Articles Tagged with employment

Several things at once

Multiplexed astronomy

An example of answering several questions at once, by doing several kinds of observation at once.

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Business books

A different form of literature

Our consultants encounter a type of writing that seems terribly strange, until they realize what it’s for.

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Brass, glass and verniers

Scientists of yesterday were different

sextantOur astronomer and our navigator are away from headquarters at the moment, showing a Professor of Physics how to use his sextant.  This style of instrument was the mainstay of nineteenth-century astronomy: made of brass and glass, with precise scales engraved on them for careful measurements.  The people who used them had to work in a different way from current astronomers and must have had a different approach to life.

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Don’t know much geometry

Why are we forced to learn what we’ll only forget?

geo3While attending to his regular workout in the Five Colors S&T exercise room, our astronomer was reminded of his High School geometry class.  (We’ll explain the connection later; it has nothing to do with the angles at which his various muscles were applying force.)  Everyone was required to take geometry (and pass it), and most were required to do the same with algebra.  Yet it’s a truism that very few people actually use those subjects later on, and most forget them immediately.  Why, then, do we bother with teaching and learning them?  There are several possible answers, to which we’ll add one of our own.

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Your future as a street performer

Why passion is not a career

Our chief consultant writes:

15C03-20iAt left is a busker, a singer who performs on and near Washington, DC Metro stations. He is very, very good. His voice is rich, powerful (he sings a cappella) and educated; his choice of material is largely classical. He should be subsidized by all the companies with offices near where he performs, because a couple of minutes’ pause to listen to him on the way to work will raise employee morale more than any possible corporate vision statement.

He may in fact have other gigs. Indeed, it would be a massive waste if he didn’t. But running into him reminds us of the many areas in which people can be passionate and skilled, as well as hard-working and dedicated, and still not make a living. You can do what you love, but the money will follow someone else.

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