Saturday, November 29, 2008
All-Time Chimp
"I really looked up to monkeys as a kid. Monkeys have contributed a lot to society in their way. They were the first astronauts in the Sixties. Which I'm sure made perfect sense in the monkey brain. 'I see, so instead of the little bellhop uniform, you want me to get into a rocket and orbit the earth at supersonic speed. Yeah, I think that is the next logical step for me. Because, I been working with the Italian guy and the crank organ and I feel I'm ready to handle the maximum re-entry G-forces.'" - Jerry Seinfeld
Complaining: Why Not?
"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier." - Randy Pausch
Friday, November 28, 2008
Taking Some Time
From Lou Tice:
How can the ancient tradition of Sabbath help you perform better at work and
feel energized and much more creative?
The ancient idea of Sabbath makes sense in modern times, too, and not just
in a religious way. How often do you set aside some time for yourself where
you entirely alter your routines? That is what is supposed to happen on the
Sabbath, or on a sabbatical, which comes from the same root word.
Sabbaticals are sometimes necessary if we are to stay fresh and creative. A
highly successful businessman I know took nine weeks off from his job. He
called it a sabbatical, and he went to Maine where he designed a barn and
took a photography course. When he came back to work, he told me that he was
filled with new ideas and felt much better equipped to lead.
Now, perhaps you are not in a position to take nine weeks off. But no matter
how busy you are, you can build in some time for short sabbaticals, even if
they are only two or three days at a time. Get off the main thoroughfare of
your life and live in an entirely different way for a while! Walk instead of
ride. Plant trees if you work in an office. Take a computer class if you
plant trees for a living. You get the idea.
You will find yourself feeling refreshed, revitalized and renewed. Try it
and see.
How can the ancient tradition of Sabbath help you perform better at work and
feel energized and much more creative?
The ancient idea of Sabbath makes sense in modern times, too, and not just
in a religious way. How often do you set aside some time for yourself where
you entirely alter your routines? That is what is supposed to happen on the
Sabbath, or on a sabbatical, which comes from the same root word.
Sabbaticals are sometimes necessary if we are to stay fresh and creative. A
highly successful businessman I know took nine weeks off from his job. He
called it a sabbatical, and he went to Maine where he designed a barn and
took a photography course. When he came back to work, he told me that he was
filled with new ideas and felt much better equipped to lead.
Now, perhaps you are not in a position to take nine weeks off. But no matter
how busy you are, you can build in some time for short sabbaticals, even if
they are only two or three days at a time. Get off the main thoroughfare of
your life and live in an entirely different way for a while! Walk instead of
ride. Plant trees if you work in an office. Take a computer class if you
plant trees for a living. You get the idea.
You will find yourself feeling refreshed, revitalized and renewed. Try it
and see.
You Will Think This Is A Great Article
From Lou Tice:
Do you know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is? If you do, do you know how
it works?
Most people know that a self-fulfilling prophecy is an event, which, because
it is predicted and expected, is therefore more likely to happen, and even
be caused to happen.
Here's one of my favorite examples. According to "Success Magazine," two
different groups of psychologists were asked to observe the same child at
play. One group was told beforehand that the child was emotionally
disturbed. The other group was told that the child was a genius. When the
psychologists were asked to report on their observations, each group had
found evidence to support their preconceived ideas.
Now, it is important to realize that self-fulfilling prophecies are everyday
experiences - not just laboratory experiments. What do you expect your day
to be like when you get up in the morning? How do you expect your kids to
behave? How much success do you expect for yourself?
If you predict failure, failure is generally what you'll find, and if you
expect excellence, excellence is very likely what you'll see. How we think
about a situation determines how we behave, and how we behave, more than
anything else, determines the results we get.
That's how self-fulfilling prophecies work - there is nothing magical about
it. What you get in life is pretty much what you think and believe coming
back at you. So, what do you expect for tomorrow?
Do you know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is? If you do, do you know how
it works?
Most people know that a self-fulfilling prophecy is an event, which, because
it is predicted and expected, is therefore more likely to happen, and even
be caused to happen.
Here's one of my favorite examples. According to "Success Magazine," two
different groups of psychologists were asked to observe the same child at
play. One group was told beforehand that the child was emotionally
disturbed. The other group was told that the child was a genius. When the
psychologists were asked to report on their observations, each group had
found evidence to support their preconceived ideas.
Now, it is important to realize that self-fulfilling prophecies are everyday
experiences - not just laboratory experiments. What do you expect your day
to be like when you get up in the morning? How do you expect your kids to
behave? How much success do you expect for yourself?
If you predict failure, failure is generally what you'll find, and if you
expect excellence, excellence is very likely what you'll see. How we think
about a situation determines how we behave, and how we behave, more than
anything else, determines the results we get.
That's how self-fulfilling prophecies work - there is nothing magical about
it. What you get in life is pretty much what you think and believe coming
back at you. So, what do you expect for tomorrow?
Follow The Zebra
In the book "Zebras Don't Get Ulcers," the typical zebra day is described as tedium punctuated by very anxious moments. One moment the zebra is hanging out with his buddies, eating grass, and gossiping about the wildebeest, and the next moment a ferocious lion is breaking up the party. The zebra reacts, physiologically speaking, like the rest of us might. His heart rate quickens, his system is flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, and he runs away. But an interesting thing happens once the zebra has reached safety: all of his physiological stress responses diminish and the zebra returns back to his normal business-as-usual attitude. Unfortunately humans - because of our unique ability to predict the future and remember the past - are not always so resilient.
We have greater capacity for chronic stress. It increases risk of stroke and heart disease. It directly triggers heart attacks.
Fortunately, most of us live in a society where we're safe from lions. We can afford to forget the terrors and stresses of the past. If we can just do it!
We have greater capacity for chronic stress. It increases risk of stroke and heart disease. It directly triggers heart attacks.
Fortunately, most of us live in a society where we're safe from lions. We can afford to forget the terrors and stresses of the past. If we can just do it!
Brick Walls
A man's girlfriend of many years suddenly told him that she didn't love him. It had been a long-distance relationship and he was in town for just the week.
"In the hotel, I spent much of the day on the phone with my parents, telling them about the brick wall I'd just smashed into. Their advice was incredible.
'Look,' my dad said. 'I don't think she means it. It's not consistent with her behavior thus far. You've asked her to pull up roots and run away with you. She's probably confused and scared to death. If she doesn't really love you, then it's over. And if she does love you, then love will win out.'
I asked my parents what I should do.
'Be supportive,' my mom said. 'If you love her, support her.'
And so I did that. I spent that week teaching, hanging out in an office up the hall from her. I stopped by a couple of times, however, just to see if she was all right. 'I just wanted to see how you are,' I'd say. 'If there's anything I can do, let me know.'
A few days later, she called. 'Well, I'm sitting here missing you, just wishing you were here. That means something, doesn't it?'
She had come to a realization: She was in love, after all. Once again, my parents had come through. Love had won out. At week's end, she moved to Pittsburgh.
Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to see how badly we want something." - Randy Pausch
"In the hotel, I spent much of the day on the phone with my parents, telling them about the brick wall I'd just smashed into. Their advice was incredible.
'Look,' my dad said. 'I don't think she means it. It's not consistent with her behavior thus far. You've asked her to pull up roots and run away with you. She's probably confused and scared to death. If she doesn't really love you, then it's over. And if she does love you, then love will win out.'
I asked my parents what I should do.
'Be supportive,' my mom said. 'If you love her, support her.'
And so I did that. I spent that week teaching, hanging out in an office up the hall from her. I stopped by a couple of times, however, just to see if she was all right. 'I just wanted to see how you are,' I'd say. 'If there's anything I can do, let me know.'
A few days later, she called. 'Well, I'm sitting here missing you, just wishing you were here. That means something, doesn't it?'
She had come to a realization: She was in love, after all. Once again, my parents had come through. Love had won out. At week's end, she moved to Pittsburgh.
Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to see how badly we want something." - Randy Pausch
Thanksgiving
"Keeping so many people motivated to do the best job possible involves a lot of the different programs and approaches we've developed at Wal-Mart over the years, but none of them would work at all without one simple thing that puts it all together: appreciation." - Sam Walton
Dena and I took a walk on Thanksgiving, and it's easy to rack up a list of things to be thankful for:
- good health, as I've learned a lot about managing any back pain
- good job, and co-workers who know how to have fun
- good family
- good friends, through LMC and other activities
- good home and neighbors
- freedom to do just about anything at the drop of a hat
- freedom from danger, living in the U.S.A.
Thankfulness is a great exercise of peace, and my favorite form of meditation.
Dena and I took a walk on Thanksgiving, and it's easy to rack up a list of things to be thankful for:
- good health, as I've learned a lot about managing any back pain
- good job, and co-workers who know how to have fun
- good family
- good friends, through LMC and other activities
- good home and neighbors
- freedom to do just about anything at the drop of a hat
- freedom from danger, living in the U.S.A.
Thankfulness is a great exercise of peace, and my favorite form of meditation.
Check Your Work(ers)
"You've got to give folks responsibility, you've got to trust them, and then you've got to check on them." - Sam Walton
People like responsibility, and the freedom to use it as best and creatively as they can. And people have weaknesses. Checking up on people isn't an insult, it's an acknowledgement of human nature.
People like responsibility, and the freedom to use it as best and creatively as they can. And people have weaknesses. Checking up on people isn't an insult, it's an acknowledgement of human nature.
