Newsweek (US)
Is Cuba ready for capitalism?
The Cuban city of Havana is packed every day from morning to night with tourists admiring historical monuments and architecture. Visitors see Cubans who pay attention to dressing up, as if communism is a thing of the past. Cuba's state-run restaurants, where food is supplied by the government and wages are regulated by the state, Cubans don't earn much money, but the few private restaurants on Havana's Corniche are good places for locals. The trade embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba in the 1960s had a huge impact on Cuba, but Cuba's artistic culture did not stagnate. In a country with no real estate tycoons and no hedge fund giants, artists and elites make up almost one percent! These are things that tourists don't see and That Cubans in Havana don't necessarily understand. With the improvement of relations between the United States and Cuba, Cuba's real estate industry, infrastructure, communications industry, and tourism industry will flourish. But for Cubans, the pros and cons of such a change remain to be seen in the long run.
Harvard Business Review (US)
The higher the sales performance, the more you dig a hole for yourself?
In the past decade, the study of how to motivate salespeople has gradually moved out of the laboratory and is not limited to theory. In the process of studying company sales and the actual income of salespeople, the researchers came up with new insights into salesperson commissions. These new conclusions include that sales managers should not set the highest standards for sales, which discourages salespeople. For the sales employees who are active, passive and not slippery in the same company, a hierarchical commission planning system should be implemented, and the evaluation of remuneration should cover the quarterly performance of sales personnel, and additional rewards should be given for over-completion. In addition, according to the ratchet effect, if the sales manager raises the sales expectations for the next year based on the sales staff's excess sales results in the previous year, it will be detrimental to their sales performance in the next year.
Bystander (English)
To protect young girls, condoms should not be distributed only
Precocious puberty in children is becoming more and more common, and the pure childhood has long since ceased to exist. In the case investigated in Oxfordshire, England, the police described the victimized eleven- and twelve-year-old girls as "making the wrong choice", described men in their thirties as their "boyfriends", and sexually assaulted young girls. In such cases, experts often see young girls as adults rather than children and victims, which is problematic. People who question the lack of self-love of young girls are equivalent to defending criminals and acquiescing in the bestiality of sexually abusing young girls. Society's age definition of legitimate behavior has been blurred, and the ability of young girls to distinguish between sexual assault and normal sexual behavior is also a question. Government departments encouraging the distribution of contraceptives to underage girls is not the same as allowing them to have sex. The concept that sex with children is child abuse has been neglected and that those who raise such views are often considered to be extreme religiousists and reactionaries. Children are already too precocious because they are too much influenced by popular culture, so parents and schools should take action to control this trend.
New Scientists
Why can't humans explore the mystery of "randomness"?
Romeo said after killing Juliet's cousin, "I am the one who is played by fate. "This is the common idea of people in Shakespeare's day, that all people are marionettes, and that random events are pre-set. The ancients believed that God was sovereign and that the essence of random events was human ignorance of oracles. Dice were used for divination before they were used for gambling. Biologists' understanding of evolution is also divided into two groups, one that believes that evolution is an inevitable process, and the other that evolution is tortuous and uncertain. One founder of a random number generation website argues that humans can't explore how randomness arises. Because the composition of the human brain is inherently complex and orderly, "random thinking" is very difficult. Software and machines that provide random data are meant to solve the problem that humans cannot actively "randomly think." Random numbers can be used in cryptography, information processing technology, etc.
European Business Review (US)
To become president, women have to cross the barriers they have set
Of the 126 female presidents or prime ministers worldwide, 30 have taken office in the past four years. The S&P 500 index shows that 4.6% of CEO positions are held by women. While the proportion of women in leadership positions is rising, the overall number of female leaders is still small. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, based on her personal experience and social science research, concludes that the outside society does have many obstacles to women's important positions, but the bigger challenge for women to rise is to cross the barriers they have set. Becoming a global leader requires a balance between politics, economics, culture and many other aspects, and women are actually very competitive in terms of multiple intelligences. Partner support is also very important, and women leaders desperately need someone to share their responsibilities as wives, mothers, and daughters.
Weekend Pictorial (Medium)
A small British freshness swept in
Ed Sheeran's appearance is not equal to that of an English gentleman, and his music does not follow the big slip. A guitar, no band, and his singing alone was enough to shake the audience — he spoke only to music. Ed Sheeran's incorporation of Irish folk into popular music was recognized by the Anglo-American pop community. Part of his fame was made by celebrities, such as Elton John and his friend Taylor Swift. But it is more by his musical prowess and the impetus of online publicity. He relies mainly on online media communication and does not care much about the views of traditional record companies. As a young music composer, he pioneered a new world of British pop culture. He doesn't please anyone, he only writes the music he wants to write, and never cares about any comments about him. Ed Sheeran is himself, he has this confidence, he has this charm.
Compiler: Ge Qinyi