Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Quiet volcano week so far …

Santa Ana Volcano

I’ve been trying to find information to post this week, but not much out their in the press this week.

I did like this article on the close relationship between Salvadoran coffee growers and Santa Ana/Ilamatepec Volcano. After being pressed into an emergency lecture yesterday here about the interactions between humans and volcanoes, this is case in point that a mere 3 years after an eruption helped wipe out their crops, coffee growers are back to planting near Santa Ana’s crater. It is hard not to when the soils near the volcano are so fertile. You can see in the picture (above) how lush the vegetation is right up to the crater itself. This just shows how much risk people are willing to bear in the name of a livelihood.

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Neuropsych

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

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Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

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Leadership

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

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Business

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

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Guest Thinkers

Back from east coast, time to play catch-up

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