An alternative to university education(from ZOHO.com)

A larger proportion of students than ever attend college in the United States, yet the top colleges have become more and more selective. It’s an age of scarcity and an age of plenty. College is also an increasingly more expensive proposition, with tuition alone around $10,000/year at state colleges and over $30,000/year at private institutions. It’s a huge leap of faith; to take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt as a teenager, to study something that may or may not still prove interesting to you four years down the road, let alone relevant in a world where technology “disrupts” industries on a regular basis. This choice doesn’t impact the student alone. For many parents, having “boomerang kids” has become the new normal, delaying their retirement so that they may support the (now fully grown) baby birds that have returned to the nest.

Of course, the arguments for attending college are well-worn axioms. College graduates experience significantly lower levels of unemployment; the pay gap between college grads versus those without a four-year degree has risen every year since 1980. Some studies have even shown that the decision not to go to college has an opportunity cost as much as $500,000 over the course of a lifetime. When compared to the average debt a student assumes (now hovering around $37,000), the cost becomes negligible.

And there are the less tangible benefits that also play a role in the decision to go to, and stay in, college. There is a pervasive cultural narrative that college is the only way to acceptably enter the middle class, a narrative propagated by higher-ed PR campaigns. Colleges also provide an easy opportunity to socialize and network, a must when personal referrals make you twice as likely to be interviewed and 40% more likely to be hired. College graduates are also more likely to vote, have better health, and report higher levels of happiness than those who have only a high-school degree. There are also the experiential factors to consider; college can be transformative for some students, allowing them to discover new passions and instilling a life-long love of learning.

Of course, college is not a magical panacea. Colleges often fail to train students in the real-world skills they will need at professional jobs, with as many as 4 in 10 students graduating without the higher-level reasoning skills required to be successful in white-collar jobs. Even in booming areas such as software programming, college Computer Science curricula have the effect of driving away a lot of potential programmers. As a consequence, the industry then meets its demand for programmers either through immigration or various training programs that are increasingly common in cities like San Francisco and New York.

We at Zoho don’t believe that the only path to success resides in the traditional four (and for many students, six) year degree. College can measure many things, to be sure, but as an increasing number of companies are starting to find (we’re looking at you, Google!), GPA and test scores are poor predictors of long-term success. We understand that all people have to be trained for their jobs, and that most of that training happens (surprise!) on the job. So, we cut out the middle man. Why should we ask students to bet on us and our industry, if we aren’t willing to do the same?

It was out of this realization that Zoho University was born. We decided that students don’t need to take on crippling debt, spend a few years at school, and acquire arbitrary credentials in order to be good at their jobs. Since we are going to have to train them anyway, why not train them at 18 rather than at 22 (or 23, or 24)? We started small, with six students. We put them through a six-month training program that covered the basics they would need to do any job in our company: English, Math and Programming. After they’d completed the program, we placed them in teams across the organization, letting them work as paid interns. 10 years later, those “first six” are still with the company, serving in a variety of positions from software development to systems administrator to project management.

 We’ve learned a lot in 10 years. We’ve put hundreds of people through our program. At the end of it—students can choose to work with Zoho, or go somewhere else. If they choose to go work somewhere else, they walk away debt-free. If they choose to work with us, the interest has to be mutual—managers in our different teams are still free to choose, or not choose, Zoho University students.

Most of them stay—we have an 80% long-term retention rate. We just accepted our 31st class—so we now have some meaningful samples to compare. We’ve found that our ZU grads are just as successful in the company as those who went the traditional college route. The biggest difference we see is that by the time the 18 year old ZU grad turns 22, she has four years of industry experience under her belt, something the college grad most definitely lacks.

A decade is a long time in a human life, and a lifetime in tech. As more employers come to see the advantages of this approach, we believe the ZU model will provide a meaningful alternative to conventional college education. The exploding cost of college education, paired with the lack of relevant skills it imparts on students, demands such an alternative. We’re confident other smart, entrepreneurial companies will follow suit. We’re positive that Zoho University will be here 10 years down the road, supplying our workplace, our economy, and our society with students that have no debt but are full of knowledge and experience.

https://www.zoho.com/perspectives/education.html

The First rule of Ecology is that everything . . . . Bill Wolf

The First rule of Ecology is that everything is connected to everything else, and so when any one component changes, everything else changes in response, even if only a tiny bit. Getting in touch with the "soul of soil" is a crucial first step toward honoring our oneness with all living creatures and helping the long process of repair that a new biological era will require.
Bill Wold Past President of Organic Trade Association

Forward to  The Soul of Soil
Joe Smillie and Grace Gershuny

Colson, Charles - I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me.....

