I struggle with getting praise for my accomplishments. Earning money, having a ‘good job’, winning trophies, making people like you, achieving, getting good grades – so much of life is tied to ‘chasing carrots’ to earn accolades. In my youth my accolades were mostly self-realized. I was such a loner…
Category: Uncategorized
Competition
I’m not a big fan of competition. I’m talking specifically about two types of competition we hear about often The first type of competition is within the construct of capitalism. People are constantly referring to how competition ‘regulates markets’ and ‘prevents monopolies’. I guess in this economic sense competition is…
Marketing and Solicitation
Aren’t you sick of advertising? Especially the ads that make no sense. How about when you can’t even tell what the product is? When I owned a brewery I saw a lot of ‘guerrilla’ advertising. Like bikini babes partying and drinking a certain beer. Wow, if I drink that beer…
Uncategorized
Read more
Quiet vs Distraction
All I hear lately is that mindfulness meditation is the magic cure all for human problems like anxiety, depression, and being ‘too busy’ or stressed out all the time. And I believe it. But for whatever reason, it’s hard for me to make the time to meditate. It’s kind of…
Uncategorized
Read more
Gaming the System
Nothing frustrates me more than seeing people taking advantage of ‘the rules’, or finding a loophole in ‘the system’ to gain an advantage over me or others. You certainly can think of examples in your own life. At the same time, if other people are going to do it, why…
Uncategorized
Read more
Individuals and Communities
Are we islands? What responsibility do we have to participate in our communities? During the COVID social distancing period, how do we define ‘essential’? Is there a continuum of behaviors that are acceptable? What do we ‘owe’ ourselves and our communities and how does that affect our behavior? I consider…
Uncategorized
Read more
Alternative facts, proof, and truth
What is the truth? What is “proof”? How is “truth” different from “facts”, or “evidence”? How do we know if we really know what we think we know? During my scientific training, I learned that we rarely “prove” anything. Science generates evidence and then we decide whether that evidence is…