September 2020
69 articles published this month.
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
How Race Politics Could Reshape The 2020 Election
“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago, and a racist…
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Worth Watching
Trump's Surprising Appeal To Hispanic Voters
Two recent podcasts – the FiveThirtyEight politics podcast and “The Argument,” from Times Opinion – delve into Trump’s relative strength among Hispanic voters.
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A Word to the Wise
conflagration (noun)
A conflagration (kon-fluh-GRAY-shun) is an extensive and highly destructive fire As I used it today: “[Trump’s] 2016 campaign rhetoric about illegal immigrants and his promise to build the wall ignited a…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Travel Writer Discovers Nicaragua's Hidden Escondida Beach
After nearly six months, major airlines are beginning to resume commercial international flights. American, Spirit, United, and Aeromexico are scheduling flights and Avianca has already begun offering some…
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Inside Paradise Palms Botanical & Sculpture Gardens
Inside Paradise Palms' World-Class Palm Collection
A peek inside my palm tree garden… Situated on 10 acres in West Delray Beach, Florida, Paradise Palms & Sculpture Gardens has one of the largest and best-curated private palmetums in the world, as well as a…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Electric Swing Moves Worth Mastering
How are you doing with your electric swing moves? Here are some I’m working on…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Asking Strangers For Advice You're Not Ready For
“There is an inverse relationship between the value of advice given and what people are usually willing to spend for it.” – Michael Masterson Why It’s a Bad Idea to Ask a Someone You Don’t Know for Advice… and…
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A Word to the Wise
adulation (noun)
Adulation (ad-juh-LAY-shun) is excessive admiration or praise. As I used it today: “On the one hand, I was thrilled that this person I adulated would condescend to confide in me. On the other hand, her…
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Worth Considering
Why Lockdowns Failed Where Targeted Protection Could Work
The Washington Post recently reported that Israel, Spain, and France crushed COVID-19 but now have higher infection rates than the US. (Read the article here.) But the conclusion drawn from these facts is…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Word of the Day: Fico
FICO – the most commonly used credit score – is an acronym of Fair Isaac Trade Corporation, the data analytics firm that developed the scoring model. The company name implies that it has something to do with…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Commit First, Then Make Peace With Hard Choices
This is a good TED Talk about making hard choices. Listen to it here. Then consider this: The way to make good “hard” choices is not to pick the “right” choice, but to commit yourself to moving into the choice…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Warren Buffett's Strategy For Building Lifetime Wealth
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett How to Invest in Stocks for Lifetime Wealth With a net worth of $66 billion, Warren Buffett is the…
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A Word to the Wise
exponential (adjective)
Exponential (eks-puh-NEN-shul) refers to an increase that becomes more and more rapid. As I used it today: “Compounding is slow and boring at first. But as time passes, the dividends get exponentially larger.”
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Worth Considering
Lockdown Accelerates The Shift Away From Home Cooking
Following up on my recent blog about how the lockdown will change our economy, I saw this from investment analyst Whitney Tilson… “The Spring lockdown… and a proliferation of affordable prepared food options…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Rancho Santana: Nicaragua's Hidden Luxury Coastal Escape
Rancho Santana is one of only two properties in Nicaragua featured in the Kiwi Collection, a curated collection of the world’s best hotels and resorts. Read about it here.
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Fun and/or Interesting
Teenage Guitarist's Virtuoso Performance Stuns Internet Viewers
I don’t know enough about guitar playing to know for sure, but is this young woman amazing or what? Are there rock guitarists that can do what she is doing here?
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Building Wealth As An Employee: Ten Proven Strategies
“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” – Salvador Dali 10 Ways to Get Rich as an Employee Most people know me as an entrepreneur, a person that has started and/or consulted with dozens of…
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A Word to the Wise
Word of the Day: Fervent
fervent (adjective) Fervent (FUR-vuhnt) means having/displaying very strong and sincere feelings about something. As I used it today: “Learn everything [the people doing the job you want] know. Help them solve…
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Worth Reading
Warren Buffett's Essential Employee Qualities
“What Does Warren Buffett Look For in an Employee?” – Click here to read the article.
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Surprising Persian Origins Of Checkmate
Checkmate derives from the Persian phrase “shah mat,” which means, “the king died.”
