John Irving: See how he runs!

John Irving Shares His Writing Process, as uploaded on the site 'Writers' Blog'-

Bestselling author John Irving (The World According to Garp) discusses his next book, Last Night in Twisted River, and his writing life with Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the New York Times Book Review. It's an interesting interview. Irving was at his doctor's office and the last line of the book came to him in a flash of inspiration (which is always what comes to him first). Having no paper he started writing on a prescription pad, which pretty much freaked out the nurse when she came into the room and saw him apparently writing his own prescription. He also shares the first and last sentences of his new novel. Take a look:

Writer's Blog: John Irving Shares His Writing Process

Economic Growth Can Be Uneconomic

Herman Daly has recently posted an exploration of other ways to make sure there is enough for humanity to live into the future, and in it he grapples informatively with economic sacred cows. It’s at - The Oil Drum | From a Failed Growth Economy to a Steady-State Economy

The piece is strung around these two questions:

“First, there is a deep theorem in mathematics that says when something grows it gets bigger! So, when the economy grows it too gets bigger. How big can the economy be, Professor? How big is it now? How big should it be? Have economists ever considered these questions? And most pointedly, what makes them think that growth (i.e., physical expansion of the economic subsystem into the finite containing biosphere), is not already increasing environmental and social costs faster than production benefits, thereby becoming uneconomic growth, making us poorer, not richer? After all, real GDP, the measure of “economic” growth so-called, does not separate costs from benefits, but conflates them as “economic” activity. How would we know when growth became uneconomic? Remedial and defensive activity becomes ever greater as we grow from an “empty-world” to a “full-world” economy, characterized by congestion, interference, displacement, depletion and pollution. The defensive expenditures induced by these negatives are all added to GDP, not subtracted. Be prepared, students, for some hand waving, throat clearing, and subject changing. But don’t be bluffed.

Second question; do you then, Professor, see growth as a continuing process, desirable in itself– or as a temporary process required to reach a sufficient level of wealth which would thereafter be maintained more or less in a steady state? At least 99% of modern neoclassical economists hold the growth forever view. We have to go back to John Stuart Mill and the earlier Classical Economists to find serious treatment of the idea of a non-growing economy, the Stationary State. What makes modern economists so sure that the Classical Economists were wrong? Just dropping history of economic thought from the curriculum is not a refutation!…”

Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young

Link:

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

- Neil Young

Self-Determination please!

"Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro-theory of human motivation concerned with the development and functioning of personality within social contexts. The theory focuses on the degree to which human behaviors are volitional or self-determined - that is, the degree to which people endorse their actions at the highest level of reflection and engage in the actions with a full sense of choice.

SDT is based on an organismic-dialectical meta-theory, which begins with the assumption that people are active organisms, with innate tendencies toward psychological growth and development, who strive to master ongoing challenges and to integrate their experiences into a coherent sense of self. This natural human tendency does not operate automatically, however, but instead requires ongoing nutriments and supports from the social environment in order to function effectively. That is, the social context can either support or thwart the natural tendencies toward active engagement and psychological growth. Thus, it is the dialectic between the active organism and the social context that is the basis for SDT's predictions about behavior, experience, and development.

Within SDT, the nutriments for healthy development and functioning are specified using the concept of basic psychological needs, which are innate, universal, and essential for health and well-being. That is, basic psychological needs are a natural aspect of human beings that apply to all people, regardless of gender, group, or culture. To the extent that the needs are ongoingly satisfied people will function effectively and develop in a healthy way, but to the extent that they are thwarted, people will show evidence of ill-being and non-optimal functioning. The darker sides of human behavior and experience are understood in terms of basic needs having been thwarted.

SDT is a general theory of motivation and personality that evolved over the past three decades as a set of four mini-theories that share the organismic-dialectical meta-theory and the concept of basic needs. Each mini-theory was developed to explain a set of motivationally based phenomena that emerged from laboratory and field research focused on different issues. Cognitive evaluation theory addresses the effects of social contexts on intrinsic motivation; organismic integration theory addresses the concept of internalization especially with respect to the development of extrinsic motivation. Causality orientations theory describes individual differences in people's tendencies toward self-determined behavior and toward orienting to the environment in ways that support their self-determination. And basic needs theory elaborates the concept of basic needs and its relation to psychological health and well-being. Together these mini-theories constitute SDT.

Overviews of the theory can be found in Ryan and Deci (2000) and in Deci and Ryan (1985, 2000). Relevant research reports and theoretical discussion are listed in the Publications section, organized by topic.."

More at: Self-Determination Theory

Rudeness Cripples Colleagues

"Seeing one person be rude to another can stunt a person's creativity, impair their mental performance and make them less likely to be civil themselves. Christine Porath and Amir Erez, who made this finding, say it has profound implications for the workplace, where rudeness has been described by some as a modern epidemic.

Across three studies, Porath and Erez recruited undergrad students to take part in what they were led to believe was an investigation into personality and task performance. Porath and Erez contrived situations in their lab so that the student participants witnessed either a researcher be rude to a student for turning up late, or one student be rude to another student for taking so long over a consent form.

Witnessing an act of rudeness, whether committed by a researcher or student, led the participants to solve fewer anagrams, come up with fewer uses for a brick (and to come up with more aggressive uses!), made them less likely to offer to participate in another study, and lowered their mood.

A third study showed that the harmful effects of witnessing rudeness were greater when students were enrolled in a collaborative group task, compared with when they were enrolled in a competitive group task where they had something to gain from the rudeness victim's ordeal. Although the harmful effects were lower in the competitive scenario, they were still present.

Porath and Erez said this is the first study to their knowledge that has investigated the direct effects of merely witnessing rudeness as opposed to being the target of rudeness. Future research is needed to explore the mechanisms by which witnessing rudeness leads to the harmful outcomes reported here.

"The conclusion that rudeness may not be contained within the instigator-target dyad and that it affects performance is theoretically and practically significant because it implies that the organisational functioning and climate could be affected by isolated rude incidents," the researchers said.
_________________________________

Porath, C., & Erez, A. (2009). Overlooked but not untouched: How rudeness reduces onlookers’ performance on routine and creative tasks Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109 (1), 29-44 DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.01.003"

This report, and other curious findings, are available and regularly updated at
BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: Search results for rudeness

Validation: the movie

"Validation" is a charming fable about the magic of free parking and similar connundrums. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. It is a multiple award winning short film.



YouTube - Validation

Help with the Human Emotion Art Project

A project initiated and overseen by Alison Williams invites international artists to record and interpret human emotion visually using film/video for global screenings. It is arranged so that the curators involved are responsible for selecting the screenings by country. Collaborations are also acceptable.

A selection of proposed contributions from around the world have been posted on -
HUMAN EMOTION PROJECT(HEP) 2009 - artreview.com