tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15636756549114469372024-03-12T19:18:22.653-04:00BobOnARollPolitics, Media, Finance, Adventure Travel, Opera, Art, and FunBobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.comBlogger577125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-75426513616369305272012-07-18T17:12:00.001-04:002012-07-18T19:21:49.140-04:00Just say no, Mittens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Mitt Romney won't be getting my vote this November, but he does have my full support on his decision not to release additional tax returns or provide more financial detail than we already know. He's rich, he's successful, he made his own money the not-so-old-fashioned way of reshuffling the deck rather than contributing anything truly useful to the economic progress of this nation. Turns my stomach, but all perfectly legal as far as I know, and, on my bad days, I wish I had done more of what he did when I got out of Harvard Business School.<br />
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Get over it, progressives.<br />
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And by all means, get over it Obamites, because, in spite of current popular wisdom, this two-week political wonder will be long gone by Labor Day---and certainly by Election Day. Can any serious political observer imagine a voting booth scenario in which Steven Secretary, Helen Hairdresser, Victoria Veterinarian, or Michael Mechanic pulls the lever for Barack because---nah nah nah nah nah---Mittens didn't tell all when he had a chance.<br />
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This week, I wrote a dear friend who is also a very connected political player in Chicago that I was appalled by the 'who gives a s---' campaign tactic driven by very smart people in our hometown. She had a good chuckle.<br />
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Let's get back to the economy, foreign policy, budget, education, and making America competitive again.<br />
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It's not the tax returns, stupid.</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-6829178009718614752012-05-07T07:39:00.002-04:002012-05-07T07:39:30.540-04:00Electoral college prediction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Plausible scenario for Nov 2012: Obama takes the northern tier of states among the contested races, and Romney takes the rest, including Florida.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/electoral-map#CO-R,FL-R,IA-R,NV-R,NH-D,OH-D,PA-D,VA-R,WI-D">http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/electoral-map#CO-R,FL-R,IA-R,NV-R,NH-D,OH-D,PA-D,VA-R,WI-D</a></div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-56760475156067581802012-04-24T09:50:00.001-04:002012-04-24T09:53:09.206-04:00NewMusicBox » No Expectations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Remarkable blogpost from an up and coming composer and 3 minute video about the pentatonic scale that is pure delight:<br />
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<a href="http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/no-expectations/#.T5avbXg8mmA.blogger">NewMusicBox » No Expectations</a></div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-20822959671598801432012-01-11T14:30:00.000-05:002012-01-11T14:30:35.791-05:00Please, god, no !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><h1 class="entry-title" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.05; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hostess Files for Bankruptcy</span></h1><br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-70678550504663975192012-01-11T13:00:00.000-05:002012-01-11T13:00:35.259-05:00The Speech that Romney Should Have Delivered<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Fellow Republicans, and my fellow Americans of all political persuasions,<br />
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I first want to thank the people of New Hampshire for their votes, their support, and encouragement. You have boosted my candidacy here in the Granite State, and you have sent a clear message to the rest of the country: with God's help, Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee and the next President of the United States.<br />
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I intend to devote and dedicate the rest of this campaign to the American people and especially the American middle class---the bedrock of this nation in good times and tough times. We'll be talking about the challenges we face in this tough economy and dangerous world and why I as a Republican believe that limited and restrained government can be one of the engines to restore us to prosperity and re-assume our role as undisputed leader of the Free World.<br />
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Before we leave here on the way to South Carolina and Florida, I need to make my case to the American people once again about why I seek your support during the remaining primaries and--I hope--in the presidential contest this fall.<br />
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The Obama administration has failed its most important responsibility---to ensure the growth of the economy and the prosperity of the American people. Our mentor, Ronald Reagan, said it best years ago when he was running against Jimmy Carter----are you better off today than you were four years ago? If your answer is yes, then you'll probably want to vote for the other guy, but if you are like more than 3/4 of the American people, the answer is a firm no. It's time for a change in the Oval Office. We've tried a failed liberal economic policy for three years----and though we're seeing a few hopeful signs of recovery, economic growth in this nation is nowhere near strong enough to provide good jobs for all who want them. That is not good enough. It's time for a change.<br />
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There's been a lot of baloney said about me during this tough campaign, but heck that's the price we pay for being in politics. I like great competitors---because I can't fire <i>them</i> (hehe) and wouldn't want to. We have a major fight ahead of us to take back the White House and make the government work for the people again, so I know a lot of things get said, including by me, in the heat of battle that we later regret. But let's be clear---the knocks we candidates are taking and dishing out to each other in this race are nothing compared to the economic challenges faced by the people. Not enough prosperity, not enough good paying jobs, and a Democratic administration that is clueless about what to do next.<br />
<br />
