Most Popular Editorials: How to Get the Best Possible Recommendation from a Job Reference

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How to Get the Best Possible Recommendation from a Job Reference Choosing the right people to list as references when you’re interviewing for a new job is an important part of the process, but just as important is making sure they’re prepared to sell you as the best candidate. First, when asking someone to be a reference, ask if they can be an enthusiastic reference. If you hear any hesitation, don’t list that person. Second, prepare your references to focus on the right areas to help you secure the job. They should know what information you want them to convey to the hiring manager, including anything you were unable to or forgot to mention during your interview. Finally, do what you can to manage “backdoor” references: someone who has worked with you but isn’t on your reference list. Continued here

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Steve Jobs Had a Brilliant 3-Step Method for Solving Difficult Problems. Now Apple Is Making It Easier for Employees to Use It Apple recently promised its staff more flexible schedules and more generous scheduling rules, according to CNET. Some see the move as an effort to keep increasing interest among employees to unionize at bay. While that may remain up for debate, there is one fact that is not: The company effectively is urging workers to follow Steve Jobs's three-step method for discovering breakthroughs and finding answers to difficult questions.  Continued here

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What to do if someone throws you under the bus at work Kevin R. Kehoe’s “under the bus” situation came when he and his former business partner were selling their company, Aspire Software. Without Kehoe’s knowledge, the partner had discussions with the purchasing firm during negotiations. Kehoe thought he’d be leading the company after its acquisition, but the position went to his partner. Continued here

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The 17 Best Push-Up Alternatives That Work the Same Muscles | Livestrong.com Many people don't like to do push-ups because they aren't good at them yet. And that's totally fair — push-ups can be really hard. But before you give up on them entirely, consider modifications to make them more accessible. Using one of the following push-up variations will help you become stronger and more confident with push-ups over time. Continued here

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This popular anti-aging goo can help regrow muscle -- study Walk into any cosmetics store and turn into the skincare aisle. Among all the lotions and potions, you will find it hard to avoid the reigning heavyweight of anti-aging ingredients: hyaluronic acid. This sugar molecule typically found in the body reportedly delivers some serious benefits, from ironing out wrinkles and plumping skin to safeguarding eye and joint health. Continued here

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The big idea: are we living in a simulation? Elon Musk thinks you don’t exist. But it’s nothing personal: he thinks he doesn’t exist either. At least, not in the normal sense of existing. Instead we are just immaterial software constructs running on a gigantic alien computer simulation. Musk has stated that the odds are billions to one that we are actually living in “base reality”, ie the physical universe. At the end of last year, he responded to a tweet about the anniversary of the crude tennis video game Pong (1972) by writing: “49 years later, games are photo-realistic 3D worlds. What does that trend continuing imply about our reality?”This idea is surprisingly popular among philosophers and even some scientists. Its modern version is based on a seminal 2003 paper, Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? by the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom. Assume, he says, that in the far future, civilisations hugely more technically advanced than ours will be interested in running “ancestor simulations” of the sentient beings in their distant galactic past. If so, there will one day be many more simulated minds than real minds. Therefore you should be very surprised if you are actually one of the few real minds in existence rather than one of the trillions of simulated minds. Continued here

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What Lies Beneath: Our Love Affair With Living Underwater In November 1966, the Gemini 12 spacecraft, carrying two astronauts, splashed down in the Pacific. The four-day mission was a triumph, proving that humans could work in outer space, and even step into the great unknown, albeit tethered to their spacecraft. It catapulted the US ahead of the USSR in the space race. Continued here

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You Can Actually Hack Your Brain to Produce More 'Happy' Chemicals Here are some natural ways to boost dopamine, serotonin, endorphin and oxytocin. Continued here

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Feeling exhausted? These 5 things are draining your energy without you realising If you identify as a highly sensitive person (HSP) in 2022, you’ll likely be familiar with a general feeling of overwhelm and emotional exhaustion. The term, coined by psychologist Dr Elaine Aron, describes the estimated 15-20% of people who experience the world more intensely and deeply than the average person. Continued here

