• “THE THING THAT MAKES BUSINESS TRICKY is that almost every situation is novel in some way, with different products/ services/ types of employees/ markets/ etc., so it’s situational in nature.” Even hindsight has its limits, since today’s world isn’t yesterday’s world, and decisions have to be made with a fraction of the total information we’d like to have. In business, where timing is usually critical, decision-makers can’t dwell on mistakes of the past but have to get to the next move. Especially for startups, having a Contingency Plan B is often of lesser value than coming up with a new Plan A, since “looking back has its limits; while good judgment comes from experience, experience actually comes from bad judgment.”   [BIG THINK – 7/31/24]
  • STUDIES FIND A ‘COLLECTIVE AWAKENING’ OF HUMANS in the middle of the night – between 3: and 4:am (half way point between how most typically nod off around 11: to midnight and wake up between 7: to 8: in the morning). This phenomenon, reported by one-in-three before the pandemic and increased since, is attributed to ‘anxiety dreams’ over unfinished tasks which “make us more aware of stress happening in our lives.” Cognitive therapists recommend: simply taking time before sleep to review the day’s events and plan tomorrow’s agenda on a ‘To Do’ list which “assists the brain to process stuff without waking you.” Other factors in jolting us awake include erratic schedules, doomscrolling (spending too much time reading negative news or other content online, especially on social media), and lack of fresh air.  [IFL SCIENCE – 8/2/24]
  • POPULAR CHOCOLATE BRANDS, INCLUDING ORGANICS, CONTAIN HEAVY METALS exceeding FDA and California Prop 65 levels. According to multiple studies analyzing 72 dark chocolates over eight years, lead and cadmium were consistently found in brands including Hershey/ Trader Joes/ Godiva/ Ghirardelli/ Nestle/ Whole Foods. “Even low levels can produce toxic effects to the central nervous system, resulting in cognitive decline, fine motor control impairment, and attention-related issues in both children & adults. For most people eating a single one-ounce serving is unlikely to pose a significant health risk, but consuming multiple servings can lead to excessive exposure, especially in combination with other food sources of heavy metals such as teas & spices.”  [EPOCH HEALTH – 7/31/24]
  • WITH AN INVASION NOW WELL ABOVE TEN-MILLION ILLEGALS across our (supposed) southern Border, “a cautionary tale about Open Borders: London has increasingly become unrecognizable due to its demographic changes that immigration has wrought. In two decades, white population has declined from 60% to 37%, while the Muslim population has doubled and migrants from South Asia & Africa have entrenched themselves. Street corners can now be confused for Peshawar or Islamabad, while Sub-Saharan Africans transverse Westminster Bridge waving flags of their homelands demanding reparations.”  [PATRIOT POST – 8/7/24]

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:      

  • The future of work looks to be Hybrid, with demand by over 52% of workers for at least partially remote work to facilitate Life Balance, and latest surveys find women 25% more likely than men to cite remote work as motivation to seek out jobs. Large companies including Amazon/ Apple/ Google now structure hybrid programs mandating three in-office days weekly to ensure in-person meetings when necessary, but trusting workers to do their jobs from home without constant supervision.  [EPOCH TIMES – 8/1/24]
  • Taxpayer-funded federal Grants to non-profit Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League are principally funded to the LGBTQ youth program at Children’s National Hospital (in Washington D.C, ranked #5 in the nation) “aimed at influencing kids as young as six to identify as Transgender… Explaining puberty to gender-diverse children begins with using abbreviations AMAB and AFAB (assigned male or female at birth) in after-school programs for kids 6 to 13, and inducing a state of gender dysphoria while coaching them through ‘transition’ socially by adopting a new name/ using opposite sex pronouns/ changing clothing/ cutting or growing out hair/ and ‘coming out’ in the classroom – all to assume their newfound Gender Identity.”  [TOWNHALL – 8/6/24]