I run for this office as a successful businessman and former governor of a great state. I was lucky enough to be born into a good family, went to good schools, and tried to make the most of all the advantages I was given from the start. I worked hard, took risks, invested, made some good decisions, and some bad ones, and became successful, along side a wife and family I adore. I was lucky but I tried to use what I learned to make money in private enterprise. And then to a successful term as governor of Massachusetts. It's true that my business decisions sometimes resulted in people losing their jobs and assets getting sold off as we reorganized and built new companies, but we also invested in building companies, with more new jobs and new technology for the future. That's progress---the American way. The old creates the foundation for the new. And I am proud that I have been able to play a part in it.<br />
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I bring that same can-do, let's get to work, less government spirit of American free enterprise to this campaign. And that's a big change from what this current president has shown us. We have to get America moving again and put people back to work, making good wages, rewarding the risk-takers and re-training our people for 21st century competition. I want to take on that challenge as your president.<br />
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Please join me in this historic campaign. Thank you, New Hampshire. Now, on to South Carolina, Florida, and victory in November. Thank you et bonne nuit,er, I mean good night.</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-80262619238216669622012-01-09T10:42:00.000-05:002012-01-09T10:42:01.638-05:00Capital Crimes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Three cheers for Bain Capital. I'm already sick and tired of the political attacks about the role of private equity firms in American enterprise. And it's only January......yeesh, I only have one tongue and it's already half chewed off....<br />
<br />
Let's face it, money touches everything in 21st century American politics; unfortunately, it touches and defines almost all aspects of American life. Greed is not good, but self-interested entrepreneurship and unlocking low performing assets for the purpose of maximizing financial returns to the owners of those assets are among the engines that drive forward momentum in the system as we know it... (excerpted from our Harvard Business School pledge of allegiance :) ).<br />
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Seriously, friends, are we going to let Hollywood's vision of corporate capitalism, such as Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko and Danny DeVito's Lawrence Garfield, be the touchstones for the public debate about whether or not Mittens created or destroyed jobs and enriched himself at the expense of others? There's a lot wrong with the 'engulf and devour' formula that private equity firms promulgate, and BobOnARoll has proposed solutions for some of the excesses, including:<br />
<br />
1. education, training, relocation, and placement investments for displaced workers in a public/private partnership funded by the proceeds of private equity transactions and taxes on those proceeds<br />
<br />
2. corporate compensation formulas which conform to a relatively fixed ratio of highest paid to lowest paid workers in acquired or reorganized companies<br />
<br />
Mittens needs to come forward with a cogent, forward-thinking, and clear explanation of how he made his money and initiate a public discussion of the virtues and excesses of the system as we know it. Mittens, if they aren't willing to 'get it', then just say it in French and wish everyone a nice day.<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-88807406273962732222012-01-04T18:35:00.000-05:002012-01-04T18:35:06.652-05:00Taking the Mitt-ens off<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Another perspective on the upcoming New Hampshire and South Carolina Republican primaries:<br />
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3586/3394137584_3aaeeb6a4a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3586/3394137584_3aaeeb6a4a.jpg" width="200" /></a><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2nd Witch:</strong><br />
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,<br />
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,<br />
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,<br />
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--<br />
For a charm of powerful trouble,<br />
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."</div><cite style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text/act-iv-scene-i#mac-4-1-14" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2393bd; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Macbeth (IV, i, 14-15)</a></cite> <br />
<br />
Alright, let's get ready to rumble. After months of holding my tongue, sheathing my sword, and eyeing the Newt, it's time to let loose. The voters are finally getting their say. Santorum may not be into three-some's, but he's in one now. This is going to be delicious.<br />
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I hope we'll continue to have Newt to kick around some more. He's the most entertaining figure in the race, and many of us have been getting marvelous traction from Newt humor at dinner tables all over Manhattan, San Francisco, and LA. I am amazed by the media's and public's perception that Gingrich is a great debater---- he's basically a rhetorical bully who synthesizes arguments based on totally false premises. Next chance you get, listen very carefully to the first few words or sentence of a Gingrich argument. If you accept the premise (which he usually rushes through to get to his 'larger' point), he's perceived as making a strong case. Yet, his rhetoric is full of straw man arguments, special pleading, gross generalities---all the tricks we learned in high school debate. He's an arguer, not a debater, and a cry-baby, too, when Big Bad Mitt-ens finally takes off the gloves....<br />
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This would all be such good fun if it didn't actually mean anything---but it does, and soon we're no longer going to be amused. <br />
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Stay tuned to BobOnARoll......<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-28416346740243807912011-09-29T17:59:00.001-04:002011-09-29T17:59:46.235-04:00It's time.....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">....to get back in the fray. <br />
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True, the daily news from the political, economic, education fronts is dire, but I'm not succumbing to the conceit of publishing my so-called insights and reporting to the daily pulse of events. Here, BobOnARoll focuses mostly on solutions and the path forward, perhaps with some connect-the-dots news synthesis in the mix. My old boss Marty Peretz once characterized me as "skeptical about enthusiasms", and it's a 'compliment' I relish. BobOnARoll is about anti the orthodoxy of the Left and the Right. You'll often find me on the opposite side of what Nancy Pelosi is in favor of, but you will always find me on the opposite side of what Bachmann, Perry, and Palin are in favor of (well, perhaps 95% of the time).<br />