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This is the Salary You Need to Buy a Home in 50 U.S. Cities Being a one percenter in Mississippi, on the other hand, requires $766,000. That’s 83% lower than the national average, and just a tad lower than the amount needed to be “financially comfortable” by the average American. This is partially due to Mississippi’s poverty rate of 19.6%, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is the highest in the country. Continued here

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I spent 5 years interviewing 225 millionaires. Here are the 4 types of rich people and their top habits Because Saver-Investors consistently invested their savings, their money compounded over time. When they started, this compound interest was not very significant. But after 10 years, they began to accumulate significant wealth. Towards the final years of their working lives, the Saver-Investors' wealth grew to an average of $3.3 million.   Continued here

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Why you should really stop charging your phone overnight Do you plug in your phone every night right before you go to bed? Here's what you should be doing instead. Continued here

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This 17-Year-Old Designed a Motor That Could Potentially Transform the Electric Car Industry Robert Sansone is a natural born engineer. From animatronic hands to high-speed running boots and a go-kart that can reach speeds of more than 70 miles per hour, the Fort Pierce, Florida-based inventor estimates he’s completed at least 60 engineering projects in his spare time. And he’s only 17 years old. Continued here

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The Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read As a teacher in Oakland, Calif., Kareem Weaver helped struggling fourth- and fifth-grade kids learn to read by using a very structured, phonics-based reading curriculum called Open Court. It worked for the students, but not so much for the teachers. “For seven years in a row, Oakland was the fastest-gaining urban district in California for reading,” recalls Weaver. “And we hated it.” Continued here

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Everything to Know About the WNBA Star in Russian Custody As tensions between the U.S. and Russia continue to rise amid the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, an American WNBA star has been detained in Russia for months. Brittney Griner, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA and for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg during the off-season, was arrested on drug charges in February after Customs found vape cartridges in her luggage at the airport. On August 4 — almost one month after Griner pleaded guilty — a Russian court convicted her of drug smuggling and sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony. Now, Griner’s legal team has appealed the verdict. Here, everything to know about her case: Continued here

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The Baseball Stadium That "Forever Changed" Professional Sports Camden Yards, which opened 30 years ago this summer, is revered for its design and downtown location. But its influence—along with its lessons—extends beyond architecture. Continued here

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Exclusive: Rachel Maddow Gives Her First Interview as She Steps Back From the Nightly Grind and Revs Up for Her Next Act "The only reason you'll ever need this is if you fall through the ice," said Rachel Maddow, standing beside her pickup truck at an empty boat launch on a cloudy winter's day. She tossed me something that looked like a cross between a bike lock and a telephone cord and told me to put it around my neck: safety picks. In a worst-case scenario, you're supposed to pull apart the orange handle things, stab the ice in front of you, and claw your way back onto solid ground. "There's 20 inches of ice out here, you're not gonna fall through," Maddow promised. "But just in case." Continued here

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20 of the Best Science Fiction Books of All Time | Book Riot Before we get started, let me define “best” for you real fast. In this context, best does not secretly mean my favorite science fiction that I’m calling best because I’m the one writing the article. The best science fiction books of all time — at least the ones on this list — are the ones that remain highly rated, are incredibly popular, or have made some sort of mark on the science fiction genre or its various sub-genres, even mainstream culture as a whole. There are also only 20 books on this list, meaning it is not conclusive, as I am one person. I will inevitably miss a book that you think belongs on this list. So many science fiction falls into the definition of “best” that I’m using. Continued here

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A Dozen Brilliant Recipes Starring the Humble Egg From egg salad and scotch eggs to adjarian khachapuri and gyeran-ppang. Continued here

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25 Delicious Foil Packet Meals That Make for Easy Clean-Up | Livestrong.com Ending the day with a delicious meal screams comfort, but a messy kitchen and a sink full of dirty dishes can be quick to ruin that. That's why foil packet dinners are so great: They're easy to make, easy when it comes clean-up and they even feel festive because you have your own little packet on your plate. Continued here

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How Animal Crossing helped me explore my gender It’s 2013, and tonight my friends and I are getting together to wish on falling stars during a meteor shower. Like many young teens meeting up with their pals, I want to show off my sense of style, so I spend a solid amount of time trying on different skirts, dresses, and accessories in order to find the cutest look. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about how comfortable the outfit will be or whether the fabric will chafe against my skin since the clothes aren’t going on my physical body but, rather, on my villager in the world of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS. Continued here

