Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? (via Deshpandevm’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I found this an interesting commentary on the anti-corruption movement in India.

I find the level of suspicion to be right about the same level as mine. Which maybe healthy or not. Nevertheless, any successful movement must take account of its enemies and I like the article’s predictions as the moves likely to be made. I would have suggested many of the same ones. The one that I focused on immediately was putting loopholes in the legislation to make enforcement impossible. In America, the use of loopholes (known as jokers in American law) is endemic. I strongly agree they are a major danger.

Anyway, read the article. This movement may change the world. It deserves attention.

James Pilant

Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? Hidden Agenda to derail Anti-Corruption Drive? Anna Hazare’s fast unto death to press for demands on Jan Lokpal Bill in April 2011 took the UPA government at the centre by surprise in spite of intelligence inputs. The massive public response it evoked shook the crisis managers of the government. 24 x 7 media coverage had multiplier effect to spread the message and participation to the remote corners of India. As the response of the government unf … Read More

via Deshpandevm’s Blog

Rep. Rehberg, Whose Net Worth Is $31 Million, Says He’s ‘Cash Poor’ And ‘Struggling’ (via Crooks and Liars)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

I keep seeing this. People with enormous sums of money somehow believe they are suffering. They are. Their egos may explode and kill them.

James Pilant

From Crooks and Liars –

At a town hall earlier this week in Montana, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) began comparing the plight of every day middle class Americans like those at his town hall with his own economic circumstance. He droned on about how he’s ‘struggling’ as a small businessman. A constituent asked him what his own net worth is and he said he’s “land rich and cash poor”:

REHBERG: I’m a small businessman. My wife is a small businessman. She hasn’t taken a salary in ten years as a result of business. We’re struggling like everyone else. With the ecnoomy.


Lost in the Stacks 4: Writers and Readers (via The Labyrinth Library)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments
Public Domain

Some days, I do not want to write. I want to do anything but write. My mind says, “Please James, let’s watch a movie, go shopping, have a nap, anything that isn’t typing into that machine.”

I still drag myself to that online beast and write once again. You cannot not post. Your readers will leave, not all of them, but some. And I prize every reader I have. They are like gold coins to a miser. I remember all too well getting 35 hits for the entire month I began posting.

My readers are supportive and kind. Their comments enrich my thought and change how and what I write about.

I am greedy for more readers but I don’t want as much encouragement as the picture and caption indicate!

James Pilant

Lost in the Stacks 4: Writers and Readers With the debut of HBO’s “A Game of Thrones” miniseries and a new article in The New Yorker, the strange story of George R. R. Martin and his fans has been on my mind. So, in this episode of Lost in the Stacks, we examine the weird, often dangerously codependent relationship between the Writer and the Readers. What does the writer owe to his or her readers, if anything? What can the readers honestly expect of their writer? What promises, implicit … Read More

via The Labyrinth Library

Marketing as a Four-Letter Word_ Round 2 (via Heretical Thoughts of an Archivist)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Any time I see someone talk like this, I feel a certain pride in the tenacity of the human spirit to refuse to conform to the culture of greed, conformity and that abomination, “emotional intelligence.”

I think this post represents a high standard of morality compared to much of the marketing I see. I am pleased to re-post this work.

James Pilant

Peter Drucker said that “the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” He uses a similar maxim, quoted by former pupil William A. Cohen, to the effect that good marketing makes sales unnecessary. In the first case, he is discussing knowing the customer well enough to know his need, and then apply innovation and find a way to meet that need. In the second he is speaking of kn … Read More

via Heretical Thoughts of an Archivist

Japan nuke workers nearing max exposure (via flying cuttlefish picayune)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Flying cuttlefish picayune is staying on the Fukushima story with tenacity. I admire this. I’ve tried to follow it everyday but my recent cable loss knocked me off pattern. (As a writer it is fascinating to watch how your style and approach are varied by things you never would have thought of as having an effect.) Following this blog has recommitted me to following the story and I will begin going back to daily or once every two days posting.

Public domain

I will be going to the international media because our corporate, news of the strange focused, press is fairly useless in dealing with any complex issue in any persistent or intelligent way. It is utterly astonishing how different the press is outside the United States. I have been looking at the Anna Hazare story news coverage in India (you should too) and the way they confront politicians with difficult questions and follow-up gives me pride in the field of journalism, a pride which has been steadily diminishing as I have watched the wretched posturing, incompetence and brazen profit seeking of American media.

My warm thanks to my fellow blogger, flying cuttlefish picayune!

James Pialnt

TOKYO, May 1 (UPI) — Some nuclear workers at Japan’s damaged Fukushima power plant are approaching the maximum allowable annual radiation exposure, power officials said. Prior to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that badly damaged four of six reactors at Fukushima, Japanese labor law said the maximum radiation nuclear workers could be exposed to per year was 100 millisieverts. Four days after the disaster, the maximum exposure was increased t … Read More

via flying cuttlefish picayune

Urban permaculture (via Only Ed)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Permaculture is a relative recent concept (1960’s) but it has developed nicely in concert with our increasing curiosity into the advantages of living with nature as opposed to being in conflict with it.

This post offers some links to other sites with more information. If permaculture is something you have heard about or are curious about interesting concepts, this is an excellent starting point.

