• Visualizing the Future - http://www.wfs.org/futurist/2014-issues-futurist/july-august-2014-vol-48-no-4/visualizing-future

• What's the role robotics could play in future food production?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140616082157.htm

• 9.6 billion mouths to feed - Oh boy, will there be enough food for a growing world population? Intelligent Optimist Magazine:  http://bit.ly/1smYCWG

• Masters of Love - Science says lasting relationships come down to - you guessed it - kindness and generosity. - http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/happily-ever-after/372573/

• 'Hindsight makes things look so utterly different that it's impossible, when taking a decision in the moment, even to begin to grasp how it'll strike you later on' -http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/10/hindsight-in-advance-premortem-this-column-change-life

• Creativity in Business - (1986) by Michael Ray and Rochelle Myers.  The authors, both professors at Stanford University, created a course by the same name which became one of Stanford's most popular ever.  The pair have managed to tap into the power of intuition to drive creativity - a concept they felt was sorely lacking from the analytical driven MBA curriculum and most business decision making of that time (and of course now taken to even new heights with algorithm driven financial markets and the rise of "Big Data").  The book and course blends business, psychology, and eastern spirituality into a potent mix.  Steve Jobs and other creative leaders were often guest speakers at course lectures.  The authors provide background on how they got started as follows:  "As we developed our Stanford course, then, the prevailing business climate included an ongoing storm of concern over the failure of the scientific, analytic approach as well as a freshening wind of hope in the intuitive alternative...Probably the most important aspect of our course and this book is that we go directly to what helps people bring out useful creativity in business.  We don't try to solve the basic mystery of physiological, cognitive, and social processes that underlie a creative act. Instead we simply note with excitement all the validations of the existence of a beneficial creative force coming from the research laboratories; we revel in each insight gained from spiritual works in both the Western and Eastern traditions; and most of all we glory in the steady, dynamic flow of confirmation and breakthroughs that come through our speakers as well as our students."  The book is more relevant than ever for today's business climate.  

• If students designed their own schools.  Must watch - this is the future of educaton - where creativity, self-directed learning, and the proactive pursuit of real knowledge and self-understanding are the true objectives. ...http://youtu.be/RElUmGI5gLc

• At TEDxSydney, best-selling author and NYU Professor Adam Alter explained how subtle environmental signals affect human behavior and judgment - http://tedxsydney.com/site/item.cfm?item=1879FE0209FD707530C2F19679A326F3

• Elvis Costello And The Roots - Wise Up Ghost - If you watch the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, then you know his band, The Roots, are fantastic.  Elvis Costello thought so too on his various appearances on Jimmy's old show.  It's a great collaboration.

• Hiromi - Alive - Hiromi is an amazing jazz pianist from Japan and her percussive and momentum driven approach to her instrument is breathtaking to listen to.  I saw her live a few years ago, and this live album captures some of her greatness.

• Tingvall Trio - Vattensaga - Swedish jazz pianist Martin Tingvall and his band have put together a beautiful album and have included both traditional and modern approaches that keep you totally engrossed in the playing.

• Roy Powell - Solace - get out the cognac, light a candle, and settle in for a long one. Melodic and introspective - a truly soul searching jazz record...

• Mutual Benefit - Spotify Sessions - mutual benefit is the work of Jordan Lee - someone who is young, wise, and has grasped the meaning of life.  Mutual Benefit blends folk, psychedelic pop, and experimental recording techniques into fragile and hopeful songs.  

• IF - Rudyard Kipling's poem, recitation by Sir Michael Caine - youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWvcwVWCcnY

• "When there's no immediate threat to our understanding of the world, we change our beliefs. It's when that change contradicts something we've long held as important that problems occur." - Author Maria Konnikova
  
  
• "Life's most persistent and urgent question is this:  what are you doing for others?" - Martin Luther King, Jr
  
  
• The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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