Free Ivy League Online Courses

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HUM 111 Christianity vs. Jihad, 8th Century

Leo III’s devout Christian piety, courage, and studied, unapologetic understanding of Islam, and the tactics of jihad warfare, which enabled him to be the “architect” of the devastating triumph over an enormous Muslim jihadist army at Constantinople in August, 718.

Correspondence

Coaching

HUMILITY THAT SERVES OTHERS TO GLORIFY CHRIST

Accolades, roles, performance, rewards, compensation, remuneration, team-strength, projects, unique cross-cultural experiences are things we all feel good about. They are good because of God’s favor upon us. When we start to have the same mindset of Christ who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God, we are sure to make a difference.

As we develop our people especially through our coaching relationship we help them think through and generate their own solutions. And one of the most difficult and challenging moments that we can encounter is to quickly bridge and tell them from ‘our experience’ what they ought to be doing? Does it help them move-forward? Pause for a moment and think ‘When you thought of your own solutions when someone asked you some powerful questions, how did you feel?’ Empowered isn’t it? That’s a great gift you can offer to your people and teams. In times when our people are struck and are disempowered, they need our empathy, care, support and our belief in them that they can think-through! And this is what makes Coaching different from training, mentoring, counselling and consulting. In a coaching relationship it’s all about the person who is being coached and not about the coach. How does humility help really? 

It helps us listen and question better: It’s about our team, so we get involved and intertwined in their stories, getting to help them to help themselves. We are listening not to ask smart questions but questions in the flow that can help them seek deeper.

It helps us build patience: As we learn to put others first, we also understand and bear up when they fail us, it’s hard but that’s what our Lord did with His disciples

It helps us have genuine relationships: Having a heart of humility helps our people to freely approach us, tell us everything trusting us even with their vulnerability. In turn humility helps us give time to them. Have you ever wondered how our Lord was able to spend time with his disciples?

Humility is our natural response to God and people around us when we think about who we are in Him.

Prayer: Father, all I have is yours, thank you for your favor! May I be a faithful steward in building relationships too! Amen!

HUM 111 Why did Roman Roads Last?

Why-did-Roman-roads-survive-for-so-long-After-2-millenniums-they-are-still-being-used

Happiness at Work

Below, we summarize some of the highlights from science and industry behind each of the four pillars of PERK.

1. Purpose

   UC Berkeley management professor Morten Hansen, in his 2018 book Great at Work Opens in new window, defines purpose this way: “You have a sense of purpose when you make valuable contributions to others (individuals and organizations) or to society that you find personally meaningful and that don’t harm anyone.”
   Our purpose is a reflection of our core values, and we feel more purposeful at work when our everyday behaviors and decisions are aligned with those values. As individuals, bringing more passion and purpose to work Opens in new window can mean asserting ourselves in formulating and conducting our day-to-day tasks—connecting what we do to what we believe in and care about—rather than passively embracing the status quo. For example, if you value equality and diversity, you can make a point of collaborating with people of different backgrounds from yours.
   For leaders, you may be tempted to use financial incentives to try to instill more purpose in your employees, but it probably won’t work. In his book Payoff Opens in new window, behavioral economist Dan Ariely reveals that cash bonuses only go so far; his studies suggest that what we really crave are intrinsic incentives like appreciation and making meaningful progress. As Swarthmore professor Barry Schwartz explains Opens in new window, we want to see how our progress is tied to meaningful, important, and self-transcendent impact in the world.
   At the level of the organization, the Patagonia Opens in new window outdoor retail company instills core values of conservation and family into their workplace culture by sourcing environmentally sound materials for their products, discouraging excessive purchases in their marketing campaigns, and providing on-site child care and flexible return-to-work schedules for new parents. If you are in a position of influence, you can promote purpose by making core values explicit at the workplace, and implementing policies that align people’s day-to-day experiences with core values.

