Monthly Archives: October 2004

UPDATE ON CASSIE STROMER, A WORD FROM BILL MOYERS, AND A LITTLE POLITICAL HUMOUR

Recently I passed along the story from New Yorker writer Susan Sheehan about the financial struggles of Cassie Stromer, who is no longer able to pay her $58/month Medicare premium or get her dentures repaired on her pension income of … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 8 Comments

REDEFINING PROGRESS: A BETTER PLAN FOR ENERGY

(article is below ad — please scroll down) If you’re interested in details of this report. they’re here. The report shows the quantifiable benefits of the plan, but doesn’t detail the plan itself. If you want to see the plan, … Continue reading

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A STRANGE PARTNERSHIP: THE WRITER-READER CONTRACT

My recent article on finding partners got me thinking about a special partnership: The one between a writer and his or her readers, listeners, viewers etc. I was going to say “audience” but that’s too passive. Readers, listeners and viewers … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

NEW FICTION: DOGS OF BABEL AND ELROY NIGHTS

I read fiction with a writer’s eye: I rarely get caught up in the story because I’m too busy studying what works and what doesn’t work. Once I’ve figured that out, unless it’s a really wonderful story (and few of … Continue reading

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WHAT DO WE DO IF DUBYA ‘WINS’?

The pollsters, except for the bizarre Gallup organization, are teasing us again with hopes of a clear Kerry win. The electoral college looks especially good, though it’s extremely volatile. I’ve already said I think moderates will decide the contest, and … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 10 Comments

FINDING PARTNERS: HOW TO MAKE IT MORE EFFECTIVE

I would hazard a guess that, both in business and in our personal lives, ‘finding people’ is our most inefficient process, the one we waste the most time doing ineffectively, and the one we do the worst job at. This … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves, Working Smarter | 5 Comments

THE TRUTH ABOUT FRAMES, AND DRUG COSTS; AND AN OBSCENE STORY

Three subjects combined into one post today. They’re connected, and you’ll see how as you read. (1) The Truth About Frames As I’ve mentioned before, I spent a good deal of time in 2003 doing debriefs with business colleagues after … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 7 Comments

LIFE CHOICES: HOW WE LIVED, LIVE, AND COULD LIVE

We all make hundreds of decisions every day, but during our lifetimes a very few of these choices have enormous consequences. They determine whether we’ll be happy, whether we’ll be financially successful, and what kind of impact — positive or … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 3 Comments

LIVING BEYOND THEIR MEANS: BUSH AND GREENSPAN PUSH THE WORLD TO THE BRINK OF ECONOMIC RUIN

No area of the corporatist major US media’s negligence of the public’s interest exasperates me more than their total silence on the impending economic disaster facing the US. When the US economy hits the wall, it will take the rest … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works | 13 Comments

GOOGLE’S NEW PERSONAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Google has recently made a foray into the domain of Personal Content Management. Here’s a review of their first two (free) PCM tools. First up was Picasa, an image management tool. There are two aspects to PCM: Document editing (creating … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves, Working Smarter | 5 Comments