• ‘RADICAL CANDOR’ RELATES TO A BUSINESS STRATEGY THAT ‘HONESTY’ as the best manner of motivating worker performance. But “people rarely say exactly what they mean, while hoping their meaning is nonetheless clear… and some words & phrases are so opaque they absorb all visible meaning.” Examples: (1) ‘Do you have a couple minutes?’ typically means ‘Trouble is on the way’; (2) ‘I hear you’ ostensibly means your point is heard, but often means just ‘Shut up’; (3) ‘I’m curious’ can be a polite way of saying ‘This makes no sense’; (4) ‘It’s on the Agenda or the Priorities List’ very typically means ‘No time soon’; (5) ‘I wanted to keep you in the loop’ quite probably means ‘I should have told you this weeks ago.’ “Humans, especially in business situations, constantly finesse and massage the messages they send in order to avoid open conflict, which perhaps generates swifter feedback improving performance… or perhaps is because otherwise most wouldn’t put up with it.” [ECONOMIST – 11/20/21]
  • CALIFORNIA’S ANSWERS TO THE INCREASING CRIME WAVE (unrelated of course to ‘defunding’ of police or precluding ability to detain criminals) has been deceptively labeled legislation. The Safe Schools & Neighborhoods Act (prop 47) which reduces felonies to misdemeanors (including up to $950 in shoplifting) and provides for immediate or early release of even violent & sex offenders; and the Public Safety & Rehabilitation Act (prop 57) which defines ‘non-violent’ activity to include drive-by shootings/ assault with deadly weapons/ serial arson & bombings/ domestic violence/ rape/ child-trafficking/ even solicitation to commit murder. But (after last week’s wave of ‘flash mob’ robberies) political response is: (1) San Francisco Mayor just announced her big & bold plan to stop looting – “limit parking and/or traffic around Union Square”; and (2) Based on ‘expert’ advice solicited by ABC news, media should “stop using the word “looting,” which is evidently “stigmatizing to people of color, and technically doesn’t apply to theft/ robbery unless committed  as result of natural or man-made disaster or a ‘riot’… for which smashing of storefronts, vandalizing properties or setting buildings on fire don’t qualify, since they are ‘peaceful protests’.”  [CA GLOBE & RED STATE – 11/23/21]
  • TODAY’S NEW ‘WOKE’ IDEOLOGY NOW EMBEDDED AT MOST COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES has, after decades of failing to effectively educate students, is actually miseducating them by abandoning the free exchange of inquiry & ideas. “The new orthodoxy – with  concepts like ‘borrowing from other cultures is inherently predatory,’ and ‘original sin is attributable to skin color’ – is arbitrary and basically mandatory, with students or faculty who step outside the orthodoxy at risk of being ridiculed, shouted at, even being chased off campus, as the very concepts of Objective Reality or Merit taken to be offensive, outmoded and untrue… Professors who once taught theoretical studies & ideas have been eclipsed by faculty specializing in data collection & publications which generate research grants…  Higher education is in danger of being pushed out completely by this epidemic of wokeness in which terrible ideas totally transplant new thinking via unfettered freedom of inquiry… Is new enlightenment possible?  Despite demands for safe spaces & trigger warnings, capitulated to by scared & hapless administrators, the thirst for knowledge can’t be dead among all students & faculty. Humans still inherently want to think new thoughts, experiment and question, with the freedom to change their minds.  [SPECTATOR WORLD – 11/18/21]
  • “HUMANS HOLD WIDELY DIVERGENT VIEWS ABOUT WEIRD THINGS which often seem to run contrary to ‘scientific’ understanding of how the world actually works, and about how reasonable our beliefs are, ostensibly based on ‘evidence’ for or against what’s most likely to be true, as well as whom are the most likely relevant authorities… and largely ignoring Common Sense and unaware of critical factors like: (1) Underestimating how prone we are to illusion & deception, and strong tendency to find pattern in random noise versus expectation of huge coincidences; (2) Once we’ve formed an opinion, Confirmation Bias temps us to notice only the supporting evidence while ignoring the rest; (3) After emotional/ social/ financial investment in forming a belief, it’s discomforting and extremely difficult to change our mind, called Cognitive Dissonance; (4) Showing that a theory can be made to consistently ‘fit’ with evidence is not the same as a theory being confirmed by evidence, which can delude ourselves into thinking we’re being reasonable when we’re not!”  [PSYCH.CO – 11/10/21]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

                 ‘Gratitude’ is the quality of feeling thankful for results that stemmed from others’ efforts or example, and acknowledging your appreciation. Multiple studies at top universities have demonstrated that when people are grateful, they are emotionally happier and physically more in balance, with significantly greater creativity, productivity and success in their endeavors.

                 ‘Dreamtech’ Advertising to “drive purchasing behavior by presentation of stimuli before or during sleep” is planned by 77% of watch/ wearables/ apps marketers within the next three years, to “subliminally hack our thoughts while sleeping.  A recent study found that “next-day smoking was reduced by mixing bad smells with cigarette smoke while smokers slept,” according to Futurism.com.

                 “Liberal hypocrisy in the blue states,” according (surprisingly) to NEW YORK TIMES, “is at blame for America’s inequality and disparity crises in education, housing & homelessness… from virtue signaling and white college-educated liberals being the most ideologically rigid – showing up at the marches but wanting no part of non-whites coming too close to their places of comfort… demonstrating ‘we believe in these ideals, just not in my backyard’.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/opinion/democrats-blue-states-legislation.html   [TOWNHALL – 11/24/21]