2018

Another New Year's Eve (eve) is here, so it's time for my annual review of the things I wanted to have happen in the past year, and a fresh list of things I want to have happen in the next year.  Here's the 2017 list, with comments in ALL CAPS:

-Again:  At least some progress on medical marijuana in Iowa,

THE GOOD NEWS IS, SOME PROGRESS WAS MADE.  IT'S GOING TO BE A TAD BIT EASIER FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT TO GET IT.  THE BAD NEWS IS, IOWA IS STILL NOT FULLY COMMITTED TO IT.

-Some type of institutional or legal control over fake news / social media.

FACEBOOK HAS TAKEN SOME ACTION, ALBEIT TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.  AT THIS POINT, IT'S HARD TO GET IN FRONT OF IT, BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT LIVES IN A VIRTUAL REALTY WORLD THAT HE WANTS OTHERS TO BELIEVE IS NORMAL.

-Related to the above, more critical thinkers, fewer idiots who believe everything they hear.

THERE ARE MORE CRITICAL THINKERS ON THE LEFT, AND LET'S JUST SAY FEWER CRITICAL THINKERS ON THE RIGHT.

-GPS technology used in major sporting events, e.g. to mark the ball in football games, and for the strike zone in baseball games.

NOPE.  LOSERS.

-More working from home by me.

THIS HAPPENED, BUT TO ONLY ABOUT 25% OF THE LEVEL IT SHOULD HAVE.

-The return of popular mainstream rock bands and rock music.

THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN, HOWEVER, I SAW RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS AND JOE WALSH AND TOM PETTY (AND SCHEDULED TO SEE BOB SEGER) IN CONCERT.  SO IT WASN'T ALL BAD.

-Implementation of the fiduciary rule, and the demise of commission-based financial advice.

THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED THE RULES TO GO INTO EFFECT, BUT THERE WILL BE NO ENFORCEMENT UNTIL AT LEAST 2019.  SO, NO.  AND SINCE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE IN THE REPUBLICAN'S POCKETS, MIGHT AS WELL FORGET ABOUT THIS FOR A FEW MORE YEARS.

-The resignation or impeachment of an unqualified president -- no names, any one will do.

NOT AS CRAZY AS IT SOUNDED LAST YEAR. WILL ADD PUSH THIS FORWARD.  IT WON'T BE ANY FUN TO ASK IT FOR 2019 BECAUSE BY THEN IT WILL BE LIKELY.

For 2018 I'd like to see:

The failure of Bitcoin, not as an idea, but as an investment.

An NCAA scandal so large they will have to start allowing players a cut of revenues.

More destinations and ways to fly on Southwest Airlines.

A widespread ability to charge devices without a cord (also asked for this for 2016).

A new governor / lieutenant governor elected for Iowa. 

Let's try this -- exponential growth in the cannabis industry to the extent all states will want a piece of it through taxation.

Greater national and international awareness of CRISPR (genome editing) technology.

Smaller entree portions served in restaurants, for a reduced price.

Fewer national weather disasters, but more understanding of climate change.

The resignation or impeachment of a mentally unstable and unqualified president -- again, no names.

Strange Bundt Clever

The other day a new business opened nearby called Nothing Bundt Cakes.  It’s a national franchise that makes – you guessed it -- cakes.  I’ve known about the business for a while, having seen one a few years ago in a larger metropolitan area.

This got me thinking about clever names or taglines that businesses come up with to promote their brand, and whether it was effective.  There’s probably no long-term reason to believe a catchy name makes a big economic impact.  In the end, and a business isn’t going to grow without providing good value, no matter what the business name might be.

Regardless, this led me on a quick Google search that resulted in other great examples.  Here are just a few more related to food:

• Award Wieners  (Includes an even more clever tag line of “Best Wiener In A Supporting Roll.”)
• Pita Pan
• The Codfather
• Planet of the Grapes (wine store)

There are undoubtedly many other local food / retail stores that have punny names, some that may use more colloquial terms.  However, you don’t find many clever names outside of those industries.  I suppose those who work in ‘more serious’ trades such as finance or health care are as likely to lose consumers by doing that than they are to add them.

