Life

Strategic Foresight & Pandemic Planning

Kristel Van der Elst has agreat post on the MIT Technology Review about using strategic foresight to plan for uncertain times. A handy skill in the pandemic we now find ourselves. She lays out a sequence of stels aimed at identifying as many explicit scenarios and opportunites as possible and taking the emotion out of planning for them.

Business

Life

Motivation

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Hum To Search

#233

The Google app now lets you hum a piece of a song into it to find out the name of the song. Die earworm, die!

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Colour Controversy

#232

I often have "discussions" with my wife over the designation of particular colours, particularly the colour of the paint in our sitting room which I say is grey and she says is light blue. Have some mindless clicking fun this Friday afternoon with Colour Controversy, a site that serves you up a colour and asks you to pick from two possible answers. The percentage answers are shown after you pick, and you can even see a leaderboard of the most controversial colours!

Data Vis

Design

Life

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The Sound of Covid-19 Spreading

#232

Dutch data visualisation company TULP Interactive created covidspreadingrates.org, a website that sonifies the spread of COVID-19 by ringing a bell each time a person is infected.

Data Vis

Life

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Book Review: Supercrash by Darryl Cunningham

#231

This week I read the riveting & eye-opening Supercrash. Using the medium of comic strips, the author deftly delivers the outrageous facts and context behind the 2008 financial crash, it's beginnings in the theories and influence of Ayn Rand and her objectivists, and the systematic hijacking of the economic and political world since. Most presciently, the division between left and right wing is brilliantly explained, using succinct captions and poignant illustrations. A must-read explainer for the world we find ourselves in today.

Business

Life

Review

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COVID-19 Vaccine Predictions

#231

The Center For Global Development have published research on predicting the rollout timelines of a COVID-19 vaccine. The predictions show a 50% chance of a vaccine by April 2021, rising to 100% by September 2023. The paper also estimates that a total of just under 24 billion doses will be needed globally, distributed between health workers (115m), 65+ people(1.6bn), at risk people (4.2bn), and the rest of the population (18bn).

Life

Science

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Cultivating Diversity & Inclusion At Work

#230

Jennifer Kim lists 50+ fantastic ideas for cultivating diversity and inclusion at work.

Business

Life

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Podcast of the Week: NPR Shortwave on Pods

#228

The daily NPR Shortwave podcast is great for short episodes about science each day. A recent episode describes the practice of creating isolation pods among people outside of your immediate household or family as a way to socialise during the coronavirus pandemic, assuming you've all had the talk!

Life

Podcast

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First Thought Talks

#228

The First Thought Talks are an excellent set of talks in the Galway International Arts Festival that this year are streamed online and available to view on the festival's YouTube channel. There was an excellent talk on practical options for Ireland in addressing the climate crisis. The last day of talks will be streamed tomorrow, Saturday Sep 12.

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Podcast of the Week: Irish Times Inside Politics - Interview with Elif Shafak

#227

The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast featured an interesting and powerful interview with Elif Shafak, author of How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division.

Life

Podcast

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