Understanding critical thinking: it's a process

By Steve Bareham
Author Think Well & Prosper

Learning how to manage the thinking process – to think critically – is the most important thing any person can do.

Mention the words “thinking critically,” or “critical thinking” to most people and you will get responses ranging from noncomprehension, to panic, to outright boredom — it all sounds so academic, complicated, and tedious. But, a case can be made that centuries of focus on how we think, by some of the greatest minds the world has known, is important in that thought has been instrumental in evolving our social systems. As such, a short paraphrased history may be useful to show how that evolution transpired.¹

Waterfront property for sale in Nelson, B.C.: on lake

It's rare to find a quiet, park-like property with lakefront and a creek only five minutes from the city. At Stonewood, you get a 2,700-square-foot lake house plus a quaint 600-square-foot cabin for guests, a granny cottage, or as a rental revenue generator. As its name implies, the homes uses natural materials -- no pressed board or plastic here!
​
The lakehouse is best described as elegant rustic: granite countertops, stone tiles, and beefy post and beam features, travertine marble bath, solid hardwood floors, and 3/4-inch tongue and groove interior walls and ceilings. Top quality throughout, the tone is casual, not decor that you need to worry about scratching. Stonewood was designed to be lived in, a retreat to solitude and as a spacious entertainment spot. There are four buildings in addition to the house and cabin: a workshop, gardening shed, and two new post and beam carports. 

17 great books about critical thinking

17 great books about critical thinking

List from Amazon's Listmania

The list author says: "If you're looking for the best books on critical thinking, here they are. Critical thinking and thinking critically are words more of us should think about!

The way we think determines how successful we are in life, in our careers, and in our relationships. Other than breathing, nothing is more importan to life than the way we think. But, most people have never studied the thinking process; most don't know there is one.

Every school student should study thinking skills and develop knowledge that can be practiced. These books can aid in that goal. Children should be taught critical thinking as soon as they start school, the parts of thinking aren't that complicated."

How to write great restaurant menu descriptions

How to write great restaurant menu descriptions

Well planned, analytic, and creative menu descriptions are hugely important if you care about: more revenue, providing a complete, positive customer experience, and repeat patronage.

Those three points are the secret sauces of successful restaurants.

This is my view after teaching for about 20 years in a resort and hotel management program at Selkirk College in Canada, and it’s supported by credible research from numerous sources.

One study by faculty from the University of Illinois achieved a 27% increase in sales by manipulating menu wording to more comprehensively describe items, ingredients, and preparation methods. Get the book at Amazon. $2.99 for eBook.
That is an enormous top-line increase for an industry where such large margin gains can be very difficult to strategize.

How to self publish with Kobob Writing Life

No one disputes that Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing has a very strong foothold in the eBook world, but a competitor with a smart management team and a parent company with very deep financial pockets is nipping at its heels — that company is KOBO.

Kobo, in my view, is constructively redressing issues that many self-published authors have with Kindle, more details about these later.

Don’t misunderstand my opening sentences. Of course you should offer your book(s) on Amazon — it currently holds an estimated 45% of the eBook market share — but after uploading ten eBooks with both companies, there are good reasons that every self-published eBook author should ALSO use Kobo’s Writing Life platform. In my view, its best years are still to come as it continues to improve its global penetration and as the eBook era evolves and matures.

Critical Thinking Using Music Metaphor

Critical Thinking Using Music Metaphor

Music is an interesting metaphor for critical thinking. Ask yourself: Do you think in mono, stereo, quadraphonic, or in surround sound? What mental images do you get when you contemplate "mono thinking?" "Mon": "...one, single, alone, unidirectional..."

Mono thinking can be visualized as moving in linear fashion as in "problem-solution," "question-answer," "stimulus-reaction," or  "right-wrong." Mono thinking is quick and easy, but it lacks depth and breadth (or richness for the sake of this analogy).

Shutterstock.com: great photos & video

Shutterstock.com: great photos & video

If you publish eBooks, or need marketing visuals, or create YouTube videos, you should visit Shutterstock.