Monday, November 24, 2008
I Love That You Hate Me
I heard this quote from a pastor last week:
"I love it when people say they don't like me, 'cause they're honest."
Someone, somewhere, doesn't like something about us. And to some extent that's fine. But if we want to improve, we come out ahead if someone gives us tips. And we make it easier by asking for tips.
"I love it when people say they don't like me, 'cause they're honest."
Someone, somewhere, doesn't like something about us. And to some extent that's fine. But if we want to improve, we come out ahead if someone gives us tips. And we make it easier by asking for tips.
A Sermon For Managing Expenses
"We didn't pay much. I wasn't that I was intentionally heartless. I wanted everyone to do well for themselves. It's just that in my very early days in the business, I was so doggoned blinded to the most basic truth, really the principle that later became the foundation of Wal-Mart's success. You see, no matter how you slice it in the retail business, payroll is one of the most important parts of overhead, and overhead is one of the most crucial things you have to fight to maintain your profit margin. That was true then, and it's still true today. Back then, though, I was so obsessed with turning in a profit margin of 6 percent or higher that I ignored some of the basic needs of our people, and I feel bad about it.
The larger truth that I failed to see turned out to be another of those paradoxes - like the discounters' principle of the less you charge, the more you'll earn. And here it is: the more you share profits with your associates - whether it's in salaries or incentives or bonuses or stock discounts - the more profit will accrue to the company. Why? Because the way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers. And if the associates treat the customers well, the customers will return again and again, and that is where the real profit in this business lies, not in trying to drag strangers into your stores for one-time purchases based on splashy sales or expensive advertising. Satisfied, loyal, repeat customers are at the heart of Wal-Mart's spectacular profit margins, and those customers are loyal to us because our associates treat them better than salespeople in other stores do. So, in the whole scheme of things, the most important contact ever made is between the associate in the store and the customer." - Sam Walton
The larger truth that I failed to see turned out to be another of those paradoxes - like the discounters' principle of the less you charge, the more you'll earn. And here it is: the more you share profits with your associates - whether it's in salaries or incentives or bonuses or stock discounts - the more profit will accrue to the company. Why? Because the way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers. And if the associates treat the customers well, the customers will return again and again, and that is where the real profit in this business lies, not in trying to drag strangers into your stores for one-time purchases based on splashy sales or expensive advertising. Satisfied, loyal, repeat customers are at the heart of Wal-Mart's spectacular profit margins, and those customers are loyal to us because our associates treat them better than salespeople in other stores do. So, in the whole scheme of things, the most important contact ever made is between the associate in the store and the customer." - Sam Walton
Forget About It!
"I guess it could be called management by wearing you down." - David Glass, Wal-Mart employee
"You might call his style: management by looking over your shoulder." - A.L. Johnson, Vice President, Wal-Mart
Okay, so I don't agree with everything that Sam Walton did! There's a line to draw between interest and interference. The former is appreciated, the latter not so much.
"You might call his style: management by looking over your shoulder." - A.L. Johnson, Vice President, Wal-Mart
Okay, so I don't agree with everything that Sam Walton did! There's a line to draw between interest and interference. The former is appreciated, the latter not so much.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Walton's List
"Except for reading my numbers on Saturday morning and going to our regular meetings, I don't have much of a routine for anything else. I always carry my little tape recorder on trips, to record ideas that come up in my conversations with the associates. I usually have my yellow legal pad with me, with a list of ten or fifteen things we need to be working on as a company. My list drives the executives around here crazy, but it's probably one of my more important contributions." - Sam Walton
In recent years I've become a checklist-maker. I carry some type of writing pad with me, and whenever someone gives me a good idea or a task to do, I draw a small rectangular checkbox, and then write the task next to it. When I complete that task, I check the box. In the meantime, it reminds me of what needs doing. I also use that pad to record good ideas like the ones that the LMC class poured out last night during our end-of-day debriefing. We're going to pass that input along to the Steering Committee and see what kind of difference it makes.
Sam Walton described himself as thoroughly unorganized. So if he finds success by list making, how much more might we find who are more organized naturally?
In recent years I've become a checklist-maker. I carry some type of writing pad with me, and whenever someone gives me a good idea or a task to do, I draw a small rectangular checkbox, and then write the task next to it. When I complete that task, I check the box. In the meantime, it reminds me of what needs doing. I also use that pad to record good ideas like the ones that the LMC class poured out last night during our end-of-day debriefing. We're going to pass that input along to the Steering Committee and see what kind of difference it makes.
Sam Walton described himself as thoroughly unorganized. So if he finds success by list making, how much more might we find who are more organized naturally?
Midwest Food Bank
Yesterday we visited there as part of Leadership McLean County. It's an inspiring story, one that's better told through their web site than through any ramblings I could write.
http://www.midwestfoodbank.org/?link=home
http://www.midwestfoodbank.org/?link=home
Dena Saves Home From Suicide Dryer Attack
So Dena was running a load of laundry through the dryer last night. In recent years, we've started using the lower settings on the 15-year old machine since it runs a little hot. But last night, after 2-3 minutes, Dena picked up an odd smell and scurried over to it. When she opened it up, the venting grate at the rear was red-hot, as well as some of the clothes inside. Who knows what would have happened if she had walked upstairs after starting the machine? When I did the same for our microwave some months ago, it took all day to remove the smoky smell from the carpet, furniture and clothes. What kind of fire would this have drawn? Thank goodness the only inconvenience out of this will be using part of a Saturday to shop for a new dryer! Sometimes everyday heroes like Dena become national heroes because of a single incident. This is not one of those times. Still, it rocks!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Close Counter
"I've been asked if I was a hands-on manager or an arm's-length type. I think really I'm more of a manager by walking and flying around, and in the process I stick my fingers into everything I can to see how it's coming along. I've let your executives make their decisions - and their mistakes - but I've critiques and advised them. My appreciation for numbers had kept me close to our operational statements, and to all the other information we have pouring in from so many different places. In that sense, I think my style as an executive has been pretty much dictated by my talents. I've played to my strengths and relied on others to make up for my weaknesses." - Sam Walton
I do love so-called "dashboards" of key information as a manager - who wouldn't want to have one when driving a car? - but I haven't arranged them in my new job just yet. As usual, trust has to be built first. In any relationship, it must be proved that you care before much else is taken seriously. At any rate, keeping in the numbers like Sam did is a nice way to show my interest in the work without interfering with it.
And as for strengths - yesterday was a very good day at work. Why? I'm charged with developing the department's annual plan, and since it's a form of writing and facilitating, Hidden Blog readers can understand why it was hardly a problem to power my way through it until 8:00 last night. That type of project fires me up.
I do love so-called "dashboards" of key information as a manager - who wouldn't want to have one when driving a car? - but I haven't arranged them in my new job just yet. As usual, trust has to be built first. In any relationship, it must be proved that you care before much else is taken seriously. At any rate, keeping in the numbers like Sam did is a nice way to show my interest in the work without interfering with it.
And as for strengths - yesterday was a very good day at work. Why? I'm charged with developing the department's annual plan, and since it's a form of writing and facilitating, Hidden Blog readers can understand why it was hardly a problem to power my way through it until 8:00 last night. That type of project fires me up.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Dramatic National Championship
Have I posted this before? Don't know. Don't care. Love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafWnuJWYvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafWnuJWYvA
Under The Weather
Note to weathermen: Get some sleep before you go on the air.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/156/
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/156/
Two Great Gifts
"My role has been to pick good people and give them maximum authority and responsibility." - Sam Walton
Forgive And Get Out
"My boss was Ferold Arend, and he told me we were going to set a new record of opening a store in three weeks. I said okay. But he had made a mistake by a week so we really had a target date of two weeks from the day we began. We tried desperately, but we didn't quite make it. We opened on Thanksgiving Day, and the store was horrible. I was standing out in front when Sam [Walton] drove up. He saw the disaster, but he was smart enough to know how hard we'd been working and that if he told the truth we would have just disintegrated. He said, 'The store looks really good, guys.' And he drove away and left us."
In Sam's shoes I probably would have said something more accurate like "Thanks for all your hard work here, fellas," but the point is that you have to appreciate a person who knows when to ease up on the reins.
In Sam's shoes I probably would have said something more accurate like "Thanks for all your hard work here, fellas," but the point is that you have to appreciate a person who knows when to ease up on the reins.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Cookie Momster
"But I have to say I enjoy adulthood. In enjoy the fact that now, if I want a cookie, I have a cookie. Okay? I have three cookies or four cookies or eleven cookies if I want. What was the big deal with the cookies? 'Not before dinner.' 'Not too many.' 'You've had enough.' 'Not now.' Well, now I'm a grown-up, give me the cookies! many times I will intentionally ruin my entire appetite. Beyond recognition. Then I call my mother up right after it to tell her. 'Hello, Mom? I just ruined my entire appetite... cookies.' So what if I ruin it? See, as adults we understand, even if you ruin an appetite, there's another appetite coming right behind it. I see no danger in running out of appetites." - Jerry Seinfeld
Nun Sense
"Indeed, nuns who used a number of different positive emotion words in their autobiographies - happy, interested, love, hope, grateful, eager, contented, amusement - lived, on average, over ten years longer than those who used few such words." - Ed Diener
If it's good enough for God, is it good enough for you?
If it's good enough for God, is it good enough for you?
What's All The Promotion About?
"It really is amazing how much merchandise you can move with just a little promotion." - Sam Walton
In business, promotion is a mixture of placement, wording, and enthusiasm.
