Dear Graduating Class of 2016

So ends another school year, and so begins another attempt at imparting wisdom upon this year’s graduates.  In the past, I’ve sometimes had messages for both high school and college graduates.   I’m going to ignore the scholastic grads this year, maybe from this point forward.  18-year-olds are so brainwashed from living in the same social-political-economic environment their whole lives, I don’t see how they can process an outsider’s advice anyway, much less execute it.  But college grads – they have no excuse.

So to the college graduates of 2016:

Let me start by saying that I’m withholding my congratulations.  Oh sure, you may have done enough to get your degree, but what’s the accomplishment in that?  I've previously chided the act of celebrating high school diplomas, and as for you, was there ever a doubt that with enough time and money, you would eventually graduate?

Let’s get real.  With apologies to the rocket scientists out there, getting a college degree isn’t rocket science.  Heck, you didn’t even need to GO to college to get a degree.  Thanks to technology, not to mention lower standards, you can get a degree on-line for the most part.  If it was going to take a massive effort to get degree, you probably wouldn’t have gone to college in the first place.

As for what's next, like I've said to your predecessors, if you haven't figured that out yet, you've already made your first real-life screw up.  That's what the last 4 or 5 or 5+ years were for.  If that's you, then you're probably headed back to live in your all-too-willing parents' basement for an undisclosed period of time.  So much for repeating my best advice from last year to “go out there and try to never move back in with your parents!"

However, regardless of whether you are unemployed and living with your parents, or you are planning to travel the world and live day-by-day, or you actually have a job, there are still important things you now must do.  Be responsible.  Be accountable.  Be socially aware.  Have an opinion.  Have a sense of humor.  Improve yourself.  Positively influence those around you.

Most of all, figure out a way to contribute to the betterment of society -- it's not so hard.  For some of you that might mean staying in your parents basement, so if that's what you were going for, it all worked out.

Berky Meeting Nuggets 2016

About this time of the year, I post my annual recap of items discussed at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting.  This year, instead of concentrating on topics, I'm going to concentrate on some of the more interesting / funny statments from either Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger:

On the choices of women:
If the choice is between two old rich men, choose the older man!

On getting advice from relatives:
A lot of people have terrible relatives.

On a town with no population growth:
Every time a girl got pregnant, some guy had to leave town!

On successful debating:
You should know the other person's argument better than he does.

On working in difficult businesses:
Somebody has to occupy the tough niches in the economy!

On competition:
Win fairly and lose wisely.

And finally, since the meeting was live-streamed for the first time ever this year, I'm going to link to that, and tell you to watch from the 2:42 to 2:55 mark, where Buffett gives a can't miss lesson about successful investing by minimizing expenses.
https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream/

A Good Use Of Twitter

Several weeks ago, there was some media attention given to Twitter's tenth anniversary.  Some of that attention focused on the negatives of Twitter, namely that it makes some people believe they're more important than they really are.  (I'm looking at you, B-list celebrities and athletes.)

However, one article I read was someone's list of the 100 funniest jokes in the history of Twitter.  It seems odd, but while some jokes are funny when spoken, others only work in print.  The latter is one of the best things about Twitter, and it's made even better by the fact they have to work in 140 characters or less.  The joke has to be short, therefore, it has to be smart.

Here are a few of my favorites from that list of 100, most of which would only work in print:

Most cutting thing you can say is "who's this clown?" because it implies they're a) a clown & b) not even one of the better-known clowns

ME: honey, it's really muggy out today
WIFE: if I go outside & all our mugs are on the front lawn, I'm leaving u
ME: *sips coffee from bowl*

When you’re cutting wrapping paper and your scissors start to glide is what I imagine heroin feels like

[ordering cake over phone]
"and what would you like the cake to say?"
[covers phone to ask wife]
"do we want a talking cake?"

"Anybody here named Jeff?"
Jeff: "Yes"
Geoff: "Yeos"

The best thing about trying to name a baby is realizing how many people you hate

-The name's Bond. James Bond.
-I've written Bond now.
-Oh. Can you change it or is it too late?
-When your coffee's ready they'll call Bond

I put the "baller" in "I just ruined my daughter's ballerina recital."

