Friday, December 20, 2013

Fractional Reserve Society

Currently there is not a universal definition of what constitutes a group. Groups can have varying numbers of members, communication styles, and structures. Research has identified a few common requirements contributing to the recognition of individuals working in a collaborative environment to be considered a “group”:
  • Interdependence: In order for an individual of the collective to accomplish their part in the assigned task they depend, to some degree, on the outputs of other members of the collective.
  • Social interaction: In order to accomplish the goal some form of verbal or nonverbal communication is required to take place amongst the members of the collective.
  • Perception of a group: All members of the collective must agree they are, in fact, part of a group.
  • Commonality of purpose: All the members of the collective come together to serve or attain a common goal.
Source.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Moon Masterpiece

His time on the surface was nearly finished before Scott managed to squeeze in a brief Fallen Astronaut ceremony. “I was going to drive the rover out, set up a TV camera to watch the liftoff, put down the little astronaut and the plaque, and take a photo,” he says. “On Apollo 15 we took over 1,100 photos on the surface of the moon, and all those are without any rangefinder or light meter. So that was another part of setting up the Fallen Astronaut: making sure I got a good photo of it, because nobody knew about it.”



Finally Scott found his moment, and he wanted to keep it private. Irwin distracted Mission Control in Houston with inane chatter while Scott took a few bounding steps north from the lunar rover and made Fallen Astronaut a citizen of the moon.

Source.