Veritas at Harvard
I subscribe to The Wall Street Journal, and it is always one of the more relaxing and thought provoking segments of my week when I settle into a comfortable chair and peruse the week's pages for topics of interest.
The subscription is expensive compared to the cost of most daily publications, but is an illustration of the adage, "you get what you pay for". The people who publish The WSJ seem committeed to the quaint notion that the individuals they hire on to their newspaper should be able to - well - write. Objective readers may differ with its philosophies, but cannot I believe, deny the quality of its content. Its feature story staff writes from the vantage point of a broad, liberal education, and then steeps its work in analysis, insight, and craft; all resulting in output far superior to that of any daily publication I have encountered.
Disconnected - Technology and Today's Youth
I have written several times in the last four years about the ever increasing reality of the impact technology is having on our kids. I have also written of the fabulous times we have enjoyed on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. This posting combines both.
When speaking of technology I always feel the need to make the obligatory disclaimers. I am no Luddite; like you, I use the wonderful technological tools at our disposal and depend on them daily for work, pleasure, and convenience. They are a marvelous source of productivity, exploration, education, and musical enjoyment for me and my family. But like anything, technology can be over-used, and is I fear, enormously over used by so many young people. The incredible combination of heretofore unimagined power and portability is making these products little more than electronic appendages for so many. Aristotle taught of The Golden Mean, and that anything excessively used or indulged in becomes by defintion, a negative influence. It is time to remember the Great Master's lesson when we consider this topic.
The Greatest Generation Loses Another
It hangs there in the closet..........................there in silent repose.
It hangs there, trying to tell us of the things it has seen and the men that it knew; as I gaze at it wishing it could do just that.
Lots of Process - No Peace
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is turning her attention to the Middle East Peace Process, and certainly clear thinking people of all inclinations can join in wishing her well.
But some things are so simple they become difficult. Since the 1967 Arab/Israeli War, U.S. Presidents and Secretaries of State of BOTH parties have been pursuing the peace "process" in the Middle East. It has become all but obligatory, the diplomatic and political equivalent of a physical reflex. The actual achievement of PEACE has become secondary. As long as the all-important "process" is engaged, that's the important thing.
The Company That Solved Health Care
I begin with a disclaimer - I am employed by Serigraph Inc. in West Bend, Wisconsin. John Torinus is the Chairman of Serigraph, and he has published a book titled, The Company That Solved Health Care. It is the story of how he re-engineered the structure, content, and delivery of health care for the employees of his company; thereby improving their satisfaction, lowering total cost, and saving the company and their jobs in the process.
