Oh K, Lets Talk Economic Recovery
Unless you have embraced the saying “ignorance is bliss”, I am sure at one point or another you have heard an english letter used to describe a type of economic recovery. There has been a large focus on four “letters” of recovery, V, U, W and L. Each letter describes the shape that GDP growth could take after Covid-19 has taken its toll, and understanding the different economic factors that are pushing each type of recovery can help you be better prepared in these uncertain times. *Disclaimer: If you have a burning disdain for graphs… read no further. “V” shaped recovery is the golden child, the extra nugget with your…
The Woman Who Gave Us A Measuring Stick For The Heavens.
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born July 4, 1868 in Lancaster Massachusetts, daughter of a Congressional Minister she grew up and attended Radcliffe College. Here she discovered astronomy and after graduating volunteered at Harvard College Observatory as a computer for seven years, eventually being appointed to permanent staff under Edward Pickering. Edward Charles Pickering became the director of the Harvard Observatory in 1876, and for the time was considered a progressive because he opened up the department to use women as “computers”. The story goes that Pickering fired his assistant, deeming him incapable of cataloging all the photos his department was taking of the night sky. He replaced him with his…
The Problem With “White Privilege”
First and foremost I would like to acknowledge the horrific treatment of George Floyd and countless African-American/Canadians, who experience unjustified prejudice because of the color of their skin. There is no justification for these acts, and the mission of the police is and always should be to “serve and protect”. As the body who is charged with enforcing the law they are required to thereby exemplify it in all aspects, so for any law abiding citizen to feel threatened by their presence is a testament for reformation. I believe in equal rights and freedom of expression for all people on all topics. But for some it might be good to…
Paint More Pictures
There is a need to dispel the notion that communication involves the transfer of knowledge or information. As no two brains are connected, the best that communication can be is merely influencing someone else’s thought. Each person can only arrive to their own conclusions, which is why you cannot get a point across to someone when in conflict but can when there is mutual respect and cooperation. Herbert Paul Grice gave a lecture at Stanford in which he introduced the Cooperative Principle. He theorized that because human beings are rational, there must also be a rational explanation for how we converse with each other. The Cooperative Principle says that every…
How Your Perspective Can Hold You Back.
In physics there is an elementary concept called Absolute vs Relative measurement. The gist of it is that Absolute measurement refers to the actual value of an object, for example, there are three apples, in this case we are measuring an object to itself. A Relative measurement means we draw a comparison between two different objects, ie. we are 3 feet apart, with both you and I being compared to get a value. The most relatable example is when we compare ourselves to other people, in order to gauge our success, status or value we almost always measure ourselves relative to someone else. Hopefully you have been told from a…
The Forgotten Father of Our Modern Foundation.
A conversation about the most influential people in history would bring up names like Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Jesus, Johannes Gutenberg, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. With each credited for laying down the foundation that an era could build on. In our own era, Vannevar Bush is widely unknown and could arguably be the most influential figure of modern times. Not only did his individual brilliance shine through his inventions and patents, but his leadership and character set the pace of our technological development, and paved the way for some of the greatest inventions in history. Born in Massachusetts, this son of a reverend loved to tinker from a young age…
Mark Zuckerberg COVID-19 Donation.
There has been some recent controversy on Twitter and Instagram regarding a donation of $25 Million made by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charity created by Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder and CEO) and his wife Priscilla Chan. This donation was made to a Therapeutics Accelerator which aims to speed up the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. It was created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with MasterCard and Wellcome. (See link for more details) People have scrutinized this donation, contrasting it to his net-worth saying that its the equivalent of an average person donating a few dollars. It is not the first time that there has been criticism…