Tim's Library

Editor’s Note: Ever since hearing a presentation 20 years ago from a surgeon who said “30% of your health is chance (heredity), 70% is choice (how you treat your body and mind) this issue has interested me greatly. I’m not a health nut but I strive to do more good to my body than bad. This article, given me by my friend, Brad Roller, is alarming but in a very helpful way, in my view. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease

Editor’s Note: Somehow this article from 16 months ago got lost in my clippings file and yet is still worth publishing. It’s a brief Charlie Rose interview with two academics and two journalists. It’s a great clip in my view of what seems to me to be an American society issue – the bifurcation of incomes.

Excerpt: “America without a middle class is a Third World Country.”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_45/b4202018126682.htm?chan=rss_topDiscussed_ssi_5

Editor’s note:  Thanks to my good friend and article-watcher, Ron Dimattia, for passing this onto me.  I’ve never been a big Clinton fan and yet his point of “charity” alone no longer making sense is one I subscribe to wholeheartedly.  And the article is well-written and to the point.  

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/544c317a-42a2-11e1-93ea-00144feab49a.html#axzz1lAhNPWnC

Editor’s note: You’ll have to register on the McKinsey site to finish reading this but it’s free and well worth the read. Every single person I know faces information overload in one way or another. I hope you are working your way out of it, just as I have been. Getting out of the slow-down that multi-tasking can cause in your work is as difficult yet simple as meditation. That is, as the article states: “find time to focus, filter out the unimportant, forget about work every now and then. The holy grail, of course, is to retain the benefits of connectivity without letting it distract us too much.”

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Recovering_from_information_overload_2735

Editor's Note:  There is an emerging argument for overcoming our ever-expanding polarization of wealth in the USA.  It goes well beyond pleas for compassion from "bleeding hearts" like mine.  That is, that income disparity is actually bad for our economy.  David J. Lynch captures this theory and its principal promoter succinctly for Bloomberg Business Week below.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/how-inequality-hurts-the-economy-11162011.html

(Link To Article)

Editor’s note:  I’ve struggled all my life, as perhaps most of us have, with my faith.  I rarely doubt the existence of God be she my Roman Catholic God or anyone else’s.  This article from a doctor of Physics, suggests, as my father often did, that doubt need not diminish faith.  Then he goes a step further saying that science and faith should logically rest well together.  

Article Link
Editor's Note: As a person who was forced into entrepreneurship by losing his job, this Bloomberg point of view really caught my eye. And it gives impetus to my work with the foundation to find and finance more people just like I was in the late '80s........a hard worker with good ideas and no capital. More...

By David Haskell, Dreams Indeed International

Our weakness proved to be our greatest asset.

In an Egyptian village roasted by the merciless sun, civil engineer Yousry and I sat
down on shaded bamboo chairs in April 1999.  A sniffing and wagging session ensued
to find out if we could work together.

I'd been asked to found Habitat for Humanity in the Middle East.  Perhaps my
skepticism of its prospects in the Arab world was forgivable, given its American
profile and Jesus Christ's name in its legal charter.  But I agreed to visit its
only pilot project on Arab soil. 

More...

May 13th 2010 | from the print edition of The Economist | Banyan 

Editor's note:  I've witnessed first-hand that wealth in emerging countries does not distribute itself equally and so Banyan's article really strikes a chord.  It's hard to see politicians being driven in Mercedes limousines on your way to slums occupied by millions of citizens of the same country.  His key point - "income inequality matters" is as clear to me as the restaurant business point (that so few remember) that treating your employees well leads to great customer service.  Instituting complex systems such as equal education access in such developing economies is a gain for all, not just the working poor. More...

Published: economist.com | Jun 9th 2011 | NEW YORK | from the print edition
http://www.economist.com/node/18802844

Editor’s note:  A fascinating and brilliant article from the Economist June 11 issue.  I’ve seen many arguments about non-profit versus profit social impact but never one that based in 100 years of activity of two companies (IBM and Carnegie) that took opposite approaches to social change, both with significant results.  An interesting read for all of us who study the issue. More...