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how big is infinity? by dennis wildfogel

via brainpickings

the future

via laughing squid

slightly rude place names

Vaguely Rude Place Names Of The World infographic

5 things #journalists will never tell you

1) you may well have said this is off the record but as you're not a regular source of info if you withhold stuff from now cause i breached the confidence so what

2) i know less about this subject than you do but i know how to ask questions with attitude that push you off balance

3) i'm really just in an entertainment industry which sells ad space to make money

4) yes of course I'll just sex up your press release because i have't got the time to do serious journalism

5) i am going to make up some story and get it in a newspaper - unless you are rich there is little you can do about that

logan

 via laughing squid

kitchen cheat sheet infographic

Kitchen Cheat Sheet infographic by shellshockuk.

kitchen volume conversion

Kitchen Volume Conversion Aid infographic by Plainworks.

via visual.ly

difference between debt and deficit (by the centre for policy studies)

via frasernelson

#car of the #future infographic

by NowSourcing. Browse more infographics.

how to write a #worship song (in 5 minutes or less)

via church mag

how to use a paper towel #lifehack #importantstuff

now don't say I never bring you the really important stuff in life ......

its 4 minutes and 32 seconds of good education





but if you're in a rush then the trick is to shake your hands 12 times to get rid of the water

and then to fold one towel (allows interstitial susupension) and use it to dry your hands



shake and fold 



after watching this video those are 2 words you'll always associate with paper towels 



and wait for the news at the end for what he is tackling next

see what is on the other side of the world (ht wingser on redditt http://bit.ly/VmhFka)

as this site http://www.antipodemap.com/

found via via redditfeed who found it via Wingser

why is the sky blue

Why Is The Sky Blue? infographic by ajrdesign.

via visual.ly

the flipped classroom

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media
via church mag who credits coolinfographics.com via Chris on Pinterest]

back to the future I in 60 seconds

stuff and things

'STUFF & THINGS' from Mummu on Vimeo.

via laughing squid

#cofe #priest #selection #criteria word cloud

word cloud created via wordle

the lifespan of storage media

© 2012 Code 42 Software, Inc.

via coolinfographics

#10tips on how to identify the #culture of an organisation ht #schein

Some have defined an organisations' culture as been the learned solutions to problems which are ultimately embodied as an interrelated patterned set of basic assumptions that deal with ultimate issues (see Tip 10 below). 

Many of these assumptions are underlying, almost unconscious and so are taken for granted because they have repeatedly worked in dealing with problems. 

And of course within an organisation there can be multiple cultures (often linked to members occupational backgrounds). 

Below are 10 tips on how to identify an organisation’s culture, many of these focus on identifying what the underlying assumptions of the organisations’ culture are. Where the tip is to find out or interview then consider interviewing supervisors, leaders and older peers. 

These tips are derived from this winter 1984 article in the Sloane Management Review on “Coming to a new awareness of organisational culture” by Edgar H Schein 

10 tips on identifying an organisations' culture

1) Start by looking at what is visible – like how offices are laid out or the dress code or how people behave with bosses or the technology used or documents in the public domain and the values they include. 

2) identify an insider who is representative of the culture  - and who wants to identify their own assumptions - and then jointly explore with them observations/anomalies about the organisation that puzzle outsiders. 

3) on external adaptation - find out what the consensus is on the following aspects of the organisation: primary task or core mission; goals and performance measures, reward system and organisation structure, remedial strategies when goals aren’t accomplished. 

4) on internal integration - find out what the consensus is on the following aspects of the organisation: common language and conceptual categories; boundaries and inclusion/exclusion criteria; power and status allocation criteria, intimacy and friendship criteria; reward and punishment criteria; ideology in the face of unexplainable events. 

5) define a biography of the organisation - in terms of major periods of culture formation and what was done, why it was done and what the outcome was – then look for major themes in the reasons given for the actions taken.

6) learning in problem solving or anxiety avoidance situations - identify in which of these two types of situation the organisation learned it's solutions to problems (with problem solving situations a learned solution will be used until it ceases to work, with anxiety avoidance situations a learned solution is more likely to be repeated indefinitely as such a response does not test whether the cause of the anxiety is still operating). 

7) try to identify "parent" culture assumptions - so parent could be society or the larger organisation.