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I'm going to write about personal passions too, as I did before----opera, theater, and other performing arts; food; travel; and people I admire. Not always in that order.<br />
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More serious this time about building audience for this blog. You can help by linking this URL to your website, or tweeting about something you like---or don't. Tell a friend or colleague. And share the magic. :)<br />
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Onward.<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-32165702959745032932011-01-16T12:44:00.003-05:002011-01-16T15:04:28.484-05:00Hypocrisy 101The act of blaming is like hurling a boomerang through the air. If you indulge, don't forget to duck.<br />
<br />
The hypocrisy on both sides of the post-Tucson argument is appalling. Yes, BOTH sides.<br />
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BobOnARoll tries (imperfectly) to model the idea that it's better to assume responsibility than to assign it, and to be accountable rather than hold someone accountable. But....human nature being as it is, we sometimes point the finger and flee from responsibility for our words and actions, myself included. <br />
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We progressives expect shameful language and behavior from the Right, but when the Left fails to acknowledge its own responsibility in soiling the public domain, it's cause for a pause.<br />
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This hypocrisy was brought home to me in a big way the other night with David P at the movie theater. Sitting through wave after wave of violent movie trailers, I wondered aloud whether Hollywood, that bastion of progressivism and liberalism, might not share a big piece of responsibility for perpetuating a climate of hate through its gun-toting, dehumanizing rhetoric and violence in our movies and our music. Put me down in favor of lightly regulated free speech and free expression. Yet, while it may be true that there is a weak causal link between shoot-em-up at Saturday matinees and gun-em-down in real life, aren't both sides of the political divide accusing the other side of creating a climate in which unbalanced minds can seize upon provocative ideas and take criminal action? <br />
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BobOnARoll is not arguing for equivalency here. But, let's face it, when it comes to dehumanizing words and images, Rush and Sarah have no monopoly. Progressives: let's be bold about the conversation we need to have among ourselves first. <br />
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Shakespeare's Cassius had a point: the fault lies within ourselves. Didn't much care for his solution in the drama, however.....BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-20665513767024373812011-01-03T16:36:00.002-05:002011-01-03T18:05:58.885-05:00Resolved for irresolutionAs 2011 burst onto the scene in a shower of Central Park fireworks at midnight, I started the new year with only one certainty: four miles lay between me and my goal of completing my first road race in I-don't-know-how-many years. Five thousand of my new best friends showed up for the NY Road Runners Emerald Nuts 4-miler. I was one of the nuts.<br />
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I made it, which was the only sure accomplishment of the year so far. Surely, there will be other tangibles ahead....right? Right??? RIGHT!!???<br />
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Once upon a time I might have made some new year's resolutions, but no more. Churchill's famous quote about the pre-war European leadership as 'resolved to be irresolute' springs to mind. So, put me down as resolved in favor of irresolution.. Maybe it's my ornery resistance to the artificiality of calendar-driven holiday traditions----for example, I'll be in hiding for the next one, Valentine's Day, as I try to do every year. It goes deeper than that, though. <br />
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Collectively and individually, we are in murky waters, indeed. If you ask me which of several business ideas I am working on that are likely to be rolling successfully by mid year, I'd just as soon flip a coin as give you more clarity than luck and chance can offer. Of course BobOnARoll knows the value of hard work, persistence, planning, assembling great teams, and so forth. Maybe it's better to think of myself as resolute....for irresolution. Resolved connotes resignation, does it not, even helplessness. That won't do.<br />
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Where I do feel resolved, resigned, and helpless, though, is in the political arena, as the evildoers take charge on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Progressive values are in for a very rough ride these next 12-18 months. Have not been as deeply worried about an election aftermath since Bush v Gore 10 years ago, and we all know how that one turned out..... From the party of fiscal discipline and small-r republican virtues, the Republicans and the Tea Party subsets now dwell in a fictional world of their own creation. Up is down, deficits are bad if they are democrat deficits, taxes are bad unless they are Reaganite 'revenue enhancements'. The Democrats are only marginally better, having just blown an unprecedented opportunity for real leadership. Makes one wonder whether we will get to a breaking point. <br />
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Here's a resolution, for you. How about we each think of a half dozen people in our lives who might need our extra care and attention in the year ahead. And do something about it. I remember reading once that an effective cure for the jitters is to head to the bathroom and shave.....something about the simple, routine gesture that presses the reset button. Let's try to make kind gestures the new norm for 2011. It's the least we can do---perhaps the only thing we can do, for now.....BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-66506447239233098332010-12-28T15:02:00.002-05:002010-12-28T15:04:40.358-05:00The Social NetworkIn the story of Facebook According to Sorkin, the social network was founded on a potent mix of ambition, intelligence, and let's not forget resentment ! The brilliant, nerdy Jewish kid leapfrogs Harvard's best and brightest and shows 'em all, including the girl who jilted him, that superior outcomes trump honor, style, ethics, love, and friendship. OK, got it. Don't try this one at home.<br />
