Articles from 2020
743 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Worth Watching
The Real Story Behind The First Thanksgiving
There are several such videos available, but I think this one presents the most believable story. I thought I knew the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. The First Thanksgiving, 1621, by Jean…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Training Your Business Instinct For Profitable Decisions
“Two things control men’s nature, instinct and experience.” – Blaise Pascal Head vs. Gut, Part II: How to Educate Your Gut Instinct to Help You Make Profitable Decisions In Part I of this essay, we talked…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Partner's Self-Designed Chapel Serves Rancho Santana Community
This is a chapel that BB, one of my partners at Rancho Santana, built for the Rancho Santana community. He designed it himself. The style, as you can see, is very simple and mostly traditional. It’s quite…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Trusting Your Gut Over Business School Analysis
My post today is about developing your gut instinct to help you become a more effective business leader. I’m sending it from our home in Nicaragua. As you may have heard, the country was battered by Iota. The…
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Worth Reading
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters Edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten Paperback, 928 pages Published April 1, 1989 by Penguin Books John Steinbeck was an important writer and an interesting character. As…
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Worth Watching
Fargo
Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Starring William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Harve Presnell, and Frances McDormand On an impulse last week, I watched Fargo again – the 1996 movie, not the TV…
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Worth Considering
3 Facts, 3 Words, 3 Thoughts
THE FACTS * The Invention of the TV Dinner Like so many other life-improving inventions, the frozen TV dinner began as a mistake. 1n 1953, an employee of Swanson & Sons mistakenly ordered 260 tons of fresh…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Identifying And Nurturing Your Rarest Employees
“Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.” – Tom Peters Cultivating the “Super” in “Superstars”: the Handful of Employees That Will Make Your Business Soar Yes…
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Notes From My Journal
The Moments I Love
“The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by.” – Alek Wek The Moments I Love Midnight at the Swamp House. Starless…
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Notes From My Journal
A Jolt of Pure Joy!
Look at this – a film of a snowball fight shot in 1897 in Lyon by the Lumière brothers… The Lumière brothers are considered to be pioneers in film. This one spans less than a minute, but it’s a tempest of…
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Readers Write
An email from JM
I just read your essay, “12 Things I’ve Learned About Living a Full Life.” These were excellent. All of them…. I always told my children that smart is when you can learn from your mistakes but brilliant is…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Scary but True: China Paves the Way for a US Digital Dollar
“A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.” – Ross Perot Scary but True: China Paves the Way for a US Digital Dollar On November 6, I said that I could imagine…
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Worth Reading
Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson Paperback, 254 pages Published March 28, 1993 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published 1991) I was in a shallow, prompted in part by the decision to trash an essay I’d spent half a day on…
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Worth Watching
Just Mercy
Netflix and Amazon Prime The books and movies I like best are those that change me – those that are able to change the way I think or feel about an issue or motivate me to take action on an issue I had cared…
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Worth Considering
Justin Goff on the “Chain of Belief
The first important skill I studied when I began my career in publishing was how to write a sales letter. Back then – in the early ‘80s – there weren’t any expert teachers available. (Today, there are hundreds…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Twelve Big Lessons From A Thousand Mistakes
“Ultimately, there is no such thing as failure. There are lessons learned in different ways.” – Twyla Tharp 12 Things I’ve Learned About Living a Full Life I’ve got a thousand ideas about how to do things…
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Worth Watching
My Favorite Doctor on COVID
I read a dozen regular services on COVID-19. Half are data services and some are commentary. Of all that latter group, this is the one I like the best. I think you’ll like him too! PS: Notice that he says that…
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Worth Considering
Response Boosting Tip for Digital Marketers
Here’s a potentially powerful way to boost eyeballs and click-throughs on your internet advertising. Create a teaser that capitalizes on a popular current news or social interests story. It must be something…
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Worth Considering
What I’m Doing With My Money
On July 24, I said I was putting a good amount of my stock into cash until I have an idea of what the election will bring us. On November 4, I made some predictions about what will happen regardless of who…
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Readers Write
An email from LC
Thank you Mark for your essay on Tribal Dynamics in Business. You put words on feelings that I had (e.g., loathing corporatization) but I didn't know how to deal with, in the face of entropy.
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Worth Watching
Night Crawler
I came across this on Netflix, surfing for something grim, stark, and disturbing. After watching it for a few minutes, I realized that I’d seen it before. But I kept watching, partly because my memory is…
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Worth Reading
Economics in One Lesson
by Henry Hazlitt The first book on economics I ever read was Das Kapital, by Karl Marx, when I was in high school. I didn’t read it cover to cover. I was using it rather than reading it, using it to confirm…
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Notes From My Journal
A Reader Asks: Should I Invest in Bitcoin?