COP: u were swerving a lot so i have to conduct a sobriety test
ME: ok
COP: lets get taco bell
ME: no
COP: text ur ex
ME: no
COP: ok ur good

When parents say to kids "go to ur room & think about what you've done" it's really good practice for what you'll do every night as an adult

What my girlfriend thought, first 4 dates:
1. Nice shirt.
2. Wow. A second nice shirt.
3. Okay, first shirt again.
4. He has two shirts.

(•_•) (•_•)
<) )╯ ALAS
/ \

(•_•)
\(•_•)
( (> POOR
/ \

(•_•)
<) )> YORICK
/ \ (•_•)

Mayo-praise

Due in part to a major medical issue from 15+ years ago, I occasionally go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for diagnostic testing and check-ups.  It started out as a kind of second opinion on treatment I'd already received, to help determine if there was a different / better course going forward.  I got comfortable with doctor(s) I saw there, and it morphed into semi-annual, then annual, and now once every 3-5 years deal at my discretion.

I made my latest Mayo visit this week.  It's about a 3 hour, one-way trip, and although I've done the entire visit in a day, I usually add a one-night hotel stay.  When I go now, I'm contemplative about the prior visits, and why I still go there.

The bottom line is, Mayo is different than other health care providers.  In dozens of testing appointments over the years, I've rarely had to wait.  The staff has always been 'Minnesota Nice' in those times.  Perhaps best of all, the diagnostic testing reports are done immediately, so I can visit the doctor, often in the same building, within a couple of hours to hear the outcome.

Factor in that the Mayo Clinic doctors are salaried staff.  They don't get paid more for seeing more patients, or for ordering more tests.  It's a very patient-friendly model, and from that perspective, it's almost infuriating that health care organizations aren't all mandated to operate in that same way.

However, it isn't the most financially-friendly model.  It's definitely more expensive, for both the testing and the doctor visits.  So, if you don't have insurance coverage, there may be a question of value, something that can't be overlooked.

Fortunately, I have insurance.  I also have a desire to  go to a place where I'll know about any medical breakthroughs related to my condition / treatment, if and when that happens.  I still feel the trip to the Mayo Clinic is worth the extra time and cost.

Ratings > Perspective

Today there was a funeral for a Des Moines police officer, one of two killed last week in a late night interstate highway collision.  The officers were transporting an inmate from another jurisdiction when they were hit by a presumed drunk driver, who was driving on the wrong side of the road.

As with the other officer buried earlier in the week, there were scores of other law enforcement personnel in attendance from other parts of Iowa and the country.  That’s not a surprise.  What is a surprise, at least to me, is the production scope of the visitation and funeral ceremonies, and the media attention being given to these events.

For the past four days, main roads have been shut down for extended periods so the bodies could be transported from funeral homes to churches to burial sites.  These transports have included processions of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of police and fire department vehicles, with hundreds, if not thousands, of people paying their respects at the churches, or by standing along these procession routes.  And in something I believe to be unprecedented, there has been live TV coverage of the funerals on multiple stations.

Don’t get me wrong, the death of these police officers (plus two others, including the driver of the other car and the prisoner being transported) is tragic.  But can we at least agree that relative to other tragic deaths, the amount of attention being given to their funerals is somewhat disproportional to what happened.

Yes, they were on duty, and the law enforcement code rightfully gives them and their families an outpouring of support and respect.  However, they were not doing anything heroic.  Being killed by a (allegedly) drunk driver isn’t the same as being killed by taking a bullet, or running into a burning house, or trying to quell a riot.  The manner in which they died could have, and has, happened to countless others before them, both on the job and off.  And while those incidents often garner much support and attention, it isn’t anything like this.  Not even close.

To put it into more perspective, consider a military member killed on the other side of the world in Iraq or Afghanistan or some other god forsaken place.  Yes, the military gives that person tremendous respect, and the funeral is given much attention.  However, it receives nowhere near the attention that the public and media are giving to these officers.  And let’s be real, that military member deserves at least as much, probably more attention, given their sacrifice.  They are doing something extraordinary, just being on the other side of the world for months or years, regardless of the cause of death.