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Fun and/or Interesting
The World's Most Massive Structures Ranked
Biggest Buildings
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Tariffs Promise Protection But Deliver Economic Pain
“Globalism began as a vision of a world with free trade, shared prosperity, and open borders. These are good, even noble, things to aim for.” – Deepak Chopra Free Trade or Trade Wars? The Facts Are Clear…
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Worth Considering
If you think now is a good time to buy steel stocks…
Two studies from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the overall economic impact of Trump’s 2018 tariffs was a net negative for American consumers – both companies and individuals. One example…
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A Word to the Wise
myopia (noun)
Ophthalmologically speaking, myopia (my-OH-pee-uh) is nearsightedness. The word is also used to refer to a lack of foresight or discernment. As I used it today: “People that favor tariffs and other trade…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Why American Exports Matter More Than You Think
Some facts: * The US is the world’s second-largest exporter after China. * The US is the world’s largest economy. * 95% of our current and potential customers are outside our borders. * Our total trade with…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Advertising Lesson Every CEO Should Revisit
This is something every CEO, marketer, and product development person should watch again and again…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
US COVID Death Rates Compared To Other Nations
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” – Albert Einstein A Realistic Look at the Lockdown If you get your news…
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Fun and/or Interesting
New York And Kentucky's Starkly Different Pandemic Outcomes
It’s not only between countries that we see anomalies in terms of the severity of lockdowns and death-rate-per-population. We see it within the US, as well. New York, under the heralded leadership of Governor…
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A Word to the Wise
volte-face (noun)
Volte-face (vawlt’uh-FAHS) is a reversal in policy or opinion; an about-face. As used by Edmund William Gosse in Some Diversions of a Man of Letters: “We have had in France an example of volte-face in taste…
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Worth Watching
Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado
(a Netflix documentary) I watched the trailer because I found the image of Walter Mercado so intriguing, and then I decided to watch the film. It was pure pleasure. Walter Mercado was a Puerto Rican actor…
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Moth Presents: John Turturro
The Moth Presents: John Turturro
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Principles of Wealth #10
Every asset class and financial strategy has its own inherent characteristics, investment advantages and disadvantages, profit and growth potentialities, and risk profiles. The smart investor understands this…
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Worth Considering
Those Sunscreens Could Kill You
About 10 years ago, I published a book about skin cancer. Back then, all my smart friends knew that the sun caused skin cancer and that skin cancer can be fatal. So they were lathering themselves and their…
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Worth Quoting
George Orwell On Political Language And Deception
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” – George Orwell
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A Word to the Wise
pentheraphobia (noun)
Pentheraphobia (PEN-thur-uh-foh-bee-ah) is the fear or strong dislike of one’s mother-in-law, a real – and surprisingly common – psychological affliction. The word is derived from the Greek “penthera”…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Rancho Santana Earns Another TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Award
Rancho Santana has won another Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award! Read about it here.
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Remarkable Capabilities Of Human Bodies
It's amazing what the human body can do...
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
11 Ways the COVID Lockdown Will Change the World, Good and Bad
“I’d like to think that anxiety is a form of emotional intelligence – alerting one to future threats that others ignore. The problem is it doesn’t work that way because anxiety is always forward facing. By the…
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Notes From My Journal
LA's Wildfire Haze and Urban Decay Scenes
I’m in LA now, visiting the kids. I came up to the rooftop terrace to work, thinking I’d have a nice view of the hills and the valley. But there’s no view. Just a gray landscape beset by smog. “No, it’s not…
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A Word to the Wise
apocalyptic (adjective)
Something that’s apocalyptic (uh-pahk-uh-LIP-tik) shows or prophesies the total destruction of the world – a scenario that is most famously described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation. As I used it today: “So…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Dogs' Nose Prints Are Uniquely Individual
Dogs’ nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints.
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Fun and/or Interesting
The Unexpected Sensuality Of Blooming Flowers
This composition of beautiful music + time-lapse photos of flowers blooming was meant to be inspiring... and it was to me. But it also got me thinking about the ambi-sexuality of flowers. Do you see what I…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Survival of the Fastest
Note: The following essay is an excerpt from the upcoming new and revised edition of Ready, Fire, Aim. Survival of the Fastest The first challenge an entrepreneur faces in launching a new business is to figure…
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A Word to the Wise
paradigm (noun)
A paradigm (PARE-uh-dime) is a model; a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. As I used it today: “You are going to have to convince [your key people] that there is no other option. That unless everyone gets…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Kenyan Masai Tribe's Extraordinary Gift Of Solidarity
In the aftermath of the 9/11 disaster, to show solidarity with the US, the Masai tribesmen of Kenya gave 14 cows to the US. The cows were presented to William Brencick, deputy head of the US embassy in…
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Worth Quoting
Bernard Malamud On Heroes And Human Potential
“Without heroes, we’re all plain people and don’t know how far we can go.” – Bernard Malamud
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Worth Reading
The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — September 11, 2020
In this issue: * “The Whole Game Has Changed” * How to Propel Your Reader Forward With Sentences That “Look Back Early” * This Writing Skill Recently Skyrocketed to the Top Tier of All Income-Generating…
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Fun and/or Interesting
New York Nostalgia From A Bygone Era
If you grew up in New York, as I did, this will bring back memories. If you didn't, you may find it interesting.
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
The Foundations of Economics, Part I: Hesiod’s Formula for Growing Wealth
Work hard. Spend wisely. Save assiduously. Respect the law. If I were to write the Ten Commandments of Wealth Building, those might be the first four. Cultures that embrace these values grow rich and prosper…
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A Word to the Wise
languish (verb)
To languish (LANG-wish) is to grow weak or feeble; to lose or lack vitality. As I used it today: “Cultures that embrace these values grow rich and prosper. Cultures that ignore them languish at the bottom of…
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