Chips and Salsa: Snack-sized news and posts
Photo by Tim Toomey on Unsplash
We are on vacation so it is a Chips and Salsa week!
Good design is hard to find. The biggest failings happen when engineers decide to make changes because they can without asking if it is better for the users. My pet peeve is the loss of 3.5mm headphone jacks on phones. I have nice wired noise cancelling headphones. They are great for two reasons. They are much harder to lose than earbuds. When the batteries die, they still work without the noise canceling.
Daily Beast - Tesla syndrome explains why tech is making us miserable
We all have bad days. Some are much worse than others. In today’s world, they can become a public spectacle that is hard to overcome. This increases the need for self-control.
Chuck Norris can dribble a bowling ball.
Chuck Norris can win a game of connect four in three moves.
When Chuck Norris crosses the road, vehicles look both ways.
ESPN - How Chuck Norris Facts gave birth to the modern meme
Companies know they need to do these things. The sad reality is that they almost never fund the initiatives adequately. The result is that some things get done and others don’t, or worse, and everything gets started but not finished.
MIT Sloan - Technology leadership for non-tech executives
If you build a reputation for developing people, talented people will want to work for you. You always end up with more than you need.
ThoughtLLEADERS LLC - Being a Net Exporter of Talent
Far Side Movies
Far Side - 13 Darkest Far Side Comics That Reference Iconic Movies
When did so many people become so afraid of telling the truth?
Fort Worth Report - Tarrant Appraisal District fires IT executive for recorded comments
China’s slowing economy is affecting global business and markets. These articles explore how internal political decisions may be the driving factors behind their slowing economy. The Foreign Affairs article is a long read but worth the time.
Foreign Affairs - Xi’s Age of Stagnation
Axios - China's slow-moving economic disaster
I am not a fan of memorization. I find it kept me from seeing slight variations in patterns. Variations often require adjustments to learned responses to address new circumstances.
Big Think - The 2-step “loci method” for memorizing absolutely anything
Dashboards are very useful tools. To be designed well, you must understand what metrics really matter and have good data to track them. There is danger in over-reliance on dashboards. Just as you cannot drive your car by only looking at the dashboard, you cannot run a business without looking at the world around you.
Medium - 10 great OKR dashboards to save hours at work
I like TV. The worst thing about network television today is it is full of anti-reality shows, cookie-cutter crime procedurals, or anything else that lacks creativity. With streamers not making nearly as much money as they planned, the next few years could be bleak.
Rolling Stone - The 50 Worst Decisions in TV History
It is important to understand why conspiracy theories and the cults that surround them take hold.
Medium - What Lurks Beneath Conspiracy Theories?
Scandal in Bloom County
Day One Day Two Day Three Part 1 Day Three Part 2 Day Four Day Five
This article leaves out what I believe is the most important question. What will be lost without human assessment? Humans have the ability to look at seemingly disparate things and make connections that are not apparent or code logical. Seeing these and developing thought experiments to ask new ‘what if’ questions. AI is not capable of this.
MIT Sloan - 4 questions to ask before swapping out human labor for AI
Effective leaders are able to focus on what matters and avoid distractions.
Fast Company - Why compartmentalization is the key to effective leadership
There is a critical difference between taking notes and minutes. Notes allow you to internalize key points. Minutes write down everything that is said. Many note-taking apps expect you to capture minutes and then create tags and links between multiple sets of notes. Capturing too much information creates a situation where there is so much noise that the key points are lost.
The Verge - Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter
What happens when AI gaslights us?
Non Sequitur - Is Alexa looking after us?
Quotes
“There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.”
- Winston Churchill
“Life is short but there is always time enough for courtesy.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
- Audrey Hepburn
You can order The Leader With A Thousand Faces on the Recommended Reading Page of my website.
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