For very reasonable licensing rates, you get absolutely top quality photos. I've used pictures and video footage and have never entered search criteria that Shutterstock's incredible library of collateral materials hasn't been able to fulfill.

Books about HR Management: Job Descriptions

Books about HR Management: Job Descriptions

How many times, in your work life, have your employers provided you with complete and accurate job descriptions? Often, the answer is “never.” If this is your answer, it means you were expected to do jobs (and presumably were evaluated on performance) without specifics about roles and responsibilities. Not good.

It also means that job descriptions weren’t appreciated for the incredibly valuable management tool they can be and should be.

There’s no more important task in business planning than the creation of complete and accurate job descriptions/specifications.

Pixlr Photo Editing Services & Software

Pixlr Photo Editing Services & Software

I love this company's "in the cloud" online photo editor!

No matter what your project, if you need to use photos, you'll likely want to tweak them for sizing, effects, etc. If so, you won't find a better program, even ones that cost a lot of money. Simply check this out: http://pixlr.com/editor/  It's what I used to work with the cover at left. 

Pixlr's online editor is almost as good as Adobe, but it's free! Pixlr lets you size photos to any required dimension, add effects, isolate images, add vintage coloration, use layers, filters, and a hundred other visual options that can come in handy for any marketing initiative that requires photo visuals.

How to think critically & what is critical thinking?

By Steve Bareham, Selkirk College

“The basic concepts of critical thinking are being able to understand or figure out what the problem (or conflict, contradiction) is; to direct thinking to the specific purpose of solving the problem; understanding the frames of reference or the points of view involved; identifying and understanding the underlying assumptions; identifying and understanding the basic concepts and ideas that are being used; citing evidence, data, and reasons and their interpretations; following lines of thought that are advanced; and understanding inferences, implications, and consequences. (Beyer, 1985; Nosich, 1993; Paul, 1990). There is a creative component to strong critical thinking such that originality, freshness, and inventiveness are brought into the problem-solving and applications.”

J. Davis-Seaver, T. Smith, D. Leflore, N. Carolina A&T State U.

Critical thinking is a term that means little to many people. Worse yet, it can even be off putting, given that the word “critical” has a connotation that we more commonly equate with criticizing or being criticized. But, we should be more concerned with the substance behind the words, because critical thinking, or “effective thinking,” or “8C thinking” can change our lives.

Why do people kill? Human Nature is Violent!

While scientists and researchers engage in debate about whether or not people are innately violent, they don’t doubt that our genes and cells have one imperative — survival of the host. To protect that host, they will do anything, but what they do is not at the conscious level.

The need to survive, to procreate, and to protect our progeny is the most powerful instinct in our being. Parents will kill to protect their progeny and no court in the world would rule anything other than justified homicide.

  If we can agree on the foregoing, might it follow that many of our behaviors, including the willingness to go to war and to murder in certain circumstances, is a higher manifestation of something we can see at the cellular level very easily.

GUNS and violence: Russians Mob in Vancouver

Every year around the world, more than 115,000 civilians are killed by small arms and automatic weapons. Almost 32,000 people die from guns in the U.S. annually if you include suicides and accidents, 85 people every day, or 3.5 dead every hour.

There are about 11,700 murders in the U.S. and about 200 in Canada where victims are targeted during crimes, in domestic assaults, and at the hands of mentally unstable gunmen. Some are killed accidentally, innocent bystanders with a kismetic curse.

The incidents of homicidal crazies killing dozens of people to get their moments of infamy are almost commonplace. There have been 934 people murdered in mass killings in the U.S. alone in the past seven years.

School children, theatre goers, and people in shopping malls have become easy targets. Of the top 10 school massacres documented around the world, five took place in the U.S., claiming 131 victims. Canada is in the top ten, too: Mark Lepine killed 14 women at a Montreal university in 1989. Click the link: See the grim list of school shootings.