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</div><div>As entertainment, the movie delivers in every way. I was riveted, mostly because I couldn't afford not to be. The film moved so quickly that even a bathroom break mid-film would have been fatal to following the plot line. Whether deliberately or not, the director created a frantic tension that recalled how others must have felt trying to keep up with Mark Z during the early years---and perhaps even now.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The film version of the Facebook founding leaves no doubt that Mark 'appropriated' the idea of facebook from others working on similar projects, perhaps the Winklevoss twins (hilariously described by Mark's film character as the 'Winklevii'). Whether or not the story was strictly accurate on that score, it made for great drama and the lawsuits among the parties were the central organizing elements of the film. Convenient.</div><div><br />
</div><div>All that being said, the more compelling "why's" of the story are simplistically told. The "Rosebud" ending nearly spoiled the entire effort for me. Much like the breezy and successful television dramas that Sorkin is known for, this film is at its best when it helps us understand character through action and behavior but at its worst when at levels below skin-deep. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Have been thinking about and experiencing models of success all my life, and have been fortunate enough to work with and know some very successful people. My question about Mark Z and the Facebook/Silicon Valley culture represented on the film: is it necessary to work this way? We all know arrogant, ego-driven jerks like Mark Z, but most of those who made it to the top are hard-working, driven, but also among the most courteous, thoughtful people I know. The notion that Mark Z might be a hero for the 20- and 30-something generation is ludicrous and scary. The movie shows very little that is heroic about him, but it models a kind of success that never interested me, in spite of the lure of billions that I will never have.<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-47584059717918539372010-12-27T15:00:00.000-05:002010-12-27T15:00:37.017-05:00B.O.A.R. Living<div class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TRjwIp8ymkI/AAAAAAAAA1E/WbrRasceWyI/s1600/holiday+dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TRjwIp8ymkI/AAAAAAAAA1E/WbrRasceWyI/s200/holiday+dinner.jpg" width="190" /></a>BobOnARoll decided to host a small Christmas 'orphans' dinner this year. The dinner was small. The orphans were regular sizes, mostly M's and L's. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">If I can do it, you can do it. Here are the ingredients for a successful Xmas dinner:</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Turkey, breast only (not de-boned), approx 1 lb per person, unless you're feeding my cousin Sheryl's family. I cooked a 6 pounder. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Unsalted butter. Lots of it. Julia Child was right; it's ALL about the butter. Grab the bird and butter it up inside and out. Slather on the butter, girls. Don't be bashful, boys. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Kosher or sea salt. I opted for coarse sea salt. Salt liberally.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Ground pepper. <br />
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You want gravy? Line the roasting pan around the turkey with veggies such as celery, carrots, onions, a few garlic cloves, whatever. Once the turkey is cooked you'll degrease the drippings and use the remainder as base for your gravy.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Heat the oven to 325, cook for 20-25 minutes per pound, remove bird when meat thermometer reads 160 and tent bird under tin foil for half an hour. Make your gravy in the roasting pan, adding a few cups of chicken stock and some flour, heat and stir on the burner. Strain it or serve it full-bodied, as I did.<br />
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Other essential ingredients for a successful orphans dinner:<br />
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a friend to bring the cornbread<br />
a friend to bring the salad<br />
a friend to bring some nibbly things<br />
a friend to bring dessert<br />
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Have a good time. Merry Xmas to all and to all a good meal.....<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-12908933014632524142010-12-15T12:18:00.001-05:002010-12-15T12:20:11.535-05:00Tax Cuts, Krugman, Netflix, and Kili<div class="MsoPlainText">This blog post is going to be about Everything. So much is frosting my patootie these days. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">One week, you're at the top of the heap and the next you're lucky to munch on the scraps from the table. Such is the case with Obama and the extension of the Bush tax cuts. Yes, the Republicans snookered us back in the Bush years and they're doing it again now, as many pundits have pointed out. Obama, who a month ago was looking like a one-term loser, is on the upswing because of his leadership on brokering a grand deal that extends the cuts and brings relief to the unemployed and small business. Put me down in favor of not raising taxes in the middle of a recession.<br />
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The pundits are right---the latest deal is a short-term fix for a long-term budget mess. Maybe that's the best we can do for now. The long term cure is almost unspeakable to the folks in DC. After all, the path to salvation begins with confession and contrition, does it not?, and we're unlikely to get that from our leaders, who are addicted to all gain and no pain. Let's remember that the Republican tax cut strategy, which started during the first years of the Reagan administration, tried to disempower the Federal government from pursuing any activity apart from waging war and promoting interstate commerce. Reagan, who is the real father of the Catastrophe through which we are now slogging, forgot the part about spending cuts to match reduced tax revenues based on the now discredited supply side economic theory. And the Democrats, who rarely see a spending bill they don't like, were entirely complicit in the matter. Can't anyone admit to mistakes and move forward with real solutions? </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
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We love Paul Krugman, but his columns these past few months have become unfortunate reminders of why economics as an art and science risks becoming irrelevant to public discourse. Academic economists cling to their notions like dogs to their bones. They just can't let go and move on to the next course. Yes yes, Paul was right that the federal stimulus package fell far short of what was needed to jump start the economy out of recession a year and a half ago. But, so what? What can progressive economics offer us now that a re-scaled massive federal jobs creation program is out of the question? Not much, it seems. Though not ideal, sometimes muddling through is the best we can do. Voltaire was right. <b><i> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px;">"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien."</span></i></b><br />
