Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was an attack on some of the then big minds of the “political economy” movement (now called Behavioural Economics). So ya, it was an economics novella. How cool is that!? Planet Money covers the economic history behind the famous yearly tradition.
150 Bq/m3 is equivalent to smoking a half pack of cigarettes/day or if a person smokes already multiplies that smoking risk by 14 times. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. 100 Bq/m3 is world health organization limit, 200 Bq/m3 is Health Canada and 15 Bq/m3 is what is prevalent outdoors (normal radon levels). 1 in 6 homes tested in 2017 had dangerous levels of radon gas (over 200). Most of Alberta and Saskatchewan are at high risk of high radon levels.
Instead of a trade-war which impacts the global economy and hurts everybody, why not just use anti-currency manipulation to address the trade deficit? As explained by Planet Money’s “indicator” podcast it’s practically free. What it doesn’t do is buy politicians votes… The world economy just might be suffering in order for a politician to get re-elected…
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/07/18/630265851/trade-wars-and-the-batman-problem
Yes, the Reader’s Digest. Access their article here:
11 Hidden Reasons Your Internet Is So Slow (Oct 1, 2018)
They quoted a popular post I wrote in 2015:
Forget a bandwidth upgrade! Try these 4 things to make the home internet experience better
Note: Reader’s Digest is owned by “Trusted Media Brands, Inc.” and the article may also be displayed on other sister sites such as Family Handyman: https://www.familyhandyman.com/smart-homeowner/diy-home-improvement/hidden-reasons-your-internet-is-so-slow/
BusinessKnowHow.com published my comments on facilitating international payments (cost/timing); Full article here: https://www.businessknowhow.com/internet/internet-success-tips.htm
Is washing soda! If you have super dirty laundry (kids), hard water or both, add extra washing soda. We add about a cup to our loads. No more of that stinky moldy smell with kitchen clothes either, and we use bleach WAY less.
About:
https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-washing-soda-2145888
What we buy:
Parents with young children need to monitor, if not outright abandon, YouTube. This TED talk takes parents through “why” but high level, never let them watch YouTube with automatic play. Avoid surprise egg videos. Don’t let them watch videos you haven’t checked them and take precautions if leaving them watch unattended.
Visit dollar street to find how income affects how people live. Also startling… everyone in a 1st world nation is considered RICH! And unfortunately we take a lot for granted; like having a toothbrush. Bill Gates introduces the Dollar Street site here. Explore Dollar Street in full here.
(11Sep2018 edit) The book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling describes the 4 levels of income groups and explains the kind of life these people have (similar to Dollar Street). Explore these income groups (which replaces the concept of developing vs developed world): https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Factfulness
What’s to blame for slower growth and rising inequality? Regulatory capture. And who practices Regulatory Capture? EVERYONE “Regulatory capture is a form of government failure which occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. When regulatory capture occurs, the interests of firms or political groups are prioritized over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss for society. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called “captured agencies””. This is an issue that is a “bipartisan blind spot” and affects politicians from any political view.
“…[I]t’s ultimately the duty of the governors to make sure that the rules are in the public interest, rather than in the narrow interests of the various clamoring claimants who come before them.” The first step to eliminating regulatory capture is to recognize that it happens.
One of the reasons the public tolerates regulatory capture is that special interest groups use a positive policy image which creates a natural blind spot in the public’s eyes. An example used by Planet Money is teeth whitening and North Carolina’s Dental Board. The public feels that dentists help people so when the NC Dental Board lobbied to get a regulation to stop non-dentists from offering simple tooth whitening services the dentists initially won. Teeth whitening is more like a pedicure for your teeth rather than a dental procedure and anyone can do one. In fact, these days, people can buy teeth whitening kits at the grocery store. It had to go to the supreme court for the regulation to be removed. While waiting for all the legal trials to settle the issue stifled competition (natural market forces): teeth whitening service costs were artificially inflated (bad for consumers) and non-dentists were put out of business. Planet Money explains a few more examples and including one where homeowners practice regulatory capture.
Sources:
Planet Money’s story called “Rigging The Economy” https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=592376568
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/regulatory-capture-definition-meaning/
* As published in the PMI-SAC April 30, 2018 email newsletter.
Sometimes its impossible to avoid having remote team members. Here’s some tips for preparing to communicate:
1) On teleconferences, mitigate any “bad connection” problems by reminding all participants to mute unless they are talking.
2) Check the internet connection before the meeting. If possible, choose a wired connection over wireless. If the internet is bad or unavailable a participant may become audio only. As a contingency to audio only, having a team sync tool that offers use in offline mode can be useful. Examples are: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox.
Extra tip: Cisco Spark has a tool for testing internet readiness for softphone calling, screen share and conference calls. In addition to bandwidth it also tests for critical real time application requirements such as jitter: https://mediatest.ciscospark.com/#/main. If the remote work site is a location that will be used often then it might be worth having the local internet service provider look into any issues the Cisco Spark tool finds.
3) Ensure the remote worker has a good headset. As long as the internet connection is good typically a stereo headset will noticeably exceed cell phone quality. It also avoids having to connect two tools: a phone and a screen share. Here’s a site with headset reviews: http://www.toptenreviews.com/business/articles/best-voip-headset-review/
Extra Tip: Have a visual cue to remind yourself of your mute status. This reduces the chance for the dreaded “talking while accidently muted” issue. The author uses the Logitech H820e wireless headset as the boom mike has a red LED.