In relationships, genuine appreciation is promotion.
In business, promotion is a mixture of placement, wording, and enthusiasm.
In relationships, genuine appreciation is promotion.
Free Speech
"We all loved to find unusual items and store managers had a lot of freedom to try different things." - Sam Walton
"I think a lot of companies would have fired Phil for that one, but we always felt we had to try some of this crazy stuff."
Freedom is my most cherished value. Most of what people call sins are in fact restrictions on others' freedoms - freedom from pain or loss. When we act to preserve virtuous freedoms, we sow happiness. Freedom brings people's creativity to life. It brings failure, and through failure, eventually success.
"I think a lot of companies would have fired Phil for that one, but we always felt we had to try some of this crazy stuff."
Freedom is my most cherished value. Most of what people call sins are in fact restrictions on others' freedoms - freedom from pain or loss. When we act to preserve virtuous freedoms, we sow happiness. Freedom brings people's creativity to life. It brings failure, and through failure, eventually success.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
She Deserves A Coroner Office
Forget everything your mind might conjure up about the word "coroner." Beth Kimmerling, the coroner of McLean County, is the best example I have of passion leading to greatness. I offered to write an article for her in support of her recent re-election, but she didn't need it, her 61,000 votes were the most of any elected official.
A coroner? Yep.
Even a regular blogger like me has a hard time putting it into words adequately.
Her father was a funeral director, and she loved to ask about how such-and-such person died, and why. Though she got a degree in business - the popular, default choice - she started over from scratch and got her nursing degree.
Coroners determine the cause and manner of death (1,200 in the county per year), coordinate autopsies and special "inquests" where a jury weighs on the manner of death based on the forensic evidence. They prod and explore dead bodies, sometimes bloodied, dismembered, burned, outside in freezing temps, or infant. They deliver heartbreaking news to loved ones of the deceased. The office is on call at all hours of the day, naturally. They get paid much less than I do.
She insists on breaking bad news personally. She loves to talk about her job and does it in plain English, defining several basic terms. She teaches with case studies, she finds humane ways of saying things like "it's not compatible with life." She exercises daily, to cleanse her mind and stay focused. She hates asking people for money. She senses when her staff is a little burned out and gives them a day off to recuperate.
61,000 votes seems low!
A coroner? Yep.
Even a regular blogger like me has a hard time putting it into words adequately.
Her father was a funeral director, and she loved to ask about how such-and-such person died, and why. Though she got a degree in business - the popular, default choice - she started over from scratch and got her nursing degree.
Coroners determine the cause and manner of death (1,200 in the county per year), coordinate autopsies and special "inquests" where a jury weighs on the manner of death based on the forensic evidence. They prod and explore dead bodies, sometimes bloodied, dismembered, burned, outside in freezing temps, or infant. They deliver heartbreaking news to loved ones of the deceased. The office is on call at all hours of the day, naturally. They get paid much less than I do.
She insists on breaking bad news personally. She loves to talk about her job and does it in plain English, defining several basic terms. She teaches with case studies, she finds humane ways of saying things like "it's not compatible with life." She exercises daily, to cleanse her mind and stay focused. She hates asking people for money. She senses when her staff is a little burned out and gives them a day off to recuperate.
61,000 votes seems low!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Not A Miracle, But Close
Notice: The following blog entry contains math. And yet the surgeon general has determined that it is easily readable. So soldier on.
A friend of mine is a freshman in a college math class, and she occasionally asks me to review or help answer some homework assignment questions via e-mail.
She sent me this question:
2) Consider the curve defined by the equation y+cosy= x+1 [0,y][y,2pi]
a) find dy/dx in terms of y
Being 15 years removed from this stuff, I decided to Google the phrase "dy/dx in terms of y" hoping that I could get a refresher on the basics. And guess what? The first item found in the search was this one:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071019001332AAg5HRU
It not only provided a sample problem to illustrate how to solve for dy/dx generally, it provided the EXACT PROBLEM from her assignment. The odds against this are incalculable. Someone's deity hard at work!
A friend of mine is a freshman in a college math class, and she occasionally asks me to review or help answer some homework assignment questions via e-mail.
She sent me this question:
2) Consider the curve defined by the equation y+cosy= x+1 [0,y][y,2pi]
a) find dy/dx in terms of y
Being 15 years removed from this stuff, I decided to Google the phrase "dy/dx in terms of y" hoping that I could get a refresher on the basics. And guess what? The first item found in the search was this one:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071019001332AAg5HRU
It not only provided a sample problem to illustrate how to solve for dy/dx generally, it provided the EXACT PROBLEM from her assignment. The odds against this are incalculable. Someone's deity hard at work!
Cereal Killer?
"I hated those little snack-pack cereals. Still do. Don't like portion control.
And on the side they would explain how to cut along the perforated lines and pour the milk right into the box.
What was the point of this? Pretending that your parents couldn't afford a bowl?"
- Jerry Seinfeld
And on the side they would explain how to cut along the perforated lines and pour the milk right into the box.
What was the point of this? Pretending that your parents couldn't afford a bowl?"
- Jerry Seinfeld
It's Either Happy Or It's Snot
A research team surveyed a group of subjects to determine their general happiness level prior to the experiement. Then during the experiment, each was injected with a cold virus, and isolated for several days. Those research interns (no doubt) assigned to measure the results found that happier people not only thought they were healthier, but the volume of mucus produced demonstrated that they were healthier.
Shake It Off
"Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know. First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I've every know. And once he sees he's wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction." - David Glass
Around here (and for a reformed night owl like myself) the sky's dark this time of year when the morning alarm goes off. How much brighter would each day be if two things were true:
1. We were certain that we would improve the world that day.
2. We were as indestructible as Superman?
Isn't "indestructible" more of a physical myth than a mental one? Being mentally strong does take exercise like any other kind of strength, but the right self-image - that we can shake anything off - will in time become our reputation and a living part of us if we can master it.
Around here (and for a reformed night owl like myself) the sky's dark this time of year when the morning alarm goes off. How much brighter would each day be if two things were true:
1. We were certain that we would improve the world that day.
2. We were as indestructible as Superman?
Isn't "indestructible" more of a physical myth than a mental one? Being mentally strong does take exercise like any other kind of strength, but the right self-image - that we can shake anything off - will in time become our reputation and a living part of us if we can master it.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Parallels Between Obama, Lincoln
A look at some of the parallels in the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama:
• Reached national prominence in Illinois after being raised elsewhere: Lincoln in Kentucky and Indiana, Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia.
• Served eight years in the Illinois Legislature: Lincoln in the state House, Obama in the state Senate.
• Spent two years in Washington before running for president: Lincoln served one term in Congress, while Obama was two years into a Senate term when he announced.
• Spoke out, while still political unknowns, against the United States declaring war: Lincoln criticized the Mexican-American War while in Congress. Obama opposed invading Iraq.
• Reached national prominence on the strength of oratorical skills: Lincoln made his name with the Lincoln-Douglas debates and famous addresses such as his “House Divided” and Cooper Union speeches. Obama wowed people with his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention.
• Reached national prominence in Illinois after being raised elsewhere: Lincoln in Kentucky and Indiana, Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia.
• Served eight years in the Illinois Legislature: Lincoln in the state House, Obama in the state Senate.
• Spent two years in Washington before running for president: Lincoln served one term in Congress, while Obama was two years into a Senate term when he announced.
• Spoke out, while still political unknowns, against the United States declaring war: Lincoln criticized the Mexican-American War while in Congress. Obama opposed invading Iraq.
• Reached national prominence on the strength of oratorical skills: Lincoln made his name with the Lincoln-Douglas debates and famous addresses such as his “House Divided” and Cooper Union speeches. Obama wowed people with his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention.
Exercise Without Motion
"Your physician could assign you gratitude exercises and savoring training to reduce your unhappy moods and create more positive emotions in you. Among the proof that happiness is beneficial to health is the fact that people who are happy become sick less often than unhappy people. Just imagine a life with fewer doctor's office visits, shorter hospital stays, and more health and vitality! In scientific studies of happy people, those who are satisfied with their lives and have an optimistic outlook tend to report fewer symptoms of illness, and actually get sick less often when measured objectively." - Ed Diener
Some of my exercises:
- Listening to or singing an upbeat song. Though it involves motion, playing the guitar helps wake me up in the morning, which also helps raise my mood.
- Visualizing something I'm looking forward to. This is especially helpful as I'm waking up or falling asleep.
- Counting blessings, such as by thinking of someone less fortunate than me, or just recalling the events of the last day.
Bonus: Though it involves a little motion, drinking water early and regulary through the day helps stave off unwanted hunger pangs, just like brushing teeth keeps plaque away.
Some of my exercises:
- Listening to or singing an upbeat song. Though it involves motion, playing the guitar helps wake me up in the morning, which also helps raise my mood.
- Visualizing something I'm looking forward to. This is especially helpful as I'm waking up or falling asleep.
- Counting blessings, such as by thinking of someone less fortunate than me, or just recalling the events of the last day.
Bonus: Though it involves a little motion, drinking water early and regulary through the day helps stave off unwanted hunger pangs, just like brushing teeth keeps plaque away.
Mr. Xerox
"Most everything I've done I've copied from someone else." - Sam Walton
Billions of human-years of experience around the planet have resulted in some pretty great ideas. Which is faster, to come up with them ourselves or to read them?
Though imperfectly, through the years I've seen things in my bosses that I try to copy.