8) identify how the group describes “how the world is”  - and the way of perceiving, thinking, feeling and acting passed on with conviction to new members. 

9) consider what assumptions people have refused to discuss  - or where you have been considered “insane” or “ignorant” for bringing them up – these are often signs you are touching underlying assumptions 

10) cross check - ensure the assumptions you have identified using the 9 tips above cover the following 5 criteria: a) the environment (e.g. dominance, submission, harmonizing); b) reality, truth, time, space, property (e.g what real and what not, truth revealed or discovered? time linear or cyclical?, space limited or infinite?, property communal or individual?); c) human nature (e.g. what attributes are intrinsic or ultimate? good, evil or neutral? perfectible or not?); d) human activity (e.g what right to do, active, passive, fatalistic, what is work and what is play); e) human relationships (e.g. distribute power and love? cooperative or competitive? Individualistic or communal? lineal authority, law or charisma?)

murmurations bird ballet

via laughing squid

New York transit (#MTA): one day of activity

via blog.visual.ly

#13questions for your senior leadership team

In the 1st half of 2012 Azusa Pacific University and Leadership Network used a team assessment tool with nearly 600 people representing leadership teams at 145 churches. The results were written up in a report "Searching for Strong Senior Leadership Teams"

By Ryan Hartwig, Ph.D., and Warren Bird, Ph.D.  So a big ht to them as the remainder of this post draws on what that report found.

Of the churches surveyed the majority had average weekend attendance below 500, three quarters were in suburban locations, most were growing and most were staff or pastor led. 

The tool was one developed by Harvard researchers and Hay Group consultants (the same ones who wrote the Harvard Business School book Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great). The tool assesses 5 conditions that promote team performance 

1. Being a real team rather than in name only 
2. A clear, compelling, and consequential direction for the team’s work. 
3. An enabling team structure with well-designed team tasks, norms, and composition. 
4. An organizational context that offers necessary reward, information, material, and educational resources. 
5. Access to expert internal or external coaching in teamwork. 

Based on the findings in the report I’ve constructed the 13 questions that are listed below as something you might want to use (possibly anonymous returns?) with your senior leadership team 

I suggest that in the questionnaire you replace the phrase “the team” with the name you use for your church’s senior leadership team. You can then choose to collate the answers and bring them together for discussion at one of your team meetings. This might be a good way to start a conversation on your teams effectiveness.

Getting a copy of the report using the link at the start of this post will help you understand the reasoning behind these questions.

Q1) What is the specific unique purpose of the team? 

Q2) How is that purpose distinctive from the church’s mission or the purpose of other teams in the church? 

Q3) How clear is that purpose and how challenging is it? 

Q4) Are at least 50% of your church wide decisions made by the team? 
Q5) How is the team structured to help it make excellent church wide decisions? 
Q6) What are the priorities of the team? 
Q7) How much of the teams time is spent on its priorities? 
Q8) How do the members of the team get to know each other informally? 
Q9) What does the team do to spend time on team building and coaching? 
Q10) How have the members of the team agreed the team goals, team member roles and norms and productive meeting structures and practices? 
Q11) What communication, problem solving, decision making, idea generating and mutual accountability procedures does the team use? 
Q12) How often does the team discuss resourcing and workload and power dynamic issues? 
Q13) Who is in the team?

#10signs of overparenting

According to this document  most findings have shown that an authoritative parenting approach is the ideal parenting method as it improves children’s wellbeing in areas such as self-esteem, self-reliance, a sense of security and popularity with peers. 

(all of this post is a summary of the document so a big ht to the authors Judith Y Locke, Marilyn A Campbell and David Kavanagh)

Authoritative parenting is high in demandingness ..... 

a tendency to have rules, and demand responsible and mature behaviour from their child. 

and is also high in responsiveness ......

the amount parents respond to a child’s needs 

However, over parenting is popularly believed to impact negatively on children’s well being as it does not allow children to develop independence or become fully-functioning, community-minded adults. 

This australian study described in the document linked to above was based on online interviews with 128 psychologists and guidance counsellors on this subject.  The majority of professionals reported familiarity and experience with actions they considered overparenting.  27% had seen “many” instances of overparenting, 2/3rds had seen some and 8% reported no experience of overparenting. 

