As the Jesuit president of Fordham University in New York City observed : “A humble Jesuit? An oxymoron. A Jesuit pope? An impossibility. A humble Jesuit pope? A miracle.”
More evidence of the Holy Spirit.
Like Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Wadowice fame, back in early 1970s, I used to love listening to audio tapes of the civilised comedy skits from the Bratislava based Seminary about Communists and the Catholic Church which my cousins Andrej used to share around Christmas time: “There is always a right way and a wrong way to proceed: Two Catholic unordained students at the seminar both wanted a cigarette while they prayed. They decided to ask their superior for permission. The first asked, but was told no. A little while later he spotted his friend smoking. "Why did the superior allow you to smoke, but not me?" he asked. His friend replied, "Because you asked if you could smoke while you prayed, and I asked if I could pray while I smoked!"
Via BC: 4,600 students giving more the 1 million hours of charity and service - in excess of 200 hours per student - outstanding ..,
Father McShane's 2013 Fordham Founder's Speech
John Altman & Michael Poliakoff: Force Colleges To Allow Free Speech
Father McShane's 2013 Fordham Founder's Speech
John Altman & Michael Poliakoff: Force Colleges To Allow Free Speech
What a 16th-century mystic can teach us about making good decisions
Has Magic Been Displaced By Science? Not At All
Far from having evaporated, ‘folkloric disenchantment’ is still common today in the writings of self-described magicians, shamans and witches. But we also find its analogue in academic disciplines. In this academic version of the myth, nostalgia for vanished magic has been replaced by the idea that a scientific worldview has stepped in to replace more primitive folk-belief systems. – Aeon
Academic Freedom and the Catholic University: An Historical Review, a Conceptual Analysis, and a Prescriptive Proposal, 15 U. St. Thomas L.J. 253 (2019):
This
Essay is composed of four parts. In Part I, we sketch the origins of
the concept of academic freedom in colleges and universities in the
United States. We then examine the contemporary understanding of the
concept as set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic
Freedom and Tenure. Next, we provide a brief history of the experience
of academic freedom in Catholic universities in the United States. This
history includes a series of pivotal controversies in the 1950s-1960s at
four Catholic universities: the University of Notre Dame, St. John’s
University, the University of Dayton, and the Catholic University of
America. It also includes a brief review of two transformative documents
— the Land O’Lakes Statement (1967) and The Catholic University in the
Modern World (1972) — in which leading Catholic educators endeavored to
articulate a conception of a modern Catholic university that included a
robust role for academic freedom. In light of these developments,
Catholic universities revised their policies on academic freedom.
Forced to recite the Koran: The school that failed to protect Benji from bullies
A culture of bullying at Ashfield Boys High School had led some parents to homeschool their sons.
IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Could coffee help you lose weight? New research suggests a fat-busting effect.
IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Could coffee help you lose weight? New research suggests a fat-busting effect.
Opinion: Facebook will soon have millions of customers at the Bank of Zuck Brent Arends, MarketWatch
In her post about the book The White Cat and the Monk, Maria Popova uses this great phrase, “uncompetitive purposefulness”, which is one of those things that you hear and you’re like, riiiight, that’s how I want to be living my life.
Written as a playful ode in the ninth century, today the poem lives partway between lamentation and celebration — it stands as counterpoint to our culture of competitive striving and ceaseless self-comparisons, but it also reminds us that the accomplishments of others aren’t to the detriment of our own; that we can remain purposeful about our pursuits while rejoicing in those of others; that we can choose to amplify each other’s felicity because there is, after all, enough to go around even in the austerest of circumstances.
Just this morning I ran across a tweet from Jonny Sun:
if you cheer for people you like instead of envy them the world gets better for you and for them and for everyone involved i promise
the cake is big enough for everyone to have a slice. ten slices. the sheet cake can feed us all. infinity cake. infinity rewards and wins.
The Decline of American Journalism Is an Antitrust Problem ProMarket (Louis P)
Bret Stephens, Warmonger American Conservative. Resilc: “NY Times as stupid as always, they didn’t learn from Judith Miller.”
