Articles from 2021
442 articles · browse by month or scroll through the year.
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Notes From My Journal
Bits and Pieces
GOOD: After 30 years in a Georgia prison for a crime he did not commit, Ron Jacobsen is exonerated. From the Innocence Project… Even though Ron Jacobsen’s conviction was overturned in 2019 after DNA evidence…
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Postscript
Test Yourself
How much do you know about famous museums? Click here to take this 10-question quiz. (I got 8 out of 10.)
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Worth Reading
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry By Neil deGrasse Tyson 244 pages Published in 2017 by W.W. Norton & Co. “I’m in a hurry,” I thought. “Astrophysics? I’ve been trying to teach myself physics – Newtonian…
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Worth Watching
Respect
Respect Released August 13, 2021 Available in theaters and on multiple streaming services Directed by Liesl Tommy Starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, and Marlon Wayans K decided we would eat at home…
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Postscript
Small Check, Big Faith In Filmmakers
A short film I exec-produced has been accepted by the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival and the Lake County Festival in Michigan. An executive producer does nothing but sign a check. I signed this one because it…
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Notes From My Journal
That's Not Funny! Why Humor Matters
Humor is one of the wonders of the Homo sapiens world. It has the potential to bridge social gaps, heal personal wounds, expand rigid minds, and open shut hearts by showing us what is essential in life – in…
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Worth Considering
Libel Versus Slander: Understanding Defamation's Two Forms
Defamation, as mentioned above, comes in two flavors: libel and slander. Many people have a hard time remembering the difference. It’s actually very easy: Libel is written defamation. Slander is oral…
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Postscript
The Only Acceptable Context For That Word
Speaking of the way we use words as weapons… I cannot imagine a situation in which I, as a White person, would feel justified in using the N-Word. It is, as some point out, used commonly by Black people. But…
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Arts & Letters
Widow's Letter To Port Authority Officer Lost On 9/11
It’s been 20 years since the September 11 attacks. This was taken from the book Letters of Note: New York… Uhuru Houston was born in Brooklyn in 1969. He joined the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Are You Ready to Make Your Big Career Move?
He had just graduated from college with a Liberal Arts degree and a few journalism courses under his belt. Having decided in his senior year that he wanted to be a writer, he reached out to me on social media…
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Postscript
Business Professor on a Decade of Change
A fascinating review of how business has changed in the past 10 or 11 years by a business professor:
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Notes From My Journal
The Good, the Bad, the Uncertain — September 7, 2021
Making Sense of Recent News Stories. Big and Small GOOD: Good for China One of the advantages of having unchallenged central authority is that you can make big decisions quickly. And as I’ve mentioned in…
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Postscript
Arnold Schwarzenegger Survives Fan's Drop-Kick Attempt
Check out what happens when a nut job tries to drop-kick Arnold Schwarzenegger in South Africa. He’s still the man!
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Notes From My Journal
Values and Aspirations
SS, a very successful investment analyst, once told me that certain things we cherish in our adolescence become valuable collectible assets when we hit our peak earning years. For my generation, this was true…
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Worth Watching
Best Films of the 1960s
In no particular order… The Graduate (1967) Directed by Mike Nichols Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross Plot: Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), a recent college graduate with no plans for…
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Notes From My Journal
More About the F-Word…
Responding to the issue in which I agreed with a reader that the F-Word doesn’t suit us as we get older, AS wrote: I don’t disagree that people our age shouldn’t use the word fuck, even though I do. I don’t…
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Worth Considering
Word of the Day: F-u-c
F-U-C-K! Since AS got me started on all this with his email, I shared the above with him to get his input before posting it here. “That was great,” AS wrote back, “and quite extensive. I believe the origin of…
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Notes From My Journal
Word of the Day: Remember
Remember – it was just 18 months ago – when Trump suggested that COVID-19 might have come from a lab in Wuhan? Every major “news” outlet – including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and all 3 major…
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Notes From My Journal
The Good, the Bad, the Uncertain — August 30, 2021
Making Sense of Recent News Stories. Big and Small GOOD: “Mussolini” School Board Smack-Down The COVID pandemic and the lockdowns imposed in response to it has given politicians and regulators all over the…
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Postscript
Why This Scandinavian Art Film Haunts You
This video is not for everyone. When I first watched it, I thought “typical Scandinavian highbrow nothingness.” But eventually, it got to me…
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Worth Reading
Talent Is Overrated — August 27, 2021
Talent Is Overrated By Geoff Colvin 228 pages Originally published in 2008 If I were to list the 100 best non-fiction books I’ve ever read, Talent Is Overrated would not be included. Not because it’s a bad…
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Worth Considering
What About Mozart and Tiger Woods?
Mozart wrote music at age 5, gave public performances at age 8, and composed some of the world’s most beautiful symphonies before his death at age 35. A close look at his background reveals: * His father…
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Worth Watching
Halston (2021)
Halston (2021) Available on Netflix Starring Ewan McGregor, Bill Pullman, Rebecca Dayan, and Krysta Rodriguez Halston is a limited-series Netflix production about the life and death of Roy Halston Frowick…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
Ready, Fire, Aim in Action
My book Ready, Fire, Aim, which was published in 2008, made it to the Wall Street Journal and Business Week bestseller lists. John Wiley, the publisher, sold out several editions. It was successful, I think…
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Postscript
Woman Challenges Gender Policy In School Locker Rooms
This woman doesn’t buy the woke idea about gender choice in girls’ locker rooms. She’s telling it like it is!
