http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/what-your-computer-does-while-you-wait

1. Shake a leg. Lack of blood flow is a common reason for lack of concentration. If you’ve been sitting in one place for awhile, bounce one of your legs for a minute or two. It gets your blood flowing and sharpens both concentration and recall.
2. Food for thought: Eat breakfast. A lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of protein can actually cause headaches.
3. Food for thought, part 2: Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches have a tendency to make people drowsy. While you could turn this to your advantage by taking a “thinking nap” (see #23), most people haven’t learned how.
4. Cognitive enhancers: Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba is a natural supplement that has been used in China and other countries for centuries and has been reputed to reverse memory loss in rats. It’s also suggested by some health practitioners as a nootrope and thus a memory enhancer.
5. Reduce stress + depresssion. Stress and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and fewer refined foods.

Balance

6. Sleep on it. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote about in his book Psycho-Cybernetics about a man who was was paid good money to come up with ideas. He would lock his office door, close the blinds, turn off the lights. He’d focus on the problem at hand, then take a short nap on a couch. When he awoke, he usually had the problem solved.
7. Take a break. Change phyical or mental perspective to lighten the invisible stress that can sometimes occur when you sit in one place too long, focused on learning. Taking a 5-15 minute break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop study. It gives your mind time to relax and absorb information. If you want to get really serious with breaks, try a 20 minute ultradian break as part of every 90 minute cycle. This includes a nap break, which is for a different purpose than #23.
8. Take a hike. Changing your perspective often relieves tension, thus freeing your creative mind. Taking a short walk around the neighborhood may help.
9. Change your focus. Sometimes there simply isn’t enough time to take a long break. If so, change subject focus. Alternate between technical and non-technical subjects.

Perspective and Focus

10. Change your focus, part 2. There are three primary ways to learn: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. If one isn’t working for you, try another.
11. Do walking meditation. If you’re taking a hike (#25), go one step further and learn walking meditation as a way to tap into your inner resources and your strengthen your ability to focus. Just make sure you’re not walking inadvertently into traffic.
12. Focus and immerse yourself. Focus on whatever you’re studying. Don’t try to watch TV at the same time or worry yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of information and ideas.
13. Turn out the lights. This is a way to focus, if you are not into meditating. Sit in the dark, block out extraneous influences. This is ideal for learning kinesthetically, such as guitar chord changes.
14. Take a bath or shower. Both activities loosen you up, making your mind more receptive to recognizing brilliant ideas.

Recall Techniques

15. Listen to music. Researchers have long shown that certain types of music are a great “key” for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled simply by “playing” the songs mentally.
16. Speedread. Some people believe that speedreading causes you to miss vital information. The fact remains that efficient speedreading results in filtering out irrelevant information. If necessary, you can always read and re-read at slower speeds. Slow reading actually hinders the ability to absorb general ideas. (Although technical subjects often requirer slower reading.) If you’re reading online, you can try the free Spreeder Web-based application.
17. Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are essentially tricks for remembering information. Some tricks are so effective that proper application will let you recall loads of mundane information years later.

Visual Aids

18. Every picture tells a story. Draw or sketch whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Having a concrete goal in mind helps you progress towards that goal.
19. Brainmap it. Need to plan something? Brain maps, or mind maps, offer a compact way to get both an overview of a project as well as easily add details. With mind maps, you can see the relationships between disparate ideas and they can also act as a receptacle for a brainstorming session.
20. Learn symbolism and semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. Having an understanding of the symbols of a particular discipline aids in learning, and also allows you to record information more efficiently.
21. Use information design. When you record information that has an inherent structure, applying information design helps convey that information more clearly. A great resource is Information Aesthetics, which gives examples of information design and links to their sources.
22. Use visual learning techniques. Try gliffy for structured diagrams. Also see Inspiration.com for an explanation of webs, idea maps, concept maps, and plots.
23. Map your task flow. Learning often requires gaining knowledge in a specific sequence. Organizing your thoughts on what needs to be done is a powerful way to prepare yourself to complete tasks or learn new topics.

Verbal and Auditory Techniques

24. Stimulate ideas. Play rhyming games, utter nonsense words. These loosen you up, making you more receptive to learning.
25. Brainstorm. This is a time-honored technique that combines verbal activity, writing, and collaboration. (One person can brainstorm, but it’s more effective in a group.) It’s fruitful if you remember some simple rules: Firstly, don’t shut anyone’s idea out. Secondly, don’t “edit” in progress; just record all ideas first, then dissect them later. Participating in brainstorming helps assess what you already know about something, and what you didn’t know.
26. Learn by osmosis. Got an iPod? Record a few of your own podcasts, upload them to your iPod and sleep on it. Literally. Put it under your pillow and playback language lessons or whatever.
27. Cognitive enhancers: binaural beats. Binaural beats involve playing two close frequencies simultaneously to produce alpha, beta, delta, and theta waves, all of which produce either sleeping, restfulness, relaxation, meditativeness, alertness, or concentration. Binaural beats are used in conjunction with other excercises for a type of super-learning.
28. Laugh. Laughing relaxes the body. A relaxed body is more receptive to new ideas.

