An old Chinese philosophy describes well the give and take, the ebb and flow, the constant change yet mutual interaction of many aspects of our lives, our environment, our universe. It has a symbol we’ve all seen:
I was reminded of this by an article of Starbucks and their recent announcement about closing many stores. Starbucks […]
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Without getting into whether the time, money, and expense of the project are justified, the World Values Survey results were just released and indicate WE are pretty happy… 16th out of 80 countries… and are happier now than 25 years ago. According to the director of the study:
“The country is not only prosperous; it ranks […]
Read the rest of The Pursuit of Happiness
I hate meetings… most are a waste of time. Invariably, whatever “meat” in them requires only a fraction of the total time spent preparing, going to, participating in, and returning from them. Horribly inefficient. And very few people actually know how to run a meeting well… this should be a skill taught in school.
It seems […]
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We all know there is a distinct difference between high and low quality goods and services…
A tool that works reliably for years vs. one that breaks the second time you use it
The luscious taste of a home-grown garden tomato vs. a mass-produced, picked-too-early one
A road that is built well and rides smooth vs. a bumpy […]
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I could not believe what I was hearing:
In America, home of the FREE ENTERPRISE system that has made us such a great nation from the very beginning, there are now serious discussions about nationalizing oil refineries… not just wacko camera-seeking communists but an elected member of our Congress!
Right….
Like I trust our government to do a […]
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I’ve noticed a bit of a trend and it worries me. It seems the expectation of tips, a gratuity to added to the price of a purchase, is expanding.
First, let me disclose my general approach to tipping. At a restaurant, if the service is adequate, I’ll add about 15% to the check. If the service […]
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I’ve watched many episodes of a TV showed called The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. While it’s interesting to see the many situations the fishermen deal with to catch crabs in the Bering Sea off of the Alaskan coast, I am fascinated by the huge investment of time, effort, and money it takes to […]
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Not so many years from now, some say, the oil will stop flowing. When that happens, here are my predictions:
— Saudi Arabia - despite having a commanding role in the world economy for many years, the Saudis failed to leverage their huge financial advantage into an economy that would survive AFTER oil. While […]
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POP QUIZ:
According to the 2005 Census, how many U.S. companies employed 10,000 or more workers?
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
In 2005, over 116 million people were employed by almost six million companies. This does not include people who run their own companies but don’t employ anyone… so-called “one man operations”… they are counted separately. The number of companies […]
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After noting the recent increase in unemployment and how it can easily be explained by the government-mandated increases in the minimum wage AND the flood of high school and college students looking for summer employment, it dawned on me that the most logical solution for those youths is to go into business for themselves!
By starting […]
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Helping others isn't easy, though. YOU have to know what you're teaching. So, let's get started! Take this quick
The challenge in this great republic is to ensure that our representatives (and those in the government bureaucracy who report to them) respect the majority... and for the majority to respect the minority... and for all to respect the law.