2. Engagement

   Do you generally enjoy your work? Are you part of the decisions about what, when, and how you do things at work? How often do you feel curious or deeply immersed and lose track of time while working? Do you feel like you can be effective and get things done?
   According to recent reports Opens in new window, a majority of working people around the world say no to questions like these, indicating that engagement at work is troublingly low.
   There are three main ways to increase engagement at work Opens in new window. First, fold in some playfulness, creativity, and levity—like Southwest Airlines does. The company has earned a reputation for prioritizing fun; for example, employees are invited to infuse humor and zeal into routine flight announcements.
   Second, give people more ownership over their day-to-day schedule, tasks, and professional development, and build in opportunities to learn and grow. New employees at Logitech, Zappos, and Davita participate in multi-day onboarding events that include fun social activities and “job crafting Opens in new window”—an exercise in reflecting on your personal strengths and the collaborative dimensions of your job, and envisioning the most fitting, appropriately challenging, collegial, and growth-focused work experience. For example, an employee who scores high in zest might take on organizing employee team-building activities.
   Finally, adopt a less draconian, hectic schedule and make space for the immersive, lose-track-of-time experience of flow at work Opens in new window. To do this, some companies are shifting away from the typical hyperbusy, multitasking, always-available, device-notification-laden, meeting-clogged schedule—and at the same time encouraging off-work downtime. Some are even barring work-related emails Opens in new window after-hours to help people relax and recover, and to leave them refreshed for uninterrupted periods of “deep work” at work.

3. Resilience

   The ability to handle, adapt to, and productively learn from setbacks, failures, and disappointments is critical to overall happiness at work. Resilience doesn’t mean trying to prevent difficulties, stifle stress, or avoid confrontation; it means being able to manage challenges at work with authenticity and grace.
   
   To strengthen your own resilience at work, perhaps the most promising technique is to get better at real-time, in-the-moment awareness Opens in new window, or mindfulness. Mindfulness can be a starting point for revising our learned habits of self-criticizing or blaming others, or getting preoccupied about past or future upsets, that make it hard to manage difficult moments at work. Companies can weave mindfulness into their overall climate, as Adobe has done with Project Breathe Opens in new window.
   Another way Opens in new window to bolster resilience at work is to be authentic—that is, bring your whole and best self to work—as evidenced by pioneering work by Tina Opie Opens in new window at Babson College and research Opens in new window at Google. Being true to ourselves at work eliminates the stress of surface acting Opens in new window or pretending to feel emotions you don’t feel.
   Resilience at work is also tied to successfully detaching from work. That means taking time away to recover and pursue restorative, non-work-related wellness, social, creative, and perhaps charitable activities, both on a daily basis and through restful vacations. 

4. Kindness

   Finally, we’re happier at work when we tap into our innate tendency towards kindness—orienting our thoughts, feelings, and actions towards care for others and genuinely supportive social bonds. Being kind at work involves treating others with dignity and respect, extending empathy and compassion, practicing gratitude, and constructively managing conflicts Opens in new window.
   Kindness at work begins with civility Opens in new window, as profiled in Georgetown professor Christine Porath’s book Mastering Civility Opens in new window; being civil means building trust Opens in new window; sharing resources, feedback, and credit; and being a good listener Opens in new window. For leaders, civility skills are critical to avoiding the corruptive influence of gaining power Opens in new window.
   A next step to kindness at work is practicing “prosocial” states like empathy, compassion, and gratitude. Empathy is the basis for understanding other people, and guides cooperative choices and effective teamwork Opens in new window. According to Northeastern professor David DeSteno, not only do compassion and gratitude increase kindness, they also help people succeed at their goals Opens in new window at work.
   What happens when workplace relationships run into trouble? Research shows that apologizing, often considered a sign of weakness, is good for trust and, in turn, happiness at work. Apologies inspire greater respect and commitment in the people around you, and make organizations better at rebounding from setbacks Opens in new window.
   Today, we still face surprisingly high levels of boredom, disengagement, chronic stress, turnover, and even cynicism—a reality that my parents knew all too well. But I believe in a different kind of work life, and I am not alone. Millennials agree Opens in new windowthat happiness at work, like happiness in life, is a basic human aspiration and, thus, the most attractive perk a workplace can offer. And research shows that happiness at work is essential to organizational success, entirely possible to foster, and well worth the investment and effort.

Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., is the science director of the Greater Good Science Center.

© All Rights Reserved

Google Burning Man

-burning-man

HUM 111 Ancient Egyptians are Middle Eastern

In May, Nature published an article on the genetic relationship of the Ancient Egyptians, and there results show that Both types of genomic material showed that ancient Egyptians shared little DNA with modern sub-Saharan Africans. Instead, their closest relatives were people living during the Neolithic and Bronze ages in an area known as the Levant. Strikingly, the mummies were more closely related to ancient Europeans and Anatolians than to modern Egyptians.

