Enchantment

I just finished reading Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki.  Great book. The first parts are how to grow your brand. The second (non-divided) part is on technology and how to leverage it to grow a personal or business brand. The last part is like a 48 Laws of Power for nice guys.

This book tells how branding works, and how to use it to become enchanting. I especially loved the checklist that tells how to make ethical decisions towards the back of the book. I have made an effort to engage relevant news articles for my Twitter and will soon do so for my personal Facebook.

Airpower on the wane?

I just read Martin Van Creveld's The Age of Airpower. It is an excellent history of airships, airplanes, and helicopters. It walks one from early manned airpower (from the Wrights) to today just after the Iraq surge. I am not ready to give Van Creveld the applause because he believes airpower is on the wane, partially due to David Petraeus' wishing to leave most airpower at home in insurgencies. I think they still have their purpose, especially planes such as the A10.

I am in Tucson, where the A10 has a mainstay, so that may influence it. I have also heard about the A10 being significant for close air support with the infantry. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the history of airpower.

Do you believe airpower is less necessary for waging warfare? Respond in the comments section or tweet me @jtarb1 on Twitter.

Freedman's Strategy: A History

I highly recommend Sir Lawrence Freedman's Strategy: A History. It debates what strategy is, exactly, by moving from game theory, business, and war studies. It does this in a lengthy 630 page treatise, but does not stay away from Foucault and Pareto's contributions. I feel like I knew a lot, as a student of strategy, but the book definitely treats it well. The book also starts with the Iliad and moves forward, so no student of history will be left with dissatisfaction.

It used rudimentary diagrams of the Prisoner's Dilemma and explained the Nash Equilibrium as well as I have understood it. I am not mathematician, of course. Yet, I highly recommend this book.

On The Republic

The Republic did its job tonight. Donald Trump may not be the best man for the job, yet it is the job of the electorate to decide that. The electorate, not always being perfect has an electoral college to make sure they are voting for the Republic.

The Electoral College system, mostly voting on party lines, is the broken system. The electors should vote for the needs of the country. Yet, they often go with whatever candidate they are associated with.

The Republic, with rights to vote for whoever, votes how the media cycle pushes them to. They do not always have the education to know the needs of the Republic, due to a broken educational system, that rewards the wealthy.

The real thing I am disgusted with is the people that are telling Americans to lie in the bed they've made. No one else made it. What else should they lie in?

On the Draft

I feel that the draft is for men. In fact, I feel the combat arms jobs are for men, but that ship has sailed.

When a nation can no longer raise enough military age males to defend itself through volunteer means, the country has already lost as a nation. The nation has lost its ability to continue as a nation due to loss of people who care enough about the nation's will to fight.

I am against any draft for women, and am against any draft at all in general. A nation has already rolled over when it cannot raise men to fight.

I pointed out on this opinion on the old Twitter account (the one I deleted) and had several military officers suggesting the US government would never quit without a draft. I concur, but the US government doesn't always act in a moral manner, either.

Feeling too comfortable

I almost took a break today. Yet, I decided that I should post something.

The moment I get into a comfort zone, I'll not push myself. That said, I am tired of writing because I just worked at a longer paper for school.

I cannot believe I still have a year or so. I am, quite frankly, tired of learning in a traditional sense.

I will continue learning long after April 2018, when I feel that I am probably going to be done.

The question is this: will I end with that EdD, or not?

One PIGs and Poor Customers

While reading Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Work Week, I am amazed by the simplicity of his muses, or passive income generators. I know that they are not always easy to find. The elegance comes from not offering services and parting ways with the bottom 20%, who always cause the most hassle.

It would be nice if business worked this way. Let's say, you hassle the commissioned cellphone salesperson and they told you to get the hell out of their shop. The problem is, commissioned cellphone people do not own their shops. It would be seen as racist or just hateful, depending on the people involved.

Like the hoaxes with receipts that tell people to stop being gay, the employees should have more input into who can shop at their stores. Unfortunately, in the age of outrage journalism, this wouldn't end well for anyone.

Pomodoro work

I have done a lot this morning, by working with the Pomodoro Technique. I have read about it, yet I find it motivating to practice. I find myself chomping at the bit to get back to work. I also find that I take more breaks than I normally do, while monitoring excess work.

I am also using RescueTime starting today to keep track of what type of sites I visit. I'll regulate them better after getting a good picture of what I'll use by setting up budgets for each type of productivity or distraction.

Thanks for reading. If you have a productivity tip for me, or an app I have not mentioned thus far, let me know in the comments.

Proof racism and sexism are universal

Your grandma, your dentist, the people at the church, your high school friends: if they are voting for trump they are racist & sexist

— Tressie Mc (@tressiemcphd) November 2, 2016

If my Granny can be racist, sexist or friends I went to school with can be, just for voting for Trump, then we see that women can be sexist and non-whites can be racist.

Challenge accepted

I was recently challenged (via /r/KaizenBrotherhood to avoid candy and a vice of mine for three days. There were other challenges, such as tobacco and alcohol. I misinterpreted the challenge to believe all were in order. I was only actually challenged for one of them. Yet, I will avoid the two that I have the most trouble with for three days. Candy and my bad habit.

I am re-reading Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Workweek, and get more out of it every time I read it. I really should set up go to times for chekcing email (reminder to self).

Three days I changed the wordpress template to something. . . not so pink.

On being the worst

As a hirer, hire those better than you. You want to be the dumbest in the room. That goes doubly if you consider yourself smart. The smarter will help you to be the best.

As a subordinate, accept that your job is to get credit for those higher than you. If you are working for the right people, you are going to get either credit or some other benefit. If you are not working for the right person, you'll soon know it when credit does not trickle down.

Finally, in the words of Mattis, "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."