Topic: Global

Rusty wire cage. Are we caged in our personality?

TED Talk. Brian Little: Who are you really?

17.11.2016

„One of the most influential approaches in personality science is known as trait psychology, and it aligns you along five dimensions which are normally distributed, and that describe universally held aspects of difference between people. They spell out the acronym OCEAN. So, ‘O’ stands for ‘open to experience’ versus those who are more closed. ‘C’ stands for conscientiousness’ in contrast to those with a more lackadaisical approach to life. ‘E’ — ‘extroversion’ in contrast to more introverted people. ‘A’ — ‘agreeable individuals’ in contrast to those decidedly not agreeable. And ‘N’ — ‘neurotic individuals’ in contrast to those who are more stable.“

Brian Little’s intriguing talk is highly entertaining – and it reminds us that we cannot lick the outside of our own elbow. :-)

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Warrior or Scout?

TED Talk. Julia Galef: Why you think you’re right – even if you’re wrong

4.07.2016

„Unconsciously, our judgement is strongly influenced by which side we want to win. We can think we’re being objective and fair-minded and still wind up ruining the life of an innocent man.“ Julias talk revolves around the example of Alfred Dreyfus who – in 19th-century France – was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Why? Because everybody wanted him to be the culprit and existing evidence was interpreted against his favour without further investigation.

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Typically German?

29.06.2016

What Germans travelling resent about travelling Germans

The good thing is, that the survey we’re talking about was conducted amongst Germans only – 2033 of them. As is known, we are pretty adamant when it comes to judging anybody’s demeanour: sugar-coating our opinion is commonly not one of our inborn traits. The findings may well contain more than a kernel of truth and – what a relief! – the data produced will not rest on a grudge possibly harboured by random foreign nations for whatever reason. So, this is probably as unbiased as it gets. The travel search engine kayak.de‘s survey is deemed representative amongst Germans from 18 onwards. It revealed that Germans abroad are too noisy, too stingy, too arrogant and often oh so embarrassing!

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Viands rescued by Berlin Restaurant

13.06.2016

„Hunger is one of the world’s most urgent development challenges. One third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally“, says FAO, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Half of what is being wasted alone could feed the entire world. While the privileged drown in affluence, about one billion people are going hungry. Food waste simultaneously means squandering of land, energy, water and natural resources in general and renders the increased level of emission it creates even more paradox. Costs associated with the 88 million tonnes of food waste caused yearly within the EU is estimated at more than 143 billion euros. Food waste does represent a serious environmental and economic issue, but more than anything else it is an ethical one!

A group of young people in Berlin have made it their mission to contribute to reduction of food wasted thoughtlessly. In May, 2016 they opened Restlos Glücklich, Germany’s first restaurant predominantly utilising food surplus which might otherwise be destined for the bin. The team cooperates with providers who follow the same creed and who have become reliable partners of a number of charitable initiatives.

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TED Talk. Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal

8.06.2016

Most rich countries produce three to four times the amount of food needed to feed their own population – and almost half of the produce is being discarded before it even reaches the consumer. Not mainly because it’s expired and has become inedible, but often solely for cosmetic reasons. „What we see is only the tip of the iceberg. Food waste is happening on a gargantuan scale“, says Tristram Stuart, activist and strong advocate against global food waste. By 2050, Earth will be inhabited by around nine billion people who expect to be fed. This talk helps understand the implications of food waste and how urgent immediate action is.

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