A 'Class Action'.- Time in partnership with CNN

Like many other recent college graduates, 27-year-old Trina Thompson has struggled to land a job since getting her diploma in April 2009. But instead of blaming the recession for her employment woes, the New York City native filed a lawsuit against her alma mater, Monroe College in the Bronx, N.Y., to recoup the $70,000 she spent on a bachelor's degree in information technology — saying the school's Office of Career Advancement has failed miserably at helping her advance her career.

Thompson is also asking for $2,000 to make up for the stress of her fruitless three-month job search. But it doesn't look as if the folks at Monroe College are going to pony up anytime soon. "It is clear that no college, especially in this economy, can guarantee employment," officials said in a statement. So much for teaching them a lesson.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1899500_1899502,00.html?artId=1899500_1899502_1914603?contType=article?chn=specials

Perspectives

Just for Today

Just for today,
I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my life as it comes, and fit myself to it.

Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to--just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it

Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.

Just for today, I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today, I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today,
I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.

By Kenneth L. Holmes

Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

"Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work. Through his witty and literate books -- and his new School of Life -- Alain de Botton helps others find fulfillment in the everyday."

http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

Snippet from Down Under- Bill Bryson

Flying into Australia, I realized with a sigh that I had forgotten again who their Prime Minister is. I am forever doing this with the Australian PM - committing the name to memory, forgetting it (generally more or less instantly), then feeling terribly guilty. My thinking is that there ought to be one person outside Australia who knows.

But then Australia is such a difficult country to keep track of. On my first visit, some years ago, I passed the time on the long flight from London reading a history of Australian politics in the twentieth century, wherein I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again. This seemed doubly astounding to me - first that Australia could just lose a Prime Minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of this had never reached me.

Willard Wigan

The Obama Family by Willard Wigan, set within the eye of a needle. Wigan uses an eye-lash to point at Barack Obama

Life and work

Willard Wigan is the creator of the world's smallest sculptures, often taking months to complete one, working between heartbeats to avoid hand tremors. "You have to control the whole nervous system, you have to work between the heartbeat - the pulse of your finger can destroy the work." Wigan uses a tiny surgical blade to carve microscopic figures out of gold, and fragments of grains of sand which are then mounted on pinheads. To paint his creations, he uses a hair plucked from a dead fly (the fly has to have died from natural causes, as he refuses to kill them for the sake of his art, preferring to decorate a glass sheet instead). His sculptures have included a Santa Claus and a copy of the FIFA World Cuptrophy, both about 0.005 mm (0.0002in) tall, and a boxing ring with Muhammad Ali figure which fits onto the head of a match. He is learning disabled, and doesn't know how to read or write. He said that his childhood teachers "made [him] feel small, made [him] feel like nothing." He decided to prove that "less is more," and that "nothing could be everything."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Wigan

Wednesday is the most miserable day of the week- Telegraph.co.uk

Professors Christopher Danforth and Peter Dodds, of Vermont University, analysed words used in 2.4 million internet blogs such as Twitter, giving a score out of nine depending on how positive they were.

Words like free, fun, and rainbow all scored above eight, while words such as betray, cruel, hatred and suffocate all scored less than two.

Saturday and Sunday rated predictably well but, perhaps surprisingly, Monday came out as the second happiest day of the week, partly because people were still reminiscing about the weekend. However by Wednesday, these feelings had subsided.

Professor Danforth said: "People's daily experience is being reflected somewhat in what they're saying. And this is more of a story, we think, for Twitter messages, which we've just started to pay attention to, about a year ago.

"They think they are communicating with friends, but since blogs are public we're just looking over their shoulders.

"The weekends tend to be fairly happy and Wednesday turned out to be the saddest day."

He said using the internet in this way enabled them to rate happiness based on higher numbers of people than previous studies.

"What we're attempting to do is measure collective happiness on a much larger scale, similar to measuring the temperature outside," Professor Danforth said.

"The energy of a few molecules bouncing around doesn't give a good indication of heat, you need billions or more."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6075132/Wednesday-is-the-most-miserable-day-of-the-week-claim-researchers.html