Monthly Archives: December 2014

(Community Matters) Text acronyms parents might want to know – from CNN Wire

1. IWSN – I want sex now

2. GNOC – Get naked on camera

3. NIFOC – Naked in front of computer

4. PIR – Parent in room

5 CU46 – See you for sex

6. 53X – Sex

7. 9 – Parent watching

8. 99 – Parent gone

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(Community Matters)  Disruptive innovation in philanthropy, encouraging.

with the rise of social networks that connect people the world over instantaneously, many millennials have a broader view of charity.  Pioneers in an emerging philosophy of philanthropy known as “effective altruism” — which applies evidence and reason over things like emotion and intuition to determine where one can do the most good.

an independent, nonprofit charity evaluator that they dubbed GiveWell. a joint venture between Good Ventures and GiveWell that they called the Open Philanthropy Project.

They consider three questions when deciding whether a cause has promise. First, importance — how many people’s lives would be affected and by how much? Second, could it be solved, in the short-term and long-term? And third, how crowded is the space? If a lot of smart people are already thinking about the issue, the marginal impact could be less than in other areas.

Washington Post: Cari Tuna and Dustin Moskovitz: Young Silicon Valley billionaires pioneer new approach to philanthropy

(Community Matters) Gotta get thinking on 2015’s word.

2014’s CLARITY – worked out very well. Was very clear about what to be accomplished this year: 1) EF objectives, 2) Adler for Mayor, 3) further integrating with Capital Factory, 4) quality time w/ our parents. Feel great about accomplishment in each arena.

2015 – I imagine it’ll have something to do w/ Culturati. Also remaking youth entrepreneurship programs (movement) and certainly still quality time w/ mom & dad. 

Update: I did select Culturati: [hoping to build] a society of CEOs, executives & scholars committed to a mission-driven purpose in business, to the practice of building strong corporate cultures. A retreat we are planning for Austin in September.

more on Word

(Community Matters) I should know this name – Alexei Navalny, an attorney & anticorruption activist – one of the leading Russian opposition figures.

WSJ story about U.S. Tech Firms Face Showdown With Russian Censors and about the rally next month in support of Navalny.

I’m reposting this for my own recall

(Community Matters) The increasing polarization of jobs being created in the market – Dallas Federal Reserve newsletter – is due to automation of routine jobs and to a lesser extent offshoring, resulting in the loss of middle-skills jobs. Higher education and a willingness to upgrade skills accounts for better performance of women in the jobs market over last 25 years. Men who lose these middle-skills jobs are remanded to lower-skills, lower paying jobs.

The number of jobs requiring medium levels of skills has shrunk while the number at both ends of the distribution – those requiring high and low skills level – has expanded. . . . polarization began about 25 years ago, in the early 1990s and intensified in the last decade. . . . Middle skills jobs were not recovered [after the recessions of this period, especially the recession of 2008-09].

Routine jobs always rebounded during the economic expansions that followed the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s. The pattern changed dramatically in the three recessions since 1990. None of the routine jobs lost in these downturns came back in the following expansions.

Middle skills jobs those in blue below (manual & cognitive routine).

While women were hit much harder than men by the disappearance of middle-skills jobs, the majority of women managed to upgrade their skills and find better paying jobs.

Middle-skill, routine jobs still account for almost half of all existing jobs.

(Community Matters) While reading about the cerebellar peduncle (a nerve tract that permits communication between the cerebellum and the other parts of the central nervous system), microvascular changes versus artifacts, cerebral white matter, flow voids and focal hyperintensity . . . I stumbled upon this blog: Braindisease’s Weblog – This blog deals with common neurological diseases.

A particular posting was very helpful in understanding white matter. And, I stumbled upon another posting (really not brain related) about the Poor Me syndrome of social media networking. Fascinating. Steven and I have been talking about the contribution of social media to quarter life crisis.

Lewy Body Dementia – I wasn’t familiar with this until a few months ago.

(Community Matters)  Lots of fun this Christmas

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(Community Matters) hat tip: Kirk Rudy (a dear friend I’m missing hanging out with)

the unemployment rate is down to 5.8 percent, half the struggling eurozone’s rate; gas is down to $2.38. Crime, abortion, teen pregnancy and oil imports are also way down, while renewable power is way up and the American auto industry is booming again. Declining child poverty and household debt and personal bankruptcies are also worth celebrating. It’s a good thing that U.S. wind power has tripled and solar power has increased tenfold in five years. The meteoric rise of the stock market since 2009 has produced windfalls for Wall Street and 401(k) retirement plans and labor union coffers.

There’s still plenty to worry about (inadequate public schools, crumbling infrastructure, soaring college tuition costs, stark inequality).

But for now be merry! And may the new year be as awesome as this year.

Politico: Everything is Awesome

(Community Matters) a Christmas message for all of us from Pope Francis?

Including himself among the sinners, Pope Francis, reminds us men can suffer a “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” citing lust for power, hypocritical double lives and a lack of spiritual empathy. “Brothers, let’s guard ourselves from the terrorism of gossip.” Francis warned . . . against drifting “downward toward mediocrity.”

the video is worth a watch – http://nyti.ms/1wWRL9s

New York Times: Francis Uses Christmas Speech to Criticize Vatican Bureaucracy

(Community Matters) Should Austin consider also taking the advice of the National Academy of Sciences and establish a forensics departments separate from the police department in order to better protect Austinites?

Austin American Statesman

(Community Matters) Intuitively, I tend to agree with the Texas experts about home prices.

“Texas and the specific markets named, have experienced way above average growth in employment, incomes, and overall prosperity and it’s reflected in home values increasing.” . . . “The flaw in the Fitch report is that it is taking a snapshot of the market and trying to tell the whole story, while not looking at the basics of supply and demand”

Austin American Statesman: Are Texas home prices overvalued, as report claims?