Nature

California Gun Law

concealed-weapon

Concealed Weapons Permit (CCW) 
(California Penal Code 26150 & 26155 PC)

HIS 205 Myth of Nixon’s Southern Strategy

/myth-of-nixons-southern-strategy

HUM 111 How Was Nudity Viewed in Ancient Rome?

/How-was-nudity-viewed-in-Ancient-Rome

Roli Blocks

Blocks

co/roli

Employee Engagement Customer Satisfaction Quicken Loans

top-rated-in-employee-engagement-and-customer-satisfaction-how-does-quicken-loans-do-it

Challenger Nazi Socialist Control

/nazis-were-socialists-hugh-gourgeon

HUM 111 112 History of Civilization & Border Walls

the-history-of-civilization-is-a-history-of-border-walls

HUM 111 Strangest Ancient Roman Traditions

/What-are-the-strangest-traditions-in-Ancient-Rome

HUM 111 Alexander the Great Appearance

What-does-Alexander-the-Great-look-like

8 Networking Competencies

Walker Percy

a-genteel-genocide

Ian Hunter, Horse’s Mouth, July 2018

‘David Ormsby-Gore had a 1,500 acre estate in Oswestry, Shropshire. Do you remember it or know it? David had a very famous friend; JFK visited his friend’s farm in January 1960 and the locals remember him walking to church with his wife. It was reported in the Shropshire Star.’ I was born in a two up, two down in Oswestry and moved to Scotland three months later, so the chances of meeting DOG would be slim, but what a lovely name.

P.O. Box 245, Bridgewater, CT 06752

John: ‘Moved into 23A Swan Hill two weeks ago. Already seen a fan having her photo taken at the front door. Sad you hated this place – we think it’s a great location, but obviously very different circumstances. Which was your room? Top floor? You’re welcome to drop by if you’re in the area.’ My only dislike of my life at that time had nothing to do with 23A. Dad got that as a freebie as he was station sergeant at the time. I shared the front bedroom on the second floor with brother Bob for five or six years until freedom beckoned.

Religion and Disability: Variation in Religious Service Attendance Rates for Children with Chronic Health Conditions

Disability

A landmark study in the disability ministry field was published by Dr. Andrew Whiteheadof Clemson University in this month's Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion examining the impact of a variety of physical, developmental and mental health disabilities upon church attendance using data generated from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH).

What makes this study a "game changer" is the suggestion that the kids who are least likely to attend church aren't necessarily those who have been the traditional focus of the disability ministry field - kids with intellectual or physical disabilities. The study found that the children most likely to be excluded from church are those with autism spectrum disorders and common mental health conditions - anxiety, depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder and ADHD.

For the purpose of this study, Dr. Whitehead accessed data from three waves of the NSCH (2003, 2007, 2010-11) and compared the reported rates of children never having attended a religious service in the past year among kids with no identified disability to rates among children with twenty different chronic health conditions included in the survey. The large sample size of the survey - 95,677 phone interviews were conducted for the 2010-11 wave - allows for meaningful statistical comparisons.

Dr. Whitehead noted that children with no reported chronic health condition were significantly less likely to report never attending church services compared to the population as a whole. In contrast, kids with the following health conditions were significantly more likely to report never having attended church...

• Children with autism spectrum disorders are 1.84 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with depression are 1.73 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with traumatic brain injury are 1.71 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder are 1.48 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with anxiety are 1.45 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with speech problems were 1.42 times more likely to never attend church.
• Children with learning disabilities were 1.36 times more likely to never attend church.
• Kids with ADD/ADHD were 1.19 times more likely to never attend church.
• Kids with bone, joint and muscle problems were 1.15 times more likely to never attend church.

The study also noted a number of other chronic health conditions that had no effect on church attendance. Those conditions included:

• Tourette Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Hearing problems
• Vision Problems
• Intellectual disability (2010-11 wave)
• Cerebral palsy (2010-11 wave)

Dr. Whitehead's interpretation of the study results was that conditions that negatively impact upon social interaction or communication are those that result in the greatest impact upon church attendance.

