When Being Alone Turns Into Loneliness, There Are Ways to Fight Back

When Being Alone Turns Into Loneliness, There Are Ways to Fight Back

Occasional Loneliness Is a Near-Universal Feeling, Therapists Say, That Individuals Can Identify and Work to Change

ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN

Nov. 4, 2013 6:57 p.m. ET

I spend a fair amount of time by myself. One recent day, I worked, read, cleaned my desk, took a walk, made soup and chatted with my best friend on the phone. By evening, I felt productive and content. Then, for the first time in hours, I checked my phone. There was not one new text, call or email—not even from Groupon. Wasn’t anyone thinking of me? It got me thinking: How does being alone turn into being lonely? Some people crave time alone, but experts say occasional feelings of loneliness are a near-universal experience. Evolutionary psychologists say the lonely feeling developed to alert humans—social animals who rely on each other to survive—that they were too close to the perimeter of the group and at risk of becoming prey. Spending time alone is more fun when it is by choice. When it is the result of loss, separation or isolation, people are likely to experience it as loneliness. Homesickness, bullying, empty-nesting, bereavement and unrequited love are all variations on the theme. Loneliness isn’t depression, which is a lasting feeling of deep sadness and hopelessness and should be treated by a professional. Read more of this post

Bakerzin founder resigns; plans to offer “nice gourmet cakes at very, very affordable prices” to consumers, but will not be opening a retail shop due to high rents

Bakerzin founder resigns

By Rebecca Lynne Tan

The Straits Times

Sunday, Nov 03, 2013

Patisserie-cafe chain Bakerzin’s founder and chief executive Daniel Tay has resigned from his post, and has set up a new food supply company. The 43-year-old, who founded the home-grown business in 1998, has started Foodgnostic to offer baked goods and other food to restaurants and hotels which cannot make them from scratch because of the labour shortage. He also has plans to offer “nice gourmet cakes at very, very affordable prices” to consumers, but will not be opening a retail shop due to high rents. Read more of this post

‘Everything Store’ nothing short of unbalanced, says Bezos wife

November 5, 2013 12:14 am

‘Everything Store’ nothing short of unbalanced, says Bezos wife

By Barney Jopson in Los Angeles

Jeff Bezos’s wife has deployed one of her husband’s most celebrated innovations – the unfiltered product review on Amazon – to trash a high-profile new book about the online retailer and its founder. MacKenzie Bezos, who is a novelist, offered a withering critique and a one-star ratingfor The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, a book by Brad Stone, a technology reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek. Read more of this post

Rebooting your memory: After millions of years of remembering what matters, is technology changing the way memory works?

Rebooting your memory

November 3, 2013

Drew Turney

After millions of years of remembering what matters, is technology changing the way memory works? As we offload more of the storage of information onto technology, might we be losing the art of remembering for ourselves? As early as 2002 writer Cory Doctorow, speaking about whether his blog were to disappear, said: ”Huge swathes of acquired knowledge would simply vanish … my blog frees me up from having to remember the minutiae of my life”. We all know the feeling, as we recruit machinery to stand in for our memories more and more the busier life gets. But is doing so changing us? When we can reach into the networks and airwaves to pluck out information with impunity, is the technosphere our new collective memory? Read more of this post

Why Creativity Thrives In The Dark; dim lighting creates a “visual message” capable of nudging our minds into an exploratory mode

Why Creativity Thrives In The Dark

IMAGINATIVE MINDS HAVE LONG APPRECIATED THE POWER OF DIM LIGHTING. NEW RESEARCH CONFIRMS THAT WHEN THE LIGHTS SWITCH OFF, SOMETHING IN THE BRAIN SWITCHES ON.