I blame the local media for whipping up public sentiment beyond the pale.  They’ve made it a race to see which TV or radio or newspaper or even social media outlet can show that they have more empathy about the local police officer deaths.  Consequently, people are paying more than the usual amount of attention.  That isn’t the fault of the officers, or their families, or I suppose even the police department.  But the whole thing is out of proportion nonetheless.

It reminds me of many years ago when Princess Diana died, and then Mother Teresa of Calcutta died days later.  Diana’s funeral became worldwide spectacle, covered live by international media.  Mother Teresa’s funeral deserved every bit as much coverage, probably more given the circumstances, but only grudgingly got some.  Ratings, you know.  It might have gotten none at all without the guilt of the networks for their over-the-top coverage of Diana.

I’ve privately mentioned my surprise to a few folks, and no one disagrees, but no one dares say it out loud.  Let’s just say the next time a local soldier is killed, I’d better see wall-to-wall media coverage about it.  It’s just a matter of time before another law enforcement or military funeral doesn’t have the same coverage, when there will be some public backlash.

Death With Dignity

Imagine being able to vote for reducing, and perhaps eliminating, human pain and suffering.  Now, imagine voting against that.

This is what's happening in the Iowa legislature right now -- and I'm not even talking about medical marijuana!  I'm talking about a proposed Death With Dignity Act, which is more widely (and crudely) known as physician-assisted suicide.

This may seem like a radical idea in Iowa, but it isn't elsewhere.  Oregon currently has a similar Death With Dignity Act, and other states are considering it.

Under the Iowa version of this Act, "An adult patient who is competent, is a resident of this state, has been determined by the patient’s attending physician and consulting physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, and has voluntarily expressed a wish to die, may make a written request for medication that the patient may self-administer to end the patient’s life…”

In short, this would allow some terminally-ill, suffering Iowans the option of a more peaceful, non-painful death.  It would reduce human pain and suffering.  So naturally, social conservatives (mostly Republicans) and our governor-for-life Terry Branstad, oppose it.

Taking one's life is obviously not something to be taken lightly.  And this Act doesn't do that.  It simply allows a competent person the freedom to make a choice to forego their pain, a choice that harms no one else.

It's different, yet in some ways the same as the medical marijuana debate.  The old, white, conservative males who dominate the legislative and executive branch are either unable or unwilling to understand that science, and attitudes, change over time.  They think they know better -- don't confuse them with evidence to the contrary.

The other day, a friend of mine put it about as eloquently as you can:  Some people just don't believe in evolution, past or present.

Ruining A Great Invention

The internet, as we know it, has been around since roughly 1990.  It was only for sending and receiving text at first, but by the mid-to-late 1990s, the World Wide Web became available.  This allowed us to electronically visit places (web sites) with pictures and later videos, which we would ultimately be able to pass along to others.

With that brief history of the internet in mind, I would compare it to any of mankind’s greatest inventions.  It may not be quite up there with the alphabet or the automobile, but it’s at least in the conversation with the printing press.

Unfortunately, that conversation would have to include whether the internet is now used as much for evil as it is for good, thanks in part to the proliferation of Facebook / Twitter / social media.  I don’t just mean terrorist type evil, either.  I mean the little bits of evil, things like trolling and bullying, and lies that get passed along as fact and influence behavior in a negative way.

I’m not the most internet-connected person, yet not a day goes by that I don’t see a false or questionable internet-sourced item that’s presented as fact.  (This is particularly true in national political election years like this one.)  It happened to me today, it happened to me yesterday, it will surely happen to me tomorrow.

I’m usually skeptical enough to figure it out on my own (sometimes with the help of snopes.com) but let’s face it, most people swallow whatever they’re sent as the truth.  That wouldn’t be so bad, but in our instant gratification world, those fake-truth-swallowers not only agree with what they see, they also have to affirm it, often by sending it along to other fake-truth-swallowers.

Using the internet in this way this isn’t good for civilization, but short of another evil called censorship, there are no rules of engagement to keep it from happening.  That’s a shame, really, for one of the greatest inventions of all-time.