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My Mom Has No Friends My mom Veronica is 80. She used to be popular. In one of my earliest memories, she sits at a kitchen table in Queens, spilling her mug of instant coffee as she cackles with her best friend. When we later moved to New Jersey, her work pals from the local real-estate agency popped by in the afternoon to gossip and listen to Billy Joel. “I’m movin’ out!” Veronica would sing, with a fist pump. In 1990, my parents divorced and Mom, at the age of 48, found a whole new set of salty middle-age singles who borrowed her Anne Klein leather miniskirt for dates with divorced men. Continued here

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Parents who raise 'confident, smart and empathetic' children do these 5 things when their kids misbehave: Parenting expert Parenting expert Lynne Azarchi says parents of successful kids don't shame them or bribe them but instead exhibit empathy. Here are five ways parents can celebrate good habits and correct failures while protecting their child's self-worth, according to Azarchi. Continued here

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Need to know: The rarified world of the government's most closely guarded secrets The Defense Department calls them “special access programs,” or SAPs. Spy agencies call them “controlled access programs.” Other agencies such as the Department of Energy, which manages the nation’s nuclear weapons labs, have their own names for walling off information they only want a select few to see. Continued here

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Inside the breathtaking Spanish town that was abandoned by mistake The town of Granadilla is located in Extremadura in the centre-west of the country and was founded by Muslims in the 9th century, but now lies intact but completely empty Continued here

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What Makes Innovation Partnerships Succeed Increasingly, companies today are aggressively pursuing breakthrough innovations. But to succeed in a significant, cost-efficient, and timely way they need to partner with other companies who have their own special interests and concerns, which turns out to be very hard. Partnerships are especially important in the tech sector, which moves fast with innovation as its fuel. In this article, the authors report on the efforts that Meta has made in establishing successful innovation partnerships with other companies, and they share guidance for leaders who wish to do the same. Continued here

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They couldn't even scream any more. They were just sobbing: the amateur investors ruined by the crypto crash In the gloom of an 18th-century drawing room at the private rehab clinic Castle Craig, near Peebles in the Scottish Borders, Roy, a 29-year-old victim of the global cryptocurrency crash, tells me his story. It is a dazzling summer's day, but here the mood is sombre. Roy shifts uncomfortably in his chair as he begins. Continued here

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Don’t Focus on Your Job at the Expense of Your Career The gap between what we have to do today and where we see ourselves in the future can be vexing. We’d like to advance toward our goals, but we feel dragged down by responsibilities that seem banal or off-target for our eventual vision. In this piece, the author offers four strategies you can try so that you can simultaneously accomplish what’s necessary in the short-term while playing the long game for the betterment of your career. Continued here

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What to Do When Industry Disruption Threatens Your Career If your industry faces disruption, first diagnose the volatility. Then act preemptively to disrupt your own career.Disruption scholars have focused on how established companies, complacent in their industry position, fail to anticipate their collapse. The companies wither not because they are surpassed in their core capabilities but because they don't recognize that the competencies that once made them distinctive no longer define success. These stories have a whiff of tragedy - companies that used to be front-runners are overtaken by a changing world and stick with the status quo rather than investing in capabilities that will bring the next win. Continued here

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Quiet quitting: why doing the bare minimum at work has gone global The meaninglessness of modern work - and the pandemic - has led many to question their approach to their jobs.Bartleby is back, although no doubt he would prefer not to be. This time, Herman Melville's reluctant Wall Street scrivener has returned in the form of TikTokers who have embraced "quiet quitting".Rather than working late on a Friday evening, organising the annual team-building trip to Slough or volunteering to supervise the boss's teenager on work experience, the quiet quitters are avoiding the above and beyond, the hustle culture mentality, or what psychologists call "occupational citizenship behaviours".Instead, they are doing just enough in the office to keep up, then leaving work on time and muting Slack. Then posting about it on social media. Continued here

