Two insights from an undergraduate accounting course completed in the late Pliocene: 1) I was not destined to be an accountant and 2) sometimes a product can be used for that which it was not intended originally. A warehouse full of football helmets were determined to be unsafe. The helmets had a defect and could…Read the full article

  Shell-Ter In addition to an impressive sunburn and bug bites covering just over 140% of my body, I picked up a seashell of the genus, “no idea” and the species “I didn’t even know seashells had a species” on the beach at Cayo Costa. Actually, my kids found it. The shell was light brown. Twenty years…Read the full article

Don’t misunderstand. I am in favor of information. When I am in a canoe on a river, for example, I like to be informed as to whether or not there is a dangerous waterfall up ahead. “Hey, you there in the canoe! There’s a dangerous waterfall up ahead!” The information in this communication is doubtless…Read the full article

The opposite of red is not blue. The opposite of dog is not cat. The opposite of Dartmouth is not Colby. And the opposite of hyper-controlling authoritarian parents is not bourgeois-decadent, spoiled rotten, out of control, snotty-nosed, non-compliant kids who expect to make a lot of money in their first job out of college but…Read the full article

“Cui Bono?” means “who benefits?” Before giving advice consider whose interests are being served. Especially when talking to 20-somethings. Try to determine if the listener is going to benefit from your guidance. As always, consideration of time, place, and occasion are useful guides. Lastly, make every effort to consider whether or not the listener gives…Read the full article

Having not won a gold medal in the Olympic marathon for four years, of course Abebe Bikila triumphantly crossed the finish line first in Tokyo in 1964. Bikila beat Basil Heatley (of whom more later) by just over four minutes. Winning an Olympic marathon by over four minutes is likely unprecedented–although I am much too…Read the full article

I wasn’t there, but it is my understanding that Paul Simon performed in front of about half a million people in Central Park not so many years ago. I also wasn’t invited to any of the recording sessions for “The Sounds of Silence” or “Still Crazy after All these Years,” but it is well accepted…Read the full article

Two people napping in adjacent seats on an airplane are not “sleeping together.” Nor does having given birth to a child define you as an adequate parent. “Staying awake together” and having kids is complicated. Babies know precisely what they want and articulate that information in a straight-forward, shrieking manner. Parents know how they want their kids…Read the full article