This morning I stopped by the DITIB-run mosque that’s just down the street from my apartment and found the solution to two of my problems. The first is that I wasn’t sure if I should visit DITIB’s director in Cologne before trying to contact staff at this mosque; I suspected I might need a formal [...]
Entries from June 2006 ↓
Mosque and a Haircut: Two Birds, One Stone
June 7th, 2006 — DITIB, Research in Germany
Eight Ways to Overcome Procrastination
June 7th, 2006 — Productivity
Here’s a list of simple strategies from Carleton University’s Procrastination Research Group (via Lifehacker) to help you stop procrastinating:
Make a list of everything you have to do.
Write an intention statement.
Set realistic goals.
Break it down.
Make your task meaningful.
Promise yourself a reward.
Eliminate tasks you never plan to do.
Estimate the amount of time you think it will take [...]
Data on 2006 World Cup Countries
June 6th, 2006 — World Cup
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office has released a pretty slick document (pdf) in English containing profiles of the 32 countries participating in the World Cup. Stats include life expectancy, mean age of population, size of the economy, and number of internet users as well as data related to national football clubs like world ranking, World Cup [...]
Children of Turkish Migrants Need Education Reform Now
June 6th, 2006 — Turkish immigrants
Recent findings on the educational attainment of Turkish migrants in Germany are much worse than I expected. Söhn and Özcan (2006) point out the following:
In 2003, 14% of Turkish students left school without any degree while only 6% of German students did.
In the same year, 31% of German students finished school with a higher secondary [...]
Attention! Women are Standing Up for Themselves!
June 5th, 2006 — Miscellaneous
This Turkish sticker caught my eye a couple nights ago as I was leaving the subway. Here’s my attempt to translate it:
Attention!
Women are standing up for themselves
If you leer at, make catcalls at, or physically harass a woman, she might get angry, shout at you, and pour the beer in her hand over your head [...]
Future EU Network on Immigrant Religion - Sign up today!
June 4th, 2006 — Academia
I had coffee on Friday with Hubert Krieger, a research manager for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, an EU agency located in Dublin. Hubert overflows with energy–sometimes too much, he confessed, especially for someone who’s been working 20 years in the same position. But I think this is a [...]
“Perfection and Productivity Are Mutually Exclusive”
June 2nd, 2006 — Personal Development
Before I get back to posting details of my research, I want to draw your attention to the most concise explanation I’ve ever read of how perfectionism contributes to procrastination.
The following commentary comes from the current newsletter of David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done (GTD), a wildly popular book on organization and time [...]