I like food. I don’t like skipping meals. Sometimes I can’t avoid missing them. Obligations arise and I have to do something for a few hours nonstop. Sometimes I know the only options are so disappointing, unfulfilling, or involve so much plastic, oil, or other things that will lead me to regret that I’d rather eat a big next meal than what’s available. Most of my life skipping a meal[…] Keep reading →

Immigration is a wedge issue in the U.S. It gets a lot of media attention. I’m going to admit that I don’t understand the controversy around illegal immigration. If the nation decided on laws for how many immigrants to receive, why the support for people who came here illegally? Should the laws change? I would support laws changed through a reasonably democratic process. Otherwise, what’s the point of immigration laws?[…] Keep reading →

Why do people say “Excel spreadsheet” instead of “spreadsheet”? They say “I’ll email you an Excel spreadsheet,” wasting words, while they would never say “I’ll drive my Ford car to the store.” The pattern is different than using names like Kleenex to mean a tissue. People say “Can you hand me a Kleenex,” not “Can you hand me a Kleenex tissue.” As a Linux user who dislikes proprietary software, I[…] Keep reading →

From the New York Times (my emphasis): STOCKHOLM — “Sex must be voluntary — if it is not, then it is illegal.” This is the straightforward language of a new Swedish law set to change the way rape and other sexual crimes are prosecuted in the country. It is the first law in the country that acknowledges sex without explicit consent as rape I normally don’t write about this topic,[…] Keep reading →

I’ve quoted Martha Graham many times. At last I got the video of her saying the words. She describes how a performer achieves freedom through conforming and discipline better than anyone, in my opinion. I believe what she says holds for any active, emotional, expressive, social, performance-based field, including leadership and entrepreneurship. The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is[…] Keep reading →

RJ and I talk about the early success of LEAD Palestine, the organization he began to teach leadership to youths that most of the world abandoned in Palestine. Where their environment made it natural to respond with hopelessness and what comes from it—desperation to the point of aspiring to blow oneself up—RJ is bringing social and emotional development to create hope themselves. They happen to have been born into a[…] Keep reading →

Who doesn’t have a dream car? If you can afford it, especially if you’ve aspired to it your whole life, isn’t owning and driving your dream car one of the great joys and well-earned accomplishments in life? What if you found something better? What if what you liked better was not having the car? Does the idea of getting rid of one of your highest value sound crazy? That’s the[…] Keep reading →