James Pilant

Urban permaculture Posted 27 April 2011, by Staff, Little City Farm, littlecityfarm.blogspot.com I’ve been doing more reading on urban permaculture, and getting wholly inspired by what is possible in cities and urban areas.  Urban permaculture design and initiatives are the next step beyond what is already taking place in the vastly expanding urban agriculture movement – permaculture addresses not just food production, but also sustainability, co … Read More

via Only Ed

Cross Stitches (via Achilles & Aristotle)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Here we are talking about Montaigne again! (I discussed another Montaigne blog post a week or so ago.) There is always an undercurrent of classicism in the United States. I have been a fan of Mortimer J. Adler and the Great Books project since I was 14 and read his masterpiece, How to Read a Book. Years later when the book was put in the discards, I bought it for a few cents and it is still a part of my library.

I like and appreciate this kind of talk, this kind of reading. Once these deep waters are explored, a person’s thoughts are never quite the same. I remember Adler talked about this and he said that after you have read great books you never need to fear boredom when you are alone. I think that’s true.

This fellow writes intelligent essays. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

James Pilant

Cross Stitches I’ve subscribed to Montaigne’s Essais on dailylit.com which breaks him up into comparatively bitesized chunks. Still the discovery that there are 426 daily episodes to look forward to sometimes feels a long haul. I’m up to episode 62. Some days I skim him, some days I ignore him completely. But sometimes he discusses something with himself, in his meandering way, which speaks to my own day. Whenever I’m close to cancelling my daily dose of Montai … Read More

via Achilles & Aristotle

Hydrogen Production and Sosei Advantage (via Water Team)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

I loved this article. It was not only informative but it took some fairly difficult science and made it seem simple.

Of course, I have the secondary motive of contributing to a better energy future. This is one of many kinds of technology that are inevitable in a world where fossil fuel is becoming more expensive and harder to get.

I have read a number of the posts from this site. Many of them are about water and water supplies. This is a site for any one interested in the field. I liked it.

James Pilant

Hydrogen Production and Sosei Advantage   Image via Wikipedia Today, there are  numerous efforts to produce  hydrogen gas for environmentally friendly energy applications which either require expensive reactants, reagents, catalysts or other energy sources.  Some emit other harmful gases or  result in other undesirable consequences from extended, extensive use.  Here is a video which offers clear insight into why Dr. Fukai’s Sosei Water is in a keystone position to connect society … Read More

via Water Team

Creative Space (via Project CSR)

On By southwerkIn business ethics4 Comments

At one point the author talkes about life changes. There have been some major ones in her life. And then she says at one point these words, “I left my career, changed cities, left my community. I wouldn’t advise this radical restructuring. Yet it was necessary for me. I’d been so malformed over the years of being determined by others that I needed space to create, to build my own structures.”

I very much disagree. If at all possible, do what she did, leave your career, change cities, and get a new community.

We all need to break the bonds of our lives and form our own personalities and grab desperately on to the possibilities of a life of meaning, a path with heart in it.

How many of you have gone back to your high school reunion and listen to the guests discuss how high school was the best part of their lives. I remember some vaguely pleasant hours but no whole days. I started having a real life when I became a full adult. I have made many bad decisions and quite a few good ones, but the best one was not to stay in the pattern laid out for me in the communities I grew up in.

I do a job I love, teaching, and I fight to change the world.

That’s not what they taught me. I was supposed to conform and I don’t.

Now, once you have disagreed with a writer (and in the first paragraph no less) you are compelled by custom to do a kind of rain dance of stomping on the rest of the article. Nothing could be further from my intent. I loved the blog entry and the writing in it.

I, old man that I am, thinks she should be more willing to take the example of her life and say, “You ought to do this too!” She didn’t just make the correct decision to leave her community – she made the courageous decision. I don’t think she gives herself enough credit.

This is a good article from a thoughtful writer. I went down the list of her last six entries and that intelligence and commitement is evident in all of her writing. It’s one of those blogs that might very well merit a place in your bookmarks or favorites.  — Project CSR.

James Pilant

“Creation is pleasure and torture at the same time. It’s trying to make something out of nothing. It’s a birth of some sort. Sometimes it’s like pulling a piano out of a swamp. Sometimes it’s like walking on air. The torture of that nothing-space in front of you, and the pure elation of filling that space with something good—it’s one of life’s great juxtapositions. I’m grateful for that—the torture and the pleasure.” Zooey Deschanel I used to thi … Read More

via Project CSR

on walking the walk. (via bee thousand)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

How much to give? And who to give it to?

The eternal questions of those fortunate to have enough resources to give.

Here is a good discussion of a person trying to make the right charitable choices.

(In the United States, not getting your money diverted to private pockets when giving is very difficult. Scam artists masquerade under the sweetest and most persuasive names. They love names like veteran, children, etc. Be very careful who you give your money to and remember, the most important factor is what proportion of the charity’s contributions actually go to the charitable purpose. If you can’t find that out after a few minute web search, you are better off buying lottery tickets. In both cases your money is lost, but with the lottery, you know up front that your money is gone for no purpose.)

James Pilant

Special thanks to bee thousand.

So far, my dissertation research has consisted mostly in talking the talk but not yet walking the walk. But I’ve mulled over this for sort of a long time now and think I’ve finally come close to a decision regarding my participation in Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save plan (which is tied to his work on charity, which is sort of a central focus of my dissertation research). The algorithm which Singer recommends is donating 1% of your annual in … Read More

via bee thousand