Kinesthetic Techniques

29. Write, don’t type. While typing your notes into the computer is great for posterity, writing by hand stimulates ideas. The simple act of holding and using a pen or pencil massages acupuncture points in the hand, which in turn stimulates ideas.
30. Carry a quality notebook at all times. Samuel Taylor Coleridge dreamed the words of the poem “In Xanadu (did Kubla Khan)…”. Upon awakening, he wrote down what he could recall, but was distracted by a visitor and promptly forgot the rest of the poem. Forever. If you’ve been doing “walking meditation” or any kind of meditation or productive napping, ideas may suddenly come to you. Record them immediately.
31. Keep a journal. This isn’t exactly the same as a notebook. Journaling has to do with tracking experiences over time. If you add in visual details, charts, brainmaps, etc., you have a much more creative way to keep tabs on what you are learning.
32. Organize. Use sticky colored tabs to divide up a notebook or journal. They are a great way to partition ideas for easy referral.
33. Use post-it notes. Post-it notes provide a helpful way to record your thoughts about passages in books without defacing them with ink or pencil marks.

Self-Motivation Techniques

34. Give yourself credit. Ideas are actually a dime a dozen. If you learn to focus your mind on what results you want to achieve, you’ll recognize the good ideas. Your mind will become a filter for them, which will motivate you to learn more.
35. Motivate yourself. Why do you want to learn something? What do want to achieve through learning? If you don’t know why you want to learn, then distractions will be far more enticing.
36. Set a goal. W. Clement Stone once said “Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve.” It’s an amazing phenomenon in goal achievement. Prepare yourself by whatever means necessary, and hurdles will seem surmountable. Anyone who has experienced this phenomenon understands its validity.
37. Think positive. There’s no point in setting learning goals for yourself if you don’t have any faith in your ability to learn.
38. Organize, part 2. Learning is only one facet of the average adult’s daily life. You need to organize your time and tasks else you might find it difficult to fit time in for learning. Try Neptune for a browser-based application for “getting things done.”
39. Every skill is learned. With the exception of bodily functions, every skill in life is learned. Generally speaking, if one person can learn something, so can you. It may take you more effort, but if you’ve set a believable goal, it’s likely an achievable goal.
40. Prepare yourself for learning. Thinking positive isn’t sufficient for successfully achieving goals. This is especially important if you are an adult, as you’ll probably have many distractions surrounding your daily life. Implement ways to reduce distractions, at least for a few hours at a time, else learning will become a frustrating experience.
41. Prepare yourself, part 2. Human nature is such that not everyone in your life will be a well-wisher in your self-improvement and learning plans. They may intentionally or subconsciously distract you from your goal. If you have classes to attend after work, make sure that work colleagues know this, that you are unable to work late. Diplomacy works best if you think your boss is intentionally giving you work on the days he/she knows you have to leave. Reschedule lectures to a later time slot if possible/ necessary.
42. Constrain yourself. Most people need structure in their lives. Freedom is sometimes a scary thing. It’s like chaos. But even chaos has order within. By constraining yourself — say giving yourself deadlines, limiting your time on an idea in some manner, or limiting the tools you are working with — you can often accomplish more in less time.

