How Unpaid Internships Cheapen Workers of All Ages – PBS

Interns have been used as a cheap labor force, thousands upon thousands of internships each year in the U.S. are illegal, which has gone global and is completely unregulated, and the system is indeed inefficient and unethical in a variety of ways.

We’re actually eating our young.

via Will Work for Free: How Unpaid Internships Cheapen Workers of All Ages | The Business Desk with Paul Solman | PBS NewsHour | PBS.

Amen.  You should get paid for work.  Never work for free.

The Science Behind What Naps Do For Your Brain–And Why You Should Have One Today | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

Studies of napping have shown improvement in cognitive function, creative thinking, and memory performance

via The Science Behind What Naps Do For Your Brain–And Why You Should Have One Today | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

I work from home.  This article link is for all the times I’ve been accused of napping in lieu of working.

Gotcha.

How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

Coursera courses are 6 to 10 weeks long, with an hour or two of videos per week. In addition to the snap quizzes, they feature weekly exercises, ranging from problem sets to spreadsheets to design projects or essays, and sometimes a final project or exam. For all quantitative courses, the platform uses artificial intelligence to evaluate each longer exercise, with instant results. Students can keep trying until they get the right answer. For humanities courses, Coursera is testing a form of peer grading.

via How Coursera, A Free Online Education Service, Will School Us All | Fast Company | Business + Innovation.

Great article about a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).  HT – Mish.

What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com

In the study by Dr. Vohs, disordered offices encouraged originality and a search for novelty. In the final portion of the study, adults were given the choice of adding a health “boost” to their lunchtime smoothie that was labeled either “new” or “classic.” The volunteers in the messy space were far more likely to choose the new one; those in the tidy office generally opted for the classic version.

“Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition,” Dr. Vohs and her co-authors conclude in the study, “which can produce fresh insights.”

My office is fine the way it is.  I know what is in every pile.  Now I have some evidence that the way I work is more creative.  STFU!

via What a Messy Desk Says About You – NYTimes.com.