British Airways parent company delivers a massive vote of confidence in the Boeing 737 MAX but hours later Airbus racks up more orders over stricken Boeing at Paris Air ShowSeattle TimesBoeing’s Latest 737 MAX Concern: Pilots’ Physical Strength Barron’s (mirrored from WSJ). “The analysis has been further complicated because the same emergency procedure applies to the generation of the jetliner that preceded the MAX, known as the 737 NG. About 6,300 of these planes are used by more than 150 airlines globally and they are the backbone of short- and medium-range fleets for many carriers.” Hoo boy.
What Really Happened to Malaysia’s Missing Airplane The Atlantic
So I noticed @Google didn't create a doodle for #Juneteenth2019. So I decided to help out.
Via LLRX – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weisshighlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Artificial intelligence-enhanced journalism offers a glimpse of the future of the knowledge economy; China Summons Tech Giants to Warn Against Cooperating With Trump Ban; New RCE vulnerability impacts nearly half of the internet’s email servers; and NARA Considers Blockchain to Verify Records Amid Rise in Deepfake Videos.
Inc.: “…Over the decades, a lot of really stupid management fads have come and gone, including:
- Six Sigma, where employees wear different colored belts (like in karate) to show they’ve been trained in the methodology.
- Stack Ranking, where employees are encouraged to rat each other out in order to secure their own advancement and budget.
- Consensus Management, where all decisions must pass through multiple committees before being implemented.
It need hardly be said that these fads were and are (at best) a waste of time and (at worst) a set of expensive distractions. But open plan offices are worse. Much worse. Why? Because they decrease rather than increase employee collaboration. As my colleague Jessica Stillman pointed out last week, a new study from Harvard showed that when employees move from a traditional office to an open plan office, it doesn’t cause them to interact more socially or more frequently. Instead, the opposite happens. They start using email and messaging with much greater frequency than before. In other words, even if collaboration were a great idea (it’s a questionable notion), open plan offices are the worst possible way to make it happen. Previous studies of open plan offices have shown that they make people less productive, but most of those studies gave lip service to the notion that open plan offices would increase collaboration, thereby offsetting the damage.
The Harvard study, by contrast, undercuts the entire premise that justifies the fad. And that leaves companies with only one justification for moving to an open plan office: less floor space, and therefore a lower rent. But even that justification is idiotic because the financial cost of the loss in productivity will be much greater than the money saved in rent. Here’s an article where I do the math for you. Even in high-rent districts, the savings have a negative ROI…”
By Duncan Hughes, Australian Financial Review (AFR) Wednesday 26th June 2019
Michael Andrew, the former global chief of KPMG who died this week, has left a lasting legacy in business, education, government, sport and cancer research. Mr Andrew's final years of work as chairman of the Australian Board of Taxation and the federal government's Black Economy Task Force started the process for creating a fairer tax system.
His friends and former colleagues all noted his sharp intellect, focus, profound decency and strong sense of public duty.
He was the first Australian to be chief executive of a big four accounting firm. He was also chairman of the Australian B20 Working Group on Anti-Corruption and Transparency and its Global CEO Forum, a member of the Business Council of Australia and the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. His work as an adviser and lobbyist for a range of sporting groups and charities reflected his wide range of interests, commitment and desire to be a force for good.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: “He leaves a significant legacy with his Black Economy Taskforce report recommendations. The cash economy has been a long-standing problem. It was his drive and leadership that moved the conversation forward.”
Alison Kitchen, national chairwoman of KPMG Australia, said:
“He was a fearless leader for all members of staff and provided outstanding service to his clients.” Australian Prostate Centre director Tony Costello described Mr Andrew's efforts in securing financial support for research as “very dedicated and very strategic”. “He worked tirelessly,” Professor Costello said about Mr Andrew's efforts to find a cure for future sufferers of the disease that claimed his life.
Mr Andrew is survived by his wife, Mardi, and daughters Danielle and Monique.