Susan Waring - (1) She is results-oriented. During her presentations she offers a half-dozen or so figures that illustrate our progress for the year. Within our mentoring relationship she ends each session by asking what we should talk about next time, to make sure it's worth our while. (2) She's inclusive. She established a series of informal visits with groups of employees (hundreds, ultimately) to hear what was on their minds and to share with them some things that were going on.
Barbara Bellissimo - (1) She's also results-oriented. Under her leadership, our company seemed to become more expressive of its plans with target dates. (2) She's a consistent communicator. There was emphasis on "Completed Staff Work" - i.e. a template for bringing a report to a meeting. Regular, weekly communication structure included a preview of upcoming announcements to leadership.
Joe Monk - (1) The guy always seems to have a smile on his face! (2) He has a little cheerleader in him, in a way that expresses just enough vulnerability to give a "regular guy" quality.
Gerry Brogla - (1) When pressure was at its highest, I've seen him become utterly calm, especially in his tone of voice, in a way that helps keep the peace.
Rusty Hendren - (1) He's extroverted and willing to be silly, which greases the wheels of creativity. (2) He is supportive of work/life balance, including flextime and the "dress for your day" policy. (3) He is eternally thankful and generous with praise, with triple exclamation points. (4) He challenges conclusions, and doesn't settle for groupthink.
Rusty Schopp - (1) He's empowering, even rewarding people who used him little in making decisions. (2) He almost never became angry, and brought humor to almost every conversation. (3) He cares about people's personal lives and is open with his own. (4) He is open-minded. More than once he deferred to the group against his better judgment. (5) At the same time, he questions the reasons behind change, not settling for "I don't know why we do it this way."
Billions of human-years of experience around the planet have resulted in some pretty great ideas. Which is faster, to come up with them ourselves or to read them?
Though imperfectly, through the years I've seen things in my bosses that I try to copy.
Susan Waring - (1) She is results-oriented. During her presentations she offers a half-dozen or so figures that illustrate our progress for the year. Within our mentoring relationship she ends each session by asking what we should talk about next time, to make sure it's worth our while. (2) She's inclusive. She established a series of informal visits with groups of employees (hundreds, ultimately) to hear what was on their minds and to share with them some things that were going on.
Barbara Bellissimo - (1) She's also results-oriented. Under her leadership, our company seemed to become more expressive of its plans with target dates. (2) She's a consistent communicator. There was emphasis on "Completed Staff Work" - i.e. a template for bringing a report to a meeting. Regular, weekly communication structure included a preview of upcoming announcements to leadership.
Joe Monk - (1) The guy always seems to have a smile on his face! (2) He has a little cheerleader in him, in a way that expresses just enough vulnerability to give a "regular guy" quality.
Gerry Brogla - (1) When pressure was at its highest, I've seen him become utterly calm, especially in his tone of voice, in a way that helps keep the peace.
Rusty Hendren - (1) He's extroverted and willing to be silly, which greases the wheels of creativity. (2) He is supportive of work/life balance, including flextime and the "dress for your day" policy. (3) He is eternally thankful and generous with praise, with triple exclamation points. (4) He challenges conclusions, and doesn't settle for groupthink.
Rusty Schopp - (1) He's empowering, even rewarding people who used him little in making decisions. (2) He almost never became angry, and brought humor to almost every conversation. (3) He cares about people's personal lives and is open with his own. (4) He is open-minded. More than once he deferred to the group against his better judgment. (5) At the same time, he questions the reasons behind change, not settling for "I don't know why we do it this way."
Saturday, November 8, 2008
May Not Be Suitable For Minors...
...at least not if they want to learn proper form for shooting a basketball.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmsswpD4c7w&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmsswpD4c7w&feature=related
Yes, We Can
I don't pretend to fully understand his stance on all the issues, but my theory is that this type of "Yes, we can" attitude can propel America or any nation toward greatness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf73EGESd-I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf73EGESd-I&feature=related
Mahler Or Mozart?
"In an early study, the researchers instructed participants to estimate the steepness of a hill in front of them. The researchers instructed participants to ware a heavy backpack. Under the increased physical load, people guessed that the hill was far steeper than the backpack-free participants had estimated.
In the next round of research, Proffitt and Clore took a new group of participants to the same hill, and played classical music composed by either the upbeat, bouncy Mozart or the despondent Mahler. This time, when the participants made their slope estimates, those who had been subjected to tot emotionally heavy Mahler pieces estimated the steepness of the hill at 31 degrees. Compare this with the estimate of 19 degrees made by those who were treated to the light, flute-filled Mozart compositions."
Mahler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7sgq-UgWR4&feature=related
Mozart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-rNTa8SBk&feature=related
What's your Mahler - Political differences? Bad directions? Hideous fashion?
What's your Mozart - A warm meal? A good night's sleep? A fun game?
Which do you choose to listen to? Which do you allow to fill your head?
In the next round of research, Proffitt and Clore took a new group of participants to the same hill, and played classical music composed by either the upbeat, bouncy Mozart or the despondent Mahler. This time, when the participants made their slope estimates, those who had been subjected to tot emotionally heavy Mahler pieces estimated the steepness of the hill at 31 degrees. Compare this with the estimate of 19 degrees made by those who were treated to the light, flute-filled Mozart compositions."
Mahler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7sgq-UgWR4&feature=related
Mozart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-rNTa8SBk&feature=related
What's your Mahler - Political differences? Bad directions? Hideous fashion?
What's your Mozart - A warm meal? A good night's sleep? A fun game?
Which do you choose to listen to? Which do you allow to fill your head?
It's Why He Wasn't Named Secretary Of The Treasury
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq-eeWow_WU&feature=related
Freedom Writers
I'd forgotten how much I liked this movie. Lessons like:
1. "Fortunate" means being able to walk anywhere in town without fear of being shot at.
2. People of very different cultures have similarities, maybe common music interests, or common hardships. Focus on what unites.
3. Respect is borne of caring.
4. Dream, and chase it.
See it! If you've already seen it, see it again!
1. "Fortunate" means being able to walk anywhere in town without fear of being shot at.
2. People of very different cultures have similarities, maybe common music interests, or common hardships. Focus on what unites.
3. Respect is borne of caring.
4. Dream, and chase it.
See it! If you've already seen it, see it again!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Movie Therapy
"Positive emotions serve to bring us back to our baseline by undoing our negative feelings. Just as sweating helps cool us down to our normal temperature after exercise, happiness can restore us after a negative emotional event. In fact, happiness, like sweating, has a direct effect on our physiological arousal. Fredrickson conducted a study in which she showed short scary movies to the participants. As expected, the films were arousing, and were accompanies by reactions of fear. After screening the horror films, Fredrickson showed clips from funny, neutral, or depressing movies. Participants who saw the amusing clips returned to their baseline cardiovascular levels within twenty seconds, compared with the forty to sixty seconds their counterparts who were exposed to the neutral and negative movies required." - Ed Diener
I don't know about you, but my negative emotions run highest when I'm tired - early in the morning, right after work, or late at night. As I get older I get better at catching myself in these moods. In these situations, it's super helpful for me to blot from my mind anything stressful in nature, whether a tough project at work, a difference of opinion with a teammate, or some failure of the past. Those things frequently flutter in, and if I don't expel them immediately with dreams of retirement, an upcoming date with Dena, or a favorite song then they take root and sprout like crazy. No doubt this habit of squelching bad thoughts with good ones has saved me hours of sleeplessness, tense muscles and artery-clogging plaque!
Excuse me now, we're off to see "Freedom Writers" at the Normal Theater. Ahhhhh....
I don't know about you, but my negative emotions run highest when I'm tired - early in the morning, right after work, or late at night. As I get older I get better at catching myself in these moods. In these situations, it's super helpful for me to blot from my mind anything stressful in nature, whether a tough project at work, a difference of opinion with a teammate, or some failure of the past. Those things frequently flutter in, and if I don't expel them immediately with dreams of retirement, an upcoming date with Dena, or a favorite song then they take root and sprout like crazy. No doubt this habit of squelching bad thoughts with good ones has saved me hours of sleeplessness, tense muscles and artery-clogging plaque!
Excuse me now, we're off to see "Freedom Writers" at the Normal Theater. Ahhhhh....
That Is Crude
I saw this morning where the price of light, sweet crude oil had dropped to $65.30 a gallon. Which raised the question: somebody is taste testing this stuff?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Electable
"I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend. I ran for every office that came along. I was elected president of the senior men's honor society, an officer in my fraternity, and president of the senior class." - Sam Walton
Though we can't control whether other people will consider us their friend, we can consider other people to be our friend, and planting that kind of seed gives the greatest chance for growing relationships.
Though we can't control whether other people will consider us their friend, we can consider other people to be our friend, and planting that kind of seed gives the greatest chance for growing relationships.
Oh, That's Rich
"If we had enough groceries, a nice place to live, plenty of room to keep and feed my bird dogs, a place to hunt, a place to play tennis, and the means to get the kids good educations - that's rich." - Sam Walton
We've got that... though I choose to shoot hoops rather than animals!
We've got that... though I choose to shoot hoops rather than animals!
Beds For Sale
Now that Jack's moving to California, the two beds from his apartment are for sale.