Supplemental Techniques

43. Read as much as you can. How much more obvious can it get? Use Spreeder (#33) if you have to. Get a breadth of topics as well as depth.
44. Cross-pollinate your interests. Neurons that connect to existing neurons give you new perspectives and abilities to use additional knowledge in new ways.
45. Learn another language. New perspectives give you the ability to cross-pollinate cultural concepts and come up with new ideas. As well, sometimes reading a book in its original language will provide you with insights lost in translation.
46. Learn how to learn. Management Help has a resource page, as does SIAST (Virtual Campus), which links to articles about learning methods. They are geared towards online learning, but no doubt you gain something from them for any type of learning. If you are serious about optimum learning, read Headrush’s Crash course in learning theory.
47. Learn what you know and what you don’t. Many people might say, “I’m dumb,” or “I don’t know anything about that.” The fact is, many people are wholly unaware of what they already know about a topic. If you want to learn about a topic, you need to determine what you already know, figure out what you don’t know, and then learn the latter.
48. Multi-task through background processes. Effective multi-tasking allows you to bootstrap limited time to accomplish several tasks. Learning can be bootstrapped through multi-tasking, too. By effective multitasking, I don’t mean doing two or more things at exactly the same time. It’s not possible. However, you can achieve the semblance of effective multitasking with the right approach, and by prepping your mind for it. For example, a successful freelance writer learns to manage several articles at the same time. Research the first essay, and then let the background processes of your mind takeover. Move on consciously to the second essay. While researching the second essay, the first one will often “write itself.” Be prepared to record it when it “appears” to you.
49. Think holistically. Holistic thinking might be the single most “advanced” learning technique that would help students. But it’s a mindset rather than a single technique.
50. Use the right type of repetition. Complex concepts often require revisting in order to be fully absorbed. Sometimes, for some people, it may actually take months or years. Repetition of concepts and theory with various concrete examples improves absorption and speeds up learning.
51. Apply the Quantum Learning (QL) model. The Quantum Learning model is being applied in some US schools and goes beyond typical education methods to engage students.
52. Get necessary tools. There are obviously all kinds of tools for learning. If you are learning online like a growing number of people these days, then consider your online tools. One of the best tools for online research is the Firefox web browser, which has loads of extensions (add-ons) with all manner of useful features. One is Googlepedia, which simultaneously displays Google search engine listings, when you search for a term, with related entries from Wikipedia.
53. Get necessary tools, part 2. This is a very niche tip, but if you want to learn fast-track methods for building software, read Getting Real from 37 Signals. The Web page version is free. The techniques in the book have been used to create Basecamp, Campfire, and Backpack web applications in a short time frame. Each of these applications support collaboration and organization.
54. Learn critical thinking. As Keegan-Michael Key’s character on MadTV might say, critical thinking takes analysis to “a whole notha level”. Read Wikipedia’s discourse on critical thinking as a starting point. It involves good analytical skills to aid the ability to learn selectively.
55. Learn complex problem solving. For most people, life is a series of problems to be solved. Learning is part of the process. If you have a complex problem, you need to learn the art of complex problem solving. [The latter page has some incredible visual information.]

For Teachers, Tutors, and Parents

56. Be engaging. Lectures are one-sided and often counter-productive. Information merely heard or witnessed (from a chalkboard for instance) is often forgotten. Teaching is not simply talking. Talking isn’t enough. Ask students questions, present scenarios, engage them.
57. Use information pyramids. Learning happens in layers. Build base knowledge upon which you can add advanced concepts.
58. Use video games. Video games get a bad rap because of certain violent games. But video games in general can often be an effective aid to learning.
59. Role play. Younger people often learn better by being part of a learning experience. For example, history is easier to absorb through reenactments.
60. Apply the 80/20 rule. This rule is often interpreted in dfferent ways. In this case, the 80/20 rule means that some concepts, say about 20% of a curriculum, require more effort and time, say about 80%, than others. So be prepared to expand on complex topics.
61. Tell stories. Venus Flytrap, a character from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, once taught a student gang member about atoms, electrons, and protons by saying that an atom was one big neighborhood, and the protons and neutrons had their own smaller neighborhoods and never mixed. Just like rival gangs. The story worked, and understanding sparked in the students eyes.
62. Go beyond the public school curriculum. The public school system is woefully lacking in teaching advanced learning and brainstorming methods. It’s not that the methods cannot be taught; they just aren’t. To learn more, you have to pay a premium in additional time and effort, and sometimes money for commercially available learning tools. There’s nothing wrong with that in itself, but what is taught in schools needs to be expanded. This article’s author has proven that a nine-year old can learn (some) university level math, if the learning is approached correctly.
63. Use applied learning. If a high school student were having trouble in math, say with fractions, one example of applied learning might be photography, lenses, f-stops, etc. Another example is cooking and measurement of ingredients. Tailor the applied learning to the interest of the student.

