August 2018

Do we still believe in winning?

I was having lunch with a friend last week when we started talking about Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign. Trump’s campaign is centered on casting events as competition that America is either going to win or lose. Economically, America is either going to beat China or lose to China. In the “war on terror,” we are either going to beat Islamofascists or lose to them. And so on… In our conversation, I asked my friend the question, “Do you think Americans still believe in winning?” What I meant was, are we still a nation of competitors who…

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Bus window etiquette

This morning, I got on the bus which was, as it often is, steaming hot. I moved to take a seat in the back and asked the two guys sitting there if I could open the window. They both nodded in approval, so I went ahead. A few stops later, one of my favorite riders, “Man of great dignity,” got on the bus and sat down across from me and the open window. (I call him that because he has a very stern and worn face and he often is seen staring out into some far away future thinking…

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Telltale signs of a liberal

In the past week… I was at the hardware store at 7am and was the only car in the parking lot. It was a huge parking lot with spaces for hundreds of cars. As I was loading my purchased items into my car, with both of my back doors open, two cars entered the parking lot. One of the cars pulled up next to me, as if to park on my passenger side, hesitated, and then pulled in and through to the spot on the opposite side (her car now facing out). The second car, arriving from the other…

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The world gets smaller, and more isolated

I recently attended a marketing conference. One of the main premises of the conference was that we’ve finally evolved to the ability to personalize marketing messages on a mass scale. The description went something like this: + We used to go to the butcher, and they’d know our name and have our order ready for us+ Then television happened and the world got smaller, so marketing started reaching for the masses with one, depersonalized message (TV, billboards, etc.)+ Now, the two have combined That’s right, with the amount of data we collect on everyone, their habits, their preferences, etc.,…

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Death of the written word

This morning, I read in my work email that our CEO is moving his periodic company newsletter from text and graphics to video. In his words, he is “leveraging the unique energy of video.” Meanwhile, several of the blogs I enjoy reading have recently moved from text to video. I’ve struggled with the rationale of this move. Those who are moving from text to video probably have a number of reasons. Some that I can think of: 1. Illustrating your understanding of societal trends by using the “latest” abilities 2. Trying to be more dynamic in your posts with…

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Driving while texting: Bad. With a live animal in your lap? Good.

While everyone’s concerned about people texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, I’ve never once heard anyone mention the safety issues around driving with a live animal on your lap. I’m not disputing the dangers of texting while driving. Things can happen quickly, and if you’re looking at your phone at the wrong second, it can change your life forever. But in Seattle, where people have more dogs than children, seeing drivers with pets in their lap is not an unusual site. (And if I had to guess, I’d say many of these people are the same…

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Lessons from the private sector

When you leave a private sector job, all of your access to company servers, email, and other digital programs are nearly always immediately revoked. And if you have institutional knowledge that the company is afraid to lose, steps are taken to obtain that knowledge before the departure. Especially if the departure is amicable and expected. This is just standard private sector protocol. Given that, I don’t understand why President Trump revoking John Brennan’s security clearance is such a big deal. I realize that precedent is that past intelligence agency ranking members maintain their clearance so they can be consulted…

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Even when you win, you lose

A few days ago, I was on a rural highway stuck behind a person going 50 in a 55mph zone. When the opportunity arose, I attempted to pass them. But like many on the road who want to control how everyone else drives, she decided to speed up to prevent me from passing. Since my being in the other lane was keeping her foot on the pedal, and there were no oncoming cars, it still worked out in my favor. All I wanted her to do was speed up and catch us up to the cars ahead of us….

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Poor people smile

Money can’t buy happiness. You hear that a lot growing up. And then, as you get older, you often learn it the hard way. Sometimes by getting a high paying job and being miserable. Other times, because you’re happy as you can be making a below average salary. When people talk about minimum wage increases, economic policy, and the middle-to-lower class workforce, they often end up describing the poorer people they’re trying to help as miserable, uneducated, and unfulfilled. But I think people lose site of what it’s really all about. Sure, in many ways, life is easier with…

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Spatial relations

Part of being respectful of others is respecting their space. Most people do this, but I sometimes wonder if it’s regional. I’ve lived in many place in the US, and in places like the Midwest, people seem pretty aware of their surroundings. During my last visit to Up North, every time I walked, ran, or biked on the main roads, every car that passed moved over into the other lane to give me some space. It was similar living in other parts of the Midwest. Contrast that to my last time in the Pacific Northwest, where cars militantly drove…

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