leap to the roof of the adjacent building, and work his way down again. Nuti’s Batman-like days might be over, but the same problem-solving instincts have served him well in the corporate world. As chief executive since 2005 of NCR (ticker: NCR), he has helped reinvent the company once known as National Cash Register, or “The Cash,” for the digital-commerce age.  Read more of this post

Rooting for Mother Teresa

July 12, 2013

Rooting for Mother Teresa

By ADA CALHOUN

POPE FRANCIS last week approved two of his predecessors for sainthood — John Paul II and John XXIII — fast-tracking the latter in spite of his having only one miracle to his credit rather than the usual two. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, has not been given the same exemption (she also has just one miracle) and remains merely beatified.

Having volunteered for a time with Mother Teresa, I find myself rooting for her cause as if for the home team. And on principle I’m disappointed by the message sent when two men with complex legacies outpace a woman who devoted herself completely to serving others. Read more of this post

The Courts CEO who’s a little bit of a maverick

The Courts CEO who’s a little bit of a maverick

At 17, he dropped out of school to work. At 20, he got married and became a father four years later. And by 32, he was Managing Director of electronics and furniture retailer Courts Singapore.

BY NEO CHAI CHIN –

15 HOURS 30 MIN AGO

At 17, he dropped out of school to work. At 20, he got married and became a father four years later. And by 32, he was Managing Director of electronics and furniture retailer Courts Singapore. Mr Terry O’Connor, the Chief Executive of Courts Asia today, has not achieved the milestones in his life in the most conventional timeline or order. So it is rather appropriate that the latest feather in his cap, a pacey and engaging book that chronicles his adventures and that of the company, is titled: Why Not? The Story of a Retail Maverick and Courts. Launched this month, the first print run of 2,500 has already sold out. Read more of this post

Make Moments Of Clarity Turning Points For Your Life

7/12/2013 @ 3:57PM |3,723 views

Make Moments Of Clarity Turning Points For Your Life

By Marc Miller, Next AvenueContributor

We’ve all had it happen. Some major shift happens in life, maybe someone dies or becomes ill, you lose a job or you get a divorce. Alternatively, the event could be something positive like the first day of your dream job. Either way, it completely alters your perspective on life for a moment. The future you saw for yourself changes and suddenly you can’t believe that the niggling issues that have been plaguing you – the ding on your car, your annoying co-worker – bothered you so much.

What Moments of Clarity Teach Us

I call these times Moments of Clarity. For a brief period, you see what’s really important in life. You may even resolve to change your habits or thinking to reflect your newfound perspective. Trouble is, many people let these moments fade. When that happens, your former concerns reassert themselves and once again you get preoccupied by the ding on your car. But if you instead embrace your light-bulb moments and commit yourself to learn from them, even years after the actual perspective shift takes place, the result can be life changing. You may find yourself at the cusp of an entirely new career. Read more of this post

Of course it’s important to read the great poets and novelists. But not in a university classroom, where literature has been turned into a bland, soulless competition for grades and status

July 12, 2013, 7:44 p.m. ET

Who Ruined the Humanities?

Of course it’s important to read the great poets and novelists. But not in a university classroom, where literature has been turned into a bland, soulless competition for grades and status.

LEE SIEGEL

Fewer and fewer undergraduates are majoring in the humanities, and critic Lee Siegel couldn’t be happier. As he tells WSJ’s Gary Rosen, great poetry and novels are meant to be experienced in private and alone, away from the competitive pressures of the classroom. You’ve probably heard the baleful reports. The number of college students majoring in the humanities is plummeting, according to a big study released last month by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The news has provoked a flood of high-minded essays deploring the development as a symptom and portent of American decline. But there is another way to look at this supposed revelation (the number of humanities majors has actually been falling since the 1970s). Read more of this post

Bill of rights or branding exercise? As the Magna Carta approaches its 800th anniversary, it has become a symbol of issues that stray far from its original remit

July 12, 2013 6:06 pm

Thoroughly modern Magna Carta

By Peter Aspden

Bill of rights or branding exercise? As the Magna Carta approaches its 800th anniversary, it has become a symbol of issues that stray far from its original remit

It was, as these things go, something of a flop. The Magna Carta was a document hammered out between King John and a group of feisty barons in the summer of 1215 that set out an agreement between them on the subjects of England’s taxation, feudal rights and justice. It was the culmination of a sticky period for both parties, and must have been greeted with some eyebrow-raising on that evening’s edition of Newsnight. The most striking part of the charter allowed, for the first time, for the powers of the king to be limited by a written document. Observers hoped that it heralded a new era of collaboration between the monarch and his subjects. But the dawn was false. The Magna Carta was valid for just 10 weeks. Read more of this post