Check out this baby, just a couple months old and, due to Jack's heavy travel schedule, barely used:
And what about this classic number, slept in by old lady (i.e. it was my Mom's childhood bed):
Check out this baby, just a couple months old and, due to Jack's heavy travel schedule, barely used:
And what about this classic number, slept in by old lady (i.e. it was my Mom's childhood bed):
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Dirty Thoughts
Yesterday while serving as an election judge the evening sunlight started to filter in through the windows near the top of the room in which our election was taking place. It so happened that my role at the moment was to help people deposit their paper ballots into the electronic voting machine. Since that role's most challenging task is to hand "I Voted!" stickers to voters, I had plenty of time to stare into space (I think the ratio there may be even higher than the guys who hold the "Slow" signs in construction zones). It caught my eye that the sunlight bounced off hundreds of thousands of particles of dust floating softly through the air. That dust seemed not unlike misfortune.
Dust is everywhere we go. We can take great steps to reduce it, but we cannot escape it. It can irritate in the smallest doses, it can kill in the largest. It doesn't help to ignore it entirely. But it does help to accept that it's merely part of the air, and to relish the cleanliness and vastness of the rest.
Dust is everywhere we go. We can take great steps to reduce it, but we cannot escape it. It can irritate in the smallest doses, it can kill in the largest. It doesn't help to ignore it entirely. But it does help to accept that it's merely part of the air, and to relish the cleanliness and vastness of the rest.
Wal-Man
"If I had to single out one element in my life that has made a difference for me, it would be a passion to compete." - Sam Walton
I appreciate any insight from a self-made multi-billionaire. Competition has a price, namely the risk of excluding other things, which in Walton's case was free time. The man couldn't pass by a competing store without going inside to scout its practices, and that includes on family vacations. Some would read that last sentence and smile, some frown, which testifies to the diversity of people. The point is that if you're deeply passionate about something then in time some people will be drawn to you, and some drawn away. That's not a problem - it's nature. With a few noteworthy exceptions, the problem comes if the passionate person interprets those drawn away to be inferior in any way.
Yesterday I learned that a teammate of mine has determined that he will exercise more control over the team's budget than has been done by prior people in his position. In fact, the rest of the team's input has been reduced to nothing on those matters. Further, that teammate is often not present for discussion. I've learned from other situations that I'm less successful in that type of team dynamic - my particular passion is for empowerment of the team. But I also know people who thrive in that environment. So if I need to move on, I can do so with a light heart, knowing that both parties are better off.
I appreciate any insight from a self-made multi-billionaire. Competition has a price, namely the risk of excluding other things, which in Walton's case was free time. The man couldn't pass by a competing store without going inside to scout its practices, and that includes on family vacations. Some would read that last sentence and smile, some frown, which testifies to the diversity of people. The point is that if you're deeply passionate about something then in time some people will be drawn to you, and some drawn away. That's not a problem - it's nature. With a few noteworthy exceptions, the problem comes if the passionate person interprets those drawn away to be inferior in any way.
Yesterday I learned that a teammate of mine has determined that he will exercise more control over the team's budget than has been done by prior people in his position. In fact, the rest of the team's input has been reduced to nothing on those matters. Further, that teammate is often not present for discussion. I've learned from other situations that I'm less successful in that type of team dynamic - my particular passion is for empowerment of the team. But I also know people who thrive in that environment. So if I need to move on, I can do so with a light heart, knowing that both parties are better off.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Bernard Hopkins And An Even Tougher Fighter
You won’t find Shaun Negler’s name in the FightFax database, the official record-keeping service of professional boxing.
There are no tapes of any of his memorable wins or stories of epic triumphs left behind. That’s because they don’t exist. He was robbed of a career in the sport he loved.
But none other than Bernard Hopkins, one of the greatest fighters of this or any generation, will tell you that he hasn’t met a tougher, or more courageous, fighter than Shaun Negler.
The improbable friendship between the long-time middleweight champion and the 18-year-old who worshipped him officially ended at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, 2008, when Negler could fight no more and succumbed to a 2½ year battle with cancer.
But Hopkins, who first met Negler in 2006 when he learned that the then-16-year-old had a deadly form of cancer, isn’t ready to accept that his friend is gone.
“This kid’s soul is still with us,” said Hopkins, who served as a pall bearer at Negler’s funeral in Philadelphia on Oct. 29. “His spirit lives inside of me and inside a lot of the people I met over these last couple of years.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Negler’s mother, Renee, remembered sitting in a doctor’s office. It seemed as if she were watching the world on a black-and-white television. Everything seemed so dark.
Several weeks earlier, in a Philadelphia gym in May 2006, her youngest son injured his left ankle as he was preparing for his first fight.
Shaun Negler greatly touched the life of Bernard Hopkins. “He was a winner his whole life and I think he’s still a winner,” Hopkins said.
The injury didn’t respond to treatment. An MRI was done and on May 30, Shaun and his parents were sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting to hear why this ankle was taking so long to heal.
“I just remember it being such a dark room and now, looking back on it, it seems so surreal,” said Renee Negler, a 41-year-old loan manager. “There were two doctors there and they came in and seemed to have very solemn looks on their faces. I was looking at Shaunie and he was looking at me. It was the doctors, my husband and Shaunie and I. They said, ‘We need to take him to Children’s Hospital right away. We found a large mass in his leg.’ There was no crying and Shaunie was like, ‘OK. No problem. Let’s come up with a plan.’ He wanted to figure a way to live right away.”
He had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer which seems mainly to attack teenaged males. Once the cancer begins to metastasize, the survival rate is around 10 percent.
It wasn’t good, and everyone in the family, including Shaun, knew it. But no one would cry or moan about his fate, because Shaun would have none of it. He planned a lot of things, including becoming rich and famous. A horrible, grisly death at 18 was not part of the plan.
“This was a guy who was facing death every day but he didn’t talk about dying or feel sorry for himself or ask you, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ ” Hopkins said. “I was in camp getting ready to fight [Kelly] Pavlik and I was getting all these text messages from him, encouraging me and pushing me. And this was a guy who had so many problems, that whoever wins or loses a fight should be the last thing he is thinking about.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As death hovered on his doorstep, though, Negler, was, indeed, thinking about a fight. He was fighting to live, but he was also fighting to stay alive to see Hopkins box one last time. A little more than five months earlier, the Negler family attended Hopkins’ split decision loss to Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on April 19, 2008.
It was an excruciatingly tight match and the Neglers, who by that point had all grown close with Hopkins, had felt he’d won. But after the fight, they were anxious to go out and see the town.
This was Las Vegas, after all, and they didn’t get this opportunity often.
All of them, that is, but one were hoping to go.
“They announced the decision and we all knew Bernard had won that fight. There was no doubt,” said Shaun’s father, Mike Negler, a 42-year-old Philadelphia police officer. “As the fight was going on, Shaun was pointing out how Calzaghe was throwing a lot of punches, but how they weren’t landing and he was showing us how good Bernard’s defense really was. When they announced the score, Shaun was absolutely miserable. He was just as upset and as angry as you can imagine.
“He said, ‘Oh no, they took it from him. They stole it from him.’ And then he didn’t want to do anything else. Here we are in Las Vegas. How many people would do anything to be in Vegas like we were and get to go out on a Saturday night and have a good time? And Shaun said, ‘Take me to the room.’ He wouldn’t do anything else. He was so upset.”
Hopkins signed to fight Pavlik, the unbeaten middleweight champion, in a bout Oct. 18 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Shaun talked of being at the fight, but his condition had long since worsened to the point where that kind of travel, an hour or so from his home, was not possible.
“You have to understand, they gave this kid two, three weeks to live, and it’s 12 weeks and he’s still here saying, ‘I want to see you beat Kelly Pavlik,’ ” Hopkins said. “This kid was just amazing. He had a will to live like I’ve never seen.”
Before Hopkins left to begin his training camp, the family had a reunion of sorts. All the family and friends were invited over for what was a chance to essentially say goodbye to Shaun.
He was on borrowed time and was expected to live only for a matter of a few days, if not a couple of weeks. Hopkins, who knew of Shaun’s love of cars, attended the outing and brought over his $150,000 Bentley.
But he didn’t just park it. He grabbed Shaun, brought him to the car and put him in the front seat. Then he closed the door and turned on the engine.
Shaun Negler named his pit bull puppy “Champ,” a name suggested by Bernard Hopkins.
The two were sitting there, the 43-year-old finely tuned athlete and the 18-year-old whose body was ravaged by cancer, blind in one eye, with a leg amputated because of his disease.
“What the hell you doing?” Hopkins said in mock indignation. “Drive!”
And so Negler began to drive.
“I thought he’d take it down to the bottom of the driveway, turn around and come back,” Mike Negler said.
Hopkins, though, knew that wouldn’t fulfill the kid’s dream. He wanted to take the car onto the road. So, again, Hopkins urged him to drive. Shaun hit the accelerator, believing the car to be in drive.
It was in reverse, however, and landed up on a curb, damaging Hopkins’ rims. To this day, the rims are not fixed on the otherwise pristine car, Hopkins’ memory of his now-departed friend.
Soon after, Hopkins left for camp and Negler’s condition worsened by the hour. But he wanted to see the fight so badly and he talked about it incessantly with his family.
“Shaun was a diehard fan of all the Philadelphia teams,” Mike Negler said. “He just was in love with all of them, but Bernard, he fell 1,000 percent for Bernard. He loved boxing and then here’s this great fighter from Philadelphia with this incredible story.”
Hopkins trained in Miami knowing each day he might get the call he would dread receiving.
On Oct. 18, the day of the bout he was literally staving off death to see, Negler was in excruciating pain – “bone pain,” as his mother calls it.
A few months earlier, on the first day he got his prosthesis, he had the therapists put it on and he began walking without any physical therapy. He didn’t want it adjusted and demanded that he be driven to his mother’s place of work in Delaware.