“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”

― Charles W. Colson

CS Lewis on reading

A book worth reading only in childhood, is not worth reading even then. C.S Lewis

Aslan stopped, and the children looked into the stream. And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, - CS Lewis, The Silver Chair

 Aslan stopped, and the children looked into the stream. And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, dead, with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept: great Lion-tears, each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying, nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it, but like a grown-up crying. At least, that is the nearest she could get to it; but really, as she said, people don't seem to have any particular ages on that mountain.

"Son of Adam," said Aslan, "go into that thicket and pluck the thorn that you will find there, and bring it to me."

Eustace obeyed. The thorn was a foot long and sharp as a rapier.

"Drive it into my paw, son of Adam," said Aslan, holding up his right fore-paw and spreading out the great pad towards Eustace.

"Must I?" said Eustace.

"Yes," said Aslan.

Then Eustace set his teeth and drove the thorn into the Lion's pad. And there came out a great drop of blood, redder than all redness that you have ever seen or imagined. And it splashed into the stream over the dead body of the King. At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to grey, and from grey to yellow, and got shorter and vanished altogether; and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh, and the wrinkles were smoothed, and his eyes opened, and his eyes and lips both laughed, and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them—a very young man, or a boy. (But Jill couldn't say which, because of people having no particular ages in Aslan's country. Even in this world, of course, it is the stupidest children who are most childish and the stupidest grown-ups who are most grown-up.) And he rushed to Aslan and flung his arms as far as they would go round the huge neck; and he gave Aslan the strong kisses of a King, and Aslan gave him the wild kisses of a Lion.

At last Caspian turned to the others. He gave a great laugh of astonished joy.

"Why! Eustace!" he said. "Eustace! So you did reach the end of the world after all. What about my second-best sword that you broke on the sea-serpent?"

Eustace made a step towards him with both hands held out, but then drew back with a somewhat startled expression.

"Look here! I say," he stammered. "It's all very well. But aren't you?—I mean didn't you——?"

"Oh, don't be such an ass," said Caspian.

"But," said Eustace, looking at Aslan. "Hasn't he—er—died?"

"Yes," said the Lion in a very quiet voice, almost (Jill thought) as if he were laughing. "He has died. Most people have, you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven't."

"Oh," said Caspian. "I see what's bothering you. You think I'm a ghost, or some nonsense. But don't you see? I would be that if I appeared in Narnia now: because I don't belong there any more. But one can't be a ghost in one's own country. I might be a ghost if I got into your world. I don't know. But I suppose it isn't yours either, now you're here."

A great hope rose in the children's hearts. But Aslan shook his shaggy head. "No, my dears," he said. "When you meet me here again, you will have come to stay. But not now. You must go back to your own world for a while."

AW Tozer- Reading the Bible

Our Bible Reading should not be a marathon{or a sprint], but a slow, deliberate soaking in its message.
A.W. Tozer

FDR

• In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. 
• There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.
• When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on. 
• No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal. 
• More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars - yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments. 
• Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection. 
• Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something. 
• There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still. 
• If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace. 
• Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off. 
• True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. 
• Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. 
• We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him a proper security is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power. 
• It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose. 
• Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play. 
• The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. 
• Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them. 
• War is a contagion. 
• When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him. 
• I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking. 
• Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play. 
• It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach. 

Money, Poverty, FDR, Government, Franklin Rosevelt, Politics, control, corruption, manipulation, dictatorship, Wealth,Capitalism,

Man - Louis Nizer

Louis Nizer

• A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.
  • Between You and Me, Beechurst Press, 1948.

• Once early in the morning, at two or three in the morning, when the master was asleep, the books in the library began to quarrel with each other as to which was the king of the library. The dictionary contended quite angrily that he was the master of the library because without words there would be no communication at all. The book of science argued stridently that he was the master of the library for without science there would have been no printing press or any of the other wonders of the world. The book of poetry claimed that he was the king, the master of the library, because he gave surcease and calm to his master when he was troubled. The books of philosophy, the economic books, all put in their claims, and the clamor was great and the noise at its height when a small low voice was heard from an old brown book lying in the center of the table and the voice said "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". And all of the noise and the clamor in the library ceased, and there was a hush in the library, for all of the books knew who the real master of the library was.
  • "Ministers of Justice", Address delivered at the Eighty-Second Annual Convention of the Tennessee Bar Association at Gatlinburg, June 5, 1963; published in 31 Tennessee Law Review 1 (Fall 1963), p. 19.

• When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing to himself.
  • My Life in Court (1961), p. 115.