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How a Family of Scammers Made Millions Off Fake 5-Hour Energy Counterfeit energy drinks were lightning in a bottle for Adriana and Joseph Shayota, netting them a million dollars a month until the feds closed in. But they had one chance to clear their name: President Donald Trump. Continued here

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The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools? It’s the quitting trend that just won’t quit. People are switching jobs and industries, moving from traditional to nontraditional roles, retiring early, or starting their own businesses. They are taking a time-out to tend to their personal lives or embarking on sabbaticals. The Great Attrition has become the Great Renegotiation. Continued here

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Great Leaders Are Thoughtful and Deliberate, Not Impulsive and Reactive All leaders have two selves. There’s the self we prefer to present to the world – the one that is run by our pre-frontal cortex and is measured, rational, and capable of making deliberate choices. And then there’s the self, run by the amygdala, that is reactive and impulsive and often causes us to fail to meet our commitments or overreact in frustration. The antidote to reacting from the second self is to develop the capacity to observe your two selves in real time. You can start by noticing and labeling your negative emotions such as impatience, frustration, and anger – to get distance from them. Also, watch out for times when you feel you’re digging in your heels. The absolute conviction that you’re right and the compulsion to take action are both strong indicators that you‘re operating from that second self. Finally, it’s important to ask yourself two key questions in challenging moments: “What else could be true here?” and “What is my responsibility in this?” Questioning your conclusions offsets confirmation bias and looking for your responsibility helps you focus on what you can change – your behavior. Continued here

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Why the Old Elite Spend So Much Time at Work Everything in America is getting older these days. In practically every field of human endeavor—politics, business, academia, science, sports, pop culture—the average age of achievement and power is rising. Continued here

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The hidden makers of Costco's Kirkland Signature and Trader Joe's O's Store brands are shrouded in secrecy. Who makes them? Continued here

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To break unhealthy habits, stop obsessing over willpower – two behavioral scientists explain why routines matter more than conscious choices Understanding and changing the environment in which habits form is a critical step when it comes to breaking unwanted behaviors and forming healthy ones. Continued here

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The 85% Rule for Learning - Scott H Young In many situations we find that there is a sweet spot in which training is neither too easy nor too hard, and where learning progresses most quickly. […] For all of these stochastic gradient-descent based learning algorithms, we find that the optimal error rate for training is around 15.87% or, conversely, that the optimal training accuracy is about 85%. Continued here

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The town with the cleanest air in the world The air around me crackles with diamond-like dust with every breath. It is cold, but clear on this mountainside, in the midst of what is essentially an Arctic desert. The extremely dry, freezing air almost instantly turns the fog of moisture from my mouth and nose into tiny, sparkling crystals of ice. Continued here

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How Scientists Are Using Cake to Share Their Research I first noticed the #BakeYourResearch phenomenon when I saw a photo of an incredibly gorgeous bûche de Noël on Twitter. It wasn’t posted by a professional baker, but a mycologist, who’d crafted hyper-realistic mushrooms growing out of the log-shaped cake. Continued here

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Life and Death and More Life: Leo Tolstoy on Science, Spirituality, and Our Search for Meaning Normally people (myself included) who recognize the spiritual life as the basis of life deny the reality, the necessity, the importance of studying the physical life, which evidently cannot lead to any conclusive results. In just the same way, those who only recognize the physical life completely deny the spiritual life and all deductions based on it - deny, as they say, metaphysics. But it is now absolutely clear to me that both are wrong, and both forms of knowledge - the materialistic and the metaphysical - have their own great importance, if only one doesn't wish to make inappropriate deductions from the one or the other. Continued here

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The CEO View: Defending a Good Company from Bad Investors David Pyott had been the CEO of Allergan for nearly 17 years in April 2014, when Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Pershing Square Capital Management initiated the hostile takeover bid described in the accompanying article “The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership.” He was the company’s sole representative during the takeover discussions. When it became clear that the bid could not be fended off indefinitely, Pyott, with his board’s blessing, negotiated a deal whereby Allergan would be acquired by Actavis (a company whose business model, like Allergan’s, was growth oriented). Continued here