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Netflix. Another example of one day you're up, the next you're down. Aside from McCann's Oatmeal, Trader Joe's coffee, and BMW's, BobOnARoll has had no better consumer experience than the relationship with Netflix. The conversion from timely delivery of DVD's to your mailbox to online streaming appears to have gone well from a consumer perspective, and Wall Street has rewarded management with a runup of the stock price, cover stories in business magazines etc. OK, <i>I guess we have to ruin this one now</i>. We'll show them !! It starts with envious media moguls talking down the Netflix business model, then trying to shelve them in distribution negotiations next year and the years following. I bet the Netflix guys have figured this one out----I hope so.<br />
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Finally, today, we end at the snows of Kilimanjaro. Wait ! There are no snows on Kilimanjaro! Well, anyway, it's a romantic ideal worth clinging to.....and I feel for Martina Navratilova, whose physical setback on a recent trek up the mountain prevented her from reaching the top. Not too many years ago, I was one of the lucky ones, along with my niece and nephew, to reach the top. But, on any given trek, they say that even experienced climbers face an unpredictable struggle with altitude. Making it once is no guarantee of being able to do it again, and I think I'll let my own personal record stand at One. For one day, at least, I really WAS at the top of the heap.<br />
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</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-56173002497719272262010-12-14T09:54:00.000-05:002010-12-14T09:54:33.053-05:00Qat game?The moment of liberation for the Arab Middle East has arrived, and it has come in the form of a soccer ball. BobOnARoll predicts that the 2022 Qatar World Cup will be seen as the Middle East equivalent of Admiral Perry's incursion into Tokyo Harbor in 1853. They're going to get an eyeful of the real world during the next twelve years leading up to the Cup, and it's going to be fun and instructive to watch. Sensible folk ought to do all in our powers to encourage and help make this World Cup a big success.<br />
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The nonsensibles are already manning the barricades in protest about booze and sex. <br />
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How awful, they say, is the prospect of a soccer match without beer, booze, and brawls. Where will the Budweiser and Heineken hospitality tents be erected? <br />
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And the LGBT community is already up in arms because we're presumably not going to be able to have sex over there during the contest----a demonstration to all about how low and rudderless the Movement has become when we are reduced to such trivia.<br />
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The Qatar event gives everyone on all sides of the equation a chance to bridge barriers of prejudice and reset preconceived notions. There will be challenges and awkward, perhaps shameful moments ahead. Yet, this moment of 'opening up' these post-feudal societies to the international community should not be squandered.<br />
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BobOnARoll hopes he's lucky enough to attend the opening ceremonies in Doha.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-28592572340476427362010-12-09T09:18:00.001-05:002010-12-09T09:28:42.691-05:00What happened to Nobelity?Is nothing sacred?<br />
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Now, they're trying to ruin the Nobel Peace Prize, which has <i>always</i> been political, just like they tried to ruin the Olympics, which has <i>always</i> been political. They ruined small-d democratic majority rule in the Senate, the last bastion of civility in politics. They are ruining confidentiality in international diplomacy. And they are even trying to ruin Facebook, which has always been, well, it only <i>seems</i> like it's always been.....<br />
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Who are these people anyway? These ruin-ers.....??<br />
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They are we.<br />
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We seem to be in a 'my way or the highway' moment in public life. I want what I want when I want it, and if I don't get it I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue. Or I'm going to come over and chop down the cherry tree in your front yard. Or I'm going to bring the government to a standstill, or boycott your awards ceremony, or pull everyone's pants down so all are equally and painfully exposed.<br />
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Gee whiz, we're in a bad place right now.<br />
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Our leaders run away from the challenge of helping us define the National Interest, and fail to stand up for what we believe in on a global scale. Do you think Nobel Laureate Barack might have a word or two to say about the boycott the Chinese are trying to orchestrate for this year's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony? Haven't heard a thing. <br />
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We endure the shame of Iraq and Afghanistan---the recipients of well over a Trillion Dollars of American treasure---joining the Chinese boycott. One can only imagine how Truman might have responded to such an affront----how about landing an American chopper on the grounds of the presidential palace in Kabul and 'inviting' the senior leaders therein for a short joy ride to Stockholm??<br />
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Our leaders are wimps. We're not. Perhaps we need to rise to our own occasion.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-7194862673583278302010-12-08T09:52:00.000-05:002010-12-08T09:52:59.086-05:00Have we been Shanghaied?The Chinese have been eating our lunch lately, and, if current trends continue, we will soon be making their lunch. <br />
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Our political leaders had their Claude Rains moment---'shocked, shocked!' that the Chinese students from Shanghai could emerge at the top of the international rankings, with the USA way down the list, either at or below average on international measures of achievement in reading, math, and science. A leader from the Reagan years compared the moment to the Russian Sputnik launch of the 1950's, and the unelected chair of the American Handwringing Society---Tom Friedman---excoriated us once again for our failure as a people and a nation. Surprised? BobOnARoll is not.<br />
