Albert T. Wong - 黃頌言

Meetings suck, but they don’t have to | Steve Tobak’s views on dysfunctional corporate behavior - CNET News.com
Three rules of meeting etiquette

- Every meeting has a start time and an end time. That means it starts on time and ends on time. If someone is chronically late to meetings, the others must bring peer pressure to bear on that individual. If most of a company’s executives exhibit this trait, then find another company. It’s a sign of immaturity and disrespect for others.

- Every meeting is run by someone who is responsible for every aspect of the meeting including agenda, attendance, punctuality, and documentation. That person keeps everyone on topic and moves the meeting along using the methods described below.

- Key decisions that are reached during the meeting regarding strategies, plans or objectives should be published by whoever ran the meeting within one day. That also goes for follow-up or action required and an owner for each item.

Five rules of engagement for effective meetings

- Listening is good. Gratuitous speech is bad. Silence means consent. Don’t chime in just to hear your own voice.

- Presenting new ideas or brainstorming is good. Knocking down another’s idea is bad. There’s a time for reaching consensus.

- Attack the problem or issue, not the person you disagree with. “I don’t agree with you” is okay, but “I think you’re an idiot” isn’t.

- Stay on topic, but don’t beat a dead horse. Save other subjects for other meetings. Use a “parking lot” for important issues that may need to be revisited at a later date.

- Be open, honest, and forthcoming. Don’t hold back, bullshit, or sugar-coat issues. This is especially critical in meetings where key decisions are based on the information presented.

- Don’t just follow these rules yourself; teach them to others. Present them at meetings you conduct. Make work life easier and less frustrating for all your fellow employees and help to make your company more successful. It’ll pay off big-time in the long run.

Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Conversation Hacks
A whole lot more than just words passes between people who are talking, so a few simple conversational skills can help you recognize what’s really being said and help you lead the discussion your way. Learn how to read body language and facial expressions, de-code euphemisms, ask sensitive questions, criticize constructively, get what you want in negotiations, cut off chatterboxes, and and more with our top 10 conversation hacks.

This is pretty darn good. I took a few things out of this video.

Weekend Watching: Tony Robbins on Motivation
In an oldie-but-goodie talk from the invite-only TED event, self-help guy Tony Robbins discusses what motivates people to do the things they do. Words can’t do this one justice; just hit the play button.

Housework and sex: What’s the connection? - CNN.com
Jen Simmons loves to watch her husband Danny tend to their two little boys, mop the floor or hang a picture. She also finds it sexy.
Men do more housework than they used to, a study says, although they create more of it.

“I am very turned on when he’s doing housework,” says the 36-year-old Camden, Delaware resident, a middle school teacher.

“If there’s a sink full of dirty dishes, he knows I’m going to take care of that before I want to get intimate. If he wasn’t helping with the housework, I would not find that very attractive.”

Simmons’ attitude is pretty typical of married women, researchers say. They like it when their spouses share the household chores, but also find that — paradoxically — a husband may also create more work for them, or not contribute as much as women would like. In other words, science has once again proven what many people already suspect: Relationships take work, especially when it comes to keeping a happy and tidy home.

The Simple Dollar » How To Write an Effective Thank You Note for Any Occasion
With graduation season recently passed and many early summer weddings ongoing, a lot of people are facing the task of writing a big pile of notes to friends and family, thanking them for their gift-giving generosity. I’ve faced down this big task several different times in my life - and interestingly enough, most of those occasions fell squarely in the middle of the month of June.

Frankly, though, thank you notes can be a big source of anxiety for many people and it’s often something that’s put off until later because of that anxiety. To help get through that anxiety, here’s a guide to thank you notes, covering when they’re appropriate to send and how to assemble an effective one.

Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Modern Life Survival Skills
Avoid everyday problems and modern mini-calamities by arming yourself with the right know-how before you head out into the world. Locking yourself out of your apartment, losing your car in the Gargantu-Mart lot, standing lost on a city street corner—you can overcome almost any day-to-day disaster with some clever thinking and a bit of knowledge. We’ve compiled some of our favorite tricks that can make any Average Joe/Jane feel like a regular commando at work, at home, or on the go. Hit the link for a list of our top 10 non-computer modern life survival skills.

Don’t follow the lies - Debt is not wealth, appreciation is not income, and credit is not saving.

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Irvine Housing Blog
Southern California is a beautiful place. The weather is perfect, there is a lot to do, and the people are generally friendly and keep out of your business. For those reasons and many others, I have chosen to make Southern California my home. However, Southern California is not perfect. The culture is infected with pathological beliefs that have led us to the huge problem with house affordability and the impending disaster in our real estate market.

God makes you stupid, researchers claim | The Register
A psychology researcher has controversially claimed that stupidity is causally linked to how likely people are to believe in God.

University of Ulster professor Richard Lynn will draw the conclusion in new research due to be published in the journal Intelligence, the Times Higher Education Supplement reports.

Lynn and his two co-authors argue that average IQ is an excellent predictor of what proportion of the population are true believers, across 137 countries. They also cite surveys of the US Academy of Sciences and UK Royal Academy showing single-digit rates of religious belief among academics.

That professional skeptics dont believe in a creator is perhaps not all that surprising. Lynn argues, however, that it is their intelligence that directly gives rise to the boffinated classes non-God-bothering tendencies. He said: “Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population.”

Lynn pointed out that most children do believe in God, but as their intelligence develops they tend to have doubts or reject religion. Similarly, as average IQ in Western societies increased through the 20th century, so did rates of atheism, he said.

Peak-Season Map at Epicurious.com
Use our interactive map to see what’s fresh in your area, plus find ingredient descriptions, shopping guides, recipes, and tips

Featured Firefox Extension: Pronounce Tells You How to Say It
All platforms with Firefox: Whether English isn’t your native language or you’re just tired of wondering whether you’re reading that unfamiliar word in your mind correctly, the Pronounce Firefox extension is a very handy tool. With the extension installed, highlight a word on any web page, right click, and choose “Pronounce” from the context menu. Have your speakers on, because using pronunciation audio from the Merriam Webster dictionary, Pronounce will tell you how to say it. Give it a try: milquetoast. Pronounce is a free download for all platforms running Firefox, and it’s Firefox 3-ready.