Years ago I came across a consulting business that had an incredibly coincidental, if not clever name.  It was an energy consulting firm that specialized in alternative energy, especially wind energy.  The firm, which still exists today, is called Wind Utility Consulting.  It’s headed by its owner – Tom Wind.

He didn’t have to think very hard about what to name his company.

What's Wrong With Merry Christmas

The holiday season is upon us, with lots of helpful Santas, and a few scattered Grinches.  It also means we're all going to be exposed to another useless argument about saying 'Merry Christmas' as opposed to the more generic 'Happy Holidays' or 'Seasons Greetings'.

I grew up in a super-conservative Christian area.  There was / is no controversy about this issue there; one was / is expected to say Merry Christmas lest they be identified as an outsider.  I imagine this is true for most of the U.S. fruited plain, which is vastly rural and Christian.

But once you've lived in a more populated area, and have plenty of non-Christian friends, the lines get blurred.  I'm much more likely to say Happy Holidays now, not because political-correctness requires it, but because it's easier.  It covers more bases, and I simply don't have to think about it.

The other day, I asked my non-Christian neighbor about his thoughts, not only on Merry Christmas, but other traditions such as Christmas trees and presents.  A native of India, he said he thought nothing of it.  He certainly was not offended in any way.  Unlike me, he came from a religiously diverse country, and everyone there respected others' traditions.

I'm not offended by anyone who wants to say Merry Christmas, but I am offended by those who would expect it of me, or that think it's the only holiday greeting that should be posted on public property.  Those people are close-minded, and ironically, not being very Christian when it comes to respecting others and their faiths.

Just accept my secular holiday greeting if you get it, as I would accept a non-secular one, and let's move on.

No Thank You

Thanksgiving-time is here, and so is my 9th annual list of things for which I am not thankful.  You can get to the prior lists by starting here or by using following the Thanksgiving label on the blog.

As usual, the following list is in no particular order:

Charging my technology devices.

Confederate statues.

Office workers who don’t clean up after themselves.

Invitations to things I don’t want to attend.

Fake (Fox) News.

The first snowfall, and all of the others that follow.

Sexual harassment deniers who’ve had multiple independent claims against them.

Confirmation bias.

Those who forward their confirmation biases on social media dozens of times a day.

The excessively slow pace of college and professional baseball games.

Christmas advertisements and music before Thanksgiving.

Hurricanes.

Beyond The Evolutionary Lottery

There are all kinds of built-in advantages to being a natural 1) Caucasian-born 2) American 3) male.  Any one of these three gives a person a head start in life; being all three is like winning the evolutionary lottery, especially economically and socially.  I realize this, although most do not.

However, there is one thing I believe no one is naturally born with that, if attained through effort and some luck, creates a big advantage in life.  Intelligence.  (I say luck is involved because although it isn't natural, intelligence is still more likely to be attained by those advantaged, white American males who are far more likely to be educated through college.)

Smarter people are capable of doing more things in life, and doing them effectively and efficiently, and therefore they gain advantages over others.  There are tons of examples, some obvious (understanding technology) and some not so obvious (critical thinking).

Knowledge is power, whether it's at the office, at the bar, or at the neighborhood block party.  Just being able to carry on a conversation with the person standing next to you, whomever that is, can be a big plus in a variety of situations.

There is one major downside for some of the smarties out there:  Their frequent inability to grasp that they aren't always the smartest person in the room.  This brings them well-earned disregard from those they would seek to impress.  Let's just say the positive correlation between knowledge and power is sometimes offset by the negative correlation between intelligence and self-awareness.

Regardless, knowing things other people don't know is a huge advantage in a world that relies less and less on physical talent.  The best part of this is, almost anyone can do it.  (I say almost because again, it helps a lot to be born in America, home of taxpayer-funded public education and the public library.)

If only it mattered more in politics, where intelligence apparently provides no advantage whatsoever.