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How ironic that on the very same day the PISA results were announced, the Times ran a photo of NY's new schools chancellor, Cathie Black, kneeling on a schoolroom floor next to a group of elementary students, remarking that what teachers really seem to need is a good pair of knees to do their job. What BobOnARoll suggests is that we pack up Cathie and a half dozen leaders of our other major metropolitan schools systems and send them to Shanghai, Korea, and Singapore for a thirty-day education in what success looks like. <br />
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There's another side to this test score story, of course. Let's remember that the Chinese are almost pathologically driven to demonstrate the success of their socio-political model, much like the Russians were back in the good ol' Soviet Union days. This is the same Chinese government that pushed under-age girl gymnasts into Olympic competition to gain an edge and the one that is systematically (and successfully) manipulating its currency for competitive advantage while hacking our private and government computer networks to probe and exploit our weaknesses.<br />
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Did the Chinese somehow manage to stack the deck in their favor during the PISA test process? Yep, there's a better than even chance of that. Yet, this misses the larger point, which is that our country seems to have abandoned standards of what constitutes an educated person. And substituted a politics which shames and humiliates the educated and the intellectual classes of our society. <br />
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We have a long slog ahead of us to get back to education achievement levels we need to be globally competitive. And we can do this. But not from the top down. Our leaders in education and government should be modeling, through their own behaviors as parents, a commitment to excellence. Let's develop half a dozen different models of success that we have observed elsewhere and have the guts to implement them and see them through at the local level for the next 5-10 years. We need government investment that shows us that the bridge to the 21st century is not a bridge, it's a desk.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-20255733376821164382010-11-30T09:35:00.000-05:002010-11-30T09:35:12.603-05:00Weakie Leaks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TPULKd9iq1I/AAAAAAAAA08/1SlduE5Jpzs/s1600/leaks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TPULKd9iq1I/AAAAAAAAA08/1SlduE5Jpzs/s200/leaks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoPlainText">I was let down by the first installment of the WikieLeaks disclosure of State Department secret cables. As it turns out, and not surprisingly so, even at the highest levels of international diplomacy, life mirrors high school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So-and-so is depicted as 'vain', another world leader is 'thin skinned', others are described as unoriginal, vengeful, petty, and uninteresting. This one wants us to 'off' another world leader or an entire country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another one urges us to stop Iran at all costs. We're paying a kind of reverse ransom to outsource the waterboarding and other tortures of our imprisoned enemy combatants. Ho hum.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">I was hoping for better gossip. Qaddafi and King Mohammed of Morocco are reported to be gay lovers. Putin's love child is Italy's deputy foreign minister. Hillary was scolded at the Beijing embassy when she inadvertently left her chopsticks upright in a bowl of white rice. The prime minister of South Korea and the US trade representative get into a fist fight over the import quota on Samsung widescreen televisions. Stuff like that.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">WeakieLeaks has become an evangelist for 'let it all hang out' freedom of information. I am not sympathetic to the cause. Though I rooted heartily for the NY Times during the publication of the Pentagon Papers years ago, this latest round does not meet the standard set by Daniel Ellsberg during the 1970s. If the World Acccording to Weakie is that all government (and, presumably, corporate) documents are fair game, then we each subject ourselves to public review of all we say and write. In such a world, there is no real line between the public and private domains. The chilling effect that censorship/revelation or the threat of such can have on public discourse is thus enhanced. No thanks.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Note to State Department: lighten up. Or give us something we don't already know or can surmise from regular reading of the NY Times. Except for the parts about Qaddafi afraid to fly over water and setting up Bedouin tents in fancy hotel rooms for his business meetings. Love that !</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-68286310578709051092010-10-07T15:43:00.001-04:002010-10-07T15:44:57.514-04:00Habemus cohorsZuckerberg and company labored mightily over the last two months, and, with a puff of white smoke rising above Silicon Valley, announced the latest Facebook "advance" in the high-schoolization of the world: We Have Groups ! Wow. At last, we can create and enforce a hierarchy of friends and acquaintances--just like when we were 15-- so that not just anyone can find out whether we butter our popcorn, among other data critical to the advancement of civilization. "Please please please, Henry, I promise to flame MaryLou online if you let me into your group......" <br />
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Have been migrating more of my online time to following Twitter feeds and especially the retweets and who is being followed by friends and thinkers/writers I admire. This is not to deny the extraordinary power of the vast social networking media apparatus. Just that I often grow weary of the constant drumbeat of self promotion and big ideas crammed into 12-word bits and phrases. Am I a living anachronism in a 21st century world? Yeah, probably.....BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-52992353696284800002010-09-30T08:17:00.000-04:002010-09-30T00:18:12.109-04:00LosersThe Democrats will probably--and ought to--lose big this November because they haven't delivered on the issue that matters most: jobs. We can give the Obamites (and the Fed) a heaping helping of praise for saving us from total collapse in early 2009 and for creating a framework that decreases the odds of future such catastrophes.