For Students and Self-Studiers

64. Be engaged. Surprise. Sometimes students are bored because they know more than is being taught, maybe even more than a teacher. (Hopefully teachers will assess what each student already knows.) Students should discuss with a teacher if they feel that the material being covered is not challenging. Also consider asking for additional materials.
65. Teach yourself. Teachers cannot always change their curricula. If you’re not being challenged, challenge yourself. Some countries still apply country-wide exams for all students. If your lecturer didn’t cover a topic, you should learn it on your own. Don’t wait for someone to teach you. Lectures are most effective when you’ve pre-introduced yourself to concepts.
66. Collaborate. If studying by yourself isn’t working, maybe a study group will help.
67. Do unto others: teach something. The best way to learn something better is to teach it to someone else. It forces you to learn, if you are motivated enough to share your knowledge.
68. Write about it. An effective way to “teach” something is to create an FAQ or a wiki containing everything you know about a topic. Or blog about the topic. Doing so helps you to realize what you know and more importantly what you don’t. You don’t even have to spend money if you grab a freebie account with Typepad, Wordpress, or Blogger.
69. Learn by experience. Pretty obvious, right? It means put in the necessary time. An expert is often defined as someone who has put in 10,000 hours into some experience or endeavor. That’s approximately 5 years of 40 hours per week, every week. Are you an expert without realizing it? If you’re not, do you have the dedication to be an expert?
70. Quiz yourself. Testing what you’ve learned will reinforce the information. Flash cards are one of the best ways, and are not just for kids.
71. Learn the right things first. Learn the basics. Case in point: a frustrating way to learn a new language is to learn grammar and spelling and sentence constructs first. This is not the way a baby learns a language, and there’s no reason why an adult or young adult has to start differently, despite “expert” opinion. Try for yourself and see the difference.
72. Plan your learning. If you have a long-term plan to learn something, then to quote Led Zeppelin, “There are two paths you can go by.” You can take a haphazard approach to learning, or you can put in a bit of planning and find an optimum path. Plan your time and balance your learning and living.

Parting Advice

73. Persist. Don’t give up learning in the face of intimdating tasks. Anything one human being can learn, most others can as well. Wasn’t it Einstein that said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”? Thomas Edison said it, too.
74. Defy the experts. Dyslexia, in a nutshell, is the affliction of mentally jumbling letters and digits, causing difficulties in reading, writing and thus learning. Sometimes spoken words or numbers get mixed up as well. In the past, “experts” declared dyslexic children stupid. Later, they said they were incapable of learning. This author has interacted with and taught dyslexic teens. It’s possible. Helen Keller had no experience of sight, sound, or speech, and yet she learned. Conclusion: There is more than one way to learn; never believe you cannot.
75. Challenge yourself. People are often more intelligent than they realize. In a world that compartmentalizes and categorizes everything, not everyone is sure where they fit in. And genius can be found in many walks of life. If you honestly suspect that there’s more to you than has been “allowed” to be let out, try an IQ test such as the one offered by MENSA. It’s unlike the standardized IQ tests given in many schools. You know the kind — the ones which traumatize many young students into thinking they are stupid, simply because the tests don’t really assess all student’s knowledge and learning ability. And the ability to learn is far, far more important than what you already know.
76. Party before an exam. Well, don’t go that far. The key is to relax. The worse thing to do is cram the night before an exam. If you don’t already know a subject by then, cramming isn’t going to help. If you have studied, simply review the topic, then go do something pleasant (no more studying). Doing so tells your brain that you are prepared and that you will be able to recall anything that you have already learned. On the other hand, if you didn’t spend the semester learning the ideas you need, you might as well go party anyways because cramming at the last minute isn’t going to help much at that point.
77. Don’t worry; learn happy. Have a real passion for learning and want to share that? Join a group such as the Joyful Jubilant Learning community [via LifeHack].

Sources For This Article

This is only a partial list of sources, focusing only on Web sites. Many of the ideas presented above come from long years of experience, with information gleaned from dozens of books and tapes on learning and, more recently, Web sites. The Web sites below either present original articles related to the ideas above, or summaries of ideas with links to other Web sites. In the latter case, such Web sites have likely been linked above. Book sources have either been long forgotten or mentioned above.

• Headrush.
• Lifehack.
• 43Folders.
• Active learning for the college classroom.
• Steve Pavlina.

Source: Digg.com by hoops_icon. Orginal source: http://oedb.org/library/college-basics/hacking-knowledge

Af Jan Cortzen, forfatter og journalist, tidligere chefredaktør for Dagbladet Børsen.

Dagens kronik er stilet personligt til TDC-formanden, der blev forgyldt, da selskabet skiftede ejer, og han forlod direktørposten, men rejser principielle spørgsmål.

Kære Henning Dyremose.

Vi kender ikke hinanden. Og dog. Vi oplevede sammen for år tilbage en tragedie. Min redaktionschef på Dagbladet Børsen, Karsten Buhl døde af cancer kun 48 år gammel. Det skete dagen før juleaften 1993. Du var meget nærværende i den tragedie. Karsten Buhl var gift med Elin din kones søster. Karsten og Elin, der også døde af cancer for få år siden, boede i et dejligt hus i Trørød sammen med deres lille dreng Andreas. Det var en god familie at besøge. Jeg tror faktisk vi engang mødtes hos Karsten og Elin til en festlig efterårs-middag med hjemmelavede gule ærter, sprængt flæsk, øl og snaps.

