Two More From Eleanor

It isn’t enough to talk about peace.  One must believe in it.  And it isn’t enough to believe in it.  One must work at it.
—     Eleanor Roosevelt
When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
—     Eleanor Roosevelt
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On This Day In:
2022	Get Outdoors More
2021	Re-institute The Wall Between Church And State
	Once In My Life
2020	Early Knowledge
	Seen Any Messages Lately?
2019	I Don’t Think We’ll Be Serving Them Cake
2018	New And Old
2017	Ever
2016	At The Center
2015	True Value In Life
2014	A Potential To Be Concerned
2013	Fine No More
2012	Have You Checked Your Height Lately?
2011	Are You Convinced?

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Preparation Meets Opportunity

Luck means the hardships and privations which you have not hesitated to endure, the long nights you have devoted to work.  Luck means the appointments you have never failed to keep;  the trains you have never failed to catch.
—    Max O’Rell
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On This Day In:
2022	Until One Day…
2021	Thinking About Faux News
	Am I Ever Going To Listen?
2020	First Place
	Perseverance
2019	Insha’Allaha Bukra
	No More Tears (Or Fog)
	Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
2018	Lost Time
2017	Are You Talking To Me?
2016	Here, Desire Is Purified
2015	Hopefully Just Visiting
2014	Fond Memory?
2013	Distress, Hope, Trust
2012	Creating Interlocking Fragility
2011	Four Stories And A Gospel
	What Have You Burned Lately?

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Squeeze Your Opportunity

We cannot predict the value our work will provide to the world.  That’s fine.  It is not our job to judge our own work.  It is our job to create it, to pour ourselves into it, and to master our craft as best we can.
We all have the opportunity to squeeze every ounce of greatness out of ourselves that we can.  We all have the chance to do our share.
—     Albert Einstein
[This quote was found on one of the blogs I follow:  ram H singhal
The specific post is:   I have done my share | ram H singhal (wordpress.com)
Please visit the original site if you have a few spare minutes.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Completely Reasonable To Worry
2021	Seeking Happiness
	Check Your Watch
2020	Expectation For The Near Future
2019	Indian Myth
	Did He Even Have The Courage To Ask?
2018	Nothing
2017	Approval First
2016	In Search Of Words
	Day 2 – Blending
2015	At What Price?
2014	Intricate And Subtle Order
2013	Attention To Detail
2012	Aequanimitas!
2011	Consider This

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Two Thoughts For The Holiday

Today is a national holiday in the United States which commemorates the life of civil rights leader (Martin Luther King, Jr.)  who sought to bring “equality under law” to all citizens of our country.  One of the ways he sought to do this was by bringing dignity and equality to ALL work – not just for the well educated or the well paid – but for all who work their best and make our nation a better society for it.  The pursuit of excellence (“doing your best”) in any endeavor uplifts us all.  The following are two quotes expressing this idea:
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
—     Martin Luther King, Jr.
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
—     Martin Luther King, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2022	What Do You See?
2021	Lite It Up
	Some Day
2020	No Answers Yet
	120 Day Health / Weight Update (Jan 2020)
2019	Stationary Target
2018	And Firmly
2017	Nearer My Goal To Thee
2016	Relatively Simple Actions
2015	And Yet, You Did
2014	Difficult Learning
2013	Four Things To do
2012	When I Was Young…
	Emergence

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Take Time

It takes time to live.  Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about.
—     Albert Camus
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On This Day In:
2021	A Loss Of Happiness
	Early Boy Band Choreography
2020	Wear A Damn Mask!
	I Can’t Stay For Long
	Boxing (#2): First Lessons
2019	A Surprisingly Good Way
	It’s Official X-mas (Tree) At Home
2018	Weight / Health Update
	What’s Happening With You?
2017	The Great Leveler
	Conservative Depressions
2016	Election + 1 Month
2015	Dance And Sing
2014	A Measuring Stick For Progress
2013	Courtly Love Or Victory Over Habit
2012	Have We Met?
2011	Efficiently Useless

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Five Down, Two To Go

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life.  The money is the gravy.
—    Bette Davis
[It normally takes seven to seven and a half years of retirement for the average American to “recover” all of the funds paid into their Social Security retirement funds during their forty odd years of work.  I’m well over half-way there and looking forward to the gravy!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Four Down, Three To Go
	It Still Ain’t
	Boosted
2020	Three Down, Four To Go
	Twenty-Four ‘Til You
2019	Two Down, Five To Go
2018	Year One, Done!
2017	First Day Of Retirement!
2016	Revere And Criticize
2015	Global Climate Change May Test This Statement
2014	Adaptability Won
2013	Disappeared
2012	Fuller
	Life On The Range
	More Classics
2011	Stoned Again?
2010	Insubordination… And That’s Why I Love Her!
	Losing – Week One

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I Want His Job

Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions…, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work.
—     Teresa Amabile
I’m just paid to do whatever I want to do.  Some of the time it’s development, and some of the time it’s just goofing off.
—    Larry Wall
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On This Day In:
2022	I Want His Job
2021	I Better
	The Way I Will
2020	Necessary Events
2019	I May Have Started Too Soon
2018	But Me
2017	A Little More, Please
2016	In Full Vigor
2015	A Good Lad
2014	Who Dare Not Speak
2013	I Love Beer
2012	Trial By Jury
2011	First Class
	Got Knowledge?

