"The American Mind" Interviews: Classical Music

Charles R. Kesler and Heather Mac Donald discuss the past and future of classical music.

Role Model

A New Jersey man has celebrated his 101st birthday and he's still on the job.

[HT: Drudge Report]

Trade Show Tips

At Entrepreneur, Michelle Goodman shows seven ways to get the most out of exhibiting at a trade show.

One of the best recommendations is to avoid the common mistake of placing a rectangular table at the front of the exhibit. It creates a barrier and you want to convey openness.

The Wearable Car

FutureLawyer, an early adopter, has made his reservation for an Elio. 

He posts a video. The Elio looks pretty promising for commuting, the price is more than reasonable, and its gas mileage is great.

Will we all be driving these in a few years?

Or So It Seems

Our yard was flooded with irrigation yesterday and so today we have heavy rain. Washing my car may have produced the same trick.

Such connections are false, of course, but why do we draw them? Is it the memorable nature of thwarted expectations?

[As you may recall, the rain washes memories from the sidewalks.]

On the Train

Anderson Layman's Blog: This video clip is, well, sort of fascinating.

Correction: This should be titled "On the Boat." No excuse. Pure sloppiness. A merciless reprimand is going in my file.

Hide and Seek

The old childhood game continues through adulthood. There are times when we need to seek others for companionship, assistance, and opinions and there are times when we need to hide so we can recuperate and think.

I've known people who cannot bear to be alone. 

Although a friendly fellow, I've never had that problem. My "to do" list does not need to have "hide" listed. 

It always needs "seek." 

Which does yours need?

Picking Battles

Leaders need to know which battles to fight. 

There are some fights which will produce a loss even if you win because they consume too much time and resources and poison relationships. They are, to use an old expression, not worth the candle.

At the same time, there are some fights which must be fought even if the cost is great because principles are at stake.  The cynical assert that whenever you hear someone say it's not the money, it's the principle of the thing, you can bet it's the money. That view diminishes the seriousness of ethical standards. Many a mocker of ethics embraces it. 

In fact, there are plenty of people who take principled positions and pay a heavy price for doing so. They are among those who are not governed by the size of a bank account and who can walk away from a lucrative thing if it is a wrong thing.

But there is another category that should be considered. In this area, neither a major principle nor a major fight is possible. This area is one of low-grade disagreement and conflict and the keys to its resolution are openness and trust. You don't let problems accumulate and fester if doing so harms long-term effectiveness but there will be many areas which should simply be ignored. 

As an management wit once noted, for peace of mind, resign as master of the universe.

Quote of the Day

Power lies at the end of a spectrum of causal factors which include influence, individual discretion, and systemic interactions whose actual outcomes were not planned or controlled by anyone. 

- Thomas Sowell

Dewey, Cheatem & Howe

If you want to see the powerful and creative use of names, check out this list of law firms from novels and the movies. 

Being a Dickens fan, I am partial to Dodson and Fogg, the odious firm which appears in The Pickwick Papers. 

[The list links them to Bleak House but I don't recall the firm was in that novel. Perhaps I'm wrong. They were great villains.]