“Anything that is secret, clandestine, loaded with such a supercargo of speculation, misinformation, disinformation and, for that matter, accurate revelations, creates an appetite.” – Charles McCarry A Reader…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Why A Mayo Clinic Psychologist Sent This
This comes to me from a very bright and accomplished person I know that is a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the Mayo Clinic. I’m not sure why he sent it to me. Nor am I sure why I’m sending it to you. Perhaps…
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Notes From My Journal
What Happens Next, Regardless Of Who Wins
“Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do.” – Paul Wellstone Thoughts on a Too-Close-to-Call Election I’ve never understood how, in a country the size of ours…
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Notes From My Journal
Ten Best Countries To Escape To Now
“We don’t create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay.” – Lynda Barry Book Your Departure Now! 10 of the Best Places to Escape to Outside of the USA K says she’s leaving the…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Most Voters Lack Knowledge To Make Informed Decisions
“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” –Thomas Jefferson Are You Qualified to Vote? “Voting is the most important responsibility we have as…
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Notes From My Journal
Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV, Part III
“By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” – Christopher Columbus Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV, Part III I woke up…
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Worth Reading
A Halloween Tradition: Reading Poe's The Raven
It’s Halloween! I’m going trick or treating today with my four grandkids. We don’t know if any of their neighbors will be opening doors or setting out candy on their porches, but the kids want to observe the…
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Notes From My Journal
Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV, Part II
“When you go on a road trip, the trip itself is part of the story.” – Steve Rushin Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV, Part II 6:30: A clear and sunny morning. 29 degrees. Praise the Lord! It’s…
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Notes From My Journal
Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV
“An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton Against All Odds: Denver to LA in a Vintage RV The alarm wakes me at 6:30. I check my weather app. It’s 18 degrees – 8 degrees…
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Worth Considering
Why Americans Must Fight Antisemitism
Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN that COVID-19 spike clusters were “predominantly ultra-Orthodox.” This was in response to protests by the Orthodox Jewish community against social…
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Worth Considering
California's Bizarre Holiday Gathering Rules Explained
“Any fool can make a rule. And any fool will mind it.” – Henry David Thoreau California’s Happy Holiday Agenda Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 in California are at their lowest levels in six months…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
The 7 Best Gifts We Gave Our Children
“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give to our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The 7 Best Gifts We Gave Our Children There is a view of…
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Worth Watching
My Octopus Teacher Offers Unexpected Wonder
“My Octopus Teacher” on Netflix If you are looking for something to divert you from the ugliness of US politics and inspire you to… well, not hang yourself, this little documentary is worth watching. Directed…
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Worth Reading
Book of the Week
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey I’m sure I would not have ordered this book had I not just finished watching “Octopus Teacher.” (See above.) I was deep in…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Amateur Pianist Tricks Classically Trained Musicians Into Duet
One of the social media rabbit holes I occasionally go into might be called “Amazing amateur piano players surprise others in shopping centers and malls!” I know. Can this really be a class of entertainment?…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Why Your Broker's Departure Tests Client Loyalty
”There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.” – Simon Sinek Why I Wasn’t “Loyal” to My Broker I called my broker but was connected to someone I didn’t know. She told me my…
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Arts & Letters
The Captivating Impressionism of Giorgio Morandi
The culture and business of art is largely chauvinistic. Ninety-eight percent of the art that is made in one country stays in one country. But there is a class of art that crosses borders: the work of artists…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Voting As An Independent Thinker In 2020
“Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.” – Keith Ellison How to Vote If You Consider Yourself an Independent Thinker Most of the people I know have locked down on certain slogans that parade…
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Fun and/or Interesting
Why Dad Jokes Get Worse With Age
My father was a bright, well-educated college professor with a clever, sophisticated sense of humor. In his seventies, though, I noticed that his wit degraded noticeably. He delighted in what we, his children…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Why “Profiting From Your Passion” May Be a Big Mistake
“Life is long. Success is difficult. Passion is fleeting.” – Michael Masterson Why “Profiting From Your Passion” May Be a Big Mistake When I first retired at 39, I bought a half-interest in an art gallery…
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Notes From My Journal
The Big Interrupter
“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” – Edgar Allan Poe It’s generally agreed that Trump was uncontrolled in his debate against Biden and that he interrupted Biden constantly…. That’s…
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Worth Considering
Big News About COVID-19 Testing
According to the October 16 edition of The Washington Post, new coronavirus cases are spiking in the United States and Europe, with 13 states reporting record-setting numbers of infections over the past week…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Why Business Plans Matter Less Than You Think
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu Advice to…
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Readers Write
An email from TN
Thanks again for your feedback. You gave me a HARD NO on part of it... but in a world of grays, a black and white answer is a huge relief.
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Notes From My Journal
Baby Boomers' Legacy Of War And Economic Selfishness
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” – Bertrand Russell Baby Boomer Narcissism: It’s All About Us, and Our Game Is War On Zoom calls, my colleague Bill Bonner and I sometimes talk briefly…
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Notes From My Journal
6 Cuss Words I’m Trying to Include in My Conversations
“Do not say little in many words but a great deal in a few.” – Pythagoras 6 Cuss Words I’m Trying to Include in My Conversations I must be going through some sort of nostalgia phase. I’m watching old movies…
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Worth Considering
Greed Is Bad; Gold Is Good
David Forest, editor of “The Strategic Investor,” believes we are in the early stages of a “historic gold bull market.” Main Reason: Fed Money Printing – “Since the market crash in March, the Federal Reserve…
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Worth Reading
The latest issue of AWAI’s Barefoot Writer — October 9, 2020
In this issue: * What Writers Want Right Now to Get Through 2020 and Thrive Beyond * Life-Size Ace in Your Back Pocket * How to Stay Motivated in a World of Weirdness * Caples’ Kickoff Strategy for…
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