Over parenting is sometime called “Helicopter parenting” 

“hovering closely overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their children need them or not” 

or “Lawnmower parenting”

“mothers and fathers...attempting to smooth out and mow down all obstacles”

in the way of the child’s success 

10 signs you are overparenting:

1) Keeping them at home – so setting so many restrictions that your child can’t be away overnight on a school activity, or not allowing them to socialise with friends or go to the shops or use public transport or learn to drive;

2) Blaming everyone else – so making excuses for your childs behaviour or demanding concessions for them, or always thinking that your childs version of what happened is right;

3) Giving them what they want - so never saying no to requests from your child, or always rushing to school with things they’ve rung you to say they have forgotten, or believing they should always be rewarded regardless of effort;

4) Solving their problems for them – so doing their homework for them, or cutting up their food, or bringing separate food to a party because they are a picky eater, or still preparing food for adult children, or providing adult children with cheap or no cost housing, or having “a word” with other children who your child is not getting on with;

5) Demanding much of other people or institutions – so constant badgering of them, regularly calling for meetings to discuss your child, confronting other parents about what their children have said to yours;

6) Acting as your childs friend – and not as their parent and so never giving them chores to do round the house;

7) Always being with them – or near them or phoning them or expecting a full report back if they have been away;

8) Excessive expectations – of what your child should achieve or a view that your child is much more intelligent or special than others;

9) Excessive supervision – always telling your child what to do, or getting too involved in their play with other children, or issuing instructions from afar rather than close up, or often saying don’t to them, or not allowing them to leave the house to socialise with other children, or making them go to bed early;

10) Over worrying – about your child and their problems.




if this post was of interest then you may like this one on digital parenting

more than food

via catholic youth worker

#7tips (scientific) for weight loss

found via lifehacker

in summary .....

1) exercise  - burns calories immediately and continues to do so whilst you sleep (during exercise the body uses up most of its available carbohydrates for energy and replaces them in the next 24 hrs - in the meantime it begins to break down your fat stores for basic functions like walking, talking and sleeping)

2) don't skip meals - especially breakfast (if you starve yourself your body and brain create intense urges to eat high calorie foods as opposed to healthy options).  breakfast in particular helps to keep blood sugar and hormone levels regular and gives your metabolism a boost to burn more calories through the day

3) adding more protein and low dairy to your diet helps as well - protein supresses hunger signals from the brain - adding 10% more protein can keep you full for much longer.  low fat dairy contains calcium that binds to other fats you have eaten forming a substance that cannot be absorbed so is excreted with more of the fat you have consumed

4) soup is a diet secret - if you take a meal and puree it then your stomach has a much harder time in absorbing it (compared to absorbing water) so your stomach stays expanded and you feel full for longer

5) count your calories - those who actively document their food intake using a journal have drastic improvements over those who don't.  also - if you know a coffee is 10 calories but a cappucino is 100 calories then that gives you the opportunity to structure your diet - to eat more whilst taking in fewer calories

6) reduce your plate size - reducing from a 12 inch plate to a 10 inch plate can reduce the amount of food you eat by 22%

7) sleep and stress play a large part in how much we eat - sleep deprivation and stress levels increase appetite

#6keyissues in #nao financial stability of local authorities report

the pdf of the executive summary and full report of the 30/1/13 nao report on this subject can be found here

in summary what struck me from the report was the following:

- authorities still need to find 1/2 of the savings required in the period April 2011 to March 2015  (overall in that period there is a 14% (real) reduction in local authorities income from central government)

- FDs think the largest savings will come through efficiencies;

- the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 have yet to be used in anger as concerns holding referendum when council tax is increased above certain thresholds sets by central government;

- the government attached the highest priority to adult social services in deciding one of the key elements of the formula determining the distribution of grant but in practice in the 3 years ending 2012-13, the lowest reduction in local authority spending was for children’s services (some local authorities attributed this to increased demand for children’s services and concern to avoid the human and reputational risks attached to the failure of that service);

- changes concerning the partial localisation of business rates and arrangements for council tax benefits may expose councils more to income reductions;

- 12% of local authorities are at ongoing risk of been unable to balance their budget in future financial years

play guitar and look sensitive