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Learning And Teaching

Feynman Learning Technique:
1)  Take a piece of paper and write the concept’s name at the top.
2)  Explain the concept using simple language (show examples to demonstrate you know how the concept works)
3)  Identify problem areas in your explanation or examples and then go back to the sources to review the material / concept
4)  Pinpoint any complicated terms and challenge yourself to simplify them.
Several days ago, I posted a quote and made a comment about excellence in teaching.  (Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites )  Basically, my proposition was that it is extremely difficult to evaluate the competence and productivity of a teacher because of the number of variables and an inability to control them to a point sufficient to determine what are the tools we could provide the “most effective” teachers to make them better (or any teachers for that matter).
I never gave much thought about teaching until I joined the Army and they insisted I learn, participate in and practice “Performance Oriented Training” (POTs training) when I attended the NCO Academy in Frankfurt, Germany.  Essentially, POTs stipulates that until the student can perform the task, the training has not been effective.  There were three elements:  1)  the instructor demonstrates the task to be performed / explaining the objective of the task, the reason for the task, and each step necessary to complete the task;  2)  the instructor then walks / talks the student through each step as they (the student) follows along with each step;  and, 3)  the instructor asks the student to perform the task independently.  If the student fails in performance (step 3), the instructor must return to element 2.  Re-cycle through elements 2 and 3 until 3 can be accomplished independently.  At that point, the student can perform the task and the training has been effective.  (Of course long term retention of the knowledge / skill is a different matter.)
This training methodology served me very well during my working life / career as I was frequently called upon to instruct on topics in the military, and then as a civilian:  from credit card fraud prevention, to correspondent banking, to numerous Information Technology topics (basic trouble-shooting, using spreadsheets, using word processing applications, server and network administration, setting up databases, conducting data analysis and creating web pages to display the analysis / data).
Rather late in my career, I “discovered” (i.e. read about) Dr Richard P. Feynman (PhD) and his personal learning methodology.  Post-employment (i.e. in retirement), I’ve now watched bits and pieces of Professor Feynman’s lectures (on YouTube) and I believe his methodology is a civilian / academic equivalent of personal POTs training.  That is:  how we should expect to teach ourselves and verify our own knowledge / competency in a subject.  I shudder to think of the number of lectures / classes / training sessions I’ve attended where the instructor either did not have this level of personal expertise or expect the student to demonstrate understanding at the end of the session.  Which, (again) is why we remember our few “great” teachers over our lifetimes.
Disclaimer:  The list of four steps above are available in several books and on the web and the exact wording is neither mine nor exclusive to any specific source so I have not bothered to cite any “original” source.  I apologize in advance if anyone reading this feels I have used their exact language describing Dr. Feynman’s technique.
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On This Day In:
2021	Learning And Teaching
	Two Loves
2020	Does Anyone Else Look Forward To The Last Lawn Mowing ‘Til Spring?
	Only For You
2019	10,000 Tries
2018	Keep America Great – Vote This Tuesday
2017	Old Style Ear Candy
2016	Next Tuesday
2015	Wanna Trade?
2014	Brothers And Friends
2013	So Suddenly
2012	At The Center
2011	Live Long And Thinner
	Got Health?
2010	SF Giants – 2010 World Series Champions!!!
	52 – 54 – 56 – 58
2009	Diet Update
	Pictures from Chicago Trip…

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At Least Not Until Sunset

It may be that the day of judgment will dawn tomorrow;  in that case we will gladly stop working toward a better future.  But not before.
—   Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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On This Day In:
2021	At Least Not Until Sunset
	Rain On The Leaves
2020	At Least A Little Less
	Two For The Post
2019	Promises, Promises
2018	You Mean There IS Something Else?
2017	Be Good
2016	Raise Yourself
2015	A Kids Movie Rip-Off
2014	Ready, Action!
2013	Responding To Challenges
2012	Abnormal, adj.
2011	Large Families
	On The Brink