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Is Your Company Squandering Digital Opportunities? Many companies today fail to see the threats and opportunities that new digital technologies represent. They fail to recognize that customers are increasingly being drawn to data-driven services and experiences, and they fail to appreciate the growing value of data and digital ecosystems for their business. Five traps in particular create this digital myopia: the product trap, the value-chain trap, the operational-efficiency trap, the customer trap, and the competitor trap. The author discusses each, along with ways to avoid them. Continued here

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Are You Too Responsible? Do you often pay attention to the needs of others but neglect your own? Do you frequently remind others what needs to be done and get annoyed by how irresponsible they seem? Or say “yes” to most things you’re asked to do but then feel resentful? If something goes wrong, do you feel the entire weight of that outcome? If so, these could be signs that you have an overactive sense of responsibility. Over-responsibility can be a hard habit to break. Helping others makes us feel good: We feel competent, reduce our stress, and avoid conflict. This habit also gets reinforced by those around you, who learn to depend on you. But don’t wait until you feel burned out and resentful. In this piece, the author offers practical strategies to find a more appropriate balance of responsibility. Continued here

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What is a carbon footprint -- and how to measure yours As awareness of climate change grows, so does the desire to do something about it. But the scale of the problems it causes—from wildfires to melting glaciers to droughts—can seem utterly overwhelming. It can be hard to make a connection between our everyday lives and the survival of polar bears, let alone how we as individuals can help turn the situation around.One way to gain a quantifiable understanding of the impacts of our actions, for good and bad, is through what is known as a carbon footprint. But while the concept is gaining traction - Googling "How do I reduce my carbon footprint?" yields almost 27 million responses - it is not always fully understood. Continued here

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The Scientific Underpinnings and Impacts of Shame People who feel shame readily are at risk for depression and anxiety disorders.We have all felt shame at one time or another. Maybe we were teased for mispronouncing a common word or for how we looked in a bathing suit, or perhaps a loved one witnessed us telling a lie. Shame is the uncomfortable sensation we feel in the pit of our stomach when it seems we have no safe haven from the judging gaze of others. We feel small and bad about ourselves and wish we could vanish. Although shame is a universal emotion, how it affects mental health and behavior is not self-evident. Researchers have made good progress in addressing that question. Continued here

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Have Scientists Been Wrong About Alzheimer’s for Decades? A talk with Nobel laureate Thomas C. Südhof about a scandal rocking the world of Alzheimer’s research and how conceptions of the disease are changing. Continued here

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How Much Protein Do You Actually Need? When it comes to basic nutrition, there’s arguably no more important building block than protein. Protein, most people know, is essential for repairing and rebuilding muscle tissue, but it also serves other crucial purposes. You need protein to make organs and skin. You need protein to produce hair, blood, and connective tissue. Protein produces enzymes and neurotransmitters. It also keeps your immune system in top shape. Continued here

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How to Stay Cool When You’re Put on the Spot Work is full of difficult moments where people catch you off guard and make you feel defensive. It’s hard to predict when they’ll occur and how they’ll play out, but you can prepare for them. The author presents a four-step framework to give you an opportunity to respond thoughtfully and confidently in these high-stakes moments. First, take a moment to focus your mind after the initial shock. Second, question your assumptions. Third, depersonalize the interaction, and focus on what’s getting in the way. Finally, close the interaction with confidence. Continued here

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What Turtles Can Teach Humans About the Science of Slow Aging There are three ways to die: of injury, disease, or old age. Over time, humans have gotten better at avoiding the first two, but as we get older, senescence—the gradual deterioration of bodily functions with age—is inevitable. Some species seem to do better than others, though: Take the hydra, a tiny freshwater creature that some scientists have deemed potentially immortal. Last year, a naked mole rat made headlines for turning 39, five times the typical lifespan for similarly sized rodents. And just a few months ago, a giant Aldabra tortoise named Jonathan celebrated what was believed to be his 190th birthday, making him the world’s oldest living land animal. Continued here

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Paradox Mindset: The Source of Remarkable Creativity in Teams “The experience was magical. I had enjoyed collaborative work before, but this was something different,” said Daniel Kahneman of the beginnings of his years-long partnership with fellow psychologist Amos Tversky that culminated in a Nobel Prize in economic sciences three decades later. Continued here