It appears that across a range of chronic health conditions, those that are primarilycharacterized by deficiencies in social

interaction or might impede communication are most consistently and significantlyassociated with disengagement with attendance at religious worship services.Furthermore, these results strongly suggest that the higher probability of children withparticular health conditions never attending religious services has been stable overtime. Prior research signals that this is likely due to factors attributable to barrierswithin congregations as well as the characteristics of the

children’s disability. As Ault, Collins, and Carter point out, the behavioralcharacteristics of children with various chronic health conditions play an important rolein structuring if and

how they will be integrated into congregational life. Children with autism spectrumdisorders, developmental delays, and conduct disorders all manifest a range of socialand behavioral characteristics that routinely result in strained social encounters andinteractions. Likewise, children with speech problems might not be able to communicateas easily as their peers. The particular behavioral characteristics or physical limitationsassociated with these health conditions appear to limit these children’s ability to attend religious services.

Dr. Whitehead's analysis didn't include data examining the frequency of church attendance among kids with the chronic health conditions identified in the study. My hypothesis is that not only is it less likely that families of kids with autism, mental health concerns and other hidden disabilities will ever attend church, but those who do attend church are able to attend less frequently than families unaffected by those disabilities.

The findings of his study are consistent with the hypotheses that underlie the inclusion model our team developed for churches seeking to become more intentional about welcoming families affected by mental illness. I'd add to his observations about social communication and interaction that conditions impacting a child's capacity for emotional regulation and self-control also appear to cause great challenges at church. The highly significant association reported between church attendance, depression and anxiety likely results from the impact those conditions have upon one's ability or willingness to enter into social interactions and relationships at church.

HUM 111 The Anatomy of Dance Discourse: Literary and Philosophical Approaches to Dance in the later Graeco-Roman World

Dance

HUM 111 Ancient Empires: Egypt

HUM 112 19th Century Technological Change Artists Visualizing the Future

the-beginning-of-the-future

HUM 111 The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archaeology and History of the Palatine Hill

Classical Archaeology: artifacts (objects, architectures, landscapes) and history.

Classical Archaeology: artifacts (objects, architectures, landscapes) and history.

Palatine

1.2 Talking with objects: from pots to Chronology.

Objects

1.3 Talking with earth, stones and bricks: from layers and walls to History

Talking

1.4 Introduction to ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

1, Tutorial

1st Tutorial

2nd Tutorial, Autocad

REL 205 212 Unification Church, Moonies

Moonies

HUM 112 8 Things You Need to Know About the Battle of Britain

8-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-britain

Ptolemy I Soter: A Self-Made Man

A Self-Made Man

Yellowdig

/webinar-with-dan-gruber-of-northwestern

HUM 111 Roman Life Expectency

At birth, life expectancy was only 27 years.

To shorten the average life were mainly bone fractures, diseases of the mouth such as abscesses and caries, but also deformation of the back bones due to a workload too heavy.

It was difficult to overcome the age of 49 even among the patricians, but thanks to natural selection there were also those who quietly reached the age of 60.

Life expectancy increased as an individual grown and exceeds the most critical stages of development and the most susceptible to diseases, hunger, war and natural disasters. For example, the life expectancy at birth between the nobility of classical Rome before the age of 10 was only 20-30 years.

Once exceeded 10 years of age, the life expectancy was between 50-60 years.

The Roman historians do not tell us what was the record of longevity among their fellow citizens, and probably for a good reason.

Marcus Terenzius Varrone reports that in ancient Rome (period of the reigns and the first republic) the over sixties were "invited" to step aside and throw themselves into the Tiber (from the “bridge sexuagenarii” - the bridge of the over-60) to gracefully “remove the disturbance” and not to weigh on families and the city.

However, in 44 BC Cicero (aged 62) composed a treatise on senescence and dedicates the writing to his friend "Titus Pomponius Atticus" (aged 66).

Obviously those who had the best lifestyle had more chances to live long, far from diseases and hardships. But not from wars and conspiracies.

The emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus lived 66 years, Publius Aelius Adrianus 62, and they both died in their bed: the others were practically all killed.

The infectious diseases that we suffer today were not widespread at the time, even if present, because those who became ill from any childhood illness or respiratory infection or trauma simply died long before reaching age to reproduce.

this mechanism in the past made it - thanks to a ferocious natural selection - that people were much more robust and resistant than today.

On the other hand - excluding diseases - the occasions for premature death were many more: wars, fights, accidents but especially the burning and bad nutrition.

Finally it is interesting to see how the average age of patricians and plebeians is quite similar. In fact the latter lived a much harder life, but rarely ate elaborate meat dishes (which were cooked in lead pots) while the patricians who did it even if they had a comfortable life tended to be slowly poisoned and die before time.