Great artists and original thinkers often seem instinctually drawn to the darker hours. The writer Toni Morrison once told The Paris Review that watching the night turn to day, with a cup of coffee in hand, made her feel like a “conduit” of creativity. “It’s not being in the light,” she said, “it’s being there before it arrives.” Whether they join Morrison before dawn or get going after dusk, many of history’s most imaginative minds have been inspired by dim lighting. Read more of this post

Billions of Earth-Like Planets Exist, Scientists Say

Billions of Earth-Like Planets Exist, Scientists Say

About 4.4 billion planets are similar to Earth in size and temperature, suggesting they may be able to host life, according to a survey of the galaxy using telescopes operating in space and on the ground. The number is an estimate based on information taken from 42,000 stars similar to the Earth’s sun and their surrounding planets by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kepler Space Telescope, as well as telescopes in Hawaii. Ideal planet climate — not too hot or too cold — was determined by how far they were away from their stars, according to the report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more of this post

When Buffett Was Right, but We Were Too Scared

Oct 31, 2013

When Buffett Was Right, but We Were Too Scared

DAVID WEIDNER

Just over five years ago, global financial institutions appeared on the verge of collapse and stocks were sinking, Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed in The New York Timesthat seemed, at that time, out of touch with the pulse of the market. He encouraged investors to buy. Buy? Mr. Buffett, then 78, appeared to finally have succumbed to a senior moment. Of course, it was great advice. Unfortunately, not enough of us followed it. Read more of this post

Ben Franklin Had A Humorous Suggestion For Getting People To Wake Up Earlier

Ben Franklin Had A Humorous Suggestion For Getting People To Wake Up Earlier

DAVEN HISKEY, TODAY I FOUND OUT NOV. 3, 2013, 12:30 PM 3,247 4

Today I found out that Ben Franklin’s proposal for something similar to daylight saving time was written as a joke. In a comedic letter he wrote, “An Economical Project,” (published in 1784), “to the authors of the journal of Paris,” Franklin mentions something like daylight saving time. Although, instead of changing clocks, he suggested ringing church bells and firing cannons, among other things, as the sun rises to maximize the amount of time people would be awake during times when the sun is providing free light. The letter was meant to be a satire, rather than actually suggesting these changes be made. Here’s an excerpt of the letter: Read more of this post

The Business of Business is More Than Business

The Business of Business is More Than Business

Laura Tyson, a former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

31 October 2013

BERKELEY – Earlier this year, Robert Simons of Harvard Business School fired off a blistering indictment of American businesses and business schools. American companies, he charged, have become softheaded, unfocused, and uncompetitive, in part because business schools are persuading them to embrace a long list of gauzy, feel-good values, such as social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and inclusiveness. Read more of this post

Closest ear won’t always be the best organ for advice

Closest ear won’t always be the best organ for advice

Updated: 2013-11-04 00:12

By Cecily Liu in London ( China Daily)

Business consultant warns of expensive mistakes in acquiring other companies Read more of this post

J Hilburn co-founder: ‘There should be healthy tension in a company’

J Hilburn co-founder: ‘There should be healthy tension in a company’

Veeral Rathod talks about startup culture, business school, and why entrepreneurs should be organised, not structured

Jana Kasperkevic

theguardian.com, Sunday 3 November 2013 04.00 GMT

J Hilburn doubled its profits between 2010 and 2012. Photograph: Erin Goldberger/J Hilburn

Many men hate to go out shopping: the dressing rooms, the endless racks, the time that could be spent doing something else. So, two former Wall Street guys thought, why not let the clothes come to them? Six years later, Hil Davis and Veeral Rathod are still growing their company, Dallas-based J Hilburn, which has become known as the Mary Kay of menswear. It offers its clients a variety of shirts, suits and accessories such as cufflinks, belts and luggage through stylists who will visit customers at home, the office or even the gym. The clothes are made from the same material as high-end brands – the textiles were a source of active debate between the founders – and then custom-fitted to the customer. Read more of this post

Boy, 10, leaps to death ‘on teacher’s orders’

Boy, 10, leaps to death ‘on teacher’s orders’
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Friday, November 01, 2013
A 10-year-old boy jumped 30 floors to his death after failing to write a self-criticism letter demanded by his teacher. The fifth-grade primary school student had been ordered to write a 1,000-character apology by his teacher for talking in class, China National Radio reported on its website, citing a neighbor. The teacher allegedly told him to jump out of a building after he failed to complete the task, the report quoted relatives and the neighbor as saying. “Teacher, I can’t do it,” was found written in one of his textbooks, CNR said. “I flinched several times when I tried to jump from the building.” Read more of this post