Visiting The Chowdaheads

I've long wanted to visit the far northeastern portion of the United States -- the New England area, as I usually refer to it.  As a bonus, I've always wanted to do that in October, during the peak of Fall colors.

This month, that visit finally happened.  During the week I was there, I swept through parts of six different states.  Here are some observations from each state:

Massachusetts -- The trip started and ended in Boston, the only place in the area to which I'd previously been.  As with that prior trip, I consider it a friendly town, but unless you're really into colonial history, not that exciting.  A day-trip to Cape Cod was a lot of driving, but more interesting.  It doesn't take much to imagine that big sand bar to be choked with tourists and traffic during the summer months.

Rhode Island -- Spent a night in Providence, which struck me as being like Des Moines if it was located on the Atlantic shore.  Even though it's a small state, didn't have the time to get to Newport, which I suspect would have been a lot like Cape Cod.

Connecticut -- Only drove through the corner of this state.  Nothing to report, except that I was there.

Vermont -- It generally fit the stereotype.  A mostly rural state, with dense (and colorful) birch and maple trees covering the landscape, bed and breakfast-type inns, dairy herds, and friendly people.  Home to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and Cabot Cheese, both of which I toured.  It's not that much different than Iowa, with the White Mountain range instead of silos.

New Hampshire -- A lot like Vermont, with one major, unexpected exception: About 25 miles of Atlantic shore line, with vast sandy beaches and some huge houses and resorts.  Who knew?  That small corner of New Hampshire was actually a lot more like I expected Cape Cod to be.

Maine -- We weren't able to make it up to Acadia National Park, but the southern part of the state had its own charm.  Think lighthouses, lobsters, and coastal shipping passages.  I got the feeling that everyone who lives there wither worked as a fisherman or longshoreman.  However, that feeling went away on a visit to Kennebunkport -- a vacation destination for the very wealthy and connected, with the Bush family compound being the elite of the elite.

By my count, this leaves Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and North Dakota as only states I haven't yet been to.  A couple of golf trips should fix that.

A Failed History Lesson

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  So goes the famous quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill.

This quote came to life for me again in the past week, after watching parts of two different, public television documentaries on the Vietnam War.   The main one was a new, 10-part series called The Vietnam War from Ken Burns.  The other was from a couple of years ago called Dick Cavett’s Vietnam.

I was only in the single-digits old during the Vietnam War, so I didn’t understand then what was happening, either in Southeast Asia or in America.  I only have a few real recollections of it.  One was a day around 1970, when my family was watching a television scroll of calendar days next to numbers.  (I didn’t realized this until many years later, but they were looking at the draft lottery, and probably wondering if a randomly drawn number would send a loved one to the war.)  Another memory was the day the war informally ended, in April 1975, watching TV reports of the last people being lifted by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof in Saigon.

So, watching parts of these documentaries was new information for me.  It’s hard to understand even now how much of a dumb, tactical, human failure it was for the U.S.  Tremendous, unnecessary sacrifice and loss of life, just to keep a small, remote territory from becoming Communist.  But that’s the way it was then, Communism was our enemy, and we were blind to our limits to contain it.

What really struck me, however, is how similar things were to the (current) U.S. 'wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They also started out as something that would be quickly managed, and with a fair amount of support after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  But again, we were blind to our limits to defeat an idea (terrorism), and the length of the wars and their eventual human cost, which turned American attitudes against it.

Not only are there general similarities, but as the Cavett documentary showed, there are fascinating similarities with the personalities involved then and now.   I thought of a number of them within a few minutes as I was watching:

Lyndon Johnson = George W. Bush

Robert McNamara = Donald Rumsfeld

Dick Cavett = Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert

Warren Beatty and Jane Fonda = George Clooney (and Jane Fonda?)

Muhammad Ali = ?  Unfortunately, no contemporary famous athlete compares to him, and no contemporary athlete suffered like him.

It’s was 40 years between the Vietnam War and the Iraq / Afghanistan conflicts.  Did we learn anything from history?  Now it’s been 50 years since the Vietnam War.  Have we learned anything yet?