Envisia Learning

As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.

Quote of the Week: “Ah, I recognize your scent. Do you recognize my essence?”  Danny McBride

Humor Break:

Bev: Al, do you like my new peppermint fragrance?

Al: Sure, I have a good scents of humor.

Stat of the Week: 4% more levels and 26% more hits. Harvard Business Review inserts this slightly amusing and strange statistic in its 2013 January-February issue.  Seems the sweet smell of peppermint may enhance productivity. Past research has shown that peppermint enhances attention, memory, alertness, and mood. I wonder if this works with sex too?  I think more research is called for.

Action Tip: Who knows, if you experience a drowsy work moment you might want to try sniffing peppermint as an alternative to caffeine?

Self-Development Corner: January 28 begins a surge of new courses on the free online university Coursera.  While they add courses at any time, next week has the feel of a new semester.  Let me give you a sampling of what you could delve into should the learning bug strike you:  Introduction to Finance, (15 weeks, University of Michigan); Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses, Part I, (5 weeks, University of Virginia); Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies, (6 weeks, University of Maryland); Nutrition for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, (6 weeks, University of California, San Francisco); Model Thinking, (10 weeks, University of Michigan); and Microeconomics for Managers, (10 weeks, University of California, Irvine) or Microeconomics Principles, (8 weeks, University of Illinois). .

And finally, just to show you that I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do, here is a class I signed up for.  Feel free to join in with me and 260,000 (yes that number is correct) other eager learners: Introduction to Philosophy, (7 weeks, University of Edinburgh).