People talk about things like “common sense” or “critical thinking.” They’re easy to say. And we all feel like we’re speaking a common language when we say them. But what do those phrases really mean? Here’s an illustration: Today, I saw someone post this on Facebook: “People are dying all over the world… And our “leader” is getting excited about his “tv ratings?!?!” That was followed by this: I read this post, in its entirety, and the first thought I had was, “Is this really true?” They I wondered how does she know that’s what he was doing. I…
Some of the good
Recently, I heard someone merging two ideas about God that I’d not heard intersect: the idea that God has a plan and God is good. The elaboration went on to suggest that everything happens for a reason, and no matter what those things are, something good always comes of it. It’s just a matter of finding it. This was in response to people who ask, how can there be a god if there’s war, famine, etc. The idea was that no matter what it is, even if it’s war or famine, that if you look for it, good comes…
Will the Covid 19 be deadlier than Covid-19?
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), there are more than 300,000 deaths per year in the United States due to obesity. Obesity-related deaths include high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, heart attacks, and other premature deaths. With everyone staying home, there’s presumably less exercise and more eating. It’s not a stretch to suggest most adults and children can all walk away from our self-quarantine with an extra 19 pounds, otherwise known as the Covid 19. Meanwhile, Covid-19 deaths are ranging around 22,000, as of this writing. Certainly, and unfortunately, there will be more deaths, before this is…
President Trump’s corporate lawyers
The press seems to have a huge problem that Trump is not listening to his coronavirus task force. They get up and say things… things based on science! And President Trump contradicts them or ignores them. If you’ve had any private sector experience, you’d understand what’s happening here. Most companies have corporate lawyers. Depending on how much power has been given to the corporate lawyers, and how much the executive team wants to involve them, most ideas, initiatives, or decisions are run by the corporate lawyers. The job of corporate lawyers is, first and foremost, to cover their own…
All children left behind
In the State of Washington, Governor Jay Inslee closed the schools on March 12. On April 2nd, many schools were still not teaching kids. Many other states closed their schools and moved right to online learning or virtual teaching. Washington is home to Seattle, one of the most advanced tech hubs in the world. Yet they can’t figure out how to use laptops or tablets, wifi or hotspots, and Zoom to get kids back on track learning? I realize it’s nowhere near as simple as that made it sound. But it’s not really about the ability to do it,…
The age of reality leadership
After three years of President Trump’s leadership style, people are still confused by it. When President Obama was elected, many found him refreshing because he ushered in the age of reality and pragmatism. Many people loved the fact that he told it like it was. He called it as he saw it. For example, Obama’s 2013 budget declared “In the 21st Century, real GDP growth in the United States is likely to be permanently slower than it was in earlier eras…” In 2016, he famously said some automotive industry jobs “are not going to come back.” While there’s certainly an element…
Success comes from overcoming adversity, not avoiding it
A little while ago, there was a story in the news about a girl’s high school basketball team that won a game by nearly 100 points. I’m not sure the details, because when I searched “lopsided victory basketball,” I unearthed pages and pages of lopsided scores. They happen all the time. It’s kind of like life. Sometimes you try something and get completely throttled by other forces. The key is to learn from it and be better prepared in the future. Who thought up not keeping score in little league games? What was the intention? Winning and losing is…
Vacation during isolation
Most of corporate America who can work from home is working from home. If the job doesn’t call for hands on work, and hasn’t been wiped out by lack of business, people are working in their houses. And because we’re all self-isolating, there’s not really anywhere you can go. Businesses are closed. You can’t eat in a restaurant. Most hotels are closed. National parks are closed. My question: Do people who are working from home take vacation during this pandemic? How would it be received if you tell your boss you’re taking a week off, but still not leaving…
A victim of Wuhan Flu racism
I was at the grocery store earlier, in the spices aisle, when an asian man appeared in the aisle and started walking toward me. When he neared, I said, “Hello.” As soon as I started to speak, he recoiled in panic and quickly backed off. He turned his cart and scurried away. He was clearly influenced by the media’s portrayal of how white men can pass on the virus to others. It’s hard enough to live with the fear of the virus, without people being so racist toward one another.
If only it were a computer virus…
Why couldn’t the greatest virus of our time be a worldwide computer virus? Can you imagine if all of our technology was infected, and the only way to survive the pandemic were to quarantine ourselves from our phones, tablets, and desktop computers? Manufacturers would be firing up to see how quickly they could produce land line phones for homes so we could stay connected. Newspaper publishers would have to procure exponentially more paper to produce all of the news we’d need. Families and kids would have to buy dozens of Mad Lib booklets to keep conversations rolling until they…