• There is an aphorism about a farmer who before sunrise on a cold and misty morning, saw a huge beast on a distant hill. He seized his rifle and walked cautiously toward the ogre to head off an attack on his family. When he got nearer, he was relieved to find that the beast was only a small bear. He approached more confidently and when he was within a few hundred yards the distorting haze had lifted sufficiently so that he could recognize the figure as only that of a man. Lowering his rifle, he walked toward the stranger and discovered he was his brother.
• My Life in Court (1961), p. 443.
  

Douglas Adams - Almost Harmless Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.

The history of the Galaxy has got a little muddled, for a number of reasons: partly because those who are trying to keep track of it have got a little muddled, but also because some very muddling things have been happening anyway.

One of the problems has to do with the speed of light and the difficulties involved in trying to exceed it. You can’t. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. The Hingefreel people of Arkintoofle Minor did try to build spaceships that were powered by bad news but they didn’t work particularly well and were so extremely unwelcome whenever they arrived anywhere that there wasn’t really any point in being there.

So, by and large, the peoples of the Galaxy tended to languish in their own local muddles and the history of the Galaxy itself was, for a long time, largely cosmological.

Which is not to say that people weren’t trying. They tried sending of f fleets of spaceships to do battle or business in distant parts, but these usually took thousands of years to get anywhere. By the time they eventually arrived, other forms of travel had been discovered which made use of hyperspace to circumvent the speed of light, so that whatever battles it was that the slower than-light  fleets had been sent to fight had already been taken care of centuries earlier by the time they actually got there. This didn’t, of course, deter their crews from wanting to fight the battles anyway. They were trained, they were ready, they’d had a couple of thousand years sleep, they’d come a long way to do a tough job and by Zarquon they were going to do it.

This was when the first major muddles of Galactic history set in, with battles continually re-erupting centuries after the issues they had been fought over had supposedly been settled. However, these muddles were as nothing to the ones which historians had to try and unravel once time-travel was discovered and battles started pre-erupting hundreds of years before the issues even arose. When the Infinite Improbability Drive arrived and whole planets started turning unexpectedly into banana fruitcake, the great history faculty of the University of MaxiMegalon finally gave up, closed itself down and surrendered its buildings to the rapidly growing joint faculty of Divinity and Water Polo, which had been after them for years.

Which is all very well, of course, but it almost certainly means that no one will ever know for sure where, for instance, the Grebulons came from, or exactly what it was they wanted. And this is a pity, because if anybody had known  anything about them, it is just possible that a most terrible catastrophe would have been averted - or at least would have had to find a different way to happen.

- Speed of Light, Douglas Adams, Almost Harmless, Bad news,

How to Negotiate Effectively - David Oliver

Negotiation is never about digging our heels in.
. . . . .  .
 A number of possibilities exist about the way we view the negotiation process. The moderately aggressive stance is where we look out primarily for a strong gain for ourselves. The win-win concept is where we look for our best interests, if served well, can often serve ours even better. To be effective, both parties must feel they have won.

How to Negotiate Effectively - David Oliver

- Negotiations,

Counting Coop: Woodcraft and Indian Lore Earnest Thomspon

HEAD BAND
Each brave needs a head band This holds his feathers as they are won and his scalp if he wears one is fastened to it behind It consists of a strip of soft leather long enough to go around the head and overlap by two inches it is fastenedat the rear with a lace through the four holes like the lace of machine belting A bead pattern ornaments the front and it may be finished at each side in some broader design It is the foundation for the warbonnet and has places for twenty four feathers two eagle tails See Warbonnet later The feathers are made of white quill feathers the tip dyed dark brown or black a leather loop is lashed to the quill end of each to fasten it on to the head band Each feather stands for an exploit and is awarded by the Council An oval of paper is glued on near the high end This bears a symbol of the feat it commemorates If it was Grand Coup or High Honor the feather has a tuft of red horsehair lashed on the top

