Produced by Google Gemini “Surveillance capitalism unilaterally claims human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data.” ― Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism “Surveillance pricing essentially gives Big Brother a look into your shopping cart. Part of affordability is making sure consumers get a fair shake. Exploiting peoples' data to drive up prices is the exact opposite.”— Mikie Sherrill, Governor of New Jersey (upon signing a stat

General Eisenhower speaking to US troops just before the D-Day invasion "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived in it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity." Dwight D Eisenhower "The strength of a country is measured not by its ability to fight wars, but by its ability to prevent them." Gene Roddenberry Wars have been around almost as long as civilization itself—often accepted as a reasonable, if terrible, way to settle human disputes. Toda

Created by Google Gemini The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority. Will Durant Democracy is defined as government by the people and rule of the majority. Getting a majority to agree on anything can be a tall order, but it's the best system that's ever been attempted. So why does today's government fail to listen to the majority so often? Opinion polls are the only way we have to measure the "will of the people",

“The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”― Thomas Jefferson “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”― Herbert Hoover Wouldn't it be great to have an unlimited credit card that you never had to pay back? You could just let the balance grow and grow, leaving someone else to worry about it long after you're gone. That is essentially our national debt. In 1975, Americ

The Power of Beliefs: How Strengthening Seven Core Beliefs Predicts Greater Success and a Better Life Shawn Achor “Beliefs are so powerful because they dictate our efforts and actions.” — Shawn Achor "You know what I want to mess around with? The belief that I matter regardless of what I do or don't achieve, or the belief that we all deserve to be loved. " Ted Lasso Do our beliefs control our lives? Of course they do—but can we trust them? Our perception of reality and what

"Someday my prince will come" Snow White "There comes a day when I don't have to be a princess. No rules. No expectations. A day when anything can happen. A day when I can change my fate." Merida Disney princesses are the ultimate role models for little girls under age 10. As a parent of two daughters, I've been fascinated as to how young girls have idolized these fictional princesses for decades. As a Disney fanatic, I've watched every Disney movie and noticed how m

created by Google Gemini "Information is a commodity, but judgment is scarce." — Philip Tetlock“ You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.” — Tyler Durden, Fight Club We live in an age of profound information overload. Every day, we are barraged by a relentless torrent of videos, blog posts, spam, and em

“I think this is irresponsible preaching and very dangerous, and especially when it is slanted toward children, I think it's totally irresponsible, because I see nothing biblical that points up to our being in the last days, and I just think it's an outrageous thing to do, and a lot of people are making a living—they've been making a living for 2,000 years—preaching that we're in the last days.” ― Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip. In 2011, Harold Cam

Boys Alone in less than one day "Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But in fact they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman." Margaret Fuller "To know love, men must be able to let go of the will to dominate... Masses of men haven't even begun to look at the ways that patriarchy keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch

Created by Google Gemini- not a real lawyer "If you're in pain, let us make it rain." "In a wreck? Get a check." "If you're hurt in a dash, get the cash." "Insurance companies hate us." "Small enough to care, smart enough to win." Sample of Personal injury law slogans I don't know why, but lately I'm noticing more and more advertisements for personal injury lawyers. Countless billboard, television, and radio ads now proclaim that their law firm will get you top dollar

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”― Plato “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”― Soren Kierkegaard In the classic sitcom Hogan's Heroes, a bumbling German guard named Sgt Schultz was a popular character who survived by his willful ignorance. Hogan and his prisoners of war were running a series of covert op

The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life Sahil Bloom -“Never let the quest for more distract you from the beauty of enough.” Sahil Bloom How do we define success? For nations, it is often reduced to the cold, quantifiable metrics of Gross National Product (GNP). For individuals, it usually breaks down into two superficial categories: money and attractiveness. We operate under the collective delusion that if we accumulate enough wealth, eve

“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Why are income taxes so unpopular? As a CPA and tax preparer, I've noticed that even as rates have gone down, people still complain about income taxes and the IRS just as much as ever. Meanwhile, the tax code has gotten more and more complex. Since the 1980s, federal tax cuts have substantially lowered rates, particularly for high earners. At the state level, the trend is even mor

Fans First: Change The Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience Jesse Cole “Nothing matters more than making people feel like they matter.” Jesse Cole After reading the depressing book about how the internet is turning to shit (Enshittification), I needed something uplifting to know that not everyone is trying to squeeze the last penny out of customers with the least effort. Fans First is a behind the scenes look at the Savannah Bananas, a rising p

“It’s not just you. The internet is getting worse, fast. The services we rely on, that we once loved? They’re all turning into piles of shit, all at once. Worse, the digital is merging with the physical, which means that the same forces that are wrecking our platforms are also wrecking our homes and our cars, the places where we work and shop. The world is increasingly made up of computers we put our bodies into, and computers we put into our bodies. And those computers suck.

"Just like an Easter egg hunt, life is all about discovering the joy in little things." Unknown One of the most fun activities a child can participate in is an Easter egg hunt. Kids (and adults) of all ages love the challenge of finding something surprising that's hidden in plain sight. Kind of like a real-world Where's Waldo. Locating a colorful egg, especially one that's full of candy or money is a special experience that can inspire us all. Over time the term

"Get your fucking ass up and work." Kim Khardassian, on lazy women who might not have grown up in wealth and reality tv. "Stop buying avocado toast and you'll be able to afford buying a house," popular meme ridiculing baby boomers "My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars." Donald Trump Does income and wealth inequality make that much of a difference in life? There can be no denying that the past fifty years have greatly expanded the gap between the ultra-ric

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." - Seneca. “Live a life of friction. Let yourself be disturbed as much as possible, but observe.” G.I. Gurdjieff "First rule of change is controversy. You can't get away from it for the simple reason all issues are controversial. Change means movement, and movement means friction, and friction means heat, and heat means controversy." Saul Alinsky Everybody hates friction, but without it, w

Large rolls of paper, waiting to be used. “Research shows that when we read words on paper, it reduces our stress levels by nearly 70 percent. We also read more carefully than on tablets or laptops.” — Margaret Heffernan "Students’ understanding, comprehension, and retention were higher when reading print than when reading the same text on a screen or even listening to or viewing the material. Students who read the material in print were also more successful at identifying ma

"Popcorn is prepared in the same pot, in the same heat, in the same oil and yet… the kernels do not pop at the same time. Don't compare yourself to others. Your time to pop is coming" Anonymous "Every once in a while, someone will mail me a single popcorn kernel that didn't pop. I'll get out a fresh kernel, tape it to a piece of paper and mail it back to them." Orville Redenbacher Popcorn is practically the perfect snack. It's natural, low in calories (before other st