Normally, it takes weeks of grueling rehabilitative work for someone who had an amputation to be able to walk. On the first day, Negler, whose left leg was amputated at the knee, was driven to his mother’s office, walked down the aisle and ambled up to her desk.
“It took my breath away when I saw him,” she said. “He had this big grin on his face and I couldn’t breathe.”
But now, hours before his friend and idol was to climb into the ring for the fight he so desperately wanted to watch, Negler’s pain was so bad, he took the prosthesis off. He was given more drugs to ease the pain.
When the pay-per-view broadcast on HBO began at 9 p.m., he was helped out of bed and literally crawled downstairs on his hands and knees to sit in front of the television.
But he was only able to stay awake for short periods of time.
“At that point, it was like 10, maybe 15 minutes at most,” Renee Negler said.
He demanded they wake him up when Hopkins came to the ring. Hopkins’ bout began near midnight Eastern time. As Hopkins made his ring walk, the family roused Shaun, who instantly became as alert as he had been at any time in days.
“There was something in his body and his spirit made him hang around so he could see me that one last time,” Hopkins said. “As a human being, can you imagine how that makes me feel?”
There were about 20 or 30 people in the house watching the fight. As Hopkins was being introduced, Renee Negler turned toward her son, who had a wan smile across his face and had formed an “X” with his arms, a tribute to Hopkins, whose nickname is “The Executioner.”
Hopkins went on to win in a rout in the performance of his life. For one night, he was better than he had ever been. And Shaun Negler, who had been able only to stay awake for 10 minutes at a time, was suddenly alive and vibrant as the fight went on.
He was shouting at the television as Hopkins pounded Pavlik with powerful punches, cheering his hero on to victory.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Renee Negler had turned on a video camera on her son and captured his reaction during the fight.
He was gleeful throughout as Hopkins performed brilliantly. When the fight ended, Negler needed to go back to sleep.
He turned to his pit bull puppy, whom Hopkins had suggested he named “Champ,” and kissed it on the head. He crawled back upstairs and was helped into bed. A few minutes later, he lapsed into unconsciousness and never opened his eyes again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He died a few days later, in his home. Hopkins, who served a stint in the Pennsylvania penal system on a strong-armed robbery conviction, was torn apart.
But because of his time in prison, he learned to control his emotions. He never cried publicly because of what he learned while he was in prison.
Hopkins was, however, stung by the loss of someone he considered more than just a friend. He not only served as a pall bearer, he spent hours with the Negler family that day and put the gloves he wore the night he defeated Pavlik into the casket with Shaun.
“It’s breathtaking the kindness that is in this man’s heart, because it would have been easy for him to meet Shaun, say the right things and move on,” Renee Negler said. “But what he did, he did because he cared. And he did because Shaunie and he had some kind of a connection. There was a bond between the two of them despite all the differences between them and they loved each other.”
Hopkins said that for as much as he may have given to Shaun and the Neglers, he received much more in return.
“This was a kid who had every reason to feel sorry for himself, who had every reason to give up, and he never once would give in and he never once looked at the dark side of anything,” Hopkins said. “He looked at death and said, ‘I want to live. And I’m going to make the most of what I have.’ And that’s what we have to do while we’re here on this Earth. Take what you have and do the best you can with it. Look at what this kid was dealt and look what he did with it.
“Cancer did not beat him. He beat cancer, because cancer needed his body to live. He’s probably smiling somewhere saying, ‘You know, Bernard, I did it. I beat cancer.’ This kid wasn’t a loser. He was a winner his whole life and I think he’s still a winner.”
There are no tapes of any of his memorable wins or stories of epic triumphs left behind. That’s because they don’t exist. He was robbed of a career in the sport he loved.
But none other than Bernard Hopkins, one of the greatest fighters of this or any generation, will tell you that he hasn’t met a tougher, or more courageous, fighter than Shaun Negler.
The improbable friendship between the long-time middleweight champion and the 18-year-old who worshipped him officially ended at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, 2008, when Negler could fight no more and succumbed to a 2½ year battle with cancer.
But Hopkins, who first met Negler in 2006 when he learned that the then-16-year-old had a deadly form of cancer, isn’t ready to accept that his friend is gone.
“This kid’s soul is still with us,” said Hopkins, who served as a pall bearer at Negler’s funeral in Philadelphia on Oct. 29. “His spirit lives inside of me and inside a lot of the people I met over these last couple of years.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Negler’s mother, Renee, remembered sitting in a doctor’s office. It seemed as if she were watching the world on a black-and-white television. Everything seemed so dark.
Several weeks earlier, in a Philadelphia gym in May 2006, her youngest son injured his left ankle as he was preparing for his first fight.
Shaun Negler greatly touched the life of Bernard Hopkins. “He was a winner his whole life and I think he’s still a winner,” Hopkins said.
The injury didn’t respond to treatment. An MRI was done and on May 30, Shaun and his parents were sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting to hear why this ankle was taking so long to heal.
“I just remember it being such a dark room and now, looking back on it, it seems so surreal,” said Renee Negler, a 41-year-old loan manager. “There were two doctors there and they came in and seemed to have very solemn looks on their faces. I was looking at Shaunie and he was looking at me. It was the doctors, my husband and Shaunie and I. They said, ‘We need to take him to Children’s Hospital right away. We found a large mass in his leg.’ There was no crying and Shaunie was like, ‘OK. No problem. Let’s come up with a plan.’ He wanted to figure a way to live right away.”
He had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer which seems mainly to attack teenaged males. Once the cancer begins to metastasize, the survival rate is around 10 percent.
It wasn’t good, and everyone in the family, including Shaun, knew it. But no one would cry or moan about his fate, because Shaun would have none of it. He planned a lot of things, including becoming rich and famous. A horrible, grisly death at 18 was not part of the plan.
“This was a guy who was facing death every day but he didn’t talk about dying or feel sorry for himself or ask you, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ ” Hopkins said. “I was in camp getting ready to fight [Kelly] Pavlik and I was getting all these text messages from him, encouraging me and pushing me. And this was a guy who had so many problems, that whoever wins or loses a fight should be the last thing he is thinking about.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As death hovered on his doorstep, though, Negler, was, indeed, thinking about a fight. He was fighting to live, but he was also fighting to stay alive to see Hopkins box one last time. A little more than five months earlier, the Negler family attended Hopkins’ split decision loss to Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on April 19, 2008.
It was an excruciatingly tight match and the Neglers, who by that point had all grown close with Hopkins, had felt he’d won. But after the fight, they were anxious to go out and see the town.
This was Las Vegas, after all, and they didn’t get this opportunity often.
All of them, that is, but one were hoping to go.
“They announced the decision and we all knew Bernard had won that fight. There was no doubt,” said Shaun’s father, Mike Negler, a 42-year-old Philadelphia police officer. “As the fight was going on, Shaun was pointing out how Calzaghe was throwing a lot of punches, but how they weren’t landing and he was showing us how good Bernard’s defense really was. When they announced the score, Shaun was absolutely miserable. He was just as upset and as angry as you can imagine.
“He said, ‘Oh no, they took it from him. They stole it from him.’ And then he didn’t want to do anything else. Here we are in Las Vegas. How many people would do anything to be in Vegas like we were and get to go out on a Saturday night and have a good time? And Shaun said, ‘Take me to the room.’ He wouldn’t do anything else. He was so upset.”
Hopkins signed to fight Pavlik, the unbeaten middleweight champion, in a bout Oct. 18 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Shaun talked of being at the fight, but his condition had long since worsened to the point where that kind of travel, an hour or so from his home, was not possible.
“You have to understand, they gave this kid two, three weeks to live, and it’s 12 weeks and he’s still here saying, ‘I want to see you beat Kelly Pavlik,’ ” Hopkins said. “This kid was just amazing. He had a will to live like I’ve never seen.”
Before Hopkins left to begin his training camp, the family had a reunion of sorts. All the family and friends were invited over for what was a chance to essentially say goodbye to Shaun.
He was on borrowed time and was expected to live only for a matter of a few days, if not a couple of weeks. Hopkins, who knew of Shaun’s love of cars, attended the outing and brought over his $150,000 Bentley.
But he didn’t just park it. He grabbed Shaun, brought him to the car and put him in the front seat. Then he closed the door and turned on the engine.
Shaun Negler named his pit bull puppy “Champ,” a name suggested by Bernard Hopkins.
The two were sitting there, the 43-year-old finely tuned athlete and the 18-year-old whose body was ravaged by cancer, blind in one eye, with a leg amputated because of his disease.
“What the hell you doing?” Hopkins said in mock indignation. “Drive!”
And so Negler began to drive.
“I thought he’d take it down to the bottom of the driveway, turn around and come back,” Mike Negler said.
Hopkins, though, knew that wouldn’t fulfill the kid’s dream. He wanted to take the car onto the road. So, again, Hopkins urged him to drive. Shaun hit the accelerator, believing the car to be in drive.
It was in reverse, however, and landed up on a curb, damaging Hopkins’ rims. To this day, the rims are not fixed on the otherwise pristine car, Hopkins’ memory of his now-departed friend.
Soon after, Hopkins left for camp and Negler’s condition worsened by the hour. But he wanted to see the fight so badly and he talked about it incessantly with his family.
“Shaun was a diehard fan of all the Philadelphia teams,” Mike Negler said. “He just was in love with all of them, but Bernard, he fell 1,000 percent for Bernard. He loved boxing and then here’s this great fighter from Philadelphia with this incredible story.”