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A Spoonful Of Sugar

Let us sing now, not in order to enjoy a life of leisure, but in order to lighten your labors.  You should sing as wayfarers do — sing, but continue your journey.  Do not be lazy, but sing to make your journey more enjoyable.  Sing, but keep going.
—     St. Augustine
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On This Day In:
2020	Insensitive To Silence
	To All My Friends…
2019	Judging Success
2018	Something Else
	Day 21: 10% Loss
2017	Courage
2016	Don’t H8! — I’m With Her!!
2015	$20 Anyone?
2014	And Yet I Still Study
2013	Use Your Own
2012	Strengthen Freedom
2011	Attrition = A Lack Of Imagination
2010	Mind The Fire, Love
	Just Beyond My Reach…
	Even A Life Of Quiet Desperation!
	Acts Of Courage

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Still A Work In Progress

Work to become, not to acquire.
—   Confucius
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On This Day In:
2022	One Working Future
2021	Still A Work In Progress
	An Innocent Man
2020	Three Stooges
2019	#Impeach45: Halt The Slide Into Tryanny
2018	Expecting Profit
2017	In Spite Of The President
2016	And Sets
	And My God For His Graces
2015	About Character
2014	Your Gain
2013	Look Up
2012	Count Me In
2011	Pirates Four, Three Songs
	Sir Charles
	Look First, Not Last
2010	Par-a-diddle

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No Crumbs

Aside from a moral obligation to treat workers well and pay them a living wage, there’s nothing to prevent more companies from jettisoning full-time employees and shifting to lower-paid gig workers.
They’d just be following what has been happening for decades in other fields.  Just as manufacturing shifted overseas for cheaper labor and as gig economy apps drove down wages for taxi and delivery drivers, the pandemic has hastened the gig-ification of white-collar jobs.  The gig economy might have been a crowded space before COVID-19, but the booming economy masked its workers’ struggles because many of them could find other jobs to supplement their income.  Now, that extra work has dried up, and their desperation is more evident than ever.  When gig work is the only pie that’s available to millions of people, sharing it means that some don’t even get crumbs.
—    Alana Semuels
In her article:  “As the gig economy grows, its workers’ paychecks shrink“
In:  Time Magazine, dtd:  1-8 June 2020
This article also appears online with a different title:  “‘It’s a Race to the Bottom.’ The Coronavirus is Cutting Into Gig Worker Incomes as the Newly Jobless Flood Apps“
The specific link is:  https://time.com/5836868/gig-economy-coronavirus/
You may have to go through a paywall to view the online article.
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On This Day In:
2021	Momentary Offering
	Happy Noise
2020	No Crumbs
	Too Many Detectives On This Case
	A New Day Is Coming
2019	Or In This Case – What’s Wrong
2018	Just Passing Through
2017	True Torture
	Happy Thanksgiving – 2017 !!
2016	Overtaken
2015	Alone Praying
2014	A Full Man
2013	Off Defending The Universe
	Taking Precautions
2012	Never, Never, Never
2011	Testing 1, 2, 3

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Works For Me

If I didn’t make it in baseball, I won’t have made it workin’.  I didn’t like to work.
—    Yogi Berra
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On This Day In:
2022	Refreshing My Look Ahead (Back)
	I’m Still Mediocre With Easy
2021	I’m An Optimist
	Talent Is A Ticket To Ride
2020	Works For Me
	Rivers Versus Waterfalls
2019	Better To Do
	News: Drunken Party Girl Saves Seoul
2018	Keep Moving
2017	Fighting Good
2016	Size Matters
2015	Maybe The Best Thing
2014	Ready To Be Fried?
2013	A Real Lover
2012	Winning Wars
2011	A Different Lesson

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#IncompetentDonald Manages Like A Virus

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.
—    Peter Drucker
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On This Day In:
2019	Of Course, You Still Have To Listen
2018	Coming Home
2017	It’s Just Around The Bend
2016	In What Direction?
2015	Embarrassing Myself Again
2014	I’ve Never Have Had
2013	Glory Days (part 1)
2012	Feeling Old?
2011	Even When I Wish Really, Really Hard
	Skeptical Fathers
	Cha-cha-cha-changes

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Art Work

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.
—    Anonymous
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On This Day In:
2022	Do People Know What You Stand For?
2021	The Republican Party Can Survive Trumpism (If It Wants To)
	Don’t You Ever Ask Them Why
2020	Art Work
	One Person (Republican) Can Make A Majority
2019	Hopefully, Closer To Noon
	Can You See The Bottom?
2018	Stock Market Sets Another Record Under #DumbDonald
	#LyingDonald: About That Special Prosecutor Testimony
2017	We Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
2016	But You Have To Learn It Feels Good
2015	Never Stop
2014	Caution
2013	Treat Her Like A Lady
2012	Build New Worlds
2011	I Grok Elegance
	Standing Relish

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