• “SWEARING POSITIVELY INFLUENCES ROMANTIC APPROACH AND PUBLIC SPEAKING, where people tend to hesitate or second guess themselves… It’s an easily available way to overcome inhibitions and help one feel less distracted, more focused, self-confident, throw off social constraint, and allow oneself to push harder in different situations – literally a calorie neutral, drug free, low cost, readily available tool at our disposal for when we need a boost in performance.” Who knew?   [AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION]

 

  • MANAGING UNCERTAINTY IS AMONG THE MOST CRITICAL FACTORS IN BUSINESS LEADERSHIP. Research shows that people feel more stressed by a 50% chance of receiving an electric shock than by a 100% certainty they’ll get one. So, as 2026 begins with a weakening job market, displacement from AI, and risk of the AI ‘bubble’ bursting with broad economic damage, “employees need to be led with transparency about what changes Managers do know and what’s not changing, equipping them with at least a higher level of comfort about best thriving in a rapidly changing environment. The answer to today’s chaos is not organizational ‘restructuring’ – which can destroy the relationships, rituals and shared knowledge that make work happen, with changes that lower workers’ job satisfaction, increase resistance to change, and disrupt their psychological safety. By maintaining transparency about challenges, and modeling adaptability with AI, leaders can best create clarity amid chaos.”  [TIME.COM]

 

  • ‘BIOLOGICAL AGE’ MEASURES LIFESPAN OR RISK OF AGE-RELATED DISEASES based on changes in DNA, called the Epigenetic Clock, which is now considered a better measure of aging than calendar dates. Several research studies have now determined that the common underlying causes for premature aging of up to 4.7 years stem from our living in a society that:(1) Promotes exposure to “Obesity, directly associated with increased risk of dementia or frailty, thanks to almost unlimited access to calorie-dense, inexpensive food that tastes good; and (2) Absence of physical activity, which needs to be actively sought out, and consequently is reserved for people with enough resources and drive to get off the couch.”  [SCIENCE NORWAY]

 

  • CYBER FRAUD CONTINUES TO INCREASE DAILY, with fake invoices, ‘customer support’ scams, account takeovers, phishing emails and texts – much now generated by AI and incredibly convincing.  Attached are guidelines (from nonprofit Secure the Village, where Dennis sits on the Advisory Board) to greatly mitigate both Business and Residence risks with practical steps to spot and reduce the biggest exposure points, including risks from family use of social platforms. A quick review and a few simple steps can save potential for not only huge financial risk but also great aggravation. Simplest start points involve: Freezing credit lines; Using multi-factor authentication; Avoiding urgent requests for money, gift cards, or login links (even and especially when they look familiar); Using strong and different passwords for each financial-related site. DCG offers courtesy consult in cybersecurity protection.

 

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

  •  What happens to the human body after reaching age 80:  It changes its rhythm, senses fade, muscles shrink, and the brain begins quietly rewriting its own code. A realistic (and a bit depressing) reality check:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGcsgNVI1M       

 

 

  • ETF FUNDS (EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS) are a basket of investments – stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities – that trade on a stock exchange like a single stock, offering diversification, lower costs and easy daily trading, now totaling some $10 Trillion, nearly three-quarters controlled by only three companies: iShares, Vanguard and State Street, who set the pricing, the innovation curve, and the competitive dynamics for everyone else.

 

  • Just for sweet dreams over the holiday: While pest control companies advise average residences house 40 spiders, studies find an average of around 10 per room. Some 45,000 species worldwide hold a population of around a million spiders for every human, but only 30 species can inflict a serious bite, and only 12 have fangs that can pierce human skin.  [SCIENCE FOCUS]