Social media and a true village →

Published May 17, 2018  ·  All posts on May 17  ·  

The Internet made it easy to gather together vast swaths of humanity and allowed them to communicate with each other at scale. These mostly anonymous ginormous nations of humans have no shared purpose and no shared values. With no common understanding of how to treat each other and no incentives to do so, communication in these “communities” rapidly degrades to the lowest common denominator where uninformed hate is a typical knee-jerk reaction to differences.

~ Michael Lopp from, Welcome Back to the Village

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There’s a bunch of insight about social networks (digital and in real life.) Also worth reading if you are interested in leadership and haven’t yet found the Rands Leadership Slack team.

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The second 90% →

Published May 15, 2018  ·  All posts on May 15  ·  

The first 90% of a project is a lot easier than the second 90%.

~ Tim Sweeney

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Election hacking →

Published May 14, 2018  ·  All posts on May 14  ·  

Security is never something we actually want. Security is something we need in order to avoid what we don’t want. It’s also more abstract, concerned with hypothetical future possibilities. Of course it’s lower on the priorities list than fundraising and press coverage. They’re more tangible, and they’re more immediate.

~ Bruce Schneier from, The US Is Unprepared for Election-Related Hacking in 2018

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I think the only thing “protecting” us from someone successfully hacking an election, is the sheer number of polling places. You’ve voted, right? Sure, it’s a busy spot with maybe a dozen machines and hundreds of poeple… but there are thousands and thousands of polling places, and the voting machines are not networked. Yet.

Don’t misunderstand: This is security through obscrurity, is not actually security at all, and is a recipe for disaster.

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Social conditioning →

Published May 13, 2018  ·  All posts on May 13  ·  ,

If we support a foreign war or oppose it, it’s because of what effect it’s having on us, either individually or collectively. Our soldiers are dying. Our President is making us look bad. Our corporations are manipulating us. Our national debt is out of control. My taxes might go up. My budget might be stretched. My family member might be killed. We aren’t encouraged to consider such situations from the viewpoint of planet earth as a whole, or how our actions today might affect future generations. We perceive each other as separate and distinct individuals as opposed to cells in the same body.

~ Steve Pavlina from, What Lies Beyond the Haze of Social Conditioning?

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This isn’t about “us” versus “them. It’s about “I”. How do I see my world? How do I see myself? Have I been conditioned? (duh. Of course I have.) Now that I’ve discovered I have a brain, do I like how I’ve been conditioned?

…oh sorry, got to talking to myself there.

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Growing up is hard →

Published May 12, 2018  ·  All posts on May 12  ·  

When people say they don’t want to embrace adulthood, what they really mean is that they don’t want to be a grownup themselves, but they want to live in a world where everyone else is. They want competent, effective politicians to represent them; they want their journalists and doctors to be smart and level-headed with a comforting mantle of gravitas; they want their children’s teachers to be dedicated and on-the-ball; they want customer service to be friendly and efficient; they want police officers to be honest and fair. They want the world to be stable, predictable…so they can afford to be erratic and irresponsible. They want to be kids, but live in an adult world, where grownups are at the ready to take care of their every need.

~ Brett McKay from, Why Growing Up Is Hard to Do (But Why the World Still Needs Adults)

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This was an enjoyable read that brought up a lot of good points. The basic question being explored is why is growing up harder “these days”? Brett spends a lot of time talking about what is different “these days” in society, in culture, in the human experience. It was a breath of fresh air from the more common “kids these days…” sort of screed.

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Sort out what is important →

Published May 11, 2018  ·  All posts on May 11

Every day I have a choice between working on pointless little tasks or big meaningful projects. On days that I choose the former, I end each day feeling I’ve accomplished very little, even though I’ve put in a lot of hours at my desk. I’ve kept up, but all I did was spin my wheels for another day. But when I chose to do the important stuff first, I feel great, knowing that I’m on my way to producing major results.

~ Steve Pavlina from, Conscious Procrastination

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More than 25 years ago, Steven Covey included a simple graph in a book. This task right here– is it important, and is it urgent?

Anything that’s not important, well, good– You just stopped doing that. Gaming, television, most of what you do on the internet, etc. If you’re still doing UN-important stuff… I don’t know what to say.

Now the important stuff is where the hard thinking begins. How important? Does it pay off now, or later? Does is pay off for me, my family (but not me), my family (including me), my tribe, the world . . . well, sorting out all the important stuff is IMPORTANT but not URGENT and so it gets skipped and pushed off. I’m happy to be the bearer of great news: You now know the most important thing to do: Sort out what is important to you.

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Where you are heading →

Published May 10, 2018  ·  All posts on May 10  ·  

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

~ Lao Tzu

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Move or die →

Published May 9, 2018  ·  All posts on May 9

Suffering long and mild, leading nowhere of consequence…

And suffering swift, short, and harrowing… leading to the life you long for.

We take to the former gladly, happy to stagger down tortuous but clear paths.

But it is the brief, blind leaps that change the game entirely.

~ Bryan Ward from, Move Or Die

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Reading anything written by Bryan Ward is like playing with a sharp knife: You will get cut, and you will learn a very valuable lesson.

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Hamlet in prison →

Published May 8, 2018  ·  All posts on May 8  ·  

Shakespeare may seem like an odd match for a group of hardened criminals, but Jack found that they understand the Bard on a level that most of us might not. It’s a play about murder and its consequences, performed by murderers, living out the consequences.

~ Jack Hitt from, Act V

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This is not a joke. It’s exactly what it seems.

Turns out old Shakes knew what he was writing about.

Also, if you (unless I’m mistaken about how many felons are reading this) think you’ve understood Hamlet– well, *bzzt* oh, so sorry, thank you for playing, we have some nice parting gifts. These guys in prison, they understand Hamlet.

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Arrogance →

Published May 7, 2018  ·  All posts on May 7  ·  

If you want to accelerate your rate of personal growth, work on becoming as honest as possible, both with yourself and others. The more honest you become, the more accurate will be your model of reality. And this will dramatically improve the success rate of your decisions and actions. Overconfidence and underconfidence are equally problematic, so strive for accuracy instead.

~ Steve Pavlina from, The Three Bears: Arrogance, Timidity, and Honesty

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Certainly there is a time and place for emotions. (Appropriate emotions of course.) But my experience is that any time my emotions, or my beliefs get a hold of the steering wheel things veer badly. I do much better when I use my brain to think things through, sort wheat from the chaff, and make plans. I’m not sure where I’m going, but I sure know where I came from.

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