WARBONNET OR HEADDRESS ITS MEANING

The typical Indian is always shown with a warbonnet or warcap of eagle feathers Every one is familiar with the look of this headdress but I find that few know its meaning or why the Indian glories in it so In the days when the Redman was unchanged by white men's ways every feather in the brave's headdress was awarded to him by the Grand Council for some great deed usually in warfare Hence the expression a feather in his cap These deeds are now called coups pronounced coo and when of exceptional valor they were grand coups and the eagle's feather had a tuft of horsehair or down fastened on its top Not only was each feather bestowed for some exploit but there were also ways of marking the feathers so as to show the kind of deed Old plainsmen give an exciting picture in Indian life after the return of a successful war party All assemble in the Grand Council lodge of the village First the leader of the party stands up holding in his hands or having near him the scalps or other trophies he has taken and says in a loud voice Great Chief and Council of my Nation I claim a grand coup because I went alone into the enemy's camp and learned about their plans and when I came away I met one of them and killed him within his own camp Then if all the witnesses grunt and say Hul or Howl Howl So it is so the Council awards the warrior an eagle feather with a red tuft and a large red spot on the web which tell why it was given The warrior goes on I claim grand coup because I slapped the enemy's face with my hand thereby warning him and increasing the risk before I killed him with my knife A loud chorus of Howl Howl Howl from the others sustains him and he is awarded another grand coup I claim grand coup because I captured his horse while two of his friends were watching Here perhaps there are murmurs of dissent from the witnesses another man claims that he also had a hand in it There is a dispute and maybe both are awarded a coup but neither gets grand coup The feathers are marked with a horseshoe but without a red tuft The killing of one enemy might according to Mallery 4 Ann Eth p 184 confer feathers on four different men the first second and third to strike him and the one who took his scalp After the chief each of the warriors comes forward in turn and claims and is awarded his due honors to be worn ever afterward on state occasions All awards are made and all disputes settled by the Council and no man would dream of being so foolish as to wear an honor that had not been conferred by them or in any way to dispute their ruling In the light of this we see new interest attach to the headdress of some famous warrior of the West when he is shown with a circle of tufted feathers around his head and then added to that a tail of one hundred or more reaching to the ground or trailing behind him We know that like the rows of medals on an old soldier's breast they are the record of wonderful past achievements that every one of them was won perhaps at the risk of his life What wonder is it that travelers on the plains to day tell us that the Indian values his headdress above all things else He would usually prefer to part with his ponies and his teepee before he will give up that array of eagle plumes the only tangible record that he has of whatever was heroic in his past

PLENTY COUPS

 I remember vividly a scene I once witnessed years ago in the West when my attention was strongly directed to the significance of the warbonnet I was living among a certain tribe of Indians and one day they were subjected to a petty indignity by a well meaning ill advised missionary Two regiments of United States Cavalry were camped near and so being within the letter of the law he also had power to enforce it But this occurrence was the last of a long series of foolish small attacks on their harmless customs and it roused the Indians especially the younger ones to the point of rebellion A Grand Council was called A warrior got up and made a strong logical appeal to their manhood a tremendously stirring speech He worked them all up and they were ready to go on the warpath with him to lead them I felt that my scalp was in serious danger for an outburst seemed at hand. But now there arose a big square jawed man who had smoked in silence He made a very short speech It was full of plain good sense He told them what he knew about the United States Army how superior it was to all the Indian tribes put together how hopeless it was to fight it and urged them to give up the foob sh notion of the warpath His speech would not compare with that of the other He had neither the fire nor the words he had not even the popular sympathy and yet he quelled the disturbance in his few sentences and as I looked there dawned on me the reason for his power While the gifted orator of the big words had in his hair a single untuf ted eagle feather the other the man with the square jaw had eagle feathers all around his head and trailing down his back and two feet on the ground behind him and every one of them with a bright red tuft of horsehair at its top and I knew then that I was listening to the voice of Plenty Coups the most famous chief on the Upper Missouri and I realized how a few words from the man of deeds will go further than all the stirring speeches of one who has no record of prowess to back up his threats and fiery denunciations Tail feathers of the war eagle were considered essential at one time but many others are now used I should be sorry to increase a demand which would stimulate pursuit of a noble bird already threatened with extinction Most of the big feather dealers have what are known as white quills These are wing feathers of swans and are sold at about 25 cents a dozen These when the tips are dyed brown make a good substitute for eagle feathers They are still more like if a little down from a white hen be lashed on.

- Woodcraft and Indian Lore, Feathers, Earnest Thompson Seton, Coop, HeadDress,

Painting is - Degas

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do. 

Edgar Degas

-Art, Human Value, Doing, knowledge, Edgar Degas,

From photos and floor plans, I could write about what makes Rafe's project special. I could describe colors and light, fixtures and finishes. However, when I visited this house and sat in the living room with Rafe, I was less inclined to ask him about the design process or the trim details than I was to be quiet - to experience the house rather than deconstruct it. The building disappeared, and ease and joy settled in.
I could easily spend my time in this house, not because of the floor plan or the trim, but because it just feels right. Great design, too is a special transmission, outside the blueprints, with no dependence on fixtures and materials. It's no surprise that the designers themselves often can't explain what makes their work great.

Brian Potolilo, Design Editor
Fine Home Building Summer 2016 Editors Note