What is Globalisation? the most simple explanation one can think of is that Globalisation refers to people and by that sense means that their groups (societies) or functions (operations) are unified as one.
Let's put some examples behind Globalisation:
1) Economy: uniformity in economic transactions such as banking, financial transactions, stock trading, capital flow etc.
2) Science: international collaborations between researchers, research platforms, global knowledge databases, multi-national experimental projects etc.
3) Technology: internet, space exploration, GPS etc.
4) New age: sociological trends (terrorism, online communities), e-crime, hacking etc.
just to name a few...(the list can go on and on and on...).
One thing is for sure, Globalisation is inevitable as long as technology advances and computing power increases. It has its pros and cons.
Nowadays, the most popular word in the street is: recession. But how did recession hit us? Is it coming from the sky? Is it enorchestrated from a "dark" power centre where powerful people are thinking of world domination? Is it caused by our activity?
My answer is that to a certain extent we (simple people) played a major role for this to happen. Along with the help of the "Golden Boys" which made sure that we will not fail to our mission!
My rationale is simple, the economy by definition is how we manage (term: -nomy coming from Greek: nomos = law = ruler = manager) our home (term: -eco coming from Greek: oikos = house). Since contemporary management of one's house (extending this term to: a business or an economic activity) is subject to a lot of parameters apart from what is really necessary for its sustainability, like social recognition, excessive wealth creation, inbalanced procurement of goods, other interested parties (like stakeholders or shareholders) then it becomes complicated!
In plain words, we do not have any power over the developments of our own economic environment and gradually we are becoming dependent on other factors infuencing it (i.e. interest rates, oil prices, real estate market, political conditions etc.).
In any period of time, we will face a different challenge. This period is dealing with recession, in another point of time we will be talking about booming or stagnation.
The way we nurture our perception about our surrounding environment (society, economy etc.) has a direct impact in our everyday life. No need to seek for scape-goats before we can assess our (daily) managerial abilities!
TGCP
Monday 20 July 2009
Sunday 19 July 2009
A prisoner inside one's private house...
A terrible thought crossed my mind, as soon as I woke up this Sunday morning in a nearly "boiling" environment: "Do I have freedom of operations?"
Well, my dear readers, the answer is no! I wished to have given you a different answer but this is not going to happen. The realiry proves us wrong. Let's take for example an ordinary Sunday in my city, Athens. Period: summer (July). Temperature: 39 degrees Celsius. Oxygen status: poor. Polution status: high. Humidity levels: 25%. Some people call this a suffocating experience, I call it a nightmare.
The night before I was cruising with my friends at the near casino, making plans for the next day. We decided (no matter what would be the casino outcome! you know what I mean...) that we could hang out by the beach, maybe taking a quick dive and after that a nice cocktail by the Acropolis' New Museum watching the sunset under the glorious Athenian sky...
Well, for me that would be an ideal weekend. Browsing my favourite newspaper, being with beloved people in the city centre which I love and charish. Not exaclty what I have planned for happened. Although I have slept rather late, I woke up very early and as soon as I put my head out of the balcony then I was confronted with my worst fear, the city is "boiling"!
You can feel the sun burning your skin, and wonder yourself whether you will develop skin cancer or not. There is no indication of a fresh breeze to cool things down. You have to turn on the air-conditioning to make sure that you can still make it through the rest of the day. You feel weak and lazy, the only thing that matters are cold-shakes and showers. You realise that even though you can travel anywhere you please, this is not possible due to natural weather conditions.
Well, that was the time that hit me! What if the majority of our movements are somewhat manipulated? What if everytime we say, "I will do this my own way" someone is listening to us and bursts into laughs! What if all the so-called "spontaneous" discoveries have been pre-planned and organised for scheduled announcements? What if my best friend, which I known him since I remember myself is a complete stranger to me? What if all what I have worked for, so hard, do not belong to me?
Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot really answer all these questions in a such short notice. What I can do is, leave you today with something to consider: "Is it not an egoistic thought to think that we are the owners of anything, in this world (earth) since we just have become self-conscious (human race evolutionary speaking)?"
Think about it, maybe we can start really evolving into a different course...
TGCP
Well, my dear readers, the answer is no! I wished to have given you a different answer but this is not going to happen. The realiry proves us wrong. Let's take for example an ordinary Sunday in my city, Athens. Period: summer (July). Temperature: 39 degrees Celsius. Oxygen status: poor. Polution status: high. Humidity levels: 25%. Some people call this a suffocating experience, I call it a nightmare.
The night before I was cruising with my friends at the near casino, making plans for the next day. We decided (no matter what would be the casino outcome! you know what I mean...) that we could hang out by the beach, maybe taking a quick dive and after that a nice cocktail by the Acropolis' New Museum watching the sunset under the glorious Athenian sky...
Well, for me that would be an ideal weekend. Browsing my favourite newspaper, being with beloved people in the city centre which I love and charish. Not exaclty what I have planned for happened. Although I have slept rather late, I woke up very early and as soon as I put my head out of the balcony then I was confronted with my worst fear, the city is "boiling"!
You can feel the sun burning your skin, and wonder yourself whether you will develop skin cancer or not. There is no indication of a fresh breeze to cool things down. You have to turn on the air-conditioning to make sure that you can still make it through the rest of the day. You feel weak and lazy, the only thing that matters are cold-shakes and showers. You realise that even though you can travel anywhere you please, this is not possible due to natural weather conditions.
Well, that was the time that hit me! What if the majority of our movements are somewhat manipulated? What if everytime we say, "I will do this my own way" someone is listening to us and bursts into laughs! What if all the so-called "spontaneous" discoveries have been pre-planned and organised for scheduled announcements? What if my best friend, which I known him since I remember myself is a complete stranger to me? What if all what I have worked for, so hard, do not belong to me?
Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot really answer all these questions in a such short notice. What I can do is, leave you today with something to consider: "Is it not an egoistic thought to think that we are the owners of anything, in this world (earth) since we just have become self-conscious (human race evolutionary speaking)?"
Think about it, maybe we can start really evolving into a different course...
TGCP
Friday 17 July 2009
Time: managerial issues...
"Time" is a component of the measurement system, able to define a sequence of events that have specific (and apparent) limits (duration, intervals) and the quantification of motion (...a small alteration of Wikipedia's definition...).
This is how science defines time. As a component of the scientific community, there are virtually very few things where time does not play a vital role, in what people call, natural phenomena comprehension and scientific observation. A few examples to show the importance of time in our community: scientific observations, experiments, motion, life cycle.
Time is considered as a vital part of every people's daily activities. Unavoidably the question arises: "Can we manage time efficiently?"
To a certain extent, how we manage time is one's personal responsibility! But what happens when, even though we are the masters of our own time management, time actually has been deprived from us? Then we ask ourselves: Who is stealing time from us? My dear readers, the answer to this question is simple: we do! the most important thing is to find out why we do it.
My personal understanding is that we do that subconsciously. I have always had, what I call, a "time pressure" in my mind, always thinking that I could not have enough time to perform my personal activities. Having this feeling that I am about to run out of time! Is it not a very stressing feeling? After years of thinking about it, I think I have come up with the answer to my problem and the answer (as usually) should (and is) be simple. One should focus to the things that matter most.
Once you focus, then all clears out! Then you decide where and how much time to spent to get things done. I believe that time is an asset that runs out very quickly. It is up to us to find the optimum use of it.
TGCP
This is how science defines time. As a component of the scientific community, there are virtually very few things where time does not play a vital role, in what people call, natural phenomena comprehension and scientific observation. A few examples to show the importance of time in our community: scientific observations, experiments, motion, life cycle.
Time is considered as a vital part of every people's daily activities. Unavoidably the question arises: "Can we manage time efficiently?"
To a certain extent, how we manage time is one's personal responsibility! But what happens when, even though we are the masters of our own time management, time actually has been deprived from us? Then we ask ourselves: Who is stealing time from us? My dear readers, the answer to this question is simple: we do! the most important thing is to find out why we do it.
My personal understanding is that we do that subconsciously. I have always had, what I call, a "time pressure" in my mind, always thinking that I could not have enough time to perform my personal activities. Having this feeling that I am about to run out of time! Is it not a very stressing feeling? After years of thinking about it, I think I have come up with the answer to my problem and the answer (as usually) should (and is) be simple. One should focus to the things that matter most.
Once you focus, then all clears out! Then you decide where and how much time to spent to get things done. I believe that time is an asset that runs out very quickly. It is up to us to find the optimum use of it.
TGCP
Sunday 12 July 2009
Financial Crisis: Is it true or is it a myth?
Dear readers, we are all living the so-called financial crisis.
A crisis which has spread all over the world, with unprecedented repercutions. Noone has the total lumpsum which eventually is needed to write-off (or pay) the diligences of what have the "Golden Boys" created.
Funny enough to wonder about this, since a lot of my friends are calling me a "Golden Boy"! What a joke! Let me clear this once and forever: the term "golden boy" refers to people who's anual earnings are in the range of "multi" hundreds or millions whatever (euros, dollars etc).
Just to put things straight, while at the same time we don't let our colleagues alike to go into deep distress, since the majority of them will never see this kind of money.
Happy reading and eagerly waiting for your comments.
TGCP (The Great Centaur Pileas)
A crisis which has spread all over the world, with unprecedented repercutions. Noone has the total lumpsum which eventually is needed to write-off (or pay) the diligences of what have the "Golden Boys" created.
Funny enough to wonder about this, since a lot of my friends are calling me a "Golden Boy"! What a joke! Let me clear this once and forever: the term "golden boy" refers to people who's anual earnings are in the range of "multi" hundreds or millions whatever (euros, dollars etc).
Just to put things straight, while at the same time we don't let our colleagues alike to go into deep distress, since the majority of them will never see this kind of money.
Happy reading and eagerly waiting for your comments.
TGCP (The Great Centaur Pileas)
Καλωσόρισμα...
Αγαπητοί χρήστες καλωσήρθατε. Είναι το νέο blogspot που θα ασχοληθεί κυρίως με σύγχρονα θέματα της καθημερινότητας ενός μοντέρνου ανθρώπου.
Σύντομα περισσότερα θέματα προς ανάρτηση εδώ. Η συμβολή σας είναι επιθυμητή και καλοδεχούμενη αρκεί να μην προσβάλλει την καλαισθησία και την νοημοσύνη του ευρύτερου συνόλου.
Με φιλικούς χαιρετισμούς,
The Great Centaur - Pileas
Σύντομα περισσότερα θέματα προς ανάρτηση εδώ. Η συμβολή σας είναι επιθυμητή και καλοδεχούμενη αρκεί να μην προσβάλλει την καλαισθησία και την νοημοσύνη του ευρύτερου συνόλου.
Με φιλικούς χαιρετισμούς,
The Great Centaur - Pileas
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