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<br>But that was then; this is now. And the now is a bleak picture indeed at the level of the supermarket, the gas station, the coffee shop, and the soccer or baseball field---wherever neighbors meet up and swap stories about themselves and the other folks they know. The market may be up, the metrics may show we are out of danger, and Prada or Apple might have a good quarter. But if the backyard chatter persists about Joe and Brenda and Alan still out of work and struggling to make house payments or afford a family vacation, consumer belts will remain tightly buckled, and we are cooked.
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<br>FDR understood this well, and though he faced a much graver crisis in the 1930's, the focus of policy was to get people to work and a dozen major initiatives were tried, some failed.
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<br>I believe that as a matter of principle and priority, Obama is on the side of the middle class and working folks.
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<br>But we need more pro-consumption policies in place. The short-lived auto purchase subsidy program from a year or so past shows that direct government action to boost sales in targeted industries can work. How about sales tax free Thursdays, in which the federal government cuts a check to those states which suspend sales taxes on goods and services purchased on Thursdays? Or let's suspend social security taxes on the first 50K of wages, or on all taxes on labor for companies which hire incrementally during the next 12 months. Yes, we will have to find the money somewhere----defense might be a good starting point.
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<br>Nothing's working yet. Let's try new solutions or we will have to bring in new people.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-80576076565692702172010-09-29T19:53:00.000-04:002010-09-29T11:54:05.346-04:00Wham ! Bam ! Go !<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TKNhHWlOUgI/AAAAAAAAA00/muMbV-yjjZM/s1600/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwNDItMjAxMDA5MjgtMjIzOS5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-745350"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TKNhHWlOUgI/AAAAAAAAA00/muMbV-yjjZM/s320/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwNDItMjAxMDA5MjgtMjIzOS5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-745350" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522364347035046402" /></a></p>Dubai Wednesday
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<br>We launched today. No turning back now and who wants to anyway? In less than eight months, we created the edit and business plan, raised the money, recruited an international content team, signed content partners, distributors, printers, and, yes, even advertisers ! Last night, we were only 30 minutes late closing the first issue and the product looks great. Many distribution hiccups, as expected, but it's out there...at last !
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<br>Two launch parties, the first in Abu Dhabi two nights ago and last night's featuring live demos of Brazilian martial arts and then a three-round kickboxing match (see photo) that was witnessed by about 500 attendees. A good turnout for a 'school night'. We even had an appearance from a member of the royal family. Hooray for us !
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<br>Big media launches SHOULD have a touch of glamour. This one did. Now the hard work of the day to day begins. My role as COO now segues to an advisory position, but I feel the same pride and attachment to a successful outcome as any parent would. Though hardly flesh and blood, this brand required enormous effort to give it life, mostly by a team of hard working dedicated people. The brand now lives and breathes and will develop a life of its own independent of any one of us. As it should be.
