November 2019

To continue interviewing a hopeless candidate…?

A friend recently told me about a candidate who was interviewing for a role in his department. The interview loop (or round of conversations) included four members of his team and himself. After the first interviewer was done and had passed the candidate on to the next person, he told my friend that the candidate was not qualified and wouldn’t work out. Hearing this, my friend pulled the candidate aside, had a brief chat to confirm what he had heard, and told the candidate he was cutting the loop short because it wasn’t going to be a good fit….

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What is critical thinking?

I remember looking at a picture on a photography site. The picture wasn’t very memorable. What intrigued me was the accompanying statement: “Ever since my first encounters with many of the great photographers who inspired me, I became aware of the value of turning my attention away from the main event. So often, the temptation is to look where everyone else is looking. But, time after time, I have chosen to observe what’s going on by looking in the other direction – before, or after, or at the edges of the main attraction. There, I find the textures, moods,…

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Why text when you can talk?

A friend recently sat down by me and proceeded to carry on an argument with another friend – all through texting. He spent at least 20 minutes just moving his thumbs and texting complicated ideas and arguments. Naturally, I suggested using the tool for its intended purpose by making a phone call and talking this through. It would have taken a fraction of the time. Tone of voice would have helped convey intent and seriousness. There would be no time spent correcting autocorrects, misspellings, or poorly written articulations. The human element would have buffered any potential move toward unnecessary…

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Getting somewhere fast isn’t just about speeding

This morning, I was driving my normal route to work. The speed limit is pretty consistently 40 mph until I hit the highway. In a 40, I always drive 50. (10 over is pretty much my rule, unless it’s a 25 mph zone. Then it’s 5-7 mph over the speed limit.) Today, I was pretty much alone on the road. There was one car about 200 yards ahead of me, and then I noticed one coming up from behind me. As I was going 50, he must have been going at least 55-60 mph. As he passed me, he…

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My face tattoo prejudice

It was recently time for my quarterly haircut. I like to visit a local shop and sit with whomever has an open chair. Sometimes, when I walk in, I notice that one of the hair stylists is almost completely tattooed, including multiple and obvious facial tattoos. In general, I don’t understand why anyone would get a tattoo. It makes no sense to me. They’re reportedly painful. The area on your body where you get it is going to change. Your tastes are going to change. The color’s going to fade. Why there instead of there? Why that? If it…

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Ironic Republicans would behave like a union

One of the more surprising problems with the Republican Party is that they behave like a union. They promote according to seniority – not merit. They can’t get rid of the bad ones, they’ve got no incentive to work hard, and they’re able to get themselves really nice benefits. When the Republicans won back the Senate in 2014, I thought for sure that they’d challenge Mitch McConnell for Senate Majority Leader. To my knowledge, the idea never even came up. It was just assumed that McConnell would be it. This was just yet another example of the Republicans promoting…

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What do you get the person who has everything?

When I was young, I, like many other children, agonized and racked my brain about what to get my parents for their birthdays and Christmas. It seemed like my parents had everything they wanted, or could get anything they wanted (within reason). Or, maybe they just didn’t seem to want anything. So me, my brothers, and my sister, would try and come up with ideas before we finally came up with something that ended up not being as exciting as we had hoped. Now that I’m an adult, and on the other side of the equation, I can see…

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Remember Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin has pretty much disappeared from the national scene, but her name came up in a conversation recently, and I was thinking of her importance to politics and my amazement at the missed opportunity. What always struck me about Sarah Palin is that the Democrat Party was so intent on destroying her reputation and credibility that in America’s rush to make a joke of her, they forgot to actually listen to what she was saying. In fact, she was one of the first politicians to warn against the ruling class of entrenched Democrats AND Republicans. Anyone who’s followed…

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Is it how you say it? Or what you say?

People give Donald Trump hell for the way he speaks. He exaggerates. Oversimplifies. Repeats things. He’s not always the most eloquent. Because he doesn’t speak like an ivy league learned individual, that means he is stupid and unqualified to be President. In contrast, one of the most frequent reasons I would hear to support Barrack Obama was that it was great to have an intelligent and articulate President. After all, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, so he must be smart. Yet, as “stupid” as Bush is, he doesn’t need a teleprompter to answer questions at a press conference….

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The vernacular of birthday wishing

In those rare times when someone remembers your birthday (I say “rare” because it seems everyone leaves it to Facebook to remember these days), they usually hit you with a “happy birthday” early in the day to show you they remembered. Then, later in the day, maybe after dinner, you get a straggling birthday wish or two from someone you expected to hear from who probably should have known. Those birthday wishes always seems like someone called them and told them they’d better wish you a happy birthday. Is there a name for the point in the day when…

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