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Worth Considering
Florida's Minimal Restrictions Versus Stricter State Lockdowns
Back from the sunny beaches of Rancho Santana on the Pacific Ocean to my house on the equally sunny beaches of the Atlantic Ocean in Delray Beach, I was only dimly aware that the Delta variant of the…
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Notes From My Journal
Introducing: Mr. Doodle
I want to introduce you to someone I’ve been following lately. Sam Cox is only 23, but he’s fast becoming the new Keith Haring among contemporary art collectors in England. That’s in part because of his…
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Postscript
Bully Meets His Match In Boxing Ring
In the mood to watch a beat-down? Here’s what happens when a bully with a big head walks into a boxing gym. I saw a similar thing happen when two toughs came into my dojo and challenged Renato, one of my BJJ…
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Notes From My Journal
It’s been a frantic week for K and me at Rancho Santana
With 45 family members here to enjoy all this wonderful resort community has to offer, we’ve been busy day and night managing and participating in all the activities. Besides visiting the five beaches and…
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Worth Reading
A Sport and a Pastime
A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter 204 pages Originally published in 1967 Paperback published in 2006 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux A Sport and a Pastime – another Mules Book Club selection – is a short…
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Worth Watching
Oslo
Oslo (2021) Available on HBO Directed by Bartlett Sher Starring Andrew Scott, Ruth Wilson, and Jeff Wilbusch Oslo is the story of negotiations that took place in Norway in 1993 between Israel and the…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
China vs. the USA
During his tenure as president, Donald Trump started a trade war with China. He had an argument. China was subsidizing some of its exports to gain market share. We do that, too. But China did it more. So, he…
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Worth Considering
China’s Cultural Revolution
To understand how the Chinese economy got where it is today, you need to know a bit about China’s Cultural Revolution and what happened after that. In 1966, 17 years after Mao Zedong established the People’s…
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Notes From My Journal
Cousin Camp Arrives At Costa Rica's Top-Rated Resort
Despite the challenge of getting here via Liberia, Costa Rica, the 45 Cousin Camp attendees were graciously welcomed by the staff at Rancho Santana, quickly helped into their beautiful rooms and suites…
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Worth Considering
And About the F Word…
In discussing podcasts, a colleague wrote: ”Oh, Man! I can’t stand listening to a podcast with two old guys throwing the F Word around – like they’re trying to one-up each other with how many times they can…
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Postscript
How Your Immune System Fights Off Disease
This little video was done months ago, but it does a good, quick job of explaining how the immune system works – including those B- and T-cells you’ve probably heard about…
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Notes From My Journal
The Good, the Bad, the Uncertain
Making Sense of Recent News Stories GOOD: Illinois Bans Lying to Juveniles During Interrogations Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill prohibiting police from using deception during interrogations of…
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Postscript
Brother Recommends Surprisingly Smart Conservative Podcast
My brother Andrew sent this link to me recently. He said: I heard this podcast the other day and have been sharing it with friends of various political orientations, to rave reviews. It’s two rather…
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Worth Reading
Do One Thing Different
Do One Thing Different By Bill O’Hanlon 224 pages Originally published in 1999 by William Morrow and Company A cop comes upon a drunk on his hands and knees at night under a streetlight. “What are you doing?”…
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Worth Watching
Time
Time (2020) Available on Amazon Prime Produced and directed by Garrett Bradley Featuring Sibil Fox Richardson and Robert Richardson Time, an Academy Award-nominated documentary, is the story of Sibil Fox…
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Notes From My Journal
The Good, the Bad, the Uncertain Making Sense of Recent News Stories
GOOD: Federal Judge Issues Injunction Against Biden’s Race-Based Loan Forgiveness Program US District Judge S. Thomas Anderson issued an injunction against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), halting the…
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From My Work-in-Progress Basket
The Washington Post
The Washington Post, which competes neck and neck with the NYT for Financially Dumbest Major Newspaper in the US, recently published two opinion pieces that actually made sense. The first was about taxes. In…
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Postscript
Why Gender Symbols On Bathroom Signs Matter Less
Joy, my manicurist, took this shot the other day. She thought it was "funny and dumb.” I get the wheelchair accessible sign and the baby sign, because those indicate the facilities inside. But why the three…
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Worth Reading
The Bomber Mafia
The Bomber Mafia By Malcolm Gladwell Published in 2021 by Allen Lane This was The Mules’ book selection for July. Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite non-fiction authors. His books are about ideas…
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Worth Watching
The Best of Enemies
The Best of Enemies (2019) Available on Amazon Prime and Netflix Written and directed by Robin Bissell Starring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell In the last few years, Hollywood has been frantically putting…
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Notes From My Journal
Wanting Came First; Gratitude Much Later
I don’t remember being grateful very often when I was young. I remember wanting things – lots of things – all the time. As a child, I wanted toy trucks and cap guns and Lionel trains and baseball mitts. I…
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Postscript
The Ship of Theseus Problem Explained
Here’s a video clip on an old thought experiment on what makes us… us:
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Notes From My Journal
Back Home in Florida After a Week in Paris
It’s good to be home. Back, after an impromptu week in Paris, to our family home in Delray Beach. Paris is as unlike Delray Beach as a dinner of steak au poivre and haricot verts is to a drive-thru, McDonald’s…
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Worth Watching
Collective (2020)
Collective (2020) Available on Netflix and Prime Video Directed, written, and produced by Alexander Nanau Starring Catalin Tolontan, Camelia Roiu, and Tedy Ursuleanu Collective is a documentary about corporate…
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Worth Reading
Virginia Woolf: Her Last Letter
When people say that suicide is a selfish act, I think, “No, thinking that suicide is a selfish act is what is selfish.” There is only one reason that people kill themselves: The pain of living has become…
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