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<br>Home tomorrow.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-72465190314975445872010-09-27T21:23:00.000-04:002010-09-27T13:24:02.868-04:00Game on<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TKDTM86Jh4I/AAAAAAAAA0s/YMixesdMrDk/s1600/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwMzItMjAxMDA5MjctMjAxMC5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-742871"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TKDTM86Jh4I/AAAAAAAAA0s/YMixesdMrDk/s320/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAwMzItMjAxMDA5MjctMjAxMC5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-742871" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521645362618140546" /></a></p>BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-33056236306800350402010-09-27T09:29:00.000-04:002010-09-27T01:30:10.112-04:00Clarity in the desert....or is it a mirage?Dubai<p>After arriving at DXB Sat AM, my friend Lee and I retreated into the Dubai desert for some R&R and some hoped-for clarity on next steps, professionally speaking. <p>Oddly, after all these months of commuting here once a month, I hadn't actually been to THE desert, even though I suppose officially Dubai the city is already in the desert. Dubai in the desert is like Las Vegas in the desert---it's hot and dry etc. But if you want to see the real thing-- meaning the real no-thing -- you have to drive about 20-30 km out of town. When we saw our first 'yield to camels' roadsign, I was sure we had arrived. <p>I could have used another 2-3 days of staring out at the emptiness from the spa resort's infinity pool. But there was work to be done back in town this week, so we settled for a day trip and drove back along a lonely two-lane highway after dark. <p>The newspaper team is less than 72 hours now from the live launch. Dummy runs have been executed each day for the last week and by gosh the paper looks great. Will look even better as the advertisers come on board in a few days. Funny how a dummy paper without ads looks so peculiar. No, not peculiar... just sad. :)<p>One important bit of clarity that I have about the professional future is that leading and managing are much more satisfying than advising. The thrill of pure consulting has long since gone. I am at my best when in a group, working with colleagues or employees on the challenges of starting and/or running businesses. I prefer to mentor, lead, or coach than to advise and move on. Learned huge lessons about this from Lowell S at PlanetOut. <p>Have been revisiting my professional trajectory these past weeks, finding many satisfactions and admittedly some disappointments. The controversy swirling around my old boss Marty Peretz at The New Republic brings me back to the earliest years of my career. Marty took the unusual gamble of putting the business reins of a leading national political magazine in the hands of this wet-behind-the-ears 27 year old. And thereby changed my life forever--and mostly for the good. <p>No desire to condemn the man, because his life's work is worthy of applause and recognition. However, his blind spots and views about Israel and its intersection with the Muslim world have caused grief among readers, supporters, and the political and academic elites. I don't share his views about Muslims though I do share his concerns about fanaticisms-- and these are of course not confined to Muslims or any other peoples or nations. Including ours. <p>In Dubai, where the convergence of over a hundred nationalities has resulted in no melting pot, it's tempting, like Marty does, to paint broad brush judgments about national character. Yes, 'they' are not like 'us', but the attempt to posit a hierarchy of peoples and lifestyles always fails the test of the particularities. Too many exceptions to the rules out here.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-65205001298940780532010-09-24T10:05:00.000-04:002010-09-24T10:07:32.939-04:00Have passport, will travelNearly $500 and a week later, I have my new passport and what a lovely piece of work it is. No question but that the all-new US passport is a product of the Tea Party Design Center. The visa pages depict scenes from murals you might see in a 1920's Midwestern public library. Purple mountain majesty, the fruited plains, home home on the range, riverboat steamships, sailing vessels, Mt Rushmore. Yep, it's all there. The USA without all that messy urbanity, you know, the one with all those Jews, Muslims, and 'colored people'. Oddly, and to my point, even the Statue of Liberty is depicted in the center of a harbor with no cityscape (or NJ) surrounding it.
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<br>This is the America that They want to take back. Let 'em have it, I say. Where seldom is heard a discouragung word.
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<br>When you stupidly mutilate your passport as I did in my basement laundry machine, they don't return your old passport with the newly issued one. So, I lose the opportunity to reminisce a bit through old visa stamps from the period 2006 to the present, a time when Jase and I first began traveling together and spent many many days in fun and exotic places around the world. Well, Jason, we'll always have Paris.....
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<br>So I am a newly minted international traveler, just like 40 years ago, my first passport and my first trip to England and France with a school group. Dr. Seuss was right--Oh, the places I have gone. And so many more to come. Lucky lucky lucky me.
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<br>Next stop, Dubai UAE. Time to get the newspaper launched next Tuesday.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-76051879685645092012010-09-12T12:52:00.000-04:002010-09-12T12:52:27.630-04:00Those who forget the lessons of the past.....For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.<br />
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---FDR, 1936BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1563675654911446937.post-86375458331841447582010-09-08T08:46:00.004-04:002010-09-08T11:06:46.933-04:00KayakingBobOnARoll is certifiable. <br />
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On many levels, perhaps. But I'll cop to at least one on this blog. The ethic of hard-work-perspiration- vs- inspiration-, nothing-takes-the-place-of-persistence value system that has stood me well for all my career has admittedly become workaholism, plain and simple.<br />
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How do I know?<br />
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Well, for one thing, I seem to be unable to function as well at less than 140 mph. My grandiosity sees me as a Lamborghini in city traffic---a slow and steady 20-30 mph just won't do ! Lemme at the open road or even better the German autobahn, and let's open this baby up !<br />
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And when, as now, a fast-paced project slows to a trickle, I wonder what I am going to do with all this bloody time.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TIeHKJhTNRI/AAAAAAAAA0k/sGkun9qhWEw/s1600/turning-the-kayak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MEU_XQ7DCGM/TIeHKJhTNRI/AAAAAAAAA0k/sGkun9qhWEw/s320/turning-the-kayak.jpg" width="320" /></a>Luckily, antidotes appear just when we need them, and good friend JW invited me yesterday for a day of kayaking on Lake Torati in Harriman State Park. As we paddled along the shorelines, through the lily pad fields, and around the beaver lodges on a picture-perfect early September day, guess what I wasn't thinking much about? <br />
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It helped that first me, then John (in a sympathetic gesture), rolled over into the drink trying to disembark for lunch. Peanut butter sandwiches with Eau du Lac just don't cut it, but we had some great chuckles and convos along the way.<br />
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BobOnARoll could get used to life at 5 MPH.BobOnARollhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272511850170328934noreply@blogger.com0