Sunday, January 26, 2014

Vote for Comment of the Week

Voting closes Friday noon...

Student #1 has left a new comment on your post "Your Employees Want the Negative Feedback You Hate...":

I think that, more than positive or negative, when I'm doing a job I want honest feedback. While I think these studies are useful in determining what people need, I disagree fundamentally with the notion that "Constructive" feedback is negative. No one can do a job perfectly, but presumably we all try our (mostly) best, so why are we making criticism such a bad or "negative" thing? I feel like the danger of studies like these is that the take home message for managers etc. will be "these are the ratios of positive/negative feedback we should be giving" instead of "How can we reinvent the giving and receiving of feedback so that value judgments aren't as easily applied?" 
Student #2 has left a new comment on your post "7 Things You Need To Do To Avoid Mental Burnout":
Overall, a good article in that it reminds us to be aware of the signs/symptoms of mental burnout, and thereby take actions to mitigate stress. However, the meditation suggestion in number three is glaringly over-simplified. A lot of people – myself included – have tried meditation numerous times without success. Also, taking one full hour out of every day for meditation alone is a lot when it already seems like there are frequently not enough hours in the day of a life of a student at CMU for adequate sleep. If I have to choose between exercise or meditation, I believe exercise is more effective, especially since you can simulate a type of meditative state while doing something simple like stretching or taking advantage of the trails in Schenley Park. My biggest hurdle is shutting off my brain from all of the tasks I need to complete for the week/month/semester before attempting sleep. Something that has recently helped me came from the book, The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. In order to cultivate lucidity in dreams (something I have only infrequently been able to achieve), the book suggests experiencing waking life as a dream. The concept is that once in dream state, you may then be able to focus concentration by simulating the concentration necessary to function in the waking world, and thereby achieve lucidity. The other side of this is that before bed, it can help to view the aspects/situations of the day that are still troubling as the transitory elements of a dream. Believe it or not, this little trick has helped me quiet my mind before sleep. And a restful sleep can be one of the most important factors to regenerate our bodies and brains from burnout. 
Student #3 has left a new comment on your post "Housing for Artists in Arts District Set to Break ...":
I love the concept of having 39 artists living together under one roof. Typically in art districts housing is somewhat limited and if its available it is often over priced. The Floora Street lofts with provide housing to people of the same mindset and common interests. The environment of this building would be incredible for all these creative minds coming together could create some amazing art. I would love to live in this kind of housing at some point in my life. This idea is so unique and I just love the concept overall. I wonder if the demand is going to be great enough to get 39 "artists." It sounds like its hard to define what they consider to be an artist. Super creative concept and I would love to live there. 
Student #4 has left a new comment on your post "Equity National Tours Explained ":
I was unaware of the way touring contracts work in juxtaposition to Broadway contracts. 10 different types of touring contracts? It does seem like the money is in touring because your earnings are more easily put towards living which is what it should be. It doesn't make sense to me that Newsies and Kinky Boots National Tour Company Members are making significantly less than Book of Mormon members. Kinky Boots is a Tony Award winning musical and Newsies is a Disney musical. Tier C and D? Those company members are working extremely hard and deserve more. 
Student #5 has left a new comment on your post "8 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Just Rely On SpellChec...":
It is funny how many people don't care to learn how to spell correctly nowadays, especially now that iPhones will guess the word that you are trying to write for you as soon as you start typing a few letters. SpellCheck does catch when you have sentence fragments or the wrong tense verb. I know I only use it as a quick flag while I'm writing to let me know if there is a word spelled wrong and then I make myself retype the whole word all over again without the aide of anything to make sure that I know how to spell it. When I finish the whole paper, I then go through and proof read for the extra words and fragments and such. SpellCheck is the doom of our written language I'm a afraid. Same with ChatSpeak. ChatSpeak ruins the English language for everyone by leaving out letters and abbreviating words into things that don't make sense. I know it is useful because it is faster to type, but that doesn't mean you should use it anywhere outside of texting or online chatting. I write out full words and sentences with correct punctuation whenever I type or text just so that I don't get thrown into the illiterate pile of people. There are elementary school kids that write in ChatSpeak because they are use to texting and such. My mom is constantly asking me to translate from ChatSpeak into normal English for her so that she can write out the real word for them. It is getting ridiculous.

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