Moe Myint: Myanmar’s go-to tycoon

November 3, 2013 3:16 pm

Moe Myint: Myanmar’s go-to tycoon

By Michael Peel

When Moe Myint strides into his office, he triumphantly brandishes a piece of paper from the Myanmar energy ministry that declares he has won business in four more oilfields. The freshly printed list, composed otherwise of 10 international companies, reveals a second striking truth: when it comes to local oil and gas expertise, Moe Myint is pretty much the only game in town. “The problem is there are so many people contacting me – energy advisers – I don’t know what they want to see me about,” he says, settling down at a desk flanked by screens showing his Gmail account and CNN. “So we are just trying to weed out all these people.” Read more of this post

“Of course, you only see the successes in the press. But the thousands who fail until terok, terok, go bankrupt, life miserable, you never see.”

Derek Goh on…

Advice for budding entrepreneurs

“First of all, mentally you must prepare to fail. Of course, you only see the successes in the press. But the thousands who fail until terok, terok, go bankrupt, life miserable, you never see. Then, you need your blessing from your dearest, whether it be your girlfriend or your wife, you need to seek their permission so they are part of it. So if you fail, they cannot blame you. Then prepare to work seven days a week, 20 hours a day, for the next few years. Your life will be like that, like it or not.” Read more of this post

Man behind Boon Tong Kee says he leads a simple life

Man behind Boon Tong Kee says he leads a simple life

By Jocelyn Lee

The New Paper

Friday, Nov 01, 2013

He does not wear a designer suit and tie to work. Nor does the man, who owns chicken rice chain Boon Tong Kee, come to work in a chauffeur-driven car. When we met Mr Thian Boon Hua at his flagship Balestier Road restaurant, he was dressed simply, in a white round-neck T-shirt and shorts, and he wore open-toed sandals with white socks. And so it came as no surprise when Mr Thian, whose restaurants took $20 million in revenue last year, told us he lives in a five-room HDB flat and drives a Toyota Camry. The 60-year-old’s humility comes from his tough past. Read more of this post

If there’s a will, there’s a way; When you want to achieve something, you will find a thousand ways possible to do it

Updated: Sunday November 3, 2013 MYT 11:32:03 AM

If there’s a will, there’s a way

BY SOO EWE JIN

When you want to achieve something, you will find a thousand ways possible to do it.

I LIKE the Malay saying, “Mahu seribu daya, tak mahu seribu dalih,” which basically means when you want to do something, you will find a thousand ways possible to achieve it; but when you don’t want to do it, you will have a thousand excuses not to do it. The English just say, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” We know how frustrating it is to call up a government agency and be passed from one section to another. But we are sometimes surprised when the person we speak to go out of the way to make sure we get connected to the right person. Read more of this post

Are you managing only half the value of your company? Yes, you are

Are you managing only half the value of your company? Yes, you are

Samir Dixit and Galih Rangha Putra | Business | Sat, November 02 2013, 12:20 PM

Ask a CEO or chief marketing officer about the value of their brand and chances are most would start to stare away from you. Ask around as to what percentage of a company’s enterprise value is in the intangibles, particularly in the brand, and you will likely get some more empty stares and quizzical expressions. The truth is, intangibles make up for a significantly large value of an enterprise. Yet, it’s an area of little focus among the management. While senior management does not necessarily measure the intangible assets, the discrepancy between market capitalization and book value of a company shows that investors very much do care about it.  Read more of this post

Investing as a Religious Practice; Faith-based mutual funds incorporate ethical values in selecting securities to own

Investing as a Religious Practice

Faith-based mutual funds incorporate ethical values in selecting securities to own

LINDSAY GELLMAN

Nov. 3, 2013 4:16 p.m. ET

Some investors are finding meaning by putting their money where their faith is. Faith-based mutual funds typically screen out stocks of companies that violate the tenets of a given religion or religious denomination. A Muslim fund is likely to screen out companies related to pork production, for example, while a Catholic fund can avoid a maker of contraceptives. Read more of this post

Munger’s Mental Model – Inversion and The Power of Avoiding Stupidity

Mental Model – Inversion and The Power of Avoiding Stupidity

by SHANE PARRISH on OCTOBER 28, 2013

“Invert, always invert.”