Ved begravelsen fra Søllerød Kirke, hvor Tove Hyldgaard sang Karstens ynglingssalme Blomstre som en Rosengaard kom du bagefter impulsivt hen til mig og takkede mig for de ord, jeg sagde ved Karstens båre. Du var lige så bevæget som alle vi andre. Det var en tung begravelse. Og fra min tid som journalistelev i provinsen, hvor jeg dengang refererede begravelser flere gange om ugen, ved jeg, at begravelser ikke nødvendigvis behøver at være tunge og tragiske. Der findes også begravelser der er lette og lyse, på sin vis, men Karstens begravelse var tung og tragisk, men smuk det var den og det sørgede Tove Hyldgaard for.

Siden så vi som jeg husker det ikke meget til hinanden. Du markerede min 60 års fødselsdag med en boggave. Jeg har den stadig på min reol en smuk, rigt illustreret bog om Træ udgivet af trælastfirmaet Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman A/S, som du var adm. direktør for fra 1993-1998, inden du skiftede til Tele Danmark nu TDC.

Et par gange de senere år ringede jeg til dig, når jeg havde vrøvl med mit TDC-indkøbte internetmodem eller med min mobiltelefon, når jeg fummelfingret som jeg er ikke helt kunne få isenkræmmet til at fungere.

Jeg talte ikke med dig, men med dit direktionssekretariat og fortalte selvfølgelig din sekretær, at vi kendte hinanden. Og så blev problemerne løst i løbet af nul komma fem. Dejligt.

Siden fulgte jeg dig fra sidelinien som så mange andre. Din ledelse af TDC var kontant og vel nok også ind imellem hård. Jeg tænker på de omfattende afskedigelsesrunder, du satte i værk for at omstille den tidligere lidt støvede statsejede virksomhed til de konkurrenceprægede markedsvilkår, vi kender i dag.

Det gjorde ondt i medarbejdergrupperne, forståeligt nok. Side fulgte tiden med opkøb,ekspansion i udlandet og udvikling af en hel stribe nye elektroniske produkter og tjenester. TDC voksede sig stor under din ledelse.

Da kapitalfonden NTC i februar 2006 for adskillige milliarder kr. købte TDC, blev der vendt et blad, ikke blot i TDCs historie, men også i dit karriereforløb. Du forlod i juni 2006 posten som adm. direktør for selskabet og blev i stedet formand for TDC et tillidshverv, du beklæder den dag i dag.

Det ejerskifte fik millionerne til at flyde i en lind strøm ned i dine lommer.

Jeg husker ikke præcist, hvor mange millioner kr. du fik i bonus, fratrædelsesgodtgørelse, honorarer, optioner osv. Men det var mange millioner, rigtigt mange, om det var tocifrede eller trecifrede millionbeløb, alt inklusive, kan jeg ikke vide, men det er også ligegyldigt.

Du fik i pose og sæk og mere til og du fik dem i et land, i et samfund, hvor få har for meget og færre for lidt, og hvor skatter og afgifter nok skal sørge for at dele sol og vind lige, men også et samfund hvor netop skatteniveauet verdens højeste siger nogen gør befolkningen nærtagen og sensibel økonomisk set, når en enkelt person pludselig og uden egentlig seriøs begrundelse scorer kassen i så voldsom en grad, at det virkede direkte provokerende på befolkningens oplevelser af almene normer i et demokratisk retssamfund.

I en profiludsendelse i DR 1 for et par måneder siden gjorde du nok på den baggrund meget ud af at fortælle, at det jo var bestyrelsen i TDC, der havde bevilget dig de mange millioner. Det var jo ikke noget, du havde krævet eller forlangt ved din fratræden som topchef i TDC. Det var næsten lige før du sagde, at du var nødt til at tage imod de penge, som bestyrelsen bevilgede dig, ligesom den svenske udenrigsminister Carl Bildt forsøgte at bilde den svenske befolkning ind, at han ikke kunne sige nej til aktieoptioner for fire-fem mio kr. fra det russiske energiselskab, hvor han sad i bestyrelsen, indtil han blev udenrigsminister i Reinfeldt-regeringen.

Du lagde i tv-interviewet i hvert fald ikke skjul på, at du var både glad og også beæret over at have modtaget de mange millioner og at du havde fortjent dem, sagde du, på linie med en professionel fodboldspiller som jo også scorer kassen, hvis han er god på banen og kan lave mål.

Det var i samme udsendelse, du også nåede at fortælle, at din barndom i Holstebro var præget af fattigdom. Du sagde som jeg husker det , at hvis der ikke faldt sne i løbet af vinteren, så din far kunne komme ud at skovle veje og gader rene og tjene en sjat penge ved det, så sultede I for dine forældre havde knap nok råd til at købe salt til et æg. Det var rørende at høre på næsten for rørende i betragtning af, at det blev sagt af en person, der netop var blevet forgyldt ud over alle bredder. Det var den amerikanske drøm i pæredansk udgave.

