I was just on my way home from the dentist when I ended up waiting in line at a stop light. It was two lanes going each way, so there was a line of cars next to me as long as the line I was in. There were eight cars in each line. I was the eighth car in the left lane. Mine was also a turning lane, and it was difficult to tell which of the cars in front of me were going to be waiting to turn left. When the light changed, we didn’t move, which told…
When your voting base is the uninformed
It’s hard to quantify these things, but it would seem the “get out the vote” effort is greater this election than any other I’ve lived through. Now, is it a fair assumption that most get out the vote efforts are driven by left-leaning activists? And, is it also fair to say that their target audience are those who are otherwise not inclined to vote because they’re not following the election, they don’t really pay attention to the news, or they simply don’t care? If there’s truth to the first two questions, then isn’t it fair to say that left-leaning…
1+1=74
I was skipping through the news and saw a clip of Joe Biden on BBC America telling a rally that we must not let the Republican Party divide us. I couldn’t help but think: “Which party continually talks only in terms of blacks, transgenders, women, gays, Hispanics, white males, etc?” Democrat politicians and activists consistently “celebrate diversity” and frame every political topic according to what slice of America is getting hurt by it and who’s benefitting. You will seldom hear a Democrat refer to all Americans. Sometimes I’m stunned by the brazen projection that goes on.
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…
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…
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…
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.,…
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…
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…
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…