It was a country fair in Plymouth, England in 1906. One of the booths ran a contest, a rather unique contest. The prize was an ox which had been butchered and dressed, and for a small fee you could buy a ticket upon which you would write your best guess as to its weight. Roughly…
Some of us are ecstatic about Donald Trump’s Second Coming. Some are in terror and mourning. All of us need to take a pill. In the course of human history it may be a big game changer, or it may be flatulence. In all likelihood, a century from now, it will get mentioned in second…
You know somebody like this. In fact, it may even be you: someone in possession of an absolute bouquet of marvelous, enviable Giftings. They can play in a rock band, they can create, run, and sell a highly profitable business, they have a black belt in judo, and they write all their own computer code….
“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” has been attributed to various individuals, including Richard Nixon, but it was more likely Robert McCloskey. No matter, the proposition lies at the heart of most communications failures. At…
Orville and Wilbur Wright were not the first to invent flying machines. They were just the first to successfully fly such things. And what apparently made their machines succeed was the concept of the flexible wing which would allow the crafts to roll so as to safely accommodate side winds. This idea they copied from…
Angus MacAskill was born in the Hebrides and was taken to Nova Scotia as an infant, where he grew up in a fishing village in Cape Breton. Unlike his twelve siblings, Angus did not stop growing until he was in his early twenties, by which time he had achieved a height of 7’9” or 2.36…
The second hand of the clock in the mirror traverses the clock’s face in exactly one minute, but “counterclockwise”. Part of what it tells you is true, part is not. And that’s like so much in life. The mirror has no agenda. It’s not trying to deceive us or gain an advantage, it’s just telling…
No, I’m not asking if you’ve died. I have no readers “on the other side”. Rather, the question is whether you are sometimes guilty of the practice of “ghosting”. Or perhaps you have yourself been “ghosted”. The Urban Dictionary defines ghosting as “When a person cuts off all communication with their friends or the person…
Helmuth von Moltke was a Prussian Field Marshall, one of the most creative military minds of his generation. He firmly stressed the importance of meticulous planning. That said, he’s best remembered for his observation “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” One would be forgiven for thinking that von Moltke was giving evidence for the…
I’ll bet you’ve never heard of Canada Lee. A brand of jeans, a drink, or some kind of scarf? In truth, Canada Lee was an amazing human being who in his just forty five years of life excelled in four entirely different callings: an accomplished musician, a world class jockey, a championship boxer, and a…