Hopkins trained in Miami knowing each day he might get the call he would dread receiving.
On Oct. 18, the day of the bout he was literally staving off death to see, Negler was in excruciating pain – “bone pain,” as his mother calls it.
A few months earlier, on the first day he got his prosthesis, he had the therapists put it on and he began walking without any physical therapy. He didn’t want it adjusted and demanded that he be driven to his mother’s place of work in Delaware.
Normally, it takes weeks of grueling rehabilitative work for someone who had an amputation to be able to walk. On the first day, Negler, whose left leg was amputated at the knee, was driven to his mother’s office, walked down the aisle and ambled up to her desk.
“It took my breath away when I saw him,” she said. “He had this big grin on his face and I couldn’t breathe.”
But now, hours before his friend and idol was to climb into the ring for the fight he so desperately wanted to watch, Negler’s pain was so bad, he took the prosthesis off. He was given more drugs to ease the pain.
When the pay-per-view broadcast on HBO began at 9 p.m., he was helped out of bed and literally crawled downstairs on his hands and knees to sit in front of the television.
But he was only able to stay awake for short periods of time.
“At that point, it was like 10, maybe 15 minutes at most,” Renee Negler said.
He demanded they wake him up when Hopkins came to the ring. Hopkins’ bout began near midnight Eastern time. As Hopkins made his ring walk, the family roused Shaun, who instantly became as alert as he had been at any time in days.
“There was something in his body and his spirit made him hang around so he could see me that one last time,” Hopkins said. “As a human being, can you imagine how that makes me feel?”
There were about 20 or 30 people in the house watching the fight. As Hopkins was being introduced, Renee Negler turned toward her son, who had a wan smile across his face and had formed an “X” with his arms, a tribute to Hopkins, whose nickname is “The Executioner.”
Hopkins went on to win in a rout in the performance of his life. For one night, he was better than he had ever been. And Shaun Negler, who had been able only to stay awake for 10 minutes at a time, was suddenly alive and vibrant as the fight went on.
He was shouting at the television as Hopkins pounded Pavlik with powerful punches, cheering his hero on to victory.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Renee Negler had turned on a video camera on her son and captured his reaction during the fight.
He was gleeful throughout as Hopkins performed brilliantly. When the fight ended, Negler needed to go back to sleep.
He turned to his pit bull puppy, whom Hopkins had suggested he named “Champ,” and kissed it on the head. He crawled back upstairs and was helped into bed. A few minutes later, he lapsed into unconsciousness and never opened his eyes again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He died a few days later, in his home. Hopkins, who served a stint in the Pennsylvania penal system on a strong-armed robbery conviction, was torn apart.
But because of his time in prison, he learned to control his emotions. He never cried publicly because of what he learned while he was in prison.
Hopkins was, however, stung by the loss of someone he considered more than just a friend. He not only served as a pall bearer, he spent hours with the Negler family that day and put the gloves he wore the night he defeated Pavlik into the casket with Shaun.
“It’s breathtaking the kindness that is in this man’s heart, because it would have been easy for him to meet Shaun, say the right things and move on,” Renee Negler said. “But what he did, he did because he cared. And he did because Shaunie and he had some kind of a connection. There was a bond between the two of them despite all the differences between them and they loved each other.”
Hopkins said that for as much as he may have given to Shaun and the Neglers, he received much more in return.
“This was a kid who had every reason to feel sorry for himself, who had every reason to give up, and he never once would give in and he never once looked at the dark side of anything,” Hopkins said. “He looked at death and said, ‘I want to live. And I’m going to make the most of what I have.’ And that’s what we have to do while we’re here on this Earth. Take what you have and do the best you can with it. Look at what this kid was dealt and look what he did with it.
“Cancer did not beat him. He beat cancer, because cancer needed his body to live. He’s probably smiling somewhere saying, ‘You know, Bernard, I did it. I beat cancer.’ This kid wasn’t a loser. He was a winner his whole life and I think he’s still a winner.”
Monday, November 3, 2008
12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Brain
Have you ever felt exasperated when you bumped into someone at the store but absolutely couldn't remember their name? Sure, it happens to all of us.
Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It's hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains with stuff.
No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time to be kept in shape. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? If so, fear not; we are all that person at some point.
Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior so I always look for simple ways to super charge my brain.
Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up:
Eat Almonds
Almond is believed to improve memory. If a combination of almond oil and milk is taken together before going to bed or after getting up at morning, it strengthens our memory power. Almond milk is prepared by crushing the almonds without the outer cover and adding water and sugar to it.
Drink Apple Juice
Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power.
Sleep well
Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.
Enjoy simple Pleasures
Stress drains our brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.
Enjoy music you love
Play with your children
Appreciate others
Run few miles a day, bike or swim
Start a blog
Take a yoga class or Total Wellness routine
Exercise your mind
Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superior memory power. Engage in some of the activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.
Play scrabble or crossword puzzle
Volunteer
Interact with others
Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
Learn new skill or a foreign language
Practice Yoga or Meditation
Yoga or Meditation relives stress. Stress is a known memory buster. With less stress, lower blood pressure, slower respiration, slower metabolism, and released muscle tension follows. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.
Reduce Sugar intake
Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.
Eat whole wheat
The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.
Eat a light meal at night
A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.
Develop imagination
Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.
Control your temper
Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and stressful mood swings.
Take Vitamin B-complex
Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.
I don't believe these are that tough. If you find yourself increasing stumped, give a couple of these a try.
Written by Shilpan Patel of Success Soul and cross-posted from Dumb Little Man, a web site that provides tips for life that will save you money, increase your productivity, or simply keep you sane.
Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It's hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains with stuff.
No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time to be kept in shape. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? If so, fear not; we are all that person at some point.
Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior so I always look for simple ways to super charge my brain.
Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up:
Eat Almonds
Almond is believed to improve memory. If a combination of almond oil and milk is taken together before going to bed or after getting up at morning, it strengthens our memory power. Almond milk is prepared by crushing the almonds without the outer cover and adding water and sugar to it.
Drink Apple Juice
Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power.
Sleep well
Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.
Enjoy simple Pleasures
Stress drains our brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.
Enjoy music you love
Play with your children
Appreciate others
Run few miles a day, bike or swim
Start a blog
Take a yoga class or Total Wellness routine
Exercise your mind
Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superior memory power. Engage in some of the activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.
Play scrabble or crossword puzzle
Volunteer
Interact with others
Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
Learn new skill or a foreign language
Practice Yoga or Meditation
Yoga or Meditation relives stress. Stress is a known memory buster. With less stress, lower blood pressure, slower respiration, slower metabolism, and released muscle tension follows. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.
Reduce Sugar intake
Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.
Eat whole wheat
The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.
Eat a light meal at night
A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.
Develop imagination
Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.
Control your temper
Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and stressful mood swings.
Take Vitamin B-complex
Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.
I don't believe these are that tough. If you find yourself increasing stumped, give a couple of these a try.
Written by Shilpan Patel of Success Soul and cross-posted from Dumb Little Man, a web site that provides tips for life that will save you money, increase your productivity, or simply keep you sane.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?
Ah, yes, those old Halloween carols... from the Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_has_halloween_become
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_has_halloween_become
Daylight Savings Time: Why Do We Do It?
From the internet:
At 2:00 a.m. local on Sunday, most of the United States (except Hawaii and Arizona) will leave daylight saving time behind and fall back an hour to standard time.
The annoyance of resetting clocks (or forgetting to, and showing up an hour early for appointments on Sunday) may raise the question of why we bother with this rigmarole in the first place.
Daylight saving time is most often associated with the oh-so-sweet extra hour of sleep in fall (and the not-so-nice loss of an hour in spring), but some of the original reasons for resetting our clocks twice a year including saving energy and having more daylight hours for retailers, sporting events and other activities that benefit from a longer day.
As far back as the 1700s, people recognized the potential to save energy by jumping clocks ahead one hour in the summer - Benjamin Franklin even wrote about it - although the idea was not put into practice until the 20th century.
During both World Wars, the United States and Great Britain began observing daylight saving time.
After the war, U.S. states were free to choose whether to observe daylight saving time and the calendar start dates of the time change. The result was time confusion for travelers and newscasters. In 1966, Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act, which stated that if any state observed daylight saving, it had to follow a uniform protocol, beginning and ending on the same dates throughout the country.
Starting in 2007, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks, starting it three weeks earlier in spring and ending it one week later in fall. Daylight saving now begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday of November.
Formerly it began on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October, so that extra week gives trick-or-treaters a precious extra hour of candy-gathering before sunset.
But not everyone is wild about daylight saving time, with some states opting out all together and others proposing to do so.
Hawaii has never observed daylight saving time, as its tropical latitude means its daylight hours stay fairly constant year-round. Arizona likewise has not observed daylight saving time since 1967 because the extra daylight in the summer would just mean more energy consumption to keep the desert state's residents cool.
Many Alaskans would like to stop observing daylight saving time because the change in daylight from summer to winter is already so extreme at their northerly latitude. A petition has even been set before the state this year to abolish the observance of daylight saving time in Alaska.
Florida too finds daylight saving time less useful because of it's southerly latitude. In 2008, a Florida state senator introduced a bill to abolish the practice in Florida.
From 1970 to 2006, most of Indiana didn't observe daylights time, but began to do so in April 2006 after eight counties in the western portion of the state switched from the Eastern to the Central Time Zone.
None of the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, observe daylight saving time.