Jeg ved ikke, om det undrer dig, at dine mange millioner vækker almindelig forbløffelse, ja forargelse, ikke misundelse, men forargelse.

Almindelige mennesker, lønmodtagere, der knokler fra morgen til aften og får en gage, der er til at overse, specielt efter at skatten har fået sin klækkelige del, småbørnsforældre, der kæmper den daglige kamp for at få børn, job, økonomi, samvær osv. til at hænge sammen ( »kan vi ikke gøre det lidt bedre,« som Poul Nyrup Rasmussen formulerede det i en nytårstale) kan simpelthen ikke begribe, at et enkelt menneske, en ganske almindelig lønmodtager, en funktionær, der jo ikke er ejer af den virksomhed, han har haft ansvaret for, uden videre bliver belønnet så fyrsteligt og med så gigantiske millionbeløb, blot fordi selskabet skifter ejer. Det er der jo hverken logik eller fornuft i.

Folk kan simpelthen ikke forstå, at dette ejerskifte skal udløse så svimlende en sum penge.

Det ville unægteligt have hjulpet på offentlighedens holdning, hvis du havde valgt at sige nej tak til de mange millioner, bare nogle få af dem! Og det ville også have hjulpet på folks accept, hvis du i forbindelse med din modtagne rigdom havde valgt at donere bare nogle få millioner til ja, til velgørende formål. Et par millioner til Kofoeds Skole, nogle andre millioner til Røde Kors og Red Barnet eller måske nogle millioner til Kræftens Bekæmpelse. Det er alle organisationer, der har brug for donationer, støtte og gaver for at kunne opfylde deres formål. Og du ville jo stadig have haft mange, mange millioner til rådighed for dit eget velbehag resten af dine dage.

Hvorfor dog denne grådighed ?

Men nej du føler, det er penge, du ærligt og redeligt har fortjent. Det manglede sgu bare. Det er mine penge, og hvis folk ikke kan forstå det, ja, så må de leve med det. Sådan er det.

Siden du blev forgyldt, har vi ikke hørt meget til dig. Du ønsker tilsyneladende at holde lav profil. Det er forståeligt nok. Der er jo trods alt ingen grund til at træde offentligt frem og minde folk om de mange millioner, som du så pludselig blev ejer af. Ja, om det så er formandskabet i Dansk Industri midt i de hektiske overenskomstforhandlinger varetager du tilsyneladende dette hverv på de indre linier.

Som DI-formand har du i hvert fald ikke profileret dig offentligt. Og dit navn er ikke længere med i mediernes nyhedsdækning.

Ja, selv ikke da Fogh-regeringen forleden besluttede et skatteindgreb for at imødegå de mest aggressive kapitalfondes skatteunddragelse, der samtidig også var et indgreb, som skulle tage toppen af de mest lukrative bonusordninger og fratrædelseshonorarer til bjergsomme topchefer i forbindelse med selskabers ejerskifte, hørte vi noget til dig.

Om end i luksusskikkelse er du faktisk på vej til at blive lidt i retning af en paria selv i det bedre borgerskabs kredse, i metaforisk forstand en ringeagtet og ilde lidt person, der lig pariaerne i Indien ikke længere tilhører nogen kaste!

Hvem vil overhovedet høre Henning Dyremoses navn nævnt uden at tænke på de mange millioner, han så aldeles umotiveret fik foræret

Men alt har sin pris.

Det har denne milliondonation også.

Prisen for dig, Henning Dyremose, er måske umiddelbart set let nok at bære, at leve med, men alligevel for det er vel næppe velbehageligt at se sig selv hængt ud i diverse medier og omtalt som et menneske, der uden videre har accepteret en økonomisk gevinst så gigantisk , at der nu ligefrem bliver lovgivet tilmed af en borgerlig regering for at komme dette uvæsen, denne grådighed blandt danske topchefer til livs.

Det var vel ikke lige det billede eller den karakteristik, du havde set frem til, da du i sin tid forlod finansministerposten i den sidste Schlüter-regering og blev en stor mand i dansk erhvervsliv.

Kilde: http://www.jp.dk/login?url=indland/artikel:aid=4223126

Play Nizhal FM

Do you know why Pongal is being celebrated?

