An Abundance of Pleasantries Yesterday I got all wrapped up in slavery and today I am struck by the importance of finding pleasure in everyday tasks and interactions. I think of this because many of the slaves depicted in the Harriet movie I discussed yesterday made it a point to be pleasant people who went about their labors every day with a smile on their face and the pleasure of being alive and otherwise in…
Slaving Away While I am no archeologist or anthropologist, I think it’s agreed that man as we know him (homo sapiens) has existed for some 300,000 years. If we conservatively consider a generation as lasting an average of thirty years, that means there have been 10,000 generations of humans. If I stretch Malcolm Gladwell’s concept of expertise using the 10,000 Hour Rule, one might suggest that the human species should have learned a thing…
When is a Lie Not a Lie? I’m sure that some of you will LOL about this, but I really do try not to write every blog story about how outraged I am about Donald Trump and the gang of Republican lawmakers and administration cronies that continue to stand up for the man. Today the situation has yet again shifted. As the parade of credible, patriotic career diplomats and intelligence professionals gets longer and longer…
The Master of My Fate It is sometimes difficult to say what is ordinary and what is extraordinary. I was watching the movie Invictus, which is the story of the South African Rugby World Cup Championship in 1995 as inspired by Nelson Mandela, the then new president of South Africa. Besides the obvious and extraordinary performance by the South African Springboks, the real understory is about the perseverance of Nelson Mandela and the black…
Of Family and Friendships There is an old expression which technically comes our way from Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus Finch says, “You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family.” I have said for a long time that I don’t find that expression 100% accurate. It is correct in its reference to family, but it is only half-correct when it comes to friends. Friends are perhaps…
Growing to the Sky Have you noticed that there is a lot more talk these days that involves the word Trillions? I see that the largest IPO ever, the public sale of the Saudi Arabian oil company called Aramco, is being debated as valuing the company between $1.5 and $2.0 Trillion. Let’s put that into perspective for a moment. Aramco is touted as the world’s largest company with revenues of over $350 Billion and…
I’ll Be Back While I’m not a big Action Movie fan for the most part, I do have fond memories of some, including the Terminator series. And like everyone else on the planet, I remember Linda Hamilton’s original role as the tough-as-nails mother of John Connor as too good not to admire. Any actor who can show themselves as all muscle and sinew and still look and act tough gets lots of respect from…
The Chill in the Air As I walked my 200 steps to work today, I was reminded that the winds in lower Manhattan get pretty crazy through the canyons of buildings. It is pretty much windy all year long, but today it was windy with a distinct chill of the impending season. It was sunny and the sky was blue, like waking up in the Dolomites or Alps in the morning, but the Weather…
Buttered Rubber I’ve never been much of a seafood fan. I have found myself in plenty of situations over the years where it was impossible to avoid eating seafood. Obviously, there is seafood and there is fishy seafood. I’ve enjoyed plenty of shrimp cocktail, fish & chips, Haddock fish sticks, Fillet-o-Fish sandwiches, crab cakes and even an occasional light, white broiled sole or swordfish or other flaky fish. What I steadfastly avoid is oily…
OK Boomer I see the New York Times has just declared “OK Boomer” to be the war cry of Generation Z as it battles against the generational opportunity injustices foisted upon it by the Baby Boom Generation. I wrote of this in my Global Pension Crisis book in 2013, so I will except that here. We are living in what Esquire magazine recently called The Worst Generation: “The Baby Boomers are the most self‐centered, self‐seeking,…