At 2:00 a.m. local on Sunday, most of the United States (except Hawaii and Arizona) will leave daylight saving time behind and fall back an hour to standard time.
The annoyance of resetting clocks (or forgetting to, and showing up an hour early for appointments on Sunday) may raise the question of why we bother with this rigmarole in the first place.
Daylight saving time is most often associated with the oh-so-sweet extra hour of sleep in fall (and the not-so-nice loss of an hour in spring), but some of the original reasons for resetting our clocks twice a year including saving energy and having more daylight hours for retailers, sporting events and other activities that benefit from a longer day.
As far back as the 1700s, people recognized the potential to save energy by jumping clocks ahead one hour in the summer - Benjamin Franklin even wrote about it - although the idea was not put into practice until the 20th century.
During both World Wars, the United States and Great Britain began observing daylight saving time.
After the war, U.S. states were free to choose whether to observe daylight saving time and the calendar start dates of the time change. The result was time confusion for travelers and newscasters. In 1966, Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act, which stated that if any state observed daylight saving, it had to follow a uniform protocol, beginning and ending on the same dates throughout the country.
Starting in 2007, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks, starting it three weeks earlier in spring and ending it one week later in fall. Daylight saving now begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday of November.
Formerly it began on the first Sunday of April and ended on the last Sunday of October, so that extra week gives trick-or-treaters a precious extra hour of candy-gathering before sunset.
But not everyone is wild about daylight saving time, with some states opting out all together and others proposing to do so.
Hawaii has never observed daylight saving time, as its tropical latitude means its daylight hours stay fairly constant year-round. Arizona likewise has not observed daylight saving time since 1967 because the extra daylight in the summer would just mean more energy consumption to keep the desert state's residents cool.
Many Alaskans would like to stop observing daylight saving time because the change in daylight from summer to winter is already so extreme at their northerly latitude. A petition has even been set before the state this year to abolish the observance of daylight saving time in Alaska.
Florida too finds daylight saving time less useful because of it's southerly latitude. In 2008, a Florida state senator introduced a bill to abolish the practice in Florida.
From 1970 to 2006, most of Indiana didn't observe daylights time, but began to do so in April 2006 after eight counties in the western portion of the state switched from the Eastern to the Central Time Zone.
None of the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, observe daylight saving time.
Girl Sells Cookies To Buy Campaign Attack Ad
From the Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/precocious_youngster_sells?utm_source=videomrss_89074
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/precocious_youngster_sells?utm_source=videomrss_89074
Obama Says "I Would Be A Bad President" In Huge Campaign Blunder
From the Onion:
TALLAHASSEE, FL—In a campaign gaffe that could potentially jeopardize Sen. Barack Obama's White House bid, the Democratic presidential nominee told nearly 8,000 supporters Tuesday that, if elected, he would be a terrible president.
The blunder, captured by all major media outlets and broadcast live on CNN, occurred when the typically polished Obama fielded a question about his health care policy. Obama answered by saying he would give small business owners a tax credit to help them provide health care for their employees, and then added, "Now, I'm not completely certain that my plan would work because, overall, I think I would make a bad president."
According to sources, before those on hand could fully process what Obama had said, the Illinois senator continued to stumble, claiming that, were he to win the general election, he'd have absolutely no idea what to do.
"My youth and inexperience would definitely make me an awful president," said Obama, whose seven-minute misstep was further exacerbated when he called himself "no expert" on the economy. "To be perfectly honest, I'd be worried about putting me in charge of the most powerful military in the world because I'm not any good when it comes to making important decisions. Also, I'm not sure how much I care about keeping this great nation of ours safe."
"I'm an elitist, I hate Israel, and I want to lose the war in Iraq," Obama concluded, and then, seemingly unaware of the magnitude of his blunder, smiled, gave a thumbs-up to the stunned crowd, and urged his supporters to get out and vote on Nov. 4.
Immediately following the speech, Obama campaign officials released a written statement alleging that their candidate's comments had been taken out of context. In addition, Obama's top adviser David Axelrod claimed that the senator was quoting former president Abraham Lincoln when he said, "I am not the guy to head the executive branch of the United States government. Trust me. I'm really not."
Beltway observers agreed that the gaffe could come back to haunt Obama on Election Day.
"This might very well be the sound bite voters have in their heads when they step inside that booth on Tuesday," ABC political analyst George Stephanopoulos said. "It's just not the message you want to send to voters when you are up in the polls. Saying that you would make a bad president, especially when your entire campaign has been built around the idea that you would make a good president, doesn't play well with independent and undecided voters."
"Also, swing states like Ohio and Florida have historically leaned toward the nominee who thinks he'd be a good president, rather than the nominee who thinks he'd 'probably just screw everything up worse,'" Stephanopoulos added.
An analysis of historical documents supports Stephanopoulos' claim, and confirms that the past 55 winning presidential candidates—with the exception of a dying Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944—all strongly maintained they would be good or great presidents throughout their campaigns, and never hinted otherwise.
"I think Sen. Obama may have opened up a slight window for John McCain here," New York Times reporter David Sanger said during Wednesday's taping of Charlie Rose. "If the McCain camp can find some way to exploit this miscue, it could have the potential to be a real game-changer."
However, a CNN poll taken moments after Obama's speech revealed that the candidate's misstep may have simply gotten lost amid the 24-hour news cycle. Though most citizens said they would prefer a candidate who thinks he'd be a good president, 23 percent said they would still vote for someone who thinks he would make an okay president. Furthermore, 35 percent of citizens said they would vote for a nominee who promised to be a serviceable, or even a so-so, president.
Forty-two percent of citizens polled said that, at this point, a "just plain bad" president would also be good enough.
"I am more certain than ever that I will vote for Obama," Windham, NH resident James Kilner said. "This is the first time I have really connected with a candidate, mainly because I think I would make a pretty bad president, too."
As of press time, the McCain camp has yet to respond to the potentially damaging blunder. However, many feel this is exactly what the Arizona senator needed following a mistake he made earlier in the week when he said that "a vote for McCain is a vote for mass genocide."
TALLAHASSEE, FL—In a campaign gaffe that could potentially jeopardize Sen. Barack Obama's White House bid, the Democratic presidential nominee told nearly 8,000 supporters Tuesday that, if elected, he would be a terrible president.
The blunder, captured by all major media outlets and broadcast live on CNN, occurred when the typically polished Obama fielded a question about his health care policy. Obama answered by saying he would give small business owners a tax credit to help them provide health care for their employees, and then added, "Now, I'm not completely certain that my plan would work because, overall, I think I would make a bad president."
According to sources, before those on hand could fully process what Obama had said, the Illinois senator continued to stumble, claiming that, were he to win the general election, he'd have absolutely no idea what to do.
"My youth and inexperience would definitely make me an awful president," said Obama, whose seven-minute misstep was further exacerbated when he called himself "no expert" on the economy. "To be perfectly honest, I'd be worried about putting me in charge of the most powerful military in the world because I'm not any good when it comes to making important decisions. Also, I'm not sure how much I care about keeping this great nation of ours safe."
"I'm an elitist, I hate Israel, and I want to lose the war in Iraq," Obama concluded, and then, seemingly unaware of the magnitude of his blunder, smiled, gave a thumbs-up to the stunned crowd, and urged his supporters to get out and vote on Nov. 4.
Immediately following the speech, Obama campaign officials released a written statement alleging that their candidate's comments had been taken out of context. In addition, Obama's top adviser David Axelrod claimed that the senator was quoting former president Abraham Lincoln when he said, "I am not the guy to head the executive branch of the United States government. Trust me. I'm really not."
Beltway observers agreed that the gaffe could come back to haunt Obama on Election Day.
"This might very well be the sound bite voters have in their heads when they step inside that booth on Tuesday," ABC political analyst George Stephanopoulos said. "It's just not the message you want to send to voters when you are up in the polls. Saying that you would make a bad president, especially when your entire campaign has been built around the idea that you would make a good president, doesn't play well with independent and undecided voters."
"Also, swing states like Ohio and Florida have historically leaned toward the nominee who thinks he'd be a good president, rather than the nominee who thinks he'd 'probably just screw everything up worse,'" Stephanopoulos added.
An analysis of historical documents supports Stephanopoulos' claim, and confirms that the past 55 winning presidential candidates—with the exception of a dying Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944—all strongly maintained they would be good or great presidents throughout their campaigns, and never hinted otherwise.
"I think Sen. Obama may have opened up a slight window for John McCain here," New York Times reporter David Sanger said during Wednesday's taping of Charlie Rose. "If the McCain camp can find some way to exploit this miscue, it could have the potential to be a real game-changer."
However, a CNN poll taken moments after Obama's speech revealed that the candidate's misstep may have simply gotten lost amid the 24-hour news cycle. Though most citizens said they would prefer a candidate who thinks he'd be a good president, 23 percent said they would still vote for someone who thinks he would make an okay president. Furthermore, 35 percent of citizens said they would vote for a nominee who promised to be a serviceable, or even a so-so, president.
Forty-two percent of citizens polled said that, at this point, a "just plain bad" president would also be good enough.
"I am more certain than ever that I will vote for Obama," Windham, NH resident James Kilner said. "This is the first time I have really connected with a candidate, mainly because I think I would make a pretty bad president, too."
As of press time, the McCain camp has yet to respond to the potentially damaging blunder. However, many feel this is exactly what the Arizona senator needed following a mistake he made earlier in the week when he said that "a vote for McCain is a vote for mass genocide."
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