Wikipedia says:

Pongal is an Indian festival to give thanks for the harvest. Pongal in Tamil means ‘boiling over’. It is traditionally celebrated at the time of harvest of crops and hence is a celebration of the prosperity associated with the event.
Pongal is celebrated by all people in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. While Pongal is predominantly a Tamil festival, the same period also marks similar festivals celebrated in several other places under different names. In Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the harvest festival Sankranthi is celebrated. In northern India, it is called Makar Sankranti. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, it is the date of the annual kite-flying day, Uttarayan. It also coincides with the bonfire and harvest festival in Punjab and Haryana, known as Lohri.

source: http://www.google-logos.com/happy-sankranthi-pongal-2007.html

“Initially, 99 per cent of government systems have been running on Microsoft systems but then 2007 will be a watershed year for the state IT sector. We are fast migrating to Linux operating systems which are so much cheaper and can be operated at low cost, besides offering continuous updates and freedom from viruses,” says Mr C. Umashankar, managing director of state-owned ELCOT, vested with the responsibility of overseeing such ambitious government projects as e-governance, enumerating the beneficiaries of the free TV scheme, family ration cards and the free sari-dhoti distribution.

“We have already dispatched 6,500 Linux systems to village panchayats and another 6,100 Acer desktop systems with Suse Linux operating systems are on their way. We are procuring 20,000 desktop systems for schools, which will run only on Suse Linux. Remaining 30 desktop systems will also migrate as and when the new machines arrive,” Mr Umashankar told this newspaper.
He said all the ELCOT servers were on Redhat Linus and the government IT company’s 28-seater software development wing was fully on Suse Linux.

“We will train over 30,000 government officials in Linux Operating Systems and Open Office. A contract has been already finalised with the government departments and we have set up a Linux support centre with two Linux-certified professionals to assist the state officers. This number will go up to ten or more in 2007, which will be a path-breaking year for government on migration to Linux Operating System,” Mr Umashankar said. “India can live without Microsoft packages and even progress but Microsoft will find it tough without a huge country like India buying their software packages,” he said.

He said a top official from Microsoft India had met him twice to convince him to continue with MS products. The official offered the XP operating system for about Rs.7000 while he quoted Rs.500. “I explained to her that for a mere Rs.300, I could get the entire operating system, office productivity software and a wide range of utility tools, such as DVD/CD writing software, database software, multimedia editing software, vector map-drawing software plus a whole range of software development tools. Also, I have the option of downloading this entire package in DVD media and not even pay that Rs.300, which is the media cost and not the software charges,” said the ELCOT chief, an IT expert himself besides being a senior IAS bureaucrat.

He said he had also pointed out to the Microsoft official that MS Office did not allow saving of documents in open document format. While it was possible to open all MS Office files using Openoffice.org, the vice versa cannot be done. “I asked her why ELCOT should buy such an inferior product when
Openoffice.org is available free of cost for Windows as well as Linux.

She said Microsoft are working on open XML format,” he added. Mr Umashankar said he had written to state finance secretary enumerating the “huge financial and working advantages” of shifting to Open Source Environment in all government departments. “I have been receiving great support from all the senior IAS officers here, from the chief secretary downwards. It is very encouraging.

ELCOT is not the loser when Microsoft did not accept our price of Rs.500; on the other hand, Microsoft loses out due to our big volumes involved,” he said.
“There is a gross misconception among the governments and officials that if they migrate to Open Source platform, Microsoft would get angry and the entire software industry could come to a grinding halt. This is totally misplaced fear,” Mr Umashankar said.

“Within the next five years, it is going to be the IT services which would dominate the revenue share of the IT companies, because more and more users, governments and the corporate sector have started migrating to OS software, thus removing the scope for more revenues from products. It is time that the users understood this scenario and start saving their precious revenues,” Mr Umashankar said.

Talking of the changes happening in this direction, he said he had ordered 43 rack servers for ELCOT to host various government applications. “All the applications are to run under OS software. I would have paid Rs.20 lakh per server if I had adopted proprietary software but now I have saved over Rs.8 crore from this one transaction.

We intend to procure 1000 servers in the next two years. Imagine the amount of savings we are getting out of this,” the ELCOT chief said. “In my view, a state government of TN magnitude would be able to save Rs 200-500 crores every year, when the National e-governance action plan gets implemented,” he said, adding that school children too could get the benefit of “more robust, secure and economical Open Source software for their work,” he added. “Today, there is more demand for OSS trained engineers. I require at least 500 trainers to train 30,000 state officials across Tamil Nadu in the next six months.

Source: http://mandriva.blogspot.com/2007/01/tamil-nadu-india-may-shut-door-on.html

Jeg har lige set den video, som viser Saddam Husseins henrettelse – og den er en dramatisk dokumentation på, hvor langt det Irak, som Vesten anført af USA, England og Danmark har skabt, er fra at være et demokratisk retssamfund. Se selv videoen på

www.liveleak.com/view?i=863ce7d4a3.

