• “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NOW CHANGING THE WAY ‘CREATIVES’ CREATE, DESIGN AND EXECUTE PROJECTS.” An algorithm available on smartphones and via Amazon Echo (Endel) now develops personalized mood-music for users, either focusing on work or relaxation, based on a series of personal factors. The use of A.I. is “shifting value creation toward sentiments intrinsic to the human experience… which will never replace the creatives, but will change the way they create projects and how people experience them – for example ‘chill-out areas’ in public spaces, galleries and clubs.” [INTERESTING ENGINEERING – 3/28/19]

 

  • THE UNANTICIPATED RISKS & CONSEQUENCES OF DRONE DEVELOPMENT ARE FAST EVOLVING. Now capable of speeds up to 160mph, drones can be, and are being, adapted by malicious terrorists as well as benign hobbyists – examples involve their capacity to carry guns, Tasers, flame throwers, fireworks launchers & graffiti sprays; one “environmental activist landed a drone carrying radioactive material on a Prime Minister’s residence which sat there for nearly two weeks before being discovered. Over 200 counter-drone systems are in development but options are limited, so far limited to low-tech strategies (like using nets or projectiles to capture), since jamming or hijacking controls also would impact all other Wi-Fi and GPS frequencies, and ‘shooting’ them down obviously carries other risks. A world of unintended consequences…  [ECONOMIST – 6/15/19]

 

  • SNOWFLAKE UPDATE: “Intent on ignoring the actual content of ‘The Life of Washington’ painting, a mural which graces the foyer of George Washington High School in San Francisco… a handful of ‘outside busybodies’ activists complained to a 13-member working group of the School District that the mere sight of the nation’s first president was ‘traumatizing’ to students. The District is now deciding whether to hide it behind curtains at cost of only $300K, paint over the mural at cost of $600K, or hide it behind paneling at cost of $875K… while SF is currently experiencing a teacher shortage costing around $100K/yr.” [LBN EXAMINER – 6/26/19]

 

  • THE ‘PETER PRINCIPLE,’ developed five decades ago states that “workers get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence… rising up the career ladder until the point at which they are NOT good at their job. The logical corollary is that any senior management who have been at their job for an extended period are incompetent.” A recent 40,000-person research study has confirmed this generally accepted phenomenon with regard to Selling Skills, where the best salespeople – those with charisma and persistence – were consistently promoted. However, “selling skills are not the same capabilities as the strategic planning and administrative competence needed to lead a sales team, and previous performance was actually a negative indicator of managerial success, 7.5% lower for the top closers than for weaker sales performers.” [ECONOMIST – 6/22/19]

 

  • TWO-THIRDS OF HEART PATIENTS ARE MEN, and testosterone versus estrogen “seems to be one of many factors that figure into this… but, for a male with an average predisposition to heart disease, the most important things he can do to modify overall risk involve lifestyle modification: good dietary regimen, smoking cessation and exercise to avoid obesity and sedentary sitting – a half hour a day of vigorous activity is plenty.” Additionally, according to the Director of Heart Institute at Cedar Sinai Medical Center, “there is no doubt that stress plays an important role and can precipitate a bad outcome for Type A over-achievers (aka ‘Heart Attack Personality’) so meditation and relaxation therapy” are also important. [VENTURA BLVD MAGAZINE –  July 2019]

 

  • LA BUSINESS OWNERS NOTE: Any employees working at least two hours a week within the city limits as of July 1 now get minimum wage of $13.25/hr if up to 25 employees, $14.25 above that number.

 

  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: “A Man’s Guide to Women—a ‘Hot Crazy Matrix’ diagram to determine ‘The Wife Zone’ — the relationship that should last the longest and could be financially devastating if it doesn’t “: https://biggeekdad.com/2014/08/mans-guide-women/   “Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius.”

        “Management problems and principles are rooted in time, and as a result, the critical task for management is to find a new set of organizational practices that will become the basis for managing the next period of evolutionary growth. The challenge then becomes the irony of seeing a major solution in one period become a major problem in a later period, recognizing and accepting that nothing works forever.”  [CBINSIGHTS.COM – 6/18/19]