Charlie Munger, the business partner of Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, is famous for his quote “All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.” That thinking was inspired by Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, the German mathematician famous for some work on elliptic functions that I’ll never understand, who advised “man muss immer umkehren” (or loosely translated, “invert, always invert.”) Read more of this post

Won for the money: North Korea experiments with exchange rates

Won for the money: North Korea experiments with exchange rates

6:28pm EST

By James Pearson

SEOUL (Reuters) – In a dimly-lit Pyongyang toyshop packed with Mickey Mouse picture frames and plastic handguns, a basketball sells for 46,000 Korean People’s Won – close to $500 at North Korea’s centrally planned exchange rate. Luckily, for young North Koreans looking to shoot hoops with Dennis Rodman, the new friend of leader Kim Jong Un, the Chinese-made ball actually costs a little less than $6 based on black market rates. Read more of this post

Oarfish Offer Chance to Study an Elusive Animal Long Thought a Monster

November 2, 2013

Oarfish Offer Chance to Study an Elusive Animal Long Thought a Monster

By DOUGLAS QUENQUA

The body of an 18-foot male oarfish was found in the waters off Santa Catalina Island in California last month. Five days later, a 14-foot female washed up 50 miles away. It was a big day for marine biologists: On Oct. 13, the body of an 18-foot oarfish was dragged from the water onto Santa Catalina Island off the California coast, presenting a rare opportunity for local scientists to study one of the world’s most elusive and awe-inspiring big fish. Five days later, it was a big day again: Another oarfish washed up 50 miles away, this one 14 feet with six-foot-long ovaries full of eggs.

Read more of this post

Want to be a chief executive of a FTSE 350 company? Here’s the route to follow

Want to be a chief executive? Here’s the route to follow

Hit the sweetspot to becoming a company boss by being male, 46 years old, with a university – ideally Oxbridge – education.

By Rebecca Burn-Callander

6:01AM GMT 31 Oct 2013

The average chief executive of a FTSE 350 company is a 46-year-old male, who attended Oxford or Cambridge University, according to research by business intelligence company QlikTech. The company crunched background data on all of the current FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 CEOs, as of August 2013, to find out where they were born, where they went to university, and details around the subjects they studied and key points from their later career.

Read more of this post

A joint Chinese and Singaporean research team have developed an “invisibility cloak” using polygonal devices with glass

Chinese, Singaporean team develop invisibility cloak

Staff Reporter

2013-11-03

The glass device makes part of a pencil disappear. (Internet photo)

A joint Chinese and Singaporean research team have developed an “invisibility cloak” using polygonal devices with glass, reports China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. Professor Chen Hongsheng of the Electromagnetics Academy of Zhejiang University and a research team from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University successfully made a goldfish and a cat disappear with the new light-bending technology. Read more of this post

The World’s Tallest Statue Is Under Construction in India — It Will Be Twice The Size Of The Statue Of Liberty

The World’s Tallest Statue Is Under Construction — It Will Be Twice The Size Of The Statue Of Liberty

MICHAEL KELLEY NOV. 2, 2013, 4:51 PM 3,967 8

India has begun construction on a statue of Sardar Patel, the first home minister of independent India, and it is going to be the tallest in the world by far. Patel shared a prison cell with his close friend Mahatma Gandhi and became the leader of the Congress Party in 1934. The monument will be 600 feet tall and cost $300 million. Taking a look at the 305-foot State of Liberty, it’s hard to fathom how massive this thing will be.

Here’s The Fascinating Way Computers Have Changed The Way Humans Play Chess Against Each Other

Here’s The Fascinating Way Computers Have Changed The Way Humans Play Chess Against Each Other

JOE WEISENTHAL NOV. 2, 2013, 5:17 PM 3,280 2

The most anticipated chess match in over a decade begins next week. On November 9 in Chennai, India, upstart Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen will attempt to become the world champion by facing off against Viswanathan Anand over the course of 12 games. Carlsen gets all the attention because he’s just 22 and even does modeling, but Anand is one of the all-time greats, and is the defending champion. Read more of this post