Vestlige medier har fejlagtigt valgt at lade deres læsere og seere slippe for at se selve hængningen – det skal Vestens borgere skånes for. Dette hensyn er desværre typisk for den logren med halen, der præger de fleste mediers dækning af Irak-krigen. De stærke billeder fra krigens virkelighed – af irakiske børn, kvinder, gamle, civile og såmænd også soldater og terrorister, der er dræbt eller lemlæstet i titusindvis af de vestlige allierede – er i reglen sorteret væk.

Derved fremstår krig mere klinisk end den er – og det er naturligvis i de allieredes interesse. Ved at undlade at vise hængningen af Saddam lykkes det igen at minimere fokus på det forkastelige i, at Vesten – inklusive Danmark – aktivt understøtter den middelalderlige dødsstraf.

Dødsstraf er et ubehageligt levn fra Det Gamle Testamentes ord om ’tand for tand – øje for øje’ – og noget, som civiliserede samfund naturligvis bør tage maksimal afstand fra. Ingen forbrydelse berettiger til, at en retsstat kan dømme et andet menneske til døden – allermest fordi denne primitive hævnagt bringer retsstaten ned på forbryderens eget niveau.

Derfor var det med væmmelse, at jeg i de forløbne måneder fulgte den standret, som det nye irakiske regime gennemførte mod Saddam Husseins – Iraks grusomme diktator gennem et kvart århundrede. Væmmelsen skyldtes naturligvis, at udfaldet var givet på forhånd – nemlig at Saddam ville blive dømt til døden. Tand for tand – øje for øje!

På et tidspunkt, hvor de vestlige allierede kunne have vist det nye Irak, at et demokratisk samfund behandler alle – selv de værste forbrydere – på en human og værdig måde, understøttede vi i stedet dødsstraffen.

Saddam blev dømt til døden ved hængning – måske den næstældste kendte dødsstraf efter den halshugning, som vi i de seneste år har set islamistiske terrorister foretage på vestlige gidsler. Jeg finder det pinligt, at de vestlige krigsmagter – anført af USA og England, men bakket ivrigt op af Danmark – er ude af stand til at se symbolikken:

At hængningen af Saddam er ligeså primitiv og uhyggelig som halshugningen af gidsler.

Vesten burde være bedre. Vesten burde vise civilisationens styrke.

Desværre er Irak-krigen et langt eksempel på, at Vesten har ladet sig synke ned i moradset:

Krigen blev indledt på løgne – der var ingen masseødelæggelsesvåben; der var ingen forbindelse til al-Qaeda.

Krigen blev igangsat ulovligt – uden det nødvendige FN-mandat; med et splittet NATO.

Krigen er gennemført med utallige brud på menneskerettighederne – tænk på Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, hemmelige CIA-fængsler.

Krigen har ført til hundredtusinder af drab på irakiske børn, kvinder, mænd og gamle – og skabt et endnu større had til Vesten hos de efterladte.

Krigen har skabt et mere farligt Mellemøsten – med atomvåbenprogrammer i Iran, borgerkrig i Libanon, eskalering af den israelsk-palæstinensiske konflikt.

For mig at se er der kun en vej ud af det hængedynd, som Bush, Blair og Fogh har trukket Vesten ind i: Nemlig en tilbagevenden til det retssamfund, der langsomt, men sikkert, bragte fred, stabilitet og vækst til Europa og Amerika i løbet af det 20. århundrede.

Det bør begynde ved, at vi ser os selv i spejlet – og åbent diskuterer de fejl, som vi selv har begået i især Irak ved begyndelsen af det 21. århundrede. Retssamfundet baseres på to fundamentale rettigheder – retten til frit at ytre sig og individets rettigheder over for den stærke stat.

Lad os dog se henrettelsen af Saddam, så vi med egne øjne kan vurdere, hvad det er, Vestens ledere bidrager til. Lad os ikke hoppe på smarte spindoktoreres usmagelige snak om, at vi skal skånes for at se hængningen. I et demokrati skal magthaverne ikke have held til at gemme ubehagelighederne væk – de skal frem i lyset, så vi selv kan tage stilling.

Krig er ikke kun glansbilledet af statuen af Saddam, der blev væltet for snart tre år siden, da USA indtog Bagdad. Krig er i den grad også død – også den form for drab, som vi kalder dødsstraf, og som Vesten netop har understøttet med drabet på Saddam.

David Trads
Chefredaktør

Source: http://avisen.dk/blogs/datr/TRADS_3A00_